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MANUAL FOCUS · LONDON

Brand. Demand. Growth. AI accelerated.

Manual Focus is a marketing agency for ambitious brands. Senior operators using AI as the leverage, with particular depth in endurance and sports brands.

Book a working session How we work together
001 · THE PROBLEM

Flat campaigns result in
diminishing returns.

Most marketing still launches the same way it has for a decade, with a six-week campaign, a content flurry, a paid push and the hope something sticks. A flat campaign produces flat results regardless of brief quality, budget size or how shiny the launch deck looks.

We build something that keeps working after launch week ends, with owned, earned and paid wired together through the Forge. The system learns from each campaign and improves as new AI models arrive, so growth holds steady instead of tailing off.

002 · HOW WE WORK TOGETHER

Three ways to engage.
One product, fully run by us.

/01 · STRATEGIC ADVISOR

The senior voice in the room

For companies with a marketing team but no senior leader running it.

  • Weekly working sessions on what to do next
  • Reviews of work in progress
  • Briefings on the AI tooling worth using, and where it fits your team's workflow
  • Hiring and team-shape advice

1–2 days a month. Day rate or monthly retainer.

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/02 · FRACTIONAL CMOMOST CHOSEN

Embedded senior marketer

For companies that need senior marketing leadership without a full-time hire.

  • Set the marketing thesis and 90-day plan
  • Lead and grow the existing team
  • Embed AI and emerging tech into the workflows your team already runs
  • Ship key pieces of the plan with that leverage in place

1–2 days a week. Three-month minimum.

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/03 · BUILD & HAND OVER

Scoped outcome, shipped fast

For companies that know what they need built, and want it shipped fast.

  • Launches, SEO programs, content engines, brand refreshes
  • Headless and rapid web builds on Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce and WordPress
  • AI and emerging tech wired into the build, not bolted on after
  • Handed back with docs and training, fixed scope, fixed timeline, fixed price

Project-based. Typical builds: 4–12 weeks.

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/04 · MANUAL FOCUS · AIPRODUCT

We run the AI workflows. You get the output.

For CTOs, CMOs and teams who don't have the bandwidth to keep up with new models, build pipelines or learn another tool every week.

  • Content planning, wireframing and production owned end-to-end by Manual Focus
  • Pipelines maintained, models swapped in as they ship
  • Output delivered on agreed cadence, in your brand, ready to use
  • No internal training, no tool sprawl, no learning curve

Monthly retainer. Output on cadence.

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Across endurance and sports brands, AI, fintech and digital assets. Every engagement starts with a 30-minute working session, free.

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THE FORGE

003 · WHY THE AI STAYS SHARP

The Forge keeps us current.

We're part of a collective of senior operators called the Foundry. The Foundry shares AI tooling through a platform called the Forge. That's why we ship at machine speed, and why our capability keeps getting sharper as new AI models arrive. The shared part is tooling and pipelines, not strategy or content.

50+
years of senior marketing experience across the collective
SHARED
tooling and pipelines, not strategy or content
LIVE
new AI models added as they ship
004 · WHAT IT'S WORTH

More marketing output, in a fraction of the time.

0x
faster brief-to-live, on average
0
channels covered (owned, earned and paid) from day one
0%
less time on production, more on strategy
0+
years of marketing experience, combined

* Across recent engagements. Best results when the strategy was right to begin with.

005 · IN THE WILD

Endurance and sports brands we've shipped with.

Classified Wahoo Wattbike Ribble RGT motif AI Muuvr Planet X Pelotan

And further afield in AI, fintech, sports tech, hardware and digital assets.

006 · WHO WE ARE

Operators first.
Marketers always.

Manual Focus is a marketing agency led by James Vickers, with 15+ years running brand, demand, product and growth across AI, fintech, sports tech, hardware and digital assets. James co-founded RGT Cycling and took it from 19k to 350k users before Wahoo Fitness acquired it. Around him, the Foundry brings senior operators with deep marketing CVs of their own. We do the hard miles on AI so the marketing side gets the upside.

Meet the Foundry ↗
007 · PERSPECTIVE

Notes from the work.

Marketing that should
be working harder?

30-minute working session, free. We walk through where AI fits in your marketing function. If we click, we plan the next 90 days.

Book a working session