Creatomatic

Nomination

Images

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Category

Design Agency of the Year

Company

Creatomatic

Summary

Creatomatic have been quietly - and sometimes not-so-quietly - building a reputation that we think belies our scale and location. Building a world-class team of 16 designers and developers, from our base - a converted bank in Lockerbie, D&G - we've become the 'safe pair of hands' agency for clients the length and breadth of the country.

We solve puzzles for our clients. Starting at the edges, we take time to listen, gather insight, build understanding and develop our strategy before working our way into the centre, revealing the complete picture for all to see and understand.

What others see as a headache, challenge or struggle, we see as an opportunity to make the digital world simpler and easier to navigate.

Recent launches and current contracts include Fred Olsen; Scottish Women's Institutes; Flexitricity; Scottish Gymnastics; Crabtree & Crabtree, and Gretna Green Group.

What sets your practice/agency apart from others?

Creatomatic stands out amongst our peers through our unique combination of:

Human-centred design: We prioritise people in every project, ensuring our designs are not only visually engaging but also inclusive, impactful, and user-friendly. This extends to our working relationships, too: we've stubbonly maintained a policy of real human beings answering phones and emails in place of automated call and ticketing systems to preserve our connection and trust with our clients.

In-house development: Our code frameworks are managed and maintained by our team with nothing outsourced or developed third-party. We're creating new tools and products right here in Scotland, with a focus on reliability, security, and unbeatable performance.

Ethical business practices: We're committed to environmental sustainability, using 100% renewable energy for our office and web hosting and supporting EV charging and cycle to work schemes. We boast zero gender pay gap, and deliver a comprehensive employee well-being package. We're founder members of the Good Business Charter, with a packed social calendar all year round to create a close working team.

Progressive workplace culture: We foster a flexible and supportive work environment with hybrid working options, flexitime, and mental health first aid training. We invest in our employees' growth through a generous individual training budget, empowering them to continuously develop their skills.

How do you go 'the extra mile' for clients and employees?

At Creatomatic, "going the extra mile" isn't just a phrase: it's been embedded in our company culture from day one.

For our clients, we've developed an in-depth process of discovery before our contracts even start. We work hard to establish a clear brief and create proposals that stake out the shape of their project before they commit to going forward. We've designed a comprehensive on-boarding process to help stakeholders find their voice in the process, with a careful and considerate approach that spans the entire project lifespan. And we've built long-term partnerships with brands around the country to offer a reliable and robust ongoing relationship for design, development and direction.

For our employees, we follow a guiding principle of treating people like adults. Our team have the autonomy and creative freedom to work the way that works for them - with guardrails in place in the form of reviews, career development and continuous professional development to ensure that they're supported, too. It's a careful balance, but one that's reflected in our extremely high retention rate, with the majority of team members staying with us for five years or more.

What innovations have you introduced in the past year?

Among others:

We've partnered with a manufacturing consultancy to implement Lean principles across our operations. Bringing in a factory-based approach to design is a novel approach, but we believe that working from a data-driven standpoint will help us identify and eliminate inefficiencies; streamline processes; and ultimately, deliver projects faster and more effectively without losing sight of our creative processes.

We launched the latest iteration of our acclaimed web API software, Atom. This powerful tool empowers independent self-catering property agencies to manage property portfolios seamlessly across web and online travel agency platforms (AirBnB, Booking.com, etc), driving millions in revenue through the direct booking websites we design and build.

We built our own content creation system within WordPress, using Node and React to allow content editors and marketing administrators view live content updates inside their website editor. Notably, this was our first project that employed AI extensively throughout, with our team using tools to set up development environments and learn new languages. We eventually came full circle to integrate with OpenAI’s API to create content directly within the WordPress editor.