Creative Talk with Robert Moritz from krunch.co

krunch.co are a leading data, content, technology agency who are working hard for their clients - telling great stories. We talk to Robert Moritz, Head of Content, on how they keep their ideas fresh and storytelling compelling while achieving results.

Tell us a little bit about krunch.co and how it came to be?

krunch.co started out three years ago as an independent digital transformation agency with a singular mission: To help businesses transform and thrive - simplifying an increasingly complex world. Data is the core of everything we do which helps us deliver innovative and measurable (always measurable!) solutions for future-thinking clients. With a focus on combining technology, data and content, we started out as a team of five and now we’re up to 30+ with more joining every month.

What brought you to New Zealand?

Honestly, it was the opportunity to help startup krunch.co. I’m from Los Angeles (by way of New York by way of Los Angeles) and was working at a bunch of large agencies as an Editorial and Creative Director tasked with driving brand content strategy and creation for Toyota USA and other clients. But then my LinkedIn mailbox pinged with an offer to help launch, and grow, a new type of digital agency that was going to use data-driven tech to develop and deliver innovative creative content. I couldn’t pass it up. I guess I was intrigued by the idea of merging science + art to help tell new kinds of brand stories. That and the dream of living on an island with a beach in the front yard, bush in the back, and plenty of tasty dumpling options nearby.

Clients want to see results – how do you ensure this is being achieved.

From the very beginning of krunch.co we’ve viewed campaigns like trees falling in a forest: Our conviction is that if you can’t measure the progress then, in effect, it doesn’t have a quantifiable impact. We’re big on developing ideas with data at the core that can deliver attributable results.

Do you think the value of data is still under-rated?

Actually, I think it’s both under AND over-rated. On one hand, it’s finally possible to develop highly-targeted content with personalised messaging relevant to a unique person and moment in time. The marketing world has only begun to scratch the surface of the possibilities this brings to our creative tool chest. That said, “data” has overtaken “disrupt” as the magical thinking, secret sauce marketing buzzword of the moment. There’s this idea that it’s all very black and white, that numbers can’t lie and all you have to do is get out of the way and let big data drive your decision-making. But the truth is, data is just another tool that’s only as effective as your ability to analyse/interpret it accurately and then think creatively about how it can guide your marketing strategy and execution.

Are there any new / emerging web technologies that have you excited?

Virtual and Augmented Reality are obviously the big things to watch. There’s just unlimited possibilities for brands to create truly immersive storytelling experiences. Up until now, however, mass adoption has been limited by the ability to get VR and AR into the social feeds where true consumer discovery happens.

It’s one thing to launch an app and try to get early adopters to play around with it. The real opportunity, however, is with things like WebVR and Facebook’s Spark AR Studio which are making it so much easier to integrate interactive VR and AR experiences into the platforms that people are already natively using to view and share content. It’s a real game-changer.

What’s a typical day at krunch.co?

We’re a team with a definite challenger mentality, so there’s always something new waiting to tackle each day. Everyone is a fan of the “Getting Sh*t Done!” school of productivity so we keep meetings to an absolute minimum in favour of quick, casual standup-style huddles with key team members. We’re also an extremely global bunch — we have people hailing everywhere from Poland, Indonesia, Hungary, India and the Philippines to the UK, Oz, and, of course, the States — so lunch is always a pretty interesting affair with lots of international foodie opportunities for sharing.

What advice would you give to graduates looking to venture into the digital, content media, social arena?

There are plenty of “thought leaders” who like to think about big ideas but don’t have practical experience getting their hands dirty with the execution. Similarly, there’s a lot of skilled writers and designers who can execute on defined tactical work but don’t have the market insight, curiosity or knowledge to help develop an idea or campaign as part of a larger strategy. Position yourself as a strategic thinker who can actually make stuff and you’ll write your own ticket.

www.krunch.co