FAQs

By now you've seen some of our work, awards and what our clients have to say. Here are follow up questions we often receive about Marketcolor and our approach.

What is Marketcolor?Are you financial services specialists?Defining content versus ads Why should we choose your agency

What is Marketcolor?

A content agency based in London and Singapore.

But, what does Marketcolor mean?

“Marketcolor” is the collaborative effort to better understand the market, to see color in the marketplace. We all do it. If you read the comments on a news article to see what other people thought of a story, you are seeking market color. Our clients come to us with products and services that they see in black and white. We help bring color to their campaigns through audience targeting, communication, design and technology.

You’re all Brits, why the American spelling of colour?

At the time we launched the agency, Google autocorrected market colour to market color whenever it is searched for because of the number of news articles featuring the American spelling. Who are we to argue with Google?

Are you financial services specialists?

Do you all have a financial background?

Our co-founder Theo started his career in an economics newswire covering money supply, which is not a typical route into financial journalism. He went on to be the investment editor of a stock, etf and options tipping newsletter, again a writing role but not the standard path. After some time breaking down indices and equity derivatives, he was scouted by a Big Four agency to help its clients in private banking and wealth management.

Do you only work with the financial services?

We work across the spectrum. We have a relationship with publishers, fashion houses, children's broadcasters and one of the top universities in the world.

Defining content versus ads

How do you differentiate yourselves from other content marketing agencies?

There are a lot of agencies doing good work across different verticals. A Marketcolor client has experimented with a generalist and sees the added benefits a specialist brings. We don’t have a supermarket client, or social network, or car manufacturer. Our clients are intermediaries, banks, funds and investment product providers. You want to convey a regulated message with the same level of precision that the clients expects of your in-house staff. The "believability" of content is a product of how it is communicated. Our clients want to credibly, understandably and appropriately communicate to their audience. To do this they work/collaborate with an agency that employs CFA and CFP charter holders because we understand the subject matter. We understand the appropriate way to talk to those customers, but also we have an artistic flair. You are not compromising by opting for a financial focused or regulated market-focused agency. We understand what it means to deliver the wow factor. We don't lose that, but we try to add some layers on top.

Can we rely on Marketcolor to deliver our campaign in time?

Marketcolor was launched in 2012 following an agile method. We started creating content for European banks during a European banking crisis, operating at a time and in a manner where every communication had to be precise. The current team is 15 strong. It is made up of designers and developers, but at any given time, the agency grows in size to accommodate trusted freelancers writers, designers, people who work in augmented reality, artificial intelligence, big data, and so on. We are accustomed to working around a tight campaign deadline, and each project is assigned an account manager who is your day-to-day point person.

I build products and buy ads, I don't believe in content

We've heard this before. The power of content marketing is a topic of debate and sometimes our clients would rather we write and design ads than create content. Skeptics of content may not realise that they are already content marketing consumers. We all consume content continuously.

A Marketcolor client is looking for more than a tagline. And they want more than a banner ad. They probably also want more than a written article. Our knowledge becomes more valuable for the client when we build richer, more in-depth experiences.

When was the last time you received a phone call from a salesman? When was the last time you walked into a shop and had a sales assistant walk up to you and try and sell you something? Did you enjoy it? No. The traditional sales process is too abrasive for B2B clients. Content is still advertising, but it's delivered in a way that it feels more impartial. It's more subtle, and it's less likely to trigger the client. A two minute beautifully rendered video that tells you what a product does is more likely to convert than a two-minute phone conversation with a salesperson.

What is winning content in your eyes?

Winning content helps your customer understand your product in a persuasive and professional way. The more sophisticated your product is, the more sophisticated our content has to be. To give a recent example, our client sought to position itself as an expert in ESG – environmental, governance and societal considerations for investment. To achieve this we had to demonstrate in the content that they truly understand ESG with a 48-page report. It took time and investment to research and write, as ESG is an ever-expanding field. We had to bring in our best writers and analysts. And then once their findings were approved by the client, our designers produced the report in a user-friendly way.

Why should we choose your agency

Where do you see the industry going?

The agency business has been disrupted many times, and in many ways, consultancies have moved into agency space. Agencies have moved into the smaller agency space, and small agencies have moved into the freelancer’s and product company’s space. For Marketcolor, our 2020 priority is to add to the diversity of the Singaporean agency space. There, we see a developed market client base all too often relying on emerging market content. The phraseology, the relevant touch points and means of distribution can all evolve. From London, Marketcolor’s number one source of inbound client requests (outside of Frankfurt and New York) has been from financial services companies in Singapore. They tell us that local agencies don’t always offer the subject matter expertise to produce appropriate content.

What is your specialty?

Some agencies shy away from the term explainer. We don't because there are good explainers, many of which are produced by Marketcolor. The explosion of motion graphics has been a mixed bag in terms of quality but a well-executed ninety second explainer is often the shortest journey from cold to warm lead. I think the best satisfaction that you can have as an agency is to add value to our client, their client and the content. We do this with our own key performance indicator checklist called Hoist:

Make the client and the client’s client happy
Create original content the client would not achieve in house
Help identify the client’s most valuable audiences
Maximise the content’s shelf life
Save, and win the client time.

And we've had a lot of praise for our work. We've had a lot of praise for our understanding of financial markets, but just as much, we've got a lot of praise for being a flexible partner and understanding that these companies, even some of the world's well-known companies, can be kind of sporadic internally. They need a partner that will flex when they flex. Because if your inflexible, you are just another drain on their resource to work around. And we always are additive. We always add to the relationship. We never become a source of whenever and we are never a fire that the client has to put out. We're helping the client put out fires.

Why should we hire you?

Our work is a layer cake and we give you the cake and also the layers. What does that mean? If we create a video with a chart, illustration or animated sequence that would look great in a relationship manager’s pitchbook, reach out to our account management team and we’ll share it within the day. We create all of the assets in-house so that you have a licence free relationship with Marketcolor content. It isn’t just a transaction. It's a relationship. And when you want to come back to make an adaptation or an update, we can help you do that. And you will be happy to have a relationship to revisit because it gives you a base to work from. Some of our clients have been working with us for over four years, and they will regularly out of the blue ask for a file, or a graphical asset that we haven't used for two and a half years. But we've indexed everything and we send it to them within the day.

Let's talk

Looking for a partner in London?

Theo is our co-founder, managing director and is always ready to chat. Let's have a chat on Whatsapp, Zoom or you can pop over to our offices in London and Singapore.