"I’m not moving to London" says the director of a digital marketing company based in Swindon after securing contracts with Nick Cave, Muse and now Coldplay.
Founded in a home office in 2014, Digital Marketing Specialist Ltd have shown that quality, not quantity, is the tool for success after marketing films for the big guns of the music industry.
Last Wednesday (14 November) - for one night only in the cinema - Coldplay’s first documentary ‘A Head Full of Dreams’, which follows the band’s career over the last 20 years, screened in cinemas across the UK. To digitally market the documentary, film distributors Trafalgar Releasing opted for Swindon’s own Digital Marketing Specialist Ltd.
Based in Swindon’s latest co-op work space Workshed since June, the team of four have been creating Facebook and Google adverts for independent and high-profile companies across the globe. After successfully running the ad campaigns for Nick Cave’s live concert show ‘Distant Sky’ and Muse’s ‘The Drones World Tour’ cinema event the young company was then sought out for Coldplay’s documentary.
Having quickly progressed over the last year, and speaking about having Trafalgar Releasing as their client, Digital Marketing Specialist Ltd’s director, Tom Davenport, said: “It’s amazing. Firstly, I’m chuffed because we must be doing something right – we’re getting awesome clients and we haven’t done any marketing for ourselves. And, secondly, the team here has proven that I can find high grade talent in and around Swindon."
Mr Davenport, 32, believes that his background in the music industry, - from running a recording studio ‘The Shak Studio’ to music journalism - and experience in the marketing business sector has enabled the company to grow organically.
He said: “I think things like this – people having a cool night – are meaningful. Even if it seems like trivial entertainment it can be a really memorable night, especially for people who really care deeply about music.
“The music business has been really hung up on getting likes and subscribers, - which is all valuable stuff – but there’s actually a huge halo of many other people who interact with bands because they like their music, and are listening to it, so they're visiting the band’s Facebook page but not necessarily liking it. You don’t 'like' everything you listen to on Facebook.
“No one’s representing that online interest could be used for something really positive. A lot of people might think ‘there’s no good ads’ but when you see something that is totally relevant to you, speaks to you and solves a big problem for you, that could be the best thing that comes along for you all week.
“Some marketers will just boost likes on a band’s page by doing dirt cheap ads in third world countries, so they’re getting likes for fractions of a penny – it ‘looks’ good but likes on a page aren’t necessarily meaningful. But what is meaningful are real people actually interacting and, in this instance, enjoying the band’s music. This is also true for regular businesses.”
Digital Marketing Specialist Ltd say they have no plans to relocate. The team believe that Swindon is ideally located and is also a growing hotbed for dynamic and progressive businesses.
Claire Espley, Digital Marketing Assistant, said: “A lot of people get the impression that there’s not a lot going on in Swindon, but after being at the Workshed this has really proven to me that this is not the case.”
Tom added: “It’s easy to make negative assumptions and jokes about Swindon because of how it’s portrayed in things like The Office, but if you want to look at the evidence here it is: there are big, ambitious and dynamic work places in Swindon. And, there are so many interesting businesses here [Workshed]. So, if people have those assumptions, they’re wrong. There’s no question – I’m not moving to London.
“We want to be based in Swindon because I’d like people to know that there are options locally – the important thing for me is to build a small and really high calibre team in Workshed.
“It’s cool that we’re successfully competing with rather big companies. I’m not saying we can compete with everything because there are things we can’t do like billboards, - we don’t want to – but strategically we’re totally competing. Long may it continue!”
For further information about Digital Marketing Specialist Ltd visit www.digitalmarketingspecialist.co.uk
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