The rise and rise of Atomic 212° continues.

In 2015, Atomic 212° won Campaign Australia/New Zealand Independent Agency of the Year, won a silver in Australian Media Agency of the Year and Australian Digital Agency of the Year, a bronze for Australia/New Zealand Specialist Agency of the Year and was labelled the fastest growing media and marketing company in the country by BRW.

Atomic 212° chief executive, Jason Dooris, was Campaign Agency Head of the Year for Australia and New Zealand and Runner Up Australian CEO of the Year in the 2015 CEO Magazine Executive of the Year Awards.

In January 2016, it absorbed CRM specialist agency, Brandmail.

Now it has launched a new division, The Firecracker Factory, to manage content marketing, public relations, social media strategy and management, promotions and experiential.

The Firecracker Factory will be headed by David Blight, who has been promoted from content director to the role. Blight was also formerly the online editor of AdNews, and a founding partner of mining community publication, Coalface.

“I couldn’t think of anyone better to lead The Firecracker Factory. David is young, energetic and incredibly bright. What’s more, his editorial background means he brings a unique storytelling approach to marketing,” Atomic 212° chairman, Barry O’Brien, noted.

“We’ve actually been developing these services with clients in some way or another since the launch of Atomic , but with the rollout of The Firecracker Factory we will ramp up considerably in this area. In today’s fluid media landscape, Atomic 212° understands that the boundaries between content, social media, PR and digital marketing are becoming increasingly ill-defined. The glue that ties them together is imaginative storytelling. This is the space we want to own,” Blight added.

“The origins of Atomic 212° are in search and performance media, which means that we are a digital agency first and that insights and measurement are at the core of everything we do. This ethos will apply to The Firecracker Factory as much as it does to the rest of the Atomic 212° Group,” O’Brien explained.

The Firecracker Factory and Atomic 212° Group will work together to provide a fully integrated approach for clients. The Firecracker Factory team will include editorial specialists, experienced PR practitioners, social media gurus and a promotional expert.

Where did the name come from? “It’s simple – we will be producing a bucket load of explosive ideas,” O’Brien, commented.

Blight added, “Barry wanted a name that was fun, exciting, a bit crazy and somewhat polarising. We did a vote around the office: half the people loved it; half the people hated it. That was it. We had our name.”