Blue Rubicon launches strategic arm Thirty Six Strategy

Two of the senior strategists behind Labour Party general election campaigns will lead the agency, named Thirty Six Strategy.

Spencer Livermore, formerly director of strategy in 10 Downing Street, and Patrick Loughran, previously special adviser to Peter Mandelson, plan to apply election campaign strategies to the issues facing UK corporates and brands.

Livermore explained: ‘Thirty Six Strategy will bring the election war room to Britain’s boardrooms in a genuinely new approach to help  companies and brands outperform their competition.

‘Thirty Six Strategy is founded on the conviction that – in an environment with sceptical consumers, a hostile media, and fierce competition – the challenges faced by businesses and politics are now so alike that the strategic solutions should be too.’

The agency’s proposition is that the strategies that underpin the fight between political parties are directly applicable to the battles between Coca-Cola and Pepsi or Burger King and McDonald’s.

The consultancy will draw on expertise across Blue Rubicon, but will operate as a separate agency with its own branding and website.

Thirty Six Strategy is named after an ancient Chinese ‘war book’ of proverbs and wisdom to be used in war, politics, diplomacy and espionage. The agency plans to create ‘war books’ for clients, advising on strategy, positioning, narrative and structure.

Livermore is director of strategy at Blue Rubicon, having come from ad firm Saatchi & Saatchi Fallon in early 2009. For ten years from 1997 he was a senior election strategist in the New Labour machine.

Loughran is an associate director at Blue Rubicon who worked as Lord Mandelson’s top media adviser during his most recent spell in Government and alongside Livermore in Labour’s ‘attack unit’.

The pair will be joined in the new venture by associate directors Jenny Jamie and Dan Smith.

This article was first published on prweek.com