UNITED KINGDOM / AGILITYPR.NEWS / July 16, 2026 / Firney, the London-based engineering for marketing company, has been named AI Innovator of the Year at the 2026 Greater London Business Awards. 

The award recognises Firney's winning approach to building digital experiences: combining engineering precision with marketing insight to create websites and conversational tools that adapt to each visitor in real time.  

Rather than treating AI as an add-on, Firney builds it into the foundations of a brand's digital presence - helping clients personalise customer journeys, anticipate intent and deliver more relevant recommendations at every touchpoint. 

A recent project with Direct Ferries shows what that looks like in practice. Facing a sharp rise in customer enquiries, at one point surpassing 7,000 queries in a single month, Direct Ferries needed a better way to help customers navigate often complicated questions about routes, vehicles, pets and passenger types across thousands of ferry crossings.  

Firney's response was a conversational booking assistant, built and deployed within 15 weeks, that now handles hundreds of common travel queries in plain English and gives Direct Ferries ongoing insight into where customers hesitate during booking. 

"Our goal was to make booking a ferry as simple as having a conversation," said Richard Kozma, Head of Data Science at Direct Ferries. "Customers want clear answers quickly, and this approach helps remove that uncertainty." 

It's the kind of outcome Firney has built its reputation on: taking something genuinely complex for the customer and making it feel effortless. 

Marc Firth, CEO and Co-founder of Firney, said the recognition reflects years of work bridging the gap between creative ambition and technical delivery. 

“We started Firney because we kept seeing brilliant campaigns let down by the technology underneath them," said Firth. "This award means a lot because it recognises something we've believed from day one: AI only earns its place if it makes people's lives easier.  

“Whether that's a retailer, a financial brand or a travel company like Direct Ferries, the question we ask is always the same: does this make the experience simpler for the person on the other end? That's what customers want, it’s what we're building, and it's what we'll keep pushing for.” 

Firney continues to work with B2C brands across sectors including travel, retail and financial services, building websites and conversational tools designed to reduce friction and personalise the customer journey at scale. 

For more information, please visit https://www.firney.com.