by
David Prior
A capacity crowd of 700 people came together last night to celebrate the region’s creative sector at the Prolific North Awards 2018.
Amid the Edwardian splendour of the Principal Hotel in Manchester city centre, a total of 23 prestigious ‘big Ns’ were handed out to some thoroughly deserving winners at what is now established as the largest creative industries awards evening outside London.
Our thanks first of all must go to our headline sponsors on the night, Bing and Click Consult.
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Thanks also to our category sponsors 72Point, CDI, Dock10, Group IMD & Honeycomb, Hiscox, Knight Corporate Finance and Stackhouse Poland, as well as event organisers Don’t Panic.
And our appreciation once again to our esteemed judging panel for giving up their time to determine the shortlist and the eventual winners.
The night was hosted in traditionally uncompromising fashion by Justin Moorhouse, who kept the crowd entertained long after the candelabras had burned themselves out.
And as the below list of winners demonstrates, success could be found in every corner of the region, a testament to the depth and breadth of talent around us.
The judges said: Flipbook Studio has had a cracking year, expanding into larger premises, obtaining new equipment for their studio and 3 new hires to the business, this is reflected in the turnover successfully increasing by 40%.
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The judges said: In the past year Evoluted have acquired fellow Sheffield agency Reflow Studio, taking their total staff numbers up to 25. Their use of statistics is first class, with turnover up by 44% and profit up by 52%.
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The judges said: In the past year, Bring Digital launched their graduate scheme, taking on four graduates and also brought on new recruits from Shop Direct and AO.com, taking staff numbers up to 35. They managed major new projects from clients including Ann Summers and DW Fitness, increasing turnover growth by 35% year on year and maintaining profit margin at 25%.
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The judges said: Blakeway North recently celebrated their 10th Anniversary and have successfully taken their staff numbers up to 10. They delivered four series and a number of single documentaries, including Panorama and Stacey Dooley Investigates.
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The judges said: Domu Brands and their Make it Good campaign for VonShef successfully met objectives and generated 12,000 new customers for the brand, with an average spending of £25, exceeding sales targets by 40%.
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The judges said: “Everton Football Club’s campaign had the objective of increasing retention of season ticket holders. The campaign focussed on email, telemarketing and live events and successfully achieved a record retention rate of 94.3% on season ticket renewals.”
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The judges said: Media Sales have successfully increased revenue up to 33% and staff numbers are up from 7 to 12 in the past year. The number of clients acquired in 2017 have doubled and they have obtained partners including Time Out and AdMaxim.
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The judges said: Wavemaker have had a year of distribution to the market, the agency rebranded and were ranked in the Sunday Times 100 best places to work list. Their media billings were up by 14%, increased revenue per head in the business and obtained new client assignments including Mornflake, Hoover and Disneyland Paris.
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Highly Commended: Acceleris
The judges said: SEO Works opened a new office in Leeds in the past year and made a small acquisition. They retained 50% of their clients, increased staff numbers from 22 to 35 and made a 28% growth in annual turnover.
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The judges said: Shoot The Moon’s social division is now up to 15 team members, taking total staff figures up to 34 employees and sales are up over 25%.
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The judges said: Stein IAS and Ingredion’s You Are How You Eat fully integrated campaign targeted both PR coverage and the sales pipeline and they successfully delivered both with ROI of 20:1.
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The judges said: Modern English Digital created a website for their client Sony, who described this as the “best piece of work we’ve put out in years”. The website got global publication in magazines such as Billboard and NME and generated an increase of four million streams.
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The judges said: Born + Raised went through a rebrand and was repositioned to diversify away from over-reliance of a handful of clients and secured new clients including HSBC, Royal Mint and Keep Britain Tidy over the past year. Staff numbers are up to 25, turnover up by 18% and profits increased by 38%.
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The judges said: Jaywing have had a great year, being awarded Investors in People for the 19th year and securing new clients including Wonga and The Car People. They are based in a refurbished building in Sheffield, with impressive staff numbers of 450, and their profit is up by 13% in the past year.
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Highly Commended: Blakeway North – Kicked Out From Care To Chaos (BBC Three)
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