Question 1

How many marketing agencies are based in Belfast?

Accepted Answer

AgencyIndex lists 11 agencies with a Belfast HQ or office, which is consistent with the wider picture of a small, dense, almost entirely independent cluster. The integrated end is anchored by Ardmore (a Campaign UK Top 30 Regional Agency and Drum Top 100 Independent), Genesis and ASG, with the rest of the listings split between digital and SEO shops (SEO Impact, ProfileTree, VINDICTA Digital, Levity Digital), creative and brand studios (Gekkoshot, Green17 Creative, ZOMA Brand Agency, Clever Ghost, Stenson Wolf), and a small product-and-mobile group (Sugar Rush). There are no holding-network offices in the cluster; the long-running A.V. Browne, founded in 1926, went into administration in March 2023 and is no longer trading. The right read for a brief is that Belfast offers boutique-to-mid-market capacity with strong sector specialism in cyber, fintech and public-sector work rather than the full integrated-network mix that Dublin, Manchester or London would offer.

Question 2

What sectors do Belfast agencies specialise in?

Accepted Answer

Four sector specialisms compound here, all tied to Northern Ireland's anchor industries. The first is cyber security: more than 120 firms operate in Northern Ireland, the sector supports around 2,778 jobs and generates over £258 million in direct GVA per the NI Cyber Security Snapshot 2025, and named anchors include Allstate, Aflac, Liberty Mutual, Citi, CME Group, Microsoft, Proofpoint, Rapid7, Imperva and Contrast Security. The second is fintech: Belfast was ranked second for FinTech Strategy among mid-sized European Cities of the Future 2025, with strengths in RegTech, TradingTech and InsureTech. The third is film, high-end TV and tourism: NI Screen-backed productions returned £477 million to the regional economy between 2022 and 2026, Titanic Studios housed Game of Thrones, and the £72 million Studio Ulster virtual-production facility opened in 2025. The fourth is public-sector and NI Executive framework work, which underpins a meaningful share of local agency revenue. The cluster is correspondingly stronger on B2B, regulated and public-sector briefs than on multi-million-pound integrated consumer campaigns.

Question 3

Belfast vs Dublin: which works for an all-Ireland brief?

Accepted Answer

It depends on where the brand sits and what the brief actually needs. Belfast wins on cost, all-island legitimacy and sector specialism in cyber, fintech and public-sector work: most local agencies routinely run UK and Republic of Ireland campaigns from the same office, NI sits inside both the UK internal market and the EU single market for goods under the Windsor Framework, and senior rates land 40 to 60% below central London and meaningfully below Dublin equivalents. Dublin wins on scale, consumer-brand depth, holding-network presence, the Republic's regulatory environment, and case-history breadth across FMCG, retail and large-scale media planning. The honest read for an all-Ireland brief is to choose Belfast when the brief is B2B, regulated, public-sector, tech-led or genuinely cross-border, and to choose Dublin when the brief is consumer-brand-led at scale, needs Republic-of-Ireland regulatory and trade-association proximity, or assumes the larger production and paid-media bench that Dublin carries. Several brands run a Belfast lead with Dublin partner relationships on production and media buying, which often gives the best blended rate.

Question 4

How much cheaper is a Belfast agency than Dublin or London?

Accepted Answer

Significantly, and the gap holds on like-for-like senior work. Belfast hourly rates sit roughly 40 to 60% below central London for digital marketing services, with London at around £150 to £250 per hour and minimum London retainers from £10,000 a month, against Belfast retainers that typically land in the lower-middle of the UK £1,250 to £16,750 monthly range. The underlying drivers are structural: senior digital salaries in Belfast sit at £45,000 to £65,000 versus £80,000 to £120,000 in London, and central Belfast office rents are around £20 to £30 per square foot versus £85 to £120 in central London. Dublin sits between the two, closer to London than Belfast on senior creative and strategy lines, with Republic-of-Ireland cost of living and salary inflation having pushed Dublin agency rates well above the NI average. The honest take is that Belfast is the cheapest credible cluster on the island of Ireland for senior craft, with the trade-off being a smaller bench and a thinner consumer-brand case history.

Question 5

How does Brexit and the Windsor Framework affect Belfast marketing?

Accepted Answer

Less than the headlines suggest, with one real exception. Marketing services themselves are not subject to the Windsor Framework's goods provisions, so retainer work, campaign delivery, paid media and production cross the border much as they did before. The exception is product-led work for clients who manufacture or move physical goods: Northern Ireland sits inside both the UK internal market and the EU single market for goods under the Framework, which is the dual-access pitch Invest NI now leads with for inward investors. The practical implication for marketing is that Belfast agencies routinely run all-island campaigns for goods-led brands without the regulatory friction a Great Britain agency would face on Republic-of-Ireland-specific labelling, claims and route-to-market. The caveats are that, as of December 2025 evidence, very few inward investors have cited dual access as the deciding factor and only around 14% of NI businesses report actively using both markets, so the dual-access narrative needs testing on a brief-by-brief basis rather than taken as a default benefit.

Marketing agencies in Belfast.

Belfast agencies by service.

What brands ask about marketing agencies in Belfast.