Flying flag for better marketing
MARKETING and branding agency Flagship Digital is making waves in the United States where founder Fady Hanna recently relocated.
The company, which counts Adidas, American Express, Hillsong and Live Nation among its clients, has a turnover in the multi-millions.
It is a long way from seven years ago when Mr Hanna, who sits on the board of Home of the Arts, first conceived of the idea to launch his own business while in between jobs.
“I started this as an opportunity to allow me to have a bit more time to find the right job,” he said.
“I thought if I could make a couple of hundred bucks here and there that would be great.”
The couple of hundred bucks turned out to be much more – $80,000 in his first year.
“Definitely nothing amazing but enough for me to prolong the job search to see if I could grow the business more.”
Mr Hanna said it was tough going the first 12 months. He reached out to friends who ran businesses to see if he could do work for them and they in turn “advocate” for his business.
The business started with a focus on lead generation, which refers to identifying and cultivating potential customers for a business’s products or services.
However, it was brand strategy where Mr Hanna believed the largest opportunity lay for his new company.
“I felt everyone was thinking brand was about colours, logos and textures as opposed to genuinely what someone thinks of an organisation, which can sometime dramatically transcend what design is,” he said.
“It could be things that are wrong with customer service within an organisation.”
It was this unorthodox view of brands that enabled the company to attract clients and see growth of more than 350 per cent in one year. It meant a different pitch to clients.
“Rather than show a portfolio of beautiful design work we would showcase studies of tangible growth and return on investment and we would track that with our clients,” Mr Hanna said.
Mr Hanna said the greatest challenges he has faced were managing growth and people.
He cites hiring people who were “dramatically over-qualified” among his best decisions.
Mr Hanna has turned much of his focus towards the US where its clients include the church Hillsong as well as entertainment giant Live Nation.
He said Americans found the approach Australians bring to branding to be refreshing.
“The process we go through in Australia is somewhat unheard of over there.
“When we talk of a specific way of doing things and a process it is just being adopted at a crazy rate to the point where I am living there now to manage that growth.”
Flagship Digital also has an office in London.
Mr Hanna said the branding side of the business had grown strongly to the point where it is close to matching the revenue from lead generation.
He said while it is exciting to work with big brands, it can be more creatively freeing to work with smaller companies.
“For some of the companies where we do a full reorganisation of their brand strategy we can be changing their name, look and communication. They are the ones we would gravitate towards.”