Stephen Knight on the virtual marketing agency drag and drop approach - MAF250 My guest this week is Stephen Knight, from Pimento. We talk about his "one agency, many flavours" approach to marketing solutions. Welcome to episode 250 of the Marketing and Finance Podcast. We chat about: How creative agencies have developed and how they interact with marketing teams Why marketers often don't have a seat at the board table Who does marketing strategy and whether the agency fits in How the virtual approach pools the talent of the country’s agencies – across PR, social media, design, web development and communications Why marketing needs a new 'drag and drop' approach Why the 'era of the specialist' is more important than ever in marketing communications. Stephen's lessons learned and challenges faced through working in-house and setting up a virtual agency network Who is Stephen Knight? Stephen has held a variety of positions at major international agencies including Bates Dorland, Lowe Howard-Spink and WCRS. He spent five years with the Walt Disney Company latterly as Senior Vice-President of Marketing and Brand Management for Europe, Middle East and Africa. In 2003, he joined Creata, a global promotions agency, as their European MD where amongst other things he oversaw the McDonalds, Ferrari and Kellogg’s accounts. Having worked successfully above and below the line, client and agency side, he felt it was time to do his own thing and founded Pimento in 2005, Europe’s largest virtual agency. Links and Show Notes. For links to the books and apps mentioned, please visit  http://rogeredwards.co.uk/MAF (http://rogeredwards.co.uk/MAF)  for the show notes. What is the Marketing and Finance (MAF) Podcast? The podcast for ideas and inspiration on marketing your business and growing your business, and for discussing topics on all things finance. I’m Roger Edwards, a marketing guy and keynote speaker from Edinburgh. Talk to me if you want to cut the BS and complexity from your marketing strategy. The MAF Podcast is a 30-minute radio show you download from  http://rogeredwards.co.uk/MAF (http://rogeredwards.co.uk/MAF) , iTunes or Spotify. Each week you'll hear interviews with business experts, marketers, entrepreneurs and journalists. Interviews to listen to in the car, on the train or on the treadmill. Or even in the bath! We talk about: How you can grow your business using content marketing and social media How you can keep your Marketing strategy and communications simple Topics, issues, products and business models from the world of finance You’ll take away one or two big ideas that you can apply to your business. So, you can keep marketing your business to keep growing your business. Please subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes and I’d be grateful if you would leave a review.  http://rogeredwards.co.uk/itunes (http://rogeredwards.co.uk/itunes) Fancy Appearing on the Show? Would you be interested in appearing on the MAF Podcast? Have you an exciting marketing or finance story to tell? Do you fancy drawing out some inspirational ideas that MAF listeners can take away to use in their own businesses? Do please contact me if you want to get involved.  http://rogeredwards.co.uk (http://rogeredwards.co.uk/)