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    #StartupStory sponsored by

    #StartupStory: Hip hip Hoorah

    Hoorah is the latest independent digital media agency on the block, bringing together ex-founders of Saatchi Syngerize and Liquorice, Shaune Jordaan (CEO) and Jay Thomson (CSO) respectively, as well as Tasmin Kingma (head of media) and Neil Pursey (head of inbound marketing operations), founder of digital training academy Webgrowth.
    #StartupStory: Hip hip Hoorah

    The agency specialises in people-based marketing and combining data-driven insights with creativity to create interesting and unique experiences for customers and deliver real value for the business.

    “What we’re looking to do at Hoorah is make use of a new blend of technologies to deliver the kind of data-driven marketing that produces tangible business outcomes,” says Jordaan.
    In today’s marketplace, you need to talk to a consumer online as if they’re standing right in front of you. But this is only possible if you understand your consumers. To understand people – their habits, their browsing patterns, their likes and dislikes – you need to dig deep into the data to uncover golden insights... You might leverage existing technologies or build new ones from scratch. One thing’s for sure though, it definitely doesn’t mean using the spray and pray methods of old.
    Shaune Jordaan, CEO of Hoorah.
    Shaune Jordaan, CEO of Hoorah.

    Jordaan goes on about Hoorah here…

    BizcommunityWhy did you decide to come together to launch a new digital agency?
    A few years ago, myself and Jay got together and spoke about where we saw digital advertising going. We realised we were on the same page and conceptualised a company that looked very much like Hoorah. While I was in the UK working at Saatchi & Saatchi, I saw that more and more companies were taking a data-centric approach and realised that the time was ripe to return to South Africa and start something new. I immediately contacted Jay and we started putting together a founding team, bringing on Neil and Tasmin.

    BizcommunityHow is Hoorah different to other digital agencies?
    There are a couple of fundamental differences between Hoorah and conventional digital agencies. The first is our approach. Most digital agencies take a piece of creative or an idea and put it out into digital channels – such as Facebook and display networks – tweaking it as the data from those channels come in. We take data that companies are already sitting on (such as their CRM databases) and use it to build a more complete profile of their customers.

    Using these profiles, we can put together creative material, strategies and ideas that are relevant to individual people rather than an amorphous group of people. With this approach we also aim to close the loop between marketing goals and business goals – why should these be separate?

    Next to this, we look at the data from a 360° perspective meaning that channels and content needs to match the exact person with a consolidated point of measurement, and this thinking doesn’t just apply to paid media – there are trigger points that can be set up beyond media.

    Commercially, we’re are also happy to work on cost per lead, cost per sale, and JV with our clients.

    BizcommunityWhat approach does the agency take to digital marketing?
    We take a people-based approach to marketing. People-based marketing uses data layering, user location, online user behaviour, purchasing behaviour and publisher data to create custom profiles. These profiles are then matched with advertiser needs to ensure that people receive marketing that is relevant to them and which serves the best business interests of the consumer.

    BizcommunityHow do you propose doing programmatic differently?
    The way we use data means that, unlike many programmatic programmes, we can target people with advertising that’s relevant to them as individuals. Next to this, centralisation of the entire ecosystem is imperative – this not only supports the measurement of single data points but also the redefinement of data, such as cross-device, content optimisation, media touch points, user journeys and post-media engagement.

    BizcommunityComment on the current state of digital marketing and what the future looks like to you.
    Digital marketing is on the cusp of some really big changes, all true digital marketers can feel it. We’ve hit saturation point when it comes to simply giving clients well-run digital and social presences. Unfortunately, many agencies still use the traditional model of pushing out a piece of creative and hoping for the best.
    We believe that consultancy is the future, where internal teams work with external teams.

    Note that all brands can claim to do everything efficiently. For every brand that says they have all bases covered, 98% have huge lost opportunities, especially in their data, and data means people.

    The digital marketing players that’ll thrive in the future are the ones who can deliver real business results to their customers, one-on-one, not in bulk. These marketing results will also no longer be driven and managed in silos and will also be integrated into the larger business goals.

    BizcommunityWhat barriers have you had to overcome in launching Hoorah?
    The initial barrier we have with clients is getting them to understand what we do. Once we’re past that barrier, however, they tend to get seriously excited. Once they realise we are there to help build them better internal and external teams, they get interested.

    BizcommunityWhat are some of your short and long-term goals for the agency?
    Short-term, we want to keep growing our client base. Long-term, our goal is to get past the R100m in annual revenue mark. We enjoy educating our clients, and we plan on launching our online education platform and workshops next month.

    BizcommunityProudest achievements to date; next steps?
    Getting clients before we even had our own website up and partnering with some of the greatest digital minds within the industry.

    Visit HoorahDigital.com for more...

    About Jessica Tennant

    Jess is Senior Editor: Marketing & Media at Bizcommunity.com. She is also a contributing writer. moc.ytinummoczib@swengnitekram
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