Promo 100 Profile: Isobar North America, Inc.

When the Isobar global network was created by Aegis in 2003, its strategy was to acquire great businesses around the world and provide local expertise with a universal set of core competencies. But toward the end of 2008, the market began to consolidate, giving Isobar’s competitors a stronger foothold. At the same time, Isobar’s own clients began asking the agency to centralize certain business processes to reap economies of scale.

As a result, the new Isobar North America relaunched this May, combining the assets of word-of-mouth agency Ammo Marketing, creative agencies Freestyle Interactive and Mindblossom, and e-business and technology firm Molecular.

Today, the integrated digital marketing services division of Aegis feels it is in a better position to compete.

“We’ve maintained the ability to dive into local markets, but the integration has created a consistency across the organization and across our go-to-market strategies that is allowing us to offer a similar set of services wherever our clients work with us,” says Daren Trousdell, executive vice president of sales and marketing. Also, “We can go up against critical mass now because we have a huge advantage in scale offering.”

This strategy has already shown great success, as revenues for 2010 are up 50% over 2009, Trousdell says.

The key ingredient? Partnering with clients — an approach that goes beyond conceiving and implementing campaigns, resulting in a deeper, richer experience for customer, client and agency.

One result of this approach is miCoach for Adidas, an online training system that helps runners improve their game. In the mission control center, runners can set their goal, receive a personalized plan, monitor their progress over time and find the encouragement they need to cross their own personal finish lines.

“We moved into product development and partnered with Adidas to create a product that is revolutionary for our industry,” Trousdell says. He notes that partnering has allowed Isobar to go to market with solutions that are bigger and more detailed than just answering a specific brief.

In the months ahead, Isobar plans to further its commitment to becoming partners with its clients, including the option of revenue sharing, at which, Trousdell says, they are already succeeding.

“Clients want to work with companies that have both succeeded and failed as pioneers,” he says. “They’re looking for the experience, not just the history lesson, but the tools to succeed.”

PROMO 100 SPOTLIGHT: Interactive

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