Yorkshire & the Humber Enterprise Awards 2018

SME NEWS / Yorkshire &Humble Enterprise Awards 2018 21 sobananapenguin g Company: sobananapenguin Contact: Rich Sutherland Address: K2 Bond Street, Hull, East Yorkshire, HU1 3EN, UK Phone: 07723 787577 Email: [email protected] Website: www.sobananapenguin.com are also advocates of the arts, education, small businesses and social good campaigns, getting involved any way they can to support their local economy and cultural community. In Rich’s case, this extends to him being a consultant to Silent Uproar theatre company, a mentor at the University of Hull and a member of the Management Board at Sirius Academy West, all in his spare time, which he believes enriches his work, as he explains. “It’s true that in many cases marketing is directly linked to sales, but it’s so much more than that. To us, marketing is about making total strangers as excited about something as you are by creating opportunities and encouraging involvement. When done properly, it really can make a difference to the lives of countless individuals, ranging from spending habits all the way to their personal wellbeing and how they look after our planet.” With technology constantly moving forward, Rich asserts that a marketing agency should be passionate about the digital world whilst still respecting the power of printed literature. In fact, he is adamant that the former needs to take inspiration from the latter, as it’s the human recipient that will judge whether or not the material is worth digesting and engaging with, regardless of whether it’s delivered through ink or pixels. “People no longer connect with the old format of online marketing. The digital equivalent of handing someone a flyer each day lacks value, so everything that we supply is designed to fuel conversations, invite the sharing of experiences, and encourage a call to action to be followed. We truly believe that marketing should enrich the viewer’s day by being either informative, inspirational or entertaining, or even all three combined.” Looking ahead, sobananapenguin is keen to ensure that it expands organically, maintaining the ability to offer its clients the exceptionally high standards of support and service that they have come to expect. As such, the team continuously hones its combined skills to offer a service that is grounded in an up-to-the-minute understanding of how people find and interact with content. Maintaining that marketing should breed trust and nurture advocacy, a large amount of patience, delicacy and originality is required in order to meet and exceed client expectations. Unusually for a company that is so focused on digital, this ethos leads to natural growth primarily through word of mouth, and moving forward Rich hopes this will continue, as he is happy to conclude. “Fundamentally, what sets sobananapenguin apart and has helped drive it to success is that our customers appreciate the fact that we never use aggressive tactics, such as the follow-unfollow method, hashtag bombs, or adverts that are left running without responding to enquiries and comments. As a generation that has grown up with social media and video streaming, we dedicate our time to getting clients positive outcomes in a way that reflects their brand, simultaneously adhering to our core value of delivering genuinely modern communications. This is what makes us different, and it is also what makes us so easy to work with. We hope to remain a great partner to our clients, both existing and future, over the years to come.”