Member Spotlight: Martin Cozens, Managing Director & Co-Founder, BANC.

Introduce yourself

Martin Cozens, Managing Director and co-founder of BANC. We’re a Strategy-first Digital Marketing, Web Design and Branding Agency based in Old Trafford, Manchester. Established in 2009, 17 years and counting!

Career highlight

There are many that I am proud of but last year we came 7^th in the UK for Best Places to Work in the Campaign awards which was a really good nod to the culture that we have worked hard to build here at BANC.

But also, a watershed moment for us was when we beat a large, well-known media agency in Manchester to a significant client win for the first time about 12 years ago when we were only 15-strong. It gave us confidence moving forward that we can punch well above our weight. That client stayed with us for 6 years.

Name three words that describe your personality

I had to ask other people for this one and the top 3 came out as: candid, dynamic and caring. All of which I will certainly take, but maybe they were just being nice to my face!

What’s the best thing about pro-manchester?

For sure the events for me. Regular, well-organised, meaningful, accessible and attended by interesting professionals who understand what networking really means. This is where Pro-Manchester stands above other organisations. Always trying to connect businesses and people in the region to help improve the overall business community.

What are your priorities for 2026?

We have pivoted some of our web development resources into Software Development and launched our first licensed software product, namely Pontoon. This is a plugin for WordPress that syncs with our travel content partner Widgety and enhances the content delivery to the Travel Agent website in a number of ways. We are rolling out further licensed products this year as a priority for the business!

What do you think are the most important things going on in Manchester at the moment?

There has been some amazing work done generating inward investment into Manchester over the last 20+ years but specifically post-covid we have seen a huge amount of infrastructure and office/residential building work being completed. The Skyline is unrecognisable from when I first moved here 30 years ago! This activity has meant a boost to the local economy and in my opinion makes Manchester England’s second city!

Favourite meeting place in Manchester

There are so many to choose from! The Ivy is a great spot for business lunches as is Spinningfields in general really. Federal or Ezra & Gill for coffee or brunch meetings too! And there are many great office buildings too where ‘friends of BANC’ have their businesses and kindly offer them for us to use for meetings. Often with great views of the city!

Are there any particular types of businesses that you would like to meet?

We typically work with businesses who have a turnover of between £5m – £100M and a Marketing budget starting from circa £60,000 per annum. Any business who wants to improve their digital maturity and generate new business leads from online! We have experience in multiple sectors.

Get In Touch 

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 07545 823 134

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martincozens/