Digital Showcase Update: Venn Digital’s managing director, Brian Whigham.

Brian Whigham is managing director of Venn Digital, a full-service digital marketing agency founded 5 years ago. We caught up with Brian back in 2013 when this digital agency was quickly gaining market share and success from their offices in Manchester and London. Since then they have continued to grow and develop to keep ahead of the forever changing digital industry! At The Candidate, we were dying to know what has happened since we last caught up and Brian was happy to tell us!

The Candidate - Digital Showcase Update: Venn Digital's managing director, Brian Whigham.

So tell us what's happened since Venn Digital's last digital agency showcase?

A lot! Perhaps our most significant milestone has been the celebration of our fifth birthday last November. This was an exciting, not to mention important landmark for us - it highlighted the fact that we're now a major player in the digital agency arena.  In terms of client wins, we're working with some household name consumer and B2B brands including tools manufacturer, Bahco ($2.9 billion), beer and larger brewer, JW Lees (£63 million) and Manchester Airport Group who are behind the Airport City project - we recently launched their stunning new website. 

How has Venn Digital developed as an agency?

In physical terms we've grown a huge amount - both in people and square footage. Our headcount has swelled to over 50 people who are spread across our offices in Manchester and London. We also relocated the London team to a stunning new office in Clerkenwell which is located right in the heart of the Capital's digital community. 

Has the industry changed and what have you done to adapt?

The digital landscape changes on an hourly basis! As experts in the field, it's imperative that we know about developments before they happen so we can shape our clients' strategies accordingly. For example, Penguin, Google's latest algorithmic update is due to be rolled out at any moment so we conduct thorough tech and content hygiene audits to ensure clients' websites are fully compliant before the algorithms crawl.

"Being penalised by Google is a brand's worst nightmare and we work tirelessly to make sure this doesn't happen."

From a service offering point of view are proud to offer a everything that a modern marketer needs to deliver outstanding campaigns - from design, programming, website-build, PR, SEO, PPC, content marketing, photography and video...we employ leading industry experts, along with the brightest new talent, to keep our in-house capabilities watertight.

What have the highlights been and what recognition and awards have you received?

There have been so many that it's easier to list the biggest ones:

• We won a Northern Digital Award in the category of Best Digital Campaign (Travel and Leisure) for our Great JW Lees Beer Hop.
• We have been shortlisted in the category of Large Agency of the Year in the Prolific North Awards.
• We featured in the Drum Digital Census for fastest growing digital agencies and also in the Prolific North Top 50 league table of digital agencies.
• We gained Registered Agency Register accreditation.
• We gained certification as an official top 20 SME Google partner after just four years in business.
• We opened our new London office.  
• We went to Ibiza on a team jolly!  

What are the current and future plans?

Continued growth of course. And diversifying into more consumer sectors such as food and drink, sport, travel, leisure, FMCG… and automotive (just because I am a speed freak and love cars).  

Thanks Brian for answering our questions, it is impressive what you guys have done in 5 years! We look forward to checking in with you again soon and seeing where you guys are then! 

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