Ipswich and the wider Suffolk area has a “real opportunity” to establish itself as a centre for the creative and digital industries.

East Anglian Daily Times: The team at GenesisThe team at Genesis (Image: Archant)

Penny Arbuthnot, director of Genesis, a PR and marketing firm in Ipswich, says in the past few decades a number of similar businesses have established themselves in Suffolk, working with national clients and offering a quality of work comparable with agencies in the larger cities.

At the same time businesses in the gaming and film production sectors have also set themselves up in the county.

Quality

“When we started the company 15 years ago, we’d worked in London and brought the business here, but today there’s no need for people to go to London,” she said.

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“What we are about is trying to encourage people to build their careers here in Suffolk. We’ve recruited and trained graduates and there are a number of people who started three or four years ago, who are now account managers and they have opportunities to grow here.”

Ms Arbuthnot pointed to her company and other marketing and digital agencies who “offer a quality of experience, the clients, the training and the quality of life in Suffolk.”

She added: “You don’t have to pay £8,000 a year to commute to London and spend all that time travelling. Ipswich really needs to support that message. Norwich is positioning itself very much on the science park and Cambridge has its bioscience and pharmaceutical industries but there’s still work to do to create Ipswich as a creative and digital centre.”

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Awards

Ms Arbuthnot was speaking following a successful 2018 for Genesis, which has a team of 20 working at offices on Fox’s Marina in Ipswich. The year ended with the agency picking up a number of awards at the regional PRide Awards organised by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations. These included a Gold in the overall Outstanding Public Relations Consultancy award and Gold for Best Corporate and Business Communications Campaign,

She added: “As a county, we are quite proud of what’s going on here: the way of life, some of the big brands like Adnams and Greene King, but actually we don’t shout about everything that’s under that like the creative industries we have, and actually we need to shout about it so school and college leavers feel like they can make their stamp here.”.