The story of one Ukrainian marketing company

2nd December 2022

We are the Ukrainian marketing & design agency “Rubarb”. We have been successfully working for 6 years and have luggage of professional experience. Today we have offices in Ukraine, Canada, and the UK.

How were we forced to change our lives because of war?

Our team has been growing all these years working with the TOP Ukrainian companies. Before the outbreak of the war, there were 33 professionals in our team! However, the full-scale Russian war against Ukraine has made its own adjustments. 
We were awakened by a call on the morning of the 24th of February. That terrible morning all of us gathered in the office and we understood that it wasn’t clear when we could see each other again.

Nevertheless, we realised that those who needed support even more were our clients, we couldn't just leave them. That’s why we immediately called our customers to know if they were in safe. Of course, they were totally shocked, like every person who was located in Ukraine on that horrible day. Hence, all together we decided to keep in touch until something becomes clear. 
As for the repercussions of this appalling war, our team has now decreased to 14 people. In a state of fear and being in the dark about what to do next, some of the unique specialists have dispersed to different parts of Europe. However, we continue to stay in touch with everyone online to keep up working on projects. 

How does a Ukrainian company work during the war?

At the beginning of those frightening events, we all phoned each other regularly and met more often than usual. It gave the whole team an opportunity to share their emotions to just support each other and calm down, forgetting about what happened around us at least for some time. During the first months of the war, we actively cooperated with the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, fought against fakes, and helped the IT army in volunteer ambushes to support our country on the informational front. 

Today we are struggling for our independence and liberty. We need to work hard to provide for our families, but we know our nation is very strong and is able to withstand everything. Although the war still takes place in Ukraine, our team does its best to continue working and developing every day. “I did not believe that all this could happen and was very optimistic”, – says our CEO, Rodion Goncharov. Today he stays at the epicentre of events and does not leave the walls of the office to work on projects. 

Our services 

Our team today is the department of video animation, web development and marketing. Our main services include:

• Video animation
• SMM (Instagram & Facebook ads)
• Website development
• PPC setup and management
• Email marketing
• Development of digital product strategy
• SEO
• Professional product photo sessions.
• Branding

Our strategy lies in making the content, copy and picture work for your product as a solid mechanism. The level of our work and competencies is very high, which is confirmed by our rich working experience and clients’ feedback.

Our office in the UK: why did we choose this amazing country?

After the war started, our team realised that we needed to try to enter other markets, since most of the businesses in Ukraine were closed and the volume of projects that we worked on significantly decreased. Hence, we began to analyse new markets, such as the USA, Canada, and other European countries. After having conducted more than 200 online meetings and having written hundreds of emails to different businesses, we realised that we have a very similar mentality, as well as job values with UK entrepreneurs.

Moreover, our Commercial Director Maria Rubtsova moved with her daughter to Sheffield due to the war in Ukraine. We realise how important it is for a client to have a company representative in close accessibility. Maria is a practising marketer who has been working with businesses for over 8 years and understands how Rubarb can be useful to the UK market. “Despite the difficult situation, we were in the right place at the right time. Sheffield is very growing and there are many businesses we can help”, – says Maria. 

Today, a team of young and experienced enough professionals wants to express to the business audience about their desire to work no matter what. In marketing, it is very important to catch the wave with the client, and the entrepreneurs in the UK are exactly those people who do business with a similar mentality. Therefore, we are sure that our professional help can be very useful. Another important benefit is the whereabouts, as we are located in almost the same time zone and our team will be able to promptly cooperate with clients. 

Our mission

The volume of work that has been done during these 6 months in Europe exceeds our results of work in Ukraine for the past 2 years! We already have several clients, work with various agencies and continue to actively conquer this market. Rubarb Studio is sincerely grateful to fate for cooperation with the British agency Shoot You, Greenhouse Agency, and the French brand of champagne Carbon. Gratitude and positive feedback about working with us create hope that we will be as in demand in the UK as in Ukraine.

We are proud to be a Ukrainian marketing & design agency with offices in the UK and Canada. Our mission in the SCC business association is to help members provide high-quality digital support, be creative in marketing and show openness to suggestions and possible collaborations. We make every effort to ensure that our clients receive the best quality of work, quick feedback, reasonable cost, and support during cooperation to be satisfied with the joint work!