Member News
Newcastle based O agency has launched a new consultancy arm for scaling North East businesses seeking growth investment.
Having helped its clients successfully secure over £1billion in funding in the last five years alone, the marketing communications and strategy consultancy is launching a series of new services designed for scaling businesses.
The senior consultancy team at O are bringing a variety of new packaged services that support businesses through different stages in their investment and growth journeys, from seeking first time investment or driving brand equity ahead of large investment rounds, to ongoing growth and exit strategy.
The new division is led by Kirsty Ostell and Kari Owers, who both bring decades of experience working in both the world of financial services and the entrepreneurial community.
Kirsty is a marketing strategist with a finance sector background, working directly with funders and business owners to develop an investor-ready proposition and growth marketing strategy.
Kari is a comms expert who has been working with entrepreneurs in fast-growth sectors since the dot com boom of the 2000’s, shaping their messaging and raising their profiles to attract investment, execute merger and acquisition strategies and plan for exit.
They are supported by their consultancy team of insights experts, branding designers and comms specialists.
Kirsty said, “In the last five years alone we have sat in numerous boardrooms with fast-growth companies looking to secure private equity finance to grow by acquisition or scale-ups seeking Series A funding to expand into the US and Europe. Often it is not the business idea or ambition that fails but the way it is planned, pitched and communicated to its key stakeholders.
“We are taking our breadth of experience into a new scale-up growth marketing strategy programme built for founders, leadership teams and investors navigating the transition from successful start-up to scalable enterprise, aligning leadership, brand and commercial strategy into a single, execution-ready growth marketing system.
“It is not about creating a pretty pitch deck or short-term comms plans, but about strategically becoming a different kind of business before you even pitch for finance; one that is built to scale by using brand and comms as value creation tools.”
The programme will support businesses that work with the O consultancy team to develop:
• A clear growth plan and category ambition
• A globally credible brand strategy and identity aligned to commercial goals
• A go-to-market and BD strategy designed for measurable revenue impact
• A marketing and growth operating model built for scale
• A talent and capability roadmap to support execution
• A bold and definitive comms strategy to build the brand in key markets
• A growth marketing playbook that becomes a leadership and investment reference point
Kari Owers said, “For our clients on the investment journey we are a powerful partner. Quite often they have hit a roadblock where they have outgrown founder-led or ad-hoc marketing and want a senior-level partnership that have a demonstrable track record to accelerate them into the investment pitch and beyond, with clarity and structure.”
Michele Gettins, CMO at iamproperty said: “We’ve been working with O since 2020 and they are an amazing extension to our team. They’ve been with us through multiple acquisitions and huge investor rounds. They’ve helped us to improve our position in the market, drive growth across market categories and raise our profile every step of the way. We wouldn’t be where we are today without them.”
O agency celebrated 20 years in the North East in 2025, working across sectors in technology, property, manufacturing and professional services as well as new product innovation, FMCG brands and sustainability specialists. Its clients include one of the UK’s fastest growing tech firms iamproperty RFID innovation specialists PervasID and international brands such as Fentimans.
