Agency roundup: Principles; Fantastic Media; Propaganda; and more

Brand communications agency, Principles, has achieved the strongest start to a financial year in the business’s nine years under its current ownership.

The Leeds-based firm says key to this success has been retention and growth within existing clients, along with recent new client wins including Best Heating and Ropsley Ltd.

This increased demand has resulted in recruitment across creative and client services with three new hires.

Jorden Sweet re-joins as account director after 18 months away including a spell with FPP, bolstering the agency’s Client Services team.

She brings with her almost 10 years of industry experience, having previously worked with brands including Warburton’s, Arla and Mr Kipling.

A further senior hire, this time in the creative team, sees Shelly Coyle join as creative lead from Flutter Entertainment, having also worked at London agencies such as OgilvyOne, VCCP and Saatchi & Saatchi.

Joining Coyle, and widening the skillset in the creative team, is Emily Haigh-Jacobs, a designer experienced in brand creation and development.

Recent figures, for the first four months of the financial year, have revealed the agency has more than doubled its quarter one year-on-year turnover, generating a total of £701,000, with gross profit in the same period also up by 70% to £368,000.

MD Mike Hackett said: “I’m really pleased to be reporting such strong growth figure. As a team, we’ve taken some risks and put lots of effort into innovating within the business; completely reinventing our brand proposition and business operations model through the four-day working week.

“We’re happy to see these choices beginning to pay off, not just in terms of business figures, but also through our client retention/win levels and, importantly, a happier, healthier workforce.

“We hope that this is the start of a very positive trajectory for the future of the agency.”

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Huddersfield Town (HTAFC) has appointed Leeds based full-service marketing agency, Fantastic Media, as its official brand and marketing partner to drive the club forward following its delivery of a rebrand.

First appointed by the club in October 2023, the agency delivered a strategic rebrand for Huddersfield Town, which rolled out over several months, as part of a seven-figure “Everything Together” campaign to revitalise the club and community ahead of the 2024/25 season.

Fantastic Media’s CEO, Andy Hobson, said: “Huddersfield Town has ambitious plans to grow revenue, engage commercial partners and, most importantly, build stronger bonds between the club and its fans.

“I am proud that we can help the club to deliver these goals by joining as its official brand and marketing partner.

“The fans, players, club staff and wider community have responded incredibly positively to the ‘Everything Together’ launch, you can really feel the spark igniting again down at The John Smith’s Stadium.”

HTAFC’s chief executive officer, Jake Edwards, added: “We are thrilled to have Fantastic Media onboard as the club’s official brand and marketing partner.

“Andy and the team truly understand the new direction for the club and genuinely believe in what we’re trying to achieve here.

“Our goal is to rejuvenate the club’s identity and cultivate a renewed sense of community and success.

“The ‘Everything Together’ rebrand campaign delivered on those aims but it is just the beginning. The ongoing strategic support that Fantastic will deliver over the coming weeks and months will help to solidify the club’s foothold in the local and sporting communities.”

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Brand consultancy, Propaganda, has delivered a brand refresh for Powersheds.

This is designed to tap into consumer insight to position the company as the go-to name for high-quality, dependable, and easy-to-purchase garden buildings.

The team at Powersheds sought out the expertise of Leeds-based Propaganda, having seen its work both within the outdoor buildings sector, and for BSW Group – the UK’s largest integrated forestry group – which took a 50% stake in Powersheds in 2022.

Powersheds emerged as a start-up in 2019 with a mission to remove the inherent pitfalls of the traditional sheds and log cabins industry.

Lee Bennett, creative director at Propaganda, said: “We recognised an opportunity to transform how Powersheds, and the product itself, is perceived. We’ve turned a functional product into something desirable and cool.

“This is a completely new approach for this product category, which will set Powersheds apart in a crowded market.”

Jack Sutcliffe, CEO of Powersheds, said: “We’ve partnered with Propaganda to accelerate our growth. Their expertise, approach and objective advice have already delivered us fresh ideas and injected real energy into the business.

“We are thrilled with the new direction and confident it will resonate with our customers, making us the leading name in the industry.”

Propaganda devised, led and managed the strategy for the rebrand and launch campaign, collaborating with specialist production agencies to deliver certain elements of the creative.

Tungsten Productions partnered to create the brand film, with Ride Shotgun on the CGI lifestyle assets, while Show+Tell and Verse agencies collaborated on the website.

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