Velocity’s next era

We often say to our clients that the thing that made them famous is the thing that is going to hold them back. 

It happens when a client is trying to break out of their category, or expand their offer, or they’ve merged with another company that reframes their brand and they need to reconcile their reputation against their future. 

Well now it’s time for a big ladle of our own medicine. And believe it or not, I’m excited.

Velocity is changing

I’ve been in the room for a lot of Big Moment of Change conversations. And it’s always interesting who becomes protective of the past and who is actively looking to run in a new direction. As a marketer (and an outsider) it’s very easy to accuse the protective ones of indulging in nostalgia and not facing the reality of where a market is headed. 

Having been at Velocity for over a decade I’m looking at the incredible market shifts we’ve faced and continue to face. And now it’s my turn to reconcile nostalgia with evolution. 

When I joined Velocity back in 2012 we had incredible market fit during the content marketing goldrush. We solved the right problem at the right time, and helped hundreds of marketers and brands stand out simply by making stuff with attitude and mojo and craft.

But when Doug published ‘the biggest threat to content marketing is content marketing’ in 2013 (a year into my tenure here), I knew our market fit had an expiry date.

Our industry is (with apologies to Cory Doctorow) seeing the effects of self-imposed Encrapification. Our buyers have withdrawn. Marketing performance is flatlining. AI is disrupting everything. And now, we need to solve a new problem: WTF is a marketing agency partner for in 2025?

I don’t think we can solve that problem with better services alone. I think we need to leverage tech better and make sure it delivers outcomes for you, our clients, who’ve also woken up to a new world. So here’s our answer.

We’re starting a company called Pretzl

We have been working with a few of our Next 15 friends who are also looking to take a new direction to meet the challenges of today. 

So from next year we’re going to be a part of Pretzl, a super group of talent and tech with a mission to redefine and reenergize B2B marketing.

For the past few months, we’ve been building a new business in the pockets of time we can find between our day jobs. And while this is only the first iteration of where we’re going to take this thing, I’m enormously proud of everyone (Velocity folks and our new colleagues) for getting Pretzl off the ground. Take a look:

Check out Pretzl.com — a full-service marketing company built to decode the messiness and complexity of real B2B buying.

We’re taking the best parts of Velocity with us

There’s always a risk when you bring companies together that the special, weird, quirky things disappear in a bid to homogenize everything toward a bland, corporate middle. This is not a consolidation play or a bid to merge for the sake of it. 

If we were going to throw in the towel on great work with personality and mojo I’d throw in the towel and not be writing a post about how good this move is for us (and, hopefully, for you). 

The next era of Velocity is still built on stuff that made us famous: creative mojo, incisive strategy and integrated performance plans. Great people doing great work that will hopefully attract more great clients. 

But we are going about it differently. We’re going to tackle marketing challenges with a process that is enhanced by new data and generative tech. It should help us do a few things: 

1. Better understand audiences, at greater scale, in less time so we can more quickly get to making cool stuff
2. Create the most specifically engaging and valuable brand experiences across the whole customer journey 
3. Finally, well and truly, integrate and connect multiple marketing disciplines into a system of systems that feels transparent and efficient for clients.

What comes next

You’ll see a lot more from us on how Pretzl will deliver value over on our sweet new website. 

And you can drop me a message if you want more information about what this means for you or you just want to ask some nosy questions. I’m good for it. Seriously: let’s talk.

Velocity thrived because our clients were the best and let us hire the best people to do the best work.

Thank you for all the amazing briefs that led to amazing work and even more amazing relationships. We’ll see you in the next phase of our journey.