If you’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting or working with our sibling Co-founders Aaron Edwards and Samantha Edwards, you’ll know that they’re refreshingly honest, open and candid about the business. This year has seen was one of the biggest years yet for The Charles in both clients and team sizes. We cornered them in the conference room last week to get the low down on all things ‘Charlesian’ and the growth of the business.

Q: TELL US ABOUT THE EXPANSION OF SERVICES THIS YEAR

AARON: “We started offering Media services in 2017 based on a client request for us to handle organic AND paid content.” says Aaron Edwards, CEO “Our media service offerings grew organically based on our client business needs, fast forward to today and we’re Media AOR for Hard Rock Hotels, Alpha Industries and Gurney’s Resorts…pretty wild when you think about how far we’ve come in just 2 years.”

Q: WHY DO YOU THINK MEDIA SERVICES HAVE TAKEN OFF AT THE CHARLES

SAMANTHA: “There are probably a multitude of reasons but one of the primary drivers so far has been the added value of data informed strategy and creative, in addition to clients being able to come through the door and get the whole kit and kaboodle in one go. We actually love those kind of projects because you can start to really make a difference with the creative if you have the data and insights.”

AARON: “Yeah to Sam’s point, reporting and insights have been some of our most popular requests this year. As a self-confessed numbers nerd – I get pretty excited about the data pulls AND the performance reports. I’m not sure if the team get as jazzed as I do about it – but it’s fascinating to see where a brand really is vs where they perceive themselves to be. It’s even more fascinating when you start to apply those insights to the creative and then see how that funnels through to engagement.”

 

Q: WHAT’S NEXT?

AARON: “I definitely feel like we hurtled towards the end of year!”
SAMANTHA: “It was like the rollercoaster of the decade – why!??!”
Both laughing.
AARON: “We picked up speed in August and by October it was breakneck, white-knuckle all the way.”
Both laughing again.
AARON: “But seriously, we learned so much this year…the addition of robust data and analytical reporting was much needed as it validated a lot of the thinking and strategic vision we already had for ourselves and clients. Things just became a lot clearer.”

SAMANTHA: “True…when we started looping the creative teams into the strategic and data portions of projects and making it a part of the process, everything became clearer to everyone. Wait…we haven’t answered the question though…What’s next? For me, I’m really looking forward to more creative strategy and content projects this year. Keeping the momentum from some of the killer campaigns we did this year…Erno, Alpha, Aveda, Gurney’s, D’ussé, Waterline, JDS, Cartier, Omega etc…wow that was a lot. We did a TONNE of content!!”

AARON: What’s Next? I’ll say what I always say…more data, more performance, I’m hoping to get away from the desk a lot more in 2020, more conferences, meetings, seeing more of what’s out there, learning more…basically more.”