Our story started in 2002, when our founder, Simon Tann, set out to build the kind of agency he wanted to work in. We have grown and changed a great deal since then, but that original idea is still very much part of us.
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Our founder, Simon Tann, began his career as a creative designer in London. Working for leading agencies gave him plenty of experience, but it also gave him an idea: bring together the best parts of those agencies and build something of his own.
That became Tann Westlake in 2002. Good design mattered from the start, and so did the people we worked with. We wanted to make ambitious work and build the kind of relationships where clients could pick up the phone and talk things through. We still do.
Our founder, Simon Tann, had spent years working as a creative designer in London. He had seen what made great agencies tick, and had a clear idea of what he wanted to bring to his own.
In 2002, he started Tann Westlake. The idea was to take the best of that London experience and create an independent agency with strong creative work and a more personal way of working with clients. That was our starting point.
The recession was tough for businesses, including ours. But as clients looked at where to invest next, we saw real opportunities in digital. We put our energy into helping them make the most of those changes.
Creative digital products became a bigger part of our work, and mobile changed how we thought about websites. People were no longer just browsing at their desks. Making things work properly on a phone was becoming essential, and we embraced it.
We became a Shopify Partner in 2011, when it was still early days for the platform. We could see how much potential it had: a way for businesses to sell online that was straightforward to use, with plenty of room for good design.
It felt like something worth getting behind. We wanted to help our clients make the most of it, and becoming a Partner was our way of committing to that opportunity early.
Social media was quickly becoming much more than somewhere to post an update. It gave our clients a direct way to talk to their audiences, and we helped them work out how to use it well.
We were also putting more focus on SEO, helping people find our clients when they were actively looking. Search, social and creative work started to fit together more closely. We were learning a lot, and seeing why getting those things right mattered.
We became a Google Partner in 2015. It was a big moment for us. As a small independent agency, we were proud of what the team had achieved and how far our digital work had come.
We had started with design, but by then search and campaigns were a growing part of what clients came to us for. Becoming a Partner was an important milestone in that part of our story.
Over the years, we have had the opportunity to work with organisations including Parexel, Canon and RSPCA Mount Noddy. Those were proud moments for our team, and each relationship brought different people, challenges and ideas into the agency.
Working with bigger names never changed the way we wanted to work. We still wanted to understand the people behind the brief, get the details right and be an agency they enjoyed working with.
In 2026, Josh Bryan took over as our Managing Director. After more than twenty years with our founder at the helm, this was a big step for Tann Westlake, and an exciting one.
Josh now leads the day-to-day running of the agency, while our founder, Simon, stays involved in a strategic role. It gives us a new perspective on where we go next, with the experience of the agency behind us.
Today, we bring strategy, brand, web, digital and PR together in one team. We have added skills, tried new things and learned plenty along the way. What has stayed the same is how much we care about the work and the people we do it for.
Our founder’s original idea still feels relevant: bring good people together, give them room to do good work and stay close to clients. There is plenty ahead of us, and we are looking forward to it.
In 2027, we’ll celebrate 25 years of Tann Westlake. From our founder’s first idea in 2002 to the team we are today, there will be plenty to look back on, and plenty to look forward to.
A quarter of a century of good people, good work and clients who have been part of our story. We’re looking forward to marking the occasion.