2023

Towards the end of 2022, our team was laid off from a boutique creative agency. We decided to pull together and take advantage of our super-talented people to start something of our own. It wasn’t easy, especially in the current economic climate, but we knew once you find a team like this, you don’t break it up. Out of the darkness, BANG! Sheer Havoc was born, a creative marketing agency and collective of talented creatives.

So, just like that, we were off, getting the proper paperwork together, building our website, gathering an amazing group of professionals in our creative collective, and finding new business. We quickly scored some small business clients and worked hard to get them the best work possible with limited budgets and timeframes. Through the ups and downs, we delivered solid work we were proud of and helped our clients meet their goals.

Now, here we are at the end of 2023, and I wanted to share some of our insights from the past year along with our outlook for 2024. 

What worked in 2023

Our Team

We have such a smart, talented, and dedicated team of people who really care about the work we are doing and the people we work with. We have so much experience baked into this company, many of us have been in the industry for over 20 years. We have met all the challenges we have faced and quickly pivoted when needed to stay on track.

Growth

Even though it was a year of dried-up marketing budgets, challenges in the Tech sector, and post-pandemic exhaustion, we pushed through and have been successful this year. No one is going home with big bonuses, but we kept things running smoothly while growing our client list. 

Creative Success

Personally, I have found the last year a very fruitful one on the creative side. When you work at an agency, you can end up on one client for years, resulting in repetitive work and a lack of variety. Starting Sheer Havoc has allowed me to engage with many different brands in all types of industries, resulting in a very inspiring time in my career.  

What has been challenging in 2023

Industry Pressures

The creative industry is constantly under attack to try and either get around the creative process or find ways to undermine the cost. Whether it is a service that pushes pricing down by offering freelancers from around the world at lower costs, software that automates design processes, or the advent of artificial intelligence, our industry has never been more under attack. While all these pressures make it more difficult, they always come up short of what a seasoned team with years of industry experience can accomplish for a client.  

NDA Blues

As a first-year agency, we want to shout from the rooftops the great work we are doing. Unfortunately, the biggest projects we have created this year are top secret. We hope in the next year we will be cleared to talk about some of these, but until then, know we are dedicated to our client's privacy. 

Print Industry Changes

This last year has been one of the more challenging times when it comes to finding printing, packaging, and large-format printing vendors. As someone who has worked in large-format printing and had long-time relationships with print houses and brokers, I have found major changes since the pandemic. Many people have retired from the printing and finishing industries and have taken years of experience and knowledge with them. While others have been pushed out of business due to the rise of tech and digital, forcing them to change careers. It appears that today, there is a bigger focus on quick, cheap, and sometimes low-quality printed products. We will keep pushing to build our vendor roster into the new year and have a few diamonds in the rough that we will cling to for dear life.

Our takeaways

In the end, it is all about the people you work with, both on the client side and our internal team. Wading through all the challenges of a downturn in the economy has revealed who our friends are and has set us up to flourish in the new year. We can feel a change coming…many of our current clients are starting to see their marketing budgets finally open up allowing them to plan and focus on their goals for next year. 

Happy New Year! Let's all stay positive and creative in the new year.