We put out calls for TV commercial castingon an almost weekly basis, but we thought a new project that needed the next ‘Anna’ or ‘Elsa’ from Frozen would be a good opportunity to use our Facebook page to source some new junior talent with a passion for all things Disney.
Casting for a Pan-European TV commercial meant we needed a large reach to fill our 60+ audition spots – so we generated an eye-catching poster and asked our lovely Facebook likers to spread the word on a Friday afternoon.Facebook didn’t let us down with our post reaching just under 30,000 people organically! We had 1,300 clicks and over 700 likes, comments and shares and by the Monday morning when our phone lines opened we’d generated more than enough enquiries to fill the audition slots plus reserves.
It was a great way of generating a buzz around a production and reaching out to Frozen fans throughout the UK so we’ll certainly continue to use Facebook for future TV commercial casting… so watch this space!
Due to some excellent procurement deals, we are currently able to offer New Car Hire from as little as £99 per week including VAT, fully comprehensive insurance and unlimited UK mileage.
As well as this deal on our smaller cars, we also have fantastic rates on all vehicles throughout our extensive range ofcars and commercials for daily, weekly or long term hire.
We offer acomprehensive range of Quality New Cars starting withsmall economical hatchbacks through to family estate cars and even executive cars for that special occasion.
Our commercial range starts with car derived vansthrough to extra long wheel base Hi-top models and continues to include Luton vans and 7.5 tonne box trucks both of which come complete with electric tail lifts. The range is complimentedwith the inclusion of ourrugged and robust tippers which have a payload of approximately 1.5 tonnes and feature ahydraulic tipping system.
For all of your Self Drive vehicle hire requirements and an excellent deal please contact our helpful staff on 01603 624275 or visit our website at www.firstselfdrive.co.ukand mention the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce.
Private air charter operator SaxonAir announces the addition of a Gulfstream G550 heavy jet to their aircraft fleet. The Gulfstream began operation in late May and will be the only G550 type operated from its base in London Stansted airport.
With the addition of the G550 SaxonAir have successfully gained a worldwide AOC enabling them to fly to the most popular destinations all over the globe. This aircraft has almost unrivalled range with the capability of journeys in excess of 6000nm, meaning it can fly nonstop from London to Los Angeles, Cape Town or Hong Kong. The G550 is a proven aircraft with a worldwide fleet having collectively flown over 1 million flying hours.
Operating a long range heavy jet accommodating up to 16 passengers in the fleet brings many advantages to SaxonAir in the wide capability that they can now offer to their clients. This particular aircraft features a generous modern stand up cabin, individual passenger entertainment systems, Wi-Fi and a full size galley providing a full bespoke menu of freshly prepared hot food on board. The interior layout comprises of three luxury cabin zones including dual opposing four place divans that can be joined together creating a comfortable double bed or two individual single beds.
Group Commercial Director, Christopher Mace says ‘The Gulfstream offers ultimate refinement and is very much the pinnacle of the aircraft charter market. It is a class above its competition on long range flights. Entering another aircraft into the London market also strengthens SaxonAir’s presence significantly and joins our other London base at Luton as well as bases at Antwerp, Carlisle and the company’s headquarters in Norwich.’
To charter the Gulfstream G550 contact SaxonAir’s dedicated charter team by calling +44 (0)1603 518118 or email charter@saxonair.com.
After 5 years of winning the TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence we have been welcomed into the TripAdvisor Hall of Fame. We would like to thank all of our hotel guests who have left us their feedback. We greatly value all of our guests and enjoy reading their reviews after visiting the hotel.
Park Farm Hotel believe in complete transparency when it comes to guest feedback, and for this reason we choose to actively encourage the collection of guest reviews from our guests, and then publish these reviews online on our website for all to see. Feedback is read by all of the management team and action is taken according to the comments given.
KLM UK Engineering & City College Norwich was please to be involved with Norfolk County Council’s recent National Apprenticeship Service Campaign. During May, NorfolkCounty Council were promoting Apprenticeships and you will have seen images on buses & washroom doors about Norwich & Norfolk.
The KLM UK Engineering / City College Norwich Apprentice Scheme was part of the ‘Earn whileyou Learn’ campaign and an ex-apprentice Jake Hishon was featured in the campaign as well as part of the Apprenticeships Norfolk website. Jake started his apprenticeship in 2010 after completing his GCSE’sand studied to become an aircraft engineer. Jake graduated last year and is now a fully fledged aircraft engineer based in our Norwich hangars.
First Buses visited KLM UK Engineering’ssite a long with Jerry White, Vice Principle City College NorwichjoiningJake and KLM UK Engineering’s Managing Director Arjan Meijer. Arjan Meijer said: ‘We were delighted to be part of this campaign and to help spread the word about Apprenticeships within the region. KLM UK Engineering has been running and supporting apprenticeship programmes for over 25 years and will continue to support for years to come with the partnership withCity College Norwich and the Norwich International Aviation Academy’.
Norse Commercial Services catering division has recently started providing catering at seven Suffolk Primary Schools in a series of new contracts worth around £250k over the three-year agreements.
The seven new agreements, including three with large academies in Ipswich, will see Norse providing an average of 800 meals a day.
Clare Jordan, Norse’s Business Support Manager for catering said: “For some time we have been building relationships with academy trusts, head teachers and governors in Suffolk schools and are delighted to now be supplying some of the leading educational establishments in the county.”
“Before the contracts began, we took a lot of time to introduce Norse catering to the parents and children by attending parents’ evenings and new intake evenings, as well as organising taster sessions at each school,” she added.
Jeremy Pentreath, Headteacher at The Oaks Primary School, Ipswich, said: “We have been delighted by all aspects of Norse’s service. The transition for kitchen staff to new management and systems has been seamless and, most importantly, the quality of ingredients and meals are high.”
Terrance Isaac-Griffiths, Commercial Director at Norse commented, “As well as our delicious menus and excellent quality ingredients, it was our passion and enthusiasm for feeding children great food that won us the contracts. We are absolutely delighted to be working with these Suffolk Schools and see this as a big step forward in our mission to become East Anglia’s first choice provider for school meals”
The company says that following the successful mobilisation of these new contracts it has already received a significant number of enquiries for further contracts ready for the new academic year inApril 2016.
As part of the new arrangements, 21 members of staff transferred to Norse under Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) TUPE regulations.
We are thrilled to be working with new restaurantPecking Order to help them well, get up the Pecking Order!
Pecking Order (https://www.peckingorder.co.uk/)offers delicious rotisserie chicken, burgers and cocktails. The restaurants combines a decor and flavour of shoreditch is the suburban neighbourhood of Stanmore, North London.
When we met Pecking Order, they were generating a lot of interest on social media and a lot of word of mouth marketing but they were not appearing on the first page of Google for their brand name or related searches. This means that for all those people looking to make an enquiry, they were struggling to find the company’s website and contact number. But we changed all that …
What we did for Pecking Order
Forunately when it comes toSearch Engine Optmisation we’re no spring chicken. Wehave taken two weeks to give Pecking Order some real presence on Google. As a local business, we had to pay special attention to Google’s Pigeon update – the local business algorithm.
First, we added the Pecking Order websiteto local directories such as 192.com, 118.com, Hotfrog and Yell.com. This proved to Google that they were a real company with a consistent address and telephone number.
Next, we added some more trust signals to their site. We added a link out to their TripAdvisor page to show that they were a place of business with active reviews – and remarkably they have accumulated a number of reviews in a short space of time.
We also added alt-text to the images on their current website so that Google could read the page easier and we added social media buttons so users could actively share the page to people they knew.
With these small amendments, the rankings quickly boosted to the first page for keywords such as Pecking Order, Pecking Order Stanmore and Pecking Order London and this is visible in the graph on the right.
We also set up a PPC campaign in the meantime so that the restaurant can still capture customers for various keywords until all their rankings on number 1.
We are excited about continuing to work with Pecking Order on SEO, PPC and Social Media.
We are thrilled to announce the launch of Call Wiser’s new website. Working closely with them on design, the site offers a very easy way to navigate for various insurance products include bike insurance, van insurance, home insurance and car insurance quotes. Features of the site include:
Design
The site is very simple and easy to navigate. For us this was key because competitor analysis showed too much going on and it was distracting to the user.
We have kept with the traditional two colours for websites and a white background and black writing. The pastel colours of aqua and torquoise creating a calming feel which we wanted for people shopping for car insurance, especially if it was urgent.
Mobile Friendly and Responsive
The site is completely friendly for mobile users and is responsive for all devices such as desktops and tablets. This means that the size of the browser adjusts to makes it easy for users to shop around for insurance no matter where they are. On April 21st 2015, Google made an algorithm update that will favour websites on the search rankings if they have a mobile friendly site. So overall, the responsive site is what’s best for the customer.
SEO friendly site
The site has been built in a very SEO friendly way, minimsing the unnecessary code where possible. In addition, there is a nice blend of relevant content, images and videos to create a healthy user experience, also known as semantic SEO.
The site has been linked to authoritative domains including car sites, the AA, wikipedia, Govt and awards that the company have won. We also add a very informative About Us page thereby creating trust signals to Google that this is a strong company with a real company background and history.
We are very excited for Call Wiser and their new site and look forward to delivering strong SEO results moving forward!
Airvolution Energy, the developer proposing to build two turbines off Sporle Road near Swaffham, known as ‘Washpit Drove’, is calling on Norfolk-based companies to register their interest in supplying goods and services to help build the project if approval is granted.
The developer states there are many businesses which already provide a range of goods and services to construction projects like this, ranging from civil engineering to fuel providers, plant hire and plant operators to site investigation.
There are a number of additional benefits associated with this proposal, including the provision of enough clean, renewable energy to supply 3,100 homes each year and a Community Benefit Fund of £23,500 per year for local causes over its 25 year life-span.
Breckland District Council is likely to determine the planning application in summer of 2015.
Tom Walker, Development Manager at Airvolution Energy said, “It is a main focus of our company to bring investment to the areas in which we operate. As such, the business community here in Norfolk deserves to reap the benefits from our investment in this project.
“After attending the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce ‘Meet the Buyer’ event back in March, we are now calling on local businesses that may not have had the opportunity to attend that event, to contact us directly with their expression of interest to supply to our project. If we receive planning permission for our two turbines, their details will be included with documents to those invited to pitch for the overall construction contract.”
Local businesses who would be interested in registering as local suppliers are encouraged to download a supplier interest form from the project website or contact Tom Walker (Development Manager) directly by phone: 020 3030 5073 or by e-mail: tomwalker@airvolutionenergy.com.
Kier Construction Eastern has won five Norfolk Association of Architects Craftsmanship Awards. The five projects in and around Norwich were presented with the awards on the 9th July 2015.Kier’s Kevin James, Chris Lowe, John Claydon, Dennis Cotton, Andrew Richman and Mark Wright, along with guests from the UEA, LSI and Ingleton Wood Architects attended the event at the Barnham Broom Hotel.
Earlham Hall – Class C – Restorations, Alterations and Additions – Full Award
Earlham Hall is an important Norfolk house. It dates from c1580 and is now owned by the University of East Anglia, used as their School of Law. The building was not so much restored as painstakingly rebuilt – brick by brick and timber by timber.
Crome Court – Class B – New Non-Residential – Full Award
The £10.1m 232-bedroom, 5 to 7 storey Crome Court, is hailed as the ‘jewel in the crown’ of the UEA’s east campus, and met all their aspirations for their new student residence block. It is constructed from Cross Laminated Timber with modular bathroom pods.
Norfolk UTC – Class C – Restoration, Alterations and Additions – Full Award
Kier remodelled the 5400m2 former factory to create a 600 pupil University Technical College. One half of the building holds computer suites, classrooms and laboratories, independent study spaces, a dining area and an employer’s lounge. The other half is devoted to technical learning – electrical and electronic, materials and engineering sciences.
City College Norwich – Class C – Restoration, Alterations and Additions – Full Award
The project involved constructing a Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties (PMLD) unit, which also houses a classroom and printroom. This is to provide a facility for disabled students to enable them to learn and thrive in a mainstream educational environment.
Julian Study Centre – Class B – New Non-Residential – Full Award
This sustainable four storey building with a glazed frontage and vibrant pink render is thought to be the first time a cross-laminated timber structure has been used with termodeck.
We are extremely pleased to announce that we have renewed our sponsorship of the Norfolk Food and Drink awards 2015. The event, which promotes the fantastic work put in by our local food and drink manufacturers and retailers, will be held on Monday, 14th September at the Norfolk Showground.
As specialists in the hospitality, agricultural and manufacturing industries, we have many clients operating within the food and drink sectors, ranging from: pubs, restaurants, café’s, bars, farm shops and breweries. We felt that sponsorship of the awards was a fantastic way for us to show our support for both our clients and all those who are involved locally in the industry.
The nominations for the awards are now open and those wishing to enter have until Friday 3rd July to submit your entries. You can read more about the awards and the eligibility criteria here:https://www.norfolkfada.co.uk/
The Norfolk business community is continuing to support East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH) nook appeal to build a new purspose built children’s hospice in the heart of Norfolk with Sprowston Manor Marriott Hotel and Country Club being the latest company to sign up for the nook business network.
This new corporate scheme asks companies small, medium and large throughout Norfolk to commit to raising either £10,000, £15,000 or £25,000 over the duration of the appeal in return for a number of benefits and support that the charity will provide.
Following the nook appeal launch event at the Norfolk Showground in November, staff at Sprowston Manor unanimously voted to select the charity and in particular the appeal, by committing to fundraise to achieve a target of at least £10,000.
The team at Sprowston Manor have come up with a number of fantastic fundraising ideas and to kick things off have recently held “The Great Gatsby Charity Ball” which has raised a fantastic amount of at least £6,500.
Andrew Dickson, General Manager, Marriott Sprowston Manor Hotel & Country Club, Norwich said: “We are delighted to be supporting the (EACH) nook appeal in 2015. We will be hosting a number of fantastic events and our Hotel team have established a fundraising calendar for initiatives throughout 2015 to support this inspirational project.”
Gary Cook, the nook appeal corporate fundraiser, said: “We’re delighted Sprowston Manor Marriott Hotel and Country Club have decided to support our nook appeal and the hotel’s 100+ staff are committed to raising a significant amount of money to help make our vision of a new children’s hospice in heart of Norfolk a reality.
“To achieve our aims we need the backing and support of the whole of the Norfolk Community – individuals, community groups, schools and of course businesses, so this support from Marriott is fantastic and we look forward to working with them.”
Anyone who is interested in finding out more about the appeal or the nook business network should contact the Norfolk Fundraising Team on 01603 666767 or funding@each.org.uk and for more information about Sprowston Manor Marriott Hotel and Country Club visit www.marriott.co.uk