How Netpeak Digital Agency – one of the largest digital marketing agencies in CEE is using its skills in a war – Article by Anna Znamerovskaya.
We are Netpeak – #1 digital marketing agency in CEE, one of the largest IT companies in Ukraine with a portfolio of 3,000 business clients, including Puma, Vodafone, Auchan, OLX (by Naspers), Pandora, BSH, Domino’s Pizza, Colin’s and others.
Before the war, we developed digital marketing services for business – SEO, PPC, Email Marketing, SMM, Mobile Growth (ASO/ASA) etc. In addition to providing digital marketing services, we are developing our corporate blog – Netpeak Journal.
Netpeak Digital Agency is a part of Netpeak Group, that consists of 14 companies. Among them is a quite popular cloud-based LMS system AcademyOcean with such customers as Loxone, Lemlist, Hyperlex, and Ajax. Another one is a mobile app marketing leader RadASO having in portfolio Reface and Room Planner as clients.
Dmitrii Piskarev is a co-founder and CEO of Netpeak Digital Agency. Facebook Linkedin .
Artem Borodatiuk is a founder of Netpeak Group. LinkedIn Facebook
How Netpeak continues to operate despite the war to support our country’s economy
Team members’ safety is our top priority
From the first days of the war, we have helped to evacuate our employees and their families from Kyiv, Kharkiv and other cities that were under active shelling. Now we continue to monitor the situation and are ready to assist with the evacuation to those who would need it. We regularly collect and present information about volunteer centers abroad, apartments for rent in Ukraine and abroad, and also created chat rooms where our employees located in the same area can help each other.
We host daily group e-meetings with a certified psychologist, where employees may share their concerns and feelings. There are also regular meetings with executive-level managers. They share news both about the companies’ activities and exclusive information about the situation in Ukraine which is obtained first hand from authorized sources.
Communications
Recently we’ve received Starlink equipment from the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, so we can continue to operate despite cable connection issues to support our country’s economy. Thanks to Mykhaylo Fedorov, we get enough stations to ensure the work of our temporarily relocated employees even in those regions where we haven’t ever had offices. For example, in the cities of Western Ukraine.
Netpeak Group has paid advance payments to its employees early at the start of the war, and we continue to pay salaries in advance. Since Netpeak Group’s activity has mostly been focused on the Ukrainian market, now we are urgently rebuilding our business processes to go abroad. Over 40 employees have switched their positions within the Group to accelerate our expansion to the new markets. We keep jobs even in companies focused on the Ukrainian market, that have a significant revenue reduction.
Summing up, we’re trying to hold our position in the domestic market and aiming to enter new markets to survive ourselves and support the Ukrainian economy. To achieve this goal, it is important to continue to take care of the team. Safe and decent working conditions must be upheld to maintain competence.
How Ukrainian IT industry counteracts Russian propaganda
In the meantime, we are contributing to Ukraine’s informational defense against Russian propaganda together with other IT companies founded and based in Ukraine.
Nowadays all the Ukrainian IT professionals become literally the national volunteer force of Ukraine. They not only create new software and B2B solutions to support our country’s economy but also develop technologies to repel DDoS attacks from Russian hackers. Digital agencies cooperate to build new powerful media strategies and to release them as fast as possible.
Netpeak Group has a well-built structure, and nearly 20% of Netpeak Group is engaged in countering Russian aggression. Now we are working in several directions.
The first one is participation in Ukraine’s backlash against Russian propaganda. From February 27 to March 3, our ad campaigns on social medias and YouTube received more than 93M impressions in Russia and Belarus. By April 14, the total number hit 780M views. We urge Russian mothers not to let their sons fight in Ukraine, highlight the horrible consequences of the Russian army’s actions in Ukraine, and tell the truth about the war which caused only destruction, and not ‘salvation’, which the Russian media industry is lying about.
We are also influencing Russians via Telegram, one of the most popular social networks in CIS countries. Using our Telegram promotion skills and the educating approach, we are changing the Russian citizens’ minds step by step, dosing them with real information in the propaganda-like way they are used to. At the same time we have been developing a few channels to encourage Ukrainians with positive news and promote volunteer initiatives from our colleagues.
For example, a volunteer IT organization called StandForUkraine includes more than 1,000 specialists. They carry out a lot of projects such as LiveUaMap for showing current military actions in certain regions of Ukraine; dopomoga.io for coordinating volunteers and those in need; a first aid chatbot to cope with an emergency; a chatbot for immediate reporting of information about the enemy to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and so on.