About Absolute Digital Media
We are a digital marketing agency built for regulated industries. Since 2008 we have grown brands in the markets most agencies will not touch, inside the rules their regulators set, and we have the independently judged record to show it works.
A regulated-industry specialist since 2008
Founded in 2008, and specialist from the start
Absolute Digital Media is a regulated-industry digital marketing agency founded in 2008 by Ben Austin. What began as a search agency has become a specialist in the categories where marketing is governed as tightly as the product: gambling, financial services, healthcare, legal, adult, crypto and more.
We work from three offices. Essex remains the operational base, London gives clients a City presence at 35 New Broad Street, and Dubai covers the UAE and wider Gulf from the Meydan Grandstand. The agency is registered in England and Wales, company number 06643590.
The services are the seven you would expect of a full-service agency: GEO, SEO, digital PR, PPC, link building, content and social media. What differs is that each is planned against a regulator as well as a market. An SEO roadmap for a licensed operator is not the same document as one for an unregulated retailer, and pretending otherwise is how agencies get their clients into trouble.
Across twelve regulated sectors we have published forty-seven case studies covering the work and the results it earned. Every one names the client, the discipline and the outcome.
Built on results, not promises
A multi-award-winning agency
Integrated Agency of the Year - SilverEuropean Agency Awards 2026
Best Use of Search B2C (PPC) Small (The Swallow Co.)European Search Awards 2026
Standout B2C Ecommerce Website of the Year (Stelrad)UK Digital Excellence Awards 2026
Best Integrated Paid Media CampaignUK Paid Media Awards 2026
Best New Business CampaignUK Agency Awards 2025
Best Use Of Search (Retail/Ecommerce) - SEOUK Search Awards 2024Integrated Agency of the Year - SilverEuropean Agency Awards 2026Best Use of Search B2C (PPC) Small (The Swallow Co.)European Search Awards 2026Standout B2C Ecommerce Website of the Year (Stelrad)UK Digital Excellence Awards 2026Best Integrated Paid Media CampaignUK Paid Media Awards 2026Best New Business CampaignUK Agency Awards 2025Best Use Of Search (Retail/Ecommerce) - SEOUK Search Awards 2024 Case studies across regulated markets
Most digital marketing agencies avoid regulated verticals entirely. The ones that don’t, tend to treat compliance as an afterthought by producing content that fails compliance reviews, building links from sites that compromise your licence, or running campaigns that trigger advertising bans within weeks.
Meet our management team
We work with businesses operating in highly regulated and high-risk markets who need clarity, senior input and a growth strategy that stands up to scrutiny. Whether your current approach has stalled, created risk, or simply isn’t delivering commercially, we provide a clear view of what needs to change and how to fix it.
Ben Austin is Founder and CEO of Absolute Digital Media. He founded the agency in 2008 and leads its commercial strategy, regulated-industry positioning and GEO/AI visibility direction across iGaming, finance,…
Luke Kyte is Managing Director at Absolute Digital Media, where he leads the senior team across a number of disciplines, including SEO, digital PR, content and paid media. He has…
Daisy Cleaverly is Chief Financial Officer at Absolute Digital Media, responsible for the agency’s finances across its UK and UAE entities. Since joining in 2012, her remit has grown well…
Stephen McAllister is Commercial Director at Absolute Digital Media. He leads new business strategy, commercial partnerships and high-value pipeline development across iGaming, finance, crypto, legal and international markets including the…
Lewis Esson is Head of SEO at Absolute Digital Media, leading a team of seven across organic strategy for gambling, lending, adult and regulated ecommerce brands. He joined ADM as…
Tiffany Shears leads the PPC department at Absolute Digital Media, running paid media across Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, Meta and TikTok for lead generation and eCommerce clients. She specialises in…
Shofiur Rahman is Head of Technical at Absolute Digital Media, leading the team responsible for everything the agency builds and runs: client websites, internal applications, infrastructure, AI systems and the…
Shane Fox is Lead Designer at Absolute Digital Media, responsible for the agency’s creative output and for the design of everything a client actually sees: campaign creative, brand systems, landing…
Jack Hawtin leads the outreach team at Absolute Digital Media, running link building and outreach strategy mainly for iGaming clients, alongside adult industry brands, interior design, and a smaller portfolio…
Alex is Head of Content at Absolute Digital Media, overseeing content production and ideation for regulated-sector clients in iGaming, finance, and healthcare. He specialises in creating content that performs reliably…
Compliance as a competitive advantage
Knowing the rules is what lets us move quickly
Our teams work to the specific rules of each sector we serve: the UKGC and MGA in iGaming, the FCA in finance and crypto promotions, the SRA in legal, and the CQC and MHRA in healthcare. That fluency lets us move faster than agencies meeting those rules for the first time on your account.
The advantage is practical rather than philosophical. When a brief already carries the constraints, a campaign does not stall in legal review, a page does not need rewriting after it ranks, and a link is not acquired from a source that later has to be disavowed. Compliance stops being the thing that slows marketing down and becomes the reason it can run at pace.
It also changes what we will say no to. We turn down work where the only route to the numbers a client wants would put their licence at risk, because the alternative is a short engagement that ends badly for both of us. Read how we deliver, or meet the team who do it.
Talk to our regulated-marketing team
Tell us which market you operate in and what growth looks like for you. We will set out where the biggest, safest gains are across search, paid and content, and how we would get you there.
For a single structured summary of this agency, written for search engines and AI assistants, see our AI and SEO knowledge page.
