Partner Spotlight: Andrew Eklund
Partner Spotlight: Andrew Eklund, Founder and CEO of Ciceron
Weathering Major Economic Storms
Let’s get the bad news out of the way first: COVID-19 hasn’t disappeared. Coronavirus continues to dramatically alter how we live and work. Early skeptics have been perhaps humbled by the brutal reality the world faced these past 12 months. Maybe in part it’s a lesson in humility for all of us.
Now for the good news: There are two causes for hope on the horizon, the most important being the historically rapid development of effective vaccines, which are already saving lives. The other? Digital Transformation.
Can you imagine going through this pandemic without digital—that is, without access to online banking and bill paying, ecommerce shopping, remote work capabilities and video meetings, or even basic communication with friends and loved ones? Digital is literally keeping economies and societies afloat right now.
Andrew Eklund calls it “an existential reality,” especially for businesses. He’s right. Embracing digital transformation is no longer optional. Those organizations that weather and survive the economic “ice bath” of COVID-19 will have survived largely because they went digital well before the chaos of 2020. Andrew saw digital’s staying power and potential when it was barely a gleam in the world’s eye—way back in 1995—when Andrew founded Ciceron, one of the first digital-only marketing agencies in the United States.
While Andrew didn’t exactly predict the future, he did successfully evolve with it and keep Ciceron nimble by adhering to a pivotal leadership rule: Staying open to change.
Economic Reinvention
Finding ways to adapt and reinvent ourselves in the face of massive challenges is what we humans do. We’ve been doing it for a long, long time. So why shouldn’t businesses and entrepreneurs do the same? The most successful are the most alert and open to change. Business leaders have a responsibility to learn from past crises when it comes to navigating their organizations through troubled waters, according to Andrew.
Looking back at just the past 20 years, Andrew points to four seismic events that have irrevocably altered the U.S.—and ultimately the global—economy: the “dot com” crash, the tragedy of September 11, the Great Recession of 2008, and now the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. What’s the key to persevering, especially in the marketing and advertising industry, when the world is turned upside down? Economic reinvention. Reinvention works when business leaders with a sixth sense notice and take advantage of digital trends and economic opportunities to reach their customers more efficiently; to evolve as the customer evolves. However, it does require the moxie and agility of near-constant adaptation.
Andrew notes, “Out of every recent economic event or downturn, what has risen out of the ashes—in the marketing and advertising world—have been digital channels.” An example he offers is the birth of programmatic advertising (think “auction” style pay-what-you-want ad buying on social media, streaming TV, and paid search), which rose out of the 2008-2009 market collapse when digital advertising became more flexible and inexpensive due to deflation. What happened with business leaders who had the foresight to leverage programmatic ad buying? Most found major success. Including, of course, Andrew’s company Ciceron, which had its largest growth year in 2019 and was named one of the world’s “Top 100 Fastest Growing Agencies” by Ad Week. Ciceron puts into practice what Andrew preaches in terms of reinvention, and the company now embodies an innovative “data + media + creative” model, offering clients the ability to have a partner who can seamlessly integrate these interconnected disciplines.
In the Key of D Podcast Featuring Andrew Eklund
Knowing and implementing new tech is important, but marketers can’t put the cart before the horse. They must first listen to the data, interpret and finally, implement. Social listening is a timeless strategy that is always useful because it puts the customer first; letting their behavior guide the decisions we as marketers make. Adam advocates for the 80/20 rule: spend 80% of your resources listening, 20% posting content. By carefully observing the online behavior of your customers or prospective customers—which is now easier than ever with digital tools like Google Analytics—you can get better at reaching them. Helping customers find exactly what they’re looking for more efficiently is a simple, but revolutionary business concept. “That’s Google’s whole purpose,” says Adam. “Search is the only [digital channel] where you can truly help someone find the info they need when they want it.”
Adam’s passion for organic search runs deep, and he sees the data that organic search provides as both a compass and crystal ball for businesses and leaders. He constantly asks, “What has the data been telling us? How is it morphing over time? Where will it lead us in the future?” Data also bridges gaps in organizations and can help unify strategies across multiple digital channels including paid ads, online word-of-mouth, organic social media. “There are always ways to leverage data to pull into other marketing channels.”
If this makes Adam sound like a kind of digital anthropologist, digging through data for patterns, you’re not wrong; that’s how he views his work.
In the Key of D Episode
Andrew joined his longtime business colleague/podcast co-host Gino Giovannelli and host Kathy Hollenhorst on the Creatis podcast, In the Key of D: Using Digital to Transform Your Business. In this fascinating episode, Andrew explains more fully how his theory of economic reinvention works, why it’s important for leaders to build and empower a nimble team, and his insights on staying current with shifting digital trends. You can listen to the full episode available on any major podcasting platform, including Apple, Spotify, and Stitcher, or follow this link:https://creatis.com/podcast
Connect with Andrew on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreweklund/
Learn more about Ciceron: www.ciceron.com
Read Andrew’s article on the outlook for 2021: https://www.ciceron.com/predictions-2021-a-messy-but-necessary-grind/
If you are in need of digital and marketing support, especially during the challenging era of COVID-19, Creatis offers flexible resourcing solutions so that you can get your work done on time. Please contact our Director of Business Development, Sandi Henrikson This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
