Interview: Kevin Flood, chief exec of Salford software business Powerlinks

Software business Powerlinks featured on Bdaily when it closed a seven-figure funding round earlier this year, drawing participation from Foresight Group, angel investors and members of its own management team.

I recently caught up with Kevin Flood, chief executive at Powerlinks, to hear more about the firm’s history, growth plans and vision of improving advertising for both companies and consumers.

The firm’s specialism is programmatic native advertising, but what exactly does that mean?

“Powerlinks is focussed on automating the process of connecting advertisers to their consumers,” Kevin explained. “We work on delivering valuable personalised experiences through brand content that can be fun or educational or informative.

“The trend we’re moving on at the moment is the fact that brands are producing a lot of content on their blogs and social media. But a lot of it is kept in what we’re calling ‘the walled gardens of the social web’.

“So when you or I are out there reading independent content sites, we’re often lacking in relevant advertiser messaging.”

Powerlinks is fighting against the tendency for advertisers to bombard internet users with ads that don’t, in the end, grab their attention in a positive way.

Kevin said: “We’re working to change that with branded content that gives you a bit more value and interest.

“We personalise it to the user by looking at what you’re reading right now, what you’ve been reading recently, and also by looking at demographics – what device you’re on, where in the world you are.

From 2009 to early 2014 we worked on personalisation, using Big Data to help retailers like Tesco and others give users a much more one-to-one experience

“We automate the whole process, and the automation happens through advertising industry pipelines we call programmatic. So it basically machines making decisions on which ad is most relevant in real-time.”

Kevin co-founded the company with business partner and former university pal Mike Harty, who now heads up Powerlinks’ UK operation.

“Mike and I go back a long way,” Kevin told me. “We both went to the University of Leeds and met during freshers week. We were both entrepreneurial, although he was a lot more digital savvy than I was.

“We started off together buying and selling products on eBay, and also blogging and helping advertisers reach consumers with good relevant offers. After graduating we founded a business that helped ecommerce retailers personalise customer experiences.

“From 2009 to early 2014 we worked on personalisation, using Big Data to help retailers like Tesco and others give users a much more one-to-one experience whenever they were online.

“On the back of that, we really started figuring out how to leverage data, how to deliver good user experiences and build a solid technology platform.”

From that vantage point, Kevin and Mike saw a huge opportunity in the digital advertising space.

We’re looking to expand in all our locations, including in Manchester and the wider North

He continued: “Most of the ads out there were irrelevant and intrusive and annoying, so we started applying our technology and personalisation expertise to the advertising space, got some early traction and created Powerlinks to really lead the charge.”

Powerlinks has a big presence in Salford. I asked Kevin if the company has always been based there.

“We’re scattered around the world now but the company was founded in Salford,” he said. “We started in an area called Blackfriars, looking out across the River Irwell at Manchester city centre.

“We have an office in Manchester now and opened an office in London in 2014.”

Today, Powerlinks also has a physical presence in Amsterdam, Berlin and New York. Kevin is based at the latter most of the time.

He continued: “We’re looking to expand in all our locations, including in Manchester and the wider North. It’s a really strong area for our business.”

For his line of work, Kevin said the North of England is different to the rest of the world.

Having a spot near Manchester to look after Northern clients is a unique advantage for us

“You find that the big global brand advertisers, your Coca-Colas and your Microsofts and so on, are often based in London, New York or Amsterdam for their advertising operations. But in the North you’ve got a lot of retailers looking to generate a measurable result, a proveable return on investment.

“The North is rich in savvy, performance-led advertisers and they’re a little underserviced by technology companies. There’s a huge amount of competition in London and New York, but having a spot near Manchester to look after Northern clients is a unique advantage for us.”

Kevin told me how his business is a lean operation, getting to where it is today and attracting multi-million pound investment with a relatively small workforce.

The company is led by a senior team of little more than a dozen seasoned professionals, each with over 10 years’ experience.

“Mike and I are probably the least experienced of the group,” Kevin joked. “We service a lot of large agencies and brands, but the key for us now is to recruit so we can help our partners and clients, and grow the business across multiple markets.”

Powerlinks is recruiting fresh faces for its teams in the UK and US, including sales staff, account managers and client servicepeople.

Kevin added: “We’re looking to add about 12 heads this year and then about another 10 next year, on the current plan.”

I asked about Powerlinks’ plans for expansion. Which international markets are likely to play the biggest part in the firm’s widening global footprint?

Long term, we’ve got our eyes on Asia-Pacific, where we already have some clients

“We’ve already started to push into Berlin and Amsterdam,” said Kevin. “Through the nature of our technology, it’s globally accessible. While we have offices in four countries, we’re trading – actually buying and selling ads – across multiple markets. We’re doing business in Italy, France, Spain, Scandinavia and elsewhere.

“The first goal is to grow our UK and US operations, and then follow on from that. We’re going to roll out client service offices across Western Europe, initially. France, Italy and Spain are on the radar. Meanwhile we’re growing in Germany and the Netherlands, where we already have a foothold.”

Once Powerlinks is confident of its position in Europe and the US, the firm is likely to push even further afield.

“Long term, we’ve got our eyes on Asia-Pacific, where we already have some clients. We’re making decisions between Hong Kong and Singapore.

“We’re looking to invest there once we’ve built up a head of steam here in the UK and the US.”

Got a business story? Email our North West editor at richard.bell@bdaily.co.uk

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