Agency created by Teesside graduates transforms national newspaper
A thriving digital content agency set up by Teesside University graduates is celebrating the success of a major project with one of the UK’s longest running daily newspapers.
Enterprise agency Big Bite, based in central Middlesbrough, has transformed online publishing for The Times through development of a new content management system, enabling the broadsheet’s news teams to publish stories faster and easier than ever before.
Big Bite is the only agency in the UK to hold the prestigious WordPress VIP Gold status and works with major brands to improve how they publish digital content, covering everything from editorial workflows to end-user experience.
Commenting on the success of the digital-first transformation, Luke Sikkema, Digital Product Manager at The Times, said: “The new WordPress CMS built by Big Bite enables our editorial teams to interact with content in a much more visual way and publish captivating narratives in much quicker timeframes.
“It also facilitates collaboration better than any platform we’ve previously used, and we’re looking forward to pushing the boundaries of publishing even further in the future.”
Big Bite Chief Operating Officer and Teesside University graduate Sarah McCormick said: “We’re huge advocates of WordPress as a publishing tool for global newsrooms and enterprise organisations, so we were delighted to be chosen by The Times to improve the usability and efficiency of its digital production processes.
“We’re really happy with the end results, as the newspaper can now create and share news in record time, which is testament to the amazing work of our engineering and project management teams.”
We couldn’t be happier to be creating even more digital roles within Teesside.
From its early days as a start-up business based at the University’s Phoenix Building, Big Bite has retained close links with the University, with a large proportion of the company’s workforce being Teesside graduates. The agency is currently expanding its team and recruiting for roles including software engineers, project managers and a marketing and events manager.
Sarah added: “We couldn’t be happier to be creating even more digital roles within Teesside. We’re proud to be able to give people the opportunity to work on projects for some of the biggest global household names.”
Big Bite was recently recognised by the Sunday Times as being one of the best places in the UK to work; ranking in the top 10 nationally for small businesses, while also being highly commended in the Best Place to Work for Employee Wellbeing award with an engagement score of 98%.
The Times project is the latest in a line of successful enterprise WordPress projects designed and developed by Big Bite on behalf of large-scale organisations, including Gumtree, The Wall Street Journal, Octopus Group, and Amnesty International.
