Manchester agency Tangerine has launched a new ‘tech and real estate-focused’ unit, led by Active Profile’s founder and CEO Anna Heyes.
It marks the end of an era for Active Profile and its 21-year presence in Liverpool, as Heyes heads up the new division in Manchester as part of an ‘integration’ where she brings along her portfolio of clients and five members of staff.
The new unit, which aims to strengthen Tangerine’s expertise across the tech and property sectors, is supported by the agency’s 110-strong team of integrated PR and social media specialists.
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“After more than twenty years leading Active Profile, I’m excited to set up this new unit at Tangerine,” explains Anna Heyes, founder of Active Profile.
“The agency has a reputation for excellence nationwide and felt like a natural fit for my ambitions. It’s known for being brave, collaborative and focused on making a real difference to clients’ commercial goals. I’m excited about what can be achieved as part of the growing Tangerine team.”
For Heyes, the move has presented a major opportunity to boost her growth ambitions for the agency she set up back in 2004.
“It’s a strategic move for that next growth phase,” she tells Prolific North. “Working with my non-exec, we looked at whether we invest in more senior resources or take what we’ve got into a bigger platform. I wanted to change something.”
With a sizable team and strong female leadership at Tangerine, she says the culture fit “just felt right”.
Existing staff at Active Profile were ‘consulted’ and supported before the move, she says, with some opting to remain in Liverpool while five of the team decided to take up their new roles.
Heyes will also be bringing Tech Climbers with her, an annual list which currently showcases scalable product-led tech businesses.
“Having a national reach with Tangerine was a really important factor for something like Tech Climbers, so it can go beyond what it is at the moment. Having that creative resource in-house will immediately fuel what we were doing.”
Sam Gregory, co-CEO at Tangerine, added: “Welcoming Anna to set up the new unit is another exciting step forward for Tangerine. Her expertise and experience opens up fresh opportunities for our clients and further strengthens our credentials in tech and real estate.
“It builds on the momentum we’ve created through our investment in innovation, from Project 10 and real-time content optimisation to the launch of Crisis Lab, our AI-powered simulation tool for reputation management.”
