32 | Tees Business
Family – the Viral Effect team, based
at Boho Four in Middlesbrough.
Join the
Viral Effect
family!
The digital landscape of Teesside is evolving and expanding at
a swift rate. Middlesbrough-based digital marketing company
Viral Effect is embracing the boom by creating five new jobs,
taking their staffing levels to 30…
N
ot only is it an exciting time for
the digital landscape of Teesside,
but as a digital company based in
Middlesbrough for nearly eight years, it’s
an exciting time for Viral Effect too, says
managing director, James Pennington.
Riding a wave of interest and enthusiasm
for digital marketing, Viral Effect has a
reputation for excellence and staying one
step ahead of the game.
“When we first launched Viral there
weren’t really any social media companies
around,” says James.
“Not in the North-East at the level
we were at. Of course, over time the
market caught up to a point. Certainly,
businesses were looking to hire social
media companies or asking their existing
marketing teams to handle their social. They
began asking questions and asking for new
and different services, so we needed to up
our game and that meant hiring and training
up passionate staff.”
James admits there was a good deal of
job-hopping going on with the advent of
social media, but he doesn’t see this as a
necessarily bad thing.
“It’s not like years ago when you’d leave
school and work in the steelworks and
that’s your job for life.
“In 2019/2020 people are going to move
around and we should embrace that. In
our industry, if someone has experience
at other agencies, that’s a positive. Every
company does things differently and staff
can apply the knowledge they’ve gained
elsewhere to the job they do at Viral.”
While creative drain may be a necessary
evil, Viral are hoping their current round of
aggressive hiring will lead to team members
who will want to stay the distance, not least
because of the attractive packages on offer.
The company has flexible working hours,
is based in modern and friendly offices in
Boho Four and actively encourages staff
input. Though there are deadlines, work is
not pressured.
“We need to keep everyone’s mind open
so they can think creatively to come up with
new ideas which we can implement within
the business, or marketing campaigns we
can apply to the clients,” says James.
There are also staff incentives such as
employee of the fortnight, which includes
an on-site car parking space and a meal
voucher for Black Olive in Hartlepool. Staff
go out regularly together and, of course,
Christmas socials are coming up.
One recent recruit is Tom Whieldon, Viral’s
new head of paid content.
WORDS: JULIE BURNISTON.
PICS: MARTIN WALKER.
Arrival – new recruit Tom Whieldon with
Viral Effect director James Pennington.
“I found the job on Indeed,” he says. “I’d
heard really good things about the company
and I also liked the staggered hours. I chose
to start at 7am and finish at 3pm. It’s nice
having the option to do things like go on
bike rides with my dad in the summer. It’s
all about a work-life balance and Viral offers
that.”
To work for Viral Effect you should love
social media, be excited by it, be happy to
follow trends and discover new apps. Jobs
currently on offer are head of marketing,
head of sales/business development
manager, account manager, developer and
social team member.
For more information or to apply for one of the positions on
offer, send your CV and a covering letter to James Pennington
at [email protected] viraleffect.com