Charlotte Ward on creating an agency with a difference

Charlotte Ward saw an opportunity in July 2020 as the world adjusted to the new norm of mandates, quarantining and isolating amid the COVID pandemic. 

“I was freelancing for a number of months and building up my client base. And then I just saw a real opportunity to open an agency that was a little bit different to the ones that I had experienced ... with a real focus on acquisition and measurement," Ward told AdNews.

Charlotte Ward is the founder of Agnes Media, a digital marketing agency, that focuses on driving growth and maximising ROI for businesses.

Ward identified a gap in the market whereby commercially-driven marketing solutions underpinned by measurement weren't being met.  

What struck Ward during the lockdown were the cuts across the whole industry, including marketing spend. While millions of people grappled with the restrictions, Ward realised that launching her agency during this period coincidentally became a driver for business growth. 

“My background really focused on measurement and the importance of being able to map ROI so clients can identify if they're spending too much on certain channels," she said.

"To really see where the effectiveness is coming out of their marketing investment. I built the agency on that philosophy. 

“It was especially relevant during that period where brands were really struggling to know where to invest, reduce marketing budgets, and being able to get more transparency as well.” 

Earlier this year, independent full service agency Awaken acquired Agnes Media, with an aim to optimise media strategy and application perspective for both agencies.  

The acquisition saw the transfer of Agnes Media’s client stable, including a range of fintech brands and Hill-Smith Family Estates, along with three senior staff members and several contractors who have already moved into the Awaken team, founded by CEO Chris Parker. 

“I had been managing Agnes for over two and a half years, and I really started to see the emergence of blockchain technology take the lead in a lot of conversations I was having with clients," she said. 

“I saw a lot of opportunity, just in the market with convergence of technologies, so I decided to really focus on my new business around the block. Veronica Guiterrez, the general manager at Awaken, is a really good friend of mine; we started having conversations and she introduced me to Chris to look into the opportunity of connecting the two businesses.” 

After noticing a gap in the market and starting a business on her own, Ward knew where to place her energy and who to look to for guidance along the way. On advising others who are looking to start out on their own venture: “Hone in on what you're really good and don't oversell your services. Find a niche.  

“It's very easy to go out there and say you can do everything and just hope for the best, but it's only going to cause more pain in the long term. Identify different people that you can work with either on a mentorship basis or leaning on different people within your network on various projects.” 

For those working in a performance agency, for example: “If you get a creative brief that's outside of your realm, identify what creative partners you can work with, and then you can build your network that way,” says Ward.  

On the current media market, Ward is noticing much more focus on ROI and measurement from businesses, especially across Fintech and start-ups, as they head into this economic downturn.  

“It's really essential that marketers and agencies know what they're spending their money on. They're really focused on that bottom line and measuring performance back to their activities and constantly optimising. What we've seen in the past few year - and there's been peaks and troughs, is there's just more and more of a focus on ROI. 

“Also with a lot of performance media, there can be a bit of a black box of not really knowing what's performing. 

“There has to be strategies put in place to be able to map that back and go back to a CMO and be able to explain where their money is going, what is driving it and to be transparent around whether they should be able to reduce their marketing budget or turn things off for a while. People need to have really transparent conversations."