People’s Champion finalist 2018: The Clerkenwell Brothers

Start-up name: The Clerkenwell Brothers
Founders: Cass Horowitz, Nick Horowitz, Faraz Aghaei
Started in: 2016
Based in: London
Business description: Creative agency and production house specialising in working with start-ups

Shortlisted category:

Family Business of the Year

The Clerkenwell Brothers story:

You don’t often hear of many start-ups launched via door to door sales but it’s how The Clerkenwell Brothers originated back in 2016…

While working as a journalist and videographer respectively, brothers Cass and Nick Horowitz sought to create a part-time business by going door to door in their home-town of Clerkenwell and offering creative video, photography and digital content to small, local businesses.

Creating the content in their free time on the weekends – albeit with “dodgy acting” from Cass – the brothers were able to gain traction by earning a reputation for completing work quickly and to a high standard.

And it was one regular customer in particular, tech start-up Aircharge, that would enable the brothers to turn their concept into a full-time business idea; by asking them to work on a much larger international video ad campaign.

As the first campaign of that kind that they’d worked on, Cass sought out advice from his flatmate Faraz Aghaei, then brand and marketing manager for PROPERCORN.

Inspired by the potential of the business, Aghaei left the world of popcorn behind to join the brothers in building their start-up and the trio, now known as ‘younger, older, and another’ by their email signatures, have since scaled to a team of 10 with a client book which reads as a who’s who of the UK start-up space.

Helping to build brands through a combination of brand identity, awareness and branded content, The Clerkenwell Brothers has worked with Oppo, Indie Bay and Little Moons and is now bringing in more clients from Europe.

Over the past few months, the family-run business has helped Little Miracles Ice Tea reach UK customers, and has created a buzz around Magioni’s vegetable pizza.

And that’s not all. Notably, The Clerkenwell Brothers has also produced videos for Whole Foods UK, ran a social account for ITV, and produced photography for Red Bull.

Why The Clerkenwell Brothers made our shortlist:

Having turned two years-old in August, The Clerkenwell Brothers has scaled from a side hustle to a highly profitable business with plans underway to work with even bigger brands, while investing in and growing other start-ups.

That the agency has a strong family dynamic behind it is also inspiring – as Cass Horowitz puts it; “starting a business with your brother is one thing, starting it with your brother and your flatmate is another […] but, when it comes to founders, you just can’t beat family!”

Where to find out more about The Clerkenwell Brothers:

Website: www.theclerkenwellbrothers.com
Twitter: @clerkenwellbros