Agency round-up: City centre office move for digital marketing business; New international contracts secured; and more

Digital marketing agency Edit, which is part of Kin+Carta, has moved to an office in Leeds.

Edit has based itself in a city centre space designed by Design Tonic, as part of ambitious 2020 growth plans across its Leeds, Bath and London offices.

At No 1 Whitehall Riverside, the new Edit office fills 7,500 sq ft of space on the third floor in the building.

Edit was formerly based at Thorpe Business Park in East Leeds. Close to the railway station with riverside views and an “Editorium” event space, the new office is perfectly positioned as a digital marketing hub for clients and staff alike.

The move to central Leeds is expected to accelerate Edit’s ambitious 2020 digital growth plans, highlighted by the expansion of Joel Spence’s role to become chief digital and growth officer assuming leadership of the digital marketing business.

Spence said: “A great business location is all about talent and culture and Leeds has bags of both.

“Our new office is a fantastic networking space with an Editorium available for workshops and events. The central location will enable clients to join us for events and talks, whilst bringing us closer to Leeds’s thriving digital marketing community.

“We have big plans for Edit in 2020. We will continue to invest in areas of growth, innovating our service areas and investing in top talent.”

Edit is seeing continued growth in it its financial services, travel and leisure, retail and pharmaceuticals client base with recent client wins such as Sunlife, Online Casinos and Black Tomato adding to its established base of internationally recognisable clients such as Vue, Jaguar Land Rover and Shell.

On taking on the leadership role, Spence added: “It’s a great honour to be invited to lead the digital business within Edit as well as growth for the wider business.

“It’s a life-long ambition and one that I am truly excited and energised by. We have a fantastic future ahead; our focus in 2020 is to continue to deliver incredible commercial results and great brand building work for our clients, to build great new relationships with ambitious, growth-focused businesses, and to innovate our products to drive new value and improve operational effectiveness.

“We have an enviable reputation in the industry and this move will allow us to continue to attract the high-calibre talent that will drive Edit forward.”

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Yorkshire and London-based B2B PR and marketing agency Allott and Associates has secured a raft of new accounts during the last six months of 2019.

In the past six months the agency has won business from clients in Australia, Turkey, Germany and the Netherlands as well as the UK.

SmartFreight, a leading global provider of software solutions for the logistics industry, leading flexible packaging company Korozo, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) powerhouse Relayr, APEX Dynamics a precision servo gearbox manufacturer and GEA, a specialist in food processing, packaging and refrigeration technology, have all signed up with Allotts to raise their profiles in the UK and beyond.

In addition to the influx of clients from overseas, Allotts has been successful in winning contracts closer to home, building new websites for Plantforce, a plant hire machinery business in the South West and Ipswich-based packaging equipment supplier Penn Packaging.

The agency’s diversification into overseas markets, as a result of domestic challenges, now account for an increased proportion of revenue.

This has created new employment opportunities within the business and is a cause for optimism in 2020, says managing director Philip Allott.

He added: “After a challenging first half of 2019, we’re delighted with the new clients who have put their marketing trust in Allotts and have joined our multi-national roster.

“We look forward to ongoing success in 2020 as the UK ultimately puts behind it the political issues that have caused uncertainty in the country.

“We’ve been fortunate in the fact that we are an international trade organisation and have been successful in winning work from the four corners of the globe.

“The type of client serviced by Allotts is as diverse as the countries themselves. We are delivering bespoke packages for all our overseas partners including digital and PR campaigns, social media and online content.”

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Marketing agency Boutique continues to cement its credentials in the home interiors market after being appointed by Limitless Digital Group, a multi-territory and multi-brand pure play digital retailer, to provide retained support across its core heating and bathroom e-commerce brands.

Burnley-based Limitless Digital, which operates its retail brands in nine countries via nine websites, has chosen Leeds-based Boutique to drive forward its retained PR, paid social, influencer and media strategy for heating website BestHeating, which provides designer radiators through to modern home heating accessories.

The agency will also support one of its other major UK e-commerce brands, Big Bathroom Shop – the home of luxury bathroom products.

Boutique is primarily tasked with building awareness of both online brands through high profile media coverage, increasing brand engagement and ensuring that the digital PR elements underpin its SEO strategy. Key to the appointment is enabling BestHeating and Big Bathroom Shop to grow their market share through increased traffic and sales revenue growth.

Ali Whitehead, marketing general manager at Limitless Digital, said: “Boutique’s channel agnostic approach to marketing both brands and proven expertise in the home interiors space was key to us bringing them on board.

“We look forward to tapping into their expertise and strategic thinking across PR, digital marketing and media buying and planning, as the relationship develops.”

Boutique managing director, Simon Bollon, said: “Being appointed by Limitless Digital to handle two of its biggest online retail brands is an extraordinary achievement by the team and the perfect way to kick-off the year. Both BestHeating and Big Bathroom Shop are a real sweet spot for us as a client as they build on our extensive experience in the home space and play to our end-to-end channel capabilities.”

Boutique’s appointment by Limitless Digital is off the back of 30% revenue growth in 2019, which culminated in a major rebrand for the business to reflect its transition to a channel agency.

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Gulliver’s Valley Theme Park Resort has named Sheffield-based Sidekick PR as its local supplier ahead of its late spring opening.

Sidekick PR will work with Gulliver’s to keep people up to date with the progress of this new project in South Yorkshire.

Charlotte Dimond, director at Sidekick PR and Rotherham Pioneer, said: “We are really excited to be working with Gulliver’s Valley. Two of our directors are Rotherham based so the new theme park is almost on our doorstep.

“We’re looking forward to working creatively and strategically to help Gulliver’s Valley attract visitors from across the region and beyond.

“We’ll also be working with the region’s business community and local communities to build relationships that help to place Gulliver’s Valley firmly in the fabric of the town.”

Gulliver’s Valley is set to become the jewel in the Rother Valley crown and will be home to more than 50 rides.

Attractions will include an indoor climbing centre, an indoor play area, and a Lost Jurassic World area which will be home to all kinds of dinosaurs.

Accommodation options will be available when the park opens, ranging from Dino Lodges to Unicorn Suites and Western Cabins.

Julie Dalton, managing director of Gulliver’s Family Theme Parks and Resorts who own Gulliver’s Valley, said: “It is important to us that we use local companies wherever possible to supply Gulliver’s Valley and we are pleased to have appointed fellow Rotherham Pioneers to provide our PR and Communication function.”