Sunny Digital was established in late 2019 by managing director Matt Travers.
Travers started the agency after he decided to take the risk and start up the independent media agency on his own after seven years across digital and traditional on both agency and client-side in Australia and New Zealand.
Travers spoke to Mediaweek about the agency’s focus on paid digital advertising and data, how it has achieved solid client retention numbers and the bumper year ahead.
Starting Sunny Digital and leading the independent agency
“It started with just me on the ground, and after some turbulence throughout Covid, we have managed to grow to 12 full-time staff, all based in our Maroochydore office,” he shared.
“We have always deliberately stayed in our lane of paid digital advertising and decided to double down on the depth of service offering rather than going broad and doing everything for everyone,” he added.
Travers is the majority shareholder of the agency and director of the business. He said: “I oversee close to everything (many hats) and am supported by an amazing management team that allows me to focus on medium-long term direction, ensuring we’re at the top of the game with our approach, systems and delivery, as well as deployment of resources.”
“We’re data nerds, and we’re not shy about it”
Sunny Digital’s expertise is in paid digital advertising. Travers explained that the agency does more than “run Facebook ads.”
“We’re data nerds, and we’re not shy about it. We place an immense amount of focus on ensuring data accuracy and navigating the ever-shifting landscape of what can and can’t be tracked and the 1,000 caveats that come with it.
“Even if we’re working with a brand that is not eCommerce and rather in the lead gen space, we ensure we understand to the nth degree the quality and lifetime value of the leads we drive to gauge true advertising ROI, potential and profitability,” he added.
Travers said that underpinning all of their work is systemised proactive and flexible client service and noted that: “Although it is something we don’t “sell” to clients per se, it is absolutely something we are highly specialised at.”
What sets Sunny Digital apart from the rest
Sunny Digital has several factors that set it apart that Travers proudly shared, among them is that the agency does not have communication account managers. He explained: “The people you talk to are actually doing the work and are qualified to do so. We don’t outsource or whitelabel work or staff.”
The agency’s senior members, including its directors, are also hands-on with all of its clients. Travers said: “You don’t get sold the dream and then land in the lap of an intern” and also noted that the agency has never done lock-in contrives, even for onboarding periods. He explained: “We back ourselves to get it right. Our average client tenure is close to three years which, for only being around for four and a half years, isn’t too bad.”
Sunny Digital does not harbour any IP or backdoor deals with publishers. He said: “We’re channel and technology agnostic and only recommend the best possible solution for our clients to meet their goals.”
Travers also noted that for the Sunny Digital staff, being based on the Sunshine Coast sets them apart culturally.
“Our team routinely go surfing, climbing and more before/after the workday, where they manage millions in client spend and conduct high-level projects once thought only available in a metro CBD agency/office,” he added.
Impressive client retention numbers
Sunny Digital has maintained a great relationship with its clients over the years. Travers shared that 83% of its clients acquired in its first year are still part of its client portfolio, some of which had scaled more than three to five times than when they began.
“Our retention and average client tenure is something we’re quite proud of. We manage our capacity with service delivery meticulously, ensuring we don’t stretch our people too thin at the cost of our current clients agreed scope or client service,” he said.
“We recently beat a client’s eight-week campaign revenue target of $1m revenue by 25%, achieved an ROI (not ROAS, actual ROI) of 25:1 for an accommodation client,” he added.
Continuing the momentum of the agency’s “best year yet”
Travers proudly shared that 2022 was the agency’s “best year yet”. He said: “We’re only 4.5 years old as a performance agency, growing deliberately slowly for the sake of the long term and only partnering with businesses whom we can genuinely help, is driving continual YoY and CAGR growth.
“We continued our momentum of ‘punching above our weight’ in 2022, winning several key national/international accounts,” he added.
Travers explained that the agency doesn’t rate its performance on numbers but also on what clients think about them. In a 2022 survey, more than 50 of the agency’s clients rated their service, response timeframe, recurrence of report and results satisfaction, for which the agency scored nine out of 10 for each category.
The agency received nines from clients confident in their account leads’ market knowledge.
Sunny Digital also scored 100% from their clients for routinely informing them of the optimisations and projects delivered for their respective accounts.
The year ahead and being an IMAA member
Sunny Digital is set to have a bumper year ahead as the agency prepares to mark five years in business in January 2024.
Travers shared that the agency partnered with a traditional media agency that rebranded under the Sunny umbrella to become Sunny Media.
“This allows us to keep our lane depth but have a strong option (also highly specialised and in the same building) to offer traditional media for our clients.,” he said.
Travers added: “We’re also finalising some projects that will be incredibly exciting and beneficial to our clients and staff over the next few years.”
However, further into the future, Travers remained tight-lipped and said: “I can’t say too much yet, sorry!”
The IMAA has provided Sunny Digital with different benefits. Since becoming a member last year, the agency has attended the industry body’s events and networked with other agencies in the sector.
Travers added: “Having a direct line of contact who can rattle cages on behalf of us for some common agency frustrations has been very helpful!”
–
Top image: Matt Travers
