Double win for Zinc Digital at Northamptonshire Business Awards

The Northamptonshire-based agency, celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, won Small Business of the Year and the West Northants Innovation Award at the prestigious ceremony organised by Northamptonshire Chamber of Commerce. This double win recognises both Zinc Digital's impressive business growth and its groundbreaking work in digital innovation.

Joe, Founder and CEO of Zinc Digital, said: "We are absolutely thrilled to win two awards at the Northamptonshire Business Awards. To be recognised for both small business excellence and innovation in our 20th birthday year is incredibly meaningful and the perfect way to celebrate two decades of hard work, creativity and dedication.

"When we started this journey, we never imagined we'd be standing here celebrating achievements like this. These awards represent everything we've worked towards — delivering innovative digital solutions that make a real difference, providing outstanding client service, and building an incredible team that constantly pushes the boundaries of what's possible in digital transformation.”

The West Northants Innovation Award recognises Zinc Digital's pioneering approach to digital transformation. The company has developed world-first automation platforms that create sustainable revenue streams for clients, while ringfencing 7.5% of its budget for research and development. Zinc Digital has successfully integrated AI tools to reduce project build times by 20%, and is launching new AI-powered services including chatbot management and AI video content creation. The agency's dedicated R&D team continuously explores emerging technologies, from intelligent software predicting skill progression in professional sports to AI-driven location mapping that has slashed project delivery times.

"We're incredibly proud to be rooted in Northamptonshire, giving back to our community and nurturing the next generation of digital talent. Thank you to the Northamptonshire Chamber of Commerce for this recognition, and to every team member, client and partner who has been part of our journey."

Founded in 2004, Zinc Digital has grown from a one-person operation to a thriving 20-strong team, supporting over 150 clients annually across sectors including healthcare, education, property, financial services, and the arts.

The Small Business of the Year award recognises Zinc Digital's exceptional growth trajectory and resilience. Despite challenges including the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis, the company has achieved a 92% staff retention rate through innovative employee benefits including a £300 annual training budget per person, quarterly profit-based bonuses, loyalty leave, and flexible working arrangements. Four team members were promoted to senior roles in 2024 alone.

Joe added: "We pride ourselves on being innovative not just in the work we produce for our clients but also in the ways we work together as a team. We have training budgets, mentoring schemes, catch up days, flexible working, loyalty leave and last year we gave our staff more than £20,000 in profit based bonuses.

"This year Zinc Digital chose Maggie's Northampton as our charity of the year, and we're also committed to supporting young talent through our graduate recruitment scheme and by visiting schools and colleges to inspire the next generation. These awards reflect not just our business success, but our values-led approach to supporting our community, investing in local talent, and pushing the boundaries of what's possible in digital transformation."

Zinc Digital, based in Little Houghton, is a full-service digital agency delivering creative, marketing, technology and support services to help organisations embrace digital transformation and achieve sustainable growth.

Find out more about Zinc here: www.zincdigital.com