My creative spark found me after being bought up on a farm in rural Shropshire, where the nearest neighbour was 2 miles away and there was an expectation that everyone was born to be a farmer.
Inspired by meeting successful business owners and with a dream to travel the world, I challenged my traditional family expectations and was the first person in 3 generations not to become a farmer. After studying graphic communication in Shrewsbury, Wolverhampton and Cardiff, I was inspired - my ambition of a career in media was firmly rooted and I was hungry for more.
Fast forward to 2009. I craved something of my own and had been dreaming of starting a marketing agency with a difference, one that brought city-level marketing right here to Shropshire.
When I found out that my boss was making me redundant with a £1k redundancy package – this was the push I needed to take the leap on my own.
It meant endless door-knocking, networking like crazy, and constantly hustling for the next project. Doubts creep in but my determination never wavered. The focus for year one was to get enough money in to pay my mortgage, but year one ended with a hard-fought £70k income – proof that the dream had legs.
The vision, though, was bigger. Reech was a big business from day one, even if day one was just Rob Hughes. “We” presented as a larger agency, delivering results that you would expect from a 10-person+ team. I would take on projects and people were interested in my passion for results-based marketing; something I still talk to business owners and marketing leads about every day.
Naturally, Reech grew - we won bigger projects, with bigger clients so we needed channel specialists and more space
15 years later and I’m in the position now where we can invest in our growth, I can empower my senior team to get sh*t done and I can also take on exciting new projects alongside Reech. Whether it’s mentoring a young businessperson, consulting for a scale-up organisation or acting as a trustee for a charity, I thrive on identifying and delivering opportunities for growth.
From the outside, farming and marketing may seem like vastly different worlds, but traits from my upbringing are still part of my professional and agency life today. Farmers take pride in their work, face market fluctuations, always plan ahead and build strong relationships. Whether you’re in agriculture or marketing, these values of hard work, dedication and resilience are fundamental to achieving success.
The Drum Recommends has named Reech as a Top 20 agency outside of London!
Officially recommended by The Drum and a recognised Shopify, Mailchimp, Google and WordPress partner, Reech has developed an impressive client portfolio, including recent work with Canon, Shrewsbury Colleges Group and Kara, to name a few.
