A look back at its 'Oomph moments'
O agency sprung out of the dot com boom back in 2005, quickly building a reputation as a creative agency that was doing something different for the region’s business community.
Since its inception, O has supported clients to deliver more than £50m in economic impact for the region, helped attract five million visitors to the North East and connected over 500 NE businesses to our region’s youth talent through schools and community partnerships.
Founder Kari Owers was recently awarded the first ever Impact Award at the region’s Entrepreneur Awards, for her approach to sustainable business, community and regional growth.
As the company turns 20 this year, she says: “I have always said there is nothing boring about business, and we are so lucky to get to tell stories that make a difference. I have had the privilege of sitting in boardrooms where multi-million pound deal announcements are crafted, created campaigns that helped to shape our region and supported global brands to launch into the place we call home.
“Our own story hasn’t been linear. Just a couple of years into business we were hit by a double whammy – the credit crunch and the rise of social media. We pivoted hard and fast and invested in adopting new ways of storytelling in a multi-media age.
“That pace of change hasn’t stopped for 20 years, and now with the rise of Ai, we find ourselves in another major societal shift. Our role is to advise organisations on how to embrace new ways of communicating and telling their brand story. We wouldn’t change that for the world, it’s an exciting industry.”
Looking back over 20 years of change here in the North East the team at O pick out some of their most memorable campaigns and what they call ‘Oomph moments’….
Our first client, One Day…
Our first ever client won at pitch was the charity Young Enterprise NE, who at the time were struggling to recruit enough support from businesses. We created the region’s first ever mass youth enterprise campaign called One Day and connected hundreds of NE businesses to our regional youth talent pipeline through giving one day of their time, profits or expertise to helping raise enterprise aspirations in local schools.
2010 – Time to change ending the stigma
Every so often a campaign comes along that stops us in our tracks and Time to Change was one of those. Mental health was still very much a taboo subject 15 years ago, and we launched a region-wide roadshow that made sure we got everyone talking. From our award-winning ‘blue crew’ that popped up during the January sales, to placing sofas in rural market towns for people to talk about how they were feeling, we learned so much along the way that has informed how we manage conversations in our workplace and in our own lives every day.
2011 – Pop Card, Metro pops the question
The launch of the region’s Pop Card was a very interesting Valentine’s Day for the team!
When we heard that the Pop Card was launching to the public for the very first time on 14 February, we knew the whole campaign needed to help the public “Pop the Question” about all things related to using the new travel smartcard around the region.
2015 – Parkdean becomes big business news
O worked on the national media announcement of one the regions biggest business deals, when Parkdean bought Park Resorts, creating Britain’s biggest holiday home park operator, with 73 sites across the country. Handling big deal announcements like this for a regionally headquartered business make us very proud to put the North East into the national headlines.
2016 – Dr Martens, global goes local
Dr. Martens is just one of those brands that everyone wants to be part of – so when we got the call that they wanted a UK agency to help them connect to customers in every city they were opening a store, we were buzzing! Starting in Newcastle, we rocked and rolled our way from Belfast to Brighton opening their store network with live bands, street art and lots of local influencers and press. DMs also gave us our first ever global influencer campaign, working with agency partners around the world to launch their DMs Lite range that rocketed us into the world of creator marketing.
2016 – Elring Klinger, a visit from the future King
We’ve managed numerous high profile visits over the years but showcasing a Teesside car parts plant with big green plans to the future King was a highlight – then Prince Charles not only met workers on the shop floor, but his eco-passion showed in his keen interest in Elring Klinger’s plans to install a wind turbine at the Redcar plant.
2017 – British Masters, world’s media descends on NE turf
Bringing the international media, visitors and celebrity sporting talent to the region makes us proud to show off what the North East has to offer, so working with the European Tour on the British Masters at Close House was a great opportunity. Our social media crew broadcast live from the Masters, whilst we worked the press room for the visiting media.
The event achieved over 22m social media impressions – the highest ever for the British Masters – with almost 70,000 spectators attending the tournament.
2019 – Northern Goldsmiths, 100 years of Rolex
Being from Newcastle, lighting up the Millennium bridge is just one of those moments you dream of. We helped Goldsmiths celebrate 100 years of Rolex by doing just that – what a night to remember!
2021 – iamproperty helps us build growth
Not many companies can say they won one of their biggest clients in lockdown. In late 2020 we began working with iamproperty, an ambitious market leader with an amazing story to tell. Started in Newcastle by two ambitious (and very fun) entrepreneurs, iamproperty is now one of the fastest growing companies in this sector in the UK – we are enjoying being part of their very exciting journey.
2022 – First Irish client, Murphy
Although we have worked with clients from Scotland to Cornwall, winning our first Irish client was a big moment for us. Giving us a fresh foothold into Europe, we have built a specialism in the construction sector and have enjoyed travelling the Dublin-Newcastle trade route in recent years as we grow our business in Eire.
2022 – CHUF, the day Ryan Reynolds entered all our lives
CHUF is a charity client very close to our hearts, having worked together for several years to raise vital funds to support heart heroes and their families.
Ivan Hollingsworth, chair of the board of CHUF and dad to Seb, aged 13, was sitting by his son’s bedside just four days after Seb had undergone open heart surgery at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle. At a loss for a way to help while Seb recovered, Ivan typed out a tweet to get a Marvel Studios Superhero to send a message to Heart Hero Seb.
The next day he received a reply. Ryan Reynolds, star of Deadpool, sent a heartfelt personal video to Seb and the message “That scar is street cred for life!” then even more well wishes flooded in from Marvel superstars Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Hemsworth and Mark Ruffalo.
O’s social media and press team sprung into action when overnight Seb became a worldwide sensation, and the story appeared in over 260 media outlets across the world. We then went on to create the My scar is my superpower campaign, helping children and adults all over the UK to feel proud of their scar and the amazing superpowers they had.
2024 – NE1 new campaign hits the city streets
By now you’ll have gathered we are very proud to be from Newcastle, so winning the NE1 creative agency account was a big moment. Our creative advertising campaigns are now all over the city for big events like Restaurant Week and Newcastles Christmas, which alongside our annual Fenwick Christmas window reveal project makes us true Geordies!
www.o.agency