mark-making* was founded in 1995 by Steve Turner and Ali Williams. Fresh out of university, with zero commercial experience and bank balances to match, the one thing we did have was a shared belief in the power of emotion to engage and inspire action.
Thirty years on, that’s still the heartbeat of the agency.
The financial services specialism? That came a little later, and more through fate than design. One client led to another, success bred success, and somewhere along the way an unintended direction became a genuine passion. Financial services is a sector with the power to genuinely change people’s lives, and we found ourselves increasingly drawn to the challenge of helping it communicate that way.
And the belief that drove us from the start has found its fullest expression here. Even in a complex, regulated and competitive market, logic and proof alone will never be enough to move people.
We call it Be More Human, FFS*.
(*For Financial Services – obviously)
It’s our rallying cry against the bland, the jargon and the missed opportunity that still defines too much financial services marketing.
We’re also a certified B Corp, because we believe the standards we hold ourselves to should be at least as high as the ones we set for our clients.
And we’re compact – which means leadership is present on every project, senior eyes are on everything, and the people you meet at the start are the people who do the work.
Speaking of which…
