Author: Nick Towers

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Remarkable

Ghada Fourane appointed as new CEO of Unify

Remarkable Group (The Remarkable Group International) has appointed Ghada Fourane as CEO to head up its Unify Data & Analytics agency as part of its growth plans.

Unify, the newest agency to join the Remarkable Group, is a specialist agency that uses the power of connected data to help companies use the invaluable information they have to drive smarter business decisions, grow sales and create better customer experiences.

Unify fills an important gap in digital transformation consultancy as CRM, ERP and Digital Experience Platforms (DXPs) become commonplace in forward- thinking companies. Building on existing strategic partnerships with Salesforce and Microsoft, Unify’s services help bridge the gap where both data and work practices are often siloed.

Ghada’s expertise spans over 13 years, during which she has assisted clients worldwide in the areas of CRM, data and analytics. With a strong background in Enterprise Architecture and extensive experience, she has played a pivotal role in guiding large clients through their CRM strategies and has been at the forefront of major Salesforce implementations across diverse industries.

Acknowledged as one of the top 30 professionals under 30 in the cloud computing field, Ghada has made remarkable contributions to the adoption of Cloud technology within the Resources industry in the UK. Her dedication lies in ensuring the success of customers on their digital transformation journey and she is enthusiastic about the prospect of unifying CRM, data, and AI to drive transformative outcomes. 

The Remarkable Group co-founder and Chief Executive Office, Nick Towers, said “Unify is of strategic importance to our Group and our clients as it allows us to fully immerse ourselves in data, analytics and CRM to better inform digital strategy, customer experience, and customer lifetime value and loyalty.

Having Ghada on board, with her extensive experience and qualifications, ensures that we can offer the best strategic advice and deliver first-rate implementations to our clients, helping our clients to drive competitive advantage and create seamless customer experiences.” 

Ghada added: “It’s an incredibly exciting time to be joining the Remarkable Group. It’s a privilege to be working with an exceptionally talented team of industry specialists in the DXP and eCommerce space. To add to their portfolio of skills by bringing my CRM, Data experience and industry knowledge to the group agency’s who are leading the way with innovative technology that’s able to completely transform digital experiences for ambitious brands.” 

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Ultimedia

Ultimedia appoints ex JWT digital specialist, Craig Johnson, as CEO

Monday 13th December 2021 – Today, Manchester based, global digital specialist agency, Ultimedia have appointed Craig Johnson as CEO as they move into an exciting new period of growth in the Digital Experience space. 

Industry specialist Craig Johnson joins Ultimedia, bringing nearly 30 years’ of experience in helping enterprise- level brands to elevate their digital performance. Having spent his career working at big titles such as;JWT, the Guardian Media Group and Rippleffect, the former UNRVLD (previously Kagool) CMO brings a wealth of experience in growing businesses using Digital Experience Platforms such as Sitecore and Episerver. Gaining recognition for his expertise, Craig is a nominated professional in the BIMA 100. Every year BIMA 100 recognises the top 100 professionals who are shaping the future of Britain’s digital industry. 

Ultimedia recently joined The Remarkable Group, a collection of specialist digital consultancies, including one of the UK’s leading Sitecore Partner agencies. Ultimedia is the most established Optimizely Partner (formerly Episerver) who’s clients span a variety of sectors, including The Co-op, NHS and Just Group.

The Remarkable Group Co-founder and Chief Growth Officer, Paul Stephen commented, 

“Appointing Craig to lead Ultimedia into this next chapter of growth signals a bright new future for the agency. Craig was pivotal in the significant expansion of his previous agency and now we’re excited to have him on board to bring his extensive knowledge and strategic expertise to Ultimedia”.

In his new role, Craig will oversee the agency’s growth in the UK and new markets. Craig is well-known for his enthusiasm for digital and his strategic approach to helping organisations become more profitable. Craig has also received recognition for his work in developing new talent in the industry to bridge the digital skills gap, in his role at UNRVLD, Craig launched an innovative graduate scheme, in partnership with Manchester Metropolitan University.

Speaking on his new appointment, Craig said, “it’s an incredibly exciting time to be joining the most established Optimizely Partner in the UK. It’s a privilege to be working with an exceptionally talented team of industry specialists in the DXP space, especially as Optimizely are leading the way with innovative technology that’s able to completely transform digital experiences for ambitious brands”.

About Ultimedia

Ultimedia is a UK based digital experience agency that specialises in the design, development and optimisation of Optimizely websites. With over two decades of experience, Ultimedia is the most established Optimizely Partner in the UK, with vast experience in getting the most out of the platform for their clients. To learn more about Ultimedia and how your organisation can levage the Optimizely visit: https://ultimedia.agency/.

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Remarkable

Remarkable Group acquires Optimizely & CRO specialist, Ultimedia

London, UK, 26th October  2021:  Today, the Remarkable Group International, announces the acquisition of Ultimedia, a leading digital build specialist, positioning the Group as the go-to digital experience platform (DXP) specialist.

The self-funded transaction signals the Remarkable Group’s growing capabilities and market presence, with an unrivalled set of specialisms across Sitecore and Optimizely, the two leading DXP platforms used by leading businesses to provide amazing digital experiences for their customers.

Paul Stephen, Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer of the Remarkable Group said: “Ultimedia’s experience, engineering track record, sought-after Optimizely specialisms, and shared passion for putting our customer’s customer first, made them a good fit. We can now provide our global customer base with a full suite of back end engineering and front end design and optimisation services to help them better meet the demands of digital consumers, wherever they are in their digital transformation journey.”

The acquisition was motivated by Ultimedia’s 20 years of experience, engineering skills, and impressive roster of enterprise clients which has included Co-Op, the NHS, and Bestway. Its prowess includes commerce and content Cloud optimisation, experimentation, and customer platform data, which will now form part of the Remarkable Group’s engineering offering  to customers.

Glenn Stewart, Co-Founder and CEO of Ultimedia said: “This is an important milestone in our journey, as we look for new ways to give our customers the best service possible. By joining the Remarkable Group, we’re growing as a business, benefiting from the customer experience, personalisation, design, and testing expertise of respected fellow Remarkable Group companies, Sagittarius and Tanasuk.” 

Matt Pilgrim, VP Partner Development, Optimizely said: “Ultimedia moving to be part of the Remarkable Group is a really exciting development, allowing an already capable Optimizely Partner to bring scale and additional digital services to their client offering. I am excited to see where we can take this new Partnership.” 

About  Remarkable Group International
The Remarkable Group is an international powerhouse of integrated digital specialist consultancies that offer clients true partnership and integration at a global scale. We are passionate and expert in digital experience and we put our customers first in order to drive value from class-leading connected experiences and relationships. https://remarkable.group/

About Ultimedia
Ultimedia is a dedicated Optimizely (Episerver) partner, combining strategic thinking with technical excellence, to deliver digital solutions for a wide range of companies and organisations with complex, business critical systems. https://ultimedia.agency/

Media contact: For comment and interviews, please email remarkable@libertycomms.com

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Sagittarius

Remarkable Group appoints Ian MacArthur as new CEO of Sagittarius

Remarkable Group (The Remarkable Group International) has appointed Ian MacArthur as the new CEO of Sagittarius, a top 50 UK digital agency, a specialist in digital customer experience and Sitecore platinum partner.   

MacArthur joined Sagittarius in 2018 as its director of global digital strategy, later becoming the agency’s Chief Experience Officer overseeing experience optimisation, and eventually taking on additional responsibility for sales, marketing and client services functions.

In his new role as CEO, which takes effect on 6th September, he will oversee the company’s growth both in the UK but also into new markets across the US and Middle East, in line with Remarkable Group global expansion plans. 

Leading the charge on new client wins including Liontrust, Cooke Optics, ICIS and Saga – MacArthur speaks with passion about his appointment, saying: “It’s an honour to be given the guardianship of Sagittarius from the original founders and previous CEOs, Paul Stephen and Nick Towers – the gravity of that is not wasted on me. As a progressive digital business, Sagittarius has a long history in helping great brands shape their destiny online through creating experiences that convert and, as a creative leader that obsesses over my customer’s customer, I’m thrilled to take that same winning mindset and apply it to our own growth story.”

Bringing nearly 30 years of experience, MacArthur has held senior roles across client brands, consultancies and now the agency space. From large NGOs such as NSPCC/ChildLine, where as CMO he led the famous FULL STOP Campaign through to advising commercial brands like Apple and Nike.

MacArthur has been recognised in The Guardian’s Future 50 to watch, The Drum’s Digerati and BIMA HOT 100 for his work. He has also won a raft of awards and multiple Grand Prix for his groundbreaking use of digital in advertising, design, marketing and customer experience. 

Outside of work, he continues his passion for supporting causes as co-chair of the British Interactive Media Association’s charity council.

Sagittarius, as a leading UK digital agency, was formed in 2010, and currently counts five offices globally. In 2020 Sagittarius co-founders, Nick Towers and Paul Stephen leveraged the expertise and value created by Sagittarius to build the Remarkable Group, a new group focused on connected digital experiences and digital transformation of which Sagittarius continues to sit at the heart.

Commenting on the appointment, Nick Towers, Sagittarius Co-Founder, former Sagittarius CEO  and now Remarkable Group CEO, said: “We are really excited for Ian and his team to be taking the reins at Sagittarius. Ian has been a part of the senior leadership team for some time now and has used that time to build a deep understanding of our clients, their needs and how to deliver great work and experiences that convert for them. Ian has a fantastic mind – curious, innovative and creative and we know he will do great things at the helm of Sagittarius.”

More recently, the Group acquired Tanasuk, expanding its footprint into the Middle East with Tanasuk’s best-in-class Sitecore and Microsoft engineering capabilities and is to announce its next acquisition in the customer experience space in the coming weeks.

About Sagittarius 

Sagittarius is an award-winning digital agency that helps brands create high-converting digital experiences. We’re a multinational team of innovators, visionaries, strategists, and problem solvers who will optimise your web experience and use data-lead decisions to power up your CRO, content, and UX. We take a marketing-first approach to our development, baking in performance and measurement to deliver impressive ROI on your technology investment. 

We specialise in Sitecore as both a complete or composable DXP platform and our own Sitecore optimisation consultancy and training academy to empower your people.

https://sagittarius.agency/

About Remarkable Group International 

The Remarkable Group is an international powerhouse of integrated digital specialist consultancies that offer our clients true partnership and integration at a global scale. We are passionate and expert in digital experience and we put our customers first in order to drive value from class-leading connected experiences and relationships. Our performance will always be measured by our legacy. So all of our brands operate with a social conscience, striving to leave the world in a better place than we found it. We are multiple agencies across Europe, the Middle East and North America focusing on: digital transformation, software engineering, connected experience, performance & analytics.

https://remarkable.group/

Media requests

Please email the media team if you would like to request additional comments or interviews with Remarkable CGO, Paul Stephen or CEO Ian MacArthur. Contact: Remarkable@libertycomms.com

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Nemetos Tanasuk

Remarkable Group grows its US and Middle East presence and global Sitecore capability with Tanasuk acquisition

Remarkable Group International Ltd, a fast-growing, global digital transformation agency group head-quartered in the UK, today announced the acquisition of Tanasuk Technologies, a leading Sitecore Partner and centre of engineering excellence, with a well-established US office and client base.

The ambitious new group kicked off its growth journey earlier in the year when it acquired Sagittarius, a top 50 UK digital agency, leading Sitecore Partner and specialist in digital customer experience.  

The Group has prioritised building its presence in the US as well as the Middle East where Tanasuk was founded. This acquisition is the first step in that journey, bringing together best-in-class engineering capabilities that will sit at the heart of Remarkable Group.  

In the fourteen years since it was founded by Heath Arensen, a US national, Tanasuk has delivered the majority of its client work in the US from its Chicago base. Tanasuk also partners up with US agencies to augment their teams over the long-term and provide the engineering expertise typically required when implementing large scale, global Sitecore projects.    

With Remarkable Group firepower, Tanasuk is embarking on rapid growth in the US, hiring for a senior marketing role and significantly growing its team of developers from the local talent pool. Its US growth strategy and sales and marketing activity is being overseen by Chicago-based Tamara Soudi, Tanasuk’s Chief Client Officer.   

Tanasuk’s success since founder Heath Arensen stepped down in 2015 has been consistently driven by an all-female leadership team; even today comprising Tanasuk CEO, Shahla Matar – one of only 300 individuals world-wide recently awarded Sitecore Most Valuable Professionals status (MVP) – and Tamara Soudi. By joining Remarkable Group, Tanasuk will benefit from the Group’s much wider pool of diverse senior architects, expertise and resources, allowing it to go beyond pure engineering and deliver full project lifecycles with a more multi-disciplined digital team.       

Shahla Matar comments: “Tanasuk has already established itself as the technology powerhouse behind some of the largest US brands and agencies, but joining the Remarkable Group means going way beyond the engineering work that we’ve specialised and excelled in for so long. It means instant access to a wealth of world class capabilities and resources across multiple continents, allowing us to be operating in different time zones, serving more territories, and offering broader full-fledged solutions.”           

Nick Towers, CEO of Remarkable Group, adds: “Tanasuk is a veteran Sitecore specialist and that brings an enormous amount of credibility, experience and knowledge to the group. Its growth and success to date has been driven by an incredible force of female leaders who are really exceptional operators, impressing us with their business acumen at every step of our negotiation.”  

He continues: “Leading brands and agencies in the US have relied heavily on Tanasuk and their market-leading Sitecore expertise ever since they opened shop fourteen years ago. With over one hundred successful implementations under their belt they’ve become recognised as an engineering powerhouse with an ability to seamlessly augment agency teams in need of seasoned engineering skills. Having more than a decade of experience working this way, Tanasuk has quickly become the go-to choice for the type of flexible resources that are in high demand as we emerge from the pandemic and its global economic consequences.” 

The acquisition of Tanasuk brings Remarkable Group headcount to 85 based across 6 locations covering the US (Chicago) the UK (London, Leeds, Ashford), Ukraine and Jordan (Amman). The Group is planning to announce further acquisitions in 2021 in the technology and data sectors. 

ENDS

For further information contact:

Jo Sensini, Velvet PR – +44 7710 316759

About Remarkable Group

Over the next five years Remarkable Group is intent on building a future-facing collective of remarkable specialist businesses that will work seamlessly together and support clients through their digital transformation journey. It aims to help its clients navigate constant change, meeting future challenges from competitors who don’t yet exist.

Remarkable Group is guided by the twin pillars of effectiveness and culture. Purpose, sustainability and ethics are a key part of that culture and a significant driver behind its choice of acquisitions. It is working towards B Corp certification in 2021 and each acquired business will be part of this process.

About Tanasuk

Tanasuk Technologies was established in Jordan in 2008, as the region’s first, largest, and longest-standing homegrown, MENA-based Sitecore implementation partner. The company spent the majority of its lifespan servicing global clients, with a strategic presence in and focus on the US market.  

Tanasuk prides itself on being an engineering hub for Sitecore, and the powerhouse behind some of the largest global brands. Team is currently 25+ with an aim to double, then triple in size and skill sets over the next few years, a process that’s expected to be expedited with Remarkable. The team lives and breathes quality code, return on investment, and top-notch customer experience. Paired with a solid foundation in everything Microsoft, Tanasuk quickly became the regional go-to for Sitecore support/consultancy, team augmentation services, and full-fledged implementation projects.

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Remarkable

Co-founders of leading UK agency go beyond with Remarkable

Today marks the launch of Remarkable Group, a new group of boutique digital specialists built for remarkable brands and remarkable people.

The group is the next step in the digital journey of founders Paul Stephen and Nick Towers, the original co-founders of the UK’s leading Sitecore consultancy, the award winning Sagittarius.

When asked why they created the group, Chief Growth Officer, Paul Stephen, said “the world doesn’t need another digital agency that talks transformation but can’t deliver the thinking, skills and experience to execute the vision. What it needs is a selection of boutique specialist consultancies that can actually move you on your transformation journey. Our job is to help our collective clients accelerate their digital maturity so that they are ready for the customers of tomorrow, today”

The group’s main focus is in the area of connected experience, helping brands to create competitive advantage through customer experiences that convert. The group’s consultancies each focus on unique aspects of this, allowing them to deep dive into data, digital experience, digital marketing and loyalty.

Today, the group includes Sagittarius, Tanasuk and has two more acquisitions underway, to be announced later this year.