Advertising agency executive and entrepreneur Ben Goodale took a break four years ago. During this time, he identified an untapped niche in the market and made the decision to re-enter the industry by launching his third agency, Quantum Jump.
Recognising an increasingly fragmented media landscape, and with digital transforming the way marketing works, Ben decided he wanted to create the next generation of advertising agency, that could transform business situations while utilising the skill sets of the people he wanted to work with.
“Every time you do something you should get better at it,” Ben says. “We’ve hit the ground running including winning two Marketing Awards early on. And the culture we’re building now is possibly the best culture I’ve ever enjoyed. Certainly we’ve got smiles on everyone’s faces, people seem to want to come to work, clients love visiting us and it’s a real joy to be around everyone.”
Three years on and specialising in innovative and engaging campaigns that are focused on delivering measurable results, Quantum Jump works with clients across a range of industries and especially the retail, financial and consumer services sectors. With awards and notable campaigns already in market, Ben describes the agency sweet spot as “the hard stuff, like CRM, CX, Loyalty and integrated retail digital experiences and campaigns…it’s all about how data and customer touchpoints come together with the actual customer. How do we connect, how do we learn from that, and do it better every time?”.
Just over a year ago, the agency launched Sky Rewards, a loyalty programme that rewards avid Sky watchers for their loyalty – something that Ben says he and the team are particularly proud of.
Working closely with Sky, the team delved into insights to discover what mattered to Sky’s customers and developed a programme that
delivered that.
“Sky have fantastic research and insights which we used along with a design thinking process, to evolve that programme to really meet the need to be recognised and rewarded. And it’s been a huge success with a really great response from customers,” he says.
This work won recognition at the International Loyalty Awards 2022 for Best New Loyalty Launch of the Year as well as finalists at the TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards in the Excellence in Data Insights Strategy, Best Data Driven Marketing Initiative, and Excellence in Travel/Leisure and Entertainment Marketing
Strategy categories.
Quantum Jump’s creative firepower is driven by two award-winning and highly respected creative leaders, Wayne Pick and Drew Ayers, who are Creative Partners.
“When your work’s being recognised as award-winning, and on the global stage, that’s gratifying. That’s the benchmark that we set for ourselves,” Ben says.
The agency has also been behind significant work such as the launch of Mitre 10 Club to better engage with Mitre 10’s enthusiastic DIY customers, and other high-profile campaigns including AA Life Insurance’s ‘Muri’s Story’, launching the plant-based range for Let’s Eat, and the Neon/Lightbox merger and customer migration (the latter two winners at the Marketing Awards).
Ben tells us there is one thing that has surprised him since starting Quantum Jump, the high demand for marketing automation skills. “We’ve been overwhelmed by a need for support with various platforms in terms of being able to set up and send campaigns, plot journeys, and reporting, so we’ve developed a whole dedicated side of the business that can support with Hubspot, Emarsys, Salesforce and now Adobe and others.”
“That’s been exciting, it’s a growing space and a nice creative opportunity to be interesting too. It’s very easy to be boring with worthy messages, when people get dropped into these customer journeys, you want to be able to entertain people every time you touch them, you don’t want to just be saying ‘here is some information,’” says Ben.
A key benefit of working with Quantum Jump is that the senior team are accessible.
“Because we’re hands on, we’re not passing it on to junior people in the business to just deliver some stuff. We’ve got a squad, but the scale of the agency means that the senior team are always going to be involved.
“When I had my year off, I reflected on what I really love about working in advertising and that is solving those client problems. I love developing a strategy and seeing the team bring it to life in creative. For me that’s like an adrenaline rush. I always want to be close to the work, and the thinking.”
“It’s like a best kept secret,” says Wayne Pick, Quantum Jump’s Creative Partner. “We don’t tend to profile ourselves, but work through relationships, recommendations, and the reputation of the work. So we get right in there and get to do big, meaningful work. Like launching loyalty programmes, brand redesigns and TVCs, new brand and product launches. Transformational work.
“And I love that we’re that perfect Goldilocks size. So the team you meet are the team actually doing the work. But a senior bench with great relationships across clients.”
“My favourite bit?” asks Wayne. “No egos. Just grown-ups and people I love working with. So we can use all our energy focusing on making great work that shifts the dial.”
Drew Ayers, Creative Partner, says: “You are dealing with people who are really passionate about what they do, and extremely good at what they do.
“The QJ spirit is about finding robust and non-traditional creative solutions that help solve emerging creative challenges as we deliver into the evolving digital landscape. Ben as an employer is an extremely loyal person and very loyal to his staff. That makes for a really happy workplace.”
QJ has a real focus on giving opportunities to new graduates and helping them grow their careers.
Starting out at Quantum Jump as an Account Executive and moving up to Senior Account Manager, Zoë MacDonald-Mair says the ethos of the agency is to always go above and beyond – something she feels she is now more than ever equipped to do, having worked with her clients for her three years at the agency.
“It’s got to the point where I have such a wealth of knowledge I can refer to, to really help support our clients. To be that useful to the client is really fulfilling. The more time I spend at Quantum Jump, the more confident I get in delivering that.”
Zoë says as a company, Quantum Jump has been “incredibly supportive” of her throughout her time there. “Ben is such an optimist, which I can’t explain how much that helps with everything you are doing. It’s really positive and inspiring.”
Fellow Senior Account Manager Emma Rogers, was also hired as a new graduate and says she appreciates the diversity of clients and projects.
“No two days are the same for us, it’s whatever the client needs, we mould to how to best service them and offer them a solution that might not be your regular solution but definitely gets the job done.”
For more information visit quantumjump.co.nz or find us on LinkedIn.
This article was originally published in the March/April 2023 issue of NZ Marketing. Click here to subscribe.
