Predictions for 2017: Adapting to digital will be the focus says Enjoy Digital’s Jonathan Filewood

HERE, boss of Leeds agency Enjoy Digital discusses the biggest changes in the creative and digital sectors in 2016, and what’s in store for the industry in 2017.

What have been the biggest changes in your industry for 2016?

We have seen a few changes in the past year, with budgets having the largest impact. Budgets have increased and new or additional budgets have been found for testing new ideas and platforms, which is exciting and refreshing.

The merging lines between SEO, online PR and social media is still a hot topic with specialist agencies all fighting for the limelight. This will only go one way and more traditional agency’s will have to change the way they work to still win business and compete.

What has been your highlight for the year?

2016 has been another great year for us as an agency, so success is my highlight. We increased turnover by nearly 30%, employed some great new personalities and talent into the agency, started working with some great new clients and continued to support and deliver with existing clients, all with really strong relationships. Topping all of this was being awarded Agency Elite Status by the Drum at the start of December, a great way to end the year.

What will be the biggest changes in your industry in 2017 and anything to watch out for in terms of market trends?

Our industry is constantly ever changing and staying up to date is key to keeping our clients at the forefront of what they do and what they need to do to succeed.

As more and more companies are realising the value in digital however, and building in-house teams, it will be really interesting to see how the relationship between client and agency changes. Agencies still have an important valuable place, how this pans out will remain to be seen – I have my own ideas!