Former Mediacom exec Rob Moore launches Volcano, a marketing agency for SMEs
Former general manager of Mediacom’s Melbourne office, Rob Moore, has launched Volcano, a marketing consultancy for the 2.3m local small to medium businesses that employ almost 70% of Australians, and contribute more than half of the country’s GDP, yet “are mostly ignored by agencies”.
Moore told Mumbrella the new agency aims to “serve communities, not corporations”, but it still “play[s] in all of the spaces you’d expect us to – media, PPC [pay-per-click], social, email, CRM [customer relationship management], CRO [conversion rate optimisation], e-commerce – and we do it well”.
Moore’s Volcano is an agency for SMEs
The venture is a new start for Moore, after his Mediacom role was made redundant in May last year. Four months ago, the agency entered into a settlement with the former executive, who commenced legal proceedings following his departure. He argued that the redundancy was not genuine, but instead a form of discrimination in response to his disclosure of a mental health condition.
Before his two and a half year stint at the Group M agency, Moore spent six years at Roadshow Films – including almost five years at deputy director of marketing across Australia and New Zealand – and a further six years at Publicis Groupe media agency, Starcom.
After more than 20 years’ experience both agency and client side, Moore, whose official role is now founder and managing director, said it was the right time to step out on his own.
“Volcano was born of a set of experiences many people can relate to,” he said of the agency, which is already working with clients in the fitness, real estate and retail sectors.
“What I’m doing now isn’t working for me, I want to do something for myself, I know I can add some value.
“Making that initial commitment to yourself is actually the easy bit, it’s what comes next that’s hard. You have to stare down questions like ‘Am I good enough?’ and ‘What if the work isn’t any good?’ and ‘Where the hell do I start?’ After a period of pretty intense self-reflection I landed the concept for Volcano, knew it was what I wanted to do, and it has been forward momentum from there.”
When devising a brand name, Moore knew what he would avoid: words that exclude vowels, using numbers as though they are letters, and words ending in ‘-ify’.
“I had been playing with ‘Volcano’ for a while and then I discovered a quote from philosopher George Santayana and that was that. Here’s the quote: ‘Nobody ever believes in volcanoes until the lava overtakes them’,” he said.
“This means a few things to me. It’s a metaphor for a world that can have its landscape permanently changed in an instant. It’s a warning about what happens when people get too comfortable or have their blinkers on. But it is also about possibility. There are so many businesses out there that could be super successful but, like a dormant volcano, they are unaware of their own potential.”
Volcano’s sweet spot is “in closing the loop between activation and strategy,” Moore explained. “Because SMEs are heavily focussed on channel performance it tends to dominate the agenda – effectively the tail ends up wagging the dog.”
With Volcano, Moore joins a group of former agency executives who have launched a consultancy in the middle of COVID-19. Mediacom colleagues Mike Deane (ex-chief strategy officer) and Tim Russell officially got Saintsmiths off the ground last month, and former Merkle MD Rebecca Tos started Rebecca Tos Consulting in April.
“Through COVID we took on some pro bono work, which gave us an opportunity to make a meaningful contribution right out of the gate,” Moore said.
“In such tough times for those businesses it is a bit trite to talk about yourself but I will say this: the experience of working with a client, where the impact of your work is so tangible, is hands down the most rewarding experience I’ve had in my career – and that is everything I had hoped to accomplish with Volcano.
“Sure rewards are nice, but what does it count for if it isn’t rewarding?”
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The strategy to target “the 2.3m local small to medium businesses that employ almost 70% of Australians, and contribute more than half of the country’s GDP” is very appealing.
But I find it interesting that per ABS data “At June 30 2019 there were 2,375,753 actively trading businesses in the Australian economy”.
So 97% of all businesses are local small to medium businesses?
Further,
* 55.6% of all businesses are households
* 62.8% of all businesses are non-employing
* 74.5% of all businesses had turnover of less than $200k
I love the strategy and the offer, but I doubt that the size of the market that will engage is not as large as foreseen, and very tight purse strings, meaning that marketing budgets will probably be in the four figures and maybe some in five figures.
That is why agencies don’t engage with them (rather than ‘ignoring’ them), simply because it is not economic at virtually any level.
I wish Rob good luck, and I hope he has factored such sobering facts into his plan.
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well @Stats-Man, there’s a super positive comment ;-)….I do question why you took the time to, 1) find those stats, and 2) share them…no benefit to anyone, anytime, anywhere…..why couldn’t you 1) contain your stats and/or 2) simply wish Rob and the team all the best……negativity at a time that is simply not called for.
All the best Team Volcano for the adventure! I wish you every success!
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A quick Linkedin check would suggest that this is currently a one man band solution – nothing wrong with that at all – but claiming that a single person can :
“play[s] in all of the spaces you’d expect us to – media, PPC [pay-per-click], social, email, CRM [customer relationship management], CRO [conversion rate optimisation], e-commerce – and we do it well”
To any significant degree is frankly ludicrous
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Rob all the best with the venture. You will be a great partner to all SMEs that gain your services. Keep up the good work!
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@not a stats man
I found stats-man’s comments interesting.
Having worked with SME’s I can vouch that there are many people offering them marketing services. The issues anyone who wishes to call SME’s ‘customers’ is time / labour. It can take you as much time to get a canpaign out of the door for a top 100 company as it can for a medium sized company. The top 100 can pay a lot more and pay on time…
The pro’s: Often with SME’s there is less red tape. You liaise with the boss who can make a decision immediately. You can also build true relationships and transform people’s businesses. It can be very rewarding.
Good luck with the venture!
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Smart guy and has a lot to offer the sme segment, who mostly are overlooked. Good luck Rob.
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Dept. of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education: “Small businesses make a significant contribution to the Australian economy, accounting for nearly one-half of private sector industry employment and contributing approximately one third of private sector industry value added in 2010–11.” Deloitte Access Economics: ‘Connected Small Businesses, 2017’; “SMBs make an important contribution to the Australian economy, accounting for over half of private sector economic activity in Australia and over two-thirds of private sector employment.”
Looks like SME is an important and growing sector.
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There is a thing called outsourcing.
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First, let’s wish Rob well with his new venture. Good on him.
Second, who’s to say his strategy of targeting SMBs is not right? It only has to be right for him. Perhaps he hasn’t got ambitions to become the next global media behemoth, and that’s totally ok. Perhaps Rob has other motivations, like taking control of his life, spending more time with his family, not having to answer to other people etc etc.
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I would agree with the Founder – there is a gap to be bridged between strategy and execution, with SME’s the likely candidates who can’t afford three or four agencies to take care of those responsibilities for them.
Solid idea, hope it works for him.
Hi all,
Thanks to everyone that has taken the time to comment, and for the well wishes.
There’s a fair bit of decent observation above but it would be remiss of me to chuck my 2c in:
Big agencies do ignore SMEs, in the main. As Stats-Man says, this is usually an economic decision – and one they are entitled, and usually sensible, to make. Equally, while some SMEs do receive great service from big agency partners it is also not uncommon to hear SMEs referred to as ‘rats and mice’.
When you are independent you can make selective decisions about who you work with and why you work with them. Volcano certainly isn’t planning on converting 2.3M SME clients. I would be very satisfied with a roster of 15-25 clients over the next 18 months because this will allow me to put some real energy into businesses that resonate with me and make a difference in their communities. Frankly, it also leaves me room in my life to focus on other interests like learning new skills (I’ve been learning calculus during lockdown – never know when you might need it) and being an active participant in my kids’ lives.
An interesting name ‘misrepresenting capability’ because I’ve certainly experienced many agency teams that have done just that in pursuit of self-interest. While it’s a bit snide to call Volcano a ‘one man band’, I 100% own the fact that Volcano is a vehicle for my skills and experiences and the value I can add to a client. Am I claiming to do absolutely everything myself? No. Do I have a network of trusted, passionate, and liked minded experts to tap into? Yes.
Frankly, I hadn’t planned to launch Volcano in any kind of official way. I was quite happy to fly under the radar and do my thing. However, I’m extremely grateful for the platform – and kick up the arse – that Mumbrella has given me and I’m really excited for what the future may bring.
Rob
PS – the other great thing about running your own show is that you can call people snide without worrying about getting a call from head office. 🙂
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Is there really a need for another intermediary to outsource execution?
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You mean – the exact same thing agencies of all sizes do when they puff up their capabilities, get the client, and then quietly outsource key parts of the project they said they could deliver…
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So what’s different about this offering?
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