Today we’d like to introduce you to Russ Macumber.
Hi Russ, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
I’m a Melbourne-born (Australia, not Florida) bloke who found his way to co-founding a marketing agency here in the heart of Texas, working with globally known brands and winning a bunch of awards along the way.
I like to joke that I took the scenic route through life, but I always had a passion for marketing and advertising. As a kid, I memorized TVC jingles and was genuinely interested in the stories and messaging of the brands I’d see during ad breaks.
That said, connecting that early passion with my eventual career took me a long time. I started at uni (college, as you call it here) with a Bachelor of Sports Administration, ie. a business degree, for people obsessed with sports. After 3 meandering, drunken years, I was eventually “academically suspended,”; the nail in my early academic coffin was my rocking up to an exam barefoot and drunk. Not a great start to ‘adulting’.
As a uni dropout, I did what many who love a drink do: I found a way to work closer to beer. I worked behind the bar at a dozen or so pubs around Melbourne, which led me to rediscover my love of advertising. I found I had a knack for running bar promos that drew in more drinkers. I created campaigns on a shoestring budget, wrote copy for print ads in local papers and street magazines, and consistently grew bar sales for pub after pub.
My 20s were a mix of pubs, drinking in pubs, marketing for pubs, more writing gigs to hone my copywriting, drinking and partying, DJing, running events, and founding an events company (ie. an excuse for more drinking). I started working in experiential events, taking me closer to my marketing destiny, and in 2012, I switched to digital marketing. I’d dabbled in digital for a decade, buying banner ad space and 6c Google AdWords for my events business in the early 00s, so this was a happy direction.
Along the way, my wife Angelique encouraged me to go back and finish the degree. Sidenote: By the time I went back, the degree was no longer, so I cobbled together enough units for an “Arts” degree. Angelique also encouraged me to go after my MBA with a marketing major.
I worked in digital marketing in the wedding industry from 2012 to 2017, which fully infected me with the digital bug. I also started doing podcasts and getting booked as a speaker nationwide to talk digital marketing.
In 2017, I joined a little startup called Impressive in Melbourne. I was staff member number 7, and over the next 3 years, I helped that agency become the fastest-growing marketing agency in Australia (and one of the fastest in all of Asia – per Deloitte). In 2019 we started picking up US clients through word of mouth. It was clear early on we’d need a presence in the US, so I partnered with Rob Tadros (AU agency owner) to found Impressive USA. Between founding the agency in late 2019, and finally arriving in Austin in late 2021, Covid happened. More on that below.
Since our belated landing in Texas, we’ve had some huge development. We’ve won big clients, I’ve been booked solidly all over the country for speaking gigs and building the Impressive brand, we’ve built an award-winning culture, and snagged a few other trophies along the way.
Would it have been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
At the risk of sounding obvious, covid really sucked for us. In early 2020, I went from telling our US clients and team that I’d see them in person soon, to getting locked down in Melbourne and unable to exit the country. I spent 18 months doing 3 a.m. starts to connect with my team and our small client base. Not the image we had for starting our new venture.
On top of this was the challenge of doing this through covid-lockdowns in Melbourne. We were living in an AirBNB when covid hit, as we’d sold our home in anticipation of the international move with our 4 kids. This meant when our flights to Austin were cancelled, we were homeless! Angelique pulled out some award-winning hustle over the next week to furnish a new rental for our family, for an unknown period of time as we didn’t know if we’d be stuck in Australia for 2 months or 2 years!
Outside of the extra business startup struggles that covid caused, on a personal level my biggest challenge has been overcoming an insatiable urge to drink. Alcoholism is prevalent in my family, but it took me a long time and an ultimatum from Angelique, to accept it myself. October 20, 2012, was the last time I had a drink. Everything in my life improved once I realized I’d been struggling through life, slowed down in the quicksand of my addiction. As a result, whenever I hear anyone say, “People can’t change,” I roll my eyes. People can change their behavior, which can change their values and personalities over time.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Impressive is an SEO and Paid Media agency for B2C brands. We work with brands such as Dine Group – owners of Applebee’s IHOP and Fuzzy’s Tacos, the well-known fitness brand Precor, the drinkware company Corkcicle, and the infamous local whisky brand Still Austin. There’s a bunch of agencies out there that do what we do. Our competitive edge is our focus on soft skills training for all staff. A client will only know our great work if we effectively communicate with them.
All our staff are trained on Tracom Social Styles communication methodology. Soft skills training is usually focused on sales and sometimes customer service teams. At Impressive, our belief is everyone is in customer service. Some of the team client face more than others, but understanding the principles of “speaking the language” of every customer is crucial to truly connect and understand (and be understood by) our customers. All new staff are trained on Social Styles as part of their induction, and the whole team participates in a refresher session twice a year. Account directors and salespeople are trained and monitored regularly on social styles.
This deeper engagement with our clients helps us align on business values and objectives, and it helps us do great work! In the not-quite-two-years since landing, we’ve already been named:
- Austin Business Awards Winner – Best Company Culture (2022)
- Global Agency Awards Finalist – Best New Agency (2023)
- Global Search Awards Finalist – 2x gongs for different client campaigns (2023)
- US Search Awards Finalist – 2x gongs for different client campaigns (2023)
- Austin Business Awards Finalist – Best Customer Experience (2023)
Do you have any advice for those just starting?
Get a mentor. Actually, get 2. I got this advice when I was about 35, and I wish I had known it 10 years earlier. I tactically chose 1x mentor about 5 years ahead of me career-wise to help guide, push, question, and challenge me. They were close enough to my current role to understand how to navigate but far enough along to show me where I could go. I also like to have an older mentor, 20+ years older, who I aspire to from both a career and family/community/health/
Contact Info:
- Website: impressivedigital.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/impressivedigital/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/impressivedigital
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/impressive-digital/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@impressivedigital6644
