Best Newcomer bronze accolade for Belfast Digital Agency at National Award

A new, female-founded, Belfast digital marketing agency, Part Three Digital, has received a bronze award at the Digital Media Awards for Best Newcomer at The Convention Centre in Dublin.

Now in their 18th year, the digital media awards recognise creativity and innovation across multiple areas of an ever-evolving sector.

Former colleagues, Jess Orr and Hannah Nelson teamed up at the beginning of the pandemic to launch Part Three Digital specialising in social media and search marketing.

Currently working with brands including Magners Irish Cider, Tipperary Water, Morellis Ice Cream, Danone, [yellow tail] and Santa Rita Wine Estates, the Part Three Digital team’s market knowledge allow them to support their client’s ambitions in local, national and international markets, particularly in family, household and alcohol brands.

Hannah explained: ”A lot of people say awards don’t matter but even being nominated felt like a huge recognition for the team’s hard work to date, not to mention seeing our name up there with some agencies and brands we really admire. We have an exciting growth strategy for the business including plans to expand our team, onboard clients across America, continued growth across the island of Ireland and 50% revenue growth year-on-year for the next two years.”

Up to the Light reported in 2019 that the top three criticisms of agencies were ‘lack of follow through, commercial understanding and not driving things’. With 64% of clients believing their business environment has become more pressured in the last couple of years.

Jess said: “The industry is shifting in terms of how brands want and need results online – social media marketing and SEO are merging to focus on maximising brand performance in search engines, where there is a focus on creating content that sings, maximising brand awareness, increasing website traffic, growing social media communities and engagement, as well as share in search results and positive brand sentiment.

“The majority of agencies on the island of Ireland who touch digital take the ‘holistic approach’ but fail to pack a punch when it comes to social and search marketing – we are here to fill that gap. To work with clients and their agency partners on delivering great campaigns that people love to talk about! We pride ourselves on being on the client’s side, prioritising not only getting results but how we can make our client’s lives easier.”

Hannah continued: “Our goal is to create an agency that thrives, where long days are the exception, not the rule and our team feel nurtured at work. We may work hard to get ahead but we enjoy all that life has to offer too. We are focused on developing our people’s careers, everyone at Part Three Digital has a plan to grow and become an expert in their field. We recognise talent and we share and celebrate successes together.”

From 2012-2020, The Agency Collective’s Benchpress, reported 75% of agency leaders being male, the scales are only now starting to tilt in favour of gender diversity, with 2020 recording 36% of agency directors as female.

“We pride ourselves on being female founded, we intend to create an environment where women can thrive, grow and smash their career goals – whether they are team members or our clients,” said Jess. “We feel lucky to have partnered with one another, we are 50/50 partners, we make the same money, and we are each other’s rock, we support and complement one another in every element of the business, and we are excited to be on this journey together.”

On starting up a new business against the challenging backdrop of Covid 19, Hannah added: “We launched Part Three Digital in the middle of the pandemic and being risk averse ourselves, we can’t believe what we have achieved so far! Jess and I both felt that together, we had the passion, skills and drive to succeed in a male dominated market and that we had to take the leap. We would encourage anyone thinking of launching their own business to go for it! We did have the right people to give us the nudge we needed and who have believed in us from day dot.

“As a new agency, we have embraced the work-life changes experienced during Covid-19 lockdowns, flexible working arrangements for our team, blended office and work-from-home options, as well as working with specialist associates remotely across the UK and Ireland. We recognise that we as a team can be more productive and creative with this balance, allowing us to do the best by our clients.”

“It is such an exciting time to be part of this industry and to have such ambitious, innovative clients onboard we couldn’t be more proud,” concluded Jess.

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