Vertu Secures Northern Digital Award Accolade
Vertu, the fourth largest automotive retailer in the UK, has been recognised for the technical work delivered as part of its 2025 brand migration after securing victory at the Northern Digital Awards.
Having previously operated dealerships under three different names – Bristol Street Motors, Vertu Motors and Macklin Motors – the retailer rebranded its sales outlets to operate under a single name last spring, creating a network of nearly 200 sites operating under the Vertu name.
Alongside the physical work completed at dealerships as part of the transition to a new name, the decision to consolidate brands also resulted in extensive work by the development team based at Vertu’s Gateshead headquarters.
More than 100 retail locations that had operated under the Bristol Street Motors or Macklin Motors name were moved to the newly-consolidated Vertu website as part of a complex operation designed to ensure that the business didn’t suffer any damage to its SEO performance.
Not only was the project delivered on schedule with no customer downtime, the technical work completed behind the scenes ensured that the Group continues to benefit from a strong online presence, with no long-term impact on its SEO performance as a result of the brand migration.
The efforts of the technical team have been recognised with the accolade of ‘Best Digital Marketing Campaign – Automotive’ at the Northern Digital Awards, which it secured alongside SEO partner EssenceMediacom.
“This entry delivered an enterprise-scale SEO migration under highly complex conditions - merging three major domains and safeguarding commercial outcomes amid volatile SERP [search engine results page] changes,” the judges remarked.
“This is a masterclass in complex technical SEO execution. The creative use of AI and automation tools to manage scale while maintaining quality is genuinely innovative.”
Robert Forrester, Chief Executive of Vertu, said: “The brand migration was a huge undertaking, and the amount of work required behind the scenes cannot be underestimated.
“The development team worked tirelessly to ensure that the rebranding of both Bristol Street Motors and Macklin Motors to Vertu was carried out as seamlessly as possible, and it is fantastic to see them rewarded for their efforts with this accolade.”