The voice of business in the Tees region | 25
Friends - the Mabo leadership
at their expanded premises.
BY JOANNE BARRETT
PICTURE: TOM BANKS
MABO
GROWS
AGAIN
Mabo expansion includes impressive Friends-themed
room as PPC specialists’ headcount climbs to 53
A
thriving Teesside specialist digital
marketing agency has marked an
impressive year of growth with a
key office expansion.
Award-winning Middlesbrough-based
Mabo has spread its wings into another
floor of office space at the heart of the
refurbished Albert North development in
central Middlesbrough.
The 5,000 square foot suite was officially
unveiled to clients, staff and guests in
November and takes the total floor space
occupied by the successful pay-per-click
agency to 11,000 square feet.
Mabo moved into 16-26 Albert Road in
August 2018 with plans to increase staff
from 25 to 40. That figure has now reached
53 and coupled with a 68 per cent year-on-
year increase in business, said managing
director Lee Mableson, it was the numbers
that prompted the expansion.
“We moved in to the seventh floor in
August 2018 but as we have grown over the
past year, we took the decision to take out
more space on the sixth floor too,” he said.
“This building was starting to get full, so
the time was right to take another floor.
“We know a lot about the business we
deliver, our teams work hard and perform
well and we will keep growing as long as
we keep serving our clients successfully.
Our growth has never been set to target
specific areas of our business – if we need
to grow more in marketing, for example, we
will. Or if we need to grow in sales, we will.
It will naturally follow that our R&D team
will expand then too.
“The move into new office space will
both accommodate our current growth and
give us the capacity to be able to grow.”
The new sixth-floor space has been
designed with the help of Middlesbrough
commercial interior design specialists
Cocoon & Bauer. The idea was to create
a flowing and relaxed workspace coupled
with breakout areas for training and
development and staff downtime rather
than rows upon rows of desks.
The result is a trendy workspace – and
one that has a slightly familiar vibe to
it. One of the breakout areas has been
designed to reflect a Friends’ theme, with
the colours and layout of Monica and
Rachel’s famous TV living room.
It’s a light-hearted mix with a chilled-out
personality and one which is proving to be a
talking point.
“We wanted to have a certain focus to
the space, an engaging focus for staff. Work
takes up such a big part of your life and it’s
wrong that people don’t enjoy their work
environment,” said Lee.
“Most people are familiar with the
Friends’ front room – some people will
say it’s a bit cheesy, but it’s just a breakout
area. The reactions we have been getting
have been quite good and that’s what we
wanted.”
Lee formed Mabo in 2013. The company
works with more than 350 clients around
the country, offering a no-strings, contract-
free approach to paid search management
services.
High-profile brands on the client list
include New Era Caps, Boomf and JT
Atkinson and names Teessiders will be
more than familiar with – fashion brand
Psyche, health and fitness company
Bannatyne Group, as well as businesses
including Select.
Mabo has also given permanent full-time
employment to two apprentices, who had
Ambitious - Lee Mableson.
originally joined the business in 2017, and is
working with local education providers to
create more career opportunities.
Several awards have also come with
Mabo’s success. The hard-working agency
was named best small PPC agency in
the European Search Awards in 2018,
something it is rightly proud of.
This year has seen it once again
nominated for a raft of high-profile awards
including categories at the UK Search
Awards and the European Search Awards
where several Mabo campaigns have been
recognised.
Interestingly, the firm has also received
no fewer than nine nominations in the Drum
Recommends Digital Awards 2019 – each
the result of being put forward by clients.
Mabo is recognised by Google as one
of the UK’s Premier Partners, as well as
being one of the first recruits to Microsoft
Advertising’s partner programme.
The company’s new office development
was officially unveiled to staff and guests
– including Middlesbrough mayor Andy
Preston, Cocoon & Bauer’s Peter Turner
and Mark Hill from Albert North property
developer Jomast – in November.
No second gear here – seems it’s Mabo’s
day, their week, their month… and even
their year.