Diane Banks – Reflecting on Northbank’s First Five Years

Our Founder & CEO Diane Banks reflects on Northbank Talent Management’s first five years

Incredibly, the Northbank Talent Management launch party was five years ago today, so we thought it worth reflecting on our journey over that time.

Drawing on our collective experience of talent representation across books, broadcast, corporate speaking and brand partnerships, we founded Northbank (which in case you’re wondering, after much agonising was named after the newly designated business area north of the Thames in which we’re located) to provide 360-degree representation for thought leaders, expert talent, novelists and scriptwriters.

In an increasingly fast-moving media landscape, we wanted to make sure that we had the full suite of expertise in-house to represent clients’ ideas and stories across the most appropriate media at the most appropriate time, rather than siloing by format; and as such we assembled a team of agents with their own specialisms (film, TV & podcast; non-fiction books; fiction books; brand partnerships; corporate speaking) supported by operations and marketing staff. The result is that clients benefit from a team of experts behind them, each of them experienced, well-connected and ahead of the game in their respective areas.

In the last five years, the evolution of the media has continued apace, opening up all sorts of new opportunities for our clients, with the pandemic leading to some interesting developments alongside its challenges.

Whilst books, film, TV and in-person speaking continue to grow (with book-to-screen rights a particular strength for us), we’re seeing exponential growth in podcasts, brand partnerships and other types of partnership between talent and corporates and other organisations.

In an increasingly automated world, human creativity is moving further and further up the value chain, which, whilst it has its teething problems, ultimately puts us and our clients in an exciting position. In addition to consumer-focused content (books, film, TV, podcasts), corporates and brands are increasingly looking to partner with talent whose values align with theirs and who bring an engaged audience. This might take the form of a social media campaign, but equally, it might involve an ambassadorship, events series, or sponsorship of a podcast or documentary.

We explore new ideas and opportunities every day as the business moves to its next phase.

A big thank you to our stellar team, clients and stakeholders for making this journey such a pleasure. Please do follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter/X, Instagram and Facebook for updates, and don’t hesitate to get in touch if you’re interested in working with us or our clients.

Here’s to the next five years and beyond.