Fiora, formerly known as Creation Media, is a creative digital marketing agency with offices in Bristol and London. The aim of the company, according to CEO and founder David Wenn, is to “deliver beautiful growth to all its clients by connecting brands with people through digital, data and design.”
We caught up with David this week to learn more.
How was your company born and where are you based?
With a headquarters in Bristol and an office in London, Fiora was relaunched in 2019 when I brought together four specialist agencies (Creation, Crab, Site Reach and Info Group) to build an integrated team equipped with the skillsets needed to produce effective campaigns in-house, without the need to outsource.
Named after the Latin for flower, Fiora stands for “beautiful growth” - for our clients, our people and our business.
What was the biggest challenge to the growth of your company?
Probably ownership. We’re working towards each head of department owning their division, from revenue through to resourcing and training. It’s a different way of working but it will ensure we can continue to grow and scale whilst maintaining excellent standards.
Which was the first huge success that you can remember?
Winning the ITV Regional Subway account was our first huge success. We supported Subway with their local initiatives and wider marketing, this was the core skillset of the agency. Working with this prestigious brand gave as kudos and has in turn helped attract other brands. 12 years on, we still work with Subway.
What’s the biggest opportunity for you and your company in the next year?
We're looking forward to capitalising on our success across the sectors that we have had big results in and replicating our production to reach even more clients in these areas.
As an independent skilled business, on a service level, we’re dedicating our time to the those we do best, such as our Digital Maturity Audit, alongside services like our Amazon consultancy.
Can you explain your team’s creative process? What makes it unique?
Really listening to the core objective is key. Design is always linked to performance. As an agency that is driven by the results, our creative processes will always lead to commercial success.
How does your team remain inspired and motivated?
By constantly pushing the creative boundaries. What can we do? How do we improve? What next? What have we seen? We have recently agreed to Shut Down Fridays and this starts in November.
How has COVID-19 affected your company?
Our working environment has changed the most. We’re all in the office together around 50% of the time, rather than 100% of the time. Our creative collaboration has changed – we've had to adapt to keep this front and centre.
Which agencies do you gain inspiration from? Do you have any heroes in the industry?
We love all agencies and gain inspiration from the great work we all do.
What inspires us the most is design thinking that agencies provide. The How is the exciting part of delivering on the brief. Great design thinking is inspirational.
What is one tip that you would give to other agencies looking to grow?
Be a trusted advisor. Be honest with your clients and prove that you’re prepared to go on the journey with them.
How do you go about finding new clients/business? (Pitching, work with retainers, etc.)
We have a partnerships director who will match a business need to our agency skillset, but most of our work still comes from recommendations. We develop our client relationships so well that we gain additional work from a different contact within our client's organisation.
What’s your one big hope for the future of the industry?
That creative thinking remains at the heart of what we do. Ideas create excitement and sell.
Do you have any websites, books or resources that you would recommend?
The Wenger Revolution, building a phenomenal team & Atomic Habits as we love evidence-based strategies.
