Growth Without Boundaries: Interview with Adapt MD, Jon Greenhalgh

welocalize January 29, 2021

Welocalize’s digital marketing agency Adapt Worldwide and digital media buying agency SearchStar recently announced they will operate as one Welocalize brand under the new-look specialist agency, Adapt.

In this Welocalize interview, Jon Greenhalgh (‘Green-Hal-Ch’), Managing Director at Adapt, shares his wisdom on why bringing together Welocalize’s digital marketing expertise under one agency brings so much opportunity for ambitious global brands.

Jon has been immersed in digital media and marketing for over 10 years and is responsible for boosting the digital performance of many leading global brands. He joined SearchStar and Adapt Worldwide in September 2020 and has been focused on aligning the two brands into a single agency capable of delivering the new tagline, #growthwithoutboundaries.

Congratulations on the new-look Adapt! Tell us about Adapt and what’s changed.

By bringing together Welocalize’s two digital marketing brands, Adapt Worldwide and SearchStar, we’ve created a distinct single identity, ready to take advantage of the truly multilingual and multi-market nature of Welocalize. We’ve assembled teams and focused our core service offerings, specifically aligned to meet the digital marketing needs of clients. The idea behind the new-look Adapt is that will be totally focused on being highly connected and agile to meet the expectations of ambitious brands, helping them launch and grow internationally – bolstering domestic and international market ROI.

It’s not just an opportunity for our clients – this move also brings together highly talented digital teams and creates opportunities for individuals in their careers.

(Adapt are hiring! Click here to see the latest exciting career opportunities.)

How does Adapt fit into Welocalize?

For a long time, one of Welocalize’s strategic objectives has been to expand the footprint into digital marketing. We spotted a trend a few years ago that there was a convergence between a client’s localization, translation, and marketing requirements. Localization and marketing managers are focused on generating content, but they’re increasingly being tasked to promote multilingual content into wider markets and locales. Plus, success is now measured with performance KPIs and ROI, not just translation quality and turnaround times.

Adapt is totally focused on digital marketing and we align with Welocalize to provide clients with one provider – to localize and promote content and campaigns into international markets. Localization, translation, digital content strategy, ad campaigns, product launches, SEO, social media, websites – they all have to run together, seamlessly. You can’t have multiple companies otherwise it gets messy and complicated.

What does Adapt do brilliantly?

We have fantastic depth in our four core areas of expertise – Digital Analytics / Conversion / Paid Media and SEO. The focus for 2021 is really stretching the boundaries of the capabilities in those areas.

How has the digital marketing landscape changed since the 2020 pandemic?

The pandemic has taken away opportunity for some – it’s been relentless not just in term of global health but has also devastated businesses and whole industries. But at the same time, the changes have also created real opportunity. We’ve seen a steady increase in e-commerce. As businesses have adapted, we’re seeing new and emerging ways to engage with new customers and drive global digital marketing strategy.

Why are you passionate about what Adapt does?

On a personal level, my background and career has been focused on delivering high quality digital marketing for brands. I started my career in a large network agency that worked with some of the largest direct response brands in the UK. Since then, I’ve spotted the advantages of independents and am incredibly excited to be a part of this journey at Welocalize. We are delivering unique services to brands which allow me to pride myself and the team on delivering the best digital marketing services possible.

Welocalize and Adapt are uniquely positioned to capitalize on emerging trends and opportunities – to support brands going into new markets through high quality, global digital marketing. Adapt has enough depth to deliver genuine quality content with the strength of Welocalize – allowing Adapt to hold a unique position in the market. If you take SEO content as an example, at the most basic level, we can create and analyze high performing SEO content at short notice in every single market in the world. Some agencies do offer a multilingual element supported by a freelancer network, but it’s nowhere near the scale and opportunity that Welocalize can offer.

You’re part of global team that develops content in 525 language pairs. Do you speak any languages other than English?

I’ve been fortunate to travel well throughout my life and form some incredible friendships along the way. I have spent a lot of time in France and Greece so you could say I speak those… although you didn’t ask how fluent I am!

Finally, what’s your number one tip for ambitious brands wanting to reach new international audiences?

Our brand tag line is #growthwithoutboundaries and Adapt is passionate about being able to support clients to push performance boundaries domestically and across multiple global markets.

To make that happen strategic planning for multiple markets is critical. Brands have to understand the markets they’re stepping into, logistically and culturally. Detailed planning can really dictate success or failure. Spend time on your strategy – don’t jump in until you have a deep understanding of your target market. Also, make sure whoever you are working with has genuine depth in those markets, rather than relying on small networks of individuals.

Interview by Louise Law, Welocalize Global Communications Manager

Adapt is focused on digital performance marketing, analytics, and consultancy for growth-minded brands. #growthwithoutboundaries