Digital agency director offers a view from inside Manchester's tech community

1. PPG
Reading Room
Manchester

2. An Introduction

3. A little about us
1
6
180
Digital agency
Independently owned and managed since 1996
Offices families
Each office feels like a small agency family
Passionate individuals
Large independent agency, small passionate culture

4. Social
Digital
Strategy
Mobile
Video Production
e-commerce Research
Branding
Social Curation
e-CRM
Campaigns
Tablet design
Analytics
Full service
Agency
What we doWhat we do

5. 1
10
150
Best Companies Award “One to
Watch”
Reading Room featured in the Sunday Times ‘Best Companies One to Watch” list in 2010
demonstrating high levels of employee engagement
Forrester Wave UK top 10
interactive Agency (No.1 in UX)
Central focus on measurable effectiveness from digital platforms
Over 150 awards in digital
Ranked 3rd: B2B Marketing UK Agency League Table 2011
Number 2: Marketing Week YouGov Agency Reputation Survey 2011
Winner: European Seal of E-Excellence 2010
Our work as judged by our peers

6. Recent Awards
The Drum Design 100
Number 4: Reading Room
Best in Class
Fairtrade on the Road
NES Global Talent
Commonwealth War
Graves Commission
The Drum Digital 100
Number 29 overall : Reading Room
Number 9 for Design and Build: Reading Room

7. Why Manchester?

8. Manchester: A Digital City
7
“Manchester will sit at the
centre of a network of
innovative, knowledge-
based industries,
employing 80,000 new
residents, by 2027”
HSBC
“Growing British Business”

9. Manchester: Reading Room
• We‟ve been here since 2005, based
in the Northern Quarter
• Currently 20 staff in the Manchester
office
• Our ethos is “no-nonsense digital” –
pragmatic, cost effective and
technology agnostic
• We work across a range of sectors,
including enterprise, higher
education, arts, culture & heritage
and local government
• Our portfolio is a microcosm of
Manchester (and the North West‟s)
diverse economy
8

10. Manchester: A Digital City
• A very healthy agency scene
• Start-ups: The Sharp Project,
Techcelerate, TechHub
• Manchester Science Park: 500
companies
• The universities: Manchester
Metropolitan University,
University of Manchester,
Salford University
• MediaCityUK: £950 million
development
9

11. Manchester: A Digital City
• 4G and ultrafast broadband
pioneer
• £12m government funding
to get ultrafast broadband
to 6,200 businesses by
2015
• £650m Enterprise Zone at
Manchester Airport to
create 10,000 full-time jobs
by 2027
10

12. Manchester: Our Perspective & Experience
• A good supply of highly
competent staff at all levels
• Particularly strong in certain
areas such as UX and front-
end
• A very strong higher education
presence and a vibrant digital
scene suggests a promising
future
• Also a plentiful supply of office
space, particularly of the kind
sought by digital
agencies/start-ups
11

13. Manchester: A perfect storm of opportunity, community and technology
12

14. Some Of Our Work

15. MMUInternational
Reading Room worked with the MMU International team to design and prototype a striking and finger friendly website that works seamlessly across desktop
and tablet. Aimed at both prospective and current international students, the website informs and engages them through rich interactive content, including the
animated How to Apply and Applying for a Visa tools and Take a Tour carousel and pop up gallery.

16. Salvaged : Restoring the Sirens &Ulysses
Manchester City Galleries came to Reading Room wanting a way to bring a specific piece of restored art to life in an online environment. We proposed and
created a microsite which promote interaction with the work for users at home as well as in the actual exhibition itself where we placed an iPad in front of the
physical painting so users can scroll through the timeline of how the painting came to be in front of them.

17. John Rylands : First Impressions
The John Rylands embarked on a hugely exciting project to tell our nations readers and lovers of literature, the fascinating story of the printed word. To deliver
this message online, Reading Room built a highly interactive site with a moving graphical map and timeline, „make your own printers mark‟ and see „text through
time‟ features, to allow people of ages to engage with the story benefits from the hugely significant cultural story being told through the site.

18. AskMalawi.TV
An innovative solution to ensure that the work done by Faritrade, and its underlying message, is disseminated to the wider world in an engaging and compellnig
manner.
We have 3 pigs

19. Eureka!The National Children‟s Museum
Eureka! wanted a site that emulated the offline sensory explosion the museum offers to its visitors. Reading Room created a fully responsive WordPress site
that reflects the values of learning through play by creating a flexible and fun site, packed with engagement tools, that offers adults what they need and children
what they want.

20. Peoples History Museum
We brought this new brand to life online - a dramatic shift away from tradition whilst staying true to the essence of the museum.