Friends form burgeoning media business at forefront of digital tech

Fraser Cottrell and Nicholas Beddows, both 23, were college friends who did not want to leave education to work for other people.

Instead, they channelled their entrepreneurial spirit into creating a start-up business that, they say, shook up the existing world of staid video content.

The result was award-winning social media video production agency Fraggell Productions, in Denton, Manchester, which already counts Barclaycard, Saint Laurent, Gap, PrettyLittleThing, Lavish Alice and Papa Johns among its clients.

Discussing the USP that sets them apart, Fraser Cottrell, creative director, said: “All of our content is created specifically for social media, not as an afterthought or as part of a wider traditional media (TV, print, radio) ad campaign.

“Our content is tailored to each individual social media platform, meaning that it resonates with their varying user demographics and drives home whatever message we are conveying to a vast audience.”

Growing up alongside social media, the pair were aware of the vast capabilities this medium could offer.

They also recognised the value of video content for brand evolution, growth and engagement and its absence across the most popular social media platforms.

The results have been impressive, with Fraggell’s videos clocking up more than 27 million views worldwide and their GIFs in excess of 51 million.

A GIF for coding bootcamp Northcoders hit one million views overnight, showing up on the Instagram GIF homepage and since increasing to 2.1 million.

A LadBible video called ‘Manchester Pugfest’ received more than three million views and 50,000 likes.

The pair said their educational background paved the way for them to become frontrunners in a new era of video content creation.

They both studied for a Btech in Media Video Production at Ashton Sixth Form College.

Fraser added: “We learned traditional video skills at college, but social media videos hadn’t taken off, other than on YouTube. When we started a few companies were making video, but most of them were out of touch former television professionals.

“Over time, online video platforms have risen in popularity and become the way most people digest content. There is a need for intelligent, digital-first video content and we would be foolish to ignore this new consumer appetite.

“If we didn’t make them, someone else would.”

Fraser and Nicholas landed their first major client, Northcoders, in June 2017, and this gave them the confidence to grow a brand identity and online presence.

In 2018, Fraggell Productions took on fashion brand PrettyLittleThing and Fraser said: “Having them become a client was a major goal. It’s one of the biggest global brands and is based in Manchester.”

Videos created by the pair include Facebook and Instagram adverts, or simply original, organic content. Much of the work is aimed at Millennial and Generation Z markets, with videos for Snapchat proving popular.

With a turnover of £100,000 in 2018, alongside a £30,000 pre-tax profit, and three full-time employees, this burgeoning business has plans to increase to a £1m turnover in the next five years, while adding 30 staff members.