Member Article

A ‘Better’ future awaits Teesside’s talent

A Middlesbrough-based brand agency has made a number of new appointments and promotions as it continues with its faster-than-anticipated expansion, following the launch of its London office.

Over the summer, Better secured almost a quarter-of-a-million pounds worth of new business in just a few months across London and the South East.

As a result, the company has undertaken a period a staff development and recruitment.

Alex Higgins joins Better’s web development team to lead a variety of projects as well as support the development of the company’s web apprenticeships programme. Alex, from Middlesbrough, is a Teesside University graduate and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to Better, having worked with large e-commerce platforms and web applications for organisations including the Ministry of Defence. Alex specialises in back-end PHP development and as a senior web developer, he’ll play a key part in developing in-house skills further, maintaining and improving standards and processes and driving internal R&D.

Nathan Cockerill, from Middlesbrough, has been appointed as a web developer following a two-year apprenticeship at Better, and Nathan Connor joins as Better’s new web development apprentice.

James Bolton was Better’s first digital marketing intern and has now been promoted to digital marketing executive, supporting clients on content development, creative writing and social media management.

James holds the prestigious NCTJ diploma and has experience in journalism and PR, as well as over three years working in retail content marketing and eCommerce management at a successful local independent company. James also co-runs his own business, Ironopolis 1876, which produces Teesside inspired t-shirts, accessories and prints

Rachael Boyle has been appointed as Better’s new digital marketing intern, having graduated with an MA in Corporate Communication, Marketing and Public Relations from University of Leeds, and Matthew Goodyear, who graduated from Cleveland College of Art and Design, takes up the role of creative intern.

In addition, Better is continuing to invest in the personal development of its team, attending a number of UK and European industry creative and digital conferences such as the D&AD Festival in London and Laracon and CSS Day, both in Amsterdam.

Better now employs a team of 15 with plans to create a number of new jobs in the next year. The business opened an office in the Shoreditch area of London earlier this year to help with the company’s expansion plans and, since then, has secured several major contracts which are helping to create jobs at its Middlesbrough headquarters.

Better specialises in brand development, design, web and digital marketing with its HQ based at Plenary House in central Middlesbrough.

The business was established in 2008 and has continued to grow working with clients around the UK including Metropolitan Housing, Trinity House, PD Ports, NHS England, the North East Chamber of Commerce, Northumbria University, Endeavour Partnership, Sound Training, Growth Capital Ventures and author of ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’ Philippa Gregory, to name a few.

Managing director, Mark Easby, said: “Our ‘grow our own’ approach to recruitment is continuing to prove a success, building a mix of experienced brand, creative and digital specialists along with the brightest young talent in the region. It’s so important to ensure we retain talent on Teesside and we work closely with the local universities to provide opportunities.

“We remain at forefront of a rapidly-changing industry, working across many sectors all over the UK. We’re very proud of our staff retention and the calibre of the talent we have applying for our roles. This is something we will continue to build on in the coming months too.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Anna Addison Associates .