Leicester creative agencies merge and pledge to create new jobs
Leicester-based creative agencies, Cite and Well & Truly, have merged.
The new company will retain the Cite name prior to a major rebranding later in 2021 and will create at least three new jobs to bring the total number of staff to 25.
Cite has been based in Leicester city centre for 20 years and has clients all over the UK and Europe including Norway, Germany, France and Italy. Well & Truly was formed seven years ago and has focused its work in sectors such as finance and professional services, health and wellbeing, and home and lifestyle.
Following the merger the new company will boast a client list that includes Continental Tyres, NHS, ABB, Sekonda, Saint-Gobain, Nevill Holt Opera and Sika Everbuild.
Laura Bent, director of Insight and Strategy at Cite, said: “I formed Well & Truly following a successful 10-year stint in senior roles at a leading full-service agency where I rose from client servicing, through to senior planner and client director positions.
“Well & Truly quickly established itself as a highly professional brand strategy and creative agency. When a business mentor introduced us to Cite, we met for the first time at the annual Create Leicester event in February 2020 where Cite was a sponsor. It was immediately obvious that we were a good fit, both from a business and a cultural perspective, and we began to work on projects together.”
Dafydd Prichard, director of Cite, added: “We’ve always worked within an agency model and have collaborated with external partners. We’ve marked out a real reputation for our work in creative digital marketing but recognised that we could still improve on our strategic planning and insight. Laura and Well & Truly bring these specialist planning skills and will allow us to put strategy and insight at the heart of everything that we do.
“The merger creates an interesting fusion of skillsets and the result is more that than just a sum of the parts – we’re now offering more as a whole than we were separately. Few regional agencies can offer that complete level of service.
“From developing brands from scratch to re-branding, through to implementing full-scale integrated and digital marketing campaigns, planning sits at the heart of our strategic consultancy to help our clients realise their ambitions through insightful and effective brand messaging.”
Andy Leitch, director of Cite, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Laura and her team on board. With our combined skills and expertise, we can deliver the strategic, creative, technical and digital marketing skills that organisations need. Despite such a challenge of merging and launching the new business during a pandemic, the business outlook is looking very positive.
“We’ve introduced the new model to existing clients already and have received terrific feedback, so we’re confident that given the distinct nature of our new proposition, we will continue our upward momentum.”
