How to run a social performance ad agency in SA
Say ‘social performance’ and, like me, most people probably envision a number-heavy, human-light way of measuring a campaign's success on social media. That's where we're wrong. Jenkins confirms that a social performance ad agency offers something more tangible than that: It’s the combination of the right technology and human service, to facilitate great social advertising results.
In fact, they’ve run more than 15,000 campaigns for clients like H&M, Pfizer, Armani and McDonald’s through marketing partnerships with Facebook, Instagram Twitter, Pinterest, Snapchat and Amazon. This provides them with access to valuable data, audience insights, advanced purchase systems, optimisation and in-depth reporting of advertising campaign performance and results. That’s a scary ask, so how do they get it right?
We work very closely with our clients – in many cases our team members are placed within our client's social media teams as an on-site resource, assisting their existing teams with the implementation, management, optimisation and reporting of their social media campaigns.Innovative advertising opportunities are essential with so much clutter out there, so it’s little wonder that Adglow celebrated 10 years in business last month. Here, Jenkins explains the benefit of their healthy relationship with major media-buying groups like Dentsu Aegis, Omnicom, Publicis, Universal and WPP as part of that success…We also work closely with the teams in assisting with their strategies, insights, and training. Our strength lies in that high level of human service, combined with our proprietary ad platform that we've built to drive efficiency, reduce reliance on manual processes, and leverage technology to deliver innovative advertising opportunities.
Congrats on your decade milestone! Explain how your ‘throwback microsite’ highlights of the Adglow journey.
The Adglow core agency was founded by just five members in Spain in 2008, and has since evolved into a one of the largest digital advertising multinationals in the world, with a presence in Austin, Barcelona, Bogota, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Cape Town, Hong Kong, Tokyo, London, Madrid, Manila, Miami, Milan, Santiago de Chile, Sao Paulo, Toronto and Jakarta.
We knew when we were planning for our 10th birthday celebrations that we would be focusing our efforts around two things – throwback photos from Adglow through the years, and videos that bring our birthday to life.
The microsite gave us a focal point for all of that content – somewhere to store, share, and drive traffic to help tell the story. We wanted it to function as a kind of interactive scrapbook that helped our audience to connect more with the human side of our business – as a technology company, we don't always get the chance to do that.
Just the thing for a splash of nostalgia in the digital age. Explain the benefit of your investment in proprietary technology, as well as penetration with major media buying groups like Dentsu Aegis, Omnicom, Publicis, Universal and WPP.
The key advantage of our technology is that it enables us to develop tools and features that enhance campaign success, and create new efficiencies. Those are direct benefits that we pass on to our clients.
We’re official marketing partners for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Pinterest and Instagram, so our technology has been built to enable efficient campaign management across all social media networks.
Our relationship with media-buying groups is one of mutual support and benefit – we bring our expertise in proprietary social and digital advertising products, and they bring their understanding of the wider advertising context for the client.
Sounds like symbiosis to me. What tools and techniques does it take to work with the rest of your large global network?
With our mothership based in Madrid, and our global operations spanning across 15 markets, it’s quite exceptional that we are such a tight-knit global team.
Through tools like Facebook’s Workplace, daily video chats with colleagues and different teams, and a fantastic global training operation, we work in a very collaborative fashion.Whether someone needs assistance on a pitch, looking for a new sales angle, customised developments in our tech, insights into trends, or sharing of strategies, we all work together really well and ensure that knowledge sharing is a key priority.
Let’s tighten the focus: Talk us through your success in SA over the past two years, having launched in September 2016 with Hippo as your first client and the Dentsu Aegis Network as agency partner – an impressive start.
We’ve seen our team grow from just two of us at the end of 2017, to now having three of us in Johannesburg, with another two in Cape Town.
Our focus has been on growing our existing business and ensuring that our processes are slick and efficient, that the work we deliver is of exceptional quality, and that we really do become part of the furniture within the teams we serve.
As we start focussing on new business, we now know what that winning formula looks like, and we want to replicate that in the new relationships that we forge.
Next step, Adglow aims to broaden its African footprint. Explain what this will entail.
Yes! Through our working relationship with Dentsu Aegis Network, we have started working with their teams in Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique and Nigeria.
It certainly is. Visit the microsite Adglow set up to celebrate their 10th birthday and be sure to follow Adglow’s Twitter, Facebook and Instagram feeds to keep up with their latest updates.
About Leigh Andrews
Leigh Andrews AKA the #MilkshakeQueen, is former Editor-in-Chief: Marketing & Media at Bizcommunity.com, with a passion for issues of diversity, inclusion and equality, and of course, gourmet food and drinks! She can be reached on Twitter at @Leigh_Andrews.
