National success for Teesside graduate

A Teesside University graduate who is carving out a successful career as a marketing consultant has won the prestigious accolade of ‘Rising Star’ at The Drum Search Awards 2016.

Tom Etherington, a Search Marketing Consultant at Silverbean, graduated with a first class degree in Multimedia Journalism, before embarking upon a career in digital in 2013.

Originally from Stockton, he joined Silverbean as Search Marketing Executive in March 2014 and was promoted to Consultant within nine months, a new record at the agency.

The awards, which celebrate the best in digital talent from across the country, were held at the Grosvenor Hotel in London. Arranged by digital publication The Drum, they were judged by a panel of experts and esteemed marketers from the likes of Google, Tesco, Yahoo and Lego.

This is the third time Tom has been shortlisted for an industry award of this calibre. He was Highly Commended for the Agency Rising Star award at December’s Drum Network Awards, and shortlisted in the Young Digital Marketer of the Year at the Northern Digital Awards in January.

On accepting his award, Tom said: 'To win a national award is a huge honour, so I'm thrilled. The competition for this category was really tough and it was a great surprise to hear my name called, with seven talented people from much larger agencies and companies across the industry also shortlisted.

'I also see it as great recognition for Silverbean. I'm really looking forward to what the future holds and hopefully I can encourage more people in the North East to get into the digital industry, and more agencies to shout about the great work that we're doing here.'

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