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Scot Keith
Founder, CEO/President at 123w (One Twenty Three West)
Scot Keith is the Founder, CEO, and President of 123w (One Twenty Three West), a creative agency based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.13 He leads an idea and design collective that uses strategy and creativity to drive business for their clients.1
Professional Background
Scot Keith founded 123w, which is celebrating its 10-year anniversary in 2023.2 The company is known for its unique business model and is considered a leading Canadian communications company. As the head of 123w, Scot oversees the agency's operations and strategic direction.
Expertise and Interests
- Creative Strategy: Scot's work focuses on using creativity and strategic thinking to help businesses grow.1
- Public Speaking: He is also a professional speaker, sharing his insights and experiences in the industry.3
- Outdoor Enthusiast: Scot mentions a love for the mountains in his social media profile.3
Online Presence
Scot Keith maintains an active online presence:
- He can be found on LinkedIn under the username scot-keith-9560125.1
- His Twitter handle is @scotkeith, where he joined the platform in April 2008.3
Personal Life
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Scot demonstrated adaptability by setting up a remote office with his wife at their cabin, showcasing his ability to lead the company through challenging times.4
Scot Keith's leadership at 123w and his involvement in the creative industry have established him as a notable figure in the Canadian media and advertising landscape.
Highlights
Good read in Ad Age today on the momentum of Small/Independent agencies.
With the news of DDB, BBDO and TBWA Canada merging into “Omnicom Advertising Services”, it’s officially a new era in the industry. These were three of the most dominant advertising agencies in the country for decades. Anyone working at or with these companies around the world - this is what’s coming. It’s not if, it’s when. So please prepare yourselves. Play chess not checkers with your career and livelihood. You’ve got to look after yourself and your family and you need to start planning what’s best for you right now.
To all CEO’s, Boards of Governors, CMO’s, VP Marketing, Director of Marketing, Marketing Managers, CFO’s, COO’s and so on: The agency world is being massively disrupted (it has been for a while but it’s now in high gear) and I highly recommend you start looking at Plan B to protect your brand and put it into a position to thrive. Independent agencies around the world are thriving. They’re doing great work for clients because the people running those companies have skin in the game. If you do really well - they do well. Independent agencies are just hustling more.
Independent agencies are running circles around the bigger, slower moving international companies. They’re doing really great work that’s working. Many of the most talented people in our industry have now moved over to working at an independent agency. When you hire an independent agency, the money goes back into the business. A great independent agency will hire the very best people. They’ll invest in tech. They’ll invest in things that will help your business thrive. They win if you win.
Reach out and meet an independent agency or two and see if they’re the right fit for your brand and your team. If so, just try them on a project and let them earn their work. Don’t ask them for any free speculative work because that’s unethical. But sample them on a project. It’s the perfect time to try something new.
There are many great independent agencies in cities and countries all over the world who are doing fantastic work. We at One Twenty Three West are just one of them and we’d be happy to connect.
123w.ca
***People from all over the world are going to read this post. All independent agencies are welcome to promote their business in the comments. Share the thread.
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Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
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Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Mesh's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
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Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
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User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.