Top interactive agencies 2003

NEW MEDIA AGE - 25 September 2003

Rufus Leonard says the last 12 months have been difficult, but the agency still managed to keep digital turnover at £4.7m, compared to £5m last year.

Strategy director Andrew Pinkess says the business has benefited form the government sector, as it developed a good relationship with the Central Office of Information’s digital team.  “It’s spend is holding up as it tries to get more services up and running by 2005,” he says.  “It’s now a lot more savvy than it used to be.”

He continues, “The Government is taking a more sophisticated approach now and, because of the slowdown in the private sector, we’re seeing a lot more first-mover use of the technology form it.”

This isn’t to say Rufus Leonard won’t still get work from the private sector, but according to Pinkess most companies are spending on digital in a more measured way.

“Once upon a time most companies spent just because they felt they had to,” he says.  “But now it’s at the other extreme where they are asking us to justify our spend more.”

Rufus Leonard has been doing a lot of work in the customer acquisition area, breaking the CRM process into smaller bite-sized chunks for clients, as Pinkess puts it.  Starting life as a traditional design agency, its says its strategy offer is still doing okay, but it’s being marketed to clients differently these days.  “It’s almost like we’re not allowed to call it strategy these days,” says Pinkess.  Instead it concentrates on showing how new installations and builds can reduce costs and improve efficiency.

The agency believes its heritage and familiarity with the wider marketing context offline as well as online has helped it stay in touch with clients during these difficult times.  A good example is the rebranding work Rufus Leonard helped BT with as the telco changed from the piper logo to its rainbow colours ident.