![]() what’s the point when you’re not really enjoying it?” The aim was always to keep it as a fairly small operation that was profitable and delivered really good work. I like making good work with good people. It just didn’t interest any of us really. “Quite frankly, I didn’t want to work for Unilever, selling tomato sauce or washing powder. It wasn’t a move he was prepared to make. Williamson is now working as a consultant and admits Fabula could have stayed in business if they’d compromised on their vision to work with larger clients on a retainer (and more traditional) basis. It wasn’t really sustainable at that point … so we thought we’d call it a day there and then.” We had tenders out on four different projects but we only got one through. “We gave ourselves to the end of January to decide if there was a market for what we were trying to do. “The clients bought into the cost and the speed, but they wanted you to behave the way a retained business behaves. And towards the end of last year, four of Fabula’s clients said they would be working on future campaigns in-house, rather than hiring an external company. But there were teething problems, with many clients expecting the type of support an agency on a retainer would provide. It’s an approach that had appeal, particularly to the fashion and lifestyle retail sectors that Williamson says “need to spend money” and have a fast turnaround. What we could offer people was something cheaper and better.” Still great quality but you’re taking out the layers that are unnecessary and expensive. “We were pitching ourselves as the street food of creative agencies. “The agency world used to be like fine dining and then street food came along,” he says. At the end of the 2015/16 financial year, they had made a pre-tax profit of £354,000. They had low overheads, with an office on a canal boat in London, and a small team of 10, with freelancers brought in to work on specific projects. But after five years of working with clients such as ITV, William Hill and, he and his partners Jennifer Black and Britt Iversen decided to close their doors.įabula’s original vision had been to disrupt the traditional advertising industry, by offering a service with less bureaucracy, making the campaign turnaround faster and the volume of clients higher. Luke Williamson co-founded ad agency Fabula in 2012. What’s the point when you’re not really enjoying it? ![]() Luke Williamson co-founded Fabula in 2012. That early stage, creating something and getting feedback. But the experience hasn’t put her off potentially starting a new venture in the future. I think if I’d been at a different stage in my life, the answer would have been different.”įor now, she’s writing a blog with a friend and working on a play. Running a startup is such a 24-hour world. “For women who run their own businesses and have their own children, it is a challenge. I knew in my gut what the answer was quite quickly, but it took a long time for me to admit it had failed. “While I still think there’s an opportunity for a brand to make the most of premium chewy confectionary, unfortunately it isn’t going to be me. She closed the business down in April 2017, a decision she says was difficult. ”įinding a manufacturer with the right equipment, that was interested in Brown’s small volumes, was easier said than done. I spent the first three months of the year trying to find someone else to do. “By Christmas 2016, I was basically at the end of my tether,” she says. The pressure to deliver volume, on time, took its toll. But success was starting to have an impact on her family – her husband was roped in to label packs of sweets after work and she’d pop her three young children in front of the TV while she worked frantically in the kitchen. As the business progressed, demand grew and Brown hired a member of staff to help her hand make and cut the sweets.
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