Reading Room
Margaret Manning
Margaret Manning is the CEO Reading Room, Digital Marketing Agency of the Year (Impact Awards). Founded in 1997, Reading Room was set up to harness the power of the Internet for clients.
Margaret’s philosophy is to stimulate thinking on the communication benefits of the Internet, advocating the web as a “channel for business” through the creative use of technology, design and content. Margaret has given a number of keynote speeches, and hosted workshops and seminars, at national and international events – for example at Internet World in London and Sydney, Ad:Tech London, the Internet Advertising Bureau, the Institute of Directors, the Chartered Management Institute and the IDM.
A fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Margaret is a highly respected figure within the New Media Industry and is currently on the IPA’s Digital Media Committee and sits on the advisory panel of .Net magazine as well as being a committee member for the Media Society for whom she is currently producing a series of debates on the impact of the digital revolution. She was also previously Vice Chair for the British Interactive Media Association (BIMA).
Margaret qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Price Waterhouse in 1987 and spent three years post qualification working on special projects. Prior to joining Reading Room she was a senior manager at 3i plc involved in business process re-engineering.
Margaret was voted Female Entrepreneur of the Year in the 2008 Fast Growth Business awards and named as one of the top 50 media people to watch in the ‘Courvoisier Future 500’ in the Observer (Sunday 25th November 2007). Margaret was the winner in the 2008 Science & Technology section of the Lloyds TSB First Woman awards and was specially commended in the Credit Suisse Award in the 2008 National Business Awards for Entrepreneur of the Year.
This year Margaret was a finalist in both the Ernst & Young Entrepeneur of the Year Regional Programme and National Business Awards Regional Programme, Entrepeneur of the Year.
Reading Room is a leading digital communications agency. Reading Room started with a staff of two from a flat in north London in 1997 – at about the same time that a computer first beat a human world champion at chess. Their mission then was to get their clients to understand the power and potential of the web – and to send spinning globes down the drain – which were everywhere. That mission remains the same, though instead of spinning globes Reading Room now helps clients to get rid of what they perceive to be the senseless, gratuitous use of Flash and get real benefits from Web 2.0. They now provide the best digital communications to clients around the world. With a staff of more than 150 working from offices in London and Manchester in the UK and Sydney and Canberra in Australia Reading Room has an annual turnover of £10m.
Awards:
2009
- NMA Top 100 (ranked 10th)
- Recommended Agency Register (RAR) (Nationally Recommended)
- Interactive Media Awards – Top 10 Digital Agencies of the Year
- Design Week Top 100 (Ranked 9th)
- Design Week Top Ten UK digital agencies (Ranked 3rd)
- Media Momentum Digital League (Ranked 35th)
- Best Companies Accreditation (One to watch)
- The Drum New Year Honours List, Top Digital agency in NW
2008
- Sunday Times Tech Track 100, Commercial Excellence Award (shortlisted)
- Highest ranked digital communications agency, Sunday Times Tech Track 100
- NMA Top 100 (Ranked 8th)
- Design Week, third largest independent digital design agency in UK
- The Drum Top 100, Top Digital Agency in NW
Reading Room was also shortlisted for the Blackberry – Best Company for advancing women in technology – in an impressive shortlist of BT, Dell and Lloyds TSB.
