From a Nottingham back-room to international digital consultancy: Distinction celebrates 25 years in business

FOR RELEASE on FRIDAY 26TH JUNE 2026
London, UK - 26 June 2026

From a Nottingham back-room to international digital consultancy: Distinction celebrates 25 years in business.

To mark the milestone, the firm has created an interactive timeline showcasing its history alongside curated world events that helped shape it - and asked four leading AI models to predict the next five.

Distinction, a digital consultancy founded by two brothers in Nottingham, marks its 25th anniversary today, having grown from a back-room start-up into an international firm with offices in the UK and the US.

Now headquartered in London, the company has worked with more than 200 clients on over 500 projects since brothers James and Greg Bloor started it in 2001 - back when only around 40% of UK homes had internet, almost all of it dial-up. Today, a core team of 14, many of whom have been with the firm for more than a decade, works alongside a network of 40+ associates globally.

The firm found its feet quickly. Trading first as creo:media, it rebranded to Distinction in 2006 and, early on, won work with household names - Unilever, Barclays, Ford, BMW, Speedo and Confused.com among them - alongside the mid-sized B2B clients that remain its core. It opened a London office in 2008, expanded to the US in 2016, and over the following decade picked up two British Interactive Media Awards, five Kentico Site of the Year awards, and more than 20 Recommended Agency Register awards, including a ‘Most Effective Agency’ award judged on the impact of their work.

“When Greg and I started in 2001, the height of our ambition was helping local firms get a bit more out of digital, back when most of them weren’t sure they needed it,” said James Bloor, chief executive and co-founder of Distinction. “A small back-room, slow dial-up connection and a fair bit of optimism got us going. Twenty-five years on, we’re advising senior leaders on both sides of the Atlantic - and the optimism has mostly survived.”

In 2021, the firm shifted from agency to digital consultancy and launched Rise, a dedicated digital product studio that works exclusively with entrepreneurs and early-stage startups. This year, London became its headquarters, moving its centre of gravity closer to where most of its clients already work.

Rather than dwelling only on the past, the anniversary microsite also looks forward. Alongside the timeline and their own predictions for the next five years, Distinction asked four leading AI models - ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity - to each make ten predictions themselves. For all their differences, the four landed on a strikingly similar conclusion: that the years ahead will reward adaptability over tooling and optimisation.

Greg Bloor adds: “AI is levelling the playing field, and once everyone has the same AI models, the technology stops being the thing that sets you apart. If ‘decent’ is something anyone can produce in an afternoon, then decent becomes the floor, not the ceiling. So value creation moves to what the tools can’t copy - judgement, taste, trust, and being accountable when the work ships.”

Explore the timeline at https://20five.distinction.co.uk/.

Ends

About Distinction
Distinction is a B2B digital consultancy with an international presence. Since 2001, they’ve helped established, mid-market firms design, build and modernise the digital platforms their businesses run on.

Through our WHNN® framework, we help clients serve customers better, run more efficiently, and reduce risk without wasting money, time or trust.

Their client roster includes B2B service firms where reputation is vital, and regulation raises the stakes, where you can’t afford to get your digital experience wrong.

Notes to editors

Distinction’s 25th anniversary falls on Friday, 26 June 2026.

The interactive 25-year timeline is available at https://20five.distinction.co.uk/, including a forward-looking feature in which ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity each make 10 predictions for the next 5 years.

The company was founded in Nottingham by brothers James and Greg Bloor. Today, it has three offices (UK: London, Nottingham; US: Greenville, SC), a core team of 14 and a network of 40+ associates and has delivered more than 500 projects for over 200 clients.

High-resolution images suitable for use with this press release are attached. Others are available on request.

Interviews with CEO and co-founder James Bloor or COO and co-founder Greg Bloor are available on request.

Media contact:
Taylor Voss
Marketing Manager
+44 (020) 4572 9161
taylor.voss@distinction.co.uk
https://distinction.co.uk