Sure we have a group of people that work on interactive projects, and that’s important. But we don’t have an interactive department.

I’m proud that every person in the agency has worked on interactive projects. Everyone from Daddy Warbucks (our CFO), who checks stats on our social weather project iMapWeather every day, to our Champion of Wow (our Creative Director) who is constantly thinking of ways to increase the global presence of our clients’ brands.

Not everyone is as nerdy as me, but everyone understands the web and its importance in our ever-changing media landscape. For the nerdery to happen, we have a group of people that specialize in the interactive space, but I would hardly call us a department (which Webster define as “a division of...”). I don’t like divisions. That means there is something potentially blocking the best idea. That’s important to look for in an agency - people that specialize in the medium, but aren’t separate.

Our interactive team is nowhere close to being separate. Look at Mix Master Mac (an Interactive Designer), not only does he do some amazing web design but he also created award-winning print work for Texas Health Resources.

I’ve struggled with where I stand on the topic since this year’s SXSW lead by Click Here’s Pete Lerma. Click Here is the separate business entity to the Richards Group. They work in the same building but bill and work independently.

The more we’ve grown, the more I love our integrated approach. I can’t begin to number the times a “traditional” member of our agency has improved our digital strategy, concept or design and vice versa. Enough with the company culture pep talks, what does this mean for our clients? It is one of the many ways we offer the best solution to each and every client we serve. After all, you don’t hire a department, you hire the agency.