Parallax Spotlight: Director Lawrence Dudley
We’ve been putting our staff under the spotlight over the past few months to give a true insight to working at a digital agency in Leeds. This week we introduce Parallax Director, Lawrence Dudley to give an insight to running a digital agency.
Hi Lawrence, kick us off with a bit about your job and what you get up to at Parallax.
My role is quite varied – I’ve always worked in digital marketing, specifically creating and managing web projects and have been exposed to all angles of a project’s lifecycle through from conception, design, code and testing so I tend to dip in and out of different tasks every day.
On the whole though my role involves managing client projects. I’ve got quite a few clients that I get to work with almost every day which is brilliant.
Being able to look at a web project and do small bits of code and design myself rather than having to refer absolutely everything off to a designer or a developer saves the rest of the team time as I’m not having to pull them off what they’re working on all the time.
When we get new projects in, I try and focus on achieving the best return on investment based on the technologies that are mature enough to be put into production at that point in time. With new things coming out every day you need to be really on the ball in terms of knowing what’s technically possible.
Like Andy you’re one of the founders of Parallax (formerly Snapshot Media). How does it feel to have built up the business from scratch to where it is today?
It’s a great feeling – I guess it’s a little bit like having your own little family. Having said that I suppose it’s not so little anymore!
Running a business is really hard work and it’s definitely not for everyone but it’s incredibly rewarding. Creating jobs and seeing the people who work with us enjoy being at work and producing brilliant work is what drives me.
What were you doing before you become a Director of (then) Snapshot Media?
The question to ask is probably more along the lines of “what wasn’t I doing”. I remember being 16 and working at my local computer repair shop and whilst working there, I wrote a quick part-tracking web application that gave each computer an ID and a barcode for tracking purposes. I suppose in many ways that was my first exposure to digital media and marketing.
I freelanced as a web designer/photographer for a few years and spent quite a long time in Dubai working with clients in the exhibition design industry amongst others.
One of the clients I worked with in Dubai, my first proper freelance client, we’re currently building a new website for which is pretty cool. They’ve essentially been my client for 7 years which means a lot to me.
I also spent some time working on an alternate reality game for McDonalds for the Beijing Olympics which was amazing. China’s a great place – we were filming on the Great Wall of China as the sun came up. Seeing the sun come up on the Great Wall is a very special moment.
James, one of my co-directors at Parallax, worked with me on some very exciting digital signage software before we started Parallax and the experience we gained from that is very much still valid and with us today. That’s why we run British Airways’ advertising screens at Heathrow.
What is the best part of being your own boss?
Being able to create somewhere that people actually want to work. I’ve had staff say to me that going to work doesn’t really feel like going to work and that they look forward to it.
Enriching people’s lives in more ways than just money is awesome.
Which projects or pieces of work for clients personally stand out for you since the company formed back in 2009?
I’ve always personally been fascinated in the idea of bridging the digital world with the real world. So much of the work that we do never really physically exists outside the realm of the Internet so I rarely get to point at something and say “we did that”.
We worked on an iPhone app for City Car Club which let you unlock the doors of their cars from your phone. That was amazing.
We’re always pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in terms of digital and it’s great when something you pull off comes across to people as “magic”.
Do you see any big changes to the way agencies will approach digital marketing going into 2014?
I think 2014 is about moving focus from the crowd to the individual. Campaigns will get smarter, more aware of their environment and who’s looking at them.
Things like new Bluetooth Low-Energy technologies open up situational awareness possibilities for apps, personalising experiences based on location context and we’re really excited about what this makes possible.
On the web, SEO has changed a lot in the last few years and the focus now is entirely on creating brilliant content that people actually care about, rather than fiddling numbers and code to try and trick Google. It’s a lot more fun dreaming up great ideas than tweaking backlinks and I think that people who don’t recognise that SEO has changed dramatically in that regard will struggle.
Finally, what you be doing if you weren’t a Director at Parallax?
Tricky question. I’d probably be a pilot. I’ve always loved flying.
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Got a question for Lawrence about directing a digital agency or SEO and digital marketing? Let us know in the comments below or send us a tweet.