Tag Archives: Promotions

Awards, Marketing, PR and SEO, News

‘Promotional bodyguard’ receives royal award

PromoVeritas, the leading global prize promotion specialist, based in Pinner, North London, has been recognised with the prestigious King’s Award for Enterprise: International Trade.

Powering promotions worldwide, PromoVeritas shapes and implements prize promotions for the world’s biggest brands, including Kellogg’s, Cadbury, Walkers crisps, Pepsi, Corona Beer, Amazon and Mastercard. The company conducts prize draws, judges competitions and oversees ‘instant wins’ in more than 90 countries, and this has resulted in it being awarded the King’s Award for Excellence in International Trade.

The news follows three years of exceptional growth for PromoVeritas, which saw the business double its revenue, and expand its global reach to the point that now almost 50% of their income comes from overseas projects. Its rapid expansion means it is now one of only a handful of marketing agencies ever to receive a King’s Award.

Having run over 18,000 campaigns worldwide, from Chile to China, Austria to Australia, PromoVeritas has given away more than £42 million worth of prizes to over 5 million lucky winners. From its unassuming office in Pinner, the company ensures that prize promotions are run safely, fairly and legally. This includes independently selecting winners of prize draws, verification of live TV voting and handling the integrity and security of Golden Ticket instant win promotions.

Following the announcement, Jeremy Stern, Founder and CEO of PromoVeritas, said: “20 years ago, I had the idea for a new type of service, one that would bridge the gap between law firms and creative agencies, and would ensure best practice promotional compliance and the delivery of effective and secure marketing campaigns.

“It is so rewarding for the whole team to have our pioneering efforts recognised with such an esteemed accolade. We now work with over half of the UK’s top brands and have been able to help many of them to expand their campaigns internationally. It might be Energizer with an on pack promotion in 60+ countries, Amazon with their cross border Small Business Prize Draw or Booking.com with a truly global Win a Year Off campaign. Credit goes to my wonderful team and a big thanks to our amazing clients, many of whom have worked with us for ten years or more.”

 Guy Parker, Chief Executive of the ASA, the UK’s advertising regulator, said: “Congratulations PromoVeritas on your ongoing commitment to help businesses keep their promotions on the right side of the rules.

“With the ever-changing media landscape and new technologies providing a multitude of innovative ways to reach consumers, PromoVeritas has kept pace and grown, providing reassurance to clients that they’re running promotions that meet the high standards in place to ensure participants are treated fairly.”

In recognition of the company’s work, the team have been invited to meet King Charles III at a ceremony at Windsor Castle in July, and His Majesty The King’s personal representative, the Lord-Lieutenant will visit the head office in Pinner later in the year to present the business with its award.

The King’s Awards for Enterprise programme, now in its 58th year, is the most prestigious business award in the country, with successful businesses able to use the esteemed King’s Awards Emblem for the next five years.

Bridgend, Business, Business Investment, Careers

Key promotion at industrial electronic repair specialist

One of the UK’s leading providers of industrial electronic repairs has announced a key promotion within its sales team.

Zach Taylor has been promoted from Account Manager to Regional Sales Manager, taking on the new position in February.

Zach joined the Bridgend-based business, which works with leading manufacturers and businesses globally, in December 2020 as a Commercial Management Trainee while studying for a degree in business.

He quickly progressed to an Account Manager role in south-west England and as the newly appointed Regional Sales Manager, Zach will now be looking after customers in Bath, Bournemouth, Bristol, Dorset, Exeter, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Salisbury, Southampton, Taunton, Torquay and Truro.

In his new role, Zach will meet with new and existing customers in the region, building and maintaining relationships to ensure they receive the best possible solutions and service from the firm.

Zach said: “Since starting at Kontroltek, the company has been very supportive of my progression and growth. I am excited to take on this new role and I am fortunate to visit businesses of all sizes in the south-west, with a variety of needs whether it be repair, supply or on-site engineer visits.”

Cath Demaid, Director of Commercial and HR, said: “Zach is a fantastic addition to our regional sales team. The experience and knowledge he has built since he started with us perfectly places him to provide an excellent level of service and expertise to our customers in the south-west region.”

Outside of work, Zach enjoys playing rugby and is the captain of local club Pencoed RFC, which Kontroltek has sponsored for a decade.

This year’s sponsorship includes an addition designed to enhance the game experience for both the Pencoed RFC senior and current U15s age groups. Kontroltek has invested in a Veo camera, a state-of-the-art technology that promises to transform the way the sport is played and analysed. The Veo camera enables detailed video analysis and performance tracking, offering players and coaches valuable insights to further develop their skills and strategies.

Zach said: “It’s a real privilege to represent both Kontroltek and Pencoed RFC. The Veo camera is a gamechanger for us with regards to how it will help our team improve and develop. Thanks to Kontroltek for their ongoing support of both my professional and sporting endeavours.”

Founded in 2011, Kontroltek specialises in industrial electronic repairs and supply nationwide employing more than 60 staff.

News

SentinelOne announces executive appointments and promotions amidst rapid growth

SentinelOne, an autonomous cybersecurity platform company, has announced key executive appointments and promotions that will fuel the growth of its best-in-class cybersecurity platform and scale forward its go-to-market operations. Mitra Mahdavian has been appointed to SVP, Business Transformation; Bryan Gale has been appointed to VP, Product Marketing; Rajiv Taori has been appointed to GM, Dataset; Eric Tinker has been appointed to VP, Renewals; and Joni Tsumas has been appointed to VP, Global Accounts & Programs.

In addition, Jared Phipps has been promoted to SVP, Americas Sales and Solution Engineering and Daniel Kollberg has been promoted to SVP, EMEA Sales and Solutions Engineering. The appointments and promotions are a testament to the company’s commitment to deliver best-in-class XDR protection built for the new cyber security paradigm.

“At SentinelOne, we are on a mission to deliver real-time, autonomous cyber security at scale,” said Tomer Weingarten, CEO, SentinelOne. “The recent appointments and promotions will play an important role in enabling us to continue to stand out from the crowd and deliver cutting edge protection and innovation to our global customers as we deliver the most advanced enterprise security platform with trust and integrity. Their talent and relentless drive will enable us to do what no other company has done before in record time – give enterprises the advantage over tomorrow.”

Mrs. Mahdavian is a seasoned business leader with a proven track record of driving strategic growth. Mahdavian joins SentinelOne after over a decade at McKinsey & Co., where she was a partner and a leader in McKinsey’s Technology, Marketing and Sales practices, with clients including $50B+ software and hardware providers, global technology infrastructure organisations and multiple growth stage SaaS companies. As SVP of Business Transformation, Mahdavian will drive strategic initiatives, business intelligence and monetisation strategies.
Mr. Gale has over 20 years of experience driving product innovation across the cyber security industry in both marketing and product leadership roles. Prior to SentinelOne, Gale was the Global VP of Product Marketing at CrowdStrike, where he hired and built a marketing organisation spanning product, technical and competitive marketing as well as analyst relations. Before CrowdStrike, Gale was Chief Product Officer at Automox and Chief Product Officer at CyberGRX. As VP of Product Marketing, Gale will lead the go-to-market strategy for the Singularity platform.

Mr. Taori is a proven business leader with a 20-year track record of building businesses, establishing market leadership positions and creating successful products. Taori joins SentinelOne from Amazon Web Services, where he was Product Leader responsible for OpenSearch analytics, search, observability and security offerings. As GM of DataSet, Taori will be responsible for defining the strategic vision, operations and go-to-market execution for SentinelOne DataSet.

Mr. Tinker has more than 25 years of experience leading renewals and driving customer success across technology organisations. Prior to SentinelOne, Tinker was SVP of Global Renewal Sales and Operations, Acceleration Sales GTM at Riverbed Technology, where he led a global team responsible for over 55% of Riverbed’s total revenue. As VP of Global Renewals, Tinker will scale the global renewals organisation leveraging a standard enablement approach to increase bookings, net revenue retention and maximise gross revenue retention.

Mrs. Tsumas brings over 20 years of experience leading sales and strategic growth across high-tech companies. Tsumas joins SentinelOne from Cohesity, where she was VP of Sales, US Strategic & Enterprise. Prior to Cohesity, Tsumas held positions at VMware, NetApp and Cisco. As VP of Global Accounts & Programs, Tsumas will be responsible for leading and developing strategies that enhance customer experience across SentinelOne’s largest customers and prospects.

Appointments, Midlands News, News

Q welcomes new partner Dan Harris

A leading financial services group has strengthened its team with the appointment of a new partner. 

 

Dan Harris steps up from his former role as senior mortgage and protection adviser at Shropshire-based Q Financial Services, just two years after joining the company. 

 

Q director Mitch Gough said he was delighted with the appointment, which he said reflected the key role Dan had played with the group since joining as a mortgage adviser in 2020. 

 

“I have known Dan for many years and he brings huge energy and passion to everything that he does. He has made a huge impression at Q over the past two years and we are delighted to be able to offer him this senior role. 

 

“Mortgage and protection is a key part of our business and under Dan’s leadership I look forward to continued success over the coming years.” 

 

Dan, who has 13 years’ experience in the financial sector, said he was thrilled to be taking up the new role at Q, which has offices in Wellington and Telford. 

 

“I started my first business at the age of ten, washing cars with a school friend, and have been passionate about the world of business ever since. At 14 I set up a children’s DJ and party company, and then a mobile bar for weddings and events at 18, so you could say I have always been business minded. 

 

“I love the way Q do business – always working to get the best results for our clients and putting them at the heart of everything we do – and am hugely honoured to have been offered this promotion. 

 

“I want to work to establish Q as one of the largest financial firms in the Midlands – with the best reputation for client satisfaction.” 

 

Outside of work Dan is married to Abi. The couple have a daughter Ariella and a son on the way in November. He is a Leeds supporter and rugby player. 

Appointments, News

Trio promoted at accountancy firm HURST

Accounting and business advisory firm HURST has promoted three rising stars to associate manager level.

The trio are Oliver Cross and Ellie Wild in HURST’s business services team and Jack Moore in the tax team.

Oliver was recruited to the practice in 2017 as an audit senior while Ellie joined as a graduate trainee accountant in 2015 and qualified two years later. Jack joined HURST in April last year as a tax senior.

HURST partner and director of practice development Simon Brownbill said: “Joining us early in their careers, Ollie and Ellie have become invaluable members of the team, and we welcome their promotion to management positions.

“In a short period of time, Jack has really impressed us with his skills and knowledge. We see his promotion as recognition of his stellar performance, and the central role he will play as the team continues to grow and develop.

“These promotions reflect our ongoing commitment to promoting talented individuals within the firm and giving them the opportunity to further their careers with us.”

HURST, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, focuses on advising entrepreneurial owner-managed companies with turnover of £5m and above.

Clients include leading entrepreneurial businesses such as Kinaxia Logistics, M&I Materials, London Lash, Beechfield Brands, Duerr’s, Oliver Valves and Delamere Dairy.

Meanwhile the firm has also recruited three trainee accountants to its growing team.

They are Ewan Lawson, who has a maths and economics degree from the University of Strathclyde, Tirath Panesar, who graduated in accounting and finance at the University of Leeds, and Miles Redgrave, who has an astrophysics degree from Loughborough University.

In another development, Mimi Weir-Bennett has taken on a new role at HURST as its dedicated HR and quality associate. She joined the practice as a personal assistant in 2015, then moved to its HR and business support team.

Mimi’s new role will see her support and promote best practice across the firm.

Marketing, PR and SEO, News

Disclosing influencer marketing is a double-edged sword

Disclosing influencer marketing as advertising is a double-edged sword, according to a new study by researchers from several European universities.

The study, conducted by doctoral candidate Zeynep Karagür of the University of Cologne and her co-authors Jan-Michael Becker (BI Norwegian Business School), Kristina Klein (University of Bremen) and Alexander Edeling (KU Leuven), investigated the effects of disclosing influencer marketing as advertising on the social media platform Instagram.

They found that disclosing that a post is advertising has a negative effect on the influencer’s trustworthiness, because it increases the perception of advertising and monetary motivations.

However, influencers and brands also benefit from disclosing posts as advertising as consumers appreciate the transparency. Thus, the authors advise influencers to divulge some form of disclosure as the long-term reputation loss from being caught not disclosing might even be worse.

Among the disclosure types investigated, Instagram’s stardardized branded content tool is the most effective way to increase consumers’ recognition of advertising.

Using the stardardized branded content tool also makes it dispensable for consumers to rely on other cues such as the number of followers or the number of previously endorsed brands when deciding whether posts are advertising or not.

The study also found that influencers with a high number of followers (macro influencers) and a large brand portfolio are seen as less trustworthy because consumers might see them as “human ad spaces”.

The researchers say that their findings contradict the common thought that “the more sponsors you have, the more credibility you have”.

“Large brand portfolios undermine influencers’ trustworthiness through higher advertising expectation,” say Karagür. The underlying assumption is that influencers will post as many advertising as they can to increase their earnings, rather than endorse products they genuinely like.

According to the researchers the“highest level of trustworthiness is associated with micro influencers with limited brand relationships”. If managers are deciding between two influencers with a similar number of followers, looking at the number of previous product endorsements is another effective selection criterion.

The research paper was published in the International Journal of Research in Marketing.

Accounts and Accountancy, Midlands News, News

PKF Smith Cooper announce latest promotions

Starting the year on a positive note, and effective from 1st January, the award-winning accountancy and business advisory firm announces a string of promotions across a number of divisions.

PKF Smith Cooper’s promotions across their Derby, Nottingham, and Birmingham offices follow a period of sustained, strategic growth for the Midlands firm, not only signalling its aim to continue expanding but also the focused investments in team members, which Managing Partner James Bagley cites as their “most important asset”.

Within the Corporate Finance division, Tom Joy has been promoted to Corporate Finance Manager, which acknowledges the integral nature of his role in a number of deals for the team throughout 2021. His talents have already earned him a nomination for Insider Media’s ‘Emerging Dealmaker of the Year 2021’, marking him as ‘one to watch’.

The Audit and Tax teams have also been strengthened by promotions, with Beckie Furniss and Charlotte Martinazzoli being promoted to Assistant Managers in Derby, while Jessica Richardson has become Assistant Manager in the Nottingham office.

Stacey Sykes, who joined the firm in 2018 as an Assistant Manager, has continued to climb the ranks and has now been promoted to Senior Tax Manager, recognising her role in developing and growing the tax compliance service in Derby.

Meanwhile, Charlotte Smith has been successfully promoted to Senior Executive within the marketing team, a move that celebrates her fundamental role in shaping the firm’s marketing strategy.

James Bagley, Managing Partner comments: “Nurturing and growing talent is something we pride ourselves on here at PKF Smith Cooper, which is why I am particularly proud to announce these latest promotions. These team members have been with us since very early in their careers – with the majority initially joining us as an apprentice or graduate – and have worked their way up through the ranks.

All six promotions are really well deserved, and I wish Tom, Stacey, Jessica, Beckie, Charlotte, and Charlotte all continued success in the future.”

Appointments, Law, Midlands News, News, North of England

Promotions announced at top law firm

Leading law firm Aaron and Partners has announced a series of promotions across the firm after a year of continued growth.

The firm, which has offices in Manchester, Chester and Shrewsbury, has announced five promotions with a new Partner, a Senior Associate and three new Associates appointed.

Joseph Fletcher-Hunt has been made a partner in the Real Estate team having joined the firm in 2019. His work has seen him noted in the Legal 500 directory, a leading industry guide to the top professionals working in the UK’s legal market.

Paul Hennity, also a legal 500 listed lawyer, has been promoted to Senior Associate in the firm’s renowned Employment team. Paul is highly experienced in both contentious and non-contentious employment matters.

The Chester office also welcomes two new Associate Solicitors with Joshua Simpson promoted in the firm’s Real Estate department and Paul Caslin, taking on the role in the highly regarded Wills, Trusts and Tax team.

Zoe Lloyd’s development has also been recognised with promotion to Associate in the firm’s Corporate and Commercial team.

Nick Clarke, Senior Partner at Aaron & Partners, said: “I’m delighted that again this year we have been able to recognise the development of our people through these promotions. They have all demonstrated great commitment and excellence in their work for clients and their promotions are well deserved.

“We recognise that our people are the key to continued success and so we aim to create an environment where staff can develop and progress with us. It’s been a challenging year so it’s important that we celebrate achievement when we get the chance and there’s no better example of this than through promotions.

“I’d like to congratulate everyone who has been promoted, and I’m looking forward to seeing the next stages of their development”.

Accounts and Accountancy, Appointments, Finance News, News

String of New Year promotions at Smith Cooper

Smith Cooper, a Midlands based top 41 Accountancy and Business Advisory firm, has welcomed in the New Year with a number of promotions and key strategic hires across many of its service lines as follows:

  • Natalie Pollard Senior Manager (Tax Advisory)
  • Kimberley Wapplington Senior Manager (Business Recovery and Insolvency)
  • Ali Raynor Manager (Audit)
  • Annabelle Rowlinson Manager (Accounts)
  • Tara Adams Assistant Manager (Accounts)
  • Matthew Aston Assistant Manager (Audit)
  • Jonathan Dunn Assistant Manager (Audit)

These promotions follow recent external strategic hires which include recruiting Adam Rollason into our Tax Advisory division, based in our Birmingham office,

Harriet Pye-Watson, who joins our ever-expanding Private Client team and Dinesh Pancholi, who is a Senior Manager in our specialist Employment tax team.

“Committed to attracting, developing and retaining home grown talent to facilitate the delivery of the firm’s strategic vision”

David Nelson, Senior Partner states “Whilst the impact of COVID-19 and the governments measures introduced to combat its spread led to several advisory and corporate finance projects being delayed, the nine months to December 20 saw the firm deliver pleasing growth across most of its service lines.”

“Especially pleasing was the continued growth within our Audit, Accounts and Tax compliance divisions which, following the investment and strategic focus given to them, took full advantage of the changes caused by the top 10 firm’s revised approach to service delivery and pricing. That growth should continue into 2021 through the new client wins we have already secured and our increased relevance and attraction to businesses looking at the service quality and value gained from their existing accountancy providers.”

“This current and future expected increase in client numbers means that we have an ever-increasing need for quality team members to support and contribute to the delivery of the growth. These recent promotions justify that not only are we growing, but with many of the team members having started with the firm as trainees, prove that we remain committed to attracting, developing and retaining home grown talent to facilitate the delivery of the firm’s strategic vision.”

“These promotions are very well deserved, and I am confident that each individual will go on to enhance their skills and reputation to their own and our clients’ benefit.”

“Whilst taking team members out of their comfort zone, our newly implemented promotion process provided successful candidates with a real sense of accomplishment”.

Sian O’Leary, HR Manager at Smith Cooper comments

“These promotions are the first where successful candidates have been taken through a formal process to help them understand their current and future potential within the firm, helping them achieve their professional goals whilst enhancing their sense of belonging and marking a real, measurable accomplishment.”