Member Article

This week's North West appointments

Apprentice star pals up with growing North West ’advertising’ firm

Apprentice star Neil Clough has been appointed non-executive sales director of a growing North West firm after an impromptu phone call sparked by the hit TV series.

My Travel Pal was set up by husband and wife team David and Nicola Palmer in October last year as an off-shoot of their long-established holiday rental firm Perfect Getaways.

When Nicola saw Neil on the last series of the Apprentice she contacted him to ask if he could help with their sales strategy.

Husband Dave said: “Nicola watched the Apprentice and saw the skill Neil showed in sales. She got in touch with him and after the two of them had a chat about football he agreed to meet with us.

“We’re thrilled to have Neil on-board and his sales expertise will be a huge help in driving the business forward,” he added.

The appointment closely follows the launch of Neil’s business NWC Consultancy which provides sales consultancy, sales training, coaching and mentoring.

My Travel Pal is a cross between Travel Zoo and Groupon. It’s based in Chester and offers discounted deals to clients on a database of over 240,000. A number of top name businesses including Frankie and Benny’s, Bella Italia and McDonalds Hotels advertise on the site.

“We give people the opportunity to do the best things and eat and drink in the best places at a discounted price,” said Dave.

As non-executive sales director Neil’s remit will be to help expand My Travel Pal’s growing customer base. It’s an opportunity Neil relishes: “My Travel Pal is a great family company with a great ethos. They are at the point where they have the potential to expand rapidly and I’m looking forward to helping the company grow,” said Neil.

inEvidence expands video offer with Mike Wood

Macclesfield-based customer reference consultancy inEvidence has expanded its video production team with the appointment of Mike Wood as director of photography.

Mike’s arrival at the consultancy comes at a time of increased demand for video content and he brings more than 30 years’ experience of producing both broadcast and top-end corporate productions.

Before joining inEvidence, Mike worked as a freelance director of photography for the BBC, global broadcasters and independent television production companies.

His career has included filming in the jungles of Honduras, on the streets of San Francisco, following the presidential trail in Zambia, tackling customs officers at Tel Aviv airport and looking for families living in the slums of Cairo.

Mike’s corporate experience, meanwhile, has included the production of videos for organisations including AstraZeneca, Barclays Bank, British Airways, Cisco, Co-op Bank and Kellogg’s.

“More clients than ever before want to bring their case studies to life with videos that tell real life stories about how their customers are benefiting from their products and services,” said inEvidence’s managing director, Robin Hamilton.

“Last year our team produced video from across the world, from Nigeria to the United States and in languages from French to Arabic.

“Mike’s appointment brings valuable experience and support and comes at a time when video becomes even more important to support content-rich digital formats such as eStudies for mobile devices.”

inEvidence, part of The Good Relations Group, is the world’s largest customer reference consultancy, with teams based in the UK, the USA and Singapore. It works with global brands to help them close more business more quickly, amplifying the peer endorsement provided by happy customers.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Graham Vincent .