The Speed Agency was launched in 2016 and was majority owned by Clemenger BBDO and the minority by Ian Perrin.
The agency later became independent, and Perrin welcomed his co-managing partner Duncan Parfitt, formerly COO of Spark Foundry, to the team in 2020.
Perrin spoke to Mediaweek about the agency’s growth in the past 18 months, how the pandemic shaped its flexibility policy and their plans to collaborate with creative agencies in the year ahead.
The managing partner, who was previously the CEO of ZenithOptimedia, said the agency was “built on the notion that the legacy media agency models of annual deals and set and forget planning were fundamentally broken.”
“In a media environment that’s in a continuous state of flux, it’s important that media be more of a dynamic commodity that gets traded based on how it impacts business results,” he said.
The integration between analytics and strategies
Perrin, who has held positions at MindShare and Naked Communications, explained that he and his co-managing partner wanted the agency to be different in how it operates the traditional multinational legacy media agency models using his background in strategy and Parfitt’s in data analytics and performance media.
“We believe it’s a better way to solve communications problems, rather than simply doing traditional annual deals,” he added.
The Speed Agency’s managing partner said that he runs their strategy, working closely with his team and the head of planning and client management, Kaylene Tunney, to deliver solutions for their clients. He also works alongside the strategy team with director Max Learmont on writing strategies for clients.
“What’s critical in all of that is the integration between analytics and strategies so that the two are not seen as separate things but come together to solve problems,” he said.
Perrin noted that the agency works with three types of clients: those who require data analytics and strategy work for project-related work, clients who use them for performance media, and clients who use the agency as a full-service media agency, which he noted has become the most significant growth area in the agency.
Over the years, The Speed Agency has built strong relationships with its clients, some of their longest include personal loans business Wisr, Palmer’s Cocoa Butter and Paspaley.
Perrin noted that over the last 18 months, they won Taco Bell, Betfair, Revive Financial and Duluxgroup. The Speed Agency has recently won Carnival Cruise Lines, Archie Rose and Boody.
The managing partner credited the agency’s growth to its focus on effectiveness and use of analytics and data.
Perrin said: “We focus much more on effectiveness and use the analytics and data department to make sure that we can differentiate and understand client’s businesses in a different way.”
Growth during the pandemic and the outlook for the year
The Speed Agency has also seen significant growth over the last couple of years during COVID, in terms of the team expanding to 21 people and building the business remotely.
Perrin said that being in the same physical space made it difficult in some ways but noted that it was an opportunity for the agency.
“We’ve tried to lean in and use that as an advantage and work out how we can build a more modern agency. A lot of focus has been on really leaning into flexibility and giving people the opportunity to work wherever they want to, whenever they want to,” he said, adding one of their colleagues has been working remotely while currently abroad.
“I think those are the things that come out of the pandemic, which we probably wouldn’t have considered. But now, because she can work remotely from anywhere within the same time zone, it’s easy to embrace the flexible working style,” Perrin added.
Perrin also noted the agency has developed a greater reliance on technology. “We’ve tried to embrace a project management tool called ClickUp. It’s a different way of operating compared to the old way of everyone sitting around, talking, and sharing files. In a way, the whole agency has just become a product of COVID.”
The managing partner shared that the agency has been growing its presence in Melbourne and will continue doing so. He noted that the new growth opportunity for Speed is working and collaborating with creative agencies.
“Our focus for this year is how do we work with more creative agencies, how do we create better integration in the work that we do with creative agencies, and make clients feel like they’re getting one solution,” Perrin added.
The benefits of their IMAA membership
The Speed Agency joined the IMAA last year, and Perrin praised the industry body for being a voice for the growing independent agency landscape.
“The IMAA shows that it’s a category that’s growing incredibly quickly, and there are a lot of clients who are looking for smarter, service-oriented, independent agencies versus the transactionally oriented, buying-focused multinationals,” he said.
Perrin added: “I think they’ve done a brilliant job of putting a voice to our businesses and demonstrating to clients the overall category that independent agencies should be considered.”
The managing partner also mentioned the IMAA’s work on advocating for independents in the recent tender for the New South Wales Government’s $70 million media account.
Despite OMD being appointed with the lucrative account last month, Perrin said of IMAA’s efforts: “They’ve done a brilliant job of championing our cause.”
See also: IMAA praise Federal Government’s decision to source 20% of annual procurement from SMEs
–
Top image: Ian Perrin
