The year 2021 is behind us, so it’s a great time to reflect and make a summary how far we’ve come. That’s why we asked Mateusz Zabierowski, CEO at Admind, what the last year was like for our company and what challenges are waiting for us in 2022. Enjoy reading!
What was 2021 like for Admind?
Mateusz: It was a really successful year and I’m satisfied with it. To start with the most important issues, we paid more attention to relationships and emotions as a company. We were better able to focus on how we work together and how we feel. We made better use of the circumstances created by the pandemic and worked more effectively in a hybrid model.
I’m certainly pleased with the development of customer partnerships and with the growth of our teams. Economically, we are close to the plan we set for ourselves last January. The company has reached 29 million PLN in revenue, and this is a result that I’m satisfied with.
I’m glad about the implementation level of our strategy. We have better and better delivery. We feel our values more and more followed in our daily work. We’ve created another dedicated team for our client. Our next goal of 20% in revenue growth – is close to being met (we don’t have the final score yet). We also achieved some industry awards: Creativity International Awards, Transform Awards (x2), Golden Pin Award (x2), Red Dot Awards, and Good Design Award (x2). We are working to develop our strategic competencies. Moreover, we’ve applied for B Corp Certificate and are developing our skills in conscious branding. Great progress is also being made by Academia, which is our internal education unit. Many of the targets we set ourselves in our 2021-2023 strategy are already well ahead after the first year.
How would you compare 2021 to the previous year?
Mateusz: Certainly, 2021 was more stable. We have learned to better understand the opportunities created by the pandemic-induced paradigm shift. In 2020, we were more reactive. Now we are deliberate and analytical. Our actions are driven more by the guidelines of strategy than by referring to specific situations. The pandemic took everyone in the world by surprise. I think we did well in 2020, whereas some of the effects, for example, of the closure of all of us or the social and professional changes were felt more in 2021. We’ve taken several actions that have helped us as a people. Then, we’ve taken better care of ourselves. We’ve introduced, among other things, psychological help, yoga classes, and mentoring programs. But most of all, we’ve talked to each other more. All this has given us a better understanding of where we are heading, how we feel about it, and what we as a company are all about.
I’m also happy about the involvement of Admind in various social projects. We have come to understand even better that, as a company, we function in the great ecosystem of this world. We do not live only for ourselves, but we depend on other individuals and can help them.
What was the social impact of Admind in the last year?
Mateusz: As in past years, we allowed our employees to select charities to receive our company’s donations. In this way, we supported a foundation Fundacja Ocalenie and Fundacja Chlebem i Solą that helps refugees, Niebieska Linia – a foundation that helps minors suffering from psychological violence, Fundacja DKMS whose mission is to fight blood cancer, Kampania Przeciw Homofobii – a foundation against homophobia, Federacja Znak Równości – association of foundations and associations supporting the LGBT+ community, Miłość Nie Wyklucza – an organisation working to bring marriage equality to same-sex couples and to build the LGBT+ community in Poland, and Filmon Festival – the film festival for people with disabilities. We also worked to promote diversity and inclusion by organising, for example, a webinar with Marie van Driessche: Inclusive design: designing for deaf people helps everyone.
Internally, we announced a lot of initiatives for our employees: Bike April, Vegan May, Pride June, Less Plastic July, and Employee Safety August. By communicating this outwardly, we drew the attention of the Admind community to the need for behavioral change on environmental or minority issues. We have also made many improvements for the benefit of employees. Admind not only provided employees with an adequate number of days off, maternity leave, health and pension contributions. We have also expanded our benefits system to include life insurance, multisport cards, medical packages, free yoga and English lessons, two free lunches per week in the office, and a mental health helpline (online psychological support). We wanted our employees to be able to benefit from the help of a therapist during this difficult time.
A valuable highlight of 2021 was the Culture Book. I think working on it has shown us all what a talented and diverse group we are. We’ve created something that has been noticed outside and is still very popular. We want to promote our values and our approach to branding, design and the world we live in.
Additionally, 2021 brought us new clients. I’m glad that we’ve stabilised our management at a very high level and strengthened our leadership team. It’s a positive change from 2020.
Can you mention any event, project, or initiative that has been particularly memorable for you?
Mateusz: When looking at the long term – it was certainly B Corp certification. We submitted the documents in November and started working on it in March. We’ve done a great job at becoming a better company. B Corp is an association of conscious businesses that use best practices in collaboration and corporate brand governance. They set the bar high in the areas of how companies treat their employees, their impact on the climate and how they should work, or what suppliers they should have. Such companies monitor and prove what part of their strategy goes towards the common good, towards sustainability. When applying to B Corp, we scored 10% higher than the entry threshold. Now we are keeping our fingers crossed and waiting a few months for certification. I’m optimistic about this. At this moment, only 4 companies from Poland have achieved B Corp status.
Another great event was the launch of our new website, which we worked on for almost a year. We’re really proud of it because it shows who we are and what we do. The website is a very sensitive tool that makes our work easier. It’s also highly appreciated by our corporate environment. Congratulations to all those involved in its creation.
I really like our thought leadership – our webinars, and our internal training program called Master Division. We’ll definitely invest more in this direction. It gives us and our followers access to unique knowledge and expertise, plus it allows the incredibly talented people at Admind to bring their expertise to the outside world.
In 2021, it was great to celebrate the fifth birthday of our Amsterdam office, which was in early November, and the third birthday of our Odessa office in July. We would also be celebrating the Bangkok office’s birthday if it weren’t for the pandemic, which our friends in Thailand are dealing with very bravely in the midst of a prolonged, hard lockdown. Last year confirmed that our investment in international growth has been a critical step in Admind’s development that has created lasting value.
I’m also pleased to see the growth of the Admind Power Partners network. Here I would like, first of all, to greet Fabricca, our partners from Macedonia whom we have been working with for more than 3 years. I also want to say thank you to the many other companies and freelancers who have decided to participate with us in this amazing branding adventure.
Did Admind meet the business goals set at the beginning of the year? What are you most satisfied with?
Mateusz: Year after year, we have improved our productivity, customer service, and above all customer satisfaction, as measured by an NPS. The NPS score of 70 is gratifying and encourages us to continue our work. Moreover, we managed to combine business with a positive impact on the outside world. We did a review of our internal initiatives to make them as efficient as possible and to have the greatest possible impact in the areas that are important to us. I’m happy with our continuing work on the mergers and acquisitions of Fortune Global 500 companies. It’s a strategically important area for us. Our experts are present at the largest transactions of this kind in the world, which is very exciting.
Certainly, another reason to be excited is the continuation of the long-term relationships we have with our clients. I am also delighted to have won the Transform Awards, as they are one of the most important awards in the world in the branding industry. We received two such statues in London this year.
We’re also proud to have welcomed a lot of new talent to Admind in 2021. In a company like ours that relies on expertise, every new person with experience is important. We’ve worked hard to strengthen our recruitment. There are some particularly talented people working at Admind, and I’ll honestly say that we are a truly elite organisation. On one hand, we set the bar high and on the other, we are open to anyone who can add value to our work (check out our careers page).
I’m pleased that we’re competitive in the market and, in addition to the growth opportunities and value that Admind brings, we’re able to respond to the financial requirements of employees. In 2021 we started testing different bonus systems. I see great value in this and we‘ll be moving in this direction. I’m also happy with the internship programme. This is something we will continue in the new year.
What are your expectations from 2022?
Mateusz: There is a lot of work ahead of us. We’re only just establishing our international position. We need to put effort into further developing our competencies. Gaining new knowledge and experience is a top priority along with strengthening our value proposition, by developing services, leadership, and our internal organization to better understand our customers’ needs. We need to continuously deliver on our brand promises, taking full responsibility for brand consistency, excellence in customer experience, extreme ownership, operational readiness, and being socially impactful. Furthermore, we need to establish a multidimensional dialogue with our partners, the market, technology, and trends. We are at the beginning of our journey to become a leading international agency.
What challenges are waiting for us?
Mateusz: As for the challenges in 2022, we are all moving more and more into virtual reality and this process will be with us permanently. Therefore, it will be important to create user experiences, and this will be a very important direction for our company. Firstly, Admind must be aware of this, skillfully work with it, and co-create this new reality. I think a good example is the virtual events that we organise together with our partners. We also create 3D designs, and we are getting stronger in digital, so this direction will give us a lot of joy.
The second issue is remote education. I experienced this myself this year, studying at the University of Oxford. The study was supposed to be entirely on-site, but due to the pandemic, it had to take place 75% remotely. I thought a lot about how challenging it would be to move the master-student relationship from the real to the virtual world. I also thought about the way the classes are conducted, the transfer of knowledge, the dynamics of group work, and the exchange of experience. The same goes for a simple conversation in the corridor after class. I think there’s a lot of scope for action here. I see many advantages, but internally I feel a certain discomfort. In my youth, in addition to spending time playing with my friends, I spent hundreds of hours in libraries and that world is now a thing of the past.
For Admind itself, this is a positive change. We’re reaching different corners of the world with our knowledge, experience, and message. We are establishing many relationships that would have been difficult to create in the old perspective. The branding and design industry doesn’t use the full potential of data analysis yet. In my opinion, it will be another important direction in which Admind will be heading. We want to understand data better, use it more effectively, and gain advantages from it.
This year will certainly see our social impact getting stronger and stronger. We are working on a strategy in this area for the coming years, both because of the development of our conscious branding service and because of how the world is changing. I see great potential in it. Supporting sustainable business through branding is the future of our industry.
Another thing that is very interesting from a global perspective is the paradigm shift regarding money. We are going through another revolution that will affect financial, monetary, currency, and banking systems. Understanding what this is all about and taking advantage of the opportunities it presents will be crucial to the success of any business.
Do you predict any major changes in the industry itself?
When looking at it from the perspective of the last few decades, we notice that there is a dominant design in branding. It’s a kind of status quo. We have the common tools, the common technology, we work in a certain way that is familiar to us and our customers. However, the S-curves of technological development shows that at some point there will be a breakthrough, and I think this is not far in the future as far as our industry is concerned. Whether this will be under the umbrella of artificial intelligence, platforms, or dedicated systems remains to be seen. I believe Admind will be one of the participants in this shift. I wish we put more work into innovating and co-creating our industry through technology, data analysis, and understanding social trends. This is our ambition for the coming years. The dominant design will eventually have to face disruptive technology and I believe our company will be part of that change in the future.
What do you wish for yourself and Admind this year?
Mateusz: I would like first of all to thank Krzysztof Langer for another year of inspiring adventure together. I thank the board for their great work, trust, persistent problem solving, and enjoying success together. Thank you to everyone at Admind for proving every day how much we can achieve together and for the constant desire to grow.
Personally, I would like to wish everyone a lot of balance. Remember to pay attention to the important areas in life: independence, family, finances, professional life, personal development, entertainment and relaxation, friends and relatives, health and wellbeing, standard of living and spirituality. My wish for all of us is that in these areas we find something that gives us satisfaction and joy. That we seek balance, remember that we are complex beings with our own feelings and desires. And that is the beautiful thing about us humans.
