IvyJack – the next chapter
IvyJack was born when an opportunity presented itself for a new type of agency - the next generation agency. Gone were the days of being a traditional marketing agency and times were changing. As we were sat talking late one summer’s day over a glass of wine, we realised how much sense it made to bring our marketing experiences together and start our own agency. We are two experts with over 50 years of combined professional experience across client and agency side –it just made sense and so the agency was born!
Our vision for IvyJack was to be known as the ‘Transformation Agency’ where not only do we deliver top creativity, but really dive deep into the client’s objectives and deliver the best-targeted results to the client and ultimately the end user. What we really wanted to do was help businesses transform their futures by delivering exceptional brand and customer experiences. We wanted to offer something different and stand out from the crowd.
Officially opening for business in April 2018, we moved into an office unit at the enviable location of Narborough Wood Business Park, in the heart of Leicestershire. It was all hands to the deck getting our office ready for business, but we had our small IvyJack team pitching in (as well as our kids!), helping to create the office space we’d dreamt of. We already had a roster of clients and so just like that, we were up and running.
Within months, we had taken on even more clients and with our small team also expanding, we found that we very quickly outgrew our office. As we all loved working in the business park, when a larger unit became available, we took it as a sign and moved our belongings just 200 yards across the park into the Bake House… just before the pandemic hit!
Whilst we could have never foreseen a global pandemic, we quickly realised that to have the best chance of long-term business continuity, we had to move away from our ‘business as usual’ and adopt an agile approach. It was time to demonstrate business resilience. We used this time as an opportunity to put crisis management into place, by remaining responsive for our clients so that they could be prepared for fast-changing landscapes.
In addition to the global pandemic, the last five years has also brought financial downturns, major shifts in consumer trends with businesses having to change their entire strategy just to stay afloat. We’ve seen marketing budgets being put on hold and projects being postponed. It felt as though the entire world changed overnight.
But even against these odds, we have thrived and there have been some great highlights. We managed to turn a challenger drink brand into a million-pound business during the pandemic, by being dynamic and responding actively to a rapidly changing world. In the past five years, we’ve also seen our specialist team double in size, with new roles created to cater for our clients needs.
We’ve enjoyed all the highs and endured the lows. And we wouldn’t have it any other way because it’s made us who we are today. We are incredibly proud of our talented team of experts, who are extremely passionate about what they do. We are extremely grateful to our loyal clients who treat us as business partners and continue to appreciate how we support them.
We can’t say we came out completely unscathed, but we CAN say that the last five years have shaped the very nature of the way we do business and where we are as an agency today. We are poised and ready for the next chapter, doing what we do best – transforming brands and businesses.
Here’s to the next five years (and many, many more).
