Andrew Arnott – that’s him there on the left – worked for a bank in his former life (but please don’t hold it against him). A marketing, new business and PR man, he thought he could put his stifled creativity to better use by starting vclever:
FRUSTRATION
"I was frustrated with many of the creative agencies I used to deal with. They didn’t listen well, weren’t at home with digital, and often produced uninspiring ideas and mediocre results. I thought the problem was due to the separation of their creative people and their client-facing teams, coupled with a lack of understanding of the quickly-changing digital landscape."
OPEN
"It can also be a little bit intimidating dealing with ‘creatives’, particularly at agencies with big reputations. I wanted to work with people that were approachable and open to ideas, while still giving you confidence that they know your market and are great at what they do. That’s the philosophy I started vclever with."
BRAINS ENGAGED
"Digital is such a fast-moving arena that we have to keep our ideas fresh and our brains engaged. The people who face clients are the same people that produce the work. And we have fun doing it. That can only be good for our clients and the results we achieve for them."
If you want to learn more about Andrew, he writes on the vclever blog and can be found on twitter @vclever. Fancy working with Andrew and vclever? Then get in touch now.
A FEW RANDOM THINGS THAT I THINK ARE BRILLIANT
Base CRM
Our current CRM system of choice (and we’ve used Batchbook, Highrise and Capsule previously). It enables us to track all our ongoing deals, important conversations, emails, and tasks – it revolutionises how we work with its simplicity and brilliant integration with both Google Apps and our mobiles.
Bitcasa
I couldn’t work without online storage. Dropbox is a brilliant tool and we still use it, but Bitcasa allows you to sync any file on your computer (rather than just files within a dedicated folder), plus it has end-to-end encryption. Genius.
Sainsbury’s Raisin and Oatmeal Cookies
Try them – they’re amazing! (they’re the ones from the instore bakery and they’re best when slightly under-done)