I was sitting in the back of Tuktuk in Cambodia when the idea for starting a very different kind of creative communications agency came to me.
Although at that stage the edges were far from ironed out; the fact that my thinking peaked so far from the fluorescent light of a clinical office desk proves the importance of the inspiration that can happen away from traditional working environments.
My idea was to create a communications agency that integrates authenticity into its very structural practices. I wanted to develop a visionary new model that’s lean, mean and based on flexible working. Where this seemed manageable in a freelance-type career, it was more challenging to work out how it could translate into the day-to-day structure and working practice for a whole agency and for the employees working there.
Traditional agencies function through expensive office bases, relationships built over client lunches at pricey restaurants, and other business overheads that can soon add up.
Tuesday Media instead embraces a ‘virtual networks’ model, which aims to do the exact opposite. By selecting the best talent, and working with less formalised costly overheads, we can save money, streamline business and offer clients a premium, transparent service.
The model is as beneficial for the employers, as it is for the employees and the clients. I wanted Tuesday Media to be able to provide the highest quality and most authentic level of service in all the disciplines required to build a gold-standard brand and raise a business profile.
In today’s world of creative professionals, this meant a ‘pick and mix’ approach – sourcing the best talent per project, working across industries and cities, but refusing to compromise on knowledge.
By injecting disciplines that have traditionally been kept apart, I planned to combine unique and authentic skill-sets to provide the best service in bringing clients’ stories to life.
I sought out experts across different core backgrounds: from traditional PR to journalism, conceptual advertising, art direction and design, alongside top digital marketing experts in SEO and data analytics. It was clear that the best versions of each skill required nuanced and individual nurturing in a business environment, and that it was my duty to find a structure that could provide that.
Remote working and online tools very quickly became key to the agency’s internal and external communication. The immediacy and strength of these aids would ensure that the agency provides the services of the best authentic talent across the country. By embracing these new technologies and getting away from the ‘wired in’ approach, ours is an agency that is ready for the future.
Numerous years of experience has taught me that the benefits of working more freely cannot and should not come at the price of transparency and real, measurable results and the eternal question of KPIs is another traditional agency problem solved in the ‘virtual networks’ model.
Where for years agencies have struggled to measure time against results, this is problem infinitely easier to solve when all of your employees are trained in careful time-tracking and results measurement from the start.
Accountability comes hand in hand with authenticity, meaning it is at the heart of Tuesday Media and the ‘virtual networks’ model.
As well as providing a high-end, streamlined service for clients, the model also drives a future-proof brand of employees who will be ready for the workplace of the future. The reworked agency structure encourages the honesty and integrity of the individual and their commitments outside of work.
Employees should be exploring and enjoying their passions and interests as much as they work hard, as it is these factors that create the kind of interesting person that can dream, plot and execute the highest quality campaign.
For me, the ‘virtual networks’ model is, more than anything, a humanistic model, valuing the nuance and importance of the roles played by each individual in the business transaction.
From the client that gets their money’s worth and their targeted results, to the employee who is able to work to her highest standard while taking a break to feed their kids, providing an authentic structure is the first step to recognising the human and the human story in business.
It is that human story, and the power of the voice, that is the reason Tuesday Media, and the new ‘virtual networks’ model was created.