About us
Founded in 2020 by former colleagues Chris Thornhill and Jen Bayford, Growth Animals was built on Chris and Jen’s determination that their business would be a force for good, and their vision that all marketing should help grow your brand’s bottom line AND positive impact.
Chris and Jen combine this belief with their decades of marketing experience in-house at leading brands like Carlsberg, The Body Shop and the Goodwood Estate. Having spent their careers on your side of the fence, Chris and Jen understand the commercial pressures you face. So as strategy experts, we help you choose what to do and what not to do, to ensure growth is achieved that positively impacts upon your profit, your people and the planet.
Now a fully certified B Corp marketing agency, Growth Animals are well on our journey as champions of ethical and sustainable marketing, designed for people, planet and profit.
Meet the team
Introducing the Growth Animals. Find out a bit more about us and what we each bring to the table.
CHRIS THORNHILL
Co-founder & CEO
Chris is a fantastic leader and has brilliant business acumen, having spent his career working for some hugely exciting, energetic and entrepreneurial organisations both in the UK and globally. He’s led teams that have launched, promoted and grown brands across multiple sectors and markets.
Chris is a great communicator, a logical thinker and problem solver, someone who pushes boundaries and takes calculated risks to fantastic effect.
JEN BAYFORD
Co-founder & Marketing Director
Jen is a highly-experienced marketing and brand strategist whilst being friendly, cheerful and energetic. Jen loves people, so she’s an extremely relational member of the gang. She can always be relied upon to provide an upbeat atmosphere and create an environment whereby others think they can achieve anything.
During Jen’s career of experience launching and growing brands of differing sizes and maturity, Jen has shown herself to be an imaginative and inventive problem solver, who is focussed on getting the job done.
JAMES NUNN
Digital & Delivery Marketing Manager
James is our resident Digital Marketing Specialist. He’s responsible for our clients’ digital presence and is the go-to for developing digital strategy in line with a client’s marketing objectives. He’s an ace at project managing website builds and developing online search strategy, and integrating requirements like CRM/Email marketing and paid marketing across multiple channels.
James, who has worked in a similar roles for financial and corporate organisations, brings the all-important digital knowledge and expertise our clients rely upon. Working best when inspiring the rest of the team and clients, he is a perfectionist, easy-going and calm. James enjoys the ever-changing, complex world of digital marketing.
MIA RICHARDS
Digital Marketing Executive
Currently studying for her Digital Marketing degree at Chichester University, Mia first joined us as an intern to experience agency life, and put her marketing knowledge to use in practice. Mia has hit the ground running and is a valuable member of the Growth Animals team.
Mia is a fantastic self-starter, getting stuck into all areas of marketing and supporting the team to deliver great work for our clients. Mia is strong and determined, very dependable and quick to learn.
Our company values
Throughout our time together, we have become increasingly focused on the ‘why’ behind the brands we work on, and that’s why you’ll see our personal values shining through in everything we do:
We are a tenacious bunch, determined to help you achieve your goals but also support you to make a difference for your customers and create a wider positive impact with your business.
We believe life is too short to take oneself too seriously, and as creative people, not only will we help you grow, you’ll be having a bit of fun along the way.
We know that some marketing approaches aren’t always ethical, which is why we hold ourselves and our clients to account, question the status quo and ensure the most ethical practices are used.
Don't just take our word for it...
Don’t just take our word for it…
Growth Animals are a fast working, bright, innovative team that really understand what it means to act as supportive partners to your business.
We absolutely love the brand that Growth Animals created for us. We were blown away by their insightfulness and creativity and enjoyed every minute of working with them.
Jen and Chris played instrumental roles in the strategic expansion of the Goodwood Road Racing Club.
Growth Animals really helped our marketing team develop plans to grow awareness of the charity’s services and successfully increase our charitable donations.
Thank you for your support! I feel we’ve moved forwards in our thinking and approach with the help of you folks.
I would recommend the team at Growth Animals to any business looking for expert advice on how to grow.
The team at Growth Animals are extremely knowledgeable – they certainly know their stuff! If your business needs any help with marketing, you need not to look any further.
Every moment with Growth Animals was incredibly helpful, insightful and full of good advice.