Rankin's advertising business files for bankruptcy amid "Tough shift in creative landscape"

Owing employees more than £300,000 (about $393,000), Rankin Group, the advertising agency owned by stalwart British photographer Rankin, has filed for bankruptcy, owing a further £1m ($1.3m) to the UK tax authority HMRC. 

Full name John Rankin Waddell, he has photographed the likes of Queen Elizabeth II, Madonna, and David Bowie, and set up his advertising agency, initially called Rankin Creative, five years ago.

Speaking to The Art Newspaper he said: 

"It was 100% financed and owned by me, which is why I’m the sole director, although there was a share incentive scheme," Rankin says. The company was run by eight key people, including a chief executive, finance director and managing director."

Rankin’s photography, directing and production business, Rankin & Co, is reportedly not affected by the insolvency proceedings.

He revealed to The Art Newspaper that the unfortunate financial situation with Rankin Group was caused by an unforeseen tax bill, "which meant that some staff did not receive their entire redundancy payments."

He continued: 

"The HMRC bill came as a big shock to us when we received the demand. Up until that point, we were looking at a recovery plan or, in the worst-case scenario, a winding down. Even after the demand, I tried to work out a deal, but it was just too late."

According to the information available on Companies House, £258,000 is owed to trade creditors – with this figure including prepayments of £73,000 for the year, while intercompany creditors are reportedly owed £980,000. 

The agency did well in its first few years, but began to struggle over the past two due to various pressures.

He said: 

"Whether it was due to reduced budgets around the economy or losing work to programmatic and AI-based solutions, it was a massively challenging period for us and many other services like us."

He also added that the technological revolution had essentially "gutted" a lot of creative services agencies. 

"Sadly, that is what we were selling: a bespoke creative service around storytelling and brand building. When you combined that, with the lack of face-to-face work and meetings post-covid, it’s been a perfect storm. I couldn't be more disappointed with both myself and the business for not being able to make the agency a success. I put everything I had into it, but it just wasn't enough to make it work."

While his photography and production business remains unchanged, Rankin says he’s:

"Leaving the struggle of surviving in this climate to people that I really respect and who are obviously much better at it than I am. I wish them all the luck in the world, as I’ve never experienced something quite as tough as this shift in the creative landscape."

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