Agency on rise against the majors
FACEBOOK and Google may hold huge power in the digital world, but one Southportbased agency owner believes creative and PR firms aren’t in danger of losing out to the duopoly’s dominance.
Kelsie Smith runs VO Group – a fast-growing agency which counts Affinity Education Group, Evolve Education Group and Australian Sports Nutrition as clients.
Mr Smith said the digital space is getting much bigger and more competitive.
He said companies are looking to creative or PR firms to find the right outlet.
“Public relations is still on the rise, a lot of PR agencies are still working just as much. Having the digital space out there means there is a lot more to choose from,” he said.
“Whereas print, there was only a few magazines or newspapers you could go into. Now its endless.”
Mr Smith started VO Group in 2010 when it was called Vivid Obsession.
His background included working for dating agencies, salary packaging and novated lease agency Remserv, and education and training roles for the Queensland Govern-
ment. He said since high school he had been interested in creative design and wanted to branch out on his own.
“I decided that I wanted to start a creative agency, but very basic, more or less like a freelancer.”
Mr Smith said he had no training in any design skillset: “I had a graphic designer and we did basic design like logos, stationery, business cards and really basic websites.”
The first office was in Tweed Heads South before Mr Smith began working from home. There was no need for an office – when necessary he would visit clients.
“It was hard to gain business back then because I was still very new, and didn’t necessarily know what I was doing.”
Mr Smith said the first major job was for the owner of Cavalier Homes at Tweed Heads.
“We worked with the local Tweed Heads business. He was going out on his own, sold the Cavalier business and rebranded as Leisure Brothers,” he said. “Once we had gone through that process I knew it was something I wanted to continue doing.”
An important step came in 2012 when Mr Smith rented several desks from an IT firm based at Southport Central.
“I needed a place to bring clients and it was a really good lead generation tool,” he said.
The following year in August the company landed its first big fish. Affinity Education was in the process of listing on the stock exchange.
“We did all their branding, their IPO documentation, because we were already working with the main office holders of that company with their childcare centres,” he said.
That business led to work with New Zealand-based Evolve Education Group when it was listing on the ASX and NZX in 2014.
Since then, VO has opened offices in Auckland (2014) and Melbourne (2016).