The Challenge
The Platform Project is a Swindon-based non-for-profit CIC. It's a youth development scheme that helps young people develop confidence and employability skills through a range of different enterprise activities. The social enterprise works to create a profit from a number of small scale enterprise based activities, which provide young people with experience in running a business and earning money for themselves.
Sadie Sharp, the founder of Platform Project, approached us to get involved with a new youth-led digital marketing agency she had planned. The aim of the project was to set up a digital media marketing agency run by the young people, with the goal of making it sustainable by creating a strong brand and also being able to help out other small companies and charities that might not have the budget for traditional marketing agencies. The first step in this project was to run a week-long project to get the agency off the ground.
With Fluff being experienced in providing digital solutions for clients, we provided the technical expertise and guidance required to get the project off to a great start.
Branding & Strategy
The initial stage was to meet the team and help to give a good introduction to the different areas of the startup process. Working closely with Sadie and the other support functions, we split the young people into groups and helped them identify tasks around design and business strategy. The groups formed around both client work, and also the marketing, brand, and strategy.
We helped with oversight on both teams, and the focus of Marketing & Brand was to develop a name and logo whilst Strategy would focus on the ‘bigger picture’ tasks of client relationships, consultation, product development, future planning and business strategy.
Marketing & Brand decided on the name ‘The Digiteers’ which was agreed upon after reviewing the multiple concepts. This name was reflective of what the agency offers as well as the unique character of the agency.
One of the client briefs also involved helping with the branding of a mental health charity. After an initial consultation, supported by Fluff, the team created a plan. This involved the creation of a logo, messaging, and digital posters.
Helping Clients
It was critical to develop the teams’ key skills for running a digital media marketing agency and to prepare them for stakeholder meetings and potential challenges ahead. Sadie had arranged initial meetings with potential clients, so we first focussed on developing their consultation skills, including how to ask the right questions. After their initial meetings with the clients, the team were tasked with creating a plan to boost the client’s digital presence. We helped them to create some initial ideas for marketing campaigns, and how branding may impact conversion and engagement. Using tools such as Design Thinking, combined with some technical platforms enabled us to get the young team thinking creatively about how to solve the client challenges.
