Welcome to our new Head of Agency, Paff Evara. A letter from our departing Head of Agency, Daniella Karaoglan.

When I took over the running of Pilot Fish Media in 2020, we were facing a tough year ahead. Mid-pandemic, with a future full of uncertainty, it was, without a doubt, the toughest situation we had ever found ourselves in as an agency. There was a fine line between protecting our business and helping long-standing clients through an incredibly difficult time. 

My one focus for the year ahead was to get us, and our clients, to the other side of the pandemic safely. In the interest of complete transparency, I was scared that the waves of the pandemic were going to sink us, no matter how hard we tried to float – but we wanted to at least give it our best shot.

We’ve come a long way since then. With help from a brilliant team, we faced a difficult future head on and implemented streamlined practices internally with a specific focus on employee wellbeing. This allowed us more space for creativity and fostered our amazing team’s range of skills. In the last year, we have doubled our team, employing the most brilliant young minds in Scotland to help us on this journey (during a pandemic nevertheless!). The team’s never-ending hard work and fully transparent client relations (as well as quirky and groundbreaking ideas) has seen us acquire many new clients. Most importantly, it has allowed us to help many smaller local businesses through and out of lockdown after lockdown.

Along the way, we’ve onboarded 5 new team members via Zoom. We’ve had work drinks online and have had hard conversations, not face to face, but via a Skype call. It’s not been an easy year for anyone, but ultimately, we’ve helped people. Small business owners, long standing partners, our fellow teammates and Pilot Fish Media as a whole – and for that, I could not be prouder of the team and more grateful to our loyal and happy clients.

But (and we always knew a but was coming), the pandemic was not only hard on us professionally. In fact, I don’t know a single person who hasn’t to some extent reevaluated the way they live their lives due to the pandemic. For me, the pandemic quite literally hit quite close to home. During my 6 years in Scotland, I had always thought, “well, I’m only a plane ride away from Denmark”, where most of my family live. Suddenly, with most planes cancelled, that wasn’t quite the case anymore. Throughout the pandemic, while working with all I had to make us the best agency we could be, I always had a voice in the back of my head saying: “You need to be closer to home.”

When Paff Evara joined our team in early 2021, I felt a sense of relief. Suddenly, I knew that there was someone incredibly passionate and skilled, with outstanding leadership skills and knowledge about both our team and our clients, that would be able to take what I had created at Pilot Fish and run with it. I decided that the ship needed a new captain, and it is with great pleasure that I announce that Paff will be taking over as Pilot Fish Media’s Head of Agency after May 2021.

Paff, who joined us as our Paid Ads Director, has extensive experience in planning, implementing and optimising digital campaigns across the entire purchasing funnel, with a strategic eye like no other I’ve ever seen. As a Digital Marketer of the Year finalist in 2020, I have no doubt in my mind that Paff will (at the expense of my own ego!) take the agency, and our clients, to lengths we could only dream of before.

Paff will run a ship driven by honest and effective strategies, smart data and transparent results, with countless groundbreaking campaigns under their belt already at PFM. They are a lead-by-example leader and incredibly passionate about continuing and improving PFM’s focus on team wellbeing, growth and development – and I for one cannot wait to see where they take the agency from here.

To the brilliant team, thank you to all of you. I couldn’t have done this without your banter, passion and skill. Another big thank you goes to Stephen Gorman, founder of PFM, for trusting in my ability to command the ship. You took a risk, and I couldn’t be more grateful for that.

For me, it is a goodbye to Scotland, and sadly, Pilot Fish Media for now. I will always remain a friend of the agency, all our clients, and most importantly, the incredible team I have had the pleasure of working with for the last two years.