The events of the last couple of years led individuals and businesses to find new ways of working. It brought both challenges and breath-taking revelations – culminating in employees re-evaluating what’s truly important and realigning their working environment with their own purposes and beliefs.
This could not be more true of Martin Carmody, a prominent figure amongst Milton Keynes’ creative, charity and business community. Having founded Core Create during the pandemic, Martin’s approach was to balance his specialist brand and digital experience with taking the time to truly understand his customers. The positive response to this customer-centric approach was well received, Martin began exploring how this cultural formula could be scaled-up to benefit more organisations across MK…. and beyond.
Fast-forward to summer 2022 and Stratos Creative, a boutique agency with mighty ambition, is now living and breathing this ethos. Led by Martin, the creative agency’s new managing director, Stratos delivers on creativity, commercial results and customer service. In fact, ask its clients why they award work to Stratos and they will tell you that their success lies in the team’s ability to perfectly blend traditional marketing techniques with innovative digital executions and their success in tailoring the account management to their personal requirements.
As such, it’s potentially no surprise that the agency’s brand statement is ‘Old ways, new ways, all ways’. It brings together aspects such as the history, experience and knowledge of a business and combines it with innovation and technology, curiosity and intuition to see it build and grow through listening carefully to its clients and working with them to achieve the results they need to achieve. From brand proposition to digital marketing, Stratos delivers.
Martin said:
“The past few years have presented us all with new opportunities, reset our thinking and encouraged us to seek new prospects. Over the last 12 months or so I have been consulting with businesses of all shapes and sizes within creative, digital and marketing services, and they’ve clearly welcomed more authentic, flexible and inclusive ways of working. I’ve been proud to be involved in collective groups of talented people, businesses, teams and agencies, that have offered diversity, opportunity and variety.
“Working alongside like-minded people is important to me, and that’s why I’m delighted to be back leading a well-respected team and agency at Stratos. As a team, we’ll constantly strive to develop our people, improve skill sets, disciplines and service.”
Commenting on Martin’s appointment, Marc Smiddy, creative director at Stratos, said:
“It is no secret we have been rebuilding Stratos to match our vision and bring talent, creativity, digital and strategy together. This means working together as a team to create the next generation of agency.
“In acquiring the great talents that make up the team and our proposition, we see the opportunity to accelerate our ambition. Martin is a piece of the jigsaw we’ve been seeking, and we are looking forward to his leadership and direction in taking our team and agency to the next level.”
Giving back to the community
To Stratos, giving back to the local community is part of its DNA. Milton Keynes Hospital Charity is the agency’s chosen charity and work has already begun to support the hospital on a variety of brand and marketing plans, along with encouraging the team to get involved in various events. Most recently, the team supported the Gala Ball, which proved a huge success.
Martin added:
“Many businesses are reaching out for creative and commercial support as they experience the Great Resignation. Businesses are finding it challenging to hire right now, so working with an external, trusted team is helping them to close any productivity gaps. Our approach means that we genuinely can act as an extension of their team.
“The Stratos team is grounded, with their foundations rooted to Milton Keynes. The agency is ready to grow and add further value to existing and future clients. And we won’t be stopping here, it’s a very exciting time and imminent opportunities will be revealed in the coming months, so watch this space.
“We are looking forward to continued contribution to the Milton Keynes business community.”
Join the creative movement in Milton Keynes. To discover more about how Stratos can offer brand, creative, digital and marketing value to your business call 01908 040608 or email hi@stratos.agency
