Why we put emphasis on studio projects as well as client work

This approach allows us to work leaner, deliver projects faster and be more financially efficient for our clients. That way, clients know they’re receiving work that adds value to their business and we know we’re doing our very best work to achieve it for them.

Aside from our clients, we take the time to identify opportunities that have a meaningful impact. Not just for us or our clients, but businesses globally. We’re fortunate to have a team that self-initiate work and when one of us has an idea, we share it and are encouraged to nurture a concept to fruition.

Team Collaboration

We’re a small team anyway and unlike larger agencies and businesses, we often work hand-in-hand on multiple projects. Internal studio ventures allow us to solidly work together and give everyone the opportunity to apply their skills. Although we’re “all hands on deck” anyway, with all of us picking up different tasks wherever needed, it forms stronger relationships within the team.

Everyone has their own craft - from development to design and project management to marketing - working together on internal projects gives everyone the freedom and time to learn from each other. The better the connection between individuals, the greater the relation between our output and in turn that makes for even happier clients.

Practice Makes Perfect

Every single day we work on client work and we love it. There’s nothing more satisfying than a happy stakeholders that are seeing our work drive results and meet objectives for their business. We’re fortunate to have a list of dream clients that we think, hopefully, we genuinely get along with too.

But internal projects allow us essential downtime for research and development and put our skills into practice. Whilst our day-to-day work and clients challenges us, the time to shift out of our comfort zones with internal projects grants us the chance to practice what we preach and perfect it. As we start thinking outside the box and trying new things, it makes our work foolproof for the future and allows us the understanding to go back to our clients with innovative suggestions.

Demonstrated Insight

The beauty of internal projects means that we can dabble with ideas or tinker with pain points that we’ve heard from clients over the years. We’re able to develop concepts, see them to completion and then take key learnings - not only the process but the outcome too. Insights can then be applied to future projects, both internal and for clients, to better connect and create exceptional impact on an end user’s day-to-day digital experience.


Finesse Processes

Collaborating as a team on internal projects that don’t always (initially at least) have solid deadlines means that we can really put onus on process. It creates focus and allows us to see where we might hit obstacles or time constraints on other projects in the future. The more projects we work on using our agile process and scalability, it equips us with the experience and understanding needed to work at scale.

No matter the size of the project, the slicker our processes, the easier it is for everyone involved. It means less headaches, less “dramas” and more satisfaction and pride at the end result. We’re big advocates of running retrospectives - the good, the bad and the ugly too. We want to deliver experiences that delight our internal team and make it easier and more intuitive to the way they work, so that when it comes to client work, we're a well oiled-machine (of very friendly people!)

Our phased approach across multiple clients gives us an opportunity to focus on internal projects; our experiments. Experiments? That’s right. We’d like to formally introduce you to ‘Labstrakt.’

Internal projects are a true labour of love and we’ve been working on two core ventures. For one of them it’s been two years in the making and now we’ve launched to beta testers, we couldn’t be more thrilled to see Brand Message out in the wild.

Brand Message

Brand Message has been a touch point for everyone in the business but in particular our Application Specialist (Jimi), who has built the whole platform himself from scratch. Originally we only aimed to have an MVP (minimum viable product) but here, two years later, we've created an intelligent SaaS platform for businesses to harness their employee advocates and motivate them to post company content on LinkedIn and Twitter. Through clever interactions and smart gamification, Brand Message takes the chore out of social sharing for businesses.

Redirectly

Redirectly came from the realisation that the tedious task of managing URL redirects could be simpler and more efficient. We’ve taken a manual job and automated it so that businesses can save time, avoid human error and ensure that their SERPs rankings are protected. Whether you’re rebuilding a site from the ground up or rearchitecting an existing site, Redirectly’s meticulously designed features and unmatched functionality help you create a complete an accurate URL redirect list, in a matter of minutes. Sounds great, right?

We believe that internal projects are fundamental drivers for keeping agency teams at the forefront of technology and changes in the digital sphere. It’s indispensable time and whilst some agencies might see it as a “cost to the business” - payback comes in happy, motivated teams, developed skills, improved knowledge and exceptional achievements at the end of each adventure.