What really inspires Kinasers, how did they start out, and what are they working on now? In the first of a new series of interviews with leaders in the agency, we sat down with Toby to find out. . .

Toby joined Kinase in 2018 as a graduate with a degree in Politics. While studying he had helped a friend open and manage a bar in Brixton. Watching YouTube videos, he taught himself the basics of Facebook ads, and started spending his own money to get people through the door. This is what got him interested in PPC.

Since joining Kinase, he has worked across small and large clients, lead gen and ecommerce, managed service and consultancy. Most of that time has been spent working with Watches of Switzerland group. Starting off, he worked on the US branch of the account, growing it from Text only to full funnel. He activated a comprehensive online branding campaign called Anytime Anywhere which was shortlisted for the EMEA Premier Partner Awards.

Now overseeing UK activity, the focus is on improving measurement of customer journeys that are long and complex, both online and offline. This involves modelling the impact of channels that don’t track store visits to get a better understanding of our impact, and measuring customer journeys between products and brands, in order to feed this information back into the Watches of Switzerland Group business.

What’s something you wish you knew about PPC when you first started?

Happy clients are better than the best possible results. Often what we think is the best possible strategy won’t align with the client’s aims - and that needs a change in mindset. There’s always going to be a bigger picture.

Also you have to learn to stop being a perfectionist and find where it’s appropriate to be rough and ready - and quick. That’s something I had to learn and pass on to my team. Get it done and then refine it later.

What kind of projects do you like working on? What keeps you interested in all this stuff?

Creativity. One of the most enjoyable things is finding ways around the limitations in what Google allows us to do. You have to be really creative to get the best out of Google.

For example, using Data Studio to export Performance Max Asset Group performance when that wasn’t possible in the interface. Using Cost-Per-View and Views to work out how much spend is going through YouTube on Pmax when the interface only surfaces some of the data you would ideally want to analyse.

It’s this problem-solving that keeps me interested: finding effective ways to use the tools in order to get the best out of them.

What’s changed in PPC since you first started? What’s changed about the role & day-to-day work?

Automation of course - it’s much less manual now. Having knowledge of how it worked manually used to be important and now that’s changed. It’s now about knowing how best to leverage the automation.

Do we really have more time to focus more on the strategy thanks to automation - or is it just a different set of levers we have to pull?

It’s different levers - and there are still difficult problems to solve.

For example, the PPC medium has become more visual, more creative - but at the same time we have to be creative to gain insights on what creative works and what doesn’t. They don’t give you that as standard but it's crucial in order to enable the automation to work as well as we want it to. So, for example, we need a work-around to get a metric so we can see what assets aren’t working.

Before automation we would be making adjustments to keywords, and modifier adjustments. It was maybe more time consuming, but easier.

Is PPC a science or an art? What makes a person just starting out in their career a good fit for working in PPC?

Well, it’s both. Is there an art to experimentation and problem solving? Yes there is. The core of it is being inquisitive. Wanting to pick things apart and see how they work is common to both art and science.

The other thing people need is perseverance, especially when working on big projects and tests which take time and resources. You have to hold your nerve during test periods. Not to give up if it looks like you are not getting the result you expect immediately.

In this age of increased automation and clients turning to in-house teams, what value does a good agency still bring?

The main benefit for the client is a wider view - especially if they are coming from being run by an in-house team or an agency that doesn’t communicate well.

Agencies can bring perspective - from what’s going on in other accounts, other verticals. For example, if you are testing on a lot of accounts, and sharing that knowledge across teams, clients are not going in blind when they try new things - that may or may not be suitable.

“Agencies bring perspective - sharing knowledge.”

This is also when tools like the Kinase Maturity Framework comes in. We can give clients a point of comparison. Using our insight across clients, we can help benchmark them in different “pillars” versus comparable businesses. For example, how well are they using creative, how is their tracking and attribution set up, and what supplementary tech are they using.

What’s the best thing about Kinase?

It comes down to how well we work in teams. Our team has been very close. People have been here a long time - it’s good to have consistent people around that you know will support you.

We’ve always tried to foster a culture of “no stupid questions.” There are no stupid questions - just stupid mistakes because you didn’t ask the questions!

I know that at other companies it can be that when questions are asked, that raises a red flag about the person asking.

Allowing yourself to be vulnerable fosters a culture of better learning. It’s likely there are other people who don’t know, so we are all learning together. Having people feel comfortable and relaxed means they are all productive.

What do you do when you are not working?

Darts! I’ve got into that recently. I play in the city of london league. It’s fun. I am also a Scout Leader Working with young people and teaching them skills. You learn a lot about how to be patient. It’s lots of fun and rewarding. I really enjoy seeing how young people grow up. Teenagers I see in the street, I remember them when they were 7 years old and learning.