CHANGE FOR SVD IN 2011

We‘ve swapped the seagull for a Kestrel!

After six years at a listed Jacobean sea-front building in Clevedon, SVD has moved to a state-of-the-art office building in Portishead.
The move prompted us to switch our logo-bird from the Clevedon seagull to a majestic kestrel: our new address is Kestrel Court.
We moved to Clevedon, after almost a decade in central Bristol, to enjoy faster connection to the Motorway network and easier parking. That worked brilliantly.
Our new Portishead office is an even better solution: three minutes to the M5, five minutes to the M4, 20 minutes to central Bristol, superb broadband services, 24/7 access – and we still get free parking!

People changes:

Louie Hadley, who returned to SVD after just one month with another PR firm, is now a full director of the company.
Jenny Hawkins, who took over from Violet Ridge more than a year ago, has been promoted to Client Services Manager.
Peter Phillips, globally respected communications expert in the aviation sector, is an SVD Senior Consultant.
Neil Fraser, our former Director, remains a regular member of our team and a Senior Consultant.

Latest client wins:

Recent months have seen Sturgess Van Damme selected to provide tailored communications programmes for such clients as:

BBS: having completed a website programme, SVD is now appointed to provide a full PR service to the South West‘s largest firm of pension advisers and actuaries;
Wings Medical Group: SVD has been appointed to work with this Bristol-based provider of ambulance services and international aeromedical repatriation services;
Vistair: Bristol-based Vistair is a fast-growing global leader in delivering cloud-based safety and manuals solutions for airlines; SVD has been appointed to promote Vistair‘s success in the aviation sector;
Cranfield University: the aviation-specialists at the university have appointed SVD to promote their global services to peripheral regions & airports.
Wincanton, the leading national supply chain solutions experts have appointed SVD to

“ALL CHANGE” FOR SOUTH WEST BUSINESS NEWS 2010

The World‘s news media – newspapers, radio, and TV – were in crisis before the recession hit. They are all struggling to make money from their “free” web-based services: why buy a newspaper when you can get its content for free on the internet?

In the South West, this challenge (further fuelled by declining circulation, advertising, and sponsorship revenues) is changing the scene for business-news.

The Western Daily Press has ceased to publish its widely acclaimed “Business Week” pink-pages supplement;

The Western Morning News is about to lose its Business Editor, Emma Corlett, who is joining the staff of law-firm, Bond Pearce;

Northcliffe, which has a near-monopoly of daily newspapers throughout the seven counties of the South West (with the sole exception of Swindon), and owns most of the region‘s most important weekly titles, has launched a monthly glossy business magazine, a regional business website, and a daily business-news e-bulletin – all under the title of “South West Business”;

This move is, in part, a response to the growing influence of “South West Insider” – the monthly business magazine that also produces a weekly e-bulletin. Watch out for the addition of a monthly public-sector e-bulletin, along the lines of “Insider‘s” successful formula in Wales.

Meanwhile, Bob Constantine (business and political correspondent for ITV West for the past 20 years) has lost his job; Malcolm Frith, who has been the BBC‘s industry specialist in the West for many years, has now retired to New Zealand; and many of the South West‘s business editors have recently changed (eg, Western Daily Press, Bristol Evening Post, Western Evening Herald, Torbay Herald Express, etc.

Changes are afoot, too, for some of the region‘s established media-driven business events and platforms – like the awards for corporate finance deals and commercial property, and major supplements.

SVD‘s team of senior business journalists, working for corporate clients throughout the South West, is tuned-in to all these changes, and the new opportunities that are emerging.

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