Attracting national and international clients from the usual ‘pull’ of London’s creative scene is helping a Birmingham full service advertising agency expand rapidly.
M3 opened its first city centre base only twelve months ago and has already had to relocate to larger premises after securing a string of contracts for brands in the leisure, travel and transport sectors.
Led by digital specialist Sam Hufton, the company has moved to prestigious offices at Somerset House on Temple Street and has created six jobs in Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Pay Per Click, Content Management and Social Media.
Working with new clients Affordable Car Hire, Capstone Foster Care, Co-op Funerals, Long Travel and Solo Holidays, the new acquisitions have seen annual fees in the Birmingham office eclipse over £480,000 in the first year, with plans in place to treble this between now and the end of 2020.
If this is achieved then there could be as many as ten new roles available, with the Birmingham team contributing significantly to M3’s other offices in Wolverhampton and London.
“We are very passionate about being based in the West Midlands, a region where the creative talent is often overlooked for London…something we are starting to put right,” explained Sam Hufton, Digital Director at M3.
“In just a short space of time, we have invested heavily into finding the right space and building a great team that is packed full of ideas and significant experience of the digital arena and the different techniques that deliver audience engagement, market share and, importantly sales.”
He continued: “The leisure sector is a massive opportunity for us and our work with the West Midlands Safari Park has already led to our first ever contract in Germany for Serengeti Park.
“Birmingham is a great location for our third office and Somerset House puts us right into the heart of city life. We’ve also got a fantastic roof terrace for entertaining clients and a state-of-the-art gym to help with the wellbeing of our staff.”
M3, which employs over 40 people across its three offices, offers brand development, creative, digital marketing, media planning and web development services to a national client base that features Marston’s and Formula One Autocentres.
To mark the official opening of the Birmingham office, the company is hosting a special event on August 8th featuring a host of brand specialists and marketing experts.
Held at the Botanist, a selection of the cities leading marketeers are expected to attend to hear from Steve Gregory (Co-Founder at Love Sugar Science) on ‘The Power of Ideas’, Niki Webster (Leading Food Influencer) on the changing face of Influencer Marketing and Sonya Gonzales Mier (Marketing Director of Henkel) on why brand is king in customer marketing.
Nick Lovett, Managing Director of M3, concluded: “Birmingham is a very exciting place to be with lots of exciting regeneration projects, HS2 slowly gathering pace and creative energy that is just waiting to be harnessed.
“It’s certainly proving a great location for our business and we are looking forward to investing even further in its growth and in creating local jobs.”