Independent agency, Bigeye, explain how they use unique consumer data for competitive advantage, growing their presence and reputation.

“We pride ourselves in being authentic and being able to provide the best service to our clients. GWI helps us drive that."

Reaching the right people, in the right place, at the right time: It’s a promise Florida-based, independent advertising agency, Bigeye, makes to its clients. 

Because they’ve worked with everyone from emerging startups to established brands, going up against up against larger agencies is business as usual. 

But amid growing competition, Bigeye needed to gain better recognition - in a way that would preserve their longevity and ensure the agency’s continued success.  

The challenge 

Standing out when new opportunities arose.

Between them, Liliana Cerquozzi and Karen Hidalgo manage account management, new business opportunities and media planning. 

Both dealt with accounts of all sizes, but found it challenging when smaller agencies like themselves were passed up by large clients, favoring bigger or more-longstanding competitors.

Forging a unique and reputable identity was crucial. 

Because of this, there was a huge push to upskill the team to become best-in-class experts in data; pulling it, analyzing it, and acting on it, says Karen. 

“During initial meetings with prospects, we could see that if they weren’t convinced we ‘knew’ their audience, we risked losing them.” 

Whatever it took, Bigeye was adamant about proving size was no limiting factor when it came to the quality of work. 

In Liliana’s words, “we had to learn how to articulate an audience in greater detail, and bring this to life in our pitches. That meant we could build out media plans always knowing we could link our strategy back to that same persona.” 

To existing clients, Bigeye was already known for its consumer-driven approach, but Karen and Liliana agreed it was in the agency’s best interest to continue developing their research capabilities and explore what being truly consumer-centric meant. 

The action

Presenting complex audience personas.

It’s common practice to come across prospects who consider themselves well-versed on their audience, but who in reality are looking in the wrong direction, or just not closely enough.

“Our future clients have to understand why we’re spending their money on X, Y and Z; why we’re talking to these people, but not those people,” says Liliana.

But getting the level of granularity they needed wasn’t always easy.

“It was really targeting those small, local audiences where we struggled the most,'' Liliana explains. “We were looking for a tool that could give us the insights we needed to understand audiences in depth – including ones that were a bit more niche.'' 

Take Jacob, for example – who is representative of a particular group of millennials they want to target.

“We like to paint a picture of who this person could be,'' says Liliana. “Then, we build out our creatives and digital strategies to fit that framework. We're constantly asking our team: are we still talking to Jacob? Is our message still going to resonate with him?”

Karen says Bigeye is still learning how much GWI survey data is available, which helps them to get even closer to their target personas. 

“As we keep using the platform, we keep unlocking more. From a competitive standpoint, I think the way we build out personas makes us a little bit different. Clients don’t get this level of detail everywhere they go. It's not just ‘singles’, or ‘kids’ - it's a lot more granular than that.”

The team understands data is currency - and bargaining power - which is why audience profiling has become a winning part of their pitching strategy, helping Bigeye stand out in the process.

The result

Growing the agency's presence and reputation.

Media moves fast, and Karen and Liliana feel it’s their responsibility to remain ahead of the curve and help educate people. 

Recognizing that granular data is key to their success in scoring new business opportunities, Karen says Bigeye plans to expand its insights team because it wants to keep developing its expertise as a data-driven agency. 

 “We’ve always looked closely at media consumption, but we’re convinced it’s the psychographic data – where other agencies are sometimes lacking – that’s really starting to set us apart.” 

Bigeye is keen to keep replicating this approach - using consumer motivations, attitudes and perceptions - as a key selling point in convincing prospects their campaigns will work. 

And it’s growing as a result: “Not just our headcount, but also in the way we conduct audience research. We can optimize our campaigns with greater precision. We’re learning and making advances all the time.”

Being data-savvy in today’s world is an edge that’s helped Bigeye become more confident. When prospects and clients ask questions, they can find the answers - faster than ever before. 

“Reaching the right people, in the right place at the right time, is just guesswork if you’re not consumer-focused”, says. Liliana. “We use GWI to help us secure new business, because it lets the prospect know they can invest their time and money into our agency and we're going to drive results.”

“The data-driven approach we’ve developed sets us up for success from the very beginning. Not only is the quality of work improving - so is our presence, and our reputation.”

Leading with solid research first, and creative ideas second, is the approach that works for Bigeye, and the approach they’ll continue to use.