Marketing Humber team joins Hull’s C4DI community
By Rick Lyon
Marketing Humber has moved its expanded team into Hull’s vibrant C4DI tech hub.
The region’s economic place marketing organisation has grown to a six-strong team and relocated to a new base at the C4DI (Centre for Digital Innovation) building in the Fruit Market area.
The move means Marketing Humber is now operating from a sought-after office location in a building that is a key gathering place for the region’s business community.
C4DI opened in 2015 as the first phase and centrepiece of Wykeland Group’s @TheDock waterfront tech campus. Since then it has been the catalyst for the launch of scores of tech businesses, creating hundreds of highly-skilled digital jobs, as well as inspiring safety business Arco to relocate to a new state-of-the-art head office close by.
Moving into a third floor office at C4DI further aligns Marketing Humber with the region’s tech sector, which has grown rapidly since the opening of the building in 2015 provided a focal point for the previously fragmented digital community.
The Marketing Humber team – Managing Director Dr Diana Taylor; Engagement and Stakeholder Manager Leahann Barnes; Marketing Manager Paige McGowan; Marketing and Communications Executive Alicia Woodward; Office Administrator Saffron Gregg; and latest recruit, Digital Marketing Executive Joanne Brady – are now enjoying being part of the collaborative C4DI community.
Wykeland has also become a Marketing Humber Principal Partner, joining a powerful line-up of the region’s leading businesses who are at the forefront of promoting the Humber as a great place to invest.
Meanwhile, C4DI has also become a Major Partner and will support Marketing Humber’s vital work, further underlining the close relationship between the tech hub, Wykeland and Marketing Humber.
Dr Taylor said: “We’re excited to have moved into our new home in such a prestigious location.
“Joining the C4DI community reinforces the strong relationship we have with Wykeland and C4DI, who are both long-standing members of our Bondholders network of business ambassadors and have now become Principal Partners and Major Partners respectively.
“It also underlines the importance of the ever-growing tech sector and the region’s impressive digital capabilities to the Humber’s investment proposition. It’s important to us that we can help weave digital technologies into all of our business sectors, supporting all our members as we look to thrive in a prosperous and sustainable future.
“Our team are really enjoying being in such a vibrant working environment with so many creative and innovative companies around us.
“It’s a fantastic place to take forward our work promoting and celebrating the Humber as a great place to invest, work, live and study.”
Ian Franks, Finance Director of Hull-based Wykeland, said: “We’re excited to welcome one of the region’s leading business organisations and the voice of the Humber to C4DI.
“We’re also delighted to become a Principal Partner and to play an even bigger role in supporting Marketing Humber’s crucial work promoting the region nationally and internationally, to attract investment and stimulate economic growth.
“Our developments across the Humber, such as the Melton West and Bridgehead business parks in East Yorkshire, and Europarc in Grimsby, are among the region’s primary locations for inward investment, so we have a strong, shared interest with Marketing Humber in showcasing the area and the many exciting opportunities it offers.”
C4DI and @TheDock are well established as a place where digital start-ups and scale-ups collaborate with some of region’s biggest businesses for mutual benefit.
Louise Cooke, Business Development Manager at C4DI, said: “It’s great to have Marketing Humber under the same roof as many of the area’s most innovative digital businesses, as the tech sector is one of the region’s strongest suits and a key reason to invest here.
“A significant part of C4DI’s role involves promoting the great work that is happening across the tech sector where specialist technology companies are powering the growth of the region’s traditional businesses.
“Becoming a Marketing Humber Major Partner is incredibly exciting as it not only recognises the complementary roles we play in the region, but also gives us the opportunity to collaborate more effectively in promoting the amazing opportunities there are for local tech companies to grow and traditional businesses to innovate.”