I’m Raluca Apostol, the Operations Director of STOICA – a marketing agency helping tech clients grow their businesses. In May 2025, I traveled to Aberdeen, Scotland, to learn a great deal about operations, marketing, and running an agency from the amazing peers at Fifth Ring. This is how it went.
I started my own agency in 2018, following my layoff from my previous job. I didn’t know a lot about running an agency, but I knew I wanted to do better than I had when I was a freelancer for six months before running out of clients.
So, I created a budget, a plan, and the work. And when I didn’t know what was next, I tried to turn to others for help.
My first attempt was with a PR agency. We were both working on a client; my agency was in charge of lead nurturing, and I had no interest in ever going into PR (I hate it with a passion – sorry, not sorry 🙂 ).
I asked their owner, ‘How did you grow the team?’ Did you take on more clients than you could handle, or recruit and then grow the client base?’
And their answer?
Well, yeah, it was a decision to be made based on the timing of the growth.
Basically, nothing.
I didn’t get it. We’re not in direct competition, I’m not asking for sensitive information, so why wouldn’t you share?
Fast forward 7 years, and here I am, writing this from the Aberdeen offices of Fifth Ring, who so kindly accepted me into the Exchange Program facilitated by BBN to learn more about what they do and take that back to my STOICA team.
What is BBN
BBN is an international community of B2B marketing agencies. The agencies from the network have offices in 68 locations across 28 countries, with over 1,250 B2B marketing experts combined.
BBN is truly a community, in the sense that the agencies participating in it share common values, quality standards, and proven methodologies. We have regular catch-ups, shared resources, and events where we meet each other. Additionally, we strive to help one another improve and grow.
One of the programs available to BBN agency members is the Exchange Program. This helps people visit an agency signed up in the program and work side by side with their team.
Even though Fifth Ring was not signed up on the latest Exchange Program, having met Sarah Gray, their Regional Director for Europe, at the BBN Academy event (I did say we are truly a community) and later exploring their profile, I decided they will be a great match for what I wanted to learn.
The location of the 2024 BBN Academy, where I met Sarah Gray
Fifth Ring – B2B marketing specialists for over 30 years
Fifth Ring, part of the BBN community, is a marketing agency with offices in 3 countries: Aberdeen (Scotland), Singapore, and Houston, USA. They have been active for over 30 years and have multiple clients in the B2B space.
My criteria for selecting an agency to go for my exchange were:
- International presence, ideally with offices in more than 1 country (I wanted to learn how that is managed, since we’re looking to grow outside Romania at STOICA)
- Have an Operations Director (since I wanted to share insights with someone in a role similar to my own)
- Be larger than 15 people (I wanted to explore the challenges in a bigger agency, so we can start preparing for them as STOICA is growing)
- Have a physical office where people will speak (mostly) English (since learning isn’t only done in one-on-one conversations, but also in listening to conversations in the office).
Since Fifth Ring not only checked all items, but also Sarah and her team were open to me doing this exchange, despite not being in the program (and so accommodating, but more on that later), it was a done deal.
I traveled to Aberdeen and spent 10 days at the Fifth Ring HQ there.
The learnings
For 10 days, I returned to working in an office (at STOICA, our team works remotely, mainly, including me). I had an allocated desk, which was close to Michelle, Fifth Ring’s Traffic Manager, with whom I had a lot in common, given our shared work.
During these days, I continued working on STOICA responsibilities, but I have tried to limit the number of calls, to have more time to be present (and actively listen) to any office chats.
On top of that, Sarah has helped set up meetings with a lot of relevant people from Fifth Ring (and I’ve even had some volunteers to have these meetings, which was so nice of them), including:
- Ian, the co-founder and Business Development Director, with whom I talked about sales and choices made in growing the business
- Jen, the Managing Director, with whom I talked about managing the agency, the culture, and getting the right people on board
- Sarah, the Regional Director for Europe, with whom I talked about team structure and business objectives
- Andy, the de facto Operations Director, with whom I talked about processes & systems
- Steve, the Group Director of Strategy, with whom I talked about the traits of good strategy people and blending strategy for the agency with strategy for clients
- Michelle, the Traffic Manager, with whom I talked about resource allocation and the pros & cons of working with freelancers
- Alan, the Creative Director, with whom I talked about getting creatives to be…more creative
- Debbie & Todd, the Regional Directors of Asia & Americas, with whom I talked about managing the local teams & marketing efforts
- Jen, the Marketing Manager, with whom I talked about international marketing strategy and how to track whether your marketing is working
Additionally, I attended group meetings and took lunch breaks with the team. If there’s a more immersive way to get involved in another agency, I’m yet to find it.
Maaaaassive thanks to Sarah for helping and supporting me throughout this process while also doing her day-to-day role – you are a superstar!
What’s next?
To say that this exchange has been valuable is an understatement. I was able to deep dive into different areas of a business similar to ours and see how they all connect. I could also ask questions that might be hard to find answers for (see the beginning of the article) – so I was very lucky to find at Fifth Ring a team of people that were beyond friendly and helpful, open and willing to share their pains and wins.
(Un)fortunately for my STOICA team, I’ve come back with a load of ideas to implement ourselves.
Obviously, that was the plan all along, and I’ve tried to look at things that make sense for our specific profile, setup, and target sectors, etc.
Watch this space, things are happening!
“Having Raluca with us as part of the BBN Exchange Programme was a reminder of what makes shared learning so powerful. She brought fresh perspective, smart questions, and a genuine curiosity that challenged us in the best possible way. From strategic discussions to day-to-day operations, it was clear she wasn’t just here to observe, but to engage. We gained as much as we gave, and it was a real pleasure to have her as part of the team, even if just for ten days.”
– Sarah Gray.
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