Once upon a time, when a company was in need of fresh creative, there was only one place to which its people could turn: Google.
The problem with the seemingly all-seeing giant of search, however, is that it lacked the ability to run a vertical search. In other words, Google fell short when it came to searching for specifics and syncing across topicality, like type of agency in a particular city, with a set budget. As a result, internal marketing and advertising teams grew increasingly frustrated, wasting precious time weeding through thousands of mostly fruitless, irrelevant results.
Among the embittered brand specialists were Brian Regienczuk and Joseph Raccuglia, the co-founders of Agency Spotter, a digital marketplace where brands can compare and connect with creative agencies, country-wide, and soon to be world-wide.
“We both suffered the pain point of these searches. You never know if you’re doing a comprehensive search, or even looking in the right places. Or you’re finding it’s the wrong agency, and you’re already halfway through the project and you’ve wasted a lot of money and time,” Raccuglia told BostInno in a conversation.
After touring agencies with an alpha version of what was to become Agency Spotter, Regienczuk and Raccuglia quit their plush industry jobs at Coca-Cola and AMEX, respectively, to commit full-time to their project.
Agency Spotter is designed to meet the needs of both companies on the hunt for new partners, as well as the agencies themselves. “For brands, it takes out the time and frustration, and gives them a lot more confidence that they are making the right decision when they choose an agency and doing their due diligence,” explained Raccuglia. “For agencies, it gives them a permanent promotional presence, where they have access to a captivated and engaged audience.”
Picking up where Google falls off, the site offers users an advanced search, which whittles down results according to agency type (design, marketing, digital, strategic, and/or analytics), location, agency size and budget. Further, it allows for the results to be filtered by industry and audience expertise as well as agency network.
“We want to help you in a search you already have intent on and know what you need, but we also want to help you discover agencies you may have never found,” said Raccuglia.
On the other side of the table, agencies receive access to free, albeit basic, customizable profiles, where they can add their own descriptions, case studies and past content to showcase their specialties. To show up in more search results, add more examples, receive analytics and access leads, agencies can sign up for a premium account, which starts at $1,518 a year.
“Most small- to medium-sized agencies rely on referrals to get new clients. For them to prospect and find new customers, they need to go outside the office, which isn’t really efficient,” said Raccuglia. “Why not have a permanent booth in an exposition hall, for example? That’s how we see ourselves.”
One of the standout features of the site is its powerful use of LinkedIn. When a user signs into Agency Spotter through LinkedIn, the site gains access to his or her professional network so that when an agency is pulled up, the user can see which of his or her business acquaintances work at, or have connections to, a specific firm.
“It speeds up the word-of-mouth validation process,” posits Raccuglia. “Typically when you find an agency, the only thing you can learn about them is what they say. I would spend months trying to figure out who I could ask about an agency’s work.”
In the summer of 2012, Agency Spotter was in private beta, with approximately 40 agencies and businesses on the platform. In the fall of that year, the startup transitioned into a public beta, and has since warmly welcomed hundreds of companies, 26 of which are from the Fortune 500, onto the platform. At the start, Raccuglia and Regienczuk manually garnered profiles, but the company has recently automatized the profile generating process, causing the number to explode.
Agency Spotter is also creating city-specific sites to further the company’s mission of matchmaking agencies with brands in-need. This summer, Raccuglia went out to Minneapolis – historically one of the top three agency destinations in the country – and biked to and from 15 different agencies around the city.
“They loved the whole idea, many of the agencies greeted me with towels, water and booze,” said Raccuglia, laughing.
The result: An intimate profile of the advertising scene in Minneapolis, ideal for companies looking to familiarize themselves with the ecosystem. Agency Spotter hopes to roll out similar blogs for hubs around the U.S., including Boston.
After bootstrapping for the first eight months, Regienczuk and Raccuglia raised a small, yet valuable, friends and family round of funding. Raccuglia noted that the startup is currently exploring options to fuel their expansion. In addition to the two founders, the startup employs two other developers, along with two marketing interns.
