Agency round-up: connective3; Incredible; Ascensor; and more

Leeds-based digital performance marketing agency connective3 has announced 10 new hires for the New Year taking its team to a 40-strong headcount total.

The agency, which launched in October 2019, is led by CEO Tim Grice. It provides a digital marketing service for a number of prominent brands including thortful, Comparethemarket.com and Strata Homes.

Due to significant client wins and a heavy focus on expanding the remit of existing accounts, the agency has seen revenues increase by 400% across 2020.

James Fernando and Andrew Moody formerly of Click Consult and Parallax respectively join as client directors.

The Content Marketing team welcomes five new hires, from executive to strategist level and the Paid Media Team takes on Charlotte Smith as a senior paid executive to support on connected accounts.

Finally, Dawn Little and Richard Wilson join as marketing executive and content creator respectively to enhance the firm’s marketing and creative offerings.

Grice said: “2020 was a great year for connective3 that has seen us grow in-line with our ambitious targets.

“We’ve been fortunate enough to attract amazing new talent to help us continue our growth and deliver on our connected proposition.

“We’re excited about 2021 and have further plans to expand in the coming months.”

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Former founder and executive chairman of digital agency Delete, Andy Hutchinson, has joined forces with Leeds-based Sam Parish to head and oversee the growth of his agency, Incredible.

Hutchinson has previously spent over 20 years at Delete, which was first established as fuse8 back in 2000, but has recently since stepped down from his role as part of Delete’s sale to Manchester-based Kagool.

With an existing working relationship going back 10 years this isn’t the first time the pair have worked together.

Parish established Incredible in 2016, following seven years working his way up the Leeds agency ladder.

The agency has since grown from a one-man band to an eight-strong team supporting diverse clients including: Cafe2U, Deansgate Square, Renaker, Leeds Credit Union, Berkeley DeVere and hugg with Social, Content, PR, Design and further Digital Marketing Services.

Parish said: “Incredible was borne of my experience with working for some of the region’s biggest agencies and wanting to give clients a more streamlined approach – stripping out costs for process and focusing on the right people getting them the right results.

“The opportunity to work alongside the founder of one of the region’s most successful agencies is insane – both personally and professionally.

“To be able to tap into Andy’s wealth of experience and contacts is fantastic for both the agency and our client base.”

 Hutchinson added: “The feeling is similar to that of 20 years ago when I founded fuse8, the excitement, the simplicity, the idea of fun – all with an element of trepidation in the current landscape.

“Having known Sam for over a decade and only ever been impressed with his approach, his skill set, man management and ability to cut through noise – I can’t wait to add my experience to the mix.

“I’ve had a four week breather and now I am back raring to go.”

 The first impact of Hutchinson’s arrival will be a period of recruitment and growth, with the agency looking to fill a number of newly created positions – including a digital developer, and additional social media team members.

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Andrew Firth

Leeds-based digital marketing agency Ascensor has delivered an online application process for trade customers of Europe kitchen specialists Nobia.

The new digital process, for Nobia brand Magnet Kitchens, significantly improves the in-store and remote sign up of new trade customer accounts.

Magnet Kitchens’ application process and the associated data management routines have been made completely digital, enabling a previously lengthy process to be completed swiftly.

Andrew Firth, MD of Ascensor, said: “Nobia has more than 6,000 employees and 20 brands, including Magnet Kitchens.

“So we were delighted when they asked us to develop an online business application form, to transform the way Magnet sign up new trade clients in their 200 kitchen showrooms nationwide.

“The existing process was paper-based and involved many separate data collection and data processing stages.

“The project required us to work with the team at Magnet to determine the required customer process.

“We devised a new digital approach to the capture and processing of the varying details of sole traders, limited companies and partnerships.

“Magnet’s previous paper-based system took days to fully complete and led to a high attrition rate among potential trade clients.

“So, introducing the facility to approve a credit line on the spot is a real game-changer.

“We are already discussing further development work to expand the solution that is demonstrating its effectiveness in Magnet showrooms across the country.”

Stephen Fish, senior project manager at Nobia says: “Delivering this initial project with Ascensor has introduced yet another distinctive advantage to Magnet.

“We have freed ourselves from a manual and time-consuming customer engagement process and can now offer credit accounts during our business developers’ initial engagement.”

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York-based marketing agency The Growth Guys says international entrepreneur, author, and professional speaker Daniel Priestley has joined the business as a director.

Priestley is the founder of multi-million-dollar event, marketing and management business Dent Global.

His appointment also follows an impressive inaugural year for The Growth Guys, which last month reported turnover of more than £200,000 and an average 500% return on investment for clients within its first year of trading.

In addition to providing strategic advice to co-founders Karl Sandor and Paul Fernandez, Priestley’s involvement will provide The Growth Guys with direct access to participants of the Dent Accelerator Programme for Small Enterprises.

Over 500 entrepreneurs participate in the business programme each year to develop and upscale their businesses, with the support high net worth mentors.

Priestley said he believed The Growth Guys’ “unique and targeted” approach to digital marketing was what was needed to help smaller organisations and upstarts navigate an online community that is increasingly crowded.

He added: “What The Growth Guys offer is a totally targeted digital marketing approach that is designed to focus on quality reach over quantity.

“If your budgets are limited you need to know that every penny is landing the right messages with the right people, so that you can see a direct return on investment, and tangible growth.

“Working with hundreds of businesses that fall into this category year after year as part of the Dent accelerator programme, I know how big the market is for this sort of offering, and I’m excited to be working with Karl and Paul to help bring what they have to offer to a wider audience.

“They’re knowledgeable, down to earth and easy to work with. They’re also business owners, so they know exactly how important their work is in helping other business owners and entrepreneurs to embark on their own growth journey.”

Fernandez said: “We’re absolutely delighted to be welcoming Daniel to the team.

“Within our first year of business we have seen exponential growth and demand for our services from all sorts of innovative and forward-thinking businesses that recognise the role that digital marketing can play in achieving their goals and ambitions.”

Sandor added: “Daniel’s experience and expertise are a perfect addition to our existing offering and will help to further position us as the go to growth marketing agency of choice for our clients, and to the network of entrepreneurs and business owners who are part of the Dent network.”