ThinkOTB Agency

Our perspective: receiving the Queen’s Award

December 17, 2020

Back in April we were overjoyed to be announced as a winner of the Queen’s Award for Enterprise for International Trade.

With the UK in lockdown, our marketing agency celebrated quietly over a Zoom call. Now as life and business press on, the Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire (the Queen’s representative in the county), presented us with the award in an outdoor ceremony last week.

We received the Queen’s Award for our outstanding sales growth in overseas markets which saw us increase export sales by 560%, from 22% to 52% of our overall business in just three years. And given all our team’s hard work, international travel, and dedication, we wanted to get the perspectives of our Chairman and Manager Partner on receiving the award.

Our Chairman’s perspective

Mark Davies told us that “We won it because we see things from a different perspective and businesses in Great Britain are going to need to do exactly that post-Brexit. The significance of winning an award for our excellence in international trade isn’t lost on me as we leave the EU.Businesses in Great Britain who market to Europe, Asia, the Americas, Africa and Australia, are going to need experts who understand how to export marketing services outside of Great Britain. Not only the cultural, language and time-zone barriers but the legal, regulatory and administrative barriears that we may all experience in 2021.”

Our Managing Partner’s perspective

Jo Waddington echoed Mark’s thoughts. She said: “It’s not easy to enter new markets and to understand the nuances of each one, especially now the rules are changing. Drawing on our unique blend of creative expertise and cutting-edge communication strategies, we have worked hard to become experts in successfully managing overseas work. We export our strategies and communications tools into the financial services sector. We help our clients engage confidently with their customers. This allows them to increase the take up of their new products in regions such as CEMEA, Asia Pacific and the US.”

Adapting to the new trading landscape will be another challenging time for all of us. But, one that we are sure can reap new opportunities for all businesses trading in Great Britain and overseas. You can read more about Mark and Jo’s thoughts on receiving the award from the Lord Lieutenant in ‘Business Matters’ here.