My first 3 months at start-up independent media agency Yonder have been the most hectic of my career to date, but here’s why they’ve also been the most fulfilling:
Facetime with founders & business leaders
I’ve worked on a broad spectrum of clients in my career, but this is the first time that I find myself in the room with the entrepreneurs and founders. From emerging brands launching to disrupt the market to those with ambitions to lead their category, we’re talking to people who are hungry for double digit growth because they have full belief in their product and the steadfast determination for it to succeed. This fundamentally changes the whole working relationship and conversation; we don’t just talk media plans, but wider business strategy that enables us to make a real difference. There’s been a lot of discussion about the lack of creative thinking in our industry recently, but after three months of working closely with our clients, I’m proud to be collaborating with true innovators.
The path to growth doesn’t have to be a lonely one
Working with clients who are at the beginning of their journey while we’re at the beginning of ours helps to form a special relationship. The Lennon quote ‘life is what happens to you while you’re busy making plans’ perfectly sums up the startup experience; we’re both experiencing excitement and madness in equal measure and it’s this common ground that has enabled us to cement our relationship with clients. In this post-Brexit, digitally-operated world, no one can say for certain where they’re going to be in five years. But we will be more future proofed if we navigate these times together and apply the same strategic principles to our clients as we would to our own business in order to give ourselves the best chance of thriving.
Real people vs. media audiences
Millennials, ABC1s, Mums; our industry is sadly still obsessed with demographic labels rather than seeking out valuable behavioural, cultural and aspirational insights. It’s our duty to garner insight and perspective from the world around us, not just within the micro climate of marketing. You may have seen our spoof chatbot media planner that we had a lot of fun creating, but the serious undercurrent to this is that many agencies are still churning out media plans that have a blanket approach to reaching different audiences. Yonder Media was founded on the principles of bridging the gulf between brands and their audiences and we’re focused on not just identifying who our audiences are and how they consume media, but most importantly, why they behave that way. My first trimester has been a blast – no two days have been the same and I can honestly say that I’ve never been more invested in growing our clients alongside the Yonder business. Creativity in the industry is alive and well; you just need to know where to find it…
