Published by Sue Johns-Chapman
Published Date 25.08.2022 
First Internet’s journey from the kitchen table to being nationally recognised at the UK Agency Awards, with five nominations, has been quite the ride. A full-service digital marketing agency in existence since 1998, we boast a close knit, 18-strong team, covering account management and client services, design, UX and development and digital marketing.
Despite being over 20 years old, the last three years has seen an agency rebirth, going through an MBO, gaining national and international clients, doubling revenue, and winning a slew of industry recognised awards, the first since the agency’s inception.
Following the passing of the founder, the management team (Kat Rodway, Julaine Speight, Scott Baxter) took the reins with fresh insight and purchased the business, with their sights firmly set on expansion, growth and reinvestment in the business, with a desire to reach far beyond our office, tucked away in a small Cheshire village.
What we’ve been nominated for
We’re incredibly proud to have been nominated for both client campaigns and agency-wide awards in five categories at the UK Agency Awards. Our SEO and UX work for MFG, the UK’s largest independent forecourt operator, and our ongoing SEO, PPC and paid social campaigns for confectionary wholesaler Kandy King, is testament to our results-focused strategies for all of our clients.
Why we entered
Having not won a single award in the 20 years prior to the new leadership team taking over, the past eighteen months has seen us nominated for 35 industry awards, picking up eight awards and one commendation, spanning both development and digital marketing, truly showcasing our full-service credentials. We were keen to enter the UK Agency Awards, to put ourselves on a national stage and reflect our national reach. Having picked up a couple of national awards in the last year, we believed we had stepped outside of the regional reach that had contained the agency for the previous 20 years, and we’re incredibly pleased to have been nominated for all five categories that we entered.
Why we are winners
Having had very little awareness, due to lack of investment and future planning, prior to the MBO, First Internet’s presence has surged. With press coverage, award wins, recommendations and referrals, the business and its people are seen as thought leaders, attracting national and global clients.
Not only do we attract high profile clients, we perform for them, with tangible results, directly contributing to their bottom line, leading to long term, and expansion of, these relationships. One of our long-term clients, PZ Cussons, started with us working on just a small number of tier two websites, but following our positive results, we now work on 55 of their sites.
Anyway, don’t take our word for it, we’ll let our clients do the talking for us, as Adam Cobb from Peak ai said about us: “I’ve found First Internet to be a cut above other web agencies.” Well, there you go then 😊
