We sat down with agency co-founders Kevin (CEO) and Roxana (President) to take a look back at a very unconventional year. We discussed the challenges and successes of 2021 and looked ahead to a bright 2022, Digital Additive’s tenth year in business.
What would you consider DA’s biggest achievement in 2021?
Roxana:
Our biggest achievement in 2021 is how we have been able to maintain and grow our client partners this year. We are so grateful to have partnerships that have been with us for 5, 7, even 9+ years (as old as our agency). It is a testament to the shared trust, respect and passion that we have built over the years — something that every team member at DA has helped build. It is not just our biggest achievement, but also my greatest source of pride.
Kevin:
I’d consider our commitment to embracing the environment created by the ongoing pandemic throughout 2021 one of our greatest achievements. We took many deliberate steps in 2020 to adjust to the initial impact of the pandemic, retaining our staff as we adapted to the changes in our clients’ businesses. In 2021, we relied on that foundation when evaluating opportunities for evolution within the organization — structure, process, people — and used it as a springboard from which we can accelerate our growth in 2022.
How has DA maintained its culture through a year+ of remote working?
Roxana:
We work really hard at making sure our team members truly see each other beyond the day-to-day work. We have a subcommittee focused on creating these opportunities. We’ve thrown virtual events like our Murder Mystery party and recent White Elephant gift exchange, connected folks with like interests through our Book Club and Yoga Classes, and ensured everyone felt appreciated and special through birthday gift deliveries, morale boosting surprises, and one-on-one, no-agenda catch ups.
Kevin:
Our culture isn’t based on being in a physical location, it’s the outcome of how we interact with each other and our clients and the way we go about our work. By continuing to be mindful of our core values — remaining Conscientious, Dedicated, Genuine, Nimble, and Smart — I believe we’ve continued to maintain and develop our culture. That’s not to say adjusting to predominantly remote working is not without its challenges!
What challenges did DA have to face in the past year, and what strategy did you use to overcome them?
Roxana:
The biggest challenge has been and continues to be the full-remote nature of our relationships. I’m not talking about the remote nature of our work — we’ve always embraced this flexibility and believe that a level of remote work will remain a viable and productive structure. But there really isn’t such as a thing a full-remote relationship. Our success and pride lies in the relationships we have with each other, our client partners, and our service vendors.
The past few months we have been working really hard to find creative ways to develop and strengthen those relationships from having small, catered team meetings in the office, one-on-one coffees with clients and simply just starting the conversation for when we can get together for strategy sessions. Going from Zoom call to Zoom call, we’ve all gotten out of the habit of creating that space for connection.
Kevin:
We’ve always maintained a remote-friendly posture without being a remote-first organization. Most of our team and clients are based in the southeast, and meeting in-person was our preferred mode of connecting. We regularly travelled to meet clients further away or had remote team members visit our offices in Atlanta. The indefinite continuation of working remotely has been a challenge. We added new team members and new client contacts and had to really invest and think about ways to engage and build relationships without relying on in-person interactions. Engaging each other through video, using surveys to gather feedback, adding more online social moments and even sending physical gifts through the mail have all helped continue to foster connections while being remote.
What are you most excited about regarding DA’s evolution in the upcoming year?
Roxana:
I’m most excited about the momentum we have coming out of 2021. We have seen a shift from reactive, survival mode back to a proactive, strategic focus. The past 6 months we have brought on 4 new clients, including HairClub, Blinds.com, Rare.org and Supplies on the Fly, a division of Sysco.
We are ready to take on 2022 with renewed energy and 10 new team members!
Kevin:
Over the past 12–18 months, we’ve leaned in on our core values of being genuine and conscientious to help navigate the pandemic and its impact on our team members and clients. Heading into 2022 and with an increase in new business and a more optimistic sense of putting the pandemic further behind us, I believe we’ll adjust and lean in on being Nimble and Dedicated and we seek to accelerate our growth.
Is there anything else you’d like to reflect on about 2021 or looking ahead to 2022?
Roxana:
I’m ready to tackle 2022 and show how Digital Additive can continue to make a mark in truly driving 1:1 marketing experiences.
Kevin:
I’m looking forward to traveling again!
