Text 100: Looking Back Three Decades

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by Andrew McGregor, Chief Operating Officer, Text 100

Text 100 is celebrating its 30^th anniversary this month.  To mark the occasion, the Australian team asked me to reflect on the company’s longevity.  While three decades of operation doesn’t make us the world’s oldest public relations agency by any measure it’s certainly a milestone we’re proud of.  Academic research alone reveals that that simply getting to this point is a noteworthy feat.  According to the Australian Productivity Commission less than 50% of new companies are still operating ten years later. The figure is reputedly higher in the USA.  Equally, the annals of BRW and Fortune magazine are littered with names of organisations that failed when their founders moved on.

In short, Text 100 has defied the odds.  Thirty years ago two young blokes called Mark Adams (21) and Tom Lewis (25) began working together from a living room in Richmond, West London.  Initially, they did technical writing for technology companies, a focus that proved incredibly fortuitous. By chance Text 100 was incorporated on the same day that IBM launched its first personal computer; a machine that revolutionised industry and paved the way for today’s internet age.

Dare I confess how vividly I recall the day a PC appeared on my desk? It was 1991 and I was 26 years old.  “What do you want me to do with that?” I asked.  Unbeknown to me everyone had decided the young turk in the office would know what to do.  Years later I interviewed a client for a customer story about this new fangled thing they were promoting; the internet. Again, I couldn’t see how this network would help me or any other average bloke. Ditto for email.

Text 100 hitched its wagon to this juggernaut almost by accident.  Early in 1982, Mark and Tom got a phone call from a very small American company that made programming languages for computers. It was looking to launch in Europe as the business was doing well; even IBM was keen to work with it.  One the executives, a guy called Steve, flew over to London to meet up. They all got along just fine.  A month or so later, Mark and Tom drove two of Steve’s colleagues through Germany and France, conducting media interviews and brain-storming a regional communications strategy. The software company was Microsoft and the leading characters were of course; Steve Ballmer (25), Bill Gates (26) and Paul Allen (28).  As they say, “the rest is history.”

Today, Text 100 is a global business.  We have offices in 17 countries and more than 500 staff. We count the technology industry’s biggest names as clients. Last year our growth worldwide exceeded six percent in a tumultuous economic environment.  I share these statistics, not to boast, but to preface the fact that Mark and Tom moved on almost a decade ago.  Why has the company thrived, when global giants like Apple and Starbucks have struggled to make the same transition?

I attribute Text 100’s survival to the same quantities that have maintained my own loyalty for more than 13 years.  That is, a consistent and caring internal culture.  Over the years I’ve had the opportunity to visit every one of our 25 offices worldwide, along with those of our many licensed partners.  The experience is the same wherever I go.  Our people are passionate.  They love what they do.  They’re a curious bunch who instinctively think and feel the same way about client service and results-oriented public relations.  This homogenous culture is powerful glue.  Over the years I’ve watched it break down barriers; transcend national cultures and break through impossible challenges; both personal and professional.  It encourages people to stick at things until they succeed.

Biologists talk about “survival of the fittest” as the secret to a species success.  Text 100 has taught me that “giving a damn”; be it for a client’s need, a co-worker’s well-being or the quality of our work is the real secret to survival.  This quality has sustained our success long after the founders moved on; then as the company became global and now as we transform ourselves into a digital leader.  We’ve never wanted to be the biggest; just the best or, at the very least, a bunch committed to enjoying what they do.

As for the photo below?  They’re the three people who opened Text 100 Australia in 1998; and one of them is me.  Happy Birthday Text 100!

Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared on the Text 100 Aussie blog, Digital Comms Down Under.