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Outsourcing is our bread and butter. We do write about outsourcing often but we would like to remain unbiased in our coverage; hence this unusual title.

The reason why I spoke to Gergo Csikos, the Head of Ideas of Hungarian Carnation Group is not because of outsourcing, but because I was interested in what Carnation Group is up to.

The first time I came across Carnation Group was at How to Web in Bucharest last year, when its relentless marketeers were showcasing QRHacker (Pimp your QR Code with our web app) and interactive photo sequence app Moquu at the premises of the official How to Web party late into the night. Ironically on the same day a speaker at the conference pronounced QR codes a history.

Then a couple of weeks ago I came across Totoya Creatures, a mobile app for kids with a twist which is a fluffy iPad case which comes together with a free iPhone app. Put the iPad in the case and your toddler is presented with a blinking and talking toy (watch the video: music by Husky Rescue).

Before I had a chance to order it, my 3-year-old son dropped my iPad out of its case and onto a brick walkway and cracked its screen.

Anyway, the idea of bringing together a physical toy and a mobile app is fresh and as far away from the very geeky QR codes as one can imagine, so I was determined to learn more about the company.

I found out that it is a digital agency, which has evolved from a web design company created 15 years ago, and which now offers conceptualization and development of digital ads, officially called interactive experiences and digital campaigns. Its clients are international brands with presence in CEE and the large local companies. Carnation does its job so well that it got an award of “The Creative Agency of the Year in CEE” at Webit and has been acquired by WPP’s Possible Worldwide only this month.

According Gergo Csikos, one important factor, which differentiates Carnation Group from other digital agencies is that it retains its execution team in-house. The benefit of that is that when the Don Drapers of Carnation discuss various ideas, the software development team takes part in the process. This way they can discard the ideas whose technological execution is cumbersome or impossible, or add suggestions on how advanced technology can be used to improve the project. There is even an in-house R&D team which does just that. Csikos believes that the process of generating ideas is more effective, the end product is better, and the client gets more value.

When idea and execution folks get excited by an idea, they just do it on Carnation’s account. This is how the QR Code application and Totoya Creatures came about. So far only 300 Totoya monsters have been sold and I sense there will be more. In fact, if they get a few business mentors in a startup accelerator style (to help market Totoya and stop the urge to do more with QR Codes), these ideas might just find commercial success.

Insourcing is not so bad after all. So should our potential clients plan to outsource their digital ad production, they might want to think again.

In the meantime, Carnation remains a Hungarian innovator to watch.

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