Movers & Groovers / BMB’s Jessica Rowley joins web tech agency Techdept as managing director

November 13^th 2013 – Jessica Rowley, director at integrated agency Beattie McGuinness Bungay (BMB) has joined web technology agency Techdept as its new managing director, as the company re-shapes itself for future growth and innovation.

Techdept, which originally hailed from Sheffield – where design, build and R&D currently take place – has had a staffed London office since 2010. Jessica Rowley will be based in a new and expanded Farringdon office, with a brief to lead client servicing and new business growth.

Dan Kirby will move from his former role of managing director to become chief executive. In this role he will oversee the company’s strategy of leveraging its IP and entrepreneurial experience, plus the implementation of innovative new management practices.

Explaining this further, Dan Kirby chief executive of Techdept comments, “The role of technology in the modern world creates a great challenge for agencies. All of a sudden, the backroom geeks are driving and facilitating new ideas and engagement trends. We’re very much inspired by companies like Basecamp-creators 37 Signals or Silicon Valley’s Zurb, and see ourselves as part of this tech tradition.

“Modern creativity is driven by technological innovation, and without a deep understanding of the how it all works you can’t robustly deliver it. As a result, we think that everyone now needs a Tech Department – creative vision and engineering insight is a powerful mix.”

Kirby continues, “We’ve known Jess for several years and she’s proved herself a ball of energy who’s always thinking about new ways to enhance a client offering. Her experience of working on high-profile campaigns for big clients, coupled with her agency insight means that she’s is the perfect person to help us re-write the agency handbook, while bringing her expertise to our team. We literally can not wait to introduce her to our clients”.

Techdept evolved from being the out-sourced deep-technology department of various marketing, PR, integrated and experiential agencies. Since it was set up over nine years ago, it has attracted an impressive roster of its own direct clients including the likes of Activision, British Gas, Universal Television, and Topshop.

In addition to its agency services, Techdept has a web based product called Tidybrand, and a suite of business apps used by blue chip companies like RSA and Servisair.