One year on from the MBO of Frank PR
On the show this week we’re catching up with Frank PR’s Graham Goodkind and Alex Grier, one year on from a particularly eye-catching deal where Alex and Graham bought back the remaining 75% of Frank for approximately £850,000 from Enero.
14 years earlier, back in 2007, Frank was sold to Photon Group (as Enero was then known) for more than £20m.
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Here’s a summary of what we discussed:
1.30 mins Graham talks us through the history of Frank's original sale, the original earn-out and the subsequent 25% share buyback deal with Enero.
4 mins Why Graham fell out of love with PR and how he got it back.
5 mins and 7.30 mins Why did Alex and Graham buy Frank back?
6 mins Graham talks us through the negotiation of the MBO to buy Frank back.
10.30 mins How much did Alex and Graham buy Frank back for?
“The business was treading water…the work wasn’t as exciting”
13 mins What was its fee income of Frank in the year before it was bought and what is the fee income now?
14 mins What changes have Graham and Alex made to the business since the MBO?
“The business was being run way too much by numbers”
“We were financially driven, now we’re creatively driven”
“Structurally we had a whole creative department, planners, strategists…but we hadn’t really come up with an award-winning campaign in years. We had amazing Powerpoint presentations!”
20 mins Can you track the rebirth or Frank to the Weetabix and Beans campaign?
22.30 mins How many brands rung up Frank wanting their Weetabix and Beans moment?
27 mins What is Frank today? A consumer PR firm or a social media agency?
27.30 mins How big do Alex and Graham want Frank 3.0 to get?
“As an agency, you need to grow - as that’s the way your people can grow.”
30 mins Graham talks us through his exit plan for Frank 3.0 - does he envisage making another call to Enero in a couple of years' time?!