Hosted by: Ellie Hale and Daniel de la Cruz
We talk to agency owners about how they are overcoming the challenges of COVID19 and the current economic climate. Highlighting some of the best examples of agencies not just surviving, but innovating, adapting and thriving.
In this episode we speak to Simon Lucey – the founder of student marketing agency Hype Collective. This time of the year is usually the busiest for universities with 1000s of events to attract potential students – however COVID has had a massive impact on the higher education sector. Simon and his agency had to adapt quickly within his niche. We talk about their product innovation and how he found ways to keep his agency pushing forwards.
In this episode we speak to James Hakesley – co-founder of Cube Video. An award winning video production, animation and photography studio. They believe the best way to tell a story online, is through beautiful, relatable, insightful and compelling content that resonates with your target audience.
In this episode we speak to Jenny Stanley the founder Appetite Creative – a creative technology agency. With a team of 23 people across three offices in the UK, Spain and Madrid – she is used to travelling 4-5x a week. However due to the current situation and the quarantine strictness in Spain, Jenny has had to shift like many of you to a purely remote working model.
Topics we cover in this episode:
This episode is a recording we did on 29 April. Hearing back this episode reminds us how far we’ve all come in only two months. We speak to Scott Jones, founder of Illustrate.
Something that really stood out for me in this interview and has been a ‘make or break’ for a lot agencies during the pandemic outbreak:
1. The value of niching especially when it goes your way
2. Illustrate are an amazing WordPress agency with a team of 15 people, that has a niche particularly in the FinTech sector
Scott shares some really good insights on how their agency continued to grow throughout COVID.
Today we’re talking to Sam Booth. He’s the founder of Just After Midnight. A team of 35 highly skilled people with a unique type of set up that focusses on providing 24/7. Managed cloud services, infrastructure and application support and DevOps.
Unfortunately Sam was one of the first 250 people who was infected by COVID. Thankfully he’s OK now.
Topics we cover:
The physical and mental impact of living with COVID for a month
The impact of it on his family
What kind of things they’ve put in place to support their team of the past months?
Productivity of staff
The changes he’ll take with him into the future
Our guests this week are Sophia ‘Puff’ Story and Duncan Cook – the owners of 3 Sided Cube – an app development company and digital tech agency. They champion tech for good and work with some of the most well known organisations in the world doing good for our humanity.
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In this episode of The Agency Collective Tales Podcast we talk to Sally Maier-Yip, founder of UK-China luxury lifestyle PR & Comms Agency – 11k. We are curious to find out whether there is such a thing as the ‘new normal’ in China – or if everything is back to the way it was before.
Topics we cover:
In this episode of The Agency Collective Tales Podcast we chat to Flavilla Fongang about innovation through COVID 19, what motivated her to found Black Women in Tech and why she thinks diversity is so important for the 3 Colours Rule brand and for her clients’ brands. We also talk about her new academy and plans for the future.
Eimear McManus is our next guest on our Agency Collective Tales podcast. She is the founder of the agency Digital Works, who are a marketing agency that offer brand development, social media and content marketing services. “Bringing brands to life” in a personal, trust worthy and memorable manner is their mantra. Get ready for some great vibes, her energy is infectious.
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In our next episode of The Agency Collective Tales Podcast we speak to Becky Simms co-founder of Reflect – an agency that uses a deep understanding of human behaviour to deliver great solutions and business growth through search engine and performance marketing.
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In this episode of The Agency Collective Tales Podcast we interview Lara Findlay, co-founder of Scotland based app development specialist agency – GearedApp.
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In this episode of The Agency Collective tales podcast we are joined by Louisa Dunbar, a self-confessed web geek with a strong interest in human psychology and neuroscience. She is the founder of the agency Orange Grove – they focus on improving website conversion through applying concepts in psychology and behavioural science to their work.
We cover:
In this episode of The Agency Collective Tales Podcast we speak to Beth Sherman, founder of data centric marketing agency Signify Digital. Women In Agency month continues here at The Agency Collective and we wanted to hear Beth’s perspective on the topic:
In this episode of The Agency Collective Tales Podcast we speak to Abi Dixon founder of Labyrinth Marketing – a marketing agency that looks to support the people behind the brands. They do this by consulting on marketing strategy but also by coaching individuals at their client’s business. She shares her homeschooling experiences during COVID, while running her agency. She’s currently in the process of writing a book (working title: The Whole Marketeer) – a book for in-house marketeers. How having children has spurred her to succeed in her business. Abi is simply an all around legend.
We often talk about niching here at The Agency Collective. A topic of great debate. Shall I or shall I not? There is a lot of data that speaks for niching, especially when you are sub £5M turnover. However, right now and depending what sector you serve – the reality is – niching might be the best idea ever or your worst nightmare.
Since we’re trying to highlight as many motivational stories in this podcast, we’re going to showcase an agency today that has found incredible market fit – exactly at the right time.
The agency This Is Unicorn specialises on Amazon sellers & vendors – and is run by Elise Jackson & Giunlucca Trombetta.
Let’s find out exactly what they do for their clients and how COVID has impacted their agency.
In this episode of The Agency Collective Tales Podcast, we interview Christian Gunn. Christian and his co-founder Tom run a branding agency with a truly creative name: LoveGunn (named after the founders last names: Tom Love and Christian Gunn).
They’ve done some great work over the years. Most recently a rebrand of the social content agency Electric House coming up with the great claim “Can I Get A Watt Watt” that pays a tribute to their construction industry community OnTheTools and the 1998 Jay-Z song that appeared in the movie Rush Hour.
We were really curious to hear what an incredibly creative agency like LoveGunn works on during a pandemic. Join us to hear how they helped create Infotagion, which has been on a mission to fight disinformation contagion about COVID-19.
When everything kicked off a couple of months ago there was one agency that before everyone else had already packaged a whole new offering for their clients to deal with the crisis. That agency is the PR specialist Leidar. Run by Madelyn Postman, she originally founded her own branding agency Grain and later merged with Leidar.
There are definitely benefits in being part of a larger entity and having the resource to act fast in a crisis situation Is one of them. In this episode of The Agency Collective Tales Podcast we cover exactly what service they are now offering. How Madelyn is responding to the current economic conditions. From a new business, client services and team management perspective.
Our next guest Andy Smith is the parachuter type CEO. He’s known to roll up his sleeves in tough situations – someone who thrives as an agency owner when it gets difficult. He’s lead his agency Strategiq – a performance marketing and Mailchimp partner agency – to one success after another and we’re uncovering how he’s dealing with COVID.
Flo Powell is the co-owner and joint MD of Midnight Communications, a PR and digital content agency based in sunny Brighton.
Midnight works with businesses, professional services firms and brands alike, applying our commercial nous to crack consumer briefs while approaching our b2b campaigns with creative flair. She joins us for another episode of The Agency Collective Tales podcast. Enjoy the show…
Simon Schnieders is the founder of Blue Array – the largest pure play SEO agency in the UK. With a team of 40 people, Simon had to move quickly during this crisis to ensure every single one of his team members feels secure. Find out about Blue Array’s own marketing activities right now – as I know they are generally very strong in this department. Apparently one of their initiatives has produced 100s of high quality leads for them. Enjoy this show of The Agency Collective Tales Podcast…
Notepad is a strategic branding agency specialising in helping ambitious SMEs to accelerate their growth. The agency was founded by Naeem Alvi. In this episode we talk about Sometime, which is a nonprofit initiative created in the wake of COVID19. It helps freelancers and professionals with time on their hands to solve thousands of creative challenges resulting from the Corona Virus Pandemic.
Our guest Dr Kat Arney is an award-winning science writer, broadcaster and founder of the agency First Create The Media. A communication strategy and content agency working with clients in the life sciences. Kat was a science communications and media specialist at Cancer Research UK before starting her agency.
She’s also an author and has written for the BBC, The Times, The Guardian, Nature, Mosaic, New Scientists and many more. She also hosts her own podcast: Genetics Unzipped.