Investment in AI sets paid media agency Tag Digital on way to record turnover amid resurgence in global events

ONE of the UK’s fastest-growing paid media advertising agencies, Tag Digital, has achieved record revenue fuelled by investment in AI technology, major contract renewals, and work on some of the biggest events in North America and the Middle East.

The firm’s turnover for the financial year just ended will be around £8.5M, and it forecasts 35 per cent growth for this coming year.

The Glasgow-based agency, founded by husband-and-wife team Craig and Laura Davidson in May 2011, has helped ‘supercharge’ industry-leading international events including LEAP, FEAST and CityScape KSA in Saudi Arabia, as well as IDEX in Abu Dhabi, reMind in North America, CPHI Barcelona & Brand Licensing Europe in the past 18 months.

Events Industry Council (EIC) statistics showed the global business event industry recovered to more than 80% pre-pandemic levels last year, with that resurgence helping Tag Digital’s revenues to grow by almost 40% YOY – with the business growing its team to more than 40 to meet demand.

Early investment in AI tech, spearheaded by CTO Alex Velinov, has been key to Tag Digital’s impressive growth, with Velinov’s expertise even seeing him become one of the foremost figures in the UK’s AI movement.

Tag Digital, which supports more than 2,000 events per year across more than 50 countries, has also been buoyed by the renewal of a major global contract Informa’s Market and Connect divisions that will see the businesses work together until 2026. It’s the third time Informa has renewed a contract with Tag Digital since 2017.

Laura Davidson said: “Our success internationally has played a huge part in the growth, and our early investment in AI technology to support our paid advertising activity has been a key driver, particularly in relation to product diversification.

“Innovation has always been essential to what we do and Alex and the team’s work to harness AI’s potential has supported the significant growth of our global client roster.

“It’s not about AI replacing the work of people, but rather enhancing it, and it’s that smart, innovative use of the tech that has been crucial.

“We’re excited about what’s possible now we’ve diversified our product offerings and the events world is thriving again.”

Velinov, CTO, joined Tag Digital in 2015 as a pay-per-click (PPC) specialist and has recently become one of the foremost commentators on AI in the UK on LinkedIn.

He explained how history has taught us that new technology enables people, rather than replaces them, and AI is no exception.

He said: “Historically, when new tech appeared, this led to the disappearance of some jobs, but exponential growth of new jobs in general. So there is no reason to think something different is going to happen now.

“People are still crucial for digital marketing for a variety of reasons. They have free will, they can decide to do something or not. AI doesn’t have will. AI can solve some problems but will never come up with an idea about the problem. At least not yet.

“People can apply context better, layering different sources and types of information for making decisions. AI can’t still do that.

“People are needed because people are doing business with people. There is a small chance people will start doing business with machines. Machines can do some of the heavy lifting in every business, but to make business you still need interactions on a human level.

“People are still better at creating strategies compared to machines, as they can apply abstract thinking in problem solving.”

The Scotland-founded paid advertising agency specialises in campaigns for global clients in the events sector from Miami to the Middle East. It was dealt a devastating blow by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, which wiped out more than 95 per cent of its revenue as hundreds of events were cancelled within months.

However, as the world changed, so did the business, with founders Craig and Laura quickly pivoting towards data building and digital sponsorship to support their clients, retain jobs, and grow the business.

In a bid to future proof the business further and ensure Tag Digital continues to provide a world-leading service amid a digital skills gap in the UK, the company launched its Tag Digital Academy – building out a full digital training system to enable them to take on young talent with limited experience and train them to become paid advertising professionals.

Craig said: “Paid advertising moves so quickly that it’s extremely difficult to learn the skills required outside of a business environment. We are perfectly positioned to develop young talent and help to plug major skills gaps in the UK – it’s really difficult to find people in this sector.

“Through the Tag Digital Academy we hope to develop the best digital talent who have all the skills needed to help event organisers around the world navigate the rapidly evolving world of digital advertising to drive revenue and event attendance.”

Tag Digital is also reaping the rewards from pivoting quickly when the pandemic hit, with a number of new services adapted to client requirements including audience extension, data onboarding, and increased programmatic capability – all driving more revenue to the bottom line; and even started a podcast.

Laura added: “Whilst the past three years might not be what we planned for, we have learned so much about ourselves, the team and the business – the fact that we have bounced forward is testament to the resilience of the team and the creative solutions that we put in place in a challenging time. It’s the perfect springboard for Tag Digital’s continued growth.”

To find out more about Tag Digital, visit tagdigital.co.uk