In the Hot Seat - Raoul Shah and Tim Bourne

by Julia Buchanan Promotions & Incentives 09-Apr-08, 10:25

Exposure made a strong debut at the recent MCCA Best Awards. Julia Buchanan talks to the joint CEOs, Raoul Shah and Tim Bourne, to find out more.

Talk to Exposure's joint CEOs for any length of time and you'll feel like jacking it all in for a chance to work for them. Raoul Shah and Tim Bourne have an infectious enthusiasm for their work, and the agency's success at the Marketing Communication Consultants Association (MCCA) Awards last month shows there's a lot to be excited about.

Exposure's Plane Relief Plus work for Virgin Trains in 2007 won best communication campaign featuring sales promotion and was runner-up in the Best of the Best category. This is the first year Exposure has entered the awards or even been a member. The agency celebrates its 15th anniversary this year, but Bourne feels the MCCA did not reflect the agency's approach until recently, when it took on a broader remit.

"If we gave you ten clients, you'd get at least ten definitions of what Exposure is," Bourne says. "Whether we're doing media relations or experiential marketing or sales promotion, frankly we don't really care." For Bourne, what's essential is that the method gets the best results.

Shah says the shift towards integration means their competitors are beginning to share their ethos. "Everyone suddenly starts going, 'Word of mouth's the most powerful tool for future communication,'" he jokes. "That's strange - isn't that what we've been doing for years?"

Shah founded Exposure with an integrated approach in mind after moving from Pepe-owned brand Hardcore Jeans. Initially working with fashion brands, it expanded into blue-chip clients when Bourne joined in 1997. Now with clients ranging from Red Bull to Dr Martens, they argue their "hybrid" style is attracting a wider array of brands. They're now working on campaigns for Bulmers Pear Cider and Cadbury's Flake.

With Exposure offices in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, they're also hoping to establish a joint venture in Japan and considering India. It's a far cry from BBL, the agency Bourne set up with a friend when he was 24. He had to invent a third partner, Harry Lime of The Third Man, to give it more credibility.

The two have tried to create a workplace that's "better than being at home". And when they can claim to have gone bowling with Kylie Minogue, you can understand their enthusiasm.

CV
RAOUL SHAH 2008 CEO, Exposure Group 1993 Founder, Exposure
1992: Manager, Hardcore Jeans, Pepe Jeans Group

TIM BOURNE 2008 CEO, Exposure Group
1997: Joint managing director, Exposure
1993: Board director, Billington Cartmell
1992: Board director, Interfocus
1988: Founder, BBL, part of KLP Group.