Agency round-up: Strafe Creative; Cubic; Penguin PR
Nottingham web agency Strafe Creative has welcomed two new faces to its team.
Alex Whelbourne has been appointed as project manager and Raphael Boakye joins as a front end developer.
Whelbourne is new to the digital and design world having joined Strafe from her previous role as a legal secretary. Boakye, brings his experience to the Strafe team and has already implemented ideas on how to improve developer workflow.
Given the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, neither Raphael or Alex have actually been to the Strafe office and the recruitment process was undertaken entirely virtually.
Ross Davies, director at Strafe Creative, said: “I would like to welcome Raphael and Alex to the team and congratulate them both for making such an impressive start to their new posts under far from usual circumstances!”
“Both quickly adapted to the demands and expectations of Strafe’s way of working and have soon become valued team members. I can’t wait until we can all be together in the office again and welcome them to the team properly with some of Strafe’s renowned hospitality.”
Nottingham-based Cubic has delivered a rebrand for fellow city-based pharmaceutical business Quotient Sciences.
Cubic was selected to develop a new design system that “captures the soul of Quotient” by helping its brand stand out from the crowd and communicate its difference. The project, which covered an overhaul of all of the brand’s key communications and website, culminated in a virtual launch event attended by all of Quotient Sciences 950 employees – including those at the company’s facilities in Philadelphia and Miami in the USA.
Cubic’s strategy and marketing director Oliver Bingham said: “We were delighted to be asked to continue our five-plus year partnership with Quotient by developing a brand that’s as bold as the company’s ambitions. Rooted in meaning, but with the necessary flexibility to ensure it’s future-proofed, we’re excited to see the new identity out in the world.”
Sarah Newton
Derby public relations firm Penguin PR says that a host of new clients picked up during the pandemic and increased demand from firms determined to “stay visible” during the downturn have helped it to enter 2021 on a high.
The company, based in Ashbourne Road, described 2020 as one of its busiest years yet.
Among the new clients picked up during 2020 – and the beginning of this year – include fast-growing doughnut bakers Project D, postal gift company Colleague Box, Treetops Hospice, Invictus Communications and Aristotle Financial Planning.
Penguin PR also celebrated its 10-year anniversary last year, took on a new PR account executive, Emily Fish, and sponsored 10 penguins at Twycross Zoo.
Sarah Newton, director of Penguin PR, said: “Like everybody else, we faced some big challenges in 2020 but it was by working through them that new exciting opportunities presented themselves and, by the end of the year, put us in a position that, back in March, we would scarcely have thought possible.
“In the end we were undoubtedly fortunate that we were able to flex under pressure and that we were able to secure our clients coverage by using the changing media landscape and news agenda to their advantage, especially since the consumption of news and web content went through the roof last year.
“That coverage helped them to stay visible at a time of great uncertainty while at the same time we are now serving a new breed of entrepreneur who have grown up with the internet and understand that having a strong online presence is a marketing necessity, not an added benefit.
“That has helped to give our industry a new lease of life and undoubtedly helped Penguin PR to prosper and evolve during 2020.”
