An Introduction To Twenty One Twelve Marketing

The first question most people ask us is why the name? There’s certainly a story behind it.

A lot of people I meet are intrigued by the company’s name, Twenty One Twelve. Some assume I’m a massive fan of 70’s Canadian rock band, Rush - who released an album by the same name in 1976. But most are a bit bemused by it, it’s long and quite difficult to remember - so why on earth would a marketing agency choose it? Shouldn’t we be called something ultra modern and cool?

Twenty One Twelve Marketing was born in Henley-on-Thames way back in 2016. Henry had just won a UK Blog Award for the Digital & Technology sector with the web design wizards over at Ri Web and the briefs were piling up. It was time to make the move from freelancer to agency and the humble start-up needed a name.

Twenty One Twelve Founder Henry McIntosh With The 2016 UK Blog Award

One thing all marketers know is the power of storytelling. The problem was, I didn’t have an exciting rags to riches story. I’d never gone from a market stall to multi-millionaire ala Lord Sugar or leapt from welfare to riches like most internet entrepreneurs claim to have done. Instead, I was from the sleepy town of Henley-on-Thames, but we still needed a story to root the brand in. 

When we first started Twenty One Twelve we solely focused on digital marketing for luxury brands, now we’re more diverse - offering services to B2B and professional services companies. But when the focus was luxury, Henley was a very useful place to be based and the town’s world-renowned regatta provided the perfect inspiration for the birth of a brand.

If you’ve never been to Henley Regatta, it’s worth a visit. The creme de la creme of rowers compete and both banks of the Thames are filled with bars and restaurants. Over the years, we've hosted many client events there - one of many perks to working with Twenty One Twelve Marketing!

Twenty One Twelve's Henry & Chloe Hosting Pimento MD David Morley and Maxim Mortgages MD Craig Muttitt at Henley Royal Regatta

The course is also quite a feat, it’s long and choppy. So much so that Olympians won’t come to Henley during an Olympic year, because it’s bad practice for the man-made Olympic courses that are shorter and calmer. 

The course length? 2112 metres. And so the name was born, thought up by our old Director, Ryan Irving, we felt it was a good representation of our new brand. It takes dedication and determination to complete the course of one of the world’s most prestigious regattas. The cox must be precise as they guide the boat across the choppy, winding course and rowers have to rise above the frenetic noise of the madding crowds along the bank.

It was everything we wanted our agency to be - precision marketing designed to drive commercial results. Now, in 2024, we’ve grown into our name and we feel we’re everything we set out to be.

Need marketing support or guidance? Feel free to email us on info@2112.marketing to set up a friendly, no-obligations call.