2021 – A year that was nothing like 2020. Right?

“I can’t wait for 2021. Happy New Year to all.”

These were the words I ended with last year, after reflecting upon 2020. 2021 was going to be different, easier, better…we’d enter the roaring twenties again!

2021 itself didn’t “feel” so different, however. Between lockdowns, teleworking, people getting alienated from their work and colleagues, wondering whether they should migrate to Australia to raise goats instead of doing digital marketing…It all felt like a bit of a deja vue.

However – looking back – despite that sensation that it was (and is) all taking quite long and that it was all quite tiring and that we’re all completely fed up with events being adapted and canceled, 2021 did live up to its promises for CLICKTRUST.

Due to circumstances, I wasn’t able to spend as much time at work as during previous years. I had to prioritize my personal life and basically had to work halftime since April. I expected CLICKTRUST to go through a rough patch – surely things would go less well without me overseeing everything right?

Well…No. We didn’t go through a rough patch. The teams stepped up. They organized themselves (with a few hiccups left and right that all reorganizations have), and they took the lead on many topics that would have ended up stuck in my inbox somewhere. They moved forward at a speed that I could not have imagined, to be honest.

They brought CLICKTRUST Academy back into the spotlight, training many companies on advanced topics across the Benelux. They created our internal boot camp to onboard new employees. All new staff now receive two weeks of full-time training given by our dedicated trainer, before putting them into the teams. The 5 new people we recruited this year were all onboarded successfully, and operational very quickly.  As most companies seem to be struggling in finding and keeping talent, this internal boot camp is a key move that will allow us to keep the pace in the coming years.

The teams signed and onboarded new clients like Corona Direct, Tractebel, Christian Louboutin, and the international B2B SaaS Amity.

They successfully developed our services expanding even more deeply into the data side of things. We now have media mix modeling projects running on several clients and are developing tools that use predictive models to fix attribution issues.

While all that happened, another part of the team searched and found a new office for us. A 675m floor just across the road in the Securex building. It will house all companies now in the MTV Networks group (CLICKTRUST, Mountainview, Izoard, Twistiti, MV STudio, Stereo). The interior architect is currently doing her thing, and we’ll be moving into our new office next month.

Thanks to all of that, 2021 ended up being a year where CLICKTRUST not only grew 25% in staff and revenue but where its people grew massively in skills and experience…

This allowed us again to put aside a nice envelope for donations, just like every year.  Except this year, the amount is bigger than it has ever been before. A whopping 20 000 eur!

The charities were chosen by our employees.

– 3333.33 eur was donated to Operation Thermos
– 3333.33 eur was donated to Les Samaritains

Both organizations provide local help to people who need it most, who don’t even have the most basic of things – like food.

– 3333.33 eur was donated to Sun Child

Sunchild helps families who have a severely sick child both financially and practically.

– 10 000 eur was donated to Fibrolamellar Cancer Foundation, an international organization supporting the fight against fibrolamellar cancer.

Sadly, several people at CLICKTRUST had to see very close family members battle cancer this year. Cancer is a horrible disease. It puts things into perspective and makes you realize how fragile we all are. We are immensely grateful to be in a position where we can help and count our blessings.

So, despite 2021 sometimes feeling a little like 2020 and definitely coming with its own struggles – it was a year where in the end – we look back with pride, realizing we grew on all levels.

Happy New Year to all.