Infuz | A Digital Creative Agency

Jason Fiehler

Later this year, Infuz turns ten years old. You’ve weathered the storm through the dot-com bubble and bust, and also again with the recent economic recession. What have you learned over the past decade – highs and lows – and what to you attribute to the success and resilience of Infuz?

In the ten years we’ve been doing this, I’ve seen the all-time highs and lows of this industry, the dot-com business model, and the way we market to consumers digitally – so far anyway. I can proudly say we’re still here, and in all reality, stronger than ever.

I can’t attribute our success and ability to weather the storm to just one thing, though. Obviously, the talent we’ve grown and continue to nurture has given us an advantage in many ways. Even when times were tough, we didn’t compromise the work that went out the door, and more often than not, pushed ourselves to take it even further during those times, understanding the bleak reality of other agencies closing their doors around us. It’s those challenging times that really kept us all together and helped shape what we would eventually become.

But the other side of the coin, in my opinion, is our capacity to understand the ideas of change and evolution; and to not fight it, but rather work with it, improve it, and build upon it. One analogy I make is as consumers, over the past ten years, we’ve supported the shift from VHS to DVD to Blu-Ray disc as if second nature. Sure we moaned and groaned during the changes over having to buy new gadgets and feathers were ruffled, but we ultimately moved with it because if not, we would be left behind in a world of defunct mediums. Why should it be any different when we’re talking about agencies, specifically those heavily involved with technology and the capabilities of interactive? Although evolution seemed natural to us, multiple times over the past ten years, many small shops and large agencies did not make the shift. Many held on to the traditional way of marketing to consumers in the digital realm, as if they were clutching to their VHS tape, saying, “this has worked before, and it will continue to work over time”. Just like the VCR that played those tapes, many of these agencies are now obsolete and long forgotten.

In the time you’ve been working with brands and consumers in the interactive space, a change has occurred where the consumers are now leading and influencing brands – increasingly affecting their directions and decisions – whereas in all other forms of traditional marketing, it’s nearly always been the opposite. What does this say about the consumers of today and the future, and what can brands and marketers continue to learn from this?

For decades, brands and consumers followed a very traditional model of advertising in which they projected their product or idea, and the consumer then accepted or rejected it. Historically, this was the end result, as simple as that: yes or no. Today, though, we live in a very different world. Consumers now influence advertisers in every conceivable way. What consumers have been able to do is harness the power, ultimately influencing not only the products they buy, but the way those products are marketed to them. Although there are a lot of variables that come into play when identifying the reason for this shakeup; I think the biggest one is the availability of free-flowing information; social media, specifically. Whereas twenty years ago you bought the blender from the manufacturer you had come to trust, or at least had a sense of familiarity with, now you can read actual user reviews on Amazon, watch a product demo on YouTube, and even check for the most competitive price available online and in-store with Froogle. It’s the information that buyers have that has educated them to be smarter and more efficient consumers. All of this information supports the idea that the consumers have finally taken the reigns and are actively directing brands, marketers, and other consumers as well.

I think there is a lot we can learn from this, but the one thing I see most brands struggling with is the idea of allowing the consumers to hold the power key. The tide has already turned, it’s now a matter of working with it, supporting it, and allowing it to grow; rather than fighting it in the never-ending struggle over power and direction. Our philosophy supports the idea of consumer experiences and creating a level of interaction between brands and their audiences that take it to that next level. Rather than decide how consumers should connect with brands, we examine what they expect, enjoy, and anticipate moving forward. We’re not intimidated by the power shift or disruption of how “things used to be”. Instead, we move forward with the way things are, and remain in the business of causing that next shift in the way things will soon become.

Infuz is a very tight-knit group of people, often feeling more like a family than a traditional “workforce” per se. How do you manage to keep the collectiveness of everyone together?

The easy answer here is that with size comes a sense of disenchantment amongst a team. The idea that keeping four brothers banded together will always be easier than eight. I don’t think, however, that’s the reason we do so well together here. I mean, we’ve grown considerably over the past ten years and I feel our team is more together now than ever before. The success of Infuz, as a collective of people working together day in and day out, comes from the excitement everyone brings to the table. We overstep the traditional boundaries of being only co-workers with pride – becoming friends, allies, and a second family in many ways. It’s this, coupled with the sense of community, and pride in the work we produce, that really has created a level of camaraderie here that I’d put up against anywhere else, both inside and out of the interactive world.