County Durham creatives go global in first year of trading

A Bishop Auckland based creative and digital agency is celebrating an incredible first year in business after winning prestigious regional, national and even global contracts.

Curious12, which is based at Auckland Castle, was set up by directors Richard Lister and Anton Heil at the beginning of May last year, with fellow director Gary Robson coming on board shortly after.

The trio quickly smashed their original targets on projected work, doubling the amount of projects within the first six months and the business has continued to expand rapidly throughout their first year.

The agency has beaten top London and international agencies to win a host of prestigious projects which include working as marketing and design partner to global company CMR Group and building a website for leading FMCG brand Wrigleys.

In addition, Curious12 has been working with the North East’s most ambitious visitor destination, Auckland Castle, on a range of innovative marketing projects including websites, brochures, email campaigns, signage, CGI presentations and apps.

They have even internationally sourced and modified touch screen technology to support the castle’s plans to become one of the most exciting visitor attractions in the region.

Co founder and business development director Richard Lister said: “We love what we do and it feels great when our clients tell us that our enthusiasm shows through in the work we deliver for them.

“We enjoy being truly creative rather than focusing on the bottom line. For us, it’s not about getting the job done as quickly as possible to maximise profits. What motivates us is digging below the surface to understand what outcome our client really wants and then doing whatever it takes to deliver that. “

It’s an approach which has won them the respect of a legion of high profile business partners: “Some agencies believe they are entitled to your budget. Curious12 are very, very different.

“They blend creativity and world class expertise with huge dollops of humility. The team are fully deserving of their status as our global marketing partner,” said James Thwaites, group marketing manager of CMR Global.

The team’s ‘can do’ approach is backed by half a century of experience at the highest level in the fields of design, print and digital marketing.

Curious12 works with a host of different businesses of all sizes, in fields ranging from education to community initiatives, from engineering to financial services and from B2B to high end consumer magazines. The clients have all been attracted by the firm’s customer service driven ethos and ability to become a seamless part of their client’s team.

Richard added: “We call ourselves Curious because that defines our approach to our business.

“We don’t just ask ‘what’ a client wants us to do, we always want to know why they want to do it too and we use this insight to identify the best ways to help them achieve the outcomes they are looking for.

“It’s about joining our clients on their journey and becoming totally involved and immersed in it. When you become as passionate about what they want to achieve as they are, then you can truly produce work that is able to revolutionise their business.”