If Liverpool is going to succeed as a regional commercial capital it needs to offer more than its name and its pop music heritage, one of the city’s leading businessmen has warned.
Speaking at an Invest in Liverpool breakfast, marketing guru Bryan Adams told the 100-plus audience: “We are incredibly good at being entrepreneurial, taking on large scale events such as the International Festival for Business and Accelerate, but we desperately need a more attractive commercial offer.”
Adams — whose own company motto is “Contagious, Disruptive Digital Strategies That Achieve Results” — then asked: “Exactly what are we inviting international businesses to invest in? What’s the incentive?
“We need a tangible commercial advantage to take to the market as an incentive for incoming companies other than ‘we’re Liverpool, the people are really friendly, and we produced the Beatles in the 1960s’.”
The chief executive and founder of Liverpool-based design agency, Ph.Creative then admitted that despite having his roots on Merseyside he would seriously consider relocating if it was in the interests of his business.
“It is like having a fantastic salesman bringing people into the city only to find we have nothing to sell,” Adams added. “Perhaps Liverpool Waters and Wirral Waters will give us something to offer bigger businesses but I think these benefits are still years in the making.”
He said that after 11 years of running a company in Liverpool he was less romantic about the location than ever before. “We will be in London shortly — where around 80 per cent of our business is already located — and the United States after that,” Adams explained. “Liverpool is a relatively low cost base for a service we can deliver anywhere in the world, but to attract and retain the calibre of client we’re looking to do business with, we’ve got to be active elsewhere.”
The event also heard from the boss of Quantum of Value, a consultancy persuaded to relocate to the city following financial support from the mayor’s incentive fund.
“One of our clients described Liverpool as a ‘well-kept secret’ after opening our office here last year,” said Allison Bacher, who decided to relocate her consultancy business from London to Liverpool when she could no longer suffer the three-hour daily commute.
“He genuinely did not know about the architecture and cultural activities, let alone the city’s appetite for corporate growth,” she said, “but I still believe the city needs to continue to promote its key business attractions such as the available skilled workforce and financial incentives.”
