Steak, the U.K ’S media agency of the year, announces U.S. launch
French Connection, Myla and Funkysexycool named as first U.S. clients
New York, 10th March 2008. Following phenomenal growth in the UK, Steak, the UK’s ‘ Interactive Media Agency of the Year,'[1] with billings of approximately $50 million in 2007, today announces its US launch, naming as its first clients the fashion brand French Connection, the luxury lingerie brand Myla and the global mobile-based community FunkySexyCool. Steak’s impressive growth has been guided by its board, which includes advertising and media experts such as Mother’s Matt Clark, Financial Director and Partner; Robert Campbell, who founded Rainey Kelly Campbell Rolfe, was Creative Director and Vice Chairman of Y&R Europe, and Executive Creative Director and Vice Chairman of McCann Erickson; and Steak’s Chairman, Seb Bishop, founder of Espotting and ex-creative at Publicis and Rainey Kelly.
Steak is the search-led digital agency, offering search engine marketing (both search engine optimization and pay per click advertising), online reputation management, mobile search, digital media planning and buying, affiliate marketing and digital creative. Established in 2005, Steak's origins lie in search marketing. Steak’s management team were founding members of Espotting, the company that pioneered search marketing in Europe in 2000, providing paid listings[2] to Yahoo! Europe, Lycos Europe and Ask, before being sold in a deal that valued the company at $186 million.
“Over the last three years Steak has grown from strength to strength in the UK, being named ‘Media Agency of the Year’ following new business wins such as British Gas, John Lewis and Time Out. Our billings in 2007 were approximately $50 million and we’ve experienced average year-on-year growth of 275%,” commented Oliver Bishop, CEO, Steak. “Having secured venture capital funding from Beringea, we’re continuing our growth by expanding into both America and Australia. We feel the time is right to bring the Steak philosophy to the US.”
Commenting on Steak’s expansion into the US, Jennifer Roebuck, Head of E-commerce at French Connection said: “We’re delighted to be one of Steak’s first clients in the US. Steak has a fantastic collaborative approach with clients – they are a partner in every sense of the word.” Steak’s philosophy is based on:
- Using the Intelligence of Search: Steak believes that the foundation of a brand's marketing and communications should be based on what people are searching for and how they search. Steak’s mission is to bring the intelligence of search to all marketing communications – both online and offline and from media to creative.
- Bringing Creativity to Search: Steak believes that there is an art as well as a science to search.
- Being Technology Agnostic: Steak does not think that clients should be tied to an agency’s search and online advertising technology. Steak works with all technology providers to give clients the best solution for them.
- Acting with Restless Minds: Steak is an advocate of change for a better way. Steak embraces innovations, changes in how people use digital media and constantly thinks about how that affects brands.
Oliver Bishop, Steak’s CEO, has re-located from London to launch Steak in the US and has appointed Chrysi Philalithes as Launch Managing Director. A digital media and advertising authority, Chrysi has served on the board of Steak for the last two years, was a founding member of Espotting and most recently, VP Global Marketing & Communications at MIVA, holding posts in their New York, London and Madrid offices. Prior to joining Espotting, she worked at a number of advertising agencies including WCRS, one of the UK’s leading creative agencies. Chrysi has been recognized by the UK national newspaper, The Guardian, as one of the “50 Women to Watch,” by Management Today as one of their “35 Women under 35” and by the UK advertising industry’s trade magazine, Campaign, as a “Face to Watch.” Chrysi was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and holds an MBA from Imperial College, University of London.
Steak has pro-actively hired the best of the best from the US market. Industry expert and columnist Noah Elkin has joined as Vice President of Corporate Strategy, a position he previously held at iCrossing. At iCrossing, Noah helped build the company's social media practice and authored a highly regarded series of studies on search, interactive, mobile and social media marketing. A Fulbright scholar with a PhD from Rutgers, Noah’s previous posts include senior analyst at eMarketer and director of distributed workforce at About.com. Rick Dalton joins Steak as Director of Paid Search from Didit where he was part of the senior management team and served as Account Director responsible for managing budgets north of $25 million.
Speaking on why they appointed Steak, FunkySexyCool, another US launch client, added: “Being able to work with the same agency across three key English speaking markets was one of the reasons we chose to work with Steak,” commented Russell Craig, Director of Marketing. “Add to that their approach, their attitude and their expertise, our choice became even easier.”
Steak is a member of the IAB, SEMPO and the AAAA. Steak’s New York office is in SoHo. Vegetarians are welcome.
[1]Interactive Marketing and Advertising Awards, 2007.
[2]Paid listings are also referred to as Sponsored Links, Sponsored Listings and Pay Per Click (PPC) Ads.
