RyanCap, Simon Ryan’s marketing and media communications parent company, launched Ryvalmedia in July 2020.
Joseph Pardillo was immediately appointed as managing director to helm the new digital-first marketing and media specialist in Melbourne, bringing over 25 years of experience working in senior and executive-level roles across media agencies and publishing houses.
Since then, Pardillo has developed a vibrant and dynamic culture at the agency, delivered impressive growth and earned a Great Place to Work certification.
Pardillo spoke to Mediaweek about Ryvalmedia Melbourne’s growth trajectory, the keys to creating a stand-out work culture and his outlook for the agency in the year ahead.
Pardillo on leading Ryvalmedia Melbourne
As managing director, Pardillo noted that the position often sees him wearing different hats.
“One minute, it’s setting our strategic agenda with the leadership team and actioning high-level stakeholder conversations with client partners. The next minute it’s rolling my sleeves up across the full spectrum of people and operational matters and sinking my teeth into the back-end business financials while tackling all risk mitigation tasks,” he said.
However, above all, Pardillo highlighted that one of the most critical intangibles of his position as MD is to be the perfect role model in setting a winning culture across the floor.
“If I can achieve and maintain that, overseeing everything else becomes a breeze, he said.
How a “strong and steady 2022” has led Ryvalmedia into continued momentum
Ryvalmedia Melbourne experienced a “strong and steady 2022” following the challenges felt industry-wide across late 2021 and early 2022 brought on by the pandemic and the long streaks of lockdowns, Pardillo said.
Looking back, Pardillo shared that the agency wrapped up the year with nine significant new business and client wins that gave them early validation that their agency model aligned with their future growth ambitions.
“We stepped into this year with continued momentum on the new business front by adding Hisense and Ray White to our client roster while focusing on existing client partnerships,” he said.
But Pardillo pointed out that their doubling down on our People and Culture is of equal priority.
“With our Ryvalmedia family growing exponentially over the past 12 months with 42 staff in Melbourne alone, we’ve re-invested our successes into the team and infrastructure,” he added.
Pardillo (centre) and the Ryvalmedia team
Pardillo on achieving Great Place to Work certification and creating a happy and empowered work culture
Although there were moments that challenged the agency, Pardillo and his team worked hard to deliver business and create a happy and empowered work culture.
Ryvalmedia has delivered a 37% year-on-year growth in total billings, finished 2022 in the R3 New Business League top five, and seen a 45% increase in headcount.
The agency also achieved its Great Place to Work certification in November last year. The certification is a rigorous process that involves all their employees feeling proud of their work, alignment with the company’s values, fair treatment in the workplace, etc.
“Being certified as a Great Place to Work means that our staff validated our culture – which makes this accreditation such a powerful indicator of our office environment, where we spend so much time when not on the couch at home,” Pardillo said.
Pardillo highlighted that 91% of our People agreed that Ryvalmedia is a great place to work, which he said has more importance to him than the commercial numbers. He noted that great company culture is a prerequisite for job seekers who use certifications such as GPW to help them validate employer claims and review job offers.
“So, if attracting the best talent and retaining them along the journey ultimately makes places tick, we take pride in that 91% statistic at Ryvalmedia, and we will only stop once we get to 100%!”
The agency also boasts a custom-built internal program for staff called Ryvalmedia Evolve, geared towards the agency’s mantra of ‘becoming incredible, quicker.’
“This mantra sparked the creation of our Evolve (training & development program), which is focused on delivering and driving individual, team & company growth by leveraging the best of our internal & external resources,” he said
Pardillo noted that the program includes accreditation (best practice, certifications, and benchmarking), Evolve Sessions (more in-depth capability-based training) and Evolve Bootcamps (intense burst of soft-skills training).
Pardillo said: “It’s our mission to create a culture where people feel empowered to be and to do their best – from the ground up.
“We have a remarkable 100% retention rate, with only two employees leaving since our inception three years ago to pursue their passion for adventure abroad.”
“We believe our retention statistics and cultural agenda sets us apart from our competitors and fosters a sense of shared culture throughout the entire agency, with team members invested in its success.”
Ryvalmedia also actively recruits from outside the industry, with one in five new employees falling into this category.
The agency also has representatives on the Triple AG (Advertising Ageist Action Group) committee who are actively driving the industry’s embracing of the over-fifties workforce.
Making friends in the industry
Ryvalmedia is also a member of the MFA, and Pardillo noted that being part of the industry body gives their staff access to the best industry training programs and an opportunity to immerse in crucial events to learn and network with industry peers.
Pardillo added that it also places Ryvalmedia in a formal position to contribute and give back to the media and advertising community by retaining and attracting future stars.
For the current rising stars in Ryvalmedia, Pardillo noted that obtaining agency certifications such as an Elite and Premier partnership status with the likes of Microsoft and Google ensures their staff has access to Alpha & Beta product solutions that benefit their staff and client partners in various ways.
Sustainable ambitions
Ryvalmedia has been on the front foot with its sustainability ambitions and its plan of achieving carbon neutrality by June 30, 2023
The agency has leaned into quantifying and reducing its Scope 1 and 2 emissions and actively working with its suppliers and partners to prioritise low-emission solutions and building product alternatives for their clients with a sustainable focus.
Ryvalmedia is also building green CPC products and reduced carbon reporting for its media clients to actively contribute to the global reduction of carbon emissions.
Pardillo said: “Our deep understanding of the digital landscape means we are well-placed to understand the impact of digital executions and platforms where only some others may be.
Pardillo noted that if Ryvalmedia can lead from the front, they will not only be contributing significantly to a better and more sustainable advertising industry but be able to offer their client partners insights and products as one of many vital business value exchanges they are seeking right now and in the future.
How an engaged and thriving culture will drive long-term success
Looking ahead at the outlook for Ryvalmedia, Pardillo said is consistency in how they continue to shape their business’s direction, which primarily revolves around a solid people-focused foundation.
“We know that we must ever-evolve our product offerings and USPs (that are fit for purpose around the shifting needs of our client partners), so to create an agile and sustainable business model with long-term success in mind, nurturing that ‘winning culture,’ I mentioned earlier must remain uncompromised and consistent all the way through!”
Pardillo noted that there will be many twists and turns, but that’s not what keeps him up at night.
“It boils down to how engaged and thriving our culture is to deliver on our end-goal ambitions and visions as a collective,” Pardillo concluded.
See also: Ryvalmedia Brisbane MD Mark Power reveals the key to retaining and winning new clients
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Top image: Joseph Pardillo