Independent digital agency Next&Co has been named as one of the top 10 media and marketing companies in the 2021 AFR BOSS Most Innovative Companies List.
The prestigious annual list, published by The Australian Financial Review and Boss Magazine, is based on a rigorous assessment process managed by Australia’s leading innovation consultancy, Inventium, in conjunction with a panel of industry expert judges.
Next&Co was included on the list of more than 700 nominated organisations across Australia and New Zealand.
The assessment measures a top innovation implemented in the past two years. Specifically, the judges look at how valuable the problem is that the innovation is solving, the quality and uniqueness of the solution, and the level of impact that the innovation has had.
Inventium also assesses internal elements such as innovation culture, strategy, resources and process, which demonstrate a sustainable and repeatable approach to innovation.
Next&Co’s key innovation was its media auditing tool Prometheus, which has a global patent pending. Prometheus, a self-serve, easy to use and intuitive platform, allows advertisers to find out the efficiency of their digital ad spend across Google, Facebook, Linkedin, and Bing. It has been used by more than 300 companies.
Prometheus has inbuilt KPIs advertisers can select from, including leads, customer conversions, ROI, reach and they can choose their targets across each metric. The auditing tool then determines the exact wastage of their total annual digital spend in dollars and where that wastage is occurring campaign by campaign and on a creative level.
Next&Co co-founder, John Vlasakakis, said: “We are thrilled to be included in the top 10 prestigious Most Innovative Companies list and among some amazingly inventive companies.
“Our inclusion in the list shows that innovation is alive and well in independent, Australian-owned businesses and we are incredibly proud of that.
“We pride ourselves on innovation at the agency and Prometheus is our latest example of that, which has now been used by more than 300 companies. We will be launching a further world-first innovation to the tool shortly.”
Inventium, founder, Dr Amantha Imber, said: “Inventium is proud to announce the 2021 Most Innovative Companies list in conjunction with the AFR. After the enormous impact 18 months – and counting – of a global pandemic has had on the way we live, it’s so inspiring to see all the amazing innovations our winners have created to help make our lives better.”
