2024 unwrapped: A year-in-review

It’s been quite a year, hasn’t it? The challenges faced by global marketing teams have been multifold, from tightening budgets to competitive landscapes. But even with all that, 2024 has been a real bright spot—we’ve seen some seriously amazing stuff happening with technology and innovation.

As we look back at the year 2024, let’s celebrate what we’ve achieved and how far we’ve come and look upon what lies ahead...

We’re A Great Place to Work®, again!

EKCS became Great Place to Work® in India for the second year running. Our offshore team is vital to our business, and the award is based on the experience and opinions of colleagues working at EKCS. 

And it doesn’t stop there. This year, EKCS also won the ‘Support Team of the Year’ award at The Stevie® Awards. This recognizes our team’s efforts in supporting brands, agencies, and media clients to overcome production challenges and boost efficiency.

New starters

This year, our team expanded to over 600 talented individuals worldwide, with exciting onshore hires in both the UK and the US, bringing global perspectives to EKCS. We’ve had some great new starters join us across creative design, digital marketing, packaging production, video post-production and account management teams. These include Saba Said, who heads our global communications team. 

Conference creativity

Conferences were a big part of the fall. The added bonus was escaping the English winter, albeit for a few days! It’s been enlightening to meet so many industry people at the events we have attended and sponsored this year. It helps to have our people on the ground across the world who can discuss all things creative production. 

From the inspiring conversations about creativity, technology, marketing, and operations at the In-House Agency Forum (IHAF) 2024 Conference & Awards in Boston, to the focused discussions on creative production at the Henry Stewart Creative Production New York 2024 event, we gained invaluable knowledge and forged meaningful connections with industry leaders.

We attended the In-House Agency Conference and Masters of Marketing by Association of National Advertisers (ANA) for the first time. Watching global CMOs share their beliefs and state their predictions was truly inspiring.

We got a lot out of these events—they’ve given us some great new ideas that we're putting into practice to make sure our clients get the best, most effective solutions. Keeping sight of the bigger picture while staying focused on our clients’ goals will be more important than ever in 2025.

Leadership in action: Aligning minds, solving challenges, and building bonds

On that note, at EKCS we’ve been doing more joined-up thinking as to how we can better serve our clients and deliver value in the changing world of production. Our leadership summits in the UK and India brought together EKCS’ business leaders across different verticals.

These twice-yearly summits were a powerful catalyst to align leaders, develop solutions to problems, introduce new strategies, and enhance collaboration across EKCS. We would be lying if we said it was all work and no play, as we like to insert a team challenge into the mix. In true EKCS spirit, these challenges were a bit like an India vs. England cricket match—fierce and fun, but whatever the result, they brought our onshore and offshore teams closer together.

Investing in our people: Building a stronger future together

This year, we made it a priority to invest more in our people and their wellbeing—because we know that work can be demanding, and burnout is the last thing we’d want for our people. To that end, we've partnered with WellM to provide personalized counseling and support whenever it’s needed.

And for the professional well-being, we rolled out a new skill development program for our staff. We introduced skill-based online trainings every quarter so that our teams can really take charge of their own learning and make sure they’re always ready for what’s next.

AI-driven production power

We embraced automation and engaged with AI, all of which culminated in the launch of Mediaferry AI. You might have seen some of our media coverage. This cutting-edge, cloud-based service streamlines the production process—from briefing to campaign activation—and it is perfect for publishers, brands, and in-house agencies! We’ve received great feedback from our clients, so if you’ve not seen it already, why not book your demo today? 

Resources wrapped up just for you!

This festive season, we’re sharing a little holiday gift—valuable resources to help you kickstart 2025. 

EKCS Blogs: Grab a nutmeg latte or pour a mulled wine and have a read of our collection of insights and blogs covering creative production and creative teams. 

Free Guides: Need to escape a festive full house? Take some time to download our free guides and catch up on some reading. 

Inside Jobs Podcast: Inside Jobs has continued to thrive in 2024, reaching a milestone number of subscribers and welcoming a phenomenal lineup of guests. Hosted in collaboration with IHAF, these podcasts provide inspirational intel from in-house agency leaders from some of the world’s biggest brands. Subscribe here and you’ll be inspired throughout 2025! 

As we finally wrap up the year, we want to extend our warmest wishes to you for a relaxing holiday season and a prosperous and creative 2025.