Our People
You’ll find us hard working and highly committed but just as importantly, we’re good to work with. There’s no such thing as an average Seal, we are all different but with a shared energy and vitality.
Select a member of the team:
Nigel Pipkin, Katie Morris, Mike Pritchard, Sarah Sanford, Julie Price, Chris Morris, Lucy Kemp
Day Job
Hello. I'm Nigel Pipkin, Director at Seal. I take a strategic role on accounts. It's my job to ensure the teams deliver outstanding campaigns and first class results that make our clients proud. All good PR, whether B2C or B2B, traditional or social media, should include a healthy sprinkling of 'Eureka moments'. Ordinary just isn't good enough if your client is to stand out from the crowd. But inspirational ideas must be grounded in what's achievable, which is where experience and insight are invaluable. A barn-storming idea is all very well. But it's so much confetti in the wind if it doesn't feed back into a client's business objectives and achieve the desired results - a measurable change in the target audience's behaviour or in their perceptions of a brand. Giving a strategic view, sometimes acting as a 'critical friend', is also part of the role. Good advice isn't always about saying 'yes'. Working so closely with the media we often find out about competitor activity or spot business opportunities before the client. That advice can be priceless. As well as keeping the Seal PR team's on task and motivated, that's an easy job ' I seek to ensure the highest standards in all that we do. From headline grabbing press releases and eye-catching photographs to nurturing relationships that really matter, from key journalists to other influencers. Also, operating within an integrated agency, offering PR, design, marketing and digital services, I take the wider view in recommending which are the most appropriate communications tools to bring to bear to maximise clients' budgets.
Weekend Job
The sun shines, the birds sing and all of Saturday and Sunday is spent being Alan Titchmarsh, bringing my garden up to 'Yellow Book' standard. Well, that's the dream! In truth, yes it looks nice but it could be so much better. It's lucky that moss is the same colour as grass. And I still haven't entirely cleared my compost heap after 23 years! So that's what I enjoy the most, digging, weeding, pruning, planting. If I were to describe my gardening style it would be like Jamie Oliver's cooking. Rip this, tear that. Anti-fussy. But the result is very satisfying. So Friday night, relax, unwind, drink (a little) beer or wine, read Gardener's World magazine. Interact with family. Saturday plan to watch Dr Who. Talk my way out of going shopping. Make soup for wife's return from shops. Work at 'the list' of jobs that's been left me. Steal a guilty hour in the garden, while listening to the Villa. Get the tea. Remember Dr Who too late. Go out with friends - in the summer to see The Subterraneans or the Crisis Blues Band. In the winter the world has to stop for 'Strictly Come Dancing' (and Day Job for 'It Takes Two'). Sunday morning is devoted to Radio 4 and the Sunday roast (with home grown herbs). Desert Island Discs, Just a Minute or Sorry I Haven't a Clue and, of course, Gardeners' Question Time. Grab another hour in the garden if can get away with it (and while doing so come up with another PR brainwave). Early evening get round to watching Dr Who on iPlayer. Finally, trot off to bed after updating iPod nano with Friday night's News Quiz for listening later Day Job.
Day Job
As Chief Executive my role is to lead and oversee the output from the agency. I make it my business to ensure we deliver outstanding and inspirational service that sets us above the competition and keeps clients coming back for more. And that means keeping close to clients and staff alike. I'm a people person so this is my perfect job, getting under the skin of clients, finding out what makes them tick and how we can meet their aspirations. Keeping involved with the team, helping them to meet their own professional goals as well as the agency's. It means constantly pushing the boundaries to crack an idea or a problem; supporting and driving people to do better and push further and being a critical friend where it's needed to ensure we get the right results every time. I believe that's genuine consultancy and it's what our clients have come to expect. Honesty, insight and hard work. A winning combination.
Weekend Job
It doesn't take more than a whiff of vanilla or the whirr of the magimix to get me out of work mode and into the kitchen. A self confessed foodie junky, I must also fess up to regular lurking in Waterstones at weekends, loitering around the culinary section leafing my way through Heston's Big Fat Duck Cookbook or drooling over A Day at elBulli. The genius of it all. My favourite cookery course, a brilliant birthday surprise one year from my husband , was a course at Raymond Blanc's Le Manoir aux Quatre Saisons, learning how to dazzle at a dinner party. I arrived with excitement and trepidation and it didn't disappoint. A small group of like minded souls, hell bent on learning more, we lived through every emotion possible to man , anticipation, intensity, a good sprinkling of pressure with a generous helping of genuine fun. I enjoyed every second from watching the professionals in action making it all look so easy, to dashing out between the unseasonal rain showers to pick handfuls of herbs for my dish fresh from his legendary cottage garden. Cooking to me is the ultimate creative activity it satisfies all the senses with how it looks, tastes and smells . It's the centre of our social lives at home whether it's serving up a flavour explosion for culinary friends or just tucking into a family roast, food is the ultimate connector. It can say you're special, welcome home or don't worry far better than any greetings card. It's my way of showing how I feel to those I love. I am pleased to say I appear to have passed at least some of this great passion of mine on to my daughter who is just becoming interested in cooking, having a go at mixing flavours and ideas and impressing her friends along the way. Perhaps I will get her that new lemon reamer for her birthday after all? Who needs Chloe ankle boots anyway , you can't walk in them and they're bound to be out of fashion by Thursday!
Day Job
Hi, I'm Mike Pritchard, Business Development Director at Seal. My role is to build our business through winning new clients, growing business from existing clients and ensuring that we are fully meeting and challenging their expectations. I'm also very involved in the strategic support on key accounts, from research planning to brand strategy. I think that our core strength is the quality of our people at Seal and we work together to deliver outstanding and insightful ideas to help build business. Our awards for campaign effectiveness prove this. My job is to broadcast Seal and our strengths throughout the marketing industry in the UK, particularly emphasising our cross discipline strengths in PR, Digital and Marketing. Encouraging prospective clients who are reviewing their agency relationships to consider Seal as a potential business partner. These are difficult times for both clients and agencies. Certainly those who have survived the last 3 years, where we have seen savage cuts to marketing budgets, are now looking to rebuild their businesses and support their brands. We are certainly sensing a degree of optimism with more clients investing in marketing again. And there is evidence of an increasing number of pitches which is encouraging and is the opportunity for us to show off our skills. My focus is for Seal to be invited to participate in these pitches. And win.
Weekend Job
Mortimer says, As an ambition we should all grow old disgracefully, which seems a fine ambition to me. Weekends are spent diving, climbing, cycling, skiing or otherwise depending on the time of year. Anything not involving comfy chairs and slippers. And certainly not TV. We will have spent evenings during the week planning for the weekend, which usually means loading up the car on Friday night with either bulky scuba gear, or rucksacks filled with dry bags (it is the UK after all) and all of the clobber needed to head for the hills. Then we'll head off early (6am) on Saturday either usually to North Wales where we keep our Club RIB (inflatable boat) if we're diving, or to Snowdonia if we're climbing. Fueled with bacon baps and mugs of tea, we'll then begin attempting 2 dives during the day. Or, heading off to a distant summit. Either are challenges and both are very satisfying. Then, if we have had a successful day it's all down to the pub to discuss the day in great detail, or else wend our way home. It's a great contrast to my working week. And a great way to get stuff out of your system, and also time to think. Whether you're watching scallops dancing at 20 metres, or finally reaching that trig point these are wonderful moments to enjoy. It's also very refreshing to be with people from other very diverse walks of life. For example, Dentists, Fireman even a fertility expert (!) are club members. Then if we are back in a day we'll often have friends staying over on Saturday which means it's action stations in the kitchen. We'll conjure up a Goan curry then contentedly settle into great conversation and good wine. Sunday is never planned, except for our roast dinner at 6pm with my wife's magic roast potatoes. An unbeatable, irresistible and disgraceful pleasure.
Day Job
As Design & Marketing Director I hold an unusual role at Seal, in that I oversee both the marketing department and design studio. This was a natural evolvement as both departments are so entwined and integrated in their approach. I believe that everything is for a reason and apply this to both my business and personal life. In business, it means that we have a strategy behind everything we do. From providing rationale to a creative design to a complete brand review.
Weekend Job
I really don't like the word 'Twitcher' as it conjures up images of people with a nervous disposition, or a more mature person dressed in tweed spending hours watching birds through binoculars but I have to admit that I have created what I deem as a bird haven in my back garden. From fat balls and niger feeders to huskless nuts and suet logs, the feeding station is a food fest for my feathered friends. So far I have been rewarded with greater spotted woodpeckers, blue tits, great tits, long tailed tits, coal tits, nuthatches, bullfinches and goldfinches (who also nested in one of my hedges joy!) including jays, thrushes, robins and blackbirds. Unfortunately, it does also encourage foxes, pigeons, magpies, ravens, crows and the absolute bane of my life - squirrels, who manage to squeeze themselves into the squirrel resistant cages and gorge on the food until they're too fat to escape! Other than fighting with squirrels, a lot of my time is spent reading. I have been a huge fan of an imaginative story since a child, working my way through every Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl tale. These days I can get through at least 2-3 novels a month. From Wilbur Smith swashbucklers and Harlen Coben's psychological thrillers, to non-fiction harrowing stories such as Empty Cradles by Margaret Humphreys. After penning many a short story, my aim is to get something published which will hopefully enthrall and captivate children as I once was. This does paint the picture of quite a serene person but don't be fooled! In fact I love nothing more than rocking out to bands such as the Foo Fighters at their latest gigs.
Day Job
Leading a great, talented team at Seal Shrewsbury, my role is to oversee the strategic and creative direction across PR, marketing and design. It is my responsibility to ensure we have a strategy in place to create stand-out for our clients to offer a competitive advantage. Working across B2C and B2B, we gain an in-depth knowledge of our clients businesses and the sectors in which they operate. Only by becoming an intrinsic part of their team can we deliver creative concepts and campaigns which resonate with key target audiences and drive sales. This is a fast moving industry and it is crucial to keep pace with new developments and invest in technology. By using the full arsenal of on and offline, print and broadcast communication channels, we ensure we get our client's message out there! But most importantly, work has to be a stimulating place to be and only by having fun with my team, can we collectively achieve fantastic results. Those who laugh together work better together , well that's the theory and to keep it fresh, work has to be enjoyable and rewarding. It is here.
Weekend Job
The team at Seal has worked with Grand Designs Live to promote the exhibition at the NEC and at weekends my husband and I are doing our very own grand design. Since we bought an old Arts and Crafts country house, under the watchful eye of my husband, I've discovered DIY skills I never knew existed. Plumbing was unchartered territory but with the aid of a patient specialist and the internet, I now know all about overcoming the challenges of lack of water pressure and what previously was a 'black art' is now making sense. We've met some great craftsmen along the way and when we come up against a problem we think can't be resolved, their skills and knowledge have been invaluable. Learning about the problems surrounding metal window frames and restoring stained glass are now all part of our weekend - UPVC windows are well and truly a thing of the past. With an acre of unruly hillside to tame, there's no time for going to the cinema or a restaurant anymore, but I've discovered my practical side. Once a person averse to any form of manual labour, I've found it is really satisfying - totally exhausting - yet so rewarding and after a hard day's labour, what could be better than to sit back, celebrate with a glass or two and look at what has been achieved. Our lovely old house is now taking shape and I look forward to the day when my nails grow again and weekends are about getting dressing up to go out. But for the foreseeable future, it is still boots and power tools for me.
Day Job
Hello. I'm Chris Morris, Chairman of Seal. I take an industry wide perspective on our market looking for the emerging trends and opportunities whilst keeping a keen eye not only on the smooth running of Seal's offices but also the financial performance of each of our PR, Digital, Marketing & Design departments. It's my job to ensure Seal reaches its full potential and the only way it can do that is by being better than anyone we are compared against. Seal is a wholly owned subsidiary of Morris & Co Ltd, a family business I am proud to be a 5th generation representative of. Whilst Seal is owned, it is not a faceless investment fund I report to but my brother, cousin and wise father... though sometimes it can feel like the former! It's an intrinsic drive within my family which has helped us to achieve great things in business over the last 145 years, this drive has emerged in me as a passion to provide outstanding clarity of thought for our clients. Seal is many things to many clients offering multiple services from a select group of talented individuals I am proud to call my colleagues. I have a meticulous character trait which runs slightly at odds against the creative side of my brain which constantly tries to breakout, but it's this exacting side of me which insists on high levels of competence from all Seals. This often requires tricky conversations and difficult decisions, but being unafraid to demand a 'blow your socks off' performance each and every day is I believe what ultimately makes Seal a caliber agency worthy of the business partners we are proud and fortunate enough to call clients.
Weekend Job
This is when the creative side of me breaks through and wins! Against a backdrop of a working week often requiring restraint, I throw myself at the many physical passions I pursue. So over a weekend you might find me rock climbing, racing my motorbike or competing on a tennis, squash or fives court-or all three. also have to confess to being an addict of that most wonderful self generating drug within all of us - epinephrine, more commonly known as adrenaline. Over the past 40 years I have found that the best way to trigger the above is by one means or another getting myself airborne, whether high diving, paragliding, canoeing over waterfalls, running ski jumps or bungee jumping, I'm in! I share my home with two dogs a wonderful step-daughter and beautiful wife Katie - Seal's Chief Exec (told you it was a family business) who enrich my emotional side and keep my spiritual feet on the ground. My brother and I have a great relationship. Robin is Chairman of our holding company Morris & Co Ltd. Outside of work our dynamic is competitive, always has been, always will be. In work, a partnership has evolved with older brother taking his rightful place at the helm with me the younger brother in a supporting role. A very natural scenario. Films usually play a part at some stage of the weekend so the obligatory over-sized TV has been tactfully negotiated into pride of place, complete with booming surround sound which, when delivering a full effect viewing experience, sometimes generates a similar response to when I go that bit too fast on the HOG!
Day Job
It's my job to ensure we deliver first class campaigns on behalf of our varied client base. Whether that's through print, broadcast or social media. As an agency we offer strategic advice to our clients ensuring the right message reaches the desired target audience, and more importantly our activity delivers against the overall business objectives. One of the greatest pieces of advice ever given to me was to always think like the client and I believe this is what gives Seal the edge. We understand client's needs and strive to deliver over and above what is required. Aside from client relations I see a major part of my role as developing the talented team at Seal HQ. Coaching and leading by example has always been ingrained in the way I work and I hope I inspire those that work around me, I certainly learn from them every day (!) The face of PR is changing, the way we evaluate and feed in to the overall marketing mix has never been more important. Campaigns need to not only deliver column inches but also strategically fit into the business. As an agency we work closely with the client marketing/communications teams to ensure we can tangibly evaluate campaigns ' it's no longer good enough to only report AVE (advertising value equivalent). Our approach is to agree, at the outset, a measurement criteria to which we consistently monitor and evaluate. Whether its driving traffic, footfall or capturing data we enjoy the challenge of putting PR at the heart of the client's business. We're a fully integrated agency and as a PR team have fully embraced the power of social media. Our team is constantly striving to keep up to date with the latest industry news from social media maximization, search engine optimization to social media strategy. The landscape of PR is evolving quickly and we understand we need to stay one step ahead of the game.
Weekend Job
I guess you could say I'm adventure seeker who loves a physical challenge. I've recently developed a passion for climbing mountains as well as skiing down them. When not at work I can be found out and about in Birmingham's pubs and bars or shooting goals on the netball court. On a more chilled weekend I enjoy tending to my urban city centre garden or cooking up a veggie storm in the kitchen (yes veggie food can be fun)
