About

Introduction

Let me take you on a little trip, round the corners of the M4 corridor and down through edges of Surrey’s garden into a town called Reading.

Where the dank pubs on grimy street corners are named after the Dickensian dream that never lived (Charles was asked to be MP, but kindly refused). Where Wave currently reside, close enough to the Oracle for lunchtime shopping, far enough away to enjoy the tranquility of solitude that is Southampton Street. 

So, just who are Wave? Well, that’s the easy bit. We’re somewhere just shy of the best kept secret in recruitment marketing. We’re that agency that has walked up to the stage in relative silence on a few occasions in the last year or so, to collect a CIPD 2010 for Best Press Advertisement, a RAD Award 2010 for Best Print Advertisement Commercial, one in 2011 for Best Outdoor Ambient Campaign and more recently at the 2011 CIPD Awards, Best Recruitment Effectiveness and the holy grail itself, the 2011 Agency of the Year.

The ripple of applause and bewilderment still makes us smile. 

Still not heard of us? We thought not, but that’s OK, it’s the way we like it, sneaking about under the radar of our London brothers from our second office in Oxford Street, rescuing clients like G4S and Virgin Holidays from behind enemy lines.

Wave is led by David Jenkins (Director) and Mike Tamlyn (Creative Director), and is forging ahead where others are falling behind. 

Innovation

Great work is not just about winning prizes, (although they are nice and shiny) it’s about delivering our clients a solution that makes the target audience stand up and take notice and delivers outstanding results.

Take YHA for example, where we generated over 1,800 applications in 2 months. Our Jobs that ROCK! Campaign, for G4S, saw a massive 600% response increase on their previous year’s results, CONEL lowered their average spend by £300 per week and saw no drop in quality or quantity. 

We’ve helped charities recruit more fundraisers, schools recruit new teachers, and even helped one company recruit more cleaners. You see for every high profile case study there are dozens more for companies you’ve probably never heard of. Companies probably a bit like Wave. So awards are nice, but happy clients are the best!

Whatever the brief, our ethos remains the same. Find the audience. Be innovative. Be creative. Deliver every time.

Wave work with range of clients, across every sector - commercial, public sector, education, engineering, finance including G4S - the second largest private employer in the world.

2010 was a huge year for Wave in terms of new client wins picking up no less than 29 new clients. Highlights include working with the National Enterprise Academy (NEA) which is an academy run by Dragons’ Den star and entrepreneur Peter Jones. Peter Jones wasn’t the only celebrity we started working with as we picked up Rick Stein’s Seafood Company as well. 

Then there are Wipro and Cognizant, two of the largest IT outsourcing organisations in the World, where we have been undertaking both European and International recruitment work. Other notable wins include Hitatchi, RADA, and FT capping off very a successful year on the new business front.

What makes us different?

If you have a think about what one small, but highly motivated agency, (that you have still probably never heard of) has achieved in the last year, it’s quite something. And let’s not forget that this wasn’t just any year, it was a year that saw unemployment exceed two million and where the majority of organisations simply stopped recruiting.

Firstly, it’s about consistently producing great work for our clients. They love us because we care what about the result. Because we partner with their HR departments and work with them to find the right solution. We know that it’s not always about the prettiest picture or the coolest idea, it’s about creating something that works and delivers. 

Then of course there’s our impressive expansion and 29 client wins in the last 12 months. While most agencies were battening down the hatches, we were intent on progress. 

So we pushed ourselves further, we promoted our clients to 5 million viewers on the BBC and took social media to a whole new level with YHA Social World, an industry first. We lowered costs, increased applications and helped companies find the exact talent they were after. 

As you can see we have stayed innovative rather than playing the safe game and it’s paying off for both Wave and our clients. It’s opening doors to new clients and providing a secondary route to new business and helping us realise our growth plans.

We never forget that it’s all about the clients and the relationships we have with them. They trust us and we trust them. It’s this that allows Wave to keep doing great work, time and time again. Our clients choose us because of our approach and the honest way we do things around here, and we’re proud of that. 

And let’s not forget the recognition we’ve received from the rest of the industry. Less than three years ago, we were mainly media buyers, were half the size and barely had a creative department. Now we’re producing award winning work on a regular basis, across an array of media categories and that ripple of applause gets a little louder each each time. The table next to us at the 2011 CIPDs cheered as our name was called. Now who would have ever thought that would happen.

We’re Wave, that little agency creating big results. We’re normally too modest to say but we’ve got massive ambitions, we’re here to stay and we'd love to work and build a fantastic relationship with you too.

Client testimonials 

Angela Renfrew - G4S Recruitment Manager

“Wave have breathed new life into our recruitment process, helping us to get the responses that we need which makes my job so much easier. 

I put my faith into Wave with the recruitment campaigns and they have always delivered, I trust them but also importantly I genuinely enjoy working with everyone there. Nothing is ever too much bother and its great having them in our corner.  Thank you Wave!”

Chris Long - YHA Resourcing Manager    

“Put simply, we couldn’t be happier with Wave. Their implementation of the new recruitment website has made a significant impact on engaging with potential employees and our current staff. 

We have seen the quality of candidates improve this year too, and we believe this is down to them being better informed and fully engaged from the content of the sites.

Cost savings this year have reduced significantly again, which is a fantastic saving year on year“.