Draft:Big Sea

Big Sea is a digital marketing agency based out of St. Petersburg, Florida. The company specializes in messaging strategy, content marketing, SEO, and web design. Industry specializations include development for nonprofits, museums and attractions, and B2B tech companies.

History
Big Sea was founded in 2005 by Andi Graham. The company specialized in small business branding, copywriting, and website design and development.

The agency opened its first office in 2008 on Beach Drive in St. Petersburg, Florida. By 2012, the company had grown to about 10 people and it moved into an office in the city’s first Net Zero building in the Grand Central district.

In 2016, Big Sea roughly doubled in size from about 10 people to 20 when it merged with another Tampa Bay-based company, ThinkTank, founded by Dzuy Nguyen and Joe Hamilton in 2011. ThinkTank specialized in website and app design. In 2018, when Hamilton exited the agency, Graham took over as CEO and Nguyen as COO.

After the merger with ThinkTank, the company shared two separate office spaces before moving into a building on 2nd Avenue in 2018 where it remained until the company went fully remote during Covid in 2020.

In 2019 Big Sea opened a small branch office in Colorado Springs, CO, but they closed their physical offices and transitioned to fully distributed during the pandemic.

In 2022, Big Sea launched Cordelia Labs, a separate LLC that focuses on PPC, media buying, and digital advertising. Big Sea owns a 95% stake in Cordelia Labs, and the remainder belongs to Jodi Foster, the President of the organization.

Sparxoo Acquisition
In 2022, Big Sea acquired Sparxoo, another Tampa Bay-based marketing firm founded in 2010. The merger nearly doubled the size of Big Sea, increasing the company to 42 employees and roughly $6 million in revenue. The merger expanded Big Sea’s digital capabilities, particularly in experience design, performance marketing, and video storytelling.

Discussion about a merger between the two companies had been in the works since 2020. Rob Kane, the President of Sparxoo, became President of Big Sea, but David Capece, Sparxoo’s CEO and founder, left the agency after the merger to develop his own software company.

Services
Big Sea provides services to web and marketing clients in the areas of strategy, content, design, and development. They work in multiple media formats including web, video, audio, print, and even tattoos.

They offer specific services in digital marketing, web design and strategy, strategy and consulting, SEO, advertising strategy and execution, content marketing, marketing automation, video marketing, and email marketing.

Nonprofit and Museum Marketing
Big sea has worked with a variety of nonprofit organizations nationwide and offer expanded services to nonprofits at reduced rates. They primarily focus on mission amplification, donation and volunteer attraction, and organizational growth through fundraising and martech tools and marketing strategies.

Notable nonprofit clients include The Space Foundation, University of Evansville, Digital Women Leaders, Election SOS, Champions for Children, and Metropolitan Ministries.

Much of their digital marketing and web development work has focused on museums and attractions, with the goal of increasing both donations and foot traffic. Notable museum clients include Florida Holocaust Museum, Tampa Bay History Center, Museum of Fine Arts (St. Petersburg, Florida), Mote Marine Laboratory, and The Revs Institute.

Wavemakers Grant
In 2019, Big Sea launched the Wavemakers Grant, a program through which small businesses or nonprofits can apply for $30,000 worth of digital marketing services from the company, including branding, messaging, website development, content production and collateral design. The first recipient was Champions for Children, a Tampa Bay child abuse prevention nonprofit organization. The 2023 deadline passed in December 2022, and it will renew again later in 2023.

Higher Education
Big Sea has worked with several accredited higher education institutions, including non-profit and private schools.

Most of their work has focused on student recruitment. Notable clients include University of Tampa and University of Evansville as well as several law schools including: Stetson University College of Law, and the Claude W. Pettit College of Law at Ohio Northern University.

Podcasting
In March 2022, Big Sea began producing and distributing a regular podcast on behalf of Stetson University, called “Real Cases,” which interviews law professors and students about key legal topics. CEO Andi Graham also hosts her own podcast, Walk the Walk with Andi Graham, about running a values-based organization.

Reception
Big Sea has received several marketing and business awards since its inception.

In 2019, Big Sea was named one of the best places to work by Inc Magazine. It earned another Best Workplace designation in 2021 from Tampa Bay Business Journal.

Big Sea has earned four awards in two years from Tampa Bay’s American Marketing Association including Marketer of the Year in both Content Marketing and Digital Marketing in 2019 They also received Marketer of The Year in both Content Marketing and Marketing Research in 2020. Additionally, they picked up a Sustainable Business Award in the Small Business category from the Sustany Foundation in 2016.

Andi Graham, CEO of Big Sea, was also a 2016 finalist in Tampa Bay Business Journal’s Businesswoman of the Year in the technology category.