Daryl Louie Announces The Marriage of Anti Social & Thinkingbox

Daryl is the Co-Founder of Anti Social Media Solutions and Daryl has big news -- he and his partner Alex Chen decided to join Thinkingbox, a Vancouver based Digital Experience Marketing Agency. Before this, Daryl and Alex started Anti Social 7 years ago, “it’s been a really exciting path of growth, of learning new skill sets that come along with starting a new company and fostering creatives underneath you. Couldn't be happier about this move,” he boasts. Daryl says he never imagined this change in path, but is very excited about trying something new. Still a part of Anti Social, Daryl says Thinkingbox is just another opportunity to get amazing digital content out there to more companies. Originally working with mom and pop shops before their agency grew, the goal had always been helping brands grow and have success online even as they work with larger names.

Making this move as a big decision for the pair, “I think there’s a fear that all entrepreneurs can relate to, which is the fear of losing complete control of your company,” and Daryl realizes it is just the fear. They never in fact lost control, they were actually empowered, but the unknown can be scary especially when stepping back. Daryl explains that there were 3 checkboxes needing to be fulfilled in order to make the move:

1. Does this align with our personal goals? (Not having looked at their own goals in 2 years, this was something they needed to personally reflect on.)
2. Does this take Anti Social forward in the Digital Marketing world? Do we get to work on better clients that value our time and moving our current clients forward? Do we get to work with more diverse industries and expand on our service offerings?
3. The most important point for Daryl, was does this give opportunities and growth for our own staff?

Thinkingbox came to Daryl and Alex because of the working culture that they saw at Anti Social, such as their work from home policies, mental health, out of office activities; and they thought it would be a great fit. Another thing they liked is their in-house talent, Thinkingbox uses an all in-house team -- the same as Anti Social -- so it was an important piece to keep the same business structure, along with an appreciation for their strong female leads.

But there were positives for both sides, Daryl points out. He appreciates the resources offered to their team now, such as being able to reach out to a creative director in Salt Lake City that has the experience to give feedback on campaigns to make their work even better. “I feel like I'm looking next to me, rather than looking over my shoulder [for resources].”

Daryl recommends these tools and resources for inspiration:

• Reddit for news and marketing insights
• Youtube - he likes to watch ads in entirety to see what others are coming up with
• Business in Vancouver / Business in Toronto
• “Shoe Dog” by Phil Knight

Written by Juliana Bermudez