For this month’s MA Member Story we talk to Quentin Weber, Founder of Hamilton-based agency Unbound and member of MA’s Waikato Marketers’ Group.

Quentin is passionate about bringing people together and building a community to share stories and knowledge. He used to run TEDx Ruakura and has followed the Marketing Association since being a marketer. After attending one of MA’s local networking events held at Gallaghers and meeting the organisers, he decided to volunteer his time to support this initiative.

“Marketing in the Waikato can be lonely”

As Quentin mentions, marketing in the Waikato can be lonely so it is a great opportunity to bring people together to share war stories and offer support. The group tries to have an event every quarter with a panel or keynote speaker and with plenty of time for networking so people can meet someone new.

Many marketers in the Waikato are in a department of one. Sometimes, you need people around you to bounce ideas off or even just sense-check things. This is why it is important to build the community. Quentin sees this at work, too, often walking into Unbound’s office and there will be three or four people huddled around a computer trying to work out a solution for a problem a client is facing.

“Hire for skill, train for attitude”

We asked Quentin how he nurtures this collaborative culture at work. His key advice is to hire for attitude and train for skill. Finding people with the right specialist skills can be a challenge outside of the main centres, and he is conscious that it can be hard to provide a full progression framework as a small agency. Quentin tries to provide a place to learn, a fun work environment and decent pay. He also provides a plan for how they can grow in the team and what skills they need to learn. Unbound has had success with getting interns from the university to foster young talent and subsequently hiring them in full time roles. Quentin is also always on the lookout for top talent and was exciting to recently secure a new designer and videographer for this team.

“Challenging for businesses to differentiate themselves”

Unbound has doubled in size in the past three years. It’s been a both challenging and hugely rewarding journey and like any business it’s all ups and downs. Quentin concedes that planning for growth has been difficult, and in addition to the challenges around finding talent, Unbound has also done a lot of soul-searching as to what makes them different from other agencies. It is always challenging for businesses to differentiate themselves and it is no different with Unbound.

More often than not, it is not just one thing that makes a business different but a combination of things, so it is just about tying them together. Unbound is about to launch their new brand positioning. While not a rebrand, it’s about aligning to their brand values, with a new website and marketing messaging. As Quentin puts it, as an agency they have to practice what they preach and try to build as much brand awareness as possible. They invest in marketing and has a PR agency, Brainchild, on retainer.

A lot of Unbound’s work comes from referrals and Quentin proudly says that they must be doing something right as on average clients have been with the agency for close to four years. Clients include both local and national brands, some with an international focus, and they have worked with a few businesses overseas. Their clients come from a range of different sectors such as retail, ecommerce, automotive, B2B and SaaS and include Gallagher, Flex Fitness, Flooring Design, Vertical Horizon, Winger, Solo NZ, Boyd Motorcycles and DTM.

“Building a strong brand as insurance for when times get tough”

Through his work with clients, Quentin understands what is keeping marketers awake at night. He lists some of the key challenges marketers face right now such as getting good data, changes in advertising channels, and building a strong brand as insurance for when times get tough.

Getting good data helps make better marketing decisions. The Unbound team has found lots of clients not getting their data stack configured correctly so the data is wrong or incomplete. There are also changes in advertising channels, e.g. a trend in Google to more AI based channels like Performance Max and Demand Gen. But it is about knowing how to wrangle these channels and optimise them.

Quentin is excited about working with cool brands and help building effective marketing strategies. He has always been passionate about business, listening to lots of podcasts, reading blogs and business books. Business has been in his blood since doing the YES (business) scheme in high school which made him decide to look for a role in sales and marketing. Quentin worked for 5 years at The Radio Network (now NZME), helping local businesses grow. He started doing marketing consulting back in 2011 and started Unbound in 2015 after his then-business partner moved to Christchurch.

“Making marketing a part of the business conversation”

He says that joining the MA is about supporting Marketing in New Zealand and making it part of the business conversation. He also recommends that all businesses should have a coach as another way to get good advice. He works with an agency coach which has been amazing.

You can meet Quentin at the Waikato Marketers’ Group’s next event – or at Unbound’s office in Alexandra Street in Hamilton.

Source: Quentin Weber, Founder, Unbound, 11 June 2024