Museums to Wallpaper - PushON's Online Marketing at Its Best

I catch up with managing director Simon Wharton not long after news of PushON's collaboration with the powerful Apadmi hit the newswire and start by asking about the exciting new working partnership

Award winning online marketing agency PushON has successfully marketed "everything from museums to wallpaper" for both public and private sector clients. The talented team prides itself on paying close attention to clients' need but very importantly at these rapidly changing times, has its finger on the constantly shifting pulse of the digital media domain. From the automotive industry to legal recruitment, Concern to Hyundai, PushON have an uncanny ability to adapt to clients' challenges with a true understanding of the market at large.

I catch up with managing director Simon Wharton not long after news of PushON's collaboration with the powerful Apadmi hit the newswire and start by asking about the exciting new working partnership

Q Does working with such a technology heavy client mean you need to be up to speed on all things IT yourself?

A I don't see Apadmi as a technology heavy client. They provide business solutions and solve problems using technology. The problems they solve are fascinating.

Q LinkedIn had recently announced huge losses blaming, among other factors, the company's failure to keep up with mobile technology. Why are so many companies slow to realise the world is fast shifting towards technology on the go?

A LinkedIn is a necessary evil. Every Time you use it, whether on desktop or mobile, you can't help but make a not so silent "tsch". There is so much that I naturally want to do that is a pain in the backside. I want to look at profiles when I have connected, I want to be able to block spammers, I want a connection requests to synch across desktop and mobile. I'd quite like to be able to use LinkedIn over 3G without it borking. And that's without getting to the app. It's a sad and lonely thing. So much about LinkedIn isn't joined up but it has just about every businessperson you would want listed on it. So we put up with it.

Q Does working with such a technology heavy client mean you need to be up to speed on all things IT yourself? Do you feel you need to have a good grasp of Apadmi specific technology?

A I don't see Apadmi as a technology heavy client. They provide business solutions and solve problems using technology. The problems they solve are fascinating.

Q What is an 'online marketing firm'? how does it differ from 'traditional' marketing?

A We're a marketing company that primarily works using online strategies, typically driving traffic to websites or curating conversations around ideas using social tools. A traditional marketing business will use offline strategies. Though lines are increasingly blurred. I find the opportunities offered by interaction between the real and virtual worlds to be endlessly fascinating

Q Can you comment on your statement that "we made a strategic decision to pursue Apadmi's business vigorously.."

A Apadmi is a name uttered with a certain reverence. They do great work, really great work. If we could prove worthy of their attention we would have a client with work that almost sells itself. All we have to do is point people at it. And that association works very well for PushON. They're something of an indulgent luxury of a client. Really nice, very smart people.

Q What first attracted you to Apadmi? Was it simply a matter of spotting and appreciating their work?

A I love the BBC iPlayer Radio app. I got quite giddy when I started using it. It changed the way I used my phone, it changed the nature of how I perceived the device. Everything I want it to do, it does, in a way I expect it to. I knew of Apadmi and admired them before that. Afterwards, they had to be ours. LinkedIn should really get Apadmi to rebuild their app.

Q I can see that one of the aims of your collaboration is 'attracting more national and international projects'. What you are hoping to achieve through the collaboration? Both for PushOn, and your new partner

A Apadmi do smart things with solving people's problems. We do smart things with letting people know that their problems can be solved. We'd like to see how we could take what we learn across boundaries. Not just exporting but importing ideas into the UK. I want to know how devices are being used and misused across the world so we can help Apadmi continue to make beautifully realised projects.

Q Which of your own marketing campaigns/work is particularly memorable? how did PushOn follow client's brief and how did you accommodate the client's needs through online strategies.

A We have local client The Chill Factore. http://www.chillfactore.com/ (an indoor ski slope attraction). They've got a brilliant internal team who we wanted to work with so we almost bullied them into working with us. It was a fairly straightforward search campaign for a site that was already doing well. We just found the things that they also did that they weren't known for. It filled their quiet times and they made a fair amount of money. It won us the European Search Award for Travel and Leisure last year.

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