Olga Kulikova, Articul Media: Olympic victories in the digital era
Hi, Megamind!
Would you like to know the internal cuisine of the top digital agencies of Russia? Today I talk with Olga Kulikova, CEO of Articul Media .
Articul Media Agency, a shark in the digital market, is known for its work with major brands such as VTB, L'Oreal, Heinz, Samsung, IVI.ru, Planet Fitness, FOX International Channels Russia and many others.
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And, of course, speaking of Articul Media, one cannot but mention the Olympic project Sochi 2014, where the Articul Media team created a digital strategy, a site and application concept, a UX strategy, a design, all work on the frontend and was responsible for load testing. At the time of peak loads, the site withstood more than 90,000 requests / sec and set an Olympic Games record for the duration of user sessions.
- Articul Media Group today is a digital agency, a production, a branding agency, and a large bouquet of its own projects. Therefore, starting the interview, I would like to find out how you see your company today, what you do, what projects and services you specialize in.
- Today Articul Media Group is a group of companies. It includes the Article Media communication agency, which promotes products in the digital environment. There is also the Article Production Company, which provides customized development services, and JustApp, mobile applications and mobile marketing. Further, the group includes "Conceptics" - the creation of visual communications and branding. In addition, we are developing our own projects, mobile services and even releasing energy marmalade Megaday.
We regularly have discussions on whether to promote each of the companies belonging to the Articul Media Group separately. In this regard, we are similar to DEFA, which has several brands: Dr. JUNG, DEFA and Plenum. But if they develop each brand, we decided to focus on promoting Articul Media as a whole as a single brand.
In addition, we have always preferred complex projects where product and strategic expertise is required. This is our main competence. We help the client to make the right product in a digital environment that will work for the business and its audience. We always make a start from business challenges, study the marketing strategy and help to adjust the KPI of digital products so that they work for the goals that are spelled out in the marketing strategy.
We use the remaining competencies, for example, production, as a tool for implementing the developed strategy. Although production is also strong here. And I will not lie if I say that he is one of the most powerful in Russia.
- What brands do you work with?
- If we talk about who we managed to work with, then this is probably all the major Russian and international companies, with the possible exception of Coca-Cola and Procter & Gamble. We are currently working with FOX, which includes National Geographic, FOX Life, FOX. We work with three brands of L'Oreal - KĂ©rastase, L'oreal Professionnel and MATRIX. Our clients in the banking sector are VTB Group, NPF Sberbank, Gazfond. Still Samsung, "Megaphone", you will not list all.
- So it turns out that you specialize in the premium segment and well-known brands?
- We work with the best Russian and foreign companies on the Russian market. But now we have taken the focus on the medium segment companies, where the owner himself participates in the operational management - real estate agencies, developers, online stores. It is interesting to work with such companies, because we can quickly see the result. It is very important that the team saw the result and was motivated. When decisions slip, motivation falls. When working with digital space, decisions need to be made quickly.
“But your price tag is not for medium business ...”
- We work within the capital market, we are a white company and we pay taxes, our production rates are not overstated. Yes, the manager will be more expensive, but he brings value in the form of quality and punctuality of the project. And strategy has always been expensive. However, people began to realize that it is better to spend more money on strategy, especially in e-commerce, and get a real result.
- Olga, tell us about your Olympic project Sochi-2014. How did you get it and what work did you do?
- It all started with the won tender for the development of the site even before the stage of the Games in 2009. We launched it for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. After that, it was decided to participate in all other tenders. We really wanted to concentrate the maximum number of projects in the agency, and we succeeded .
As a result, we developed the sites for the Talisman national competition, the Talisman website, the Cultural Olympiad website, the Volunteer website, the first version of the Relay website.
Our design team has created all the interfaces and design of the main site and mobile applications. Front-end and load testing were also in our area of ​​responsibility. And technical support for all projects, including the Games website during the event.
We won the tender for creating the digital strategy of the Sochi Games and wrote a strategy from scratch, from which flowed both the strategy of promoting the Games in the digital space and business, functional requirements, the concept of the site and mobile applications (Results and Guide for viewers), some tactical the steps that successfully formed the basis of the future Games site.
The platform and the technical support of the main site were handled by Microsoft, and MegaFon developed mobile applications.
- What problems did you solve? Did you have any Olympic records? What happened and what did not?
- We were faced with certain tasks: to become the number one event in the digital space, to provide users with a unique experience, to embrace social and mobile media as much as possible. And come up with something that no one else had.
Hence, solutions such as interactive results infographics and full results in a mobile application. Both solutions were first implemented at the Games. Neither Vancouver nor London succeeded, although there have been attempts.
There was a lot of work. 553 stages of the competition, 100 of them are unique from the point of view of the rules, 500-1000 pages of description of the rules for each sport. It was unrealistically difficult to take into account everything, and even harder to put all this information within the framework of a mobile device screen and ensure its updating online.
We needed to ensure maximum participation and attention to the Games of users. And we coped with this task. The average time spent by the user on the site was 5 minutes, which is a record of the Olympic Games. And mobile applications have been downloaded 6.5 million times.
- Was it easy to work with such a customer and strict deadline?
- Four years we have been devoted to preparing for the Olympics. This is a separate stage in life. Very emotional and stressful. Not all members of our team were able to withstand such psychological stress. 8 people left the company during this period. But overall, the motivation was very strong, everyone's eyes were burning.
I can say the same about the team of the Organizing Committee of the Olympic Winter Games and the Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi, which did not look like officials. A very well-coordinated, competent team that was easy to work with. Everyone clearly knew that there is February 7 and can not be spun.
And the emotional uplift that the whole team experienced at the beginning of the Games was an incomparable state. Personally, I was absolutely happy at that moment. Without exaggeration. Four years went to this and now - everything happened and everything works as it should.
- Now let's talk about where the digital agency Articul Media comes from.
- My partner, Egor Aristakesyan, was the art director of Rambler. He left there and organized his small agency. Initially it was a design studio, because he was engaged in visual communications. Then web development was tightened. And in 2002 I joined the team. Since then, Articul Media has become the way we see it now.
- Before Articul Media you worked in the studio of Artemy Lebedev.
- Yes, I was the director of the studio. And in this industry, I since 1998.
- I think many people, like me, will be interested to know how you got into this industry and how you ended up with Lebedev in the team.
- I studied at the medical university in the department of medical cybernetics. I received a scholarship and left for a year for an internship in a French university at the Faculty of Medicine. I had a task to develop an educational program on breast cancer. Our advanced professor, head of the department, said that making presentations is no longer fashionable and we will make a website. I had to learn Photoshop, programming, HTML layout. I worked in the hospital for the first half of the day, collected medical material, and developed the website for the second half. I even mastered programming in Java, because I needed tests for students. It turned out a great site about breast cancer from anatomy to surgery and rehabilitation. I know that in Canada it is still used by medical students.
When I returned to Russia, I realized that with my medical education nobody needs me here. I saw Tyoma Lebedeva on TV, wrote him a letter that I wanted to work with him, and received an invitation.
I came to the company when only 7 people worked there. I became the first project manager. It was 1998.
- And in 2002, you left the studio as CEO. Olga, why did you leave?
- We had a disagreement with the shareholders about the development of the studio. I did not agree with the vision of the shareholders. I think that it is impossible to work in the position of the general director without supporting the position of shareholders. So I left the studio.
“At the same time, you didn’t quarrel with anyone from the studio, you remained with good relations.” How come?
- I had a principled position: I didn’t steal a single client and a single employee, because I thought it was wrong. I, on the contrary, told everyone that nothing would change with my departure.
Even more: starting a business in the same industry, I did not tell anyone from new customers who did not know me that I was from Lebedev’s studio. I wanted to understand how I would do everything from scratch myself. That was my point. Now, I might be less categorical in relation to myself, but at that moment I wanted to understand what I was standing on my own.
Clients from the studio Lebedev appeared only two years later. They came at us themselves when Articul Media got to its feet and became noticeable.
- Well, since you yourself have touched on this, tell me, how were things with your sales and customers in 2002?
- At that moment we had a big regular customer - baby food Heinz. We performed for him the whole complex of works. And then another 10 years worked together. When I came to Articul, I brought with me a digital expertise. I already had a name and reputation. Therefore, we began to work with large clients immediately. They came themselves. To understand how things developed in our country: in 2004, at the Kiev Advertising Festival, we collected seven awards for work for different clients: Planet Fitness, Samsung, Heinz, Articoli.
- How many customers do you have today?
- About 30. Each client can have several projects at the same time.
- How is your sales process? I understand that you have a lot of incoming applications.
- Incoming requests are really a lot. And we respond not to everything, but only to those that are interesting to us. We have priority industries, directions, and, of course, we are interested in the scalability of this client. We are interested in making complex projects for the client.
Therefore, firstly, we select such applications where you can start from the site and continue to accompany it in the digital space or start from the strategy and continue to be responsible for the result of the promotion. Secondly, we are interested in companies that have many brands, like, say, L'Oreal.
Next - who sells. We have a customer service manager. He asks the first questions, understands the needs and makes an initial estimate. If the projects are large and they are very interesting to us, then sales are handled by the management, that is, I, Irina Sotnik, Mariana Sheinina.
We ourselves are communicating, starting with the application. If an invitation to participate in a tender comes to us, and large companies often invite us, we first evaluate it as an incoming application - whether the project is interesting or not, and then we look at the conditions. We participate only in those tenders where the conditions and procedure for selecting the winner, budget and participants are transparent.
- How do you track applications?
- We have CRM, all incoming requests come there. Every day I look at them. It does not take much time, usually 5 - 10 minutes a day. Then I understand what we are working with, what is being sent to the manager, what remains for me and what the colleagues assume. Further, an interesting lead turns into a deal and so on ...
- What kind of CRM do you use?
- Bitrix24. We tried several systems and decided to stop at Bitrix24. At some point we decided to close all communications and complete the work cycle on this portal.
It all starts, as I said, with lead. Next deal. Then the transaction goes into the project. All project communication is also carried out on the portal. We set tasks for developers there, contact customers there. It is convenient, and it is not necessary to produce many systems.
- Do you use resource planning programs?
- We distribute resources offline. At the beginning of the project, a team of people whose competencies are needed in the project is assembled, and we allocate resources. The results are recorded in Bitrix24.
- It turns out that at least the sales manager already falls out of the traditional “golden triangle”. What else is unusual in your system of work with clients and projects?
- Yes, we have no sales. But the remaining units, as a project manager and account manager, are present here.
Account is responsible for the business with the client. His task is to make the client happy and bring as much money as possible. This is exactly the kind of KPI that our accounts have.
Project managers are engaged in the creation and management of projects. Their task is to do quickly, efficiently and with the maximum margin. They work for these KPIs. Project managers are not responsible for the money, they have no task to sell. This is an account task.
Account manager and project manager work in pairs. The client communicates with both of them. Everything related to the current project is a project manager, potential projects are an account. At the meeting, they go together. If the client has a problem with the project manager, he refers to the account. It turns out that the task of the account is to remove the negative and create the mood of the client. In our case, this is something like this.
- The project manager works with your chosen team on a specific project. He can not choose his team?
- Yes, the project manager always works with the resources that he has on this project. Sometimes he must himself attract external resources if he needs a contractor with a competence that we do not have. For example, an illustrator. In fact, he has the role of a producer. He not only monitors the implementation of the project, but also understands why he is doing it.
- Do you adhere to any particular development methodology?
- No, we are not attached to Agile, Scrum or some other fashionable technique. We have our own mixed method. Every time before the project we make a project plan, draw up a schedule. In the project plan there is always a precisely written cost, project costs and margin. The task of the project manager is to maintain this margin.
When we sell a new project, we are laying this margin. Despite the fact that the account does not have KPI on margin, by default it cannot sell a project with a margin lower than the average for the agency. Only if this project is strategic and we are ready to execute it at the cost price level. But this is a separate story.
- How does your internal quality audit work?
- Standard: review of the code, checklist and evaluation of the project by the strategist, art director, analyst. I also try to watch projects.
First, we try to make our code beautiful both externally and internally. QA-specialist usually reveals only external problems, errors. And in order to keep the quality of development at the same level in the agency, tmlids review our developers' code.
Secondly, in the field of design we have an art director - a carrier of quality criteria.
As for the quality of the product, we have a team - a strategist, art director and manager. Usually, before launching, a project is studied by everyone on certain checklists. Efficiency assessed by the analyst. It is important that the project fulfills its goals and objectives. And here only an individual approach to determining the quality of each project is already working.
For example, we had an ecommerce project, and we saw that there were some problems with delivery, although this is not our responsibility. We allocated a small budget, distributed to employees and asked to make a purchase in this store. Everyone wrote a report on how he used the site right up to conversations with employees, delivery times and communication with couriers. This is not a dry, regulated test by a QA specialist. We corrected some things on our side, and we sent a report on problems on the side of the store to the customer. Because it is difficult to be responsible for sales, if the delivery is not working. Neither of which loyalty can not speak.
- Do you work with external contractors and how do you select them?
- Yes, we work with external contractors. We have a proven system for attracting contractors. All interested leave a request on the site. Those who we think fit, we test. Tested contractors receive accreditation. And managers rate them depending on the results of joint work. So the knowledge base of contractors accumulates. Among them there are loved ones, and there are those with whom we do not work after the first time.
If you need to scale quickly, we turn to a particular contractor.
- Do you outsource programming only?
- Yes, programming and layout. In the design, perhaps, only minor works on service support, such as banners. We do not outsource management, analytics, context, SMM and, of course, strategy.
- You develop your own projects, for example Megaday. Where do such projects come from and what other own projects does the Articul Media group of companies have?
- Since my partner Egor is a creative person, from time to time he has various ideas. And from time to time they translate into projects. For 10 years there have been quite a lot of them. We started with RussDolls , which were popular at that time, and we got our own PR. We had several projects on mobile applications, a large business history did not work out, but it was a good stage of getting expertise in mobile development expertise. Now we have the application Puzzlefight, these are puzzles that are popular for some reason in the USA. We also led the children's project Kidsapp , which is now almost no longer engaged.
Any project takes time and money. Agency activity is always a priority. Accordingly, when the project becomes irrelevant, we lose interest in it, do not develop.
Now we have Megaday , the production and sale of energy marmalade. A lot of time is devoted to this project, and at the moment marmalade is already being sold in METRO, ABC of Taste and other networks. Why marmalade? Invented for themselves, and the product was interesting not only to us. This is a global trend in the agency business - to make their products aimed at the end user.
- Do you think the agency needs such projects for PR or additional competencies?
- First of all, I think, for self-expression. And competence and public relations are secondary, as a side effect.
Often it can grow into a separate business. The same project RussDolls was born in 2006 or 2007, when Flash movies were in vogue. We had many such client projects. History was born on this basis. Animade owned technology and tools, but at the same time I wanted to say more than was possible in the context of client stories. The story was born with the dolls, and the PR went out by itself.
In 2009, we began to engage in mobile applications. And we had a story with the children's theme of Kidsapp. Because we ourselves had small children, and there were absolutely no applications for them. Initially, we began to make interactive fairy tales. Of course, we very much pumped this expertise, and this was our competitive advantage. And now it is.
- How many people do you have in the state?
- Now about 50 people. In Moscow and Stavropol, where we have production. We recently opened a regional office.
- Once again, how many company owners do you have, is everyone involved in operational management?
- We have 3 owners. In 2013, Irina Sotnik joined us with Yegor.
Yegor Aristakesyan is our creative director. 90% of the creative is his job. And almost all of our awards are his merit. He is in the top 50 creative directors of Russia. We have many victories in international competitions, including The Webby Award, which is considered the Internet Oscar. We have The Lovie Awards - this is a European award. We received the Cristal Festival Award for the Olympic project. Cannes lion only not, but everything is still ahead.
As for Irina Sotnik, her responsibility is first of all project management. She came from a large integration business and brought us a lot of expertise in the field of project management. Our business processes have become more mature. And it gave us a competitive advantage.If you have a properly organized project management, then communication with customers takes place on a completely different level.
As CEO, I am more involved in the strategic development of the agency and engage in communication with key clients.
- What are you targeting, picking up employees in the team? Do you have HR?
- We don't have HR. There was experience with HR-freelancers and agencies, but I can not say that he was successful.
- It turns out that you are not experiencing a personnel hunger inherent in our industry?
- The problem of search personnel is always there. But HR will not help. Perhaps, if you have a company of 300 people, it is necessary at least to post vacancies on time and track the initial responses.
Our team is looking for people to join our team. Usually, I also look at the resume and decide who to call for an interview.
- How do you train your employees and where do you study yourself? Do you have any advanced training system?
- There is no defined waste system. There are specialized conferences, there are internal seminars, there is mentoring of the leader. In any case, we have a rule: when a company pays for training, an employee must work for at least a year. If he leaves earlier, he will compensate this amount.
- What are the effective and useful professional conferences or courses you can mark?
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- It is difficult for me to give a review on the MBA, I do not have this education. But in Berkeley or Stanford, I would learn.
From time to time I attend various seminars. I recently attended a two-day finance course. I systematized my experience and brought out new knowledge.
If we talk about the industry, the educational program of the Cannes Advertising Festival is very useful. It includes lectures, seminars, workshops. In general, global experience is always interesting. We used to go by ourselves, but this year we sent the head of the SMM and content marketing department. She came very motivated, with a renewed look and new knowledge. Based on the results of her trip, I made a great presentation, shared my new experience with the whole agency.
- Do you take interns to yourself?
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- What are you building the agency's PR strategy?
- We work for several audiences: customers; industry, competitors, contractors; potential employees.
If there is a task to strengthen some direction in the agency, it is this topic that is devoted most of all in external communications.
- What professional associations are you in and do you need it?
- We are members of RAEC and are the founders of the AIA. Why do you need it?An association is always an association of like-minded people in the industry who solve certain sectoral tasks. RAEC solves problems of a higher level. And we want to be there, to bring in our experience.
If we talk about AIA, then it was conceived as an association of digital agencies, the best representatives of the industry, who solve certain tasks that they alone cannot solve. And there are many such problems, starting with strange tenders, insane postpay bills, etc.
So we are trying to defend their interests.
- Do you believe in ratings?
- I’m probably listening if I say that we don’t care about our positions in ratings. As an ambitious person, I always want to be first. However, last year we stopped paying attention to them. And surprisingly, we climbed to the very top. Over the design they have overtaken almost everyone, including recognized leaders. In our industry, the ratings are opaque and incomprehensible. But as one of my colleagues says, any rating is good, where are you first.
- You also work with western customers. What you need to get these customers in the portfolio?
- To work with Western customers, you need to do the same thing as in the Russian market, only in the Western. You should know. How to do this depends on the strategy: either you go directly to clients or to agencies.
For example, in the West there are many intermediaries who choose contractors to other agencies. They are asked for recommendations.
To get an order for a design, it is sometimes enough to lay out a good job at Behance. Word of mouth works great.
In general, this is a special story that should be highlighted in a separate direction in the agency. He should be led by English-speaking employees.
- Looking back at your experience, can you name three mistakes that could be avoided now?
- The first thing that is necessary is to understand the financial component and the profitability of your projects. Many owners and directors lack financial knowledge. I also did not have enough in the beginning.
The second mistake is not due to lack of experience, but because of my human qualities. Sometimes you need to trust employees a little less than you want. Business and money need to be handled very carefully. And I preferred to rely on people entirely, if they are next to me.
If we talk about the third mistake, then sometimes I hired the wrong people. The success of your idea, business ideas often depends on the team. And if you are mistaken in team members, then you can not reach your goal.
- Olga, thank you for the interview. Let only the most reliable people work with you. I wish you even more interesting projects and new awards.
And what do you, dear readers, say about the work of Articul Media and, in particular, about the Olympic project? I am pleased to hear your comments and answer any questions.
, - Simtech Development
Would you like to know the internal cuisine of the top digital agencies of Russia? Today I talk with Olga Kulikova, CEO of Articul Media .
Articul Media Agency, a shark in the digital market, is known for its work with major brands such as VTB, L'Oreal, Heinz, Samsung, IVI.ru, Planet Fitness, FOX International Channels Russia and many others.
')
And, of course, speaking of Articul Media, one cannot but mention the Olympic project Sochi 2014, where the Articul Media team created a digital strategy, a site and application concept, a UX strategy, a design, all work on the frontend and was responsible for load testing. At the time of peak loads, the site withstood more than 90,000 requests / sec and set an Olympic Games record for the duration of user sessions.
Brief information:
Positioning: Marketing in the digital era
Brands: L'Oreal Professionnel, Kerastase, Samsung, Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee, Alfa-Bank, VTB, Sberbank NPF, Gazfond, FOX, NatGeo, History Channel, Yota, Sportmaster, etc.
Offices: Moscow, Stavropol
Staff: 50 employees
Ratings: 3rd place (Ruward, Golden Hundred Russian digital), 3rd place (“Tagline”, rating of leading digital production in Russia), 1st place (“Tagline”, rating design studios in digital), 2nd place (Full digital service, AdIndex 2014 ).
- Articul Media Group today is a digital agency, a production, a branding agency, and a large bouquet of its own projects. Therefore, starting the interview, I would like to find out how you see your company today, what you do, what projects and services you specialize in.
- Today Articul Media Group is a group of companies. It includes the Article Media communication agency, which promotes products in the digital environment. There is also the Article Production Company, which provides customized development services, and JustApp, mobile applications and mobile marketing. Further, the group includes "Conceptics" - the creation of visual communications and branding. In addition, we are developing our own projects, mobile services and even releasing energy marmalade Megaday.
We regularly have discussions on whether to promote each of the companies belonging to the Articul Media Group separately. In this regard, we are similar to DEFA, which has several brands: Dr. JUNG, DEFA and Plenum. But if they develop each brand, we decided to focus on promoting Articul Media as a whole as a single brand.
In addition, we have always preferred complex projects where product and strategic expertise is required. This is our main competence. We help the client to make the right product in a digital environment that will work for the business and its audience. We always make a start from business challenges, study the marketing strategy and help to adjust the KPI of digital products so that they work for the goals that are spelled out in the marketing strategy.
We use the remaining competencies, for example, production, as a tool for implementing the developed strategy. Although production is also strong here. And I will not lie if I say that he is one of the most powerful in Russia.
- What brands do you work with?
- If we talk about who we managed to work with, then this is probably all the major Russian and international companies, with the possible exception of Coca-Cola and Procter & Gamble. We are currently working with FOX, which includes National Geographic, FOX Life, FOX. We work with three brands of L'Oreal - KĂ©rastase, L'oreal Professionnel and MATRIX. Our clients in the banking sector are VTB Group, NPF Sberbank, Gazfond. Still Samsung, "Megaphone", you will not list all.
- So it turns out that you specialize in the premium segment and well-known brands?
- We work with the best Russian and foreign companies on the Russian market. But now we have taken the focus on the medium segment companies, where the owner himself participates in the operational management - real estate agencies, developers, online stores. It is interesting to work with such companies, because we can quickly see the result. It is very important that the team saw the result and was motivated. When decisions slip, motivation falls. When working with digital space, decisions need to be made quickly.
“But your price tag is not for medium business ...”
- We work within the capital market, we are a white company and we pay taxes, our production rates are not overstated. Yes, the manager will be more expensive, but he brings value in the form of quality and punctuality of the project. And strategy has always been expensive. However, people began to realize that it is better to spend more money on strategy, especially in e-commerce, and get a real result.
Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics
- Olga, tell us about your Olympic project Sochi-2014. How did you get it and what work did you do?
- It all started with the won tender for the development of the site even before the stage of the Games in 2009. We launched it for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. After that, it was decided to participate in all other tenders. We really wanted to concentrate the maximum number of projects in the agency, and we succeeded .
As a result, we developed the sites for the Talisman national competition, the Talisman website, the Cultural Olympiad website, the Volunteer website, the first version of the Relay website.
Our design team has created all the interfaces and design of the main site and mobile applications. Front-end and load testing were also in our area of ​​responsibility. And technical support for all projects, including the Games website during the event.
We won the tender for creating the digital strategy of the Sochi Games and wrote a strategy from scratch, from which flowed both the strategy of promoting the Games in the digital space and business, functional requirements, the concept of the site and mobile applications (Results and Guide for viewers), some tactical the steps that successfully formed the basis of the future Games site.
The platform and the technical support of the main site were handled by Microsoft, and MegaFon developed mobile applications.
- What problems did you solve? Did you have any Olympic records? What happened and what did not?
- We were faced with certain tasks: to become the number one event in the digital space, to provide users with a unique experience, to embrace social and mobile media as much as possible. And come up with something that no one else had.
Hence, solutions such as interactive results infographics and full results in a mobile application. Both solutions were first implemented at the Games. Neither Vancouver nor London succeeded, although there have been attempts.
There was a lot of work. 553 stages of the competition, 100 of them are unique from the point of view of the rules, 500-1000 pages of description of the rules for each sport. It was unrealistically difficult to take into account everything, and even harder to put all this information within the framework of a mobile device screen and ensure its updating online.
We needed to ensure maximum participation and attention to the Games of users. And we coped with this task. The average time spent by the user on the site was 5 minutes, which is a record of the Olympic Games. And mobile applications have been downloaded 6.5 million times.
- Was it easy to work with such a customer and strict deadline?
- Four years we have been devoted to preparing for the Olympics. This is a separate stage in life. Very emotional and stressful. Not all members of our team were able to withstand such psychological stress. 8 people left the company during this period. But overall, the motivation was very strong, everyone's eyes were burning.
I can say the same about the team of the Organizing Committee of the Olympic Winter Games and the Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi, which did not look like officials. A very well-coordinated, competent team that was easy to work with. Everyone clearly knew that there is February 7 and can not be spun.
And the emotional uplift that the whole team experienced at the beginning of the Games was an incomparable state. Personally, I was absolutely happy at that moment. Without exaggeration. Four years went to this and now - everything happened and everything works as it should.
Story
- Now let's talk about where the digital agency Articul Media comes from.
- My partner, Egor Aristakesyan, was the art director of Rambler. He left there and organized his small agency. Initially it was a design studio, because he was engaged in visual communications. Then web development was tightened. And in 2002 I joined the team. Since then, Articul Media has become the way we see it now.
- Before Articul Media you worked in the studio of Artemy Lebedev.
- Yes, I was the director of the studio. And in this industry, I since 1998.
- I think many people, like me, will be interested to know how you got into this industry and how you ended up with Lebedev in the team.
- I studied at the medical university in the department of medical cybernetics. I received a scholarship and left for a year for an internship in a French university at the Faculty of Medicine. I had a task to develop an educational program on breast cancer. Our advanced professor, head of the department, said that making presentations is no longer fashionable and we will make a website. I had to learn Photoshop, programming, HTML layout. I worked in the hospital for the first half of the day, collected medical material, and developed the website for the second half. I even mastered programming in Java, because I needed tests for students. It turned out a great site about breast cancer from anatomy to surgery and rehabilitation. I know that in Canada it is still used by medical students.
When I returned to Russia, I realized that with my medical education nobody needs me here. I saw Tyoma Lebedeva on TV, wrote him a letter that I wanted to work with him, and received an invitation.
I came to the company when only 7 people worked there. I became the first project manager. It was 1998.
- And in 2002, you left the studio as CEO. Olga, why did you leave?
- We had a disagreement with the shareholders about the development of the studio. I did not agree with the vision of the shareholders. I think that it is impossible to work in the position of the general director without supporting the position of shareholders. So I left the studio.
“At the same time, you didn’t quarrel with anyone from the studio, you remained with good relations.” How come?
- I had a principled position: I didn’t steal a single client and a single employee, because I thought it was wrong. I, on the contrary, told everyone that nothing would change with my departure.
Even more: starting a business in the same industry, I did not tell anyone from new customers who did not know me that I was from Lebedev’s studio. I wanted to understand how I would do everything from scratch myself. That was my point. Now, I might be less categorical in relation to myself, but at that moment I wanted to understand what I was standing on my own.
Clients from the studio Lebedev appeared only two years later. They came at us themselves when Articul Media got to its feet and became noticeable.
Sales
- Well, since you yourself have touched on this, tell me, how were things with your sales and customers in 2002?
- At that moment we had a big regular customer - baby food Heinz. We performed for him the whole complex of works. And then another 10 years worked together. When I came to Articul, I brought with me a digital expertise. I already had a name and reputation. Therefore, we began to work with large clients immediately. They came themselves. To understand how things developed in our country: in 2004, at the Kiev Advertising Festival, we collected seven awards for work for different clients: Planet Fitness, Samsung, Heinz, Articoli.
- How many customers do you have today?
- About 30. Each client can have several projects at the same time.
- How is your sales process? I understand that you have a lot of incoming applications.
- Incoming requests are really a lot. And we respond not to everything, but only to those that are interesting to us. We have priority industries, directions, and, of course, we are interested in the scalability of this client. We are interested in making complex projects for the client.
Therefore, firstly, we select such applications where you can start from the site and continue to accompany it in the digital space or start from the strategy and continue to be responsible for the result of the promotion. Secondly, we are interested in companies that have many brands, like, say, L'Oreal.
Next - who sells. We have a customer service manager. He asks the first questions, understands the needs and makes an initial estimate. If the projects are large and they are very interesting to us, then sales are handled by the management, that is, I, Irina Sotnik, Mariana Sheinina.
We ourselves are communicating, starting with the application. If an invitation to participate in a tender comes to us, and large companies often invite us, we first evaluate it as an incoming application - whether the project is interesting or not, and then we look at the conditions. We participate only in those tenders where the conditions and procedure for selecting the winner, budget and participants are transparent.
- How do you track applications?
- We have CRM, all incoming requests come there. Every day I look at them. It does not take much time, usually 5 - 10 minutes a day. Then I understand what we are working with, what is being sent to the manager, what remains for me and what the colleagues assume. Further, an interesting lead turns into a deal and so on ...
- What kind of CRM do you use?
- Bitrix24. We tried several systems and decided to stop at Bitrix24. At some point we decided to close all communications and complete the work cycle on this portal.
It all starts, as I said, with lead. Next deal. Then the transaction goes into the project. All project communication is also carried out on the portal. We set tasks for developers there, contact customers there. It is convenient, and it is not necessary to produce many systems.
- Do you use resource planning programs?
- We distribute resources offline. At the beginning of the project, a team of people whose competencies are needed in the project is assembled, and we allocate resources. The results are recorded in Bitrix24.
Project management
- It turns out that at least the sales manager already falls out of the traditional “golden triangle”. What else is unusual in your system of work with clients and projects?
- Yes, we have no sales. But the remaining units, as a project manager and account manager, are present here.
Account is responsible for the business with the client. His task is to make the client happy and bring as much money as possible. This is exactly the kind of KPI that our accounts have.
Project managers are engaged in the creation and management of projects. Their task is to do quickly, efficiently and with the maximum margin. They work for these KPIs. Project managers are not responsible for the money, they have no task to sell. This is an account task.
Account manager and project manager work in pairs. The client communicates with both of them. Everything related to the current project is a project manager, potential projects are an account. At the meeting, they go together. If the client has a problem with the project manager, he refers to the account. It turns out that the task of the account is to remove the negative and create the mood of the client. In our case, this is something like this.
- The project manager works with your chosen team on a specific project. He can not choose his team?
- Yes, the project manager always works with the resources that he has on this project. Sometimes he must himself attract external resources if he needs a contractor with a competence that we do not have. For example, an illustrator. In fact, he has the role of a producer. He not only monitors the implementation of the project, but also understands why he is doing it.
- Do you adhere to any particular development methodology?
- No, we are not attached to Agile, Scrum or some other fashionable technique. We have our own mixed method. Every time before the project we make a project plan, draw up a schedule. In the project plan there is always a precisely written cost, project costs and margin. The task of the project manager is to maintain this margin.
When we sell a new project, we are laying this margin. Despite the fact that the account does not have KPI on margin, by default it cannot sell a project with a margin lower than the average for the agency. Only if this project is strategic and we are ready to execute it at the cost price level. But this is a separate story.
- How does your internal quality audit work?
- Standard: review of the code, checklist and evaluation of the project by the strategist, art director, analyst. I also try to watch projects.
First, we try to make our code beautiful both externally and internally. QA-specialist usually reveals only external problems, errors. And in order to keep the quality of development at the same level in the agency, tmlids review our developers' code.
Secondly, in the field of design we have an art director - a carrier of quality criteria.
As for the quality of the product, we have a team - a strategist, art director and manager. Usually, before launching, a project is studied by everyone on certain checklists. Efficiency assessed by the analyst. It is important that the project fulfills its goals and objectives. And here only an individual approach to determining the quality of each project is already working.
For example, we had an ecommerce project, and we saw that there were some problems with delivery, although this is not our responsibility. We allocated a small budget, distributed to employees and asked to make a purchase in this store. Everyone wrote a report on how he used the site right up to conversations with employees, delivery times and communication with couriers. This is not a dry, regulated test by a QA specialist. We corrected some things on our side, and we sent a report on problems on the side of the store to the customer. Because it is difficult to be responsible for sales, if the delivery is not working. Neither of which loyalty can not speak.
- Do you work with external contractors and how do you select them?
- Yes, we work with external contractors. We have a proven system for attracting contractors. All interested leave a request on the site. Those who we think fit, we test. Tested contractors receive accreditation. And managers rate them depending on the results of joint work. So the knowledge base of contractors accumulates. Among them there are loved ones, and there are those with whom we do not work after the first time.
If you need to scale quickly, we turn to a particular contractor.
- Do you outsource programming only?
- Yes, programming and layout. In the design, perhaps, only minor works on service support, such as banners. We do not outsource management, analytics, context, SMM and, of course, strategy.
Own projects
- You develop your own projects, for example Megaday. Where do such projects come from and what other own projects does the Articul Media group of companies have?
- Since my partner Egor is a creative person, from time to time he has various ideas. And from time to time they translate into projects. For 10 years there have been quite a lot of them. We started with RussDolls , which were popular at that time, and we got our own PR. We had several projects on mobile applications, a large business history did not work out, but it was a good stage of getting expertise in mobile development expertise. Now we have the application Puzzlefight, these are puzzles that are popular for some reason in the USA. We also led the children's project Kidsapp , which is now almost no longer engaged.
Any project takes time and money. Agency activity is always a priority. Accordingly, when the project becomes irrelevant, we lose interest in it, do not develop.
Now we have Megaday , the production and sale of energy marmalade. A lot of time is devoted to this project, and at the moment marmalade is already being sold in METRO, ABC of Taste and other networks. Why marmalade? Invented for themselves, and the product was interesting not only to us. This is a global trend in the agency business - to make their products aimed at the end user.
- Do you think the agency needs such projects for PR or additional competencies?
- First of all, I think, for self-expression. And competence and public relations are secondary, as a side effect.
Often it can grow into a separate business. The same project RussDolls was born in 2006 or 2007, when Flash movies were in vogue. We had many such client projects. History was born on this basis. Animade owned technology and tools, but at the same time I wanted to say more than was possible in the context of client stories. The story was born with the dolls, and the PR went out by itself.
In 2009, we began to engage in mobile applications. And we had a story with the children's theme of Kidsapp. Because we ourselves had small children, and there were absolutely no applications for them. Initially, we began to make interactive fairy tales. Of course, we very much pumped this expertise, and this was our competitive advantage. And now it is.
Team
- How many people do you have in the state?
- Now about 50 people. In Moscow and Stavropol, where we have production. We recently opened a regional office.
- Once again, how many company owners do you have, is everyone involved in operational management?
- We have 3 owners. In 2013, Irina Sotnik joined us with Yegor.
Yegor Aristakesyan is our creative director. 90% of the creative is his job. And almost all of our awards are his merit. He is in the top 50 creative directors of Russia. We have many victories in international competitions, including The Webby Award, which is considered the Internet Oscar. We have The Lovie Awards - this is a European award. We received the Cristal Festival Award for the Olympic project. Cannes lion only not, but everything is still ahead.
As for Irina Sotnik, her responsibility is first of all project management. She came from a large integration business and brought us a lot of expertise in the field of project management. Our business processes have become more mature. And it gave us a competitive advantage.If you have a properly organized project management, then communication with customers takes place on a completely different level.
As CEO, I am more involved in the strategic development of the agency and engage in communication with key clients.
- What are you targeting, picking up employees in the team? Do you have HR?
- We don't have HR. There was experience with HR-freelancers and agencies, but I can not say that he was successful.
- It turns out that you are not experiencing a personnel hunger inherent in our industry?
- The problem of search personnel is always there. But HR will not help. Perhaps, if you have a company of 300 people, it is necessary at least to post vacancies on time and track the initial responses.
Our team is looking for people to join our team. Usually, I also look at the resume and decide who to call for an interview.
- How do you train your employees and where do you study yourself? Do you have any advanced training system?
- There is no defined waste system. There are specialized conferences, there are internal seminars, there is mentoring of the leader. In any case, we have a rule: when a company pays for training, an employee must work for at least a year. If he leaves earlier, he will compensate this amount.
- What are the effective and useful professional conferences or courses you can mark?
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- It is difficult for me to give a review on the MBA, I do not have this education. But in Berkeley or Stanford, I would learn.
From time to time I attend various seminars. I recently attended a two-day finance course. I systematized my experience and brought out new knowledge.
If we talk about the industry, the educational program of the Cannes Advertising Festival is very useful. It includes lectures, seminars, workshops. In general, global experience is always interesting. We used to go by ourselves, but this year we sent the head of the SMM and content marketing department. She came very motivated, with a renewed look and new knowledge. Based on the results of her trip, I made a great presentation, shared my new experience with the whole agency.
- Do you take interns to yourself?
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- What are you building the agency's PR strategy?
- We work for several audiences: customers; industry, competitors, contractors; potential employees.
If there is a task to strengthen some direction in the agency, it is this topic that is devoted most of all in external communications.
- What professional associations are you in and do you need it?
- We are members of RAEC and are the founders of the AIA. Why do you need it?An association is always an association of like-minded people in the industry who solve certain sectoral tasks. RAEC solves problems of a higher level. And we want to be there, to bring in our experience.
If we talk about AIA, then it was conceived as an association of digital agencies, the best representatives of the industry, who solve certain tasks that they alone cannot solve. And there are many such problems, starting with strange tenders, insane postpay bills, etc.
So we are trying to defend their interests.
- Do you believe in ratings?
- I’m probably listening if I say that we don’t care about our positions in ratings. As an ambitious person, I always want to be first. However, last year we stopped paying attention to them. And surprisingly, we climbed to the very top. Over the design they have overtaken almost everyone, including recognized leaders. In our industry, the ratings are opaque and incomprehensible. But as one of my colleagues says, any rating is good, where are you first.
- You also work with western customers. What you need to get these customers in the portfolio?
- To work with Western customers, you need to do the same thing as in the Russian market, only in the Western. You should know. How to do this depends on the strategy: either you go directly to clients or to agencies.
For example, in the West there are many intermediaries who choose contractors to other agencies. They are asked for recommendations.
To get an order for a design, it is sometimes enough to lay out a good job at Behance. Word of mouth works great.
In general, this is a special story that should be highlighted in a separate direction in the agency. He should be led by English-speaking employees.
- Looking back at your experience, can you name three mistakes that could be avoided now?
- The first thing that is necessary is to understand the financial component and the profitability of your projects. Many owners and directors lack financial knowledge. I also did not have enough in the beginning.
The second mistake is not due to lack of experience, but because of my human qualities. Sometimes you need to trust employees a little less than you want. Business and money need to be handled very carefully. And I preferred to rely on people entirely, if they are next to me.
If we talk about the third mistake, then sometimes I hired the wrong people. The success of your idea, business ideas often depends on the team. And if you are mistaken in team members, then you can not reach your goal.
- Olga, thank you for the interview. Let only the most reliable people work with you. I wish you even more interesting projects and new awards.
And what do you, dear readers, say about the work of Articul Media and, in particular, about the Olympic project? I am pleased to hear your comments and answer any questions.
, - Simtech DevelopmentSource: https://habr.com/ru/post/296044/
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