Soap Creative USA

October 27, 2008 : 10:13 PM

Soap Creative USA

While it was actually official a week ago lets call today the first day of Soap USA. We've gone and opened an office in LA. Century City (the Nth Sydney of LA) to be precise which is a temporary solution. It's both a scary and exciting prospect for many reasons. Only once did I really lose sleep over the decision.

As an independent agency we've been self funded from the start. So opening an office is quite a hurdle. But it was actually easier than buying our office and the subsequent purchase of the place next door.

Luckily we have a business focussed partner who looked after the majority of this "paper work". There's much more to these things that you first imagine. Lots of things to sign and decisions to make. The easiest decision we had was who to get to run the office. For me there was only one choice and that was our current client Matt Griswold. He was one of those rare clients that really pushed us to do better. He also got just as excited (if not more) by our ideas. He was also a client I could send over ideas for other clients and get a good honest opinion.

The plans for the LA office have been in the works for over a year. My first trip to LA was part of that plan. Secure more US work and then use that as a base to expand. We went from 5% revenue to around 20% revenue from Uncle Sam. All this as the Aussie dollar climbed to 97c to the USD.

But within the year the financial systems have changed considerably. Right now it's at 60c to the USD which means the budgets for us just went up 30%-35%. From good to great.

While things seem bad, people are still going to the movies, watching TV and playing video games, the two markets our clients over there are in. They aren't buying property, investing or buying SUVs and luxury products.

They will also be buying more alcohol too. Also a new president and a new year should see some changes too.

For the last 6.5 years Soap has been my hobby and job. Myself and the other partners aren't savvy businessmen and we're not entrepreneurs we just like what we do and tried to do our best. If we were those things I probably would be living in a penthouse apartment on the Gold Coast. Funny thing is after 6.5 years we've only just hit our stride. The projects we're being offered, the clients we're working for and the budgets to work with have finally matured. The team we have has never been stronger too.

This reminds me of one digital CD telling me he had a "5 year plan" for his agency which ended in fail. If you plan to get out in 5 years then you don't really make to make a difference you make decisions to pad your pockets.

Funnily enough the actual cost itself to set up the office hasn't been huge. In fact the full outlay is less than some agencies spend on their Xmas party.

The most exciting prospect for me is a personal one. Running a business has its ups and downs. A few times in the last 6 years I have felt trapped, wanting to take a year off and travel or work over seas was not an option. But now that is possible (well the work overseas bit is). It also allows us to offer the option to the staff to work in the US office.

It will be an interesting 12 months as the office grows into it's own entity.

I also wonder what other people think about this move. We could have as easily just sold and then looked to exit in 3 years with earn outs. But I think we've now secured more potential growth and worth than we ever could have earlier.

Funnily enough while trying to grow the US side of things we've also had huge growth locally after just being awarded the digital accounts for two major brands. We're also nominated for B&T's Digital agency of the year 2008.

Phew lot's of stuff to process over the next few months for us and many more decisions to be made. We're in hiring mode now and seeing some pretty talented people this week which is a tough part of the job trying to hire people.

Posted at October 27, 2008 : 10:13 PM
Archived in: Work Stuff

This is just a brain dump on my thoughts about our new LA office. It's probably the most exciting time at Soap that it has ever been, business has never been better and the type of projects we're working on has never been more varied. While it was actually official a week ago lets call today the first day of Soap USA. We've gone and opened an office in LA. Century City (the Nth Sydney of LA) to be precise which is a temporary solution. It's both a scary and exciting prospect for many reasons. Only once did I really lose sleep over the decision. As an independent agency we've been self funded from the start. So opening an office is quite a hurdle. But it was actually easier than buying our office and the subsequent purchase of the place next door. Luckily we have a business focussed partner who looked after the majority of this "paper work". There's much more to these things that you first imagine. Lots of things to sign and decisions to make. The easiest decision we had was who to get to run the office. For me there was only one choice and that was our current client Matt Griswold. He was one of those rare clients that really pushed us to do better. He also got just as excited (if not more) by our ideas. He was also a client I could send over ideas for other clients and get a good honest opinion. The plans for the LA office have been in the works for over a year. My first trip to LA was part of that plan. Secure more US work and then use that as a base to expand. We went from 5% revenue to around 20% revenue from Uncle Sam. All this as the Aussie dollar climbed to 97c to the USD. But within the year the financial systems have changed considerably. Right now it's at 60c to the USD which means the budgets for us just went up 30%-35%. From good to great. While things seem bad, people are still going to the movies, watching TV and playing video games, the two markets our clients over there are in. They aren't buying property, investing or buying SUVs and luxury products. They will also be buying more alcohol too. Also a new president and a new year should see some changes too. For the last 6.5 years Soap has been my hobby and job. Myself and the other partners aren't savvy businessmen and we're not entrepreneurs we just like what we do and tried to do our best. If we were those things I probably would be living in a penthouse apartment on the Gold Coast. Funny thing is after 6.5 years we've only just hit our stride. The projects we're being offered, the clients we're working for and the budgets to work with have finally matured. The team we have has never been stronger too. This reminds me of one digital CD telling me he had a "5 year plan" for his agency which ended in fail. If you plan to get out in 5 years then you don't really make to make a difference you make decisions to pad your pockets. Funnily enough the actual cost itself to set up the office hasn't been huge. In fact the full outlay is less than some agencies spend on their Xmas party. The most exciting prospect for me is a personal one. Running a business has its ups and downs. A few times in the last 6 years I have felt trapped, wanting to take a year off and travel or work over seas was not an option. But now that is possible (well the work overseas bit is). It also allows us to offer the option to the staff to work in the US office. It will be an interesting 12 months as the office grows into it's own entity. I also wonder what other people think about this move. We could have as easily just sold and then looked to exit in 3 years with earn outs. But I think we've now secured more potential growth and worth than we ever could have earlier. Funnily enough while trying to grow the US side of things we've also had huge growth locally after just being awarded the digital accounts for two major brands. We're also nominated for B&T's Digital agency of the year 2008. Phew lot's of stuff to process over the next few months for us and many more decisions to be made. We're in hiring mode now and seeing some pretty talented people this week which is a tough part of the job trying to hire people.