Ardmore advances as the only NI firm in top UK regional rankings

The list of the UK Top 30 Regional Agencies is compiled by globally renowned magazine, Campaign, which is widely considered as the foremost marketing industry publication across the world.

With the UK as one of the most globally competitive markets for advertising and marketing, Ardmore beat thousands of other agencies outside of London to secure one of the top spots in the coveted rankings list. The only indigenous Northern Ireland firm to make the list, Ardmore, which employs nearly 70 people at its offices in Holywood, moved up four places from 28th in 2019 to 24th in 2020.

The senior leadership team at Ardmore put its success down to the trust its clients placed in the firm during one of the most challenging and unprecedented periods for businesses in recent times. The leadership team also paid tribute to the hard work, resilience, creativity and loyalty of its exceptional team in the face of the enormous challenges presented by the pandemic.

The business won a number of significant new competitive contracts in 2020. Amongst its list of 2020 successes is being one of the first Northern Irish businesses to work for UK rail giant, Network Rail including developing its most recent suicide awareness campaign “There is always hope” which received significant national attention and acclaim.

Chief Executive Officer, John Keane said: “To be named at all in this list of Campaign’s Top 30 Regional UK Agencies, let alone actually advance higher in the rankings, is an incredible achievement in light of the fact the UK is a global hub for our industry with literally tens of thousands of firms across the country. This success is down to the immense trust the organisations we work with have placed in us to help them navigate one of the most profound challenges they have ever experienced.

“The relationships we have built with our clients over many years and the quality of our team is what enabled us to provide the advice our clients needed to make some very finely balanced business decisions at critical junctures. But it is the length, breadth and depth of our international networks and partnerships, that means we can garner the insights required to help clients make those decisions, that was, and remains, key to navigating these very uncertain times.”

In addition to working with household-name brands such as Stena Line, Translink, Lidl, Dale Farm, Visit Belfast and Phoenix Natural Gas, Ardmore is a partner and shareholder of the global network of independent agencies, Worldwide Partners, meaning it shares and collaborates with 70 other partner agencies across the world.

Managing Director, Mark Irwin added: “Some of our recent big contract wins, including with national organisations like Network Rail, outside of Northern Ireland shows that a business from this wee corner of the world is competing with the very best marketing and communications businesses out there. We’re immensely proud to represent Northern Ireland at this level in our industry.

“We work hard to hire and nurture the best people we can possibly find, and this is why. Through all the difficulties of 2020, our team came together and showed incredible and unwavering creativity, resilience, and loyalty. We are all unified in the ambition to be a world class marketing and communications business, and it’s this approach, of making small, continuous improvements every day coupled with offering an exceptional client service, that enables us realise achievements such as this.”

As well as significant wins outside of Northern Ireland in the GB market, Ardmore has also undertaken recent work in France and Germany and is seeking to expand its team and international portfolio and partnerships in the near future.

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