Serving the Teesside Business Community | 45
The Mabo Media team (left to right):
Operations director Rob Jackson, technology
director Dean Yates, managing director Lee
Mableson, sales director Craig Griffiths and
marketing director James Lees.
EURO BEAUTY!
A
specialist digital marketing agency has
been crowned European champions on
its fifth anniversary.
Middlesbrough-based Mabo Media
was named best small PPC agency in the
European Search Awards, held in the Czech
Republic capital of Prague.
It’s Mabo’s third award this year as the
fast-growing company marks five years in
business and gears up for major growth.
Lee Mableson launched Mabo Media in
May 2013, operating as a freelance from
his Guisborough home. Now he heads up
a 25-strong team based in Boho Five at the
heart of Middlesbrough’s thriving digital
cluster.
The firm’s current recruitment drive is
expected to take employee numbers to 30 by
the end of June and up to 40 later this year.
Mabo is a pay-per-click specialist – already
the largest in the North-East – and now
works with more than 300 clients up and
down the country, offering a no-strings,
contract-free approach to paid search
management services.
The company is recognised by Google as
one of the UK's Premier Partners, as well
as being one of the first recruits to Bing’s
partner programme, and has been shortlisted
for no less than 11 awards in 2018 – winning
Best Digital Business at the FSB North East
awards and Sales Team of the Year at the
Mabo Media celebrates fifth
birthday with European crown
Biddable Media Awards.
But Mableson says the European gong is
the “icing on the cake” after a whirlwind start
to the year.
“There’s no bigger award we could win
in our search sector right now,” he said.
“It really is a significant achievement, a
watershed moment for the company and the
icing on the cake as we gear up for major
growth.
“We’re very proud Teessiders and we
want to fly the flag for Middlesbrough and
Teesside.”
Mableson is celebrating his firm’s latest
award by elevating four senior employees to
director level, with Rob Jackson (operations),
James Lees (marketing), Dean Yates
(technology) and Craig Griffiths (sales) all
being promoted.
Managing director Mableson, who had
previously been the only listed director, said:
“All four who have been made directors had
been made heads of departments last year,
and this only reflects their contribution to the
company.
“We have some significant growth
plans, and people needed to be assigned
responsibilities to take us forward and
prepare us for a big push. We’re putting more
fuel on the fire.”
Mabo, which works with high-profile
brands including Montane, Lifestyle Fitness
and Totes, has enjoyed remarkable success
in its first five years – a 97.5% retention rate
throughout 2017 speaks for itself.
“In digital marke ting that kind of retention
rate is almost unheard of, especially
considering we don’t ask our clients to sign
any contracts,” added Mableson.
“It’s glowing testament to our team which
is delivering our services so well.”
Mabo has already taken on more office
space at Boho Five, with staff now spread
across two floors, and the firm has plans to
expand even more this year.
Turnover has doubled year-on-year since
the company was formed and 2018-19 is
set for a record £1.4m, while Mableson has
ambitions of growing his team to 100 over
the next three years.
“I’ve seen a lot of firms struggle to cope
with growth, especially in the digital sector,
but it’s been very much a controlled growth
for us – sensible and manageable,” added
Mableson.
“We’re about delivering a return
on investment for clients. We’re in a
performance market, our clients need to
generate income online, it’s as simple as
that, and it’s all data driven.”
Find out more about Mabo Media
at mabo.co.uk