Newly Founded Agency Scale-Up
Project Location: London & Remote
Sector: Integrated Marketing Services
Function: Account Handlers, Designers, PR Account Handlers, Entry Level & Creative Director
Level: All levels
Duration of Search: March 2020 - Current
Consultant Name: Joe Misseldine & Nick Pykett
The Challenge
A long-term client contact of ours decided to launch a new software powered integrated marketing agency called Boldspace with his co-founder. After securing some angel investment from a notable industry figure and bringing some established relationships with them, they were ready to scale up a team at speed in the London area and asked for our help exclusively as a result of our previous track record.
A week after a carefully planned launch in March 2022, full lockdown was imposed and many marketing agencies furloughed staff, leaving much of the talent pool in a precarious position and hesitant for a potential job move. On top of that, Boldspace had to scale a team fully remotely, leaving them unable to meet their prospective candidates face to face which posed an unprecedented challenge at the time, made even tougher because they were a new player in the industry.
The Solution
Using our strong established relationship with the co-founder, we got under the skin of this new agency proposition and became laser-focused on all of the reasons why this could be a highly attractive employee brand for candidates in some key areas in order to dramatically increase the screening : CV send ratio.
- Selling their USP: This agency was founded with a vision to use their very own analytics / insight software to power their campaigns, decreasing some admin & client reporting times and increasing the creative thinking / strategic planning capabilities of campaigns. Candidates were noticeably excited by this capability so we spent lots of time selling the concept.
- Stakeholder reputation: We studied the backgrounds of the co-founders and relayed their track record in building and growing agencies to all candidates. In addition, we were able to give an exciting description of the key investors which included an ex-board member of one of the largest advertising agencies globally, giving re-assurance of growth potential.
- Career growth & rewards: Having a highly competitive benefits package certainly helped with gaining interest but we were able to describe a much larger appeal for fast tracked career growth. Candidates joining would have access to additional training and lots of responsibility in a start-up environment, with direct access to the co-founders. Whilst daunting for some, this was highly desirable for other talented candidates who felt stuck in a larger setting with longer term appraisal cycles, so our description of being rewarded on merit and the chance for fast promotion really appealed to the ambitious top tier candidates.
The Result
Since the start of the relationship, we have helped scale the team with 8 hires and have seen them grow from a few staff to beyond 20 people. We continue to consult with them and fill challenging positions alongside their own efforts.
Roles filled:
- PR / Account executive
- Account Managers
- Digital Marketing Specialist
- Senior Account Managers
- Creative Designer
- Associate Director
- Customer Success Manager
- Creative Director