Back in June we caught up with Infectious Digital as they started their journey as an agency start up.
It's been a while, so I recently caught up with the Andy and Martin to see how things were coming along:
It’s been nearly 3 months since we talked to you last – won any business?
Yes, Lots! It’s been a very busy 3 months, and we’ve been really encouraged by the intensity of interest from advertisers looking for a more bespoke, specialist offering. Last week we announced our first major ‘media’ client: www.footballsuperstars.com , which is a fantastic MMO football game. Apart from it being a great product, it is a very diverse digital marketing brief, which will intertwine a strong social media core with content distribution, search and smart display ad targeting.
There are a few more clients in the pipeline too, which we can’t talk about (yet). We’ve also been working on number of consultancy projects for a variety of different business, ranging from technology vendors to digital creative agencies.
When pitching as a start-up do you have to be more creative than an established agency to get noticed?
The thing is, we have quite a different story to many of the more established agencies. There has been so much change in the ‘digital media world’ over the last year, from the rise of social media to data and technology driven targeting and new auction model trading dynamics. To get the most from these changes, you have to think and structure in new ways, so in simply doing what we do, we’d hope to think we stand out from the crowd!
How did your new logo come about? And the blog? Have I got competition?
Martins old school friend up in Liverpool designed it for us. We gave him a simple brief, which was to stay away from typical web 2.0 style typefaces and design. We really like it, and feel it says something about the intertwining nature of what we do. The blog (which has just had a sleek re design), has been a really interesting project for us. Not least because we designed and built it ourselves, but also because it’s great to see the number of people interested in our opinions on stuff.
Last week we had over 200 visitors per day, which may not sound like many (and no Mel, you shouldn’t be worried!), but for a business like ours, with no real media support, it’s really encouraging. Lots of people seem to be signing up to our RSS feed too, which is very Web 2.0!
You can’t possibly do everything so have you started to hire? Have you been impressed with the calibre of talent out there?
Well, since you ask, yes! We’re currently recruiting for a Search and Performance Media Manager and there are another couple of positions in the pre Christmas pipeline. We generally post vacancies on our site www.infectiousdigital.com.
In terms of talent, we think there is plenty of it out there, but there is still a lack of broader marketing experience in the digital industry per se. The type of people who will be attracted to working at Infectious are those looking for a more creative agency environment and the chance to be a part of something new and different.
Things seem to be going well! But don’t you miss the security of the big corporate? How are you adjusting to having to buy your own coffee, fix your own printer and take prospects out with money from your own wallet?
We certainly miss the regular monthly salary, but we were saying only yesterday that we’ve never been happier or more enthused about work.
We stop by Borough market every Monday to stock up on coffee, Martin has become an advanced photocopy engineer, and we just don’t take anyone out unless we’re in possession of a 2 for 1 Wagamama voucher ;-)
