Who we are

Based in Wales & London, but working globally; we’re a small but powerful team. With varying backgrounds and lots of individual experience, we bring a wealth of eclectic insights to our social media campaigns, united in creating data-driven results. We know what works and are ready to impart knowledge to our clients to maximise their social media budgets.

Our Story

Populate began back in 2015 after our Founder, Dan, noticed social media was being treated like a bolt on rather than as a primary focus. He set out to build a specialist social media marketing agency; something which cut through the noise and offered depth of knowledge in social.

Our origin actually stems from a time where we were known as Tide Creative.

Fuelled by wanting to change the marketing world from lots of half-baked services & very little in terms of value for money for SME’s, we wanted to bring a totally different meaning to the word digital marketing. A niche began to develop and we were there to fill it.

2016 & 2017 brought exciting growth in our client base & we were fortunate to win the venture category for the Santander Spark Challenge in 2016 & shortlisted in the Cardiff Business Awards.

Feeling the squeeze in our office, in 2017 we decided to move into a new space in the City Centre. We jumped aboard the hiring train and expanded our team so we could service our new exciting clients.

We really started to define our offering at this time after noticing a trend in the lack of transparency of true results businesses were used to receiving. We wanted a more ‘tell all’ approach and focused heavily on building unequivocal reporting.

‘Be so good they can’t ignore you’; the phrase that adorned our 2nd office and formed a key part of our marketing material for a long time.

New clients + new team members = more space! We moved into our current crib back in 2018, after some key client wins & the need for a larger photography studio, meeting rooms to catch up with our clients to plan out their social media campaigns and of course more desks for our growing team!

Following some fun and successful years, Dan was named Young Business Person of the Year in the Cardiff Business Awards. We were also shortlisted in the NatWest Great British Entrepreneur Awards.

Look at those cheesy grins! A snapshot of our core team back in 2018. This team really helped push the business forward with some great client wins including Northampton Saints, Glamorgan Cricket, Arbuthnot Latham and Live Nation.

In 2019, we became partners of all the key platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn & Google.

We also brought in some more experienced heads to the business, giving our clients even more expertise to call upon.

By Christmas 2019 we had grown to a team of 11 with key specialists across a number of areas. Dublin felt our presence with one hell of a Christmas party that year ☘️

2020, what a year it’s been. We’ve pushed on and made sure our staff are always at the forefront of everything we do. Being shortlisted in the Creative Pool Awards as the ‘Best Agency to Work For’ amongst some of the biggest names in the business—yeah, a proud moment!

As we entered our 5th year of business we felt our current brand did not represent who we were as a company. Sometimes it takes time to really get to grips with who you are and what you want to represent and we felt that it was the right time to really give things a refresh. So, we launched our updated brand, website and marketing material ready for our next big push!

In 2022 we joined The MISSION Group PLC, comprising of a group of digital marketing and communications agencies delivering real sustainable growth for its Clients. – We were chuffed, here’s what our founder, Dan had to say:

“I am genuinely excited and passionate about what MISSION can bring to both Populate, the team and myself. As well as what we can bring to the group.”

MongooseGroup SummerSocial Rounders 20 (1)

2023 saw us implement a true partnership within the MISSION group, with us joining a smaller sub-brand of agencies, Mongoose Group, where we sit alongside 3 other agencies: Mongoose Sports & Entertainment, Alive and Influence Sport & Media.

You can find out more about each agency here.

Plainly speaking, we create social campaigns that deliver. At Populate we believe in doing one thing, just really well. Although a little oversimplified, what we mean is we’re not trying to conquer the whole world. We just do our best to conquer our bit of it.

In 2015 when we first started, social media marketing was a hugely under-serviced sector and knowledge was incredibly poor. Today, we live in a world where there are tons of agencies and freelancers providing social media services. However, we believe our offering is a little different.

Born out of frustration, we set out to eliminate the biggest problem in social marketing. The lack of genuine, transparent results. Too often brands spend excessive time, money and resources on social marketing without reaping any rewards. There is also a huge lack of understanding within marketing departments regarding social media. We set out to educate our clients to give them the tools they need to enable social media to be a complementary part of their marketing strategy.

Meet the team

Mikey Rowe New Business Manager

Cat Wynn Photographer

Eliana Seochand Account Manager

Alex Colbourne Graphic Designer

Jon Roberts Senior Content Creator & Art Director

Sophie Miles Social Media Executive

Daniel Simmons Founder

James Hamilton Paid Media Manager

Jess Barry Senior Account Manager

Jordan Gardiner Head of Ops and Culture

Emma Woodward Senior Account Manager

Catrin Brady Paid Media Executive

Steff Gravell-Mitchell Brand Manager

The unspoken rule

You know the fluff. We know the fluff. Even the nice person sitting next to you on the bus knows the fluff. Hollow vanity metrics that are satisfying on paper but don’t build your business. The one rule. Leave the fluff firmly at home. We’ve all been there. Don’t be fooled by the fluff. You’ll thank us later.

No fluff just the good stuff