TOY TALK TOYTALK
We take a sneaky peek at our Power List party, champion the mammoth efforts of some industry charity walkers and shame a tea round denier from the Aardvark Swift team in our Team of the Month feature
WE’VE GOT THE POWER
TEAM OF THE MONTH AARDVARK SWIFT
Who’s in the team? Alongside me (MD Ian Goodall), are my right hand men (senior consultants) Danny Johnson and Simon Hope, my Boy Padawans (Tech/studio recruiters) Mark Hope, Ben Shatford (token Welshman), Jacob Perkins and Pete Broughton. And my lovely ladies Tiff Johnson - toys and licensing recruiter, Georgie Bermingham - games publishing, Kelly Hole - accounts and credit control bulldog and Julie Parkinson – domestic hygiene manager. And my apprentice Connor Smith.
What have been your biggest successes in the last 12 months? We were approached by Microsoft Games Studios and asked to join their PSL as the existing specialist agencies weren’t delivering. We’re now the number one provider on contractor recruitment and have recently been selected as one of three specialist agencies to supply permanent staff. We’re very proud of Search For
a Star, our graduate talent competition. It’s grown from humble beginnings and now in its fifth year. 2013 saw 160 students enter from 50+ universities. Now sponsored by Microsoft, with partner studios like Boss Alien, Exient, Sony Evolution, it’s produced 25 graduates this year that have all
found their first role in the games industry. We also carry out our career talk – ‘Get in the Game’ at 40 Universities to help bridge the skills gap and encourage youngsters into games. I’m very proud that we’re playing our part in helping to solve the skills shortage.
What are you working on right now? We’ve got exciting roles at Microsoft, UK Marketing Manager vacancies at Sony and Nintendo, a cracking digital marketing role also at Warner and a brand new top secret role for a European trade marketing manager at a leading games company.
Who makes the most tea? Connor. He’s a legend and never shies away from his brew making duties. Unlike TJ. She’s useless. We sometimes think she doesn’t know where the kettle is.
Tell us a secret about a member of the team. Danny is on the hunt for a wife and is just starting online dating. Julie is known as the ‘White Witch’ as she has psychic powers. She told us the sex of all our children long before birth (well she’s been right 50 per cent of the time anyway).
On the Tuesday of BLE 2013, we had a party to celebrate the unveiling of the
Licensing.biz Power List, the first of what will become an annual publication showcasing the top brands of this year as voted for by the licensing industry. The shindig was held at the Hand
and Flower near Olympia and a whole host of figures from the licensing sector turned up. Attendees included
Character/Entertainment winners for Peppa Pigthe eOne team, people from Art & Design winners the V&A and even Sootypresenter Richard Cadell. Unfortunately Sooty himself had prior engagements, or so he says.
72 November Special thanks go to Kirsty and her
girls from our wonderful headline sponsor miEvents, as well as the beautiful folks from our gold sponsors MyBrandEmail and Counterpoint Systems. Everyone was kept entertained with a heady concoction of booze, great company and a man who transformed balloon making into art form. Seriously, what that man can’t create using a piece of a thin rubber and pump just isn’t worth knowing. Take a look, see who you can spot,
and if proof were needed of the night’s success, just look at all these smiling faces, complete with one or two smirks. (There’s even a few cheeky snaps of the ToyNewsteam. Be kind.)
www.toynews-online.biz
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