Stockport’s Aqua Design group is celebrating the 5th Anniversary of their Theo Paphitis #SBS win which led to commissioning from Ryman Stationery.
Twitter has long been used as a networking tool for business and Stockport based creative agency Aqua Design Group is no exception.
In 2011, being relatively new to using social media, Aqua used only LinkedIn and Twitter to connect and network with businesses, reaching over 1,200 followers on Twitter.
Once they heard about Theo Paphitis #SBS, which had been going on since October 2010, Aqua Design Group got involved taking part as much as possible over 4 months. After sending an entry tweet at 5:05pm on the 16th October 2011, they logged in to Twitter again around 8pm and that’s when the stream of notifications came flooding in. They had won Small Business Sunday #SBS.
For the first week, the agency concentrated on tweeting and connecting with fellow winners and new businesses that had followed post win, giving the business a 500 follow boost and loads of awareness. By this point a few other winners had come up with their own styles of winners badge as there was no official style, so never one to miss an opportunity Aqua Design Group decided to create their own style.
Aqua Design’s call from Ryman Stationery
The agency’s proactive stance prompted an unexpected call and a conversation with Theo Paphitis’ Ryman Stationery, as they wanted to use them for internal communications work, which ranged from Christmas Party invitations for Ryman and Boux Avenue employees.
In 2012 they helped with the design of Sport Relief Charity Golf Day material that Theo Paphitis was taking part in. They were also fortunate enough to be approached by a variety of fellow #SBS winners to produce work from new branding design to business cards and literature.
Due the work done for Ryman Stationery, Dylan from Aqua Design Group was invited along to Media City UK along with fellow Cheshire winners Red Shift Radio to spend the day and conduct an interview with Theo Paphitis about #SBS and how it all got started with an unexpected chance to watch Dragons Den being filmed.
When the news came out that the first winners event would be taking place at Edgbaston Cricket Club in Birmingham Aqua Design Group were thrilled when Ryman Stationery asked them to come up with a certificate design to give out to fellow winners, an image of which still appears on the winners website www.theopaphitissbs.com they even had a mention at the event from Theo Paphitis.
Dylan Moore from Aqua Design Group said: “The business has used the win to network both nationally and internationally through Twitter, have increased followers from 1,200 on the winning account to over 33,000 across the 3 business accounts, made some fantastic new clients and some good friends too.”
Sadly, there have been some negatives over the past 5 years from other #SBS winners but for Aqua Design Group it continues to be an enriching business experience with attending the annual events in Birmingham and getting to know and support fellow winners through their design and print business.