New international TMT advisory firm launches: The Meliora Company
A team of digital and media professionals have united to launch a new consulting firm. Pledging to be “a new breed of advisory”, The Meliora Company will offer support for telecom, media and technology clients as they adopt new AI tools.
Drawing its name from the Latin for “the pursuit of better”, The Meliora Company has three strategic pillars. As it looks to support telecom, media and technology (TMT) clients to design and realise digital product solutions, Meliora Advisory will offer boutique strategic and product development support; Meliora Ventures will invest in early stage chief technology officer-led technology startups; and Meliora Creative will create an intellectual property fund championing rising creative industries talent.
At launch, Meliora will be based in three regions. Headquartered in London for the EMEA region, it will serve APAC from Sydney, and the Americas from Los Angeles. It will start life with a team of nine – including founding partners including Clive Dickens, Anthony Abbott and Tony Moorey – who are the original leadership team for Absolute Radio.
Dickens is the co-founder of Absolute Radio and former senior executive at Capital Radio, and worked with his leadership team to pioneer digital radio innovation, including the early adoption of ‘in stream’ addressable digital audio advertising at scale in 2011, and the commissioning of original content for podcasting as early as 2009.
This work led to Absolute Radio becoming one of the most profitable radio brands in the UK. It achieved over 50% of total revenue coming from beyond broadcast spot ads by 2014 – putting it well ahead of an industry that is still struggling to adapt to a changing market. Re-uniting with Moorey and Abbott, Dickens hopes to draw on this extensive experience across UK media, digital innovation, and international advisory roles, to offer a unique service.
Reunited
“The pace of technological change is accelerating, Meliora is about redefining the skillset a boutique advisory can bring to medium and large enterprise,” said Dickens, who will serve as the firm’s managing director. “Whether it’s customer experience, AI enablement, or human-centred product development, Meliora is uniquely positioned to help TMT businesses across EMEA accelerate their AI transformation.”
As businesses across the UK grow frustrated by the generalist offerings of the country’s largest professional services firms, a number of boutique firms have launched, aiming to offer an affordable, and specialised alternative. Dickens also hopes the launch will tap into those frustrations with the traditional consulting model.
He added, “Not since the arrival of the iPhone and App Stores have we seen such a pivotal moment as that which occurred in November 2022 with the arrival of the LLMs and the first GenAI apps. Yet, many traditional consulting models have left organisations fatigued and struggling to navigate this change.”
