Newcastle search marketing agency Firewire has secured two major titles at the Global Search Awards 2026, held at the Mansion House in Dublin, Ireland. The eight-person Newcastle team won gold for Best Asia-Pacific Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Campaign and silver for Best Use of Search in Retail and E-commerce (SEO, Small), competing against international digital agencies from London, Dubai, and across the Asia-Pacific region.
The winning campaign was delivered for online retailer Hobbies Direct, an e-commerce platform managing over 10,000 product lines. Firewire restructured Hobbies Direct’s digital architecture by rebuilding more than 300 category pages and authoring over 100 brand landing pages. The agency separated paid and organic tracking parameters to isolate search performance, resulting in $2.65 million in organic search revenue generated from a $24,000 SEO campaign investment over a 15-month period.
During the campaign, Hobbies Direct’s Google Ads revenue increased by 84 per cent while overall advertising expenditure decreased by 4 per cent, demonstrating that organic search optimisation acquired new customers without cannibalising paid acquisition channels. The international awards win follows Firewire hosting its annual digital marketing conference, Edge of Search, at Newcastle City Hall on 4 September 2026, featuring industry speakers from Adobe, Ahrefs, and DEJAN Marketing.
Director of Firewire, Brogan Renshaw stated that international recognition validates the caliber of regional digital marketing talent in the Hunter.
“Newcastle has always punched above its weight when it comes to marketing talent,” Brogan said.
“You don’t need a Sydney or Melbourne postcode to produce work that competes at a national and global level. These awards are great recognition for our team, but they also reflect the calibre of work, creativity and ambition coming out of Newcastle right now.”
Co-Founder and Director of Hobbies Direct, Hamish McRitchie added that isolating search metrics confirmed organic growth drove genuine customer acquisition.
“Our Google Ads improved over the same period, which told us the SEO wasn’t cannibalising paid; it was bringing in customers we weren’t reaching before,” Hamish said.
IMAGE | The Firewire team at Edge of Search, Newcastle City Hall, 4 September 2026. Left to right: Auguste Levanaite (Customer Success Manager), Brogan Renshaw (Director), Ashley Urquhart (Head of Content), Shōnavee Simpson-Anderson (Head of Community and Field Marketing), Phoebe Cook (Social Media Manager), Maddi Turner (Digital Marketing Executive). Credit: Brenton Cluff, Vision Collective.
