“Tell her she’s dreaming.” That’s what I would have said to anyone who told me last year that we were about to get everything we wished for.
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Doubling our number of clients. Check.
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Partnering with our dream list of brands. Of course.
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Doing work that has a positive social impact. You know it.
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Helping existing clients grow faster than they imagined. That’s what we do.
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Exceeding our financial goals and increasing revenue by almost 50%. Sure thing.
These are all things we talked about at a full team meeting last July as we set our targets, intentions, and goals for the year ahead.
It’s not that I didn’t believe we’d do it, but rather I didn’t expect us to achieve our goals so quickly. Progress over perfection and all that.
I’ve also been around long enough to know that years like this shouldn’t be taken for granted. Even more so given we’re all trying to do our best amidst the global pandemic.
There were countless more highlights in the last financial year, but here are eight that come to mind this sunny lockdown afternoon:
01. Supporting Digital Transformation at One of the Largest Humanitarian and Development Agencies in the World
It’s not every day a Perth-based agency is asked to partner with Mindshare Germany and consult on a digital transformation initiative spanning the European region, with a view to scale into Asia and beyond. I’m so proud to see Clue working at this level and excited to continue our partnership with World Vision International and its national offices. You can check out World Vision’s global impact here and support World Vision Australia here.
02. Helping Some of Australia’s Most Iconic Wine Labels Go Direct to Consumer
As an office that’s partial to a good glass of wine, we jumped at the chance to work with Fogarty Wine Group whose family of brands includes Evans & Tate, Dalwhinnie, Deep Woods Estate, Lake’s Folly, Lowestoft, Millbrook, Smithbrook, and Tasmanian Vintners. Asides from being avid fans of the product, we saw a big opportunity for Fogarty Wine Group to develop its ecommerce capability and go direct to consumer. We have since started supporting Fogarty Wine Group with digital marketing. Do yourself a favour and check out their range at https://www.fogarty.wine/.
03. Seeing Ourselves in Campaign Brief
In February this year we saw our work with Sommer Swim featured in an article titled, Embracing Influence: The Kardashian Effect. It was the first time Clue has had any coverage in trade press, so we were entirely stoked for it. I may be over thinking it, or just feeling sentimental, but seeing this article published was the moment I knew Clue was starting to build momentum.
04. Raising Money for a Cancer Free Future!
Cancer Council WA are a beloved brand who do so much to help those affected by cancer, including funding world-class research locally. We loved the challenge of applying best-practice digital marketing to help Cancer Council achieve its fundraising goals. Our whole team also watched along on Cancer Research giving day – from lockdown – as they smashed their fundraising target. And then there was that moment of pride when our digital strategist, Georgia Parentich, turned around with a smile and said we’d helped raise over $100,000 for Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea. You can support Cancer Council here.
05. Working with Anglicare WA on a New Fundraising Acquisition Strategy
Anglicare WA is an organisation that I can’t speak more highly about. Asides from being an amazing team, the organisation does so much to help the most vulnerable people in our community. But with the need growing, the fundraising team are under increasing pressure to raise more money. We felt privileged to help Anglicare WA develop a three-year fundraising acquisition strategy. I expect more people to be talking about Anglicare WA for all the right reason in coming years. Learn more about what this phenomenal organisation does and get behind them here.
06. Hyper-growth for Three Long-term Clients
I’m always excited to see good things happen to good people. Last year we saw three of our long-term client experience what can only be described as hyper-growth. International swimwear label, Sommer Swim, continues to defy the odds with sustained month-on-month growth in major markets around the word. National retailer, Timbecon, has seen similar growth as they capture market share from bigger players. Finally, there’s Roaming Technologies, which is thriving in the B2B space. Each business is vastly different, yet what they have in coming are visionary leaders who’ve made strategic decisions about how and where to compete, as well as investing in developing their community online. Being part of their respective journeys has been a remarkable experience.
07. Optimising Our Business for Value Creation
I once heard someone say that profit is the market telling you that what you provide is valuable. What I took from this was that value comes before profit. One of the things we wanted to as an agency is optimising towards value creation. The question we’ve asked ourselves most frequently this past year is, what can we do to create more value for a client. Sometimes that has meant doing things for free, volunteering time with industry associations, or telling a client what the need to hear over what they want to hear. This focus has made Clue a fantastic place to work and is a daily reminder about our purpose, which is to help ideas thrive.
08. Making Tons of New Friends
One of the best things about working in an agency is getting to work with heaps of people and teams. As a result, we end up making tons of new friends who we get to help solve business problems. So, a big thank you to our friends, old and new, for embracing us as part of your team.
In reflecting upon the financial year that was, a big shout-out to every single individual on the Clue team for dreaming big and having the courage to make it happen. Likewise to Clue’s owner ad partners for trusting us to move fast, break the rules, and make shit happen. Here’s to an even bigger FY21-22!
PS. One of our goals for this year is to get better at documenting as we go. This article would have been way better if we had images and video to include.