Bank backs branding agency with £150,000

A SCOTTISH branding agency that has carried out work for Johnnie Walker, Heineken and Smirnoff in the United States has secured £150,000 of funding from Clydesdale Bank to expand its business across the Atlantic.

Leith-based Threebrand – set up in 2004 by Nick Cadbury, Gary Fortune-Smith and Campbell Laird – already generates about a quarter of its £1.5 million annual turnover in America.

Now the company, which employs 18 staff, wants to expand along the Eastern Seaboard of the US to meet demand for its services.

Fortune-Smith said: “We have a number of clients in America that we’ve been working with for years, and it is evident that their positive experiences and word-of-mouth endorsements of the company are creating an impression on some of the other companies in the area – particularly in the north-east.

“Over the past year, we have been receiving regular enquiries from businesses in the US – predominantly in the drinks industry – looking to employ us for our branding expertise. After a great deal of careful consideration, we believe that this is a geographical area worth concentrating on, and we want to focus our energies on expanding our business over there.”

Nigel Kerr, business development partner at Clydesdale Bank’s “financial solutions centre” in Edinburgh, said: “Threebrand is a fantastic example of a small company that is doing some great work for clients – both at home in Scotland and in various locations overseas.”

Threebrand’s other clients in the drinks industry include Baileys, Bell’s, and Whyte & Mackay.