Put people first and success will follow
We were already having a good year at S3 Advertising, having recruited six new members of staff including board members Andrew Jones and Greg Milsom, so to win three prizes at the recent RAR Awards as the UK’s best agency (with under 40 staff) in the Advertising, Media Buying and Creative & Innovation categories was something special.
Matt Jones is chief executive officer of S3 Advertising
These awards are genuinely important to us as they further cement our vision to be the national advertising agency in Wales. As S3 continues to go from strength to strength, it’s important for us to recognise that we wouldn’t be in the position we are without implementing a motto that has been with us since day one – people first!
When you strive and commit yourself to achieving national recognition, you have to set yourself targets that some may think are unrealistic. Five years ago from an attic in Barry, I set my sights on owning a nationally-recognised advertising agency based in Wales. In this context, our success at the RAR Awards is about so much more than just industry recognition; it is the ultimate reflection of Team S3’s collective talent, expertise and hard work that is so pivotal in producing the highest quality work that has got us where we are today.
With ‘ambitious’ as one of our core values, rest assured that we won’t be resting on our laurels; we feast on continued success and, that said, we’re already setting goals for next year’s RAR Awards. Indeed, our core values – to be ‘bold’, ‘intelligent’, ‘ambitious’, ‘professional’ – and everyone’s willingness to engage in these values is key to S3’s growth.
These latest awards also coincide with the announcement that S3 has become the latest tenant to collect keys for Cardiff’s new flagship office scheme, One Central Square.
All of S3’s employees will relocate to the new 6,600 sq ft offices which are four times bigger than our current premises and will feature quirky, innovative and unique design characteristics which will set them apart from traditional offices.
The proposed bespoke features will include eye catching and unusual communal areas, state of the art client facing zones, and a range of recreational facilities intended to stimulate creativity, encourage team building and reduce stress. More than just a statement of intent, the vision behind this new development is to create a positive working environment that our staff can be proud to call their office; the prospect of coming to work every day will be something they relish.
Having a happy, dynamic team that are centric to our values allows us to create, deliver, retain and win business; the inevitable by-product of which being long-term success. However, we will never let achievements such as awards get in the way of the fact that it’s people – our staff and partners alike – who truly drive us in everything we do.
That will never change.
Matt Jones is chief executive officer at S3 Advertising