Birmingham marketing agency celebrates 15th birthday with £100k investment

Start 2 Finish (S2F) Marketing, which employs 11 people at its base in Harborne, has invested nearly £100,000 into creating S2F Media to help new and existing clients maximise the opportunities of video, photography, animation, 3D modelling and digital marketing.

It is already proving a successful approach, with the company winning two new contracts with care provider Pebbles and vehicle safety equipment specialist Spillard Safety Systems at Four Ashes, near Wolverhampton, to deliver a host of multimedia projects.

This is a promising start for the company and puts it on track to achieve £250,000 of new orders in the first 12 months.

“More and more businesses are turning to video and online media to tell their story and we want to make sure we are in a position to continue to support our clients, whilst also going after new business opportunities,” said Warren Albutt, who is leading operations at S2F Media.

“S2F is different to most creative agencies as we start from a strategic sales perspective first, before identifying the right channels to use to get the message across.”

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He continued: “This will be the same with S2F Media and means we can offer access to thought-provoking video, photography and animation, plus the added bonus of distribution and value-added services, including storyboards and script writing, social media management and search engine optimisation.”

He continued: “We have recruited a strong team of experts who cover all of the different media disciplines and they are backed up by a network of specialist suppliers who operate across the country.”

S2F Media used a £40,000 grant from the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership’s Pivot and Prosper Fund to support the start-up phase and this enabled it to offset some of the disruption caused by Covid-19.

It provides a perfect 15th birthday present for parent company S2F Marketing, who has gone from just two people in 2005 to a fast-growing agency turning over £720,000 and working with clients across care, professional services, manufacturing and technology.

The firm’s success is built on taking the client back to the start of their journey and then developing bespoke marketing plans that deliver clear business objectives, including increased sales, penetration into new markets, roll-out of recruitment plans and instilling new company-wide cultures.

Warren added: “S2F Media gives us the opportunity to offer full production services to companies, with the back-up, experience and track record of our parent business.

“We can act as the external marketing agency of the company or they can just bring us in to develop a corporate video, devise new podcasts, create online campaigns for product launches or produce photography with a difference.

“Regardless of which option they take, we believe we will deliver a solution that boosts the bottom line.”

Katie Trout, director of GBSLEP, concluded: “Our economy has been severely impacted by Covid-19 and we are determined to play our part in supporting businesses through these unprecedented times.

“We’ve worked closely with partners across the private, public and academic sectors to develop a suite of interventions to help organisations respond to the challenges created by the pandemic and adapt their working practices, products and business models.”

“I am really pleased that 52 businesses will benefit from £1.9 million of grants from our Pivot and Prosper programme. As a result, hundreds of jobs have been created and safeguarded across the LEP’s geography. The levels of innovation shown by successful businesses like S2F have been hugely impressive.”