Meet our president, Andrew Stewart
Hi Andrew, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I’m originally from Indianapolis, Indiana, and as a child, I had the opportunity to live in Mexico and Canada with my family. That time abroad really expanded my worldview; I learned a lot in those years. Later, I received a degree in Marketing and Management from Bethel College in Minneapolis, and upon graduation, I began my entrepreneurial path. One that led me to form World Media Interactive (currently WMX) with my business partner in 1999. It’s been a remarkable twenty-three-year journey that continues to this day.
It was difficult to imagine the explosive growth of digital advertising in those early AOL dial-up days, but my business partner and I believed in its potential. We knew the industry was poised for great things. In the beginning, it was just the two of us operating all aspects of the business, but we knew we were on the path for major growth.
We sprouted in the digital space, but we quickly blossomed into a full-service agency with the addition of creative services, media planning and buying for digital and traditional platforms, branding, social media, SEO, SEM, and eCRM capabilities.
Our global footprint also grew; we opened our headquarters in Miami and later, satellite offices in Los Angeles, Honolulu, Osaka, and Hong Kong to better represent our international clients in travel, entertainment, hospitality, casinos, and beyond.
In the span of twenty-three years, we grew exponentially, even in the face of major global challenges such as the 9/11 attacks, the 2008 economic downturn, and most recently, the COVID pandemic. We remained focused on what mattered; our clients, our team, and continuing the trust we had worked so hard to build. In the end, we overcame these challenges and became stronger for having faced them.
Like many others, the pandemic forced us to pause and take stock. We adjusted and reconfigured our holdings, reducing our global footprint and focused on running operations from our home office in Miami and our Pacific satellite office in Honolulu, Hawaii. Currently, WMX is in a growth phase, supported by an expanding team of talented professionals and exciting new lines of business.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I think “smooth sailing” is a rarity in business. Sure, there are periods of calm, but our world is dynamic. Storms are always brewing. However, if you build your ship well and have an experienced crew to help you run it, you can weather almost any storm.
The pandemic presented a “trial by fire” for all of us, personally and professionally. We had some painful moments due to the nature of our business and were forced to make some very difficult decisions in order to maintain our momentum and protect our existing business. We adapted successfully and we’re currently entering a new phase of growth; smarter and better prepared for the challenges that lay ahead.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
What began in 1999 as World Media Interactive has evolved over twenty-three plus years into who we are today; WMX – a global, full-service agency obsessed with performance and top-level service. We specialize in optimized marketing for brands in the travel, hospitality, entertainment, and casino categories.
Digital advertising is our core service; it’s where it all began for us. But as we have evolved over the years, our offerings have also expanded. Beyond digital, WMX also supports our client partners with a complete suite of advertising services, including brand strategy, creative services, SEO, SEM, eCRM, media planning and buying for digital and traditional platforms, social media, email marketing, intelligence analysis, robust analytics, and beyond.
We pride ourselves on the effectiveness of our work and the trust that we’ve built with our clients and our team.
As an employee-centric firm, trust is at the center of everything we do.
As an employee-centric firm, trust is at the center of everything we do.
We’ve always focused on our internal dynamics, hiring the right people who can make a difference through their expertise and experience. It makes for a stronger team, one that creates culture and chooses to stay for the long haul. This level of stability goes a long way in maintaining those long-lasting client relationships that are so important for our business. Trust, dependability, and relatability set us apart. We strive to be more than a client’s agency; we are dependable partners in their journey. As a result, we have cultivated and maintained longer client partnerships than the competition by building our relationships on confidence, transparency, and collaboration. We remain hyper-focused on delivering on their goals, it’s always a priority.
Our clients know that we treat their business as an extension of our own with 24/7 attention to detail, all-in daily support, seamless collaboration with in-house teams, and an obsessive commitment to their success. That, in a nutshell, is the WMX difference. We are “Built on trust. Powered by performance.”
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
I’ve always believed luck favors the well prepared, you can’t just wait for luck to hand you success. You have to create the conditions for it to flourish. Over the past twenty-three years, we’ve made our fair share of luck and will hopefully continue to reap the benefits for many more years to come.
