We launched the Bay Area network on September 25th, 2020. This marketing communications network aims to help growth companies in the NewNordic region by connecting them with the best and most dedicated marketing professionals in their fields. While Bay Area members are local professionals, they are accustomed to working with demanding and international clients.
The Bay Area network is decentralized, which means that members can bring in new clients, and choose the most suitable partners for the project. At the same time, we want to provide our clients with the highest quality services and the most smooth-running operations. This is made possible by years of experience working with independent freelancers within San Francisco Agency, the facilitator of the Bay Area network. San Francisco is a PR agency focusing on supporting the growth of Nordic businesses, both internationally and domestically. It has worked with companies and organizations such as Futurice, Oura, Slush, Aalto-University, and the City of Helsinki.
Juhani Polkko, the founder of Bay Area and the CEO of San Francisco Agency, had this to say about the origins of the idea for the network:
“San Francisco Agency has been working with freelancers for over ten years. A few years ago, someone in the very popular MarkkinointiKollektiivi-group on Facebook asked for some freelance-help in a design-project. I boldly accepted the challenge, which was the starting point for a collaboration with Neste that lasted for over two years. The project employed San Francisco personnel, and also several freelancers. We are all so very proud of the Easy Deli-self service boutique and the other services supporting it.”
“In the spring, I thought about how the Covid-19 situation with Corona will affect marketing in the long run. Partly funded by Business Finland, we decided to consolidate our learnings of working with freelancers into the Bay Area-concept. While I believe hiring freelancers will become increasingly popular in the future, it will always be crucial that those freelancers are locals who are familiar with the Nordic culture and business practices.”
“Freelancing seems like the most natural way for me to work. I enjoy the freedom it gives me to work whenever and wherever I want,” Anttila says. “I believe I will get more leads and new clients through Bay Area. On top of that, it is much nicer to be a part of a team”, he says.
Admission to the network is through a three-step process. The final decision depends on the experience-level, client references, and demand for the applicant’s talent. Network members are experts in marketing, whose core skills may be digital marketing, web design, UI-design, marketing automation, or growth hacking, among others. Bay Area professionals can offer a high-degree of experience with flexibility and cost-efficiency.
At the time of writing this blog, the network consists of 16 members with an average of 8+ years of experience in marketing. We aim to grow to become a powerhouse marketing network of about 100 members, active in the NewNordic countries (Finland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, and Estonia.)
Read the original article, which appeared in Markkinointi & Mainonta on September 25th, 2020. This blog loosely translates the original article in English.
