From agency life running pitches 2-3 times a week, and converting over 20 a year, to brand side heading up the Digital & E-Commerce strategy at the UK’s number 1 baby & toddler snack brand, Organix, this week we welcome Mona Nikzad.
Having worked both agency and brand side, Mona has a unique view on working with agencies and what stands out to her when looking for new partnerships from someone who received 60 approaches a week!
Mona and Katie discuss:
- An insight into new business they worked on together
- How Organix worked closely with their agencies to navigate the pandemic.
- Developing an e-commerce strategy
- Working with smaller vs larger agencies
- The importance of awards
- Personal approaches to stand out
Word on the Street is sponsored by Just After Midnight, supporting your websites and applications 24/7. They provide managed cloud, 24hr monitoring and support and DevOps. Get a month free here: https://www.justaftermidnight247.com/street
Links & references
Katie Street: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiestreet/
Street Agency: https://street.agency/
Mona Nikzad: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monanikzad/
Organix: https://www.organix.com/
Get in touch: [email protected]
Episode highlights
“One year we won 20 pitches. I think our opportunity to win ratio was pretty high. So we were probably converting 2 out of 3 pitches, so we must have done 30 pitches in that year, which is a lot for any agency.” Katie Street – 5:20
“I head up digital, and then more recently have got involved in the e-commerce strategy for the business. I sit on the opposite side of the table now, but I don’t think I could do the role if I hadn’t worked agency side first” Mona NIkzad – 8:53
“Seeing the agency’s I work personally adapt quickly and maintain high service levels, has really made me appreciate them more and there’s more of a mutual respect now following COVID-19.” Mona Nikzad – 10:58
“The new website is more about understanding what our customers want from us. We want to do things where typically it’d be quite hard to get buy-in from retailers. For example, we can actually put together maybe a small weaning bundle and put it on the site and see actually, is that what our customers want, and then potentially then roll out to other retailers. It will allow us to test and learn a lot.” Mona Nikzad – 17:51
“There’s a lot of pressure for a brand that’s number 1 in a category to work one of the biggest agencies. But we’ve chosen to go with middle of the road size agencies which fit with our budget and staff size.” – Mona Nikzad – 21:45
“When it comes to the bigger media budgets that we’ve got, we do use a consultancy agency to go and help us with that pitch process. They’ll send out the brief and then they’ll shortlist agencies for us.” Mona Nikzad – 23:50
“It’s so rare nowadays that you even really receive anything in the post unless it’s an Amazon. It’s all emails or calls or LinkedIn inbox messages. And if you’re able to do something really creative, that’s tailored and bespoke to the brand that you’re reaching out to, I think, at the moment in this environment, you really do stand out. And you will be remembered for sure.” Mona Nikzad – 30:45