Credentials
Reputation is everything. And it’s something we value highly. Before working with someone new we often need to provide some background information about who we are, what we do, our abilities and achievements. It’s only right and proper.
So, let’s get some facts down.
How long have we been in the creative sector?
30 years – our founder, Mark Tomkins, began as a junior designer for an Oxford-based agency in 1989. Bekki Tomkins & Matt Willson each have more than 20 years in the sector and are supported by a talented team of designers, developers and search analysts. In 2022 Aubergine became 20 years old.
Who have we worked with?
To name drop, if that’s your thing, we’ve worked for HSBC, Airbus, BlackBerry & The Mayor of London as well as being instrumental in creating the brand image and launching hundreds of new and startup businesses, many of who have gone on to fantastic success.
What are our skills & expertise?
Web Development – it has to work and work well. People often cut corners with thinking they can do it themselves or use a free online website builder. Good luck with that, we say. Good development – something that works well each and every time needs skill, planning and expertise in coding. We code in PHP, Javascript, Java & React to name a few.
Creative design – we live in a world where, not only has something got to work well but it’s got to look amazing. Design is the fundamental component to every project we do whether that’s for a brand, logo, website or brochure.
Planning – this is key. Almost always dodged by inexperienced agencies but it’s fundamental to launching a site properly and reducing those post-launch blues. Nobody needs an ‘urgent website’ – if you do – you haven’t planned it properly. If you’re not inclined to go through a proper scoping out and planning stage, we probably aren’t the right web agency for you, thank you.
You can see our planning process here.
Search – website optimisation (or ‘SEO’ as it was called once). Having a super-swanky website is great. But you want people to find it. You and the rest of the planet. And so, in order to get your website as high up the search results as possible we do hard work, research and some more of that planning. No black hat techniques here – that way leads to disaster. Content planning, page optimisation and sometimes PPC (Google Adwords) will be needed. We’re Official Google Partners so we know what we’re doing and Google says so, too.
Quality control – the quality is driven by having processes by which to follow without fail and making sure that each and every one of those processes is done and checked – this is the only way to ensure quality. It’s what many other miss.
We’re a team of 14 very talented people – developers, designers, search specialists and all co-ordinated by experienced senior experts.
Need to share this info with someone? Download our creds document (PDF)
We’re award-winning
So, how good are we, then? We’ve won awards – quite a few.
We are DAC National Digital Awards Champions – Gold Award
Annual Digital Awards – Silver award and Gold Award for our localised Milton Keynes region.
We’re Drum Recommended Agency status
2022 SME News Most Creative Female-owned Web Design Company
and we’re SME Business Awards finalists, Small Awards 2020 Winner, SME News Most Innovative Woman Run Web Agency 2021 & Better Society Awards Finalist 2022
Our accreditations
We have Registered Agency status with JISC and can operate all UK .AC . MOD & NHS domains. See registration here.
We’re Nominet Authorised Registrars for .gov.uk domain
We’re Cabinet Digital Data Office authorised for registering and managing .gov.uk domains
We’re Official Google Partners.
We have Cyber Essentials accreditation and follow these practices in our approach to digital and cyber security processes.
Cyber Essentials certificate
We have Official Crown Commercial Supplies and authorised to provide digital services for the public sector.
See authorisation record here.