It’s time to review our finalists for 2011 Agency of the Year. To find out which of our top 10 shops takes top honours, pick up the January 2012 issue of Marketing.
Montreal-based Cloudraker moves beyond the ‘creative agency’ template
Put yourself in this position: a national U.S. advertiser commissions you to create a “leading-edge” smartphone app. There’s budget to do something significant, but after the project gets rolling, the client changes their mind and opts to invest in celebrity sponsorship ads instead. What do you do with your unfinished app?
Many agencies would file the cancelled project away to pitch to another client, or drop it as fast as possible to put time into other paying projects. Not Cloudraker. When sunglasses giant Oakley changed gears during development, Cloudraker finished developing the product. Now called Nabit, it’s available on iTunes as the agency’s product. It quickly became the top photo app in several countries including Canada, Japan and France and, for a time, became the top app overall in Russia, Hong Kong and Spain, among other countries. For several days in September, it was being downloaded more than Angry Birds. It has reached approximately 850,000 total downloads since its August launch.
The app’s success in such a competitive category (photography apps are among the most popular – think Hipstamatic and Instagram) speaks not only to the agency’s digital credentials, but its willingness to take risks and innovate as a matter of principle.
Yes, there are bigger agencies with more national clients and more revenue, but Cloudraker’s game plan is one the biggest multinationals could learn from. It is actively seeking opportunities to create and own intellectual properties that can inform client work and possibly provide new lines of revenue. After successfully stretching beyond its “digital agency” beginnings in 2009, Cloudraker moved beyond the “creative agency” template altogether in 2011.
This philosophy is why it became a partner in Fitz & Follwell, a Montreal bike tour operator. Granted, Cloudraker’s role is largely a marketing one, investigating merchandising options and promoting the tours. But more importantly, it’s willing to invest in a private enterprise to watch it grow, see it struggle and learn how a full business operates—not just its marketing team.
When trying to position a creative agency as one that can solve business problems, what better way than by helping run an actual business?
The agency has also opened Lovecat Studio, an in-house photo and video production arm that can accommodate clients who may not have the budget to justify going to a large third-party production company.
“We have a ton of clients who need to produce content, especially for the digital space,” says Christina Brown, VP creative and partner, who was also invited to judge the Cyber competition in Cannes this year. Love Cat has already landed its first client—the Washington D.C.-based organization that oversees the .org top-level internet domain.
There’s more! To read the full story in the Dec. 12 issue of Marketing, subscribe today.
