Best Startup
In a nutshell, Adopstar helps publishers, agencies and brands to master the complexities of today’s advertising technologies to enable them to get maximum value from their ad spend. We also have a new media operations division, which takes care of everything from traditional marketing campaigns, creative elements and copywriting to Google Ad campaigns, social media, SEO and website design and development. Using Shopify, we also create beautiful websites that convert browsers to buyers and drive our clients’ businesses into a more profitable future.
Our values include: Hard work, flexibility, reliability, customer-focus, teamwork, good communication, respect, a welcoming ambience, fun, being staff-orientated, trustworthiness and being charitable.
Our mission is: To be an innovative and fun international business that is client orientated and rewards and supports its staff, while encouraging development and making a meaningful contribution to society.
Tell us about yourself?
My husband Paul started the company in 2010 and I’ve been involved with Adopstar ever since. I started out by taking care of the admin and accounting side of the business, while continuing to pursue my career as a lettings manager. After 15 years in the letting business, I decided to change my career path and follow my passion – which had, by this time, become Adopstar. I took over as MD in 2015, which freed Paul up to focus on the technical side of the business while I managed the team and took care of recruitment and other behind-the-scenes tasks.
If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?
As a working mum, I’d advise myself never to feel guilty and remind myself that everything I do is to create a better future for my children and a greater community for them to live in. I’d also advise myself to follow my instincts and trust myself.
What problem does your business solve?
Many companies struggle to know how best to utilise their advertising and marketing resources – and this is quite natural, because marketing and advertising are not their speciality. Adopstar solves a problem that many companies have – not knowing how best to reach their target market. By being on the cutting edge of every part of the advertising and marketing world, we create marketing and advertising strategies that make a difference to our clients’ bottom line.
We also provide career opportunities within the ad operations and media operations fields. We give talented young people in our area an opportunity to enjoy a fulfilling career without having to give up the family-orientated and friendly way of life that Cullompton offers.
What is the inspiration behind your business?
Our business is inspired by the ongoing developments in advertising and technology. New advertising and marketing tools and platforms become available all the time and since we are passionate about these fields, we are driven to be the first to know about new developments, and the first to imagine new ways that our clients can use them to reach their target markets. We set out to make the initially daunting world of algorithms, platforms, ad stacks, server migrations and strategies simple and accessible.
What is your magic sauce?
Our magic sauce is our people – we’re a family business and it shows. Those who have joined our team over the years have done so because they share our passion for technology, advertising and marketing. For us, our work isn’t just a job – everything we do stems from genuine passion for what we do and a desire to know as much as possible about advertising and marketing. Simply put, our magic sauce is that we’re a family of advertising and marketing enthusiasts who live and breathe passion for our work.
What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?
We have big plans for the next five years! Over and above continuing to grow our ad operations offering year on year, we will be embarking on a big drive to push our newly launched media ops department. Over the next three years, we plan to double the size of our company, offering more jobs and apprenticeships to people in our area, allowing us to be a driver of economic growth in the region. We’ll also be embarking on community sponsorship projects to give back to the local community.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?
Every day can bring new challenges in the ad ops industry and this leads to a constant need to keep up to date with the latest developments in the industry. Adopstar continues to adapt as required in the evolving world that is our industry – and we help our client base to keep up to date as well.
Some of the key industry challenges over the past 10 years have included the emergence of ad blockers, the start of the data privacy era with GDPR legislation and the need to adapt to the post-cookie world. Throughout these challenges, Adopstar has remained at the cutting edge of the evolving industry – and that’s where we will stay.
In general terms, the biggest challenges in being an outsourcing company come from clients wanting to manage their marketing and advertising in-house – although we are always here to help in-house agencies in any way that they need. Companies in other countries, which tend to lack our level of expertise and knowledge, offer similar products, which creates extra competition in the market.
How do people get involved/buy into your vision?
We want any business that’s in need of an advertising, marketing or communications strategy to get in touch with us. Our ultimate goal is to expand our company by helping your company to grow and reach its maximum potential. We are based in Cullompton, Devon, but work with clients around the world.
