Who we are

Alastair Giles, Director

After a short retail management career in WHSmith and over 15 years of corporate life in the UK & US, culminating in 2 years as Group Marketing Director of HarperCollins Publishers, Alastair escaped in 2003 to ‘spend more time with his family’. Realising 6 months later that they didn’t necessarily agree with the idea, he formed an agency to get out of the house more. Initially a general marketing consultancy, the agency has since evolved into one that delivers campaign & project management in the publishing & bookselling industry.

Agile marketing exists to get more people reading. All our promotions are linked to either a headline sponsor to inject resource, a media partner to provide the oxygen of publicity or both.

Much as he’d like to spend all his time with his wife and favourite dog; Jasper, it’s important to occasionally stay out and about to help underwrite the cost of 3 sons travelling through the University system.

Please contact Alastair for sponsorship opportunities and promotion information.
Email: alastair@agile-ideas.com, tel: 01225 865776 or 01637 860837 or Mobile: 0799 088 7271

Merric Davidson, Awards Administrator

Merric Davidson started out in libraries; public, reference, mobile, housebound and the backroom of a church in Havering-atte-Bower.

He joined Hodder & Stoughton as office gofer the year Dylan played the IOW and left HarperCollins as marketing director twenty years later. Set up a consultancy and ran several long-term PR campaigns for newish novelists and advised established and start-up publishers.

He has been publisher of The New Writer magazine since its launch fourteen years ago. In 92, he opened an indie literary agency (now part of MBA) and in that same year was invited to organise the book trade 'Oscars', the British Book Awards, and has administered them ever since.

Please contact Merric for award ceremony information, submissions and tickets. Email: merric@agile-ideas.com

Bert Wright, Administrator - Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards

Bert Wright joined the book trade in the mid-eighties riding the coat-tails of the Waterstone's revolution from Edinburgh to Ireland and laterally to Boston where he was Marketing Manager for Waterstone's USA.

On his return he worked for the Irish bookstore chains Easons and Hughes & Hughes but has since eschewed the greasy till in favour of literary project work. He is currently administrator of The Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards and Curator of the Mountains to Sea dlr Book Festival.

In his spare time he enjoys reading, writing, sport, music, and criticising Arsene Wenger. He lives in Dalkey County Dublin with his wife Colette, son Thomas, daughter Alice and Guide Dog puppy, Udo.

Please contact Bert for any information on Irish promotions and The Irish Book Awards. Email: bert@agile-ideas.com

Danielle Bowers, Project Production Manager

After doing a degree in Media Production, Danielle worked at a college, helping students with computer programmes. After a while she decided that she was not really using the skills she learnt in her degree and so went to work for Archant – a newspaper and magazine company.

In 2004 she entered the book industry by joining Publishing News as Production Assistant on their trade magazine. She then became Production Manager working on the British Book Awards and Christmas Catalogue among other things.

Danielle joined Agile Marketing in 2008 after Publishing News stopped its trade magazine and now works from home on lots of Agile’s promotions while talking to herself and her cat Dave.

Apart from reading, she enjoys travelling, most sports and is a black belt in judo.

Please contact Danielle with any point of sale or artwork queries.
Email: danielle@agile-ideas.com or tel: 01206 521581

Steve Wells, Graphic Designer

Steve Wells is a graphic Designer. He probably holds the record for having more of his work picked off the front of books than anyone else (as designer of the Richard and Judy, and now TV Book Club stickers). He has previously worked for numerous agencies in the South West and has now drifted into working almost exclusively in books. He has designed marketing campaigns for Harper Collins, Orion, Little Brown, Pan Macmillan, Penguin and Hodder, amongst others; and now designs jackets for Mills & Boon
and Chicken House.

He lives in Bath with his wife and three children and feeling the need of a suitable hobby has recently taken to wandering around aimlessly.
(which he tells everyone is an important part of the creative process).

Please contact Steve with any design queries,
Email: steve@agile-ideas.com