APPRENTICE TO CEO

36 YEARS ON, HERE'S WHAT I STILL THING MATTERS MOSTS

I joined AP&C as an apprentice over 36 years ago. Back then, we were a traditional print company in Newbury, and if you'd told me that one day we'd be running digital campaigns, AI-powered marketing strategies, live events, branded merchandise and full creative services under the same roof, I'd probably have laughed you out of the room.

What hasn't changed, in all that time, is the reason clients choose to work with us. It's never just been about print. It's about making people look good, solving problems they didn't always know they had, and delivering an experience that goes beyond what they expected. Everything else, the channels, the technology, the services, has just been the detail underneath that. Over three and a half decades, I've learned that businesses remember how you make them feel. They'll forget the paper stock on a brochure, the quantity on a print run, or the exact spec of an exhibition stand. What they don't forget is whether you made their life easier, and whether you did what you said you would. The importance of being ‘wooed’ One thing I've noticed over the years is that people rarely go home and talk about an average experience.

Nobody tells their family about a supplier who did exactly what was expected, no more, no less. They talk about the team who rescued a project the night before deadline. They talk about the supplier who spotted a problem before it became one. They talk about the event that ran without a hitch, because somebody behind the scenes had thought of every last detail. Being ‘wooed’ is rarely about grand gestures. Far more often, it comes down to attention to detail, taking ownership, and doing the small things properly. That's the standard we've always tried to hold ourselves to at AP&C: whether we're producing a large format print run, managing an exhibition stand, or building a marketing campaign from scratch.

Building a culture that lasts People often ask why I've spent almost my entire working life at one company, and it’s never a difficult question to answer: it's the people. Services evolve, technology transforms industries, and client needs shift constantly, but culture is what keeps a business moving forward through all of it. Over the years, we've built a team who genuinely care about our clients and about each other. Plenty of our clients have been with us for years, and so have plenty of our team. This never happens by accident. It comes from building an environment where people feel valued, trusted, and given the room to do their best work, and it's exactly why we've always taken the development of our team, from apprentices right through to senior roles, so seriously.

Why adaptability matters The marketing and print industry looks nothing like it did when I started out. We've moved from traditional print to fully integrated marketing: digital, events, branded merchandise to sit alongside the print production AP&C was built on. Today, we’re embracing AI-strategy. If there's one lesson 36 years has taught me, it's that standing still is never really an option. The businesses that last are the ones prepared to evolve while staying true to what they stand for. For AP&C, that means continuing to invest in new technology, new services and new ideas, without ever losing sight of the relationships that built this business in the first place.

On final thought… After more than three decades in this industry, I'm still genuinely excited about what's next. Not because of the latest tool or trend, but because every day brings a new opportunity to help a client achieve something they couldn't have done on their own. The tools will keep changing. The channels will keep changing. But delivering an experience that exceeds expectations, and building relationships that last.  That never goes out of fashion.

HEAR MORE FROM ANDREW

On the importance of being ‘wooed’ in marketing in our shiny new podcast ‘The Crunch’ 

WATCH NOW

If you're a Newbury or Berkshire business looking for a marketing and print partner who'll treat your project like it's our own, get in touch with the AP&C team. We'd love to hear what you're working on.