Smart50-Awards-AdUnion
16

AdUnion

REVENUE: $3.3 million
GROWTH: 224.2%
FOUNDER: Adam Shalagin (48), Rob Ong (36)
HEAD OFFICE: Melbourne
YEAR FOUNDED: 2016
EMPLOYEES: 6
INDUSTRY: Advertising, arts and media

How it started

Adam Shalagin (pictured) and Rob Ong were unsatisfied with the quality of campaign management in their advertising agency roles, and so decided to build their own.

AdUnion focuses on programmatic advertising, which involves businesses buying streamed ads across multiple networks at the same time, rather than from individual networks. The approach allows the business to combine the broad reach of TV and radio advertising with the measurable metrics of social search ads.

Growth

Since its launch in 2016, AdUnion has developed the unique ability to attribute individual purchases to particular advertisements that reach consumers via its service. As a result, the business became successful quickly.

AdUnion recorded $1 million in revenue in the 2018-19 financial year before tripling that figure to reach $3.3 million just two years later.

Where to next?

Focused on growth and building value for their customers, Shalagin and Ong have no plans to sell their business in the near future.

Over the next two years they will be focusing on working with more agency partners and direct clients, they told SmartCompany.