LEFT: Katrina Lees, partner of The Creative Collective. RIGHT: Mel Lees, Account Manager at The Creative Collective. Both operate from The Creative Collective Newcastle, NSW office.

Multi-award winning crowdfunding & digital marketing company The Creative Collective is expanding its footprint in Newcastle with a move into larger offices in Hanbury Street, Mayfield this month.

Founded in 2007 on the Sunshine Coast by high profile, multi-award winning businesswoman Yvette Adams, the Newcastle operation has been run by Katrina Lees since 2008. Originally working from home and then as a franchisee of the creative agency, Lees has been involved with the business since it’s inception – first as an intern, then as a contractor, later a franchisee and since early 2014 as a business partner in the company.

Lees has been instrumental in building the agency locally and has managed to grow a significant client base, even around the birth of her first child, Austin in 2013. In 2014, the growing Newcastle team moved into offices in New Lambton, and with the company recording 20% turnover growth, and a further 34% growth in 2015, Lees says with the move to Mayfield this month the company plans to hire more staff within Newcastle, working with a growing portfolio of clients, whilst still continuing to service clients heralding from all industries across Australia.

Lees also says the company are ready to build their profile in the local area as they have been ‘flying under the radar’ for the past 7 years despite picking up finalist and winning positions in numerous inter-state and national business awards programs during this time. Most recently the company were named as a finalist in the Small Business Champions which will be announced in Sydney on 23 April 2016.

“We’re really well known in Queensland, and we regularly have clients in the likes of Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane etc who know our brand, yet we’re not so well known locally which is just crazy seeing as we’re on the ground here and ready to service local clients,” says Lees.

Eager to keep the office in the suburbs for ease of parking for clients, Lees says Mayfield presented a central location, with strong street exposure and generous space to support future growth. After an office refurb, Lees has transformed the tired Hanbury Street shop-front into a vibrant space, perfect for a creative agency to operate out of. The Hanbury Street precinct from 2 – 16 is also attracting other new businesses, including Cafe Portfilter, just doors away, which Lees says was a big plus as having a caffeine fix close-by was essential in her line of work!

“We’re looking forward to embedding ourselves more into the Newcastle business community and hoping many Newcastle business owners will come celebrate the opening of our new office on March 16th and meet our local team and our founder who will be visiting from Queensland.

For more information on the launch event happening on 16 March 2016, call our office on 02 4911 9016 for details or email newcastle@www.thecreativecollective.com.au.

>ENDS<

More about The Creative Collective:
The Creative Collective already has physical offices in Newcastle, NSW and Sunshine Coast, QLD, with serviced offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and the Gold Coast, and has made Auckland its base in New Zealand.

Founded in 2007, The Creative Collective is now celebrating nine years providing digital marketing services to both local and international companies. 2016 also sees a fresh new look for the crowdfunding and marketing specialists with a new brand rolled out in January 2016.

The Creative Collective works with a growing client list:
https://www.thecreativecollective.com.au/clients

BIO ON KATRINA LEES – Partner of The Creative Collective

Katrina Lees has been working with businesses since 2006 implementing marketing communications strategies, managing marketing campaigns and executing high quality design and print projects.

Her experience and training includes a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in design and communication; being responsible for the management of a client base of 50 + at any one time; establishing, systemising and growing businesses; and, she has been the driving force and creative intelligence behind hundreds of brands, websites and marketing projects.

Katrina has worked across a broad range of industries and sectors including retail, fashion, manufacturing, printing, property investment, real estate, business coaching/consulting, accounting and financial services. Her natural entrepreneurial skills have seen her working in management and supervisory roles since 16, and her passion for business and logical insights adds enormous value to the businesses she works with. Katrina has a well-rounded and in-depth knowledge of all things design and marketing (online and offline) and high understanding of business management – the extent of her knowledge is rare among creative and marketing types, let alone young professionals, thus making her highly respected and recommended among peers.

Katrina has been with The Creative Collective from the very beginning. With humble beginnings has a student doing an internship, Katrina was quickly snapped up as a contractor working in the area of graphic design. In 2008, Katrina became the first franchisee of The Creative Collective, establishing the Newcastle office.

As of 2014, Katrina and Yvette joined forces; in an effort to expand The Creative Collective’s service offering and further streamline our clients’ experience with our agency. We maintain that our key goal is to achieve exceptional results for our clients, and have fun with them along the way! It’s this culture that has enabled us to build long- term relationships with our clients.

MEDIA ENQUIRIES:

Media interested in arranging an interview or photos should contact Michelle Harris on 0401 259 911 or pr@www.thecreativecollective.com.au.