For over 20 years, Switch Digital has been at the forefront of delivering innovative campaigns and high-impact results for their clients. As a proud supporter of Digital Jersey since the beginning, they’ve played an integral role in shaping the local digital landscape—including creating Digital Jersey’s original brand.
In this Member Spotlight, we speak with Damon Eastwood, CEO and Founder of Switch Digital, about the agency’s journey, workplace culture, and exciting new projects, as well as his passion for nurturing local talent and supporting professional growth across the Island.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your role
I’m Damon Eastwood, I am the CEO and Founder of Switch Digital. In my role I am responsible for overseeing the daily operations of the business and sit on a number of our Boards including our People Board and Technical Board. Each of these Boards are responsible for different aspects of Switch’s operation, all focused on improving outcomes for our team and clients. Mostly, I meet with our clients and support our teams with their delivery, whilst also working on our financial and agency strategy.
In my free time I enjoy playing padel and golf with my boys or getting out across the Island with my partner.
For anyone who doesn’t know, what does Switch do?
We are a full service digital agency that supports and advises our clients on communications, creative, website, UX and digital marketing. Being able to offer our clients a wide range of services across multiple disciplines ensures we can deliver high-value campaigns and results. For example our creative team will create visually beautiful designs, which our digital marketing team will then ensure is delivered and engaged with in the most impactful way.
We are really fortunate to have an incredibly skilled and experienced team of content creators, digital marketing experts, exceptional engineers, imaginative designers, storytelling wordsmiths and trusted advisors who work hard to deliver for our clients every day.
How long have you been a member of Digital Jersey?
We have been a proud enterprise member of Digital Jersey since their inception as we really value what they bring to the Island and sector. We actually supported Digital Jersey when they first launched by creating their brand, and still look after their website. I also offer up my time to Digital Jersey as a mentor as I am really passionate about nurturing and developing talent on Island.
What do you like most about being a member?
The length of our memberships speaks for itself. Over the years the team have attended countless events and training sessions at Digital Jersey – continuous improvement and development is really important to us at Switch and plays a huge part in our culture. Being able to attend these sessions locally not only provides the team with opportunities to grow their skillset and make connections across the industry, but also means the sessions are tailored to the nuances in the Jersey market.
The team likes to make the most of the working space too and often hot-desk from Digital Jersey. During our office makeover a few months ago, rumour has it the Hub had a Switch takeover, both in town and DJX!
How does the team at Switch celebrate the successful completion of a project?
As an agency we need to do this better – we often go straight from one project to another for our clients. We do however, take the time to understand any lessons learned and focus on what we would do differently next time, so our clients can always get the best out of us.
One thing we are much better at celebrating is the team. Recently Jack Pallot and Dan Lightfoot in our Web and UX team hit their 10th anniversary with Switch, so as well as the all important cake, both of them were gifted with an extra week’s holiday as thank you.
What exciting projects have you/your team been working on recently?
We are fortunate enough at Switch to be a trusted advisor to a large number of long-term clients, many of which we have been working with for over ten years. As with the nature of our work, we can’t always openly talk about the projects we are working on behind the scenes, but one thing we are really excited about is updating our own brand and website which we are hoping to launch soon. Over the past year or so we have seen significant growth as a company and expanded the services that we offer, so we are updating our brand to reflect the business we are today.
How would you describe Switch’s workplace culture and what does the team do together outside of work?
We are quite a diverse team, with different skill sets and hobbies – we all bring something different to the table and recognise the benefits that can bring to the agency. Our culture is really focussed on bringing out the best in each other, as well as heavily investing in professional development and continuous improvement for our clients.
In terms of getting together as a team, every Wednesday, we have a Switch lunch to ensure we have that touchpoint to check in with each other outside of our work activities. We also plan regular agency wide socials – rib trips to Carteret, candle-making, wreath-making, Thai on the beach and of course the usual dinner and drinks out.
We also regularly encourage our teams to head off-island as part of their continued professional development. Recently our digital marketing team attended Brighton SEO and earlier this year, our comms team headed to London for PRWeek’s Crisis Communications Conference.
Outside of this, the teams are also encouraged to get together once a quarter outside of work on Switch – the only requirement from us is that they also invite a member from another team.
Of course I need to mention our Switch five-a-side team that includes long time regulars Steve, Nathan, Elliott and myself, although more recently, we have welcomed Ethan as our sub. This actually started about 20 years ago as JEP vs agencies but has morphed over the years as people have moved.
Finally I need to give Peggy, Sunny, Jess and Ava our office dogs the recognition they deserve. They are all very popular with our colleagues and clients.
How does the team stay energised and motivated during long-term projects?
All of our team have allocated time in their calendars each week to plan, reflect, schedule work and focus on continued professional development. This structure allows us to regularly review our delivery against key project milestones and understand any areas that may need a bit more focus. These touch points also allow our team to ask for help, share their thoughts and reallocate work where needed. This helps them stay on track and deliver for our clients when they need us to.
We also enjoy the time we spend with our clients as ultimately, they are what we are here for. We like encouraging them to try something new, learn more about what we can optimise better for next time and sharing results with them.
In addition to that, the team enjoys lots of sugar and coffee – we are regulars at a lot of the coffee shops nearby!
What has been a significant highlight for Switch so far?
Last year we hit a significant milestone by celebrating our 20th anniversary. We have come a long way since the business was founded in 2003, which is to be expected for a digital agency! It’s cliche, but the biggest highlight for me is the long-term clients that have trusted us and the team that have supported us to reach this anniversary.
If Switch could collaborate with anyone/any business, who would it be and why?
One of the best parts of having an agency is that we get to partner and collaborate with our clients every day. From finance, fintech, regulated business and hospitality our day-to-day is certainly varied and so are the conversations we have in the office too. I once heard one colleague (I won’t name names!) talk about arm wrestling a politician and then later discuss glitter canons!
If I had to choose a potential dream client I would probably say an emerging sports or tech brand that we facilitate and play a part in their rise to stardom, however, I am sure our comms team would say a high profile powerwoman in business!
What emerging technology are you most excited about exploring or incorporating into your services in the near future?
Over the last five or so years the noise and talk about AI has been getting louder – some of the discussions perhaps more realistic than others. More recently, AI has really split opinions for businesses, some are embracing it with open arms, with others still very much suspicious of it. There are definitely benefits to automating processes. We use AI at Switch to automate certain services, so we can focus on using our combined expertise and experience to provide strategic advice and consulting to our clients.
We are always looking at ways in which we can streamline how we do things for our clients, so they can get the best out of their relationship, but we also know that factors such as data protection and cyber security need to be a factor before we implement anything as a quick win.
What advice would you give to someone wanting to kick start their career in technology?
Keep learning, keep adapting and embrace the change. We really encourage this at Switch.
