Does the Global Ad Industry Need a Dose of Manchesterism?

Photo by Jonny Gios on Unsplash.

The advertising industry has long been accused of existing inside a self-reinforcing, metropolitan bubble. For decades, the gravitational pull of the UK’s creative economy has been firmly anchored within the M25, with Soho and Fitzrovia serving as the undisputed, traditional headquarters of British advertising. But as political winds shift and brands increasingly demand agility over bloated scale, the traditional network agency model is looking decidedly heavy-footed.

With Andy Burnham – the Mayor of Greater Manchester, often dubbed the 'King of the North' – dominating the political conversation and promising to bring a bold, devolved, and highly pragmatic style of leadership to the national stage, a new concept is gaining traction: 'Manchesterism'. It is a philosophy rooted in fierce independence, a healthy disrespect for convention, and a relentless focus on getting the job done without the usual corporate theatrics.

For a global industry bogged down by internal complexity, endless rounds of pre-testing, and the creeping dread of procurement, this Northern ethos feels less like a regional quirk and more like an essential survival strategy. To understand how this mindset actually translates into the way local agencies and production companies make creative work, we spoke to the leaders driving the city's creative renaissance. We asked them what the wider industry needs to adopt right now, and whether this collaborative spirit is the ultimate antidote to the siloed nature of traditional advertising.

The Culture of the Rainy City

Before we can apply the lessons of Manchester to the wider creative ecosystem, we must first define what makes the city’s culture so distinct. It is a place that has historically birthed industrial revolutions, musical movements, and cultural shifts out of sheer necessity and a refusal to wait for permission.

Ben Martin, founder and director at Royal Flush Marketing, suggests that this deeply ingrained fearlessness is precisely what gives the city its creative edge.

"Doing things differently is easy to say, and it’s become a great sound bite for creative agencies, not just in this great city. But Manchester has form here; as a city, it’s proven time and again that it can produce groundbreaking achievements in industry, music, football, technology, and initiatives,” he says. "Why? That's harder to explain, it’s just the culture of the city. Maybe, it’s because it’s famous for raining a lot (we have nothing better to do!). I think it’s grounded in its history – from Cottonopolis to Factory Records, we’ve always been up for trying something new, bringing in the right people and hustling. Sometimes that means breaking the rules (possibly even the law?) and when you break things, you inevitably have to do things differently.

"That becomes an ethos and a modus operandi, and it attracts people who think the same way, so you build momentum and that helps us produce great creative work. There’s a fearlessness, confidence and bravery to that mindset that is just expected in Manchester and as much as other cities adopt some of these attributes in imitation, they need to adopt their culture in order to really live and breathe it.

"There’s also an industrious nature to the city, (the worker bee) borne from its industrious and entrepreneurial past – it’s a 'nobody gives you anything for free', pick yourself up and dust yourself off attitude that’s in the way we talk (direct, uncompromising, cheeky and sometimes quite harsh), the grit ('chin up our kid’) and the way we respond to tragedy (Don't look back in anger, following the MEN Arena bomb).

"That’s not easy to replicate because it’s in the blood, and you need to live here to absorb it by osmosis.

"Andy Burnham is demonstrating that with his bold approach to politics – he's daring to do something with the No.10 of the North, and devolution, that other politicians would only speculate about in a tentative way. Yes, we’ll have to see if there’s any substance to his ideas, but if anyone can do it, it’s a Manc."

The Death of the Average Consumer

If Ben outlines the cultural DNA of the city, the next question is why this matters commercially. In an era of immense political and economic fragmentation, the old top-down methods of mass communication are failing. Brands are discovering that you can no longer broadcast from the centre and expect the peripheries to blindly follow.

​Julie Chadwick, managing director at Dentsu Influence, brilliantly connects the region's political momentum to a fundamental shift in how consumers interact with brands.

"The political debate we’re seeing today is born out of the extreme inequality that now exists across the UK, most notably between the North and the South,” she says. "This reality affects marketing and the creative industries as much as it does politics. The ‘average’ consumer died pretty much the same time as the average voter did and for the same reasons.

"After decades of centralised authority trying to tell people what to think, trust has shifted. Voters no longer judge policy against national promises; they judge it against their street, their school and their town centre. Brands are judged the same way: through experiences, interactions and the reviews or comments or recommendations of people they trust.

"What Burnham has done is give people who have felt ignored for generations a sense of hope, agency and positive momentum. What Greater Manchester has given Burnham in return is its backing and trust.

"Brands have the same opportunity. Those thriving today recognise that, much like Whitehall, they have to give up some of their power and control, co-create their world with consumers and provide real value to survive.

"Manchester’s local creative industries understand this instinctively. If there are any lessons to learn, it is that work needs less distance, less control, and more should be shaped by the people and places it is trying to reach."

Craft Without the Drama

That lack of distance and desire for co-creation translates directly into how work actually gets produced on the ground. In the production world, bloated budgets and unnecessarily complex shoots are increasingly difficult to justify to clients. The focus has shifted rapidly back to pure craft and efficient delivery.

​Rhiannon Lewis, managing partner and executive producer at GATE, argues that the city's production talent has already built a global reputation simply by stripping away the ego and focusing on the final output. "Manchester has always been brilliantly allergic to waiting for permission,” she says. "We've always just cracked on. That mindset is one of the city's biggest creative exports. Less theatre, more making. Less hierarchy, more collaboration. The work matters more than who gets the credit.

"GATE was born and bred in Manchester, but today we're producing campaigns everywhere from Cape Town to Miami, Singapore to Los Angeles. We've had international clients fly us across the world not because we're the closest production company, but because they trust us to deliver exceptional work without the drama.

"There's something distinctly Manchester about that. Ambition without arrogance. World-class craft without the ego.

"If the wider industry could borrow one thing from Manchester, it would be this: stop assuming great creativity only happens inside the M25. Some of the best production talent in the world is already here. The rest of the industry is just catching up."

The Business Case for Agility

This is not just a nice cultural quirk; it is a highly effective, profitable way of working that major global players are actively investing in. As clients tire of navigating the labyrinthine structures of traditional network agencies, the nimble, independent-spirited models found in the North are proving to be a potent competitive advantage.

​Simon Lewis, CEO at GATEand global head of content at Tag, points out that the financial success of Manchester's creative sector comes from embracing its differences, rather than trying to mimic the capital.

"I think the interesting thing is that, with the government’s renewed focus on investing in the North, Tag was actually ahead of the curve. By acquiring GATE, it established a high-craft production offering in Manchester long before the city’s creative economy became such a prominent national conversation. Yesterday, GATE celebrated its 29th birthday, and this year also marks its fifth consecutive year of financial growth. That success hasn’t come from trying to recreate London in the North – it has come from embracing what makes Manchester different. The city has an incredible pool of creative talent, a strong work ethic and a genuine ‘we can do’ mentality. That combination has allowed us to build a business that delivers exceptional work in a way that clients really value.

"This definitely isn’t just a GATE story. Manchester’s creative industry has been growing for years and there’s a real confidence about where it’s heading. What makes it special is the mindset. There’s always been a feeling of, ‘We might not have the biggest budgets, but we’ve got the talent, the determination and the creativity to make it happen anyway.’ That resilience has become part of the city’s identity. When you look at everything that’s been achieved despite comparatively lower levels of investment, you can’t help but wonder what Manchester could become with even greater backing and belief in its creative sector.

"For me, the comparison between Manchester and London is a bit like the difference between a nimble independent agency and a large network agency. Bigger doesn’t automatically mean better. Smaller businesses often win because they’re faster, more collaborative and closer to both the creative process and the client. They spend less time navigating layers of process and more time solving problems and making great work. I think Manchester has developed in exactly the same way. It’s built a reputation on talent, agility and ambition rather than scale. That’s why the city continues to attract exciting businesses, exceptional people and increasingly, some of the industry’s most interesting work."

Collaboration as the Antidote to Complexity

If the industry is to survive the current onslaught of challenges – from the integration of AI to shrinking margins and the constant threat of economic uncertainty – it must look outward. The traditional agency model spent the last 20 years building silos of specialism; the next decade will demand that we tear them down.

​Leigh Herbert, managing director at Republic of Media, views the Northern pragmatism as the perfect blueprint for modern marketing services. Waiting for the perfect macroeconomic conditions is no longer an option; businesses must adapt to the reality in front of them.

"Manchester creativity has always been less interested in looking clever and more interested in making an impact,” he said. “It’s a city with a healthy disrespect for convention with less obsession with what everyone else in the industry is doing and more focus on solving the problem in front of us. I think that comes from being outside the traditional centres of power. You learn very quickly that nobody is going to freely hand you permission, attention or opportunity, so you have to go and create it. The result is work that tends to be more entrepreneurial, more commercially minded and often more connected to real people. Manchester is a city built on industry, music, sport and innovation and values substance over style (even if it has that too!). For clients “looking North”, it means they get perspectives from people who live much closer to the realities of everyday Britain with agencies focused more on brilliant solutions than brilliant presentations.

"Stop waiting for perfect conditions! Manchester has spent decades being told it sits outside the centre of gravity for business, investment and opportunity. As a result, it’s a city with a culture of pragmatism. You find a route around the problem rather than crying about it.

"I think much of our industry is waiting for the market to improve, for clients to spend more, for AI to settle down or for government to solve productivity issues. Meanwhile, the best businesses are getting on with adapting because that’s the world we’re now in, whether you like it or not. It’s about controlling what you can control; Keep investing in your people, build new capabilities and experiment with AI (we’re all figuring it out). It’s about collaboration with partners and launching new products, underpinned by a growth mindset that accepts you need to try things and some won't work, but you'll learn faster than competitors who are still debating the presentation or slick front ends. Right now, the biggest risk for agencies is standing still.

"One of the biggest threats facing agencies isn't AI, procurement or economic uncertainty; its internal complexity and the changing agency model. The best clients don't care about our departmental structures, they have business problems and they want joined-up solutions. Manchester has traditionally been better at collaboration because we’ve had to be. The media and advertising ecosystem is large enough to be ambitious and capable nationally, but small enough that relationships still matter immensely. People pick up the phone, competitors have conversations and partnerships happen. My view is that the best agencies in the future will look less like collections of specialist departments and more like networks of expertise brought together around client challenges. At Republic of Media and The Freethinking group, we’re leaning into this and evolving from ‘media agency’ to ‘marketing services group’, but I believe this principle is bigger than just our business. The industry spent years building specialisms but the next decade will belong to the businesses that can re-connect them."

Have the Nerve to be Yourself

As the creative world looks to evolve its practices, the temptation will be to simply lift and shift the Manchester model – to artificially engineer a bit of Northern grit into a glass London boardroom. But authenticity cannot be franchised.

The ultimate lesson of 'Manchesterism' is not about adopting a specific operational structure or borrowing a regional swagger. It is about an unwavering commitment to your own identity.

​Colin Offland, chief executive officer at CHIEF., provides a brilliantly contrarian final thought. For Colin, the secret to Manchester's success is that it has never tried to be anything other than exactly what it is.

"Manchester has only ever tried to be itself,” he says. “So if there's one thing worth borrowing, it’s actually the part that can't be borrowed. It's like asking how Radiohead could be a bit more like Oasis. It doesn't work.

"That's the only lesson worth taking. Don't copy the accent or the attitude. Have the nerve to be so completely yourself that you can't be copied either.

"'Manchesterism' is an interesting turn of phrase. Our city is definitely one of one, but I can't say that a highly collaborative, 'get on with it' spirit is unique to Manchester. It's certainly part of our DNA at CHIEF. though, and it's served us well over the years."

Perhaps that is the real takeaway for the global ad industry. In a world obsessed with data, competitor analysis, and best practices, true creative and commercial breakthrough requires the courage to forge your own path. You don't need to move your agency to the northwest of England to succeed, but you might just need to borrow a bit of its nerve.