Bringing Aycliffe Business Park Together | 25
Thrive Marketing director Rachel
Townsend Green with the firm’s new
web developer Tom Armstrong.
AYCLIFFE
MARKETING
FIRM IS
NURTURING
FUTURE TALENT
Does your brand deliver?
Your brand is not just a logo or identity, nor is it a product.
A brand is a person’s gut feeling about a product or organisation
– getting it right is crucial to brand awareness.
An outstanding brand communicates a clear message about what it stands for and how
it differs from competitors. A well-crafted strategy is the starting point of a vibrant brand
that springs to life in your mind, your clients’ and your advocates’, becoming a belief
system, not just a logo or slogan. More importantly, this well-crafted and thought out
brand that is communicating to the right demographic will add value to your organisation.
It is integral to your outfacing communications to grow your brand into something more
than a slogan, which is why we enable your business to thrive into a living icon.
What are you waiting for? Email johnny@thriveability.co.uk
or call 0845 838 7517 to open up your business to a whole new
audience and build upon those current offline connections.
Ground Floor Enterprise House The HUB Workspace
Welbury Way Aycliffe Business Park DL5 6ZE
0845 838 7517
www.thriveability.co.uk
A Newton Aycliffe marketing firm continues to grow thanks to a future-proofing process
which is nurturing tomorrow’s talent.
Thrive Marketing has linked up with
Teesside University to develop web,
journalism and design students into
prospective employees.
Their forward-thinking has already boosted
staff numbers since its launch in 2014,
following the merger of Echo Graphics and
Au Fait Marketing.
Newtonian Tom Armstrong - a popular DJ
in his spare time - is the latest Teesside Uni
student to join the Thrive team as a web
developer.
The 21-year-old former Woodham Academy
student is currently studying a BA (Hons) in
web and multimedia at Teesside.
Thrive director Rachel Townsend Green
said: “Tom is part of our plans for continued
growth.
“When we were building our growth
strategy, we recognised that there is a
significant challenge when trying to recruit
good web developers.
“We wanted to be in a position where we
could establish relationships with talented
developers before they became graduates,
so we got in touch with Teesside University.
“Now we get the pick of the under-grads.
We go along and see their work and have
a chat with them. We then invite them to
our offices for an interview and they’ll do
a trial period then work for us during their
placement year.
“During that placement year they’re
earning money but also developing.
They’re also enhancing their employability
prospects and softer skills such as teamwork,
communication, working to deadlines,
managing projects etc.
“The plan is to take at least one undergraduate for their placement each year. By
doing this, the team will continue to grow,
but it will be doing so with talent that we’ve
spotted, helped to nurture and develop and
bring them on.
“They’ll complement the existing full-time
permanent graduate employees that we’ve
always had.
”
Another web developer in the team,
Connor Brough, from Darlington, is already
going through the graduate placement
scheme with Thrive and will soon go into his
final Uni year with a full-time job offer in his
back pocket.
Thrive has also taken on a graphic
design intern for the summer, as well as a
local secondary school student on a work
placement.
“A lot of what we do is about spotting
upcoming talent and helping to nurture and
develop it, added Rachel.
”
“Anyone who we want to give a job to,
they do an internship with us and that gives
them a chance to find out if they like working
here, they like the team and the job.
“It also gives us a chance to see if they
can do the job and if they fit into the team.
“But we also put it out to the vote, so our
current staff get a say in whether they think
they’ll fit in or not.
“Our recruitment process has been
likened to that of the SAS! That sounds a
bit dramatic, but we think it’s a healthy way
of recruiting new staff and making sure we
keep a happy shop.
”
Thrive has nine full-time members of staff
as well as two part-time, and they are now
working with more firms on Aycliffe Business
Park as well as some high-profile national
brands.
Rachel added: “Touch wood, so far monthon-month we’re exceeding our forecast.
“Some of the clients we’ve picked up
since coming through our transitional period
have been much larger and well-known
profiles, and we’re collaborating with a lot
more companies on the business park, which
can be seen in the work we’re doing with
The Xcel Centre, Gregg Little Testing Centre,
ROF 59, St