It’s that time of the year again. And wow – what an amazing year 2019 has been for Loom.
2019 was our 10th year in business, and the last 12 months have flown by in a blur of enormous changes, incredible milestones and a huge amount to celebrate. To say I’m proud of what we’ve achieved this year is an understatement!
The Long-awaited re-brand: Digirank to Loom
2019 was the year Digirank finally became Loom. The process that lead us to “Loom” certainly took longer than we thought it would – but we could not be more thrilled with the end result.
For us, the name “Loom” truly represents what we do for our clients. It explains how we weave the different threads of digital marketing channels together to generate exceptional results for the businesses we work with. And thanks to two amazing agencies: Bath-based brand designers, Supple, and Hampshire-based web developers, Fhoke, we now have a brand and a website that communicates that message perfectly.
The Loom launch sparked some other exciting moments for our team. Interior designer Eva Gilder-Hodgson gave our office a much-needed makeover, and to celebrate our 10th birthday and the launch of Loom, we threw a small party at our office in Temple Studios.
New Client Wins
Bristol-based, Lifetime Training, one of the UK’s market-leading training providers, joined our client portfolio at the start of Q2 wanting help with Biddable & PPC, SEO and content marketing. Since then, our expert team has been working hard to execute their integrated digital marketing strategy, and have even entered awards with the amazing results they’ve already generated.
We’ve also welcomed other clients to our client portfolio this year. These include Flipper (auto energy switching service), Ghyston (bespoke software developers), Spoke & Stringer (lifestyle retailer), Seasons Rehab, Natural Spa Factory and most recently, TransVault, an Office 360 email migration service.
New Loomies join the team
Vic Doherty and Nuala McBride joined the PPC & Biddable Media team in June, supporting the PPC team in delivering our outstanding Biddable Media service.
On the SEO side of things, we’ll be welcoming Laurence Matone in January 2020. He’ll come on board as an SEO Executive, supporting Claire Lagoutte and Tom Spooner to deliver our expert SEO and content marketing service. Laurence has worked in SEO specific roles, agency-side, for the last few years and will be an excellent addition to the team.
Internal team promotions
With Loom growing and developing faster than ever, 2019 saw some excellent and well-deserved promotions within the team.
Claire Lagoutte moved up from Account Manager to SEO Manager, where she now plays a vital role in the strategy and execution of our clients’ SEO projects. Meanwhile, Wez Cogan made a natural progression up from Biddable Media Manager to Senior Biddable Media Manager, and Tommy Pearson stepped up into Head of PPC.
And lastly, Senior Account Manager, Vicky Hockley, took on additional responsibilities as our appointed “Chief Happiness Officer” – an exciting role that helps us to more proactively prioritise the wellbeing of our team.
External courses and training
External guidance and training is something we’ve always found invaluable at Loom. This year was no different, and the team continued to extend their knowledge in a wide range of different areas.
Firstly, my business partner Karen Pearce took part in Google Partners’ Elevator Programme. Loom was handpicked to take part in this programme after being identified as a “high performing agency” by Google. This programme has put us in a stronger position to take our agency to new heights in 2020 and beyond.
The wider team continued training in their specialised areas. Senior PPC Manager Wez Cogan was personally invited to take part in Google’s Smart Shopping Expert Day. Along with Vic Doherty, he also became a Google “Digital Champion” after taking part in a Google event about smart bidding. Meanwhile, the SEO team headed to Brighton for their annual SEO knowledge top-up.
Employee welfare high on the agenda
Vicky Hockley’s new role as Chief Happiness Officer is crucial to the culture we’ve worked hard to build. Her job is to help maintain overall happiness within the team, which she does in a number of ways.
Firstly, she checks in with the team and feeds back to Karen and I about how the team is feeling. She makes sure everyone has an opportunity to talk about anything that might be affecting their happiness – from feeling stressed, overwhelmed, or even anxious or depressed.
She’s also in charge of organising regular socials, runches (running lunches!) and weekly Fika sessions. This year, she pioneered Friday half days during 6 weeks over the summer. It meant that everyone in the team got more time to enjoy their summer weekends.
Vicky’s Chief Happiness Officer role has been featured in a Talk Business article about mental health in the workplace, and Insider Media’s article on employee wellness.
Continuing our charity initiatives
This year we started our “charity day” initiative which allows every team member the opportunity to volunteer out of the office for one day of the year. It’s our way of giving the team extra time to give back to their community.
In 2019, half of the Loom team spent the day helping out at Bristol ARC, a 24/7 emergency centre for injured animals and wildlife, while the other half helped out at St Werburghs City Farm.
Over the year, the team have expressed a huge interest in charity work and donations. That’s why this Christmas, we chose to donate to two charities instead of giving traditional hampers to clients and partners. We’ve supported two Bristol charities that make a huge difference to our local community – Bristol Mind and The Julian Trust, an emergency night shelter for the homeless.
“Iloominate” with Loom
Despite a busy year, our amazing team went above and beyond to dedicate extra time to Iloominate in 2019.
Replacing “Digiskills”, Iloominate is our initiative that aims to deliver digital skills to the next generation of digital professionals in Bristol. It’s all about shining a light on what we do and why, and the team take part in a number of events to help share their digital knowledge with anyone who wants to learn.
Some of the team took part in Boomsatuma’s “Women in Digital” talks, where Nuala and Alice gave presentations on their roles and how they found their feet in digital marketing. Thom and Claire headed to Gordano school to lead BIMA’s annual Digital Day, playing “teacher” for the day with a group of sixth-formers.
Back in the Loom office, we took on four work experience interns who spent a total of 5 weeks shadowing our team.
Award Nominations
Firstly, we were nominated for a Bristol Life Award in the Technology & Innovation category. Although we didn’t win, we were thrilled to be up against some of Bristol’s most exceptional companies.
Most excitingly, Karen was selected for the BIMA100 list. This prestigious title celebrates one hundred digital experts in the UK who’ve shown commitment and contribution to the digital industry over the past 12 months. We could not have been more proud of her!
Team days & socials
Despite an incredibly busy year, we made sure there was time to have some fun in 2019. It’s the little things that make a huge difference to day-to-day agency life!
We saw some healthy competition across the team for Bake Off, Taskmaster, and Go-Karting (thanks to prize money the PPC team won in a Microsoft Ads competition).
We also spent some quality time with some of our clients in 2019. Some of the team became graffiti artists for the day with our long-standing client Permagard, while others hit the waves when they headed to Infinity Motorcycle’s surf day (…and we’re still laughing at this GIF of Vicky!)
The PPC team headed to Dublin for the Microsoft Ads Conference (and a fair few pints of Guinness) and the SEO team sunned it up in Brighton on their annual pilgrimage to Brighton SEO.
And what’s a year in the Loom offices without some sporting accomplishments, which included Tough Mudder and the Bristol 10K. Vicky even completed a couple of triathlons!
A look ahead to 2020
2019 has been our busiest, most successful year yet. I’d like to take this opportunity to again say a huge thank you to our amazing clients, agency partners, and the team – we couldn’t be luckier to work with such a brilliant group of people.
Wishing you all an incredible Christmas and every success in 2020.
