Our History
Ever since we started back in 2003, in the family home of John and Donna Hayes, Champions (UK) plc has been on the fast-track to success.
With John at the helm as CEO and Matt, his first-born son, as Managing Director, our agency soon outgrew the small single room in the Hayes residence and now occupies an HQ of over 14,000 sq. ft., home to more than 90 Champions.
Now, after 15 years of adding capability and driving innovation, we’re the Midlands’ leading full-service brand agency. Together, we’re an award-winning team that delivers outstanding results.
7,500 sqft
Looking to the future with further expansion in mind, we’re about to break ground on a dedicated Digital & Media Suite.
It will feature the very latest cutting-edge technology and take our numbers over the 100 count.
After four years of success with the ‘2013 Vintage’ Champions brand, we felt a brand refresh was needed to help us communicate the full breadth of our offering.
So, we created ‘The Perfect 10’ device as a shorthand for our unique architecture and to communicate our development of five further areas of delivery.
Rapid growth of both the market and in the size of our team meant we needed more room, so an extension to the existing building was commissioned and built over the winter 2014/15.
And, six years to the day after our original building was opened by The Rt. Hon. Kenneth Clarke QC MP, the former Chancellor returned on Friday 25th September 2015 to do the honours once again.
Continuing our award-winning streak, we were recognised as a Santander Breakthrough50 Awards winner in 2014.
And the awards didn’t stop there. Matt was named haysmacintyre Top Gun at the Young Guns Awards 2014, an annual list of the UK’s most impressive young entrepreneurs aged 35 and under.
Having operated under our original brand for 10 years, it was time for a shake-up. So, we overhauled our whole look and style to give ourselves a fresh, vibrant feel and convey a more streamlined structure, highlighting our five key service areas.
The results soon followed, as we achieved RAR Recommended status and were listed in the London Stock Exchange’s 1000 Companies to Inspire Britain.
Over the next two years, our agency achieved nationwide recognition from several industry bodies, including Accelerate250, Insider Growth 100 Table (ranked 3rd), The Telegraph 1000 Britain’s Brightest Businesses, The Sunday Times FastTrack100 and Leicestershire’s TOP200 Companies.
The completed building was opened by The Rt. Hon. Kenneth Clarke QC MP on Friday 25th September 2009.
Having massively outgrown the small space we occupied in the house, we chose to commission purpose-built premises on the property to house our expanding team and enable us to pursue rapid growth in the years ahead.
Starting from their family home, John and Matt began were going to do things differently.
They put emphasis on people and relationships and rejected a traditional industry model that confined agencies to small niches and restricted their ability to deliver.
Instead, Champions embraced a multi-channel ethos and refused to put limits on what they could do or how they could help brands achieve their objectives.
