Duga Digital End of 2025 Update

I have been looking forward to writing this. 

Not out of routine or necessity, but because it feels like the right moment to pause and take stock. There is a point each year where the pace drops just enough for me to feel the weight of what has happened. That point has arrived. 

So I invite you to grab a coffee (or something stronger as you might need it), sit by a fire, late evening, early morning, whichever you prefer, when the din of deadlines has finally settled. 

A long overdue letter from someone who has been busy, grateful, and proud, writing to someone else who has been busy and needs a moment to reflect.

This is the first Duga Digital annual letter. To talk about the year we’ve just had. 

A year in which we had 2 offers to be bought.

It has not been convenient or predictable. It has been a year of bold decisions, clearer direction, and genuine progress. And it has reminded me why we do this work in the first place.Duga.Duga means “to help” in old English Norse. Its sentiment is the reason I started the company, and the reason it's still here today.

Where we stand today

We have never been clearer on who we are. 

We are not an agency chasing every possible thing. We are a specialist partner. Focused. Reliable and accurate. Technically excellent. Trusted by brands that cannot afford guesswork.

This year we helped clients with their digital data measurement when the ground beneath them was unsteady. We fixed broken data paths for retailers from app to web. We re-engineered tagging for publishers. We gave brands the confidence to invest, optimise and grow their performance marketing to have record-breaking Black Friday performance.

2 of our clients outgrew their offices. 

All of our clients hired more staff. 1 outgrew their CEO.

One client summed it up in a sentence that has stayed with me:

“Duga get things done. They do not make noise. They make progress.”One of my favourite quotes this year came from a partner who said “I only gave Dan a price - Duga did the rest of the work with the client”

That is the reputation we protect fiercely. Reliability is important. We intend to keep it that way.

What we delivered this year

I honestly don't even know where to start. I feel like the year has flown past because we've been in constant delivery mode.

A few highlights. After all, real progress is built one solved problem at a time.

Server side tagging remains our biggest advantage and has delivered the biggest changes for brands. Not theoretical pilots. Actual working systems that reduce waste, lift match rates, protect user privacy and give acquisition teams data they can trust. The best example I can offer is the 25 country and brand websites using a single server-side container for their entire digital analytics tracking system.

We are the biggest UK partner of Addingwell - we have over 30 brands we work with together.

We’ve delivered analytics rebuilds for companies where every missed event means lost revenue. We replaced the mess with strong setups, documented details, and ensured they are measurement ready. Bringing together data across different platforms for B2B publishers and events companies, merging database updates with form submission events. Stitching real world and data world views together.

We’ve worked on app tracking enhancements for brands with zero tolerance for error. Delivered with accuracy and proper quality assurance, because the world is now app and web, they are connected and the data needed to be too. Huge retailer, helped. And we loved it.

And then there is the work that is harder to summarise because of the nature of it. 

The calls at short notice. 

The escalations. 

The migrations that were meant to be simple but needed a step by step approach. The behind the scenes guidance that saved budgets, internal timelines and reputations of teams. Those are the moments clients remember the most. And they are the moments where Duga is at its best.

Quiet features we introduced

We have always believed that our product is the quality of our delivery. But this year we also built a set of internal tools that quietly, steadily, raised our ceiling.

• Faster deployment patterns that reduce risk and ensure consistency across environments.

• Templates for reporting workflows that finally let teams escape the tyranny of manual dashboards.

We never announced any of this. We just rolled it into how we operate. The result is a more dependable agency. The kind of partner you barely need to manage because things simply work.

What we learned

Bloody hell what haven't we learned? All sorts. Technical? Yes. Soft skills? Yes. Partnerships? Yes. Communication? Yes. Timelines? Absolutely. This year reinforced a truth we sometimes forget. Most organisations do not need more dashboards. They need fewer assumptions. They need clarity. They need foundations they can trust. They need partners who listen, challenge and then quietly deliver with conviction.

The clients who invested in this now move quicker. They spend smarter. They waste less. They sleep better.

Personally, I’ve learnt an awful lot about stakeholders. About relationships, about the value of making sure that everyone in the room / call understands a key concept before we move on to the next point. It’s about making sure everyone is comfortable and understands their role in the process. 

Everyone has value to add, some need a different way of working.

A word to our clients

Thank you. Read that again. You invite us into the detail of your business and expect us to handle it with care. You trust us with the decisions that shape your marketing, technology and growth. You let us challenge your thinking and you challenge ours. That partnership is how great work happens.

It has been a privilege to support you. We do not take your trust lightly.

And we will continue to deliver the best outcomes possible for you, lead your efforts to do the right thing, and be the best possible partner to help.

Thank you again for the trust you have placed in us.

A word to our partners

This is the absolute bedrock on which we serve our customers. You bring calm and pragmatic opportunity in a sea of digital wilderness.

You open doors, share opportunities and recommend us because you know we will not let you down. That faith is not something we ever assume. Next year you will see an even sharper Duga. More frameworks. More speed. More reliability. More capability in the moments when your clients need it most.

Duga is proud to be connected with you. 

We are pushing your name in conversations and we partner with the best teams for a reason. It is not a gimmick, we are genuinely proud of our commitments.

A word to those still watching on the sidelines (Hello!)

2026 might be your year! Or our year! Or both!

If you have been on the receiving end of my more sporadic outreach during the busy months, take this letter as the long overdue update. No pitch. No sell. Just a clear invitation.

The work we do changes how teams operate. It restores confidence. It reduces waste. It improves performance. It gives leadership a level of clarity they did not have before. If that would make a difference for you, we should talk.

And if you have been undecided for a while, let me say this gently. The organisations that worked with us this year now have stronger foundations for 2026. If that is something you want to walk into next year with, we are ready when you are.

Where we go next

2026 is already taking shape.

We will continue building the most dependable analytics and measurement partner in the UK.

Not necessarily by becoming bigger, but by becoming sharper. Leaner. More disciplined. More predictable. The first call when something breaks, when something needs to be built, or when someone needs to make a high stakes decision and cannot afford cloudy data.

We will deepen our specialisms in privacy-centric data collection, optimisation and strategy and AI supported analytics operations. We will continue to deliver the kind of work that holds up under scrutiny and supports commercial outcomes, not just reporting outputs.

I’m excited at the prospect already.

Closing thoughts

If this year has taught me anything, it is that trust is earned in the quiet moments. The moments where someone needs you to show up, not because it is convenient, but because it matters.

I’ve had to have hard conversations this year, and the fact that people are willing to be open, honest and transparent about how they are feeling with me is not something I take lightly. So thank you for that opportunity to be the person who you talk to and ask to fix your problems. Or who you ask to explain your problems. 

Thank you for being part of our year. Thank you for your challenges, your honesty, your ambition and your faith in what we do.

Here is to a new year built on strong foundations, thoughtful strategy and the kind of work that moves businesses forward with confidence.

Wishing you a wonderful break over the holidays,

Dan

Duga Digital