Our work with the DMA

Our relationship with the DMA began in 2012, at the time of which the DMA was running their awards platform that provided critique on some of the UK's biggest advertising campaigns of the year. During that period, a large portion of their backend platform wasn't able to communicate with their wider processes, meaning administrative efforts to keep on top of the manual (paper-based) judging system was immense.

We were brought in initially to come up with a solution that would allow them to bring the judging element of their annual awards online. We developed a system and launched it in 2 weeks and in time for their next round of voting. Saving them a huge amount of man-hours on voting and application processing.

Following on from the success of their newly digitised awards system, we began working more closely with the DMA, taking over the hosting and management of their main site as well as resolving glitches and making small changes to functionality. Ultimately it was decided that the site required a full facelift. Working in tandem with their design team, we built for them a new main, user-facing website, and launched it to great success.

Not too long after the launch of their new site, it was decided that upgrading their CRM would be the next project for us. Their existing CRM, CIVI CRM had grown to be clunky and didn't align with the website correctly, providing a disjointed experience for the back office team.

The decision was made to custom develop this and replace all existing CRM systems. The CRM We custom-built for them has been used for the last 7 years, and coherently communicates with all aspects of their website, creating a smooth working environment for their marketing and commercial teams.

After the successful launch of the DMA's new CRM, we moved quickly on to adding key improvements to its functionality, including developing a new link with their invoice processing software and adding a connection to their awards platform. Allowing data to be shared across the company with freedom and ease of use. We integrated their emails into the system, and added new fields for indexing and categorising leads and information, reducing the time required to find and update contacts by making the process automatic.

In 2015 the two leading industry bodies in the one to one marketing industry, the DMA and the IDM (Institute of Data and Marketing) came together under a newly formed group to promote the highest standards and professionalism in one to one marketing. The merger brought new opportunities for the expansion of both back-office and consumer-facing digital programmes. We began working out how to merge the two ways of working into one CRM that would allow ease of access for all. As part of this, we created installations that allowed for the logical separation of the data across the two now merged organisations so they could still operate independently, but have combined insight, meaning that no 2 contacts in the CRM would receive disjointed information.

To ensure the IDM was able to maintain the look and feel of their brand, but have accurate communication with the DMA's systems, we migrated the idea of distillation in the CRM into a new site for the IMD, making them separate when appropriate, and one when needed. Owing to the use of 2 different financial and invoice processing packages across the organisations, we developed new means of integration, creating a system to allow the information to be distilled in two different ways with approval before omittance built-in.

We built a whole host of digital products for DMA including a new website for them and for their sister company, a full CRM solution, an awards entry platform and the awards judging platform. In 2019, we finished a large custom CRM and CMS redevelopment project, based on an industry-standard MVC framework, specifically tailored to the client’s needs following their successful merge with IDM.

Arch helped the DMA top revolutionise this process into an efficient and engaging online process that guides applicants through the whole process and allows them to upload their supporting material directly with their entry.

The solution allowed each judge to have their own iPad and conduct judging at their own pace, on only the entries that are awarded to them. Furthermore, all supporting material, which can consist of images, PDF files, movie and sound files could also be viewed on the iPad, eliminating the need for a single shared screen.