#Tink25 « We help our customers go further and harness the full potential of digital »

On the occasion of Tink’s 25th anniversary, its founders wanted to revisit the key elements of the agency’s identity over all these years. Today, Michel Couture, Vice-President of Strategy and Digital Planning, looks back at the evolution of Tink’s business model.

An Agile Company That’s No Stranger to Reinvention

Agility is a widely used term these days. Companies are constantly reminded that they must be agile if they want to stand out from the competition. When I look at what we do at Tink, I realize that agility has long been part of our DNA. Without a persistent desire to reinvent itself, Tink probably wouldn’t be celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

Agility: A Fundamental Ingredient in an Ever-Changing Industry

Our industry never stops moving forward, and companies must adapt quickly to a constantly changing environment if they want to remain relevant.

Throughout our history, we’ve often reviewed our business positioning to adapt to new technologies and emerging practices. As a result, we’ve gradually added new expertise to our services. While some agencies prefer to specialize in one area of the digital field, Tink has taken the opposite path and integrated a variety of expertise so that we can guide our clients through all spheres of the digital world (strategy, creation, content, production, marketing, etc.).

Data science and customer intelligence come to mind. A decade ago, digital experts were making little use of customer data. We anticipated that data would become an important asset for companies and equipped ourselves with this expertise in order to offer our clients an additional service.

An Innovative, Yet Lucid Approach

Over the years, we’ve always approached digital services in a very businesslike manner, never losing sight of the potential return on investment. A digital project must first and foremost bring value to a company and its clients. Each of the solutions we deploy must be relevant and sustainable.

Tink has operated on this philosophy since the day it was founded. Back in 1995, the company was already striving to help businesses leverage new technologies to increase efficiency and create value. The words may have changed a bit since then, but the mission remains the same.

Of course, over the last 25 years, we haven’t hesitated to adopt new digital technologies as they’ve become available. We are often at the vanguard of innovation. That said, we avoid promoting overly experimental or flashy projects, which tend to be short-lived. We’re more cautious, initially observing the impact and spread of a new technology on the market.

Take augmented reality, for example. While we’ve heard for years that this technology will enrich the customer experience, it remains difficult these days to find applications that offer our clients a real return on investment.

Client-Centred Strategy

At Tink, we don’t look for projects, but for clients, an important nuance in my opinion. Whether working with a small or large company, we put all our energy into becoming a long-term digital partner. We help our clients go further and take advantage of the full potential of digital technology. This business strategy has helped us establish lasting relationships with major Quebec brands. Many have chosen us and been loyal clients for 5, 10, 15, and even 20 years.

Even during the pandemic, most of our clients continued to use our services. Some have even doubled their efforts in recent months to increase their online presence. As a result, our growth is at nearly 10 percent since the beginning of the year.

Obviously, more work and planning is needed when looking at the long term. Since the beginning, we’ve had to adapt and reinvent ourselves to continue guiding our clients in their digital pursuits. This approach is much more rewarding and motivating than a short-term vision.

A Loyal Team

While agility has made Tink one of the most important digital agencies in Quebec, we must not forget that our employees, one of my greatest sources of pride as an executive and shareholder, are also part of the equation. After all, at Tink, value is based not on software or hardware, but on brainware.

Despite many comings and goings over the past quarter century, which is quite normal for any company, we have a solid core group. Many of our employees have 12, 15, 18, sometimes even 20-plus years of seniority.

In addition to being loyal, our employees are true experts in the digital field. We have a superb team of strategists, designers, digital marketing performance experts, developers, integrators, and data specialists, among others. Like Tink, they’ve have never hesitated to continually reinvent themselves as technology and the market have evolved. I’m proud that we’ve been able to bring together so much expertise within the company.

Agile Crisis Management

Internally, we react to problems of all kinds with speed and agility. Last March, for instance, when most companies had to switch to telework, we already had the IT infrastructure in place for a smooth transition to working remotely.

We already had technological tools in place to facilitate virtual conversations and meetings. We use innovative and proven solutions, such as virtual collaborative walls and co-creation tools, that allow us to work in the same space. As a result, while our employees and clients may be working from home, they can still collaborate as if they were in the office.

In short, while agility may be a problem for some agencies, Tink is definitely not one of them. On the contrary, agility is what motivates us to improve, day after day, whether internally with our employees or externally with our clients. And we’ll continue to do just that for at least the next 25 years!