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Shift Active Media is celebrating ten years since it first opened its doors for business.
Simon Wear, an experienced media professional, founded the agency out of a desire to “set up his own business built around his lifelong passion for cycling”. Joined by Peter Stothard and Manolo Bertocchi, the focus for Shift at the beginning was to help cycling marketers navigate the rapidly evolving specialist and digital media landscape, leveraging their deep understanding of all things bikes.
The agency’s founding clients included fizik, FSA and Santini and within a year, it went on to add the likes of Wiggle, Selle Royal and Colnago. The Shift team also quickly began to broaden the agency’s offering, in line with its growing client base – building on its initial media planning and buying capability, by adding creative and public relations. In recent years, Shift has been appointed by Kask, Continental, SRAM and Bosch e-Bike Systems.
“I’m incredibly proud that Shift has reached this milestone, and want to say a heartfelt and humble thank you to our clients and all the hardworking members of the agency for getting us to this point – it wouldn’t have been possible without you,” said Wear. “Although 2010 doesn’t sound like too long ago, I’ve certainly seen a huge amount of change in the bike industry since then in how brands communicate with their audiences.
“Shift was there as the digital world started to evolve rapidly, and today the team continues to strive to be at the forefront of change, helping add value to our clients’ brands wherever we can. I’m sure the next decade holds a lot more in store for us too.”
Shift Active Media remains headquartered in Bath but is run by managing director Wayne Brown, and is home to a team of more than 40 cycling marketing experts. Recent senior hires include client service director Will Fripp, executive creative director Matt Doman and head of strategy and research Doug Baker.
“This anniversary gives us a great chance to reflect on the last ten years, the work we’re proud of and the strong relationships we’ve built with our clients,” added Brown. “Shift has a multi-skilled, multi-talented team that blends decades of cycling industry knowledge, with modern blue-chip agency expertise, all underpinned by unique data and insight.
“But we also have one thing in common – a passion for all things bikes – be it competing in a time trial at a national level or a family ride at the weekend. I think this energy is always tangible when you meet the team and I believe it makes a difference to our clients.”
To coincide with the anniversary, Shift has launched a new website shiftactivemedia.com.
Read the November issue of BikeBiz below:
