Profile | Studio 24: web of knowledge

[prev] …there thinking ‘I know nothing about technology – I’m an artist!’. So that’ s been one of our strengths, sticking to our guns and doing what we know. We’re living and breathing it all the time, rather than dipping in and out.

IN THE DIGITAL WORLD, THE PACE OF CHANGE SEEMS TO BE INCREASING. WHY IS THAT?
Internet connectivity is increasing and the speed of connectivity is increasing. Most people are using tablet and smartphone devices everywhere. It’s not like when you just logged into your Apple Mac in the office – now it’s all in your pocket. And that is where our name came from. The ‘24’ is for 24-hour connectivity.

WHAT’S YOUR KEY ADVICE FOR A COMPANY TRYING TO GET ITS HEAD AROUND DIGITAL MARKETING FOR THE FIRST TIME?
Don’t feel you have to do everything; start with what you can do. It’s a case of whatever you’re going to do, do it well. Even if it’s just a Facebook page, make sure you really do it so it works and has some impact. Don’t just do it and two weeks later drop it – that works as a negative for those that do come across it.

DAY-TO-DAY, WHAT IS YOUR PERSONAL USE OF TECHNOLOGY?
I try to be quite balanced, but you can let it dominate your life. You see it all the time – everyone’s got their head down on their smartphone wherever they are – in restaurants, on the Tube. It’ s a real battle not to do it, but we all do. I’ve got all the Apple devices, MacBook, MacBook Air, an iPad and my iPhone.

WHAT SOCIAL MEDIA DO YOU USE?
LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter tend to be the main channels I interact with.

WHAT’S YOUR EARLIEST MEMORY OF COMPUTING?
I had a Commodore 16, so loading in my tapes and playing those little games.

ARE THERE ANY HIGH-PROFILE PROJECTS THAT YOU’RE WORKING ON AT THE MOMENT THAT YOU’RE PA RTICULARLY EXCITED ABOUT?
Yes, the Crossrail project down in the City of London. It’s huge – a £1billion project creating a new rail line from east to west London and the largest infrastructure project in Europe. We’ve worked with them for a number of years, constantly updating the site. Now we’ve made it responsive so it works regardless of the device you’re using.

YOUR CLIENTS RANGE FROM JUDGE BUSINESS SCHOOL TO THE CAMBRIDGE BUILDING SOCIETY TO ALBANY VINTNERS TO THE CAMBRIDGE FILM FESTIVAL TO THE WALLACE COLLECTION. WHAT’S STEP ONE WHEN YOU ENGAGE WITH A NEW CLIENT?
We go back to the basics. What do they want to achieve? Why are they doing this? Then we set goals and benchmarks, putting a strategy in place. That way we’re always designing with a goal in mind

WE’VE TALKED ABOUT THE PROLIFERATION OF NEW DEVICES AND THE RISE IN CONNECTIVITY. IN THIS CLIMATE, WHAT’S THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE YOU SEE YOUR CLIENTS FACING?
My current feeling is that general marketing managers and marketing personnel are quite scared by what’s happening because their skills aren’t keeping up. They are doing a wide range of marketing functions, but the speed of change is now quicker than it was before. I just think people are getting left behind, so our job ends up being a lot more educational.

WHAT DO YOU SEE IN THE PIPELINE FOR YOUR SECTOR AND YOUR COMPANY?
Mergers might be an option. There are quite a lot of agencies in the marketplace at the moment, probably too many. I could see in the future that some will start merging or buying others out just to consolidate the market a little bit. Personally, we’re thinking of spreading our wings with a London presence at some point.

LAST YEAR, STUDIO 24 WAS INCLUDED IN THE RECOMMENDED AGENCIES REGISTER TOP 100 AND WAS NAMED A FINALIST IN THE MARKETING EXCELLENCE AWARDS BY THE CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF MARKETING – SO YOU’RE OBVIOUSLY DOING SOMETHING RIGHT. GOING FOR WARD, WHAT ARE THE RISKS YOU BELIEVE STUDIO 24 FACES?
Cambridge is quite a competitive place to be in terms of hiring staff. There are some very big, profitable software and games companies here, so they can offer very healthy salaries to young software developers.

SO IF YOU WERE TALKING TO TEENAGERS TODAY, IS IT SAFE TO ASSUME YOU MIGHT ADVISE THEM TO STUDY PROGRAMMING AT UNIVERSITY?
I tell you what, I wouldn’t be advising them to go to university. That’s not the route you want to go in my book. Universities are not producing people for the real world. They’re interested in getting bums on seats and collecting the fees. If you took two people at age 18, one going into university and one into an agency, after three years the one at the agency would be miles and miles ahead of the one that’s come out of university. Then you look at the people teaching and they’ve been out of industry for say 10 years, and you get a big gap in knowledge. If you want to be a developer you need to be passionate and you need to teach yourself. Generally, the self-starters have gone out and worked from the age of 18.

WHAT’S YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGE RIGHT NOW? There are a lot of challenges because things are changing quickly. So the biggest challenge is keeping up with the market, knowing where digital development is going to go and how an agency like us fits into it.

WHAT’S THE LONG-TERM PLAN?
I’d like to think that within five years we’ll fill up the whole office building with 25 people, and we’ll keep delivering good-quality work.

DISCOVER MORE ABOUT STUDIO 24 AND ITS CURRENT PROJECTS AT www.studio24.net OR CALL 0870 2416159.