Agency roundup: Brand Ambition; Fox Agency; ACD&B; and more

Sam Raife

A new digital marketing agency aimed at helping SMEs across the UK has been launched by former Blueclaw SEO lead, Sam Raife.

Formed with business partner Robin Hetherington, the pair have decades of digital, marketing and advertising agency experience between them.

Brand Ambition was created after the duo saw SMEs were not getting the recognition and help they needed from agencies during the first months of the pandemic.

Raife has taken on the position of managing director, whilst Hetherington drives the visual side of the business as creative director.

They are based remotely in Leeds and Belfast respectively and the agency works across technical SEO, design, content, PR and social media.

Robin Hetherington

The pair have worked on projects for clients in Leeds, Belfast, Durham and Aldershot in the six months since Brand Ambition’s inception, with a steady stream of work in the pipeline over the coming months.

Currently the business is on track for a six-figure turnover in its first year.

Two new staff have joined the business. Finance manager Kate Hicks and PR and content manager Pete Finnegan have helped expand the agency’s offering and client base, with plans underway to add more members to the team.

Raife said: “After being able to take a step back and look at the business landscape during the first lockdown, I noticed hardly anyone was working with SMEs, especially at a time when a lot of them needed specialist agency support the most.

“Being able to found Brand Ambition with my business partner, and uncle, Robin has been a brilliant experience and we’ve already done some great work for a number of different clients that we’re proud to work with.

“The support we’ve received from organisations designed to support SME growth in the city has been fantastic.

“From legal, HR and business mentorship with Ad:Venture through to peer support and networking from the LEP & Leeds University Business School Peer Networking group, we’ve managed to network and meet like-minded businesses without ever leaving our desks.

“We’ve done great work for our clients and we’re looking forward to continuing that as we grow over the coming months.

“We’re already looking at bringing additional staff onboard and exploring options for our first office in Leeds which we’ll use as a blended office and remote working combination as we build our team.”

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B2B technology marketing specialist, Fox Agency, has announced quarter one revenue growth of 37% – equating to almost £300,000 more than quarter one the year prior.

The figures relate to the period November 2020 to January 2021 and show the agency is on its way to achieving its £4m target for this financial year and reaching £10m revenue within three years.

Fox Agency attributes the growth to significant seven-figure contract wins for global B2B tech clients BOBST and Alcatel Lucent Enterprise; as well as growth across its wider B2B tech client roster.

Ben Fox, director at the agency, said: “Last year’s figures relate to the pre-Covid period where we were experiencing a period of sustained growth.

“It is extremely encouraging to see our strategic focus on global B2B tech has driven significant growth over the last three to six months, and we are well on our way to achieving our objectives for this year, and beyond.”

In the first months of 2021, the business has signed new seven-figure contracts including with global cloud, network, and communications solutions provider, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, spanning social media management, content creation, brand creative, PR and virtual events.

In addition, the agency has agreed a new three-year contract with Swiss-owned global packaging machinery manufacturing and technology provider, BOBST, for integrated services including brand creative, video production, virtual events, podcasts, marketing automation, and lead generation.

In late 2020, Fox Agency was appointed by IT and Cloud Managed Services Provider, Synapse360 for a complete brand repositioning, visual identity, digital presence, and ongoing lead generation activity.

Michael Dean, head of digital, said: “The expansion of our digital offering has accelerated at pace over the last six months.

“We are supporting tech clients in achieving their ambitious growth plans with targeted and successful demand generation, lead capture, lead nurture, and conversion.”

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West Yorkshire-based ACD&B has secured a trio of new client wins.

The independent creative agency has added beauty etailer Justmylook, Wakefield Trinity Community Foundation charity, and Pacc, a research-based selection and employee engagement consultants, to its roster of clients.

Justmylook tasked ACD&B with rebranding its logo, and to deliver design and photography briefs.

In addition, ACD&B, which specialises in providing clients with branding, artworking, creative, web design and PR, created a new branding system for Pacc’s existing logo.

For Wakefield Trinity Community Foundation, ACD&B was challenged to create a new brand identity and system for its Trinity Education department.

The brief requested that the new branding incorporated Wakefield Trinity Rugby Leagues’ blue and red colour palette and fleur-de-lis.

Managing director, Chris Parkinson, said: “The year couldn’t have started better. We’re thrilled to have delivered branding projects for three great brands in the beauty, charity and HR sectors.

“Creating and reimagining a brand allows us to be at our most creative. We have equally enjoyed working with Justmylook, Pacc and Wakefield Trinity Community Foundation, to help create new identities that better reflect their services.”

Luke Williams, founder and sales director at Justmylook, said: “Our rebrand was long overdue. Working with ACD&B has been seamless across every brief.

“Creativity is at the heart of what they do and they have delivered a quality, professional logo that better represents Justmylook and elevates our brand.”

ACD&B also works with Retearn, JLA, NorthEdge and Bespoke.

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Leeds and Hull-based independent design agency, OurCreative, is celebrating winning the account for the prestigious Leeds International Piano Competition.

This is one of the world’s foremost classical music events. 2021 will see the competition feature some of the most talented pianists from around the globe.

With initial rounds being held at various international venues, the finale is hosted at a grand ceremony in Leeds city centre.

The triennial event founded by Dame Fanny Waterman in 1963 is steeped in history, and over previous years has attracted over one million online views globally in more than 190 countries.

The Our Creative team has been brought on board to produce a fresh visual identity for the brand, connecting both the prestige of the competition and the work the event does to bring classical music to a younger audience and the local community.

OurCreative managing director, Kim Van Elkan, said: “We’re chuffed to bits to be working with The Leeds team on the branding for their wonderful event and raising awareness of the inspiring work they do in the local community.

“I’m very proud of the creative work that the team produced to win the pitch, and we are looking forward to building on this and our relationship together.”

Fiona Sinclair, CEO of Leeds International Piano Competition, added: “We’re very excited to be working with Kim and her brilliant creative team – together we’ll show the world that both great design and great pianists are made in Leeds.”

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