Click2View’s Year in Review

Written by Simon Kearney | Graphics by Gisele Suroto

This has been a big year for Click2View. We turned 12 for a start. Even though we’ve been around for a while now, it is only in the last few years I feel like we’ve been really getting well organised as a business. And weirdly, I feel like we’re only now getting started.

The last five years began with a period of consolidation, followed by the pandemic which we were lucky to survive and then thrive in, followed by the last year as we emerged from the pandemic into more economic uncertainty. 

Through all this, we have been focused on improving our service, our creativity and the way we run Click2View. Someone we work with said the other day they were impressed by our constant professionalism. “Why do you say that?” I asked. He said: “You would be surprised at how much spotty professionalism there is out there.” 

I tend to focus on the things we need to fix all the time so Click2View can often look like a leaky ship to me, but I think as we hit Christmas 2022, Click2View is a ship that is heading in the right direction and has a head of steam up. 

Looking forward, Click2View has to double down on two things. Our ability to tell good stories and our integration of emerging technologies. These along with our constant commitment to customer service will be my focus in the years ahead. We’ve always been focused on these things but digital storytelling in particular and technology integration have never been more important.

The focus on quality storytelling goes without saying, but it is very hard to achieve, especially with consistency. You have to accept that the quality of the storytelling is in the eye of the beholder to start with. So we will not always agree with each other or our clients on what constitutes a good story. Finding that balance is part of life when you’re an agency. Doing it well separates you from the others. 

The technological side is a fearsome combo of allowing yourself to be vulnerable to some aspects of the business becoming redundant or of lower value and embracing a new world where content tech (and creator tech) is at the heart of how we communicate in business, socially, even as a species. It really is a very exciting time. 

This year, we invested in Hypotenuse.ai, a Singapore-based AI content creation startup. I wanted to do this not just for the potential returns but to put our money where our mouth is and do so in a way that brings the team along — so it’s not just the CEO banging on about some pet project. Still not there yet though. 

We also bedded down a new job role at Click2View this year: the Customer Success Manager. I know the title is probably a bit cringeworthy in a creative agency but I’ve always felt we differentiated ourselves from others by our commitment to customer service. This comes from my first career as a hotel porter and then silver-service waiter. It’s not difficult to offer good service to the people who pay your bills, but you’d be surprised that not everyone who provides service feels the same way. Pet peeves for me are a lack of courtesy and an unwillingness to help your fellows — they drive me nuts. 

I think our Customer Success Managers have really helped ensure more of a focus on customer service, but also helped our Content Directors focus on the storytelling side of things. For those of you who don’t know, we don’t really have ‘suits’ like an advertising agency. We have Content Directors who are experts and producers; they come up with the ideas and plans, and execute on them. The Customer Success Managers make sure the timelines are hit and everything is done as our clients expect. Behind the scenes they make sure we do all the admin that makes the whole ship chug along. 

Looking forward, I feel like we’ve got a lot of things in place for a good 2023. We have appointed a Key Account Growth Manager to help coordinate business across our main clients. We have someone on the ground in Dubai to handle our business in that greater region and I expect to open an office in Dubai in 2023. We are re-organising our video team to focus on the changing nature of the video production business. Our editorial and animation teams go from strength to strength. Here’s to an exciting year 13 for Click2View.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Simon

Read more from Click2View:

1. The Staying Power of Content Marketing
2. Content Strategies Compared
3. Five Reasons Newsletters Still Work
4. Kill Your Darlings, They’re Just Words

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Click2View is Southeast Asia’s premiere full-service independent B2B content marketing agency servicing clients like Microsoft, Google, Visa, Prudential, and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.