SILVERBEAN are proud to announce that Tom Etherington, Search Marketing Consultant and Teesside University graduate, has won the prestigious accolade of ‘Rising Star’ at The Drum Search Awards 2016.
The awards, which celebrate the best in digital talent from across the country, were held at the Grosvenor Hotel in London last Wednesday. Arranged by leading digital publication The Drum, they are judged by a panel of experts and esteemed marketers from the likes of Google, Tesco, Yahoo and Lego.
This is the third time Tom has been shortlisted for an industry award of this calibre. He was Highly Commended for the Agency Rising Star award at December’s Drum Network Awards, and shortlisted in the Young Digital Marketer of the Year category at the Northern Digital Awards in January, and now – a win!
This Rising Star category had more contenders than any other on the evening, with eight in total shortlisted, many of whom working at large London, Leeds and Manchester agencies. Tom’s win resulted in him being the only person hailing from the North East to be awarded on the night.
On accepting his award, Tom told us; “To win a national award is a huge honour, so I’m thrilled. The competition for this category was really tough and it was a great surprise to hear my name called, with seven talented people from much larger agencies and companies across the industry also shortlisted.
“I also see it as great recognition for Silverbean and the North East as we’re often forgotten about with so many successful Search companies based in London, Leeds and Manchester, but this hopefully shows that we have the same expertise, training opportunities, and careers available here.
“I’m really looking forward to what the future holds and hopefully I can encourage more people in the North East to get into the digital industry, and more agencies to shout about the great work that we’re doing in the region.”
Tom, 23, originally from Stockton-on-Tees, graduated with a First Class Honours degree in Multimedia Journalism at Teesside University, before embarking upon a career in digital in 2013.
He joined Silverbean as Search Marketing Executive in March 2014 and was promoted to Consultant within nine months, a new record at the agency. Since then, he has shown great talent and tenacity, resulting in him securing a lead role on our key accounts, including Flybe and Rowlands Pharmacy, whilst working speedily through the progression framework to become a team lead.
The agency now hopes that Tom’s recognition will encourage graduates from the region to stay local when looking for a digital career, because with hard work and dedication, national accolades are still in reach.
Silverbean also picked up two awards at the RAR Digital Awards this week, one for Optimisation and the other for Value for Money in agencies with 40-99 members of staff. All categories in the RAR Awards are rated by clients, so the success is even sweeter.