The Point. 1888 has detailed the launch of a new marketing agency, Story.1888, a new business arm that will be headed up by specialists in the marketing and advertising sectors, alongside a line-up of licensing and retail veterans to deliver new services such from product branding and style guides to content creation and brand management.

The new agency will be led by Martin McLaughlin, who joined The Point.1888 in June 2019, having previously delivered communications, advertising, and brand partnership planning for brands like T-Mobile, Cadbury, Amazon, Warner Music, and Ford. Since joining the team, he has grown a book of clients as well as its marketing and creative division.

The Story.1888 offering will include creative services such as product branding and style guides, product marketing, strategy, content creation and campaign management. The agency launches with three clients already on its books, including the retro animated hit, The Raccoons, and Comic Relief. McLaughlin and his team will work to create a global hub for fans around the world to celebrate the animated property, while carrying out strategic and creative work for Comic Relief.

McLaughlin said: “It’s not the norm for a brand licensing specialist to launch a marketing agency but it’s the most obvious next step. The licensing industry is great at creating amazing products, but not always so effective at telling the brand story and connecting the product purpose to the consumer. Connect those dots with a retail hat on and you can create really powerful moments that drive consumer love and revenue.”

The Point.1888’s managing director, Will Stewart, added: “Our business has experienced rapid growth thanks to talent, grit and strategic thinking. Pre-pandemic we saw there was a need for specialist marketing support for our brand licensing clients and we have taken our time to find the right team and approach to make it work. I’m thrilled to be able to reveal this exciting development for our business and cannot wait to see it grow.”

The Story.1888 team will be in attendance at BLE and will be taking meetings with interested parties to walk through their credentials and approach.