Perceptions of the digital industry as an insular environment are wide of the mark. Will Craig, founder and managing director of Glasgow-based marketing and design agency, Digital Impact, explains how collaboration with a range of agencies has benefitted his business.
I genuinely doubt whether Digital Impact would have been as successful in any other city in the UK.
From our earliest days, Glasgow and its business organisations have been nothing but supportive.
Whether it’s Business Gateway sharing funding advice, networking groups welcoming you with open arms or organisations such as Creative Clyde helping us shout about our successes, collaboration has been hugely important to us.
However, if I’m going to single out one initiative, it would be the Commonwealth Graduate Fund which was set up to help create a long-term legacy for the Games by part-funding graduate roles at businesses in Glasgow.
The Fund helped us recruit five graduates straight out of university, each of whom is still with the agency, which is a testament to its long-term legacy.
When the Fund closed in 2015, its place was taken by the Glasgow Guarantee was and we plan to use that to continue giving new graduates their first break in the industry.
There is a perception in some quarters that the digital industry is an insular environment, with agencies closed off from each other, hiding their industry secrets and protecting their most precious clients.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
If you reach out, other organisations are incredibly receptive. In fact, no one we have approached for a joint project has ever turned us away.
A good example is the partnership we established with specialist digital marketing agency, Smarter Digital Marketing. By working together and sharing insights, we’ve been able to refine our approach and better serve our clients on both sides.
We’ve also paired up for a joint marketing exercise-cum-research project so watch out for that coming soon to a screen near you.
We’ve also worked with Alexander Fraser, an outstanding Glasgow-based photography studio. Being able to give our designers a load of outstanding images is so much more inspiring than asking them to use boring stock photos.
Looking back over the time since our business was formed, I don’t think I appreciated quite how vibrant and friendly Glasgow’s digital industry is. All you’ve got to do is put yourself out there and you’ll quickly find new partners to work with.
It’s not just beneficial from a financial or business point of view, either. Working with all these other organisations keeps my work life feeling fresh and keeps me excited about the challenges ahead.
New technologies, new working methodologies and new design aesthetics are being invented every single day, which keeps the industry fresh and us on our toes.
With a really bright future on the horizon, I genuinely hope you come along with us, either as a client, collaborator or friend of the agency.
To contact Digital Impact click here.
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To read about the Glasgow Guarantee, click here.
The above blog post has been made possible through the generous support of Creative Clyde and the named contributors.