Meet the Metrix team.
With more than 150 years of experience in marketing communications and related fields,
our team could be your biggest marketing asset.
Click
the arrows to see more team members.
Carl in a nutshell…
At work: Carl managed and then retired from two very successful marketing
communications businesses before joining our team. Now working part-time as a consultant
with selected clients, he provides more gravitas and experience than most of the
rest of us put together.
At play: An enthusiastic golfer, Carl plays both in the UK and in Tenerife,
where he owns an apartment overlooking a golf course.
Fascinating fact: After winding up his own marcomms business Carl became
bored with nothing to do but play golf (honest – that’s what he says!). He mentioned
this to Mike when they met for a drink one lunchtime and Mike recruited him on the
spot. He has not had time to be bored since then!
David in a nutshell…
At work: A passionate marketer, David believes in brand power. Excellent
planning skills make him naturally-suited to creating, implementing and evaluating
successful client campaigns.
At play: David enjoys good food, excellent wine and a barnstorming round
of golf. Not all at the same time though.
Fascinating fact: He once appeared on stage with “national treasure” Christopher
Biggins.
Find out more about
David
Gary in a nutshell…
At work: A wordsmith extraordinaire, Gary is a multi-talented journalist
and editor who can create or transform content in any genre or style. A freelance
communications consultant, Gary provides copywriting services to Metrix and is an
integral part of the team.
At play: Gary is a champion Scrabble player, chess master and has adrenalin-fuelled
Chelsea blue blood running through his veins.
Fascinating fact: Gary rescued a woman who was drowning off the Cornish coast.
No, he didn’t land a part in Baywatch!
Find out more about
Gary
Hannah in a nutshell…
At work: Hannah has great organisational skills that make her able to work
well under pressure and to tight deadlines. Hannah’s writing abilities enable her
to write quality copy for a variety of media outlets and audiences.
At play: Hannah loves travelling. When she’s not, she is usually planning
her next trip away.
Fascinating fact: Hannah enjoys running and is currently in training for
her first half marathon.
Find out more about
Hannah
John in a nutshell…
At work: John uses his first-rate writing and media skills to craft compelling
press releases, features and marketing literature for a range of clients.
At play: John is a pub quiz connoisseur, music fan (he tries to play Blues
harmonica and wishes he had been born in 1950s west side Chicago) and enjoys spending
Sundays watching his son play football.
Fascinating fact: John once shared Rugby stories with Ross Kemp and had a
beer with Jason Flemyng.
Find out more about
John
Judy in a nutshell…
At work: Judy is the heart of Metrix…the dynamo that keeps all activities
on track and colleagues on their toes. Her bark is worse than her bite… we love
her really.
At play: A Norfolk lass, Judy enjoys amateur dramatics (the ultimate Drama
Queen no less!), travel (Tenerife is a regular sanctuary) and countryside walks.
Fascinating fact: Judy is looking for Mr Right… he must be wealthy, wise
and wonderful… and leave his white stick and guide dog in the porch.
Find out more about
Judy
Kathy in a nutshell…
At work: With a degree in psychology (and currently studying for her Masters
degree in the same subject) Kathy can help us understand the hidden motivators for
colleagues, clients and their customers.
At play: Can you describe being married to the boss as ‘play’? Apart from
that, studying (see above), charity work and computer games pretty much fill the
rest of her non-work week.
Fascinating fact: Kathy started her working life as a nurse, then went on
to qualify and work as a midwife before ‘retiring’ and taking up psychology. So
whatever medical emergency might arise in the office, Kathy has probably been trained
to deal with it!
Mike in a nutshell…
At work: The ultimate marketing communications professional; he’s seen it
all and out-worn the t-shirt. Mike has excelled as a journalist, PR specialist,
business leader, marcomms consultant, company owner and director, lecturer and trainer.
At play: See above… except on Sundays which are reserved for relaxing with
his long-suffering wife and family!
Fascinating fact: Mike is always calm and collected… apart from one Friday
evening when a colleague foolishly locked up the office with Mike and a roomful
of business leaders trapped inside! Luckily, one of them had a penknife to take
a door off its hinges…
Find out more about
Mike
Sarah in a nutshell…
At work: Sarah is an excellent, natural writer, a genuine ‘people person’
who can turn her hand to any marketing task… which makes her a jack of all trades
and a master of words.
At play: Sarah is a wannabe drummer with a slight addiction to Zumba who
loves chilling out in front of a good crime drama.
Fascinating fact: Sarah became a published poet at 15 and knows the alphabet
backwards.
Find out more about
Sarah
Tammy in a nutshell…
At work: Tammy is highly organised and excellent at multi-tasking. Once Tammy
sets her mind to something, there’s no stopping her.
At play: A family-girl at heart, Tammy is very proud of her daughter and
loves walking their dog, Marley.
Fascinating fact: Tammy gets through more tomato sauce in a week than most
people would in a year.
Find out more about
Tammy
Even newly formed companies sometimes have history. Metrix may not have always been
known as Metrix but we have a company history to be proud of. Take a look at how
we got to where we are today.
- 1987 Smye Holland
Associates is formed by Mike Holland and Stephanie Smye
When Mike and Stephanie launched Smye Holland Associates (fondly known as SHA) they
were based in a room no bigger than a broom cupboard and shared a fax machine (the
then latest cutting-edge communications technology) with another company because
they couldn’t afford one of their own.
A few months down the line and with the client list growing, they moved into impressive
city centre offices that were to stand them in good stead for the next 25 years.
- 1989 Judy joins
the Smye Holland Associates team
The history of SHA wouldn’t be complete without including Judy Anderson joining
the team. Judy joined SHA as an administrative assistant, helping Stephanie with
the running of the company. Stephanie has since retired and Judy has taken over
her role and has cemented her place in the company – without her, none of us would
get paid!
Today Judy is our longest standing employee (though we let her sit down from time
to time). She keeps the office running, keeps budgets on track and keeps Mike on
his toes.
- 1999 Founding
partner, Stephanie Smye, retires and Smye Holland Associates becomes a limited company
It was a sad day when Stephanie retired – especially for our IT provider, whose
bill for sorting out ‘user related errors’ dropped dramatically! Stephanie still
keeps in touch with the business and joins the team for company milestones and celebrations.
She will always be well-respected among the Metrix team although now focuses more
on enjoying her retirement than on bossing Mike around (one of the many jobs she
has passed onto Judy).
This year also saw Mike turn the partnership he had formed with Stephanie into a
registered limited company.
- 2000 Smye Holland
Associates forms partnership with TDH Marketing
After working with a mutual client, SHA and TDH Marketing formed a partnership to
provide each other with support on our respective sides of the Atlantic Ocean. The
partnership enables TDH and SHA (and now Metrix) to provide clients with a fully
integrated, strategic approach to their international marketing communications across
Europe and the USA.
- 2003 Smye Holland
Associates reaches PR milestone
After 16 years of working for Peter Brotherhood, SHA completed its 1,000th piece
of work for the company. Peter Brotherhood was SHA’s first client and remained a
client until it became part of Dresser Rand in 2008. The 1000th piece of work was
a press release announcing the purchase of the multi-million pound company.
- 2004 Smye Holland
Associates joins forces with t2 Studios
A relationship that began as two independent companies working together on a number
of successful projects developed into a long-lasting relationship, with a partnership
being officially formed in 2004. Our skills in marketing communications and strategic
consultancy work in harmony with t2 Studios’ expertise in the world of graphic design
and web development to provide a fully integrated marketing communications service.
It’s a marriage made in business-heaven.
- 2005 Smye Holland
Associates receives a facelift
The company logo that had originally been designed back when the business was founded
(and was more suited to headed paper and compliments slips than email footers and
avatars) was beginning to look tired. SHA worked with its creative design partner
t2 Studios to design the SHA speech bubble logo along with a new website and company
literature.
- 2006 Smye Holland
Associates achieves Google News accreditation
After jumping through more hoops than your average circus performer, SHA became
one of very few PR agencies to achieve Google News accreditation. The search engine
giant scrutinised our CVs, read our work and conducted a thorough analysis of our
website, before handing SHA the much sought-after title of ‘Google News source’.
As a result, press releases published on the SHA website were automatically indexed
by Google and fed into the Google News pages, spreading our clients’ news around
the world the day the news was announced.
- 2012 Smye Holland
Associates relaunches as Metrix Marketing Communications
The name ‘Smye Holland Associates’ has done us proud – it has seen us through good
times and bad, through recessions and economic booms. The world has changed continuously
since SHA launched in 1987 and so have we. Gone are the days of sending documents
by fax and issuing press releases by post. Technology has moved on leaps and bounds
and social media is the new kid on the block. After a remarkable 25 years as Smye
Holland Associates we wanted a new name and identity to match the new era in communications.
In May 2012 we proudly launched Metrix Marketing Communications. Here’s to the next
25 years!
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We know that one size doesn’t fit all. At Metrix we won’t try and shoehorn your
needs into a readymade solution that doesn’t fit.
Maybe you have a clear idea of what you need or maybe you don’t. Maybe you need
a marketing communications (marcomms) strategy building from scratch or maybe you
just need help implementing your social media marketing plan. Whatever your marcomms
needs, Metrix can help.
We take a structured approach to all aspects of our work, applying utopia to everything
we do. Yes, we really do mean utopia. Let us explain:
U is for understanding, for ensuring that we know almost as much about your
business, your market and your competition as you do. The more we know, the more
we can help.
T is for transposing, for spending time in your customers’ shoes and, by
understanding their needs, better align your offering to suit.
O is for objective setting, for turning your desired outcomes into quantifiable
goals that are specific, measurable and realistic.
P is for planning, for examining the options and determining which of them
is most likely to achieve the desired result.
I is for implementing, for turning the plans into action in a precise and
coordinated manner.
A is for analysing, for measuring, monitoring, updating, reviewing and reflecting
upon, well, all of the above!
So there you have it, marketing utopia. By applying this approach to all aspects
of our work you can guarantee that we're working at all times towards the same end-goal
that you are. By ensuring that objectives are quantifiable you can be sure you are
getting that all important return on investment. By measuring and monitoring the
outcomes of ongoing activity, we can react quickly to any change that may occur,
whether that's within your company, your sector, your target audience or the world
at large.
If you would like to find out how Metrix can apply utopia to your marketing communications
challenges, then please
talk to us.
Metrix is more than your average marketing communications agency: we are a full
service, integrated agency.
What does that really mean? It means that, when it comes to marketing communications,
we can do it all – and then some. It also means you’ll have a single point of contact
within a single agency dealing with every aspect of your campaign. It means that
you are free to do your job without having to juggle multiple agencies.
By working with Metrix you don’t just have our team of marketing communications
professionals at your service. Our network of partners means you have access to
a range of skills and services that come together to provide the complete package.
This partnership style of working means overheads are kept to a minimum as they’re
only there when you need them.
You want a website? We can design it, write the copy, take the photos, film the
video, code the website and host it. You want a direct mail campaign? We can handle
the copy, the creative, the printing… we’ll even lick the envelopes.
Importantly, before we start we’ll work with you to define exactly what the activity
should achieve – and then put systems in place to monitor performance in practice.
We work with
t2 to deliver leading-edge graphic design
and websites, with
ADV Conamole and
TDH Marketing
to support clients in Italy and the USA, and with
PFK to
extend our capabilities in internal communications.
Metrix is proud to be a Peterborough Bondholder and a member of the Peterborough
Envirocluster.
