Following the announcement last week (Incubeta Acquires Ecommerce Agency Groundswell link to blog) Mark and Richard spoke to us about the acquisition, and what it means to be part of the Incubeta family.

1. Where did the idea for Groundswell come from?

Groundswell was born from years of client side experience and an understanding that companies need a mixture of skillset, ambition and an ability to move quickly to be successful online.

The market was full of agencies providing great services across media, creative, branding, web development etc. and also consultancies that offered strategic advice, market analysis, blue sky thinking. But they were siloed, and no solution specific to ecommerce, not to mention that most agencies hadn’t been there and done it – so the advice was often theory, rather than practical.

We wanted to create a company that could provide both, a hybrid, offering expert advice and guidance, with an ability to execute and deliver. We created a business from being experts rather than a business serving market demand. The two have now combined and there couldn’t be a better time to be joining Incubeta!

2. What does it mean to be part of the Incubeta family, and how will this acquisition expand growth for Groundswell?

We are thrilled to be joining Incubeta, a company we have worked with for several years and look forward to creating many more successes together. As we got to know each other deeper it became very clear we both had the same drive to deliver value for clients and also create an amazing environment for our teams.

Joining Incubeta enables us to offer an unrivalled service to our clients (both current and new) and allows our great team to continue to grow and develop with lots of opportunity. We are looking forward to bringing our ecommerce expertise to existing clients within Incubeta and see the Groundswell team continuing to expand as we cater for the growing demand in ecommerce.

3. How have you adapted to working remotely & providing solutions for your clients in a virtual environment?

The main thing we focused on early was communication – making sure that while we were unable to meet in person for the foreseeable future, the same standard of service, strategy and direction was being provided remotely.

It was a very quick transition by our team going remote and our level of service didn’t drop, if anything it seemed to help our clients get more value, as meetings felt more structured, focused and outputs were communicated better.

After 1 year of virtual meetings and communication, we’re all looking forward to getting back into an office environment and having in-person meetings again soon. The one thing that will remain is a blend of working from home and office based working which should only continue to help improve people’s work life balance.

4. Here at Incubeta, we’re a people-first company. Our culture is something that we’re really proud of. As a business, what’s important to you when it comes to your company culture?

This was something that we picked up early during the acquisition process which was how similar our business culture is to Incubeta. We are lucky to have the best team in the ecommerce industry here in Ireland and that is the main reason we have done so well as a business in such a short period of time.

Culture in a business starts at the top. Making sure we support our team across all areas and ensuring we work with companies that want to partner with us long term has been at the foundation of Groundswell since we started in 2017.

Ensuring the team has the ability to continue to learn and gain leadership skills is critical to Groundswells expertise. It’s important we remain strict to partner with suitable clients and continue to develop our skills within ecommerce.

5. What’s been your go-to guilty pleasure throughout lockdown and why?

Like all of us, too much time has been spent on Netflix, Prime and Disney+! We both have young families so plenty of Disney movies have been on repeat.

When we do get some downtime from the kids ordering cook at home meals has become a go to. Although we’re very much looking forward to having a baby sitter back and a nice restaurant with a few drinks!

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For more information on the acquisition and what it means for Groundswell, take a look at our latest Incubeta Insider virtual event – Getting to know Groundswell – where Incubeta’s  Managing Director, James Sleaford, sat down with Richard and Mark to have a chat about Groundswell’s history, and joining the Incubeta Family.

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