Lynne McCadden, Director, Northwest Vision+ Media

“I have worked with nmp in a professional capacity many times over the last eight years. Work has ranged from support in developing tenders to project delivery – all in the digital, creative and media sectors. Northwest Vision + Media is an industry–led agency working with the employers and individuals at the heart of the one of the UK’s fastest growing creative economies - the North West. We have ongoing daily contact with employers and industry-leaders and, to ensure our continued credibility with the sector, our support for them needs to be of the highest standards. 

It is testament to nmp’s industry expertise that we have been able to employ them on a range of delivery activity. This work has required nmp not only to be able to display high levels of knowledge and insight  about the sector but also to have an aptitude for some of the underlying sector-specific issues– the need for flexibility,speed of change, etc.

On all occasions, nmp’s central task has been to deliver work which is credible and informed which will ultimately support the development of our sectors. nmp has always performed this role to commendable standards.”

 

 

 

Belema Roberts, Director Campus Entertainment

“Danny - I would just like to say that it was a pleasure meeting you at Entrust and everything is all set for our meeting in Sunderland on Monday.  The wealth of information,skill, knowledge and expertise you have I know will be invaluable to Helmut and I.  On a personal note I found you very easy to talk to and genuine and would just like to express my thanks once again in agreeing to be our mentor.”

 

 

“Danny - I just wanted to say thanks for your time and insight on the Accelerate programme. It's been challenging at times, and not all of the programme went in the direction we expected, but we've ended it feeling that we gained some real value from the process.

We'd definitely like keep in touch as we try to act on the feedback you gave us - in fact we started work on a new (more humanised..) concept for our website right after you left. It would be great to get your opinions on it in a week or two.”

 

 

John J Hughes, Senior Development Executive, ASK Developments

“We have pleasure in providing a written reference for nmp with whom we have had a very successful and productive relationship over the past 12 months.

ASK Developments have just won the ‘Commercial Property Developer of the Year Award2006’ by NW Business Insider Magazine and are developers of the Manchester site hoping to facilitate the BBC move to Manchester from 2008 onwards. This will be the biggest Media Zone in Europe and it is essential that we see the best return on our investment for this flagship project. To ensure that we understood the market for Creative Industries, Media and Digital Media we engaged nmp to evaluate the demand for the site against local, national and global market trends. This included office and workspace for the independent creative sector together with detailed technical specifications for the 21st Century studio space demanded by the BBC.

The work conducted by nmp was a thorough, evidenced based analysis that went beyond our expectations for the brief. Following the initial assignment nmp was engaged for further work and became central to the ASK team working with the BBC and partners on the delivery of the final detailed bid. The work carried out by nmp gave us the confidence to engage with the BBC, North West Development Agency and Manchester City Council to develop a world beating proposition that was delivered to the BBC in March of this year.

Since that time we have continued to work with nmp on a number of projects including sector specific property solutions for Brent Borough Council (Wembley) and the London Development Agency in Kings Cross. I have no problem recommending nmp to organisations seeking market leading advice and solutions.”

 

 

Phil Birchenall, Services Manager, Creative Industries Development Service (CIDS) 

       

“Our organisation has worked with nmp for many years, developing a solid working relationship that has shown consistently successful results throughout.

nmp have undertaken major projects on behalf of CIDS, including in-depth consultancy and business planning work on the Screen Industries Centre of Excellence project between 2001 and 2004; this involved working with partnerships, scoping out options and delivering a full report on the proposed project.

nmp also won the contract to deliver The Loop for two consecutive series, working with us to shape not only the overall programme, but to deliver each session from concept through to the organisation of the event itself. The Loop remains one of CIDS’ most popular services to this day.

nmp have provided great results whenever we’ve worked with them, delivered within the agreed time scales and providing good value for money.”

 

 

Mark Elliott, Director, Digital City Business

"As Director of Digital City Business I am more than happy to provide a written reference for nmp ltd. We have had a successful and productive relationship over a period of more than two years, during which time the company has delivered three projects for us and helped us develop the Digital City project here in the Tees Valley.

During this time, Danny Meaney and the nmp team have provided excellent consultancy support services centred on the development of The Boho Zone – the digital media,digital technologies and creative industries quarter in Middlesbrough. The services have helped define the concept, identify the optimum location and developed the project’s Business Plan. This work has enabled us to progress our business and accommodation strategy knowing that nmp’s market forecasting,cluster development and cost benefit analysis has been second to none. Their deep understanding of the specific incubation and acceleration models necessary for the digital and creative industries is clear cut and exemplary. In addition, a major strength of nmp is its ability to articulate specific tasks in a localised market against the best practice internationally. Their work has enabled us to understand our growth potential and identify the appropriate investment for us to fulfil our ambitions.

In my experience they provide consultancy that is clear, objective and always informed by good evidence. Unusually, the report they produced is actually being used as the route map for the development of the Boho Zone. Moreover nmp has demonstrated support for the project that goes beyond the confines of the contracts: in a continued dialogue, Danny’s commitment and genuine enthusiasm is a real ‘value added’. I would be happy to recommend nmp’s services.”

 

 

Gina Lee Fucci, Managing Director, Films at59

"Films at 59 were selected as part of a regional development initiative for creative businesses in the Southwest and the advice and attention we received helped focus our company direction. We were very lucky to be teamed with nmp for the Bristol Accelerate programme. Inviting consultants into your business is not easy, but nmp were aware of our reservations and made it their business to get to know us. Danny Meaney knows a lot about our industry and was very willing to share thoughts and views. At a time when our industry is facing great change, it was important for us to have an outside viewpoint.

Having met with Danny Meaney on several occasions in 2008, he proved his grasp of our business and some of the challenges we were facing over the next 5 years.  Once we became part of the initiative, he spent a few meetings listening to what we felt we needed as a company and then offered some valuable solutions.  At the end of our initial meetings, it was agreed that we would focus the support on getting our management team to work together on finalising our business plan and come up with next steps to deliver it’s vision.

Over the next 6 months, we spent time with our business advisor who facilitated group discussions, researched additional information as required and utilised nmp’s information resources when needed.  At the end of the assignment, we benefited from a final review with Danny. This meant we could review our business plan and assess whether it was robust in the current marketplace.  As we are an owner-managed facility of 100 staff – running as a family business, this type of advice proved invaluable – especially in such a worrying economic climate.  Danny’s team understood our restrictions and helped to ensure the sessions were effective and efficient for our business.  In the past, we have been involved in government funded schemes that were inflexible and therefore didn’t deliver what our business actually needed to develop and grow.

It has been 4 months since our last session with nmp and I can say that we are following (and adjusting) the business plan accordingly.  The advice was timely and there is no doubt that if I required further support or needed an update on industry information, I would turn to nmp in future.  Many people are aware that in creative businesses it is difficult to find the time to assess business needs – nmp worked within our company culture and helped refine systems which in turn gave us the confidence to look at growth and to manage more effectively. Having such directed and focused support has definitely benefited our business.”

 

 

 

Claire Scally, Digital Media Project Manager, Scottish Enterprise

“nmp produced a strategic review of the Digital Media Opportunity at Pacific Quay for Scottish Enterprise last year as part of a consortium with US based consultants JVA.

nmp were the lead contact for the project and managed the consortium approach very well. They showed a clear understanding of what was required, backed up by an excellent knowledge of the sector and similar developments to ours.

We were very pleased with the final report which was well written, made clear recommendations and was produced on schedule and on budget.  The report was well received by our stakeholders and partners and is informing the future direction of the work in this area.”

 

 

 

Anne Scorer, Senior Creative Industries Consultant, South West of England Regional Development Agency

“We recently commissioned nmp to do a comprehensive mapping and analysis of the digital media skills and business base in the West of England subregion(around Bristol and Bath).  The project needed to identify the size and shape of the industry and the weaknesses and strengths in relation to developing a strategic partnership with the BBC.  We also asked them to make projections as to the future size of the sector, outlining macro-trends and implications for future support.

nmp brought together a team with experience of the sector, market research and survey analysis, who worked closely with our local digital media clusters,using online questionnaires and face-to-face workshops to speed up the process.  Response levels were high and the quality of the data in the report was excellent.  The team provided regular updates on progress and the report was delivered on schedule and budget.  We are very pleased with the results and would recommend nmp's services for similar studies.”

 

 

 

Polly Purvis, ScotlandIS

"We chose nmp to work with us as they demonstrated a clear understanding of the topic, and have considerable domain expertise in the information technology industries. This was important as it enabled them to hit the deck running, bringing their experience of technology issues internationally to inform the research they undertook for us."

 

 

 

Serena Lindsey, Nottingham City Council

“I was very impressed with staff members as they were always helpful and on the ball regarding the project and I am aware that although many other projects may be taking place they never confuse or seem distracted by other projects”

 

 

 

Richard Scott, Axis Animation

“In terms of defining the research content nmp advised us with real clarity. Left to our own, we would not have been able to have such thorough research.  nmp pointed out and filled in the gaps for us.”

 

 

 

Robbie Allen, Raindog

“It was refreshing to work with a company who were so project driven and geared towards achieving positive results.  Also liked the fact that the company were such good listeners and were willing to take on board the views of the company and were not forcing ideas.”

 

 

 

“In our business, as with the creative industry in general, there are a lot of strong characters with many ideas on how they would like their companies to run. It can be difficult to distil these ideas into a coherent strategic approach while maintaining the buy in from all of the characters at the same time.   Being part of the Accelerate project has helped us achieve that by having regular meetings with someone independent from our business that can provide a wealth of experience relevant to our industry.”

 

 

 

Design & production company, Omni Productions 

"Being part of the Accelerate Project has given us an exciting opportunity to look far more closely at our business. It has directly led to a restructure of our website and the clarification of our service offering meaning that the next financial year will be influenced by a far more focused marketing strategy.  It's easy to just keep working and filling your time with the next job, not taking a moment out to really analyse your business but this process has given us the time to understand where we are going wrong, and where we are going right. I have no doubt that this will lead onto some exciting developments in the new year."

 

 

 

Claire Scally, Illumina Digital Scotland 

"We found the Interactive Scotland Market Intelligence report very useful for putting together our case for market opportunity for the syndicated content application. Not an easy area to find consistent data - especially around enthusiast sites and casual gaming - but thanks to the prompt response from nmp, we made our deadline - so fingers crossed!"  

 

 

 

"The PAN AmbITion Business Case was successful, to the full amount requested, with no significant criteria or feedback. This is good news - and we're looking forward to getting on with the implementation stage. Thanks for your assistance and support with this process."