A Birmingham-based company responsible for delivering marketing initiatives across the globe has been named as the Midlands’ International Exporter of the Year.

WAA Chosen, headquartered in Sutton Coldfield, beat off competition from across the 10 qualifying counties to win the award and did so thanks to overseas advertising work for the likes of Diageo, Britvic, Volkswagen, Pirelli and Tarmac.

The award, sponsored by the Department for International Trade and presented at the Midlands’ Business Awards, was in recognition of WAA Chosen putting the region in the marketing spotlight – having worked with over 40 international markets.  

The business, founded by chief executive Andy Wilson in 1986, has even formed collaborations with other marketing companies across the globe in order to deliver campaigns with complete local market knowledge and empathy.

The agency also currently trades in over 10 different international currencies, and has adapted marketing initiatives to take into account mark trends, language, culture and – currently – the impact and situation regarding the pandemic.

WAA Chosen's chief executive Andy Wilson, a previous Midlands’ chair of the IPA, believes the award is the validation of a long-term strategy to offer clients worldwide marketing solutions.

He said: “We have invested in trade trips to places like Brazil to meet other agencies and organisations and understand how we can interact with them.

“One of the key concerns for clients was that agencies could only execute in the UK, but then they had to try and find new partners in other countries and with that comes a risk in time investment and a lot of admin.

“We have found a great balance of solutions from partnerships with other agencies to international bases, and it is an area of the business that we see offering great growth for the foreseeable future.”

The Midlands Business Awards offered double success for WAA Chosen, with managing director Dan Clifford (pictured) also scooping the Business Person of the Year accolade, a glowing testament to the way that the organisation approached the uncertainly of the pandemic.

Dan said: “I was delighted to receive the award, but it was an award for our clients and our team here at the agency as much as it was for me personally.

“A lot of businesses panicked and shut down operations, which left their clients in the lurch and it became a self-fulfilling prophecy.

“We had great conversations with our clients at the very beginning. We even carried out over £250,000 of unpaid work for the ones that needed support but had budget freezes, furloughed team members or had been forced to shut venues.

“That partnership spirit has been carried forward as things have picked up and we could not be prouder of the relationships we have built in such a difficult time.”