A CASTLE-BASED creative and digital agency is celebrating an incredible first year in business after winning prestigious national and international contracts.

Curious12, which has offices at Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland was set up by directors Richard Lister and Anton Heil at the beginning of May last year, with fellow director Gary Robson coming on board shortly after. The trio quickly smashed their original targets on projected work and turnover, hitting £250,000 of sales in the first year against a projected target of £125,000, and doubling the amount of projects within the first six months.

The business has continued to expand rapidly throughout their first year and has doubled its workforce from three to six.

The agency has beaten top London and international agencies to win a host of projects which include working as marketing and design partner to global company CMR Group and building a website for chewing gum maker Wrigleys.

In addition, Curious12 has been working with Auckland Castle, on a range of marketing projects including websites, brochures and apps.

"We love what we do and it feels great when our clients tell us that our enthusiasm shows through in the work we deliver for them," said Mr Lister, the business development director.

"We enjoy being truly creative rather than focusing on the bottom line. For us, it’s not about getting the job done as quickly as possible to maximise profits. What motivates us is digging below the surface to understand what outcome our client really wants and then doing whatever it takes to deliver that. "

"We call ourselves Curious because that defines our approach to our business," Mr Lister added. "We don’t just ask what a client wants us to do, we always want to know why they want to do it too and we use this insight to identify the best ways to help them achieve the outcomes they are looking for.”

“Some agencies believe they are entitled to your budget. Curious12 are very, very different. They blend creativity and world class expertise with huge dollops of humility. The team are fully deserving of their status as our global marketing partner,” said says James Thwaites, Group Marketing Manager of CMR Global.

“It’s about joining our clients on their journey and becoming totally involved and immersed in it. When you become as passionate about what they want to achieve as they are, then you can truly produce work that is able to revolutionise their business."