The Challenge
To reposition the business from being a moderation provider to a strategic partner of all social media services.
Emoderation had been operating for 14 years and had developed an amazing reputation with global brands for brand protection, particularly in the area of child safety, as well as having a great employee engagement. With the increasing trend towards AI moderation reducing the market and putting pressure on pricing, the business had evolved to develop a whole heap of services other than moderation. They were using the incredible insight they gained from their large team of front line moderators, as well as clever insight tools, to offer analysis, competitor benchmarking, social listening as well as content and strategic advice.
However, these new services weren’t selling well enough to either new or existing clients. Was it a client services issue? A brand issue? Or a marketing problem?
What was needed was a bit of a reboot.
The Work
We worked with The Social Element to help them completely transform the business over what became a two year change and employee engagement programme.
From being a highly respected and much loved service provider, we have helped them transform into an industry leading consultancy-led business with a high performing and hugely motivated team. Quite simply they are flying. Here’s how we did it:
Phase 1
- Immersion involving client research, cross functional working groups and stakeholder workshops.
- The conclusion was the need for a total rebrand including a rename.
- Working cross functionally, we built a new brand positioning including vision, mission and values
- A new brand, The Social Element was launched; entirely new look and feel, tone of voice, website, collateral, marketing plan and core values
Phase 2
Now we had a fabulous brand everyone loved, but they still weren’t winning enough business, so we embarked on phase two of employee engagement.
- Detailed client research to understand perception amongst customer base, understand what clients wanted and uncover issues
- Commercial training rolled out across the global teams to develop a more on-brand customer focused approach to employee engagement
- Internal project to reduce silos and improve cross-functional working
- New approach for client services with consultancy led thinking
Phase 3
So we had developed a better skilled team and a brilliant brand, but the performance wasn’t quite hitting the mark so we got into phase 3:
- A new strategic approach to the market
- An internal team engagement plan to get everyone massively behind it
- More commercial training and employee engagement around the consultancy approach
- An entirely new marketing strategy involving a high impact content, PR and event strategy that really put the agency on the map
The Impact
“Emma and the Glow team have completely transformed our business. It started as a rebrand but they have done so much more. They got right under the skin of our business and helped us revamp not just our branding but our entire approach to the market! Our last 12 months’ growth is entirely due to the direction Glow has helped us find”
Tamara Littleton, CEO, The Social Element
Increased revenue in year 2 by 19% and turned loss into 13% EBITDA
Improved web traffic and leads by 40% and 60% respectively
Attracted big hitting new talent to build sustainability
Massive margin improvement due to selling of higher margin services
Huge increase in employee engagement
Aw shucks…
Don’t just listen to us:
``We worked with Glow on defining both the Ladbrokes and Coral brands. The process was seamless, brilliantly executed, created unbelievable alignment internally & externally and has been like rocket fuel for our brands. Emma made what was incredibly hard work really fun and inclusive. Glow is now a regular and crucial part of our team.``
``We chose Glow as our agency over a huge global network agency and never looked back. They are just great to work with; they wrap themselves around us, challenge on all the right stuff in the right way and always deliver brilliantly``
``Emma and the Glow team have completely transformed our business. It started as a rebrand but they have done so much more. They got right under the skin of our business and helped us revamp not just our branding but team culture and our entire approach to the market!``
``Before I met the team at Glow I was convinced that if people wanted to buy stuff they would do so by going up the high street and visiting a shop! Glow completely transformed our marketing strategy and put us on the map digitally``
``As strategic brand consultants ourselves, Emma is the only person in London who I would trust to work with us on our positioning and our individual development. She has led us on a seismic journey but made it feel simple and obvious. Six months on and we are actually now too busy. We owe her so much.``
``The work we did with Glow on developing #RiseWithUs was game changing. We managed build a clear proposition that worked across the marketing, fashion, film, drama and art worlds. Emma and the team brought a huge amount of strategic thinking, energy, drive and those all important connections that made the entire project thrive.``
