South Yorkshire Creative Agency Five-year Growth Plan

A Barnsley-based creative and digital agency is taking on more space and staff to mark its fifth year in business.

Established in 2016, awesome has seen turnover increase seven-fold in its first five years and has launched a growth strategy to triple it again over the next five.

The agency, based at Barnsley’s Digital Media Centre (DMC 01), has now moved into a larger office space within the building to facilitate this growth. The move will extend its studio facilities and make room for a growing team.

Michelle Oduwole-Aigbogun been appointed to a new post of junior project manager and joins co-directors Dan Rose and Chris Endcliffe, plus a team of three close associates with specialist skills who are integral to the business.

Founder and creative director Dan Rose said: “It’s great to welcome Michelle on board and get into our new bigger workspace so that we can take on more clients, projects and challenges as we embark on a growth plan."

Dan set up awesome on his own in 2016 with the support of Enterprising Barnsley’s business support programme Launchpad. He moved out of his home office into the DMC a year later and Chris joined him as digital director in 2018. The business continues to gain business advice through Enterprising Barnsley.

Dan said: “The DMC is just a great space, really cool in appearance; and community-wise, it couldn’t be more supportive and welcoming. We’ve secured excellent opportunities, clients and partners just from being based here.

“It’s also really close to Sheffield and I think the two cities connect together so well, we don’t see them as separate but work seamlessly across the two.”

DMC manager Tracey Johnson said: “The team at awesome are highly-valued members of our business community and we’re so pleased to see them grow and take on a bigger workspace here. This is their third office at the DMC – they’ve moved up in size each time to reflect their consistent growth.

“We’d love to hear from other startups keen to join our vibrant business community. As awesome have shown, you can start with a small office space and scale up to suit your business needs.”

DMC 01 and its partner DMC 02 are part of The Seam digital campus in Barnsley town centre. Owned and managed by Barnsley Council, DMC 01 is home to the Enterprising Barnsley business support programme and aims to provide a nurturing environment for digital businesses and businesses which embrace digital technology to support growth.