Member Spotlight: Canny Creative
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This week, we caught up with the creative design agency to find out how they are utilising their Chamber membership.
Where are you based?
We are based in Blyth, Northumberland!
How many employees do you have?
We are a team of 8!
Give us a brief overview of your business.
Canny Creative is a North East-based creative design agency. We help small marketing teams do big things with their branding, websites and SEO. We ensure that brands across the B2B space stand out in competitive markets, create websites that consistently attract qualified leads, and produce content that engages audiences. Our goal is to save our clients time, deliver meaningful results, and offer a fresh perspective on their marketing strategy, acting as a true partner rather than just another agency.
Tell us about a recent business success.
In November 2025, Canny Creative celebrated its 10th anniversary as a registered limited company. Having started out as a freelance graphic designer working out of the spare bedroom of his family home in Seghill, Canny’s Founder, Tony Hardy, has grown Canny into an internationally recognised brand and web design agency. What began as a solo venture in the region quickly scaled beyond expectation when Canny landed its first international client, a Japanese skincare brand, the same year it launched as a limited company (2015).
By 2017, Canny had moved into Blyth Workspace and quickly began building a team. Backed by funding from the UK’s Department of International Trade, the company has since hosted global events in Canada and the USA, showcasing how strategic branding and digital marketing could be used to help businesses grow their presence overseas.
While many companies struggled through Covid, Canny thrived – expanding its team, introducing content marketing services for its clients and solidifying its reputation as a results-driven creative partner. Now an 8-strong team serving industries including tech, healthcare and professional services, Canny continues to operate from its North East base while working with clients across the globe.
Looking to the future, Tony has further growth firmly in his sights, aiming to reach a £1 million turnover within the next five years.
How has being a Chamber member impacted your growth and networking opportunities?
Supported by our Account Manager, Clare, Canny historically attended a lot of the Chamber’s networking events, although as the business began to take off, we didn’t get to go to quite as many as we would have liked! In recent months, we have started to re-engage with the Chamber, attending networking events in the city centre to help raise our profile locally. We have also begun to utilise the new coffee lounge and shared working space in Newcastle – with clients up and down the country, we’re regular fixtures at Central Station, so having a secure space where we can work effectively on the go is really beneficial.
Where can we find you?
Check out our website here: https://www.canny-creative.com/ or check out our social channels below: