Two Minutes With… Michael Taggart, Foco

MRM Group recently welcomed content marketing agency Foco to its stable, having taken a 50% equity share in the firm. We asked managing director Michael Taggart to tell us what makes him tick.

Tell us a bit about yourself.

I am an identical twin. No, we didn’t swap classes at school (we were in the same class); no, we didn’t swap girlfriends (we had the same girlfriend); and, no, we didn’t blame one another when we were in trouble (parents / teachers / the police routinely blamed us both to get round the identity issues so there was no point). My twinness doesn’t define me, though. When the sun goes down and the band stops playing, I want to be remembered for doing all I could to promote the proper use of commas.

Why did you set up Foco? What does the business do?

Foco is a content marketing agency for B2B fintech companies in the financial planning arena. Niche, huh? We’re pretty clueless at almost everything. But – at that – we’re virtually world champions.  

What next for Foco and/or content marketing?

My intention is to come up with a slogan so disruptive and discomfiting that it ends all conversation about whether content marketing generally – and Foco specifically – is what our prospects need. (That means it *is*, Smart Alec). At the moment, I have: “Foco – get content with your content”, “Thanks for the meme-ries” and “I’m kind of a blog deal”.

If you could give one piece of financial advice to a teenage version of yourself, what would it be?

STOP, FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT’S GOOD, STOP.

What three things would you do if you were head of the FCA?

Resign,

Invent Foco,

Come up with a cool slogan. 

What is your biggest pet peeve, or makes you angry?

When you haven’t seen an old friend or workmate for years and you discover they’re a Jeremy Corbyn supporter. I hate that. If there is a General Election in the next year, I’ll spoil my ballot paper. I’ll spoil the whole polling station.

Now, tell us a little about your life outside of work, do you have any hobbies?

I have haemorrhaged many thousands of hours – time that will never again submit itself to my service – messing around on Twitter. The things I’ve seen! Share-trading apps laughing in the face of the FCA, lonely and over-fed teenaged boys harassing female Members of Parliament and a sea of glimmering, glinting gammon holding forth on the issues of the day. This is my hobby. This is what I love.

What is the one column or website that you read every day?

I like to listen to Nigel Farage on LBC, if that counts? It feels so wrong.

What would you do if you received a windfall of £10,000?

That’s easy. I would begin a long hunt for moral redemption at the roulette table.