{"id":27930,"date":"2026-04-01T08:50:48","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T07:50:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/?p=27930"},"modified":"2026-04-01T08:57:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T07:57:07","slug":"from-bu-graduate-to-digital-leader-how-luke-fribbens-built-an-award-nominated-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/2026\/04\/01\/from-bu-graduate-to-digital-leader-how-luke-fribbens-built-an-award-nominated-agency\/","title":{"rendered":"From BU Graduate to Digital Leader: How Luke Fribbens Built an Award Nominated Agency"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Luke<\/a>

Luke Fribbens – Founder and CEO of Cold Banana<\/p><\/div>\n

Bournemouth University graduate Luke Fribbens (BSc\u202f(Hons) Software Systems Framework<\/a>) is celebrating a major milestone as his digital agency, Cold Banana<\/a>, has been named a finalist at the National Digital Awards 2026 in the Best Agency Team (Small) category.<\/p>\n

Founded in 2015, the Bournemouth\u2011based company has grown from Luke\u2019s post\u2011university ambition into an international agency delivering enterprise\u2011level digital solutions from its offices in Bournemouth and Dubai. The National Digital Awards recognise organisations and individuals shaping the future of the UK\u2019s digital landscape, and Cold Banana\u2019s nomination reflects the agency\u2019s impact, innovation, and thriving team culture.<\/p>\n

Luke credits the recognition entirely to his team:
\n\u201cThis really belongs to the team. Cold Banana has always been about the people behind the work and the way they support each other to get things done. We have a brilliant group of developers, strategists and web support specialists who collaborate across disciplines and across our UK and Dubai offices. That togetherness is what makes the difference<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The team at Cold Banana<\/p><\/div>\n

In recent years, Cold Banana has expanded its capabilities and reputation. The agency moved its head office to Westbourne in 2025, creating a workspace designed to boost collaboration with larger meeting rooms and breakout areas. It has also strengthened its industry presence through continued Umbraco Gold Partner status, recognition as a Gold Umbraco Contributing Partner for 2025, and partnerships with platforms such as Sitecore, Optimizely and Shopify.<\/p>\n

Luke\u2019s journey\u2014from an ambitious BSc (Hons) Software Systems Framework<\/a> student to the founder and CEO of an award\u2011nominated digital agency\u2014is an inspiring example of alumni leadership, innovation, and the power of building a supportive and collaborative team culture.<\/p>\n

\"Finalist<\/a>

Finalist at the National Digital Awards 2026 in the Best Agency Team (Small) category<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bournemouth University graduate Luke Fribbens (BSc\u202f(Hons) Software Systems Framework) is celebrating a major milestone as his digital agency, Cold Banana, has been named a finalist at the National Digital Awards 2026 in the Best Agency Team (Small) category. Founded in 2015, the Bournemouth\u2011based company has grown from Luke\u2019s post\u2011university ambition into an international agency delivering… Read more » about From BU Graduate to Digital Leader: How Luke Fribbens Built an Award Nominated Agency<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4783,"featured_media":27931,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[411,496,502,1660,1644,19,3610,828,1647,283,1638],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clearing","category-ug-courses","category-design-engineering","category-editorial-news","category-employability","category-featured","category-graduates","category-international-student-stories","category-meet-bu","category-news-2","category-undergraduate"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4783"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27930"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27930\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27935,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27930\/revisions\/27935"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}