Today we’d like to introduce you to Erin Hegarty.
Erin, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I’m the odd-man-out. I sometimes sit through long periods at meetings where my two business partners play the Boston Advertising Agency name game with whomever we’re meeting. I’m not an agency girl – I was client side (GASP!) But it’s ok, I’d finish my coffee and wait for them to ask where I came from and why I was there.
Coming out of college, I didn’t know what job I wanted. I had a lot of interests – from life sciences to art to music to sports and food – most of which had no relation whatsoever. I’m sure I said on my resume that I had “very diverse interests and was willing to try and learn new things” or something code like that to say, “please just hire me so I can pay rent; I’ll learn, I promise.”
I kicked off my career with a job at a financial services tech startup and spent the next 5 years learning all about the exciting world of investment baking and institutional asset management and the technologies that support them. And then I shifted gears, landing at venture-backed marketing technology companies. By then, I had moved to Marblehead and I was approached for a position at a digital agency in Salem. I didn’t have the “agency pedigree” — but I responded confidently with my “very diverse interests…. just hire me, I’ll learn” trick and got the job. I loved it.
At an agency, everything is new. Every client is unique and has different challenges. It was exciting and fun. As I learned more about how clients were serviced and what kinds of challenges we could solve, I started to think about things that could be done differently, more efficiently, more directly. I met my two business partners, Jesse Vuona and Sean Cunningham, and they felt the same way.
Three years ago, we started Fresh (a very VERY serious conversation over Howling Wolf Burritos and lotsa tortilla chips) and we’re proud to say that we are successful in our goal: to provide clients with top-level talent for strategy, creative design and technical development without all the overhead and over-process that can plague agencies — and have fun while we do it.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The biggest struggle? Prioritizing the fun part. Really — we prioritized fun and I’ve gotta say that might be what made launching and building Fresh difficult. I imagine it’s probably a lot easier to start and run a services business if you’re ok with being stressed out and unhappy.
Beyond prioritizing our happiness (and by extension, that of our clients) the biggest potholes and speed bumps we ran into when we started all revolved around working on our business AND on clients’ businesses at the same time. There’s an art to creating a healthy balance between focusing on your own business operations and your clients’ needs. I think we do a nice job with that and I’m so appreciative that we can do such great work, learn so much every day AND laugh (a lot.)
Fresh – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
It was with three hungry bellies, three Howling Wolf burritos and three heads full of ideas about how we could create really cool digital marketing experiences for clients, that Fresh was born.
My two partners and co-Founders, Sean Cunningham and Jesse Vuona (both advertising agency refugees and huge fans of Mexican fare), agreed that there was room for us to help brands better tell their stories using creative technology — and to have some fun while doing it.
We noticed that there are tons of great brands who struggle to activate digitally – almost like one of the most important channels they could use to reach their customers is an afterthought. And we also noticed that there were boatloads of amazing creative technologies and capabilities that weren’t being utilized by brands, either because they didn’t know about them or because they were bogged down by over-process and complication. It is a huge gap; Brands need both sides to be strong, otherwise, they’re leaving opportunity on the table.
Our team has strong brand advertising chops, strong technical creative design capabilities, and solid business and sales strategy expertise. We basically made a brand advertising and creative technology burrito, with revenue-focused strategy as the guac on top.
At Fresh, we deliver beautiful, functional brand creative design and unique digital activation. We specialize in brand activation, creative design & development, responsive web design, UX, video, 3-D projection, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and whatever’s coming next.
Fresh’s brand clients range from Fortune 500 companies to local non-profits, from Fortune 500 fitness apparel and footwear to financial services, from healthcare and life sciences to holistic health services. It’s a diverse portfolio, and the range of clients speaks to our respective backgrounds in terms of past clients and client-side roles.
As we make our way through our third year as Fresh (Since 2015), we’re constantly learning, exploring new technologies and brand activation ideas, playing music and eating our way across the City of Salem.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I think to be successful means to be happy and fulfilled on your terms, whether that’s in work or life in general.
As far as markers I look out for, one of the things I’ve always committed to is community service and pro-bono work. At Fresh, we always have one or two projects going for local organizations and non-profits — and we love it. We’re satisfying our business goals and our clients are happy AND we’re able to contribute our skills and time and energy to causes that we care about.
Contact Info:
- Address: 131 Essex St, Rear Office
- Website: freshsince2015.com
- Email: erin@freshsince2015.com
- Instagram: @freshsince2015
- Facebook: facebook.com/freshsince2015
- Twitter: @freshsince2015
Image Credit:
Carly Gillis
Getting in touch: BostonVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
