DIGITAL marketing agency Amaze is returning to Liverpool city centre, more than five years after leaving, and almost three years after it collapsed with debts of more than £2m.
The company, whose key clients include Toyota and Coca-Cola, was spun out of Liverpool John Moores University in the mid-1990s by founder Stuart Melhuish.
It set up home in the Port of Liverpool Building on the city’s waterfront, and at one point employed more than 140 people.
In October, 2004, Amaze relocated from Liverpool to an 11,500 sq ft two-storey building at Kings Court, in Daresbury, Cheshire.
However, by November, 2007, the company was in trouble and, despite shedding dozens of jobs in an attempt to stay afloat, collapsed into administration owing more than £2.2m.
Just a day after administrators from Begbies Traynor moved in a Manchester-based firm, Hasgrove, agreed to pay £600,000 for the trade and assets of Amaze and saved more than 90 jobs in the process.
Hasgrove kept the Amaze name alive, integrating it with two other brands – PR specialist Connectpoint and digital firm Pavilion.
Now the firm is returning to Liverpool’s waterfront, relocating its Daresbury operation to the first floor of the Royal Liver Building.
The move has seen the relocation of 25 staff to Liverpool with a plan to recruit around 12 more. The company also has bases in Manchester, London, Belfast and Brussels.
