Republix CEO proposes an agency experience for brand customers that’s not a holding company
Although many brands are more CX-focused than ever, their own experience as customers often leaves much to be desired.
Marketers will complain that they are working with too many different partners, for instance, or that their tech stack is increasingly disjointed and cumbersome.
While the usual next step is to reduce the number of agency partners and applications, an organization called Republix is proposing an alternative approach.
Based in Toronto, Republix formally launched last month by announcing the acquisition of half a dozen other firms. These included tech-focused agencies such as Arcane, eRational Marketing, Integrity, Linked IntoLeads, Media Mechanics, and Tag.
Instead of the usual experience of having to work with a holding company that may have complex or bureaucratic processes, Republix said each of its companies will act independently and will be treated as “Citizens.” That means they will collaborate as required and layer in different solutions or expertise based on clients’ needs.
As a result, brands will be able to pick and choose from what Republix co-founder and CEO Thomas Le Maguer called its “Growth As A Service” platform.
“What was really bothering me (with the traditional approach) was that nobody was being accountable for what they were promising,” Le Maguer told 360 Magazine. “The idea became, what if we could come at this from an experience standpoint of ‘How do you want to grow, what’s important for you, and how much do you want to grow?’”
Le Maguer said choosing the agencies for this hub and spoke model was based on whether a prospective “Citizen” had strong leadership and complementary offerings from a product or service perspective. Although COVID-19 has limited the degree to which people work in offices, the location of firms that make up Republix was also a factor.
“We knew would like to be in a two hour radius of a specific hub, whether that was Toronto, L.A. or New York,” he said. “We would like, when we can, to allow the teams to come together in a single location to serendipitously bump into each other and create as Citizens of Republix.”
Republix is coming to the marketing community at a time when many brands have put their agency of record relationships up for review or have tried to window down their mix of applications. Le Maguer said business development will be led by the individual agencies, but as new opportunities emerge they can turn to other “Citizens” who may be able to add more capabilities to a bid or RFP.
While the ultimate customer in this case is usually the CMO within larger brands, Le Maguer said Republix isn’t solely focused on large enterprise.
“Within the small and medium-sized business or startup sectors we’re seeing a lot of CEOs, founders, owner operators, or even VPs of sales,” he said. “There’s this merging of marketing and sales, where they’re part of one system. These are the folks that are coming to us.”
