Phonetic Digital
As the year comes to a close, we’ve taken a moment to look back at what has been a brilliant end to 2025 for the Phonetic team.
The past few months have brought meaningful work with our clients, proud moments for our colleagues, and some exciting milestones that reflect the direction we’re growing in as a business.
November brought Living Wage Week, where we joined employers from across the North East to celebrate the ongoing progress being made on fair pay. Two members of our team, Steven and Jess, had the chance to speak on stage. Steven shared the work we’ve been doing to champion the Real Living Wage in Sunderland, including the launch of the new Living Wage North East website, while Jess offered a personal reflection on what it means to someone who directly benefits from fair pay.
We’re grateful for the opportunity to work with clients who do incredible work. Our involvement in the Responsible Finance Member Day this year hosted in Leeds was a real highlight. Our team members spent the day capturing the event and seeing firsthand the remarkable work Responsible Finance and its CDFI (Community Development Finance Institutions) members are doing across the inclusive finance sector.
Closer to home, in November our team alongside Sunderland City Council, Recite Me and MMC Research hosted a digital accessibility event. The turnout alone showed just how much appetite there is for making digital spaces fair and inclusive, especially in the North East. Insights shared by Nicol McConnell from Sunderland City Council highlighted the scale of the challenge, with 13,900 people in the city still offline and 28% of residents having low digital capability. These figures are one of the reasons we continue to champion digital accessibility in our region.
Alongside events and client work, we also recently reached an exciting internal milestone. We received our official ISO 9001:2015 Certificate of Registration, a globally recognised marker of quality, safety and trust. A huge thank you goes to everyone who supported us through the process.
And finally, December the 4th marks one year since we became a B Corp. For anyone unfamiliar, B Corps are businesses that commit to making a positive impact, not making profit at expense of people or the planet. This milestone is one that continues to influence the decisions we make as a business. Becoming a B Corp is a rigorous process, and looking back, it’s been one of the most defining steps we’ve taken. For us, being a B Corp is about more than meeting a standard. Instead, it means continually reflecting on our choices as a business, monitoring how we work, who we work with, and the kind of impact we want to have.
As we wrap up 2025, we’re extremely grateful for the people, the partnerships and the shared purpose that has helped shape this year. Thank you to our clients for choosing to work with us and for sharing in our commitment to purposeful and inclusive digital work. The last few months alone have shown us what’s possible when values and real action align. This momentum is something we’re excited to carry into the new year.
