Published by isobel.regan@dontpanicprojects.com
Published Date 24.08.2022 
We were pretty excited to learn that Reload had been shortlisted for not just one, but two categories in the UK Agency Awards – Best Agency Culture and eCommerce Agency of the Year.
The past couple of years have been turbulent for a lot of businesses and people alike, and so we at Reload Digital feel extremely proud of the growth we’ve achieved. Not only have we seen our headcount more than double, we’ve also seen our turnover soar, experiencing 10 years of growth in the last 12 months alone (more on that to come).
Before diving in, let’s start with who we are…
Reload Digital is a full-service performance driven digital marketing agency, helping ambitious D2C eCommerce brands unlock their growth potential online through awareness, acquisition and retention marketing strategies.
Our team of retail and eCommerce consultants have a proven track record growing 500+ brands in 20 markets since our establishment in 2009, boasting an enviable client portfolio featuring the likes of Finisterre, Wrangler, Philip Kingsley, New Era and MADE, to name but a few.
But we’re about more than just getting clients through the door, we’re on a mission ‘to be the agency of choice for eCom brands and professionals’.
A market leading eCom agency…
Brands need a partner who ‘get their niche’, that’s where we come in. We work with ambitious CMOs and eCom Directors, who need an agency to understand what it takes to grow a D2C brand. Whether that’s managing the relationship between D2C and wholesale, creating a reason to purchase direct or what customer niches to target.
Take Wrangler, for example, they wanted to connect with a European audience but their “US approach” of discount stores and an older demographic did not translate into the same level of success in Europe, so there was a need to shake things up. So how did we help them double their revenue in a core European market, see high YoY growth and produce a one-day sell-out campaign?
With new product collections and collaborations with Leon Bridges & Georgia May Jagger, there was an opportunity to attract younger audiences. We worked on a Performance Branding strategy with Wrangler to monitor budgets using brand heat campaigns for boosting awareness, whilst capturing sales with “always-on” paid social campaigns driving high-intent traffic. This allowed us to not focus on channels and performance in silo, but their influence on one another.
But, eCom Leaders are looking for more than just ‘services’. Yes brands want us to deliver direct results, but they also want to upskill their internal teams. Our content, events and community help inspire new ideas, grow clients’ capabilities and offer more value than your traditional agency.
We keep our finger on the pulse of eCommerce and in 2020 we collaborated with the Senior Leadership Team at Astrid & Miyu to launch our eCom Leaders. A platform to help bring Senior Leaders in eCom brands together to discuss challenges in a turbulent time. The community still runs today, boasting over 30 members from a range of brands, with us now hosting six exclusive in-person round table events per year
Commercial Director, Katy Ray, said: “Since joining Reload almost six years ago, the caliber of clients we’re onboarding has jumped to new levels, with us now ticking off the dream brands our Reloaders have always aspired to partner with.”
She went on to say, “This has been aided by our bold decision in 2020, during the height of the pandemic, where we chose to shift our business model and hone in on our niche of D2C and eCommerce brands across fashion, beauty, luxury and home & living.
Of course our strong agency culture plays a huge part in our success when it comes to clients, the real success is down to our Reloaders’ expertise and enthusiasm across all levels of digital marketing and eCommerce. It’s great to see that our impact is being recognised by the industry such as the UK Agency Awards and this success really is thanks to every single Reloader.”
So, about that killer culture we mentioned…
Well, we ditched the typical agency life replacing the late nights with a 5.30pm stop and building a diverse team of marketers where everybody had a chance to progress. But whilst our initiatives have changed as we’ve grown, what’s remained (and always will) is the same ambition to prioritise people over profit, with employee progression and development at the core of our operations.
Five Year Beer Wall
With 80% of our senior leadership positions now filled up by people who started their careers as juniors, we pride ourselves on our extremely high staff retention even through ‘The Great Resignation’. But what became clear to us, with our growth and the new post-pandemic world, is that we needed to adapt our employee package to continue to live up to our ‘love where you work’ vision.
With the close collaboration of our Reloaders at our annual Vision Day we’ve rolled out numerous initiatives including: creative a positive and supportive work environment through our flexible working and ‘Friday Wins’ recognising the week’s achievements; more investment in personal development with our annual win a trip competitions, newly launched Reload University and dedicated PD budgets and PD days; and not forgetting our upgraded role package and of course our Reload Weekender – where there was lots of countryside walks, cider, karaoke and the odd murder (mystery that is).
We caught up with Reload Digital Managing Director, Adam Clarke, who said: “Reload is built on the premise that our leadership team works for Reloaders and not the other way around.
With our collaborative culture, staff retention, number of internal promotions and the growth in turnover we’ve experienced since the end of 2020, we’re confident this different way of running a business is having a positive impact and we’re thrilled that this is being recognised!”
