Paul Slater Interview

Slaters has recently opened a new premises on the old David Evans department store site in Swansea. The retailer is being seen by the local council as a key catalyst for attracting more retailers into the development and Swansea city centre as a whole, so we caught up with Slaters Managing Director, Paul Slater, to talk about why Slaters chose Swansea and what customers can expect, amongst other things. 

How did Slaters end up in Swansea?

Five years ago we sat down in the company's head-office in Glasgow and decided we were going to expand. We got some market research data from Experian, CACI and various other market research companies which had a list of the top 40 locations in the UK and Swansea was one of them - it's as simple as that.

 

I have a map in my office with all these little dots on it and because we only operate from upper floors - although funnily enough we are about to open our first basement store in Cardiff - we had to take the opportunities as they arose. We would have preferred to have done expansion in the order of Scotland, north West, north East, Midlands, and so on throughout the UK, but things didn't turn out that way. It's taken us three years to set up in Swansea because we're based on the site of the old David Evans store, so we had to wait for planning permission to be be granted to knock down the old building, and then ground workers found some remains of old bones underneath the site. At first it was assumed that the area was a murder scene that then turned into an archaeological dig site which had to be excavated, we had to then wait for the dig to be completed, then there were other minor issues.

 

It's been a long a time coming but fingers crossed hopefully it's well worth it.   

Was your plan always to develop outlets in all those 40 cities on the list and if so how far down was Swansea ?

Yes our plan was to set up in all of them. There wasn't any hierarchy it was only really because of the difficulty of securing the right locations for us. Swansea would have been further down the list, but only from a geographical point of view, not because of a socio-demographic view or anything like that. 

I read a book about [men's retro clothing chain owner and founder] Sam Walker and his business expanded in concentric circles form the original store and I always remember saying that's the way to go because our biggest problem is awareness level. The last store we opened before this, store number 24 for the business, is in Norwich, which hasn't been that successful so far over the 18 moths it has been trading simply because we're a 100 miles away from the nearest Slaters store. Therefore we have no brand awareness and understanding and that's very hard from a standing start, whereas Swansea has a lot more going for it because it's close to Cardiff and we get a lot of customers from Swansea who have been visiting our Cardiff store. In that respect I'm quietly confident that this one will be good. 

What can a customer expect from a Slaters store experience?

I think that if you haven't been to us before you'll find that we like to 'wow' customers. We use the expression 'wowing the customers' a lot. I know that sounds like American jargon but we're old fashioned. My late father started the business in 1973 and if you had to ask me to put in order our pillars of the business they are: service, selection, quality, and value. I would put service top and it would be interesting to do an exit pole to see what is most important to customers. Some may say selection, because they're a 48 long, some might say service, some might say the value aspect, but hopefully they'll be wowed with the whole package. I think men particularly, although we do have a small ladies offering as well, find shopping a bore and a chore. When I see most of the guys coming in it's quite funny because their either being pushed in by their wives or dragged in by their girlfriends, or whatever, and the classic line is: "He needs a new suit". Sadly men don't seem to wake up and go "I think I'll go shopping today". My wife on the other hand, for example, will wake up and say: "I think I'll go shopping today, I think I'll treat myself, I think I'll cheer myself up". It's generalising but I think most men see shopping as a necessity for themselves. So we see them coming in and they're not particularly looking forward to it, so we just try and make it as easy and effortless for them as we can.

 

First of all because we have service, and by that I mean I'm not naming any competitors' names but you'll see men wandering around these stores and they're obviously lost, they haven't got a clue what they're doing, they're trying on jackets where their sleeve's are down past their knuckles and they're looking for a mirror and changing rooms so we make it easy, simple as that. It shouldn't be hard. They can come in and get something they like at a price they're happy with on the one or two occasions per year that most men go shopping. Women on the other hand will go and browse, find something that they're happy with and then go back later. With a man, he's focused, and the general outlook is: "I'm here, if I like it then I'll get it", then he'll get back to watching the football or rugby or whatever else he enjoys.

You've already mentioned that your father founded the business. When he started it do you think he imagined it growing to what it is now?

No. I defy anybody who starts-up a fledgling business to think beyond survival. I can only speak about our family business, which my father started in 1973 and I then joined at the age of 17 in 1976, so that was nice because we didn't start from the point where there was generational issues and it was like: "OK son, I've been doing it like this for 20 years. Don't come in with any of your smart ideas because this is the way we're doing it." We kind of built it together more like brothers than anything else. I remember in those days we used to get a bank statement coming through every Thursday and we would always have a guess about how much of our overdraft we were in. We spent years using the overdraft and in debt and it's a struggle. It was a small 2000 square foot second floor premises that my father had opened up, which ironically had been the factory shop to the factory that was the family business before it was wiped out by a fire. My father, uncles, an aunt and a cousin ran the business until the fire. After the fire they had the choice of either merging with another manufacturing business and but having been in manufacturing for 30 years my father could see that all the money was being made by the retailers - not the manufacturers. At 55 years of age, an age which when most people reach these days their talking about retiring to the sun, he re-mortgaged the house and put everything on the line then managed to get a lease on the small 2000 square foot factory. That's where it started and it grew very, very slowly from there. 

Was there a moment when you thought: "Yes, we've turned the corner, we've made it"? 

There probably was, although I honestly can't remember when . We came off overdraft on a permanent basis and only went into it occasionally because of peaks and troughs with stock holding and sales. Thankfully I haven't been into the overdraft for about ten years I think, so that's nice.

What do you think caused that turning point or was it more of a case of marketing and growing the business?

We've gone from one branch to a few more branches. We got our act together, I mean like any business you make your mistakes early on and that's quite good. Because when you make your mistakes early on it's like snakes and ladders; you don't have far to fall. But when you're nearly at the finish line it's a big drop. Also, I think you've got to take more risks in the early days because you've got less to lose. I think sadly as a business matures and you get a bit of a cushion of cash you start thinking: "I'm not sure I want to jeopardise that". The early days were very exciting with all the cut and thrust.

 

What drives you now?

I still enjoy it and I suppose that's still the fundamental thing. I still bounce out of bed on a Monday morning. The nice thing with retail is that it's an art and not a science. I've spent 33 years in retail and still we haven't got it right. That's maybe a failing and shouldn't be celebrated but it's a challenge because you know you can do better. I have this ongoing debate with my buying department about this product that comes in and flies out and I ask them: "Why did you only buy 300 of them, that's not enough", and they say: "No, we've oversold". You can never get it right because you either buy to few of them or too many of them because you're never going to get the right amount.

 

Then there's fashion: three piece suits are in right now, we're trying to get into that at the right time - and get out at the right time!

 

Are there regional variations for your store or are they more uniform?  

We're in the middle of creating a new look right now. This new store is only the third to get the new look after Manchester and Norwich and the other stores are being refurbished to the new look. Visibly they look the same because we do have a big profiling/merchandising team up in Glasgow.  They delve into the facts and figures and at any particular time they'll say: "Right, that store needs more fashionable stock, it needs more up-market stock or it needs more down-market stock". We always adjust each store to suit the local tastes and styles. 

You've mentioned you have a store in Cardiff as well but are you aware of the big rivalry here in Wales between Swansea and Cardiff?

Yes. I was conscious about that and when we were looking at who to have for the opening of the Swansea store there was some talk of hiring a choir. When I asked the marketing team where the choir was based and they told me Cardiff I said: "I don't know because I'm not from down there but if it's anything like Glasgow and Edinburgh the last thing you want to do is bring a Cardiff choir to a Swansea opening". That's why we got the Ospreys rugby guys instead. 

 

How does the current climate make you feel? Is it a challenge or something you view with more trepidation?

We started setting up the Swansea store three years ago before the world stopped spinning, so to speak, and that's the fundamental point - actually, the world hasn't stopped spinning. It's a sad thing that the media adopt scare-mongering tactics at times like now, as they have been recently. The headlines are always based on worst case scenario predictions which does nothing to help people's confidence. The fundamentals and the facts are slightly awry. Fundamentally people are better off because they're coming out of expensive mortgages, petrol has gone down in price, utility bills are going down, people actually have more now than they had six months ago. But the mindset is the opposite. I think the market needed adjustment anyway. Where I'm from in Glasgow they've just built another shopping centre and there's been a massive growth of new shopping centre's which I just don't understand. Everywhere you go you always get some area's dying and other's dying out. 

Have you seen any dip in sales?

We've seen a slight dip but compared to our competitors in the market-place we're quite relaxed with what's happening. 

You mentioned out of town shopping centres and your a smaller outfit competing against the big boys. Do you see yourself as independent?

When I joined the company in the 1970s I remember looking at the big boys like Marks & Spencer and thinking how can we compete with these people because they are so big and so slick. But when you get to know these companies behind the scenes they're just big floundering monsters. There's a lot to be said for being small, swift and nimble and also to have a very short chain of command - I'm the managing director of the company and I can make a decision. My buyers will go with me to look at a new range and we'll make a decision there and then. With the big national companies you're talking about committees being involved and these companies have a no blame culture where nobody wants to take the blame so they have lots of committees, lots of discussions etc. Never fear the big boys because they're not as big or as good as you think. 

Did you have any roles models or people you used to look up to?

My father. He was the greatest man I've ever met. Aside the fact he was my father he was just a natural. He would say things like: "Don't worry about anything other than the customers because if the customers are happy then the business will be successful." He was full of little saying, fables and stories and at the beginning he would do anything and everything to make sure that customer left happy. And that's one thing we apply when dealing with complaints. It always amazes me the way companies deal with customer complaints. The classic is always when a customer comes in with a complaint and you can see their ready for a fight but they ask what we're going to do and if there's say a faulty suit we'll offer to change it - obviously. When it comes to complaints we'll always change the item if there's a problem. A customer who has complained and is then appeased becomes far more loyal than they otherwise would have been.

Is there anything you would never do with a store?  

The usual - nothing immoral or illegal. One thing we have always prided ourselves on is listening to the customer. We have questionnaires and every one of them is read and put into the system. We're very much customer driven, for example we know our customers want sports footwear so we've been looking into that. But because we're not a bona fide sports shop Nike and Adidas at this stage say they won't supply us which confused me intensely because it's a business opportunity. A quarter or a third of my customers wear trainers and they have to leave my establishment to go somewhere else to buy them. It defies logic. 

I've been looking at the growth in bespoke clothing, is that something that attracts your attention?

We've looked at that and trialed it but I'm not convinced that the finished article meets the expectations of the individual. Unless you're going for the quirky bespoke market I can see it working. 

Of the clothes you stock what's your personal favourite?

I wear two brands called Jaguar and Samuel Slater, which is named after my grandfather who I never knew, he was a tailor. I never like to recommend a specific garment because what fits and suits me might not fit and suit you - whatever looks good on the customer. I always say to new staff that it's better to lose a sale than a customer. Yes, sometimes you can con a customer into buying something awful but it's not worth it. A guy walking out of here looking immaculate, looking and feeling like a million dollars; that's our advertising.  

Since this interview was conducted Slaters have relocated their store in Cardiff to The St Davids 2 complex.

Doug Richard Interview

Times are hard Doug. How are you coping?

In terms of my own portfolio, better than expected. My life is composed of getting involved with early stage high-risk, high-tech businesses, and if I look across the portfolio of businesses that I'm involved in, most of the bad things have already happened - the ones that remain are doing pretty well and those that were struggling and unable to access funding have already fallen.

So you think that in terms of the businesses you're involved in the worst has already happened?

Only in the sense that the credit crunch has had an impact on every part of the business spectrum, including the venture capital industry which has virtually come to a standstill and stopped investing. What that means is that any company needing investment in the last four months has largely been unable to access funding even if they were doing well, so both good and bad companies have gone under, as a sort of accident of timing. If you don't need funding right now then you're fine until you do and the hope for these types of businesses now is that they have enough to see them through the business cycle. I suppose I'm grateful in that all the businesses I'm active in right now are in that position.

When do you envisage the economy to pick-up and the money to start flowing again in the venture capital sector?

Tough call. The venture capitalists will continue to back companies they've already invested in and if they already have an investment they're not relying on anyone else to support those companies, rather they're just relying on themselves. So I think you'll see some people claiming they're investing again but really it's just supporting companies they've already invested in. You'll see some activity over the next few quarters but in terms of when the venture capitalists actively start investing again I think it's going to be a long time. 

Do you think the government is doing enough at the moment to support investors like you and what else do you think they could do?

I think in the context of the credit crunch, which started the problem and remains the issue, no the government hasn't been effective but it's not for a lack of trying. The unfortunate reality is that the government has been doing many of the right things but shooting itself in the foot at the same time. 

For example Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently announced an insurance package to help banks cover the toxic debt which in itself is as good an idea as any other floating around the western economies. But he also said he wouldn't let the banks get away with it and so he added a moral component to it and in so doing the shares stalled enormously because the shareholders had a look at the offer he was making and assumed they were going to get screwed. So in reality he's shot himself in the foot.

Until Gordon Brown starts to understand economics as well as politics I suspect that you'll find that perfectly reasonable programmes will be unsuccessful. 

Do you feel that Prime Minister Gordon Brown will have to start taking notice of this?

I don't think he's capable of doing that and until he does you will continue to see a political tension with economic necessity. 

Taking into account that you have business interests in both the US and UK, what effect do you think newly elected President Obama's economic policies will have on the general global economy and how will that effect the UK economy?

Firstly I'd like to say that I'm a huge Obama supporter, but not necessarily because of his economic policies. I voted for Obama for lots of reasons, but its never been proven that pumping large amounts of capital into an economy actually works in bringing that economy out of a recession. 

Having said that, I'm not saying I'm absolutely opposed to this policy because there is a lot to be said for stimulating demand, but the huge stimulus package announced in the US will not in itself solve the problem, its just part of a series of things that can be done.

If you look at history, the US government bailed out the savings and loans banks and in doing so created what was essentially a toxic debt bank. And although it took 25 years the US government did eventually make a profit on that debt even though you very rarely here that reported in the media.  

There is a series of things which can be done but the biggest impact that Obama has is essentially ceremonial. You can't underline the fact that a great deal of an economy rests on confidence, so a new president, especially Barack Obama, and a change of government will definitely help if things go Obama's way. 

I also see the US economy coming out of a recession before the UK economy, which will help the UK economy, as the financial interrelations between our economies which has in part caused the recession will help both countries to pull out of it.  

Do you think we will take any lessons out of the recent crisis?

I think we'll take some and that has already been taken. The main thing is that inactivity didn't work, and there was a huge period of inactivity when the crisis first emerged. Trade protectionism during the great depression actually accentuated the great depression and there are elements of trade protectionism in Obama's proposed policies, but buying American could create issues for the US if other countries start doing the same thing so hopefully we've learned our lesson.   

The US is going to keep going down and then come up quite resoundingly, where as the UK economy is much more fragile. The UK has the potential to suffer badly with inflation, more so than many other Western economies, it was weaker going into the recession and it has a productive economy that rests on very few things. The continuing lack of housing stock is creating a floor for demand which is also coming home to roost.  

In the past there was seen to be big differences between US and UK businesses. Do you think this still remains?

 

Yes and no - I think there are greater similarities that there are differences. Obviously the US is a much larger country so companies in the US have a much larger domestic market on their doorstep which means that the potential market for any start-up is much bigger, giving it better growth potential. Also because the US is a much younger country than the UK the infrastructure for distributing goods and services is much more efficient, which again increases the potential for growth. It's not a case that the US is 'better' than the UK, just that businesses there have better opportunities.

However, some of the differences are stark. For example in Wales I think somewhere in the region of 70% of people work for the public sector. This means that if only around 30% of the workforce are in private enterprise then the creation of wealth in the economy is extremely limited and after all the government is funded by the wealth created in the private sector. I think we need more entrepreneurship here in the UK.   

You recently worked with the Conservative Party on the Richard Report, which looked at business and enterprise in the UK. How was it received?

The report wasn't well received by a lot of people. My primary concern after reviewing the entire measure of support for small businesses and entrepreneurship in the UK was the vast percentage of money spent was either of no value or was impossible to value because nobody had done anything to measure it. Therefore, it was subject to the suspicion that it had no value.

Unfortunately that's a damning indictment of an entire infrastructure system. It suggests very strongly that the only thing business support programmes provided by the UK government, either centrally or through devolved government, are essentially just creating jobs for people to enter a new industry - the business support industry. You end with an industry that is existent in itself. 

Lots of companies have set up here with little or no regard of whether they actually do anything. So it would probably be better if a lot of that stopped, meaning a lot of people would be put out of work, but they would be put out of a type of work that wasn't doing anything anyway.

The vast majority of the report has been accepted by the Conservatives as part of their policy platform. Interestingly enough events have moved on since I produced the report but some constants remain. I think entrepreneurship can be taught, I think it starts culturally and therefore has to start in our schools. And I think we have to remove the moral question i.e. it's OK for people to make a profit and be successful and they have to be able to enjoy the fruits of the wealth they create. We should celebrate their achievements. 

 

Do you think the entrepreneurial buzz that swept through the UK a few years ago, which was personified in shows like Dragon's Den is now disappearing? 

There's something very counter intuitive about a recession, it tells people several things. Firstly it tells them they should spend less which of course makes a recession worse but it's the natural thing to do and I'm absolutely not criticising anyone that does. At the same time it also reminds people in a forceful and sometimes life changing way that you can't rely on a job with a big company no matter how big it is. We forget that lesson every generation. That's why we need to keep creating and training entrepreneurs, such as self employed professionals like plumbers, for example. 

 

How did you get onto Dragon's Den?

When the shows producers started putting the show together they got in touch with some Venture Capitalists who were friends of mine and they declined the offer but suggested my name to the producers and I decided to give it a go.

Did you always believe that Dragon's Den would be a huge success?

No. I thought that it would be a flash in the pan and then disappear. I mean I thought what business show could possibly be popular. 

Why do you think that Dragon's Den caught the public's imagination in the way it did?

That's a good question. I think that it's the first time anyone has distilled those frightening and tense moments in business onto a TV screen. Also the fact that the show was real, with real investors and real entrepreneurs putting-up real money made the show a captivating thing to watch.

Are you still working with any of the businesses that you invested in during the show?

Most of them are done, as in they have either failed or just muddled along but there is one business that is reasonably successful so it worked out alright - it could have been worse!

From your time on Dragon's Den is there one success story that really sticks in your mind?

Yes. Many people will probably remember a gentleman that developed a new way of growing truffles, well he went on to later success, although unfortunately I didn't invest in him but I always regretted that I hadn't. 

Do you think that each series produced one or two of these great successes?

Yes, absolutely. I think its remarkable how many reasonable ones do come up at all, its a very small percentage. Having said that in each series there were a couple of times I thought 'gosh, that's a really good idea'.

Movies facing a severe downturn

Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life you can expect to see a sharp drop in the quality of Hollywood movies. 

That's the prediction of legendary film director Francis Ford Coppola - best known for the Godfather trilogy and Apocalypse Now - as Hollywood comes to terms with the devastating impact which plummeting DVD sales and the massive decrease in bank funding due to the current global financial crisis is having on the industry.

Not only that, but Coppola also predicts that there will be an acute lack of choice as the big movie studios will "just make certain types of films like Harry Potter - basically trying to make Star Wars over and over again, because it's a business".  One heavyweight industry insider has predicted that last year's production peak of 606 films to emerge from Hollywood will fall to fewer than 400 next year, and it may go lower than that in the future. This is because of several reasons, but the overwhelming factor is the global financial meltdown - banks that previously acted as the main source of funding for big and medium-budget films have withdrawn their big backing, cutting $12bn (£7.4bn) out of the $18bn available to the top studios.

Added to this, the plunge in DVD sales coupled with Hollywood's inability to make any real money from new digital technology, such as video-on-demand, means that as cash dries up, a greater proportion of the shrinking resources is going into a tiny range of sci-fi, superhero and mystic titles. However, Hollywood has been making sweeping changes in order to try and stop the rot; MGM ousted its chief executive in August, Disney recently sacked its studio chief, and Universal Pictures earlier this month dismissed its joint chairmen following a string of box office flops. 

As an avid film fan I wasn't pleased to hear the news but as you may have noticed from my film reference in the opening line of this blog - it's a quote from Casablanca - I'm a fan of classic black and white films and therefore, I may have to look back and not forward for some great (and as yet unseen by me) films in the near future.

Adidas V Puma

Sometimes in business, as in life itself, a beautiful partnership can turn sour for a whole host of reasons. However, if you’re in this position at the moment remember that there is always light at the end of the tunnel, as this blog post illustrates. 

One such split, in the sportswear market, seems to be finally going through reconciliation after over half a century as employees of bitter rivals Puma and Adidas came together last month to play a token football match in support of the Peace One Day organisation. 

To cut a long story short, these two global sports brands were founded 60 years ago after the relationship between shoemaker brothers Adi and Rudi Dassler fell into dire straits. Amid claim and counter claim, the exact reasons for the fall-out are still ambiguous, although what is clear is that the rivalry that grew between the two companies since has literally split a town in two. According to a local journalist: “The split between the Dassler brothers was to Herzogenaurach [home-town of both companies] what the building of the Berlin Wall was for the German capital.” 

It seems that at one point the rivalry between Puma and Adidas got so bad that not only did you have to avoid certain shops and pubs, depending on who you worked for, but you also couldn’t marry an employee of the rival company due to the strain it would put on relations at work and in the family. Extreme to say the least!

The result of the football match, which was played with mixed teams formed from employees of each company, is insignificant. The key point here is that with a football world cup less than twelve months away the two bloody rivals now seem to be burying the hatchet, slowly but surely. Yes, this was a PR stunt, but it could also signal a new convergence of the two companies in the name of profits, and it also proves that eventually the parties involved in most disputes do end up seeing the bright side in some shape and form.    

Interview with Christine Ourmieres (KLM Air France)

How is the current economic climate treating KLM Air France?

The answer is quite obvious, we published our yearly results recently and or results are very different from last year. The year was very different from the beginning to the end, and the first half was quite solid. I think of all the open markets the UK was one of the first to feel the influence of the changing economic conditions, followed by the rest of Europe, and this had an effect on our air traffic and our yield. We therefore decided to have a more organic route network and we are forecasting a significant reduction in head counts 

Are you doing anything different here in the UK to the rest of the group?

When the recession hit here we acted immediately and didn’t wait for any other markets to start following suit before we took action. Our central structure has always been extremely interested in having a very strong relationship with the UK and Ireland because the establishment and flows of traffic coming from the UK is the most important flow of traffic in Europe. Being the point of origin in Europe for connecting traffic means we are always pushing to be more aggressive, to launch promotions, and use creative marketing campaigns. 

The idea is that when you are in a crisis, in accordance with group strategy, you want to make sure that you are even closer to your corporate customers and even closer to the change in behaviour of consumer travellers. For instance, customers are now booking much later than previously, so we adapted to this change of behaviour. We are trying to be different in our marketing, by talking the same language as our customers and we have also decided to rapidly deploy changes in our products. For example, we have changed our premium economy products. Premium economy products were previously only used by UK airlines such as Virgin and British Airways but now Air France KLM has decided to move into this market because we think it’s definitely an answer to the current downturn. Premium economy will be a new product that both Air France and KLM will introduce from this winter. 

Websites are now more important in the booking of fares so we have re-launched the KLM website. We are trying our best but it’s not always easy to follow changes because of the changes in behaviour. 

Would it be fair to say that in the last in the last 5-10 years of economic growth before the recession we have seen significant growth in air travel and do you think that after the recession passenger numbers will bounce back?

That could be the case in the long-term. We are very much focussing on business travel as our core business and leisure as a priority because in the UK fifty per cent of our business is business travel and fifty per cent is leisure travel, in terms of turnover. When we have to build a product the more demanding segment is business travel, which is about exchanges. All the predictions on passenger growth are changing everyday so it’s always hard to know whether passenger numbers will bounce back. In May we had a celebration event in London for the London City to Nantes route, at which I was talking to real estate agents from Nantes (North West France). They were saying how on an average number, for every 20 UK citizens living there, 16 wanted to sell and 4 wanted to buy. The changes will affect air travel in terms of a reduction in the number of people taking leisure and mini-breaks.

Low cost airlines are feeling the pinch now and I recently interviewed an executive from BMI Baby who was adamant that the UK government was not doing enough to help the industry. Do you think that European governments could do more to help the industry?

It’s a difficult question because the airline industry is one that is easy for the government to tax, which for us is a shame. Our margins are quite low and yet we are the main contributors to the development of economies and at the same time we are easy victims for taxes, everywhere except in the Netherlands, where the government has decided to listen to the industry and go easier on taxes.   

Have you seen a big drop in customer numbers at Cardiff International Airport?

We have been operating at the airport for a long-time so we are loyal to the airport, which is not something I think you can say about all airlines. We are not in Cardiff because it’s the fashion, we are in Cardiff because we believe in Cardiff. We have improved our operational reliability in the last few years and now performances are excellent. We feel that we need to work closely with the airport to develop an action plan that promotes the airport because lots of people are still travelling to Heathrow or Gatwick to fly. We have to rebuild the trust, we have to rebuild the knowledge, we have to invest in communication and we have to demonstrate to customers that it is more convenient to fly from regional airports. For example, Air France and KLM are now flying from 20 UK airports because we believe in regional airports. 

What are the personal major challenges in you role and what drives you in your role?

In terms of drivers, firstly it’s figures because I have to achieve my targets. People in the airline industry share a common passion for service, and for improving the relationships with your customers. That passion drives forward my team and the Air France KLM group as a whole. Maintaining service levels isn’t easy when you have to cut costs, so we are trying to cut fixed costs, which we have been doing over last year but it’s not easy. You’re always trying to sell an inspirational service with aspirational fares.  

Since this interview was conducted Christine Ourmieres headed off to New York to head up KLM Air France operations there. 

Blog News

Welcome back to my blog. As some of you already know I have been clocking up quite a few air-miles this summer attending and reviewing a milieu of music festivals around the world, as well as launching a new fashion, music and art magazine called Blown. 

Consequently haven’t had the time to blog as often as I would have liked. The good news is that from now this blog will be updated weekly and will include new features to enhance your experience as a member of my audience. Not only will you be able to read exclusive interviews with industry heavyweights but you will also be able to listen to the interviews in audio with the click of a button. This week I will be kicking off these interviews with a focus on the current state of the airline market and Air France KLM’s close links with Cardiff International Airport, with Christine Ourmieres, UK Director of Air France KLM.

One of the Best Meerkating Agencies in the World?

Next in my series of profiles on leading marketing agencies in the UK is VCCP. VCCP is the creative agency behind the insanely catchy Compare the Market.com's 'Compare the Meerkat' adverts, which have had many people, myself included, searching out and visiting the spoof website (www.comparethemeerkat.com) which allows you to literally compare the Meerkat: I ended up quickly comparing Bickerkat and Magickat - my personal favourite! So if your thinking about commissioning an agency to create a ridiculously addictive creative concept for consumers, please read on.











Most known for: Compare the Market.com's Compare the Meerkat spoof advertising and social media campaign.

Major clients: Compare the Market.com; O2; Texaco; Home Office; Food Standards Agency; Schools Food Trust; FSA; Muller Rice and Muller Corners; Air Lingus.

Key People: Adrian Coleman (Founding Partner); Michael Sugden (Managing Director); Dominic Stinton (Partner); Sarah Adamson (New Business and Marketing Manager); Buster Dover (New Business - Digital).

Staff Numbers: 146











Ownership and control: Part of the publicly owned Chime Communications group.

How to prepare for a meeting with them: Get tweeting (on twitter), these guys have produced the most successful ever social media campaign.

How to find them: Greencoat House, Francis Street, Victoria, London, SW1P 1DH; Phone: 0207 592 9331; Fax: 0207 592 7465; Website: http://www.vccp.com

Contact People: Sarah Adamson - New Business and Marketing Manager; sarah@vccp.com; 0207 592 7478.