So, it’s finally arrived! If you’re reading this message then we’ve only gone and done it. Rebranded and launched our new website, with plenty of great new functionality.
But where did it all begin? Where did we come from?
I thought it would be worth sharing a few words to tell the story of Cadence. Well, up until this point. What’s next, who knows… actually, that’s silly, we do, so stay tuned. Naturally we’ll blog about future updates on here.
It all started with data, public sector data to be more specific, in a tiny office above a bar in Hazel Grove. The Ingenium business was born to serve customers that had a requirement for top-quality public sector contact data.
At the time, the marketspace was relatively uncongested, which created a great opportunity for the Ingenium business to flourish and grow. Ingenium was built on the simple principle of hand-researched accurate decision-maker data, covering each and every public sector organisation in the UK. The business went from strength to strength and soon had to relocate, twice, ultimately landing in a slightly bigger office, this time above a CO-OP in Stockport, roughly three miles down the road from where it all started.
At that time, email marketing had begun to gather momentum and we started to consider the possibility of doing the ’emailing’ part ourselves, rather than just supplying the data i.e. the means for customers to do it themselves. It’s not that we wanted to replace the core data offering, but we thought we could provide a time-saving additional service that our customers could leverage. Essentially, fast-tracking them to the end point, which any data provision would have been the means to… leads.
After a few campaigns through other well-known third-party platforms, we decided to stop monkeying around. Why? Primarily the unreliable reporting, delivery rates and design limitations. We thought, why go through the costly process of investing into the creation of a database, only for it to be blocked by technology that wasn’t fit for purpose. So, what did we do? We built our own platform. As we’re really creative, we came up with a snappy name for this market-leading bespoke tool, Email2Market – wonder what it does, right? Whilst the name was fairly unimaginative, the concept was strong and believe it or not, this development helped pave the way for the business that we’ve now become.
The product suite began to diversify, first lead generation, then surveys, webinars, DQAs and content creation. I still remember the early days of our managed webinar offering and our then ‘recording studio’. It consisted of a partially used kitchenette, which sat adjacent to the main communal floor access. Safe to say, it wasn’t sound-proofed… And, I still recall the necessary eye-contact through the glass door, requesting that folk from other offices didn’t come into that shared space to make a cup of tea. Despite the surroundings, we made it work and, let me tell you, we punched well above our weight in terms of the customers we serviced with this solution and the results we achieved.
In 2010 we started working with a customer called BiP Solutions. We primarily knew of BiP through their events portfolio, which is held in high regard and, at that time, was also a rich vein of self-sourced leads for our sales guys.
As is so often the case, our first engagement with what was then a shiny new customer, was a small packet of data. Data to support one of the events in England. Again, as is so often the case, the data worked beautifully and paved the way for more progressive conversations. Over the coming years, BiP became one of Ingenium’s largest customers and at peak, licensed the majority of the database. This was primarily used to drive audiences for events, as well as inbound leads for the public sector sales teams.
In 2016, after a six-year love affair, BiP Solutions acquired Ingenium. This came shortly after BiP had made another acquisition, Promark Media. With the Ingenium office being in Stockport and Promark Media in Chorley, what better place to move to than Media City, Salford – slap bang in the middle of the two and tailor-made for innovative and developing digital businesses.
From then on, two became one, as the Media & Marketing Solutions division was formed. Born out of the acquisition of two former suppliers, with specialised data assets and content skills in key markets, that were already well known to BiP. The new office environment created room to breathe, scale and form new bonds with new colleagues, all of which has helped to shape our success over the last couple of years.
So here we are, the last piece of this blog, Why Cadence? Well, it’s easy. We’ve re-orientated this division to make it easier for our customers to access the full breadth of our fantastic services. The Cadence brand gives us a new identity, a new voice, but we’re still the same people at the core. The same performance-led, non-fluffy email marketing agency that does exactly what it says on the tin.
We generate results. We are Cadence.
Thanks for reading,
Sam Gilding,
Director of Cadence Marketing
