In April 2020 Arron and I announced the launch of the world’s first and only disability-led, social-first marketing agency.

The aims were simple:

• Close the gap of representation for disabled people in advertising

• Hire the world’s best marketing and disability talent in our agency

• Use the carrot, not the stick, to bring to life the theoretical business case for brands (clients get amazing return on investment and on ad spend)

• Create more economic opportunities for disabled talent and media professionals

• Empower disabled role models to positively influence the next generation of disabled individuals, and educate society on the many benefits of inclusion.

We’ve plugged away tirelessly for three and a half years. Like with any growing business, there have been challenges, many learnings, and this year was no different. The greys are creeping in!

Here’s my thoughts on this past year at our agency:

• Our social media content is ridiculously good. Whether or not you have your finger on the pulse of the marketing industry and more broadly the world of content creation, our PG channels have had everyone engaged and entertained. A giant Purple Goat in Covent garden as a case in point.

• We’re working with the world’s biggest brands across diverse industries and verticals. It’s sometimes frustrating that we can’t share lots of client impact publicly, but understandably in the marketing industry certain things are kept private. I can safely say that again and again we hear how rewarding our clients find the work we do together, delivering powerful business results, whilst reframing how people ‘do inclusion right’.

• We’ve won more awards, including Boutique Agency of the Year’ at the Global Influencer Marketing Awards, and the prestigious ‘Best Influencer Campaign’ at the Social Media Marketing Awards! Aside from offering a great night out, we can’t ignore these awards are such a tangible way of recognising our progress and industry impact.

• Our team has grown exponentially and the talent runs through every part of the agency. We’re literally the only business able to do what we do. This is testament to all the people working hard

• With the teams unique skills we’ve developed a truly 360 service offering. From ever increasing insights, training and consultancy capabilities, our core value proposition is still working with disabled talent and content creators, amplifying the message to targeted audiences. More and more clients are asking for us to support them in their authentic inclusive journey. Ensuring they are listening to, learning from and creating change with disabled people

I can’t repeat enough how happy I am with where we are, how proud of the team I feel, how much we’ve all learned, and how exciting 2024 and beyond is looking.

Here’s some things I’m keen for us to do next year:

• Continue closing the representation gap with both new clients and going deeper with existing relationships. Enabling us to go further, be more daring, creative, continually iterate and optimise our work

• Continue to bring Disability further into the DE&I conversation, whilst championing and showcasing the power of intersectional, diverse approaches to inclusion.

• Connecting our brilliant disabled community more with global brands, to co-create a better, and more inclusive world.

• Continue growing the agency in three ways – Financial, People and Impact.

• Innovation and disruption. Particularly harnessing the evolution in business, technology and culture. Applying that to how we discuss, represent and develop disability inclusion alongside brand success

• For society, and excitingly for disabled people, to find it the norm to see brilliant disability representation on social and other media channels

There’s so much more to share on the past year, next year and beyond. But I think this gives a nice flavour for a year in review of Purple Goat. If you have any questions or thoughts please let me know. It’s all been a journey of collaboration and progress. So any ideas are forever, welcome.

Thank you for reading this, for your support on the journey, and for believing in our grand mission.