Grip Ltd. has joined a select group on Facebook. Following a rigorous application process, the Toronto agency has been named one of the social media giant’s “preferred marketing developers” or PMDs.
The newly developed initiative recognizes global supplier partners that lead the way in four key areas: page management solutions; ad management solutions; services and platforms for building socially enabled integrations; and tools for page insights analysis.
Facebook currently works with nine PMD-certified companies in Canada, although Grip is the only creative agency recognized. The agency earned two PMD “badges,” one for the development of Facebook pages and a second for Facebook apps.
Currently, Facebook has 231 PMDs in 35 countries.
Grip president Harvey Carroll told Marketing that the recognition as a Facebook PMD is a “great validation” of the agency’s work, and also demonstrates its expertise with the social media platform to both current and prospective clients.
The application process saw Grip submit a portfolio of its Facebook work, including the “Show Your True Colours” initiative for Budweiser that invited consumers to paint their Facebook profile picture with their country’s flag as part of the 2010 World Cup of soccer.
“I think Facebook’s looking not just for technical excellence, but also for agencies and partners that can think in terms of what they call social by design – which is not just blasting your [client’s] name into news feeds and sticking their name everywhere, but actually building content that engages consumers and makes that want to spend time on the platform and most importantly makes them want to share,” said Carroll.
Being chosen as a preferred partner will enable Grip to partner with Facebook on creative ideation and client solutions, said Carroll, and will also give it advance notice of new Facebook features before they are widely publicized.
Facebook has, reportedly, more than 830 million users worldwide, and while the social media space continues to expand with the addition of new and emerging platforms like Tumblr and Pinterest, Carroll said it remains “destination number one” for Grip clients.
“The penetration it has in this market is unbelievable,” said Carroll. “We think it’s going to be a player for a long time.”
