It’s Blacksoc’s 7th birthday!

Blacksoc social media coordinator, Simi, asked the two founders, Marika Brose and Geoffrey Gilbert, some pointed questions about the agency’s genesis, future plans, and their responses to some ~uhm~ personal issues.

Blacksoc is an award-winning virtual digital marketing agency working with clients in 48+ countries worldwide in collaboration with a talented team of domain experts located now across 5 continents – North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and most recently Africa.  Originally founded in Toronto in 2014, today the agency operates out of hubs New York, Toronto and Lisbon.

Screenshot of our website 2015

1. Why did you start Blacksoc?

MB: Geoff came to me one day with the idea of joining forces and creating a digital marketing agency.  At the time, we both had separate projects – me as a fashion designer and exec having worked with top global brands such as Armani, Chloe and Prada; Geoff with his own startup in the influencer arena and a huge background with tech giants like Double Click (now Google) and Sales Force.  Because my background is specialized in design and branding strategy, while Geoff’s is heavy in technology and client management, I thought it was worth giving it a shot (though I secretly thought he was crazy).

GG: The idea came to me one day when I was having a coffee and reminiscing about my former corporate days where I partnered with major leading agencies, many of which were expensive and inefficient. I thought, ‘what if we created a sort of anti-agency where clients paid reasonable prices for top shelf services?’ I had already bought the domain for BlackSOC (Black Strategic Operations Center), which I had been using to test various concepts and services over the years. And since I knew Marika loves the color black, it just made sense: let’s try this.

2. Who was your first customer?

MB: A couples therapist based in Ireland.  We redesigned her brand, website and some social marketing assets.  It was a very personal and introspective project.  We still work with her to this day!

GG: We were approached by a petrochemicals and advanced materials startup company based in California.  They needed a full 360 service: new branding, website, pitch deck to investors, and a series of marketing materials.  We were able to bring them to market which helped them to secure $50 million in seed investment.

3. What is a recent achievement you are most proud of?

MB: Diversity & inclusion have been important to us since the beginning, especially as it relates to female representation in such a male-oriented industry.  We quickly achieved a 50/50 gender ratio within our talent pool (the C-level team was already checked off) — of course we have a zero gender pay gap.  Our next goal was then to better represent emerging economies within our network of freelancers.  Working already with talent in North & South America, Europe, the Middle East and South East Asia, our most recent target was Africa where we were recently able to source talent that meet our standards and round out of network of domain experts.

GG: The technologically expert team that we have built.  It never ceases to amaze me how our small but talented crew can pull off anything – even the seemingly impossible.

4. What are your goals for the next 12 months?

MB: We are currently exploring various proprietary software development projects.  That’s about all I can say about that, for now 🙂

GG: Giving back to our planet has been on our minds now for the last few years.  At least, doing so in a significant way.  So we are really excited to be launching EarthSOC by 2022. It will be a campaign with the aim to improve the planet’s recovery from the climate crisis by introducing some new products and services into the market that will ~hopefully~ make a real difference.

5. What advice would you give to someone starting a digital marketing agency?

MB: Be prepared to put in the long hours at the beginning. And research research research. Nothing is easy about starting up an agency, digital or otherwise. Just because there are all of these tools and platforms available today, it doesn’t mean you can just push a green button and everything will magically happen.

GG: Never give up.

6. What do you like to do to wind down?

MB: I think it’s no secret that I like wine…. But I also like to read, paint and  travel as much as possible.

GG: Cooking is my thing.  I am constantly trying new dishes.  I especially love the plating aspect.

7. What’s your spirit animal?

MB: Dolphin.

GG: Sheep dog.

A social media post from 2017