Member Spotlight: Al Mackin, Director & Founder – theEword

I’m Al Mackin, director and founder of digital strategy agency theEword. We’ve been helping organisations make sense of their digital marketing for seventeen years. In that time I co-chaired the pro-manchester Digital and Creative committee and I’m also the chair of the charity Forever Manchester.

2. Career highlight

We’ve always been interested in how technology can help solve our customer’s problems and eight years ago we spun out a platform that optimises checkout processes and online forms. That project was incubated in the Seedcamp accelerator, and we went on to raise ~£1m in funding so it can exist and grow in its own right. In the early days, we spent time in San Francisco, New York, Boston and London – a fascinating and valuable experience.

3. Name three words that describe your personality

I deferred to my team on this and they said: thoughtful, wise and funny. I promise you they did say the last one, I was as surprised as anyone.

4. What’s the best thing about pro-manchester

We’ve been members for over ten years now, and pro-manchester has been an important part of my organisation’s growth, and also my own. In the early days, it afforded me valuable speaking and training experiences, then it gave me the opportunity to run a sub-committee all the while giving us a chance to speak to suppliers or potential customers.

5. What are your priorities for 2024

We work with clients who are on a growth trajectory and three of our longest-standing relationships are expanding further this year. That means we’ll be working with them in new territories and encountering new challenges, so our priority is the onboarding of new team-members and ensuring that we maintain our high standards of delivery and customer experience.

6. What do you think are the most important things going on in Manchester at the moment?

I think the proposed changes in transport are critical for the city, and the region, although the rate of change is slow and the ambition seems hampered by the lack of funding. I’ve lived here since the 1990s and the ease, speed and cost of transportation has steadily declined. If we’re to truly cement our second-city status then we have to follow through on the 2040 Transport Strategy, and go beyond that.

7. Favourite meeting place in Manchester

Siop Shop in the Northern Quarter, it’s local to our office and they bake incredible doughnuts. It’s small, comfortable and a really nice place to meet.

8. Are there any particular types of businesses that you want to work with?

We’re transitioning to a property-first agency, covering the residential, commercial, leisure and student accommodation sectors, so we’re always talking to people within those areas. Each sub-sector has unique opportunities when it comes to digital marketing, and despite the headwinds there’s a lot of energy and enthusiasm for change and improvement.

Get In Touch

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 0800 014 9884

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/almackin/