Advertising, Marketing & PR

Adam Gritz, Creative Managing Director, Landmark Creative Studios.
Published: March 15, 2020 | Updated: 15th March 2020
It may be one of the smallest creative agencies in Dorset but, boy, does it pack a global punch.
Founded just six years ago, Poole-based Landmark Creative Studios works with clients across the UK, Europe, USA and UAE.
They include the Varkey Foundation, founded to improve standards of education and raise the status and capacity of teachers throughout the world.
One of its initiatives was the creation of the Global Education & Skills Forum.
Past speakers have included former US President Bill Clinton, former US Vice President Al Gore and Bill Gates.
The foundation also hosts the $1m Global Teacher Prize.
“We get involved with literally everything, from the branding, stage and room sets to the literature, websites, social media and event apps. In fact, the only thing we don’t do is TV,” said Adam Gritz, Landmark’s Creative Managing Director.
“The Global Teacher Prize has been a big part of my life for the last five years and I’ve been involved from the very beginning.”
Adam, 40, launched Landmark after 18 years as Creative Director with a Bournemouth advertising agency.
It was, he admits, never a plan to start his own business but the arrival of his first child changed his thinking.
“Something clicked when I became a father. I wanted to build something which I could, perhaps, leave for my children. Now I wish I had done it ten years ago,” he said.
Adam with fellow designer Kevin Whitbread and his wife, Ania, who looks after the finances
Based in Poole’s Old Town, Adam shares his office with fellow designer Kevin Whitbread.
They go back a long way.
“We were best mates at school when we nine and we’ve had a friendship and working relationship for more than 30 years,” said Adam.
In fact, it was Kevin, who has his own company Klam Design, who encouraged Adam to join him on the first graphic design course at the Bournemouth & Poole College.
Twenty five years later and business is booming at Landmark with its distinctive lion logo.
Apart from Adam and Kevin, the agency calls on the skills of two other designers, a social media expert and a developer while Adam’s wife, Ania, handles the finances.
In addition to its international work, the agency has built an impressive list of clients across Dorset and the south in key sectors ranging from agriculture and construction to finance, education and leisure and hospitality.
They include:
• Merlo UK, manufacturers of agricultural farming and construction telehandlers.
• Strategic Solutions, chartered Independent Financial Advisers.
• Free From Beer Co, a gluten free draught beer.
• Greenslade Pleasure Boats.
• Fortuna, a home improvement company.
• British School of Marketing International.
• Box Hill School, an independent coeducational boarding and day school in Surrey.
Future projects include working for a new Dorset brewery.
Adam’s ambitions for the business which has an annual turnover of £300,000?
“We’d like a few more clients and are actively targeting the education and beer sectors.
“We’ll also probably take on an intern but I don’t want to grow the agency too large.
“We have a good bank of people we can call upon but I want to remain very hands-on with the design.
“It’s hard work, long hours but it’s my business and I have no regrets.”