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Discover how Launch became a Microsoft Advertising Celebrated Partner

Microsoft Advertising Partner Celebration logo on a blue bubbles background.

Have you ever wondered what makes a Microsoft Advertising Celebrated Partner special? How do they utilise Microsoft Advertising to drive business and reach new customers, or what their company culture and vision looks like? We caught up with Launch, our UK Celebrated Partner from September 2021, to get an inside look at the amazing work that earned them this exclusive title in the first place!

Celebrating our partners is an exclusive benefit of the Microsoft Advertising Partner Program where we highlight the hard work our partners have accomplished throughout the year.

You could be a Celebrated Partner too—apply to enroll in the Microsoft Advertising Partner Program for a chance to become a Celebrated Partner when our next round of nominations opens in September 2022.

Partially open green circle with the word Launch in the middle.

We had the opportunity to interview the Managing Director of Launch, and our September 2021 UK Microsoft Advertising Celebrated Partner, Jaye Cowle.

Q: Tell us a little about Launch—history, current size, audience, and business objectives!

A: “Launch started with me as a one-woman band operating out of a bedroom, helping small businesses grow by harnessing search advertising—all while bringing up two small children! This year sees us celebrate our 10th year, now with 21 in-house paid media experts, and I couldn’t be prouder of our journey.

We’ve diversified our offering to provide a more cohesive approach to paid advertising for ambitious clients. Businesses come to us because they’ve got challenging targets, want to achieve more from their marketing, and get on top of their data. They value our transparent approach and proven track record. Our goal is to leverage our platform expertise to help them grow and get the results that matter to them.”

Q: What is Launch’s vision, mission, or specialisation?

A: “Our mission is to be the happiest paid media agency in the world. It’s an ambitious goal, but Launch has always been about cultivating a great work-life balance. When people are happy in their jobs, they feel valued, are more motivated, and stay with companies longer—but for us, it goes beyond all of that.

There’s more to life than work, but we spend most of our time there. It’s our responsibility as an employer to look after our talented team as best we can, and there are benefits for us as an agency as well as our clients when we do that well!”

Q: What product features offered by Microsoft Advertising do you rely on the most to achieve your vision?

A: “Search is naturally key to our clients. It provides us with extended reach and is an ‘always on’ part of the mix. We also love the Microsoft Audience Network, where we have visibility and control over the search partner websites eligible to serve our ads. We've noticed that sites are added to the list on a regular basis, all with different levels of traffic and performance. This is so important as brand safety continues to be a concern for advertisers—and Microsoft’s extensive partner network means we can keep that in check with ease."

Q: How has Microsoft Advertising been able to help you reach new customers and grow your business?

A: “Microsoft Advertising has become a firm part of the strategy for all our clients and has been especially good in the B2B space when it comes to growing accounts. The import functionality being so straightforward really makes it easy for us to scale clients in a balanced way without having to start from scratch.

We were also delighted to have support from Microsoft Advertising at one of our recent in-person events about data, privacy, and the cookie-less world. The presentation about the Microsoft Audience Network was excellent and really valued by our attendees.”

Q: What impact on your business have you been able to drive with Microsoft Advertising?

A: “Aside from growing accounts, it’s been great to broaden the team’s expertise across more platforms and functionality as Microsoft adds them. Moreover, we run equally well across more than one platform. This makes us a great agency where we really can find the best marketing mix for our clients and get them great results.”

Q: How does Launch embody inclusivity and giving?

A: “We really value everyone’s perspective and experience here at Launch. There are no silly questions, and we recognise ideas can come from anywhere in the business—as long as we create the safe space to do so! We do that with regular anonymous questionnaires, as well as using our quarterly team away days to get together for workshops and training. At those team meet-ups, we also use the time to volunteer for a good cause. Whether it’s litter-picking on the beach or helping out at a sensory garden for young people with visual impairments, it’s so important to carve out time for community.”

Q: How have you adapted to recent changes in consumer trends brought about by COVID-19?

A: “Compassion and flexibility have been key. Those shifting trends meant that ecommerce clients had a lot more opportunity thanks to the spike in time spent online, while naturally other industries like travel really struggled.

That meant we were really dealing with an array of strategies all at once. Most of our clients pulled budgets right back, so we needed to make an impact with a lot less, in a totally unknown market. Others have trusted us to deal with the situation, continue spending and driving brand awareness, which has meant those hard-hit industries like travel and office space have actually been some of our greatest success stories—even going on to pick up an array of awards!”

Q: Has your digital marketing strategy changed since the pandemic?

A: “I think the pandemic changed what we do for our clients and prompted us to diversify by adding complementary services. While paid media is brilliant at driving prospects to businesses, it’s the website that’s responsible for the conversion—so we added conversion rate optimisation. Anxiety around cookie legislation and the need for more advanced, bespoke solutions have seen us find a new data department. All of which has served to make us a better agency and offer our clients our more well-rounded service.”

A picture of Launch’s team and a dog in a living room.

Thank you to Jaye Cowle and the Launch team for showing us how their ambitious and compassionate approach, in combination with Microsoft Advertising, helps customers succeed in a rapidly changing digital marketplace! Don’t miss out any of our other spotlighted partners in Canada, UK, New Zealand, and US as well as upcoming events for partners on every tier.

If you haven’t enrolled in the Microsoft Advertising Partner Program yet, make sure that you apply at microsoftadvertisingpartners.com so you’re eligible for the next round.

If you’re an enrolled partner, stay connected with us and up to speed on all things partner-related by joining the Microsoft Advertising Partner Community on LinkedIn.
 

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