For Hallam’s 25th anniversary, I’m looking back on some of the key moments in the agency’s history: from a first-time business startup to industry leader – and looking ahead as Hallam strides forward towards another quarter century of success.

Building a team of trusted experts

Way back in the year 2000 the Internet was no longer in its infancy. It was now a rambunctious toddler, and starting to cause mayhem as it began to run before it could even walk.  Businesses were being encouraged to get online, but they arrived with high expectations soon dashed by slow connection speeds.  It was the peak of the dot com bubble and Google was celebrating its second birthday. And there I was, an early Internet adopter already with 10 years Internet business experience under my belt gained working at NTU, BT, and Capital One.

I took the life changing decision to leave a secure and well paid job at a bank, and registered my own limited company selling digital marketing services. With 2 kids in primary school and a mortgage on a big old house, it was a giant leap of faith.  I can’t begin to say how grateful I am to Mike Hallam for his support for what became a 25 year rocket ride.

It was 10 May 2000 and my vision for Hallam was to be a leader in ethical digital marketing services. Search Engine Optimisation was a new industry awash with black hat SEO cowboys making outlandish promises and scamming their way to the top of the search engine results. 

Initially, Hallam’s business model was based on leveraging my skills and contacts as a former Senior Lecturer in Computing at Nottingham Trent University. I was commissioned to design and deliver training programmes like the eBusiness Club’s market leading Web Academy alongside Diane Simpson, Pete Senior, Anne Stanley, and Ian Lockwood.  

What made Hallam’s approach unique was its commitment to working honestly without deceptive practices and building a genuine partnership with our clients. The promise was to make complex technical concepts easy for business leaders to understand and evaluate. 

Those leaders in turn could now make informed decisions about their strategic approach to growing their business.  We could work together to leverage this as yet not well understood or tested emerging marketing channel to give the best shot to gain competitive advantage.

From 2000 to 2009, the rather grandly named Hallam Communications Ltd was in reality just me working out of a home office that was formerly the kid’s playroom.

It was a frenzied period of explosive innovation with the launch of AdWords, LinkedIn, MySpace, eBay, PayPal, Android, and YouTube. This was my first experience ofthe harsh business reality for success, and indeed survival, often depended on keeping pace with newly emerging technologies, for both my fledgling business and my clients.

In those early years, as the business grew and technological developments accelerated, my professional expertise became all about being faster, and being smarter. I developed the skills to learn faster, to strategize smarter, and to deliver campaigns both smarter and faster.

Upon reflection, it isn’t surprising to see the LeftLion caricaturist at that time chose to represent me sprinting… and somehow still smiling.

Looking back, the pressures to respond to a tsunami of technological change are much the same as today. Businesses still need a partner they can trust to help them develop the vision and strategy forward. Delivering that customer trust is what Hallam did in 2000, and that is what it still does today.

These were formative years, working with a wide range of clients ranging from law firms to precision engineering, car manufacturers to arts and cultural institutions.

It gives me great pleasure to think of clients who I worked with out of that converted playroom at home, and who Hallam continued to work with over the years as the company grew:  Anna Smith. Melissa Sobo, Heather Maitland, Una Carmody, Jim Thomas, Sarah Courbet, Pete Goodwin, Helen Hamilton Shaw.

And the first ten years laid the foundation for the growth that was to follow: an  agency can’t grow without focusing on the outcomes the customers need.

Going for growth: building a team of trusted experts

It wasn’t until 2009, nearly 10 years after the company was first established and still operating out of a home office, that Hallam opened its first office on King Street in  Nottingham city centre, and took on its first employees.

I was extremely lucky to bring on Wayne Barker as employee #1 with more experts soon joining including Helen Halfpenny, Sarah Woollen, Brad Moore, and David Beastall.

Team Hallam expanded rapidly, and we upgraded to new offices virtually every year, starting first at King Street, then Foxhall Lodge, and finally settling in 2012 when we took possession of  what is Hallam’s current HQ, The Clock Tower.

The expansion didn’t stop there. It felt like each year we added another floor to our Clock Tower offices, welcoming more experienced professionals to Team Hallam.

A key milestone in Hallam’s success took place in 2017 when the experts from Big Spring joined the team, expanding Hallam’s core capabilities to include technical development, and creative and brand work, led by Jon Martin and Julio Taylor.

This merger provided a combination of experience and entrepreneurial spirit that propelled us to larger contracts and new lines of business.

The exceptional consultants joining Hallam brought a deep understanding of digital marketing to the company, and the senior leadership team’s commitment to programmes of continuing professional development kept our experts at the top of their game, and were key to Hallam’s success. Exclusive invitations to Google’s Partners agency development programmes meant world class training combined, of course, with world class brownies.

You’ll recognise some long serving faces from the Hallam leadership team in this 2015 photo  (below) when we were fundraising for Rainbows, including CEO Jake Third, Performance Director Ben Wood, and Technical Strategist Jonathan Ellins. I’m proud to say they are among Hallam’s longest serving employees.

As Hallam celebrates its 25th anniversary, Hallam is once again fundraising again for Rainbows Hospice with the Nottingham Digital Summit…and here are Cat, Tom and Molly alongside the same now slightly older but just as enthusiastic Jake, Ben and Jonny who supported Rainbows in a Dragon Boat those ten years ago.

And so the company grew and went from success to success, employing some of the most exceptional people I’ve ever had the pleasure to know and work with.

I’m proud that their time at Hallam in some may have contributed to former Hallaners starting their own businesses, including Abra Millar, Kevin Kapezi, Elliott Kirk, and Emma Glover. And now so very many former Hallamers are digital thought leaders across the country.

But as often happens as companies scale and  grow and become more and more successful, I discovered my entrepreneurial drive to start and drive forward a business (faster, faster, faster) are not the skills needed to lead and nurture a high performing team.

The next great milestone in Hallam’s history was a management buyout in 2020, handing over the reins of the running of the company to Jake, Julio, Ben and Jon. There were options to sell Hallam out to larger international groups, but in the end we knew the success of the company was the result of the individual commitment of our people, and we knew it would be the best cultural fit to remain independent.

Building trust in the industry

Even after 25 years, serving our customers ethically and professionally remains the beating heart of Hallam. And having earned the trust of our clients, it follows we would gain the recognition of our industry peers.

Perhaps my proudest moment at Hallam was in 2019 when the team was awarded one of Google’s top accolades: the “Growing Business Online Award” having been chosen from Google’s top agencies in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

I know industry awards can be looked at with scepticism, but over the years the right awards have validated Hallam’s trust and credibility, and attracted some of the best new talent to join the team and increased the trust in the company.

In 2021 Hallam was awarded B Corp status, committed to meeting the highest standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability.

Under Jake’s leadership, Hallam has more than once been recognised by the Sunday Times, Marketing Media and by Campaign as one of The Best Places to Work. 

And the exceptional work and client satisfaction meant the awards kept rolling in. I can’t help but share one last photo.

Looking forward

Today, Hallam stands as a B2B marketing industry leader with 5 offices, 46 employees, and operating internationally.

Team Hallam consultants are industry experts, confidently delivering high performing campaigns for some of the most knowledgeable and demanding clients.  

But what is most important is the culture that has helped to power Hallam’s growth. Hallam is here to do business in a better way: to work hard to do the right things, not only for our clients but for our people and the world around us. These values will guide Hallam through the next stage of our journey.