Name:
Nick Midgley

Role:
<Quickly checks contract> ‘Editor and writer’, it says here.

Location:
A small upstairs back room in Whalley Range, Manchester. It’s hardly spacious but the commute is a doddle. And it’s pretty handy for the football and city centre.

Time with inEvidence:
I started in November 2021. At the time of writing that’s three years and three months.

Favourite story:
A Qlik Academic Program piece about Green River College, not too far from Seattle, Washington. A tutor there teaches analytics skills by getting students to monitor plants and wildlife in a nearby wood. He was a really enthusiastic and engaged interviewee, and the story pretty much wrote itself. There are obviously plenty of others that I’ve really enjoyed, but that one really sticks in the memory.  

Biggest challenge:
Every day’s a school day at inEvidence. I know it’s the lamest cliché in town, but it works. Every project teaches you more about something, whether it’s about the client’s products, what their customer does, or why it’s important to hyphenate compound adjectives. It can be challenging for sure, but it’s worthwhile. 

Key learnings?

1. Make time to get acquainted with a story – do your research.
2. Don’t worry if an interviewee goes too deep into the technical weeds. As the interviewer, you’re in control – steer them where you want to go to tell the story.
3. If time allows, revisit a story the following morning. Fresh eyes are best for editing! You’ll find that any detail you weren’t happy with is either fine or easily fixed.

How does writing for inEvidence differ from previous jobs?
I was in business-to-business journalism before I joined inEvidence, so there are similarities and differences. Journalism obviously tends to be more objective, but it’s also important to have at least an element of that in advocacy marketing. It gives a piece more authority and credibility, which in turn makes the marketing message more powerful. That’s my theory anyway.

What makes inEvidence a great agency?
As a place to work, it’s by some distance the most supportive and positive environment I’ve known – and I’ve known a few. And people here clearly also have an excellent understanding of their jobs. It’s a real privilege to be part of a team that does such consistently great work, and it drives you to make the next thing you do the best

What do you do in downtime?
My wife Kate thinks I spend too much on hi-fi equipment and stuff to play on it. She is clearly wrong: I don’t spend nearly enough, but other priorities tend to get in the way – food, heating, everyday stuff like that. Digital and streaming are OK, but I’m from a generation that values physical media. I love going to see live music and football, too.

Last binge-watch:
The latest series of Unforgotten was good. Slow Horses is routinely excellent, but then Gary Oldman struggles to be anything less. He’s 13 days younger than Gary Numan, by the way.

Describe yourself in 3 words:
Too introverted and self-effacing for stuff like that. That’s more than three words.