Logo Case Study

Nicky Applegarth

Company: Ayima

Role: Managing Director

Linkedin icon

Nicky is a highly accomplished, ambitious and business-focussed leader, with over 20 years of widespread and hands on digital agency experience. She has undertaken a range of strategic and management roles across the full range of digital disciplines and has worked with some of the UK’s most well-known and respected brands. Her Client Services background, developed across a blue-chip client base, fuels her commitment to building and nurturing client relationships. Nicky’s ability to create and mentor motivated and dedicated teams across all digital disciplines ensures the delivery of best in class work and that clients’ expectations are exceeded. Her passion lies with utilising her proven track record and expertise to inspire teams and develop talent, and to continuously evolve agency strategy to drive growth and success.

Outside of work, you’ll find Nicky mainly in the gym or pursuing outdoor activities. She has recently climbed Kilimanjaro, is a keen snowboarder, and is always on the lookout to try new sporty things!

Founded in 2007, Ayima is an award-winning Digital Marketing Agency specialising in SEO, Paid Media, Analytics and Content Marketing. With offices in London, New York, San Francisco, Raleigh, Vancouver and Hong Kong, Ayima’s 150+ employees strive to achieve spectacular results for some of the world’s biggest brands.

Its staff are truly proactive and passionate not only about digital marketing but also about developing their own in-house tools. Creating and focusing artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) efforts to develop strategies across their services allows Ayima to uncover new insights and, ultimately, optimise digital marketing activity. Pairing these tools with staff who have 10+ years experience continues to give their clients a unique approach to their projects, drive measurable results and increase their return on investment.

Quote Icons

Joining MD2MD was definitely a wise business decision; it’s provided me with a network of peers to discuss ideas with and to learn from which in turn has increased my effectiveness as an MD.

Bob approached me over the telephone and I immediately liked his approach and what he had to say. I joined my first peer challenge board, and an all-day workshop, just at the start of the pandemic and when we had all started working from home. I immediately felt that this would be an excellent forum in which to discuss how to navigate the tricky Covid-waters ahead and where I could seek guidance on some of the difficult business challenges we were facing.

When one has been working in a particular sector for many years, it’s easy to have a blinkered view of the working world and how problems could be addressed. The peer group discussions have been a refreshing platform to discuss challenges and approach, openly and confidentially, and it has been very interesting and enlightening to discover that businesses in other sectors face very similar issues to those that present themselves in the agency world.

The range of topics offered through speaker workshops has meant that there is always something of interest each month and the ability to offer these sessions out to colleagues too has allowed for greater knowledge share and a healthier debate across various issues.

Personally, I have gained in confidence as a Managing Director as my opinions and thoughts in the peer group sessions have been valued, and much of what has been discussed in both those sessions and the speaker workshops corroborates my thinking and approach.

For Ayima as a whole, learnings from both the peer group sessions and the workshops have been implemented in our processes, making them more robust. Listening to the issues and challenges of others, and positive ways of dealing with these, has sparked food for thought and allowed us to be more proactive as an organisation and introduce ways of working in advance of many situations.