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Hull Content On Demand Strawberry

Yorkshire focus: Is there an agency scene in the region?

By The Drum Team | Editorial

Strawberry

|

Great Britain article

October 30, 2014 | 4 min read

Yorkshire proved itself on the world stage earlier this year when it played host to Tour de France's Grand Départ.

But is there a recognisable agency scene in the region, and how does the area's output measure up against work from the rest of the UK?

As part of The Drum's Blackwell's Britain tour of the UK's creative hubs, we asked a cross-section of local experts to share their thought on the marketing sector in 'God's Own Country'.

Dominic Love, creative director, Strawberry

I would say so, yes, but it’s in clusters at the moment.

Being based in East Yorkshire means we’re at the end of the line. With that comes the need to create our own buzz.

It’s happening in Hull and, as a city, real investment is going into digital and the creative sector.

At the moment, Yorkshire is creating some cracking work, but that spans across the north as a whole now.

Being seen as a region for good, thoughtful, creative work rather than a cheaper cost per hour is very promising.

You only have to look at the brands and companies ignoring geography and choosing on merit to see this.

Simon Pluck, creative director, Hub

I'm not sure about Yorkshire as a whole, but I would certainly say there is one in Leeds.

The city is home to many agencies from the small boutique style to large full service operations.

There are pockets of creative activity in the centre attracting start ups and established agencies at The Calls and Holbeck Urban Village, plus quality agencies all around Leeds.

So you can see that this cosmopolitan Yorkshire city, in particular, is shaping up to be one of the UK’s hot spots for innovation and creativity.

Simon Bollon, Director, Boutique Media

To a degree but I do still think that knowledge sharing is too restricted.

We have a network of agencies with whom we have established relationships and we share our knowledge and insights with them but it doesn’t happen enough - fear of the competition drives an insular approach in the area and that is naturally difficult to break.

There are one or two bodies looking to create better connections but I fear most of it is driven by them trying to project themselves or their businesses as thought leaders.

There’s always the YPA which makes for a great piss up!

Jamie Allan, managing partner, Intermarketing Agency

Yes, there is certainly a recognisable agency scene in Leeds.

It’s maybe more related to media buying and digital than purely creative agencies, but there are events that bring agency people together happening all the time.

It doesn’t matter where you’re located, amazing and creative work is constantly being produced by a number of good agencies across the UK.

If you’re willing to travel and ensure that clients don’t see your location as a problem, then you can measure up against anyone, anywhere.

Phil Parkin, co-director, Content On Demand

The creative work coming out of Yorkshire is top quality.

For content marketing and social media, it doesn’t matter where it comes from – as long as it connects with the consumer, it can be effective regionally, nationally or even globally.

This piece was originally published in the 15 October issue of The Drum magazine as part of Blackwell's Britain series, exploring the creative sector of some of the UK's largest cities and regions.

Hull Content On Demand Strawberry

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Strawberry

Strawberry was established in 1993 and is a full-services creative digital agency with a team of 37 highly talented staff.

Our client base reaches far and wide to include a diverse range of businesses. We create ideas that help our clients to stand out and add value to their business, working as an extension of their in-house marketing team. Our services include digital marketing, website design and development, eCommerce, creative branding and graphic design.

We also have a strong commitment to nurturing the next generation of marketing and creative talent, which is why we have launched StrawberryToo - a spin-off agency that is staffed entirely by graduates and apprentices. The aim of StrawberryToo is to support the next generation of design and digital stars by giving them on-the job, real life experience from day one.

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IMA

Hello. We’re IMA-HOME. A fully connected global marketing agency that lives and works in the real world. We create real world solutions for real business challenges, to help build brands people care about. Today there are 400 of us collaborating across six countries.

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