First Internet Wins Six Awards in 2026

With our final awards ceremony of 2026 behind us, we’re allowing ourselves one last victory lap. And possibly putting in a request for sturdier shelving.

This year, First Internet has picked up six awards and one highly commended recognition, celebrating everything from our SEO results for Mulmar, to our growth, transformation and the agency we’ve worked hard to build.  

We’re extremely proud, because we see what goes into this work every day. So, before we get back to asking “what’s next?”, here’s what made 2026 a year worth shouting about.

UK Digital Excellence Awards: SEO Campaign of the Year (B2B & Low-budget)

Our awards year started with a double win at the UK Digital Excellence Awards:

• Standout B2B SEO Campaign of the Year
• Standout Low Budget SEO Campaign of the Year

Both recognised our work with commercial coffee equipment specialists Mulmar, through our campaign AI Answers to Local Enquiries.

If your commercial coffee machine breaks, you need someone who can fix it. Preferably before the morning queue starts getting twitchy. That urgency shaped our strategy. We focused on the local searches that mattered, creating useful content and helping Mulmar reach businesses looking for expert repairs at the moment they needed them. Every budget decision had to earn its place. Which opportunities deserved our attention? Which pages would make the biggest difference? What would turn visibility into an enquiry?

The judges highlighted our:

“intent-first AI-informed search optimisation, strong audience segmentation and exceptional conversion uplift”

They also recognised an approach that consistently exceeded ambitious business targets.  We’ll happily take that. Especially the bit about conversions. Getting found should lead somewhere.

Prolific North Champions Awards: B2B Marketing Campaign of the Year

Next, our Mulmar campaign received Highly Commended recognition for B2B Marketing Campaign of the Year at the Prolific North Champions Awards.

There’s something especially satisfying about being recognised on home turf. The North is packed with brilliant agencies, ambitious businesses and people doing seriously good work. We’re proud to be among them. Seeing an SEO campaign recognised in a broader B2B marketing category? Lovely.

Our search strategies start with commercial questions: who are we trying to reach, what do they need, and how do we help them choose you? Rankings have a job to do. We like to keep them busy.

European Search Awards: Best Local SEO Campaign

Then Mulmar helped us take home Best Local Campaign (SEO): Small at the European Search Awards.

The judges praised our understanding of user intent and high-value searches, adding:

“Strong content alignment, strategic page prioritisation, and efficient use of a small budget drove measurable commercial results”

That’s the kind of feedback we love. It gets straight to the thinking behind the work. Local SEO needs a proper understanding of customers: where they are, what they’re asking and what makes them pick up the phone. Get those details right and you can make a real difference to a business. Getting a European award for it is a rather nice bonus.

European Agency Awards: Independent Agency of the Year

Our next win was Independent Agency of the Year at the European Agency Awards.

Yes, we’ve read that back several times. Still feels good. We’re proud of our independence. It gives us the freedom to make decisions around our clients, our people and the kind of agency we want First Internet to be. This year, we gave that agency a much bolder voice.  

Our rebrand brought together a new identity, a new website and a clearer expression of what makes us tick. Strategic thinking. Straightforward conversations. A healthy appetite for asking difficult questions. And enough personality to make sure you know it’s us.

At the heart of it is something we talk about with clients all the time: get the foundations right, then build on them. Understand your business, your audience and where you want to go. Bring the right expertise together. Give every next move something solid to stand on. Our brand’s building blocks bring that thinking to life. Each represents part of the expertise we bring together to build our clients’ digital worlds, with the foundations in place to support their growth.

We dug into who we are, what we stand for and what we want to build next. That gave us a clear foundation for an identity that reflects the agency we’ve become and gives us room to keep growing. Helping us pull those thoughts together were the brilliant people at BGN, a fellow Manchester agency. They took our ideas, ambitions and many, many opinions, challenged our thinking and translated it all into a brand that feels unmistakably First Internet. Quite a feat, given the number of people with “just one more thought”.

Our own designers, developers and marketers then put a huge amount of thought and energy into bringing that brand to life across our website and marketing. Different expertise, working together, building on the same foundations. Very First Internet, really.

Seeing the whole agency recognised made us incredibly proud of what we’ve built together.

UK Agency Awards: Agency of the Year 2026

Just when we thought we’d had our big moment, the UK Agency Awards gave us two more:

• Digital Agency of the Year (Small)
• Agency Growth & Transformation Award

Digital Agency of the Year is a phenomenal way to finish.

It recognises the collective effort across First Internet: ambitious websites, thoughtful campaigns, technical expertise and the people who bring it all together. Designers, developers, marketers and client services, working under one roof and making each other’s work stronger.

We’re also particularly proud of the Agency Growth & Transformation Award.

The judges recognised our progress through significant change, highlighting:

“Strong commercial growth, increasing market visibility and a successful rebrand”

Their feedback also praised the evidence behind that transformation and the agency’s momentum and maturity. Maturity. Us. We’ll try not to ruin that impression. There has been a huge amount of work behind this chapter of First Internet. The rebrand was the most visible part, but plenty has been happening behind the scenes too.

We’ve established our company pillars: We Level Up, We’re Unified, We’re Straightforward, We Challenge and We Promote Positivity. They give us something concrete to bring into our work, our conversations and our decisions. We’ve introduced FI Fives so colleagues can recognise each other’s contributions. Open Door Fridays make space for honest conversations. Department afternoon reset days give teams time together, away from the usual tabs, tasks and deadlines.

Building a business takes effort. Building one where people feel supported, recognised and able to do brilliant work takes deliberate effort. This award means a lot to everyone who’s helped make that happen.

The team behind the awards

Awards ceremonies are the glamorous bit. The work happens long before anyone puts on a sparkly dress, or jacket (Tom!).  It happens when someone spots an opportunity, challenges a brief, helps a colleague or takes the time to get a detail right. Across our team, those moments add up. To everyone at First Internet: thank you. For your talent, your care, your ideas and your determination. You’ve given us plenty to be proud of.

To our clients: thank you for trusting us, being ambitious with us and giving us the chance to turn “what if?” into “look what we did.”

That’s our awards season done for 2026. No more entries or acceptance speeches for now. Six wins, one commendation and a team that’s earned its moment in the spotlight.

Now, back to making things worth shouting about. Once we’ve sorted the shelf.