Serving the Teesside Business Community | 35
FOCUS ON T E E SSID E’S CREATIVE AND DIGITAL SECTOR
Better’s founder and MD Mark
Easby (centre) with client services
director Paul Bell (right) and digital
director Adam Gatenby.
THAT’S
BETTER!
Building brands
leads to national
expansion for Better
M
iddlesbrough-based brand agency
Better has seen its growth in
London and the South East
develop faster than expected,
after securing almost £250,000-worth of
new business in just a few months.
Founded on Teesside in 2008, the agency
launched an office in the Shoreditch area
of London earlier this year to help with the
company’s expansion plans.
Since then, it has secured several
major brand development contracts that
are helping to create jobs at its Teesside
headquarters.
Better has been appointed as the lead
brand agency for Metropolitan Housing,
one of the UK’s leading affordable housing
providers, to develop the place brand for
its new Clapham Park development. The
regeneration project is the largest of its
kind in London, covering 36 hectares and
including almost 2,000 homes.
Better is currently developing the new
place brand for the organisation’s flagship
scheme, as well as leading the brand
strategy on a number of other high-profile
regeneration projects across the southern
region. The project also includes providing a
One of the firms leading Teesside’s booming
creative sector is Better, a brand agency that’s
spreading its wings into the capital and South East
range of creative and digital support services
for the main Metropolitan brand.
James Chatt-Collins, director of sales and
marketing at Metropolitan Housing, said:
“Metropolitan appointed Better as lead
agency as we were really impressed by their
brand process, experience, passion and
energy.
“Following their work on the place brand
for our flagship development at Clapham, we
are also looking forward to working with the
team at Better to develop scheme-led brands
for a number of our other development
projects across the South.”
Other project wins include Better’s
appointment by growing Guildford-based
software company Synoptica, who
themselves recently secured investment
from the BE Group, to supply web design
support for their software platforms and
marketing website, and also Oliver Jane - a
new swimwear brand - to build and launch
their e-commerce site.
Much of Better’s success can be attributed
to its unique BetterBrandBuilder™, an
engaging, inclusive and strategic approach to
defining, creating, and delivering brands.
Launched more than three years ago, the
process was designed to help companies
build a powerful, authentic, and consistent
brand to support their business growth.
The agency, which celebrates its 10th
birthday in 2018, has continued to grow,
working with brands around the UK including
NHS England, PD Ports, Northumbria
University, Endeavour Partnership, NECS,
Odyssey Systems, Growth Capital Ventures
and the author of ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’,
Philippa Gregory.
Managing director Mark Easby said:
“Often we meet clients who are so busy
building a business that their brand gets left
behind.
“Our unique process, strategic approach
and focus on brand development from the
inside out means we get really close to a
business, understand what genuinely makes
them special and we then work with them to
deliver real impact in their business.
“Securing significant brand-led contracts
with some high-profile companies in London
means we’re now recognised as a national
agency specialising in brand development.
“This is enabling us to continually grow at
our Middlesbrough HQ, where we are hoping
to create further new jobs throughout 2018.”