Wildfire’s ‘Why?’

At Wildfire, we do a lot of messaging and positioning work in order to build a solid foundation for the integrated communications campaigns that we generate for clients.For some reason, applying these models, principles, methods and theories to our own agency has always been a bit of a challenge – something I’ve heard other creative agencies admit to as well.Almost a year ago, Wildfire launched a new website and, as such, we revised our service and value proposition and also carried out a branding prism to help us ‘come back to centre’, reviewing our heritage, behaviour and ambitions for the agency. This exercise was challenging, but before long we had (more or less!) reached a consensus about the elements that should form part of our USPs.In addition, I revisited Simon Sinek’s Ted talk, ‘How great leaders inspire action’ and thought again about Wildfire’s ‘why?’. The easy (or should I say cheesy!) way to answer this is that everyone at Wildfire is passionate about technology… but even writing that makes my toes curl.I think the reason that an individual gets out of bed every morning to go to work, chooses one job over another, or stays employed with the same organisation for 10 or more years is hugely personal – but there must be a common ‘why?’ that relates to the individuals who make up the group, company or whichever organised rabble you find yourself to be a member of.The truth of it then (which isn’t easy to put down in a tagline) is that everyone at Wildfire appears to have a common belief that technology makes life better, both now and for the future. How we live, work and play is inextricably affected by technology and how the tech industry is evolving. Wildfire folks want to be a part of that, supporting the innovation and growth of the industry by building stronger reputations, relationships and commercial success for the companies we represent.Subsequent to my mini private planning session, I discovered that a colleague of mine Alex Warren has written a book, Technoutopia, which at the highest level suggests that a natural optimism exists for technology, despite the fact not all technological change and development is blindingly positive. After all, technology could be blamed for the loss of jobs, cyber-bulling and the death of the high street among other things.With this mind, I think what it actually comes down to is that, collectively, my colleagues and I are passionate about the possibilities that technology offers and what it is capable of, having already been inspired by what technology has already achieved. Being involved in helping a technology company to transform from being a ‘best kept secret’ to a market leader, or witnessing how technology impacts people in ‘life or death’ situations, through to how efficiently they can operate in their daily lives, is just – cool!And so, we keep working, continue meeting new people with new technologies, keep helping existing customers to break new ground and enter new markets and, most importantly, we continue to be inspired. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?