• AWM support enables Modec to take on America – Advantage West Midlands – “Modec, the Coventry based manufacturer of commercial electric vehicles, is joining forces with America’s leading commercial vehicle manufacturer Navistar by setting up a US joint venture company to exploit Modec’s cutting edge technological innovation in the Americas”
• Act3Gaming and PIXELearning form a strategic partnership in the Serious Game market – They do serious games
• Core launches new websites for three clients – That’ll be for Brindleyplace, Crest Nicholson and Friend
• Fluid lands Chrysalis website deal – “Fluid has beaten off national competition to win the contract to design the new website for record label Chrysalis”
• Big Button – Lypsyl Lip Tips – “Working with leading agency MS&L, Big Button created a series of information films for Lypsyl”
• EVERYONE WANTED TO BRAND THE LIBRARY OF BIRMIGHAM. WE’RE DOING IT. | klm – In no way self-congratulatory news item from the self-effacing klm. Bless
• Solihull College Prospectus | klm – Following a successful pitch, we revamped the Solihull College prospectus
• Heads Up – Blog – Digital Birmingham – Digital Birmingham share their December headline report
• [Event] Connect Midlands, Acton Trussel, 26 January 2010 – “The seminar is fully subsidised for companies in the West Midlands and will be presented by four industry experts who will cover grant, debt, venture capital and business angel finance options”

• Hundreds of media professionals awarded TV multiplatform training windfall – CREATIVE Times – “A £200,000 investment is being made in a major Skillset scheme to subsidise the cost of TV multiplatform training for up to 500 media professionals across the UK”
• 383 Project » Seamless in Seattle – Interesting write-up of 383’s recent trip to Seattle
• Row over funding for Screen WM board members – Prof Roger Shannon “has called for more transparency around investments by the regional screen agency after it emerged projects linked to board members have received hundreds of thousands of pounds”
• We’ve won a DADI award « Rawww Blog – “we’ve won a DADI award for our contribution to the Story UK website – best In-House website”
• Big Button – The Surfer – “Big Button edited The Surfer, written and directed by Dominic Coleman for the Digishorts scheme”
• “Who got the keys…” | TAK! – Dunno if I’m more impressed with them winning the award or using that title for this post
• Microsoft subsidiary Rare set for move into Birmingham – They made GoldenEye 007 and Donkey Kong Country. If it wasn’t for them I might have got better GCSEs
• The rise and rise of Fazeley Studios – “Nestling among the remaining metal-bashers and greasy spoons of Digbeth’s back streets lies a powerful symbol of Birmingham’s digital renaissance”. More biggings up of the office building everyone loves to love
• [Event] Hackitude, Birmingham, 11-13 December 2009 – “Hackitude is a two-day hacking event based around your ideas. Non-technie-types can suggest ideas for things they’d like to see made, and hackers can setup or join working groups to make those ideas a reality”

• West Midlands film wins international award – “Roys Boys Films succesfully competed against over 300 other films to win the prestigious award”. That award being the one for Best Up and Coming Producers at the Newport International Film Festival
• The Voice wins Screen WM’s Social Digital Responsibility Award – “The shortlisted nominees included Talk About Local, Participation and The Voice all projects that have been supported through funding from Screen WM”
• Producers’ Forum invites you to: Celebrate the Future of Film – “The Producers’ Forum invites you to join them for a party to celebrate six successful years and the unveiling of their new interactive website”
• West Midlands company scoops national business award – “Forensic Pathways and its industry partner Cambridgeshire Constabulary scooped the Orange Best Use of Technology in Business category at the National Business Awards”
• Free events for game developers – In December, Gamer Camp and Game Central join forces to present a series of free-to-attend evening events across the region
• Supercool – Fun and games – “We’ve just produced a swathe of work for the region’s Cultural Olympiad projects”
• New centre for start up businesses in Warwickshire market town – A new space “for up to 20 start-up companies and to provide a dedicated business mentoring service, seminars and workshops, particularly focused on early stage, or ‘pre-incubation’ businesses”
• The best of West Midlands innovation celebrated at Lord Stafford Awards – Winners included – a device which can change the lives of multiple sclerosis sufferers, a groundbreaking stop tap and a pioneering insulin pen which records data on injections
• Maverick TV might have some really big news too, but I can’t link to their news items so I guess we’ll never know

• Supercool and Axis – New work from the Supercool bunch including this for Axis
• Substrakt – British Design 2010 – “We were approached back in April to include our work in both the Branding & Graphic Design and the New Media Design categories”
• Ericsson to withdraw from Ansty Park – Advantage West Midlands – Like the link says. This is what is known in the trade as a Bad Thing
• Start | AWMist – AWMist has information about several thousand ICT and electronics businesses, research institutions, and other organisations in the West Midlands. It fosters collaboration by helping businesses to find partners in the area
• Graduate workshop in games careers – “The Serious Games Institute in Coventry has a graduate workshop on 9th December 2009″
• Big Button and mn2s.com – “House record label Milk ‘n’ 2 Sugars commissioned Big Button to make their new website”

• The Audio Suite completes ultra-realistic soundtrack for film of rugby’s darker side – “The Audio Suite, in Digbeth, gave an ‘on the pitch’ feel to the soundtrack of hard-hitting short film Studs”
• Boxer in the awards again | Boxer Creative – SoakitUp™ – “Boxer has received another pat on the back for our McDonald’s Global Quality Packaging”. This time at the Marketing Design Awards
• Canadian contracts boost West Midland ICT firms – Indigo Retail Technology from Coventry and Marr LLP from Studley have won work off the back of a UKTI trip to Canada
• Fullrange and 383 Project bag Christmas shopping ad contract – Fullrange are doing well – their Rachel Carter won two prizes at the RTS Midlands Awards and now they’ve landed their first TV commerical. More good stuff for 383 too
• West Midlands region urged to work together – Advantage West Midlands – What’s that? A new Digital Creative Industries Group, eh? Hmm, interesting. To be chaired by Maverick’s Jonnie Turpie, from what I hear
• Game Central / Previous Meetings – Minutes from the first meeting of the new get-together for West Mids games people
• A New Look and New Direction for the Science Park – “After 27 years of successful operation Aston Science Park has been tasked with delivering a new vision. The new strategy will see it evolve and redirect its activity to focus on support for the Region’s high-tech start-up and early-stage businesses”. Plenty to read between those lines
• [Event] fizzPOPHowduino, VIVID, 21 November 2009 – A hardware and Arduino hackday coming to Birmingham
• [Event] Breaking into Broadcasting, Birmingham, 25 November 2009 – The title’s pretty much self-explanatory

Who are you and what do you do?

I’m Matthew Clugston, I’m creative director and co-founder of Clusta. I oversee all the creative output from the studio as well as managing jobs. I also do a fair amount of post-production and motion graphics work.

What was your route into this job?

I’ve always been into computer generated imagery, I used to obsess about pixel pushing on DeluxePaint 2 many years ago. I had a keen interest in art and graphics and this lead me to a do a foundation at Bournville. I then went on to do a degree at UCE on a course called BA Negotiated studies. The course allowed you to essentially teach yourself. Myself and a few colleagues used this 3 year period to teach ourselves around 9 different software packages, everything from 3dsMax through to After Effects Flash, Photoshop etc.

What do you think of the West Midlands as a place to work?

We’re based down by the Custard Factory and there’s quite a nice buzz down here. It’s good because you’re more easily noticed, whereas in London the competition is very fierce – however this of course works both ways, it would be nice to see more agencies springing up in Birmingham.

What events might we catch you at?

I’m usually at the Hare and Hounds in Kings Heath. It’s on my door step, which is rather lucky as i’d consider it one of the best venues in town now, for both atmosphere and events. Aside from that I often go to The Rainbow, I’ve been a big fan of Below since it started doing events down there.

How do you keep up with what’s going on in your industry?

Just keep browsing really, the whole team are quite keen on keeping up with trends, and if there’s anything really interesting it gets sent round the whole team. Also, Martin updates our blog with some really nice things, so its easy just to pop on there and see what’s going on.

Which tools of the trade could you not do without?

The Adobe and Autodesk suites.

What have you got on the walls?

We don’t have a lot in the studio, although ive been eyeing up some James Jean prints that i’d really like to buy.

Who makes the tea?

Every man/woman for themselves

Have you got any tips for potential employees?

Just make sure your portfolio is shit-hot.

Lastly, who should we speak to next?

Neil at Tak is a good dude and they do some really nice work

• FLUID – Golden Roses – Fluid reveal (on their lazy blogger-unfriendly website) that they picked up two Gold awards at the Roses Design Awards for their work on SEGA’s House of the Dead: Overkill
• Life In Marketing Mag : Life Agency Blog – “We received some coverage in Marketing Magazine recently for the new promotional campaign we’ve created for the re-launch of Grolsch swing top that went live this month”
• Tax breaks plea for future of video games industry – Another week, another plea. Not that I’m not sympathetic, I just remember this story from a few weeks back
• Media Stars Shine at RTS Midlands Awards – Congrats to all the big winners. Incidentally, what exactly are they putting in the water at the University of Lincoln?
• Creative Communities | TAK! – “This month Creative Review features a piece on Creative Communities. I was asked to offer my thoughts on the creative community we belong to, that is of Digbeth and the Custard Factory” Here’s Dom’s unedited thoughts
• New for 2010: Retooled | Antonio Gould – “The project will work with ex-manufacturing employees from the West Midlands, skilling them up in social media and working together on a challenge which mixes old and new skills”
• Shakespeare « Mudlark – “Mudlark are working with the Royal Shakespeare Company to develop a new platform to explore Shakespeare’s place in a culture of cross-platform media consumption”
• Boxer Win at DBA Design Effectiveness Awards – “we won a DBA Design Effectiveness Award, hoorah!”
• Clusta: Clusta and the Computer Arts Magazine Designers Challenges – “Computer Arts magazine asked us to give our take on the London 2012 Olympic brand… here are the results”
• We started up with nothing | Business Insight | Design Week – Smile Creative Consultants get a nice feature in Design Week
• Film Forum West Midlands − Spoof Perfume Ad – Casting – Are you ridiculously good-looking? If so perhaps you’d like to appear in a spoof perfume advert. Details here
• [Event] Digital Treasures, West Brom, 26 November 2009 – Re-thinking archives for the digital age
• [Event] Rustling Brands, Birmingham, 25 November 2009 – A one day conference covering Advertiser Funded Programming (AFP), advergaming and other forms of brand-funded content. Thinkbox, ITV, Maverick TV, Drum PHD, Ag8, Bebo and Codemasters are involved
• [Event] Midlands Macintosh User Group, 12 Nov 2009, Solihull – “Join us for a tour of Snow Leopard server from the experts at the Apple Store in Solihull. Pizza Hut after the meeting… all are welcome”

Who are you and what do you do?

I’m Jake Grimley. I’m the MD at Made Media. I meet new clients, work up pitches and proposals, set the vision for where we’re going and make sure the money keeps moving.

What was your route into this job?

I did Physics at university, but I found the maths too hard to turn it into a career. I ended up doing this random NVQ in HTML & Javascript. It was a course for hapless graduates. That was in ‘97, before there was any semblance of a digital media industry in Birmingham. I had a feeling that people might pay for this stuff, and I’ve been running web agencies in Birmingham ever since. I think in reality it started a lot earlier though. I was one of those kids who wasted months of his childhood programming games on a ZX Spectrum instead of playing football. Most people at Made are like that, although they’re mostly too young to know what a Spectrum is.

What do you think of the West Midlands as a place to work?

As with most things in life, our greatest asset is also our heaviest burden. I can self-deprecate with the best of them, but this tendency is at the root of our perception problems outside the region. The best thing about running a business in Birmingham though is that the networks are just the right size for attaining critical mass quickly. That’s more difficult in London.

What events might we catch you at?

I don’t make it to that many events. I always intend to, and I don’t mind a glass or two of cheap Merlot, but my diary is so full of stuff. There’s always something pressing to deal with and clients take precedence over peers.

How do you keep up with what’s going on in your industry?

I’ve been using this brilliant online social media network for ten years now. It has all the best new stuff on it. It’s called the Internet.

Which tools of the trade could you not do without?

Powerbook (I still can’t bring myself to call it a ‘MacBook Pro’). Email. iPhone. Textmate for the fantasy life in which I still write code.

Have you got a hidden gem you’d like to tell us about?

The Chiltern line. People think it’s second-best because it takes an extra half hour over Virgin, but it’s more reliable and more civilised. I mean Moor Street to Marylebone beats New Street to Euston any day of the week. Cheap too. I’ve taken three people down to London for a pitch for less than £70, including Tube travel. Also, you will always see at least one Red Kite.

What have you got on the walls?

Some really rather tasteless promotional canvases from a Temper exhibition. Actually it’s not really on the walls so much as skulking around the skirting. Tim and I got a bit out of control at a charity art auction, but in the cold light of day we worried that new clients might not get our sense of irony.  It causes regular ‘Allo ‘Allo inspired routines where we rush to hide the pictures with the big boobies.

Who makes the tea?

Made Media is a coffee-drinking establishment. I like to imagine the coffee is made by Roger Federer because his picture was on the box that the machine came in. In reality, you go up to the machine, press a button and it gives you the coffee. If it required more organisation than that, nothing would get done.

Have you got any tips for potential employees?

Show us something good. Know your day-rate. Decide what your core skill is and become the best at that. If you’re a print designer trying to transition to web then just get on with it. There’s no shortage of free information on the Internet and there’s no-one stopping you. You might have to reassess what being a designer really means though.

Lastly, who should we speak to next?

We seem to have a bit of a Jewellery Quarter run going, so I’ll nominate James Glover at Fluid.

• [Tender] Marketing Birmingham and Birmingham FIZ – Marketing Birmingham are looking for a digital agency to re-design and develop a refreshed, CMS driven portal. EoI by 23 Oct, response due by 2 Nov
• Scotchegg Website development and design – Scotchegg have redone their website
• carolinebeavon » Meet Channel 4’s Digital Commissioners … Birmingham 20 Oct – “On 20th October, 2009 a regional briefing took place at Austin Court in Birmingham by Channel 4’s digital commissioners”
• The Big Debate: Call for one voice to speak for Birmingham – More Big Debate rumblings – “The question of whether the West Midlands needs a trade body to represent its digital marketing sector is among the issues being raised ahead of The Big Debate taking place next month”. Interesting thoughts raised but no comments (yet… hint, hint)
• TAMBA and Thomas Cook – “TAMBA has created a football microsite to support Thomas Cook Sports 2010 World Cup campaign”
• Made Media » British Dance Edition 2010 – Another website Made by made. The branding was done by Tak. Hmm, Tak – I wonder what else they’ve been up to recently
• Ian Emes vs. TAK! – “We’re very excited to be working with the hugely influential Ian Emes on his new personal website and forthcoming film”
• Home of Metal | TAK! – Tak are also “super excited to be working with Capsule on their Home of Metal project”
• Hello Digital 09 – All the sesions from Wednesday’s event are online (or will be soon)
• [Event] OggCamp at Connaught Hotel, 25 Oct 2009 – It’s OggCamp on Sunday. Check out Digital Brum for other digital events in the city

Who are you and what do you do?

I’m Jo Sheridan, Managing Director of Empty Creative Ltd a creative design and marketing company based in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter.

My role is to ensure all areas of the company run smoothly and that Empty develops at a financially successful and sustainable rate. The key areas I oversee include client and project management, and sourcing and securing new business.

What was your route into this job?

I didn’t take a straightforward route to this job at all! I decided against the traditional step of going to university and started work as an admin assistant after my A-levels. After working in a variety of bad admin roles, I was fortunate to get a job as a PA for Willoughby PR in 2000 which was a real turning point for me as I found myself in an industry and company that I really loved being part of. In 2005 I was given the opportunity to work for Willoughby’s sister company Neon as an account handler on their marketing side and was quickly promoted to account manager.

After a whirlwind two years I decided to take the leap to go into business with my partner (now husband) Mark Townsend who was a freelance graphic designer. We combined our individual skills to offer a full service creative design and marketing company and in September 2007 Empty Creative Ltd was born!

What do you think of the West Midlands as a place to work?

I think the West Midlands and specifically Birmingham are a great place to work. They city has really grown up over the past ten years and feels more confident in its own skin. The creative industries in particular have a great connection and this is evident through the fantastic network of clients, partners, colleagues and friends we have built up over the past few years.

What events might we catch you at?

I try to attend a mix of events but my favourites are ones such as Likemind where you can network without feeling like you’re networking.

We’ll also be attending events such as Brilliantly Birmingham, Hello Digital, The RTS Midlands Awards and Screen WM Festival of Film, a few of which we’ve been lucky enough to be involved with.

How do you keep up with what’s going on in your industry?

We get a lot of info through our friends and colleagues in the industry and Twitter is great for keeping up-to-date with local news and viewpoints but I’m an old fashioned girl at heart and really enjoy a good read through the printed industry magazines we subscribe to.

Which tools of the trade could you not do without?

I couldn’t be without my blackberry – I love it (quite a brave statement when I’m surrounded by iPhone lovers in the office each day!)

Have you got a hidden gem you’d like to tell us about?

Maybe not your typical place to visit but Warstone Lane Cemetery in the Jewellery Quarter is the most stunning and naturally beautiful place to visit. We’ve recently done a photoshoot there and everyone was amazed by how beautiful it was.

What have you got on the walls?

Concept visuals and a variety of timeplans and schedules for projects we’re busy trying to deliver!

Who makes the tea?

We all chip in but I’m an incredibly fussy coffee drinker so I think everyone dreads it when I say yes to the round!

Have you got any tips for potential employees?

Don’t think you know it all, just be enthusiastic, flexible and open to everything you’re given as it’s the only way to learn a job.

Lastly, who should we speak to next?

Jake Grimley or Tim Kitchen from MADE Media.