"Collaboration is key to success," says Jaywing boss as expansion gets underway
“THE main piece of work we’ve done is around collaboration,” said Rob Shaw, CEO of listed agency Jaywing in the UK & Australia.
Formerly head of Leeds agency Epiphany which was acquired by Jaywing in March 2014, the deal was completed this year after the earn-out payments for Epiphany were completed.
Last week, for the year to 31 March 2016, Jaywing turned around revenues of £36.0m up from £33.8m the year before.
Profit before tax of £705,000 compared to a loss of £1.48m, which Mr Shaw says is down to the time investment in unifying the two businesses.
He said: “Epiphany was a big part of my career, but now as CEO of the agency that acquired it, I can continue to see it flourish.
“We said when Epiphany was acquired that it would become Jaywing’s growth engine in a growing market.
“We have collaboration written on mugs! It’s core to the business, presenting ourselves as one business. That spirit of collaboration has led to these good set of results.”
This collaborative approach has extended to its dealings with universities, notably Imperial College London and the University of Leeds. The tie up with the Imperial’s Data Science Institute hit the headlines as it sought to analyse consumer behaviour and emotional responses to brands and marketing.
“As a business we have a grounding in data in everything we do. With the University of Leeds we’ll be able to take real life case studies to students which is essential in an industry that moves so quickly.”
Last month Jaywing acquired an agency in Australia an “emerging market” in the digital and creative industries, Digital Massive.
“We’ve had an operation in Australia for several years now, though the time zone really kills you! We wanted to fast track our growth and set out to find acquisition target. Digital Massive are brilliant culturally and technically doing the right things
“We specifically went to Australia because of its growth in search marketing,” according to Mr Shaw.
To top off a successful year, the company has announced that it is expanding its Leeds offices at Small Mill, once a malting house and part of the Tetley empire, and redeveloping the formerly derelict steel forgery Albert Works in Sheffield into Jaywing’s new HQ, firmly cementing the Yorkshire roots of a forward-looking digital business.
