We love it when businesses send us their good news and here’s our latest good news round-up. Awards, expansion, new contracts or new jobs, if you’ve got some good news you want to share please email the editor, Martin Shaw, on martin@huddersfieldhub.co.uk.
Kitchen design company Inspired Design has donated £1,500 to The Welcome Centre food bank in Huddersfield – following a donation of £1,000 in December 2020.
Owners Jonathan Wood and Neil Hemingway, who live in Huddersfield, are keen to support their local community and have signed up as The Welcome Centre’s latest Business Partner.
With their generous donations, the food bank can provide 134 individuals with food packs to last seven days.
The last 12 months have been the busiest The Welcome Centre has ever experienced providing more than 320,000 meals worth of food to families and individuals in South Kirklees.
During that period they supported 4,670 people but, most worrying, has been the staggering increase in families needing support. More than a third of people being supported by the food bank are under 16 years old.
Neil Hemingway, partner at Morley-based Inspired Design, said: “As a local business, we wanted to show our support to local organisations that are helping people facing hardship.
“With the cost of living soaring and so many people finding it hard to make ends meet, we knew that by supporting The Welcome Centre our donation would be making a difference to families across Huddersfield.”
Emma Greenough, fundraising manager at The Welcome Centre, said: “We’re delighted that Inspired Design renewed their support of The Welcome Centre with their latest donation of £1,500.
“The local business community plays a really important role in our food bank, supporting us with financial donations, surplus food and corporate volunteers that ensure our doors remain open to support those people most in need within Huddersfield.
“In the last few months, demand for our service has skyrocketed and we’re seeing more people in work being referred who just can’t make ends meet.
“We’re very grateful to Inspired Design for choosing us as one of their charity partners and thank them for their generous support. If any other local business is interested in partnering with our food bank then please get in touch.”
More than 40 volunteers from Kirklees-based paint firm PPG and painting firm Bell Group helped decorate parts of the Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice in Huddersfield.
As part of PPG’s Colourful Communities programme, the volunteers spent three days beautifying children’s bedrooms, play areas and office spaces at Russell House, the heart of the Forget Me Not hospice.
PPG, based at Birstall, also commissioned local illustrator Carly Gledhill to create two indoor murals inspired by tranquil wildlife that were painted by the volunteers.
Alison Parker, partnerships, trusts and foundations manager for Forget Me Not, said: “We’re incredibly grateful for the amazing work PPG and the volunteers have done.
“With their help, Russell House is now newly-decorated and ready to support local children and families for the next 10 years.”
Fusion IT Management is delighted to announce its lead sponsorship of driver Simon Clark of Clark Racing for the 2022 Porsche Club Championship season.
The Championship, now in its 16th year, holds seven double-header meetings at some of the UK’s most prestigious circuits, including Brands Hatch, Silverstone, Donington Park and Oulton Park.
Clark is attempting to set another record-breaking performance and aiming to be the first driver in the Porsche Club to win the title in both eligible Porsche models.
Fusion IT Management is an award-winning IT support, solutions and systems development provider based in Brighouse.
Jamie Watson, managing director at Fusion, said: “We are proud to be partnering with Clark Racing. As in motorsport, we provide forward thinking, innovative solutions for our clients…it’s what we do, and we look forward to working with Clark Racing, inspiring each other in our respective fields.”
During Fusion’s sponsorship, the firm will also be ‘Driving Against Cancer’, supporting its charity partner, Huddersfield-based Laura Crane Youth Cancer Trust.
Throughout the racing season, the Fusion team will be taking on challenges, pushing themselves to the limits and helping the Trust in its quest to support 13-24-year-olds fighting cancer, by funding medical and social research specifically into cancers that affect that age group and funding support projects for young cancer patients.
Helen Mervill, head of operations and strategy at the Trust, said: “The Laura Crane Youth Cancer Trust is delighted to have been invited to be a part of the Clark Racing and Fusion IT partnership.
“As part of the initiative the charity is re-launching its Drive Against Cancer campaign, encouraging supporters to engage in driving themed “fundRACING”, to accelerate its fundraising for 2022.
“The team would like to thank both Fusion IT Management and Clark Racing for this exciting support.”
Team Pennine’s new bus has a new name. The Kirkheaton Quick service is celebrating the historic achievements of Kirkheaton’s most famous son.
Team Pennine asked customers to suggest a name for the new route and the winning suggestion honoured Allen Hill, an England cricketer born in Kirkheaton in 1845.
Hill played in the first ever Test match, taking the first wicket. He enjoyed a successful Test and international career before becoming an umpire.
Team Pennine CEO Alex Hornby said: “What better than Kirkheaton’s local bus being named after Kirkheaton’s most famous son, as voted by Kirkheaton residents?
“We asked customers for a memorable name for our Kirkheaton Quick bus, to help it stand out even more on the road in Huddersfield and create even stronger links with the people we are proud to serve.
“In its first few months the route has proved to be a success, with rising customer numbers ahead of expectations.”
A recent study from Mirfield-based digital marketing specialist, Fishtank Agency, has identified which brands have seen the most success and improvement over the last 12 months, with global e-commerce site Amazon taking the highest spot.
The digital team developed a Brand Perception Index, ranking the most valuable brands worldwide on different factors including press sentiment, search visibility, social following, as well as the number of ‘excellent’ Trust Pilot reviews to find the most successful overall.
According to the Brand Perception Index, the top ten most successful brands of the past 12 months were:
- Amazon (valued at $149.25bn)
- Nike (valued at $42.54bn)
- Instagram (valued at $32.01bn)
- Disney (valued at $44.18bn)
- Mercedez Benz (valued at $50.87bn)
- Facebook (valued at $36.25bn)
- Google (valued at $196.81bn)
- Apple (valued at $408.25bn)
- Toyota (valued at $54.1bn)
- Mcdonalds (valued at $45.87bn)
Although listed as the second most valuable brand worldwide, Amazon takes the crown for the most successful brand when it comes to brand perception. Amazon takes the top spot, ranking in the top three brands for metrics including positive press sentiment (28%), ‘excellent’ company reviews (31%), and search volume rankings (24.9m) – even with recent backlash surrounding a new multi-million headquarters and its air cargo project and the effect on air pollution.
However, the brand wasn’t the most popular on social media, with a ranking of only 14 out of 20 in this area (36.8m).
Nike was named the second most successful brand according to Fishtank’s Brand Perception Index, with a clear-cut brand identity as a sportswear brand.
Nike is a master in storytelling and with its founders being athletes, the brand can tell authentic stories that its target audience can relate to, resulting in a monthly search volume of over 1.8 million and a huge social following online (240m).
However, Nike wasn’t the brand with the most social followers. It was in fact, Instagram, which has over 560.7 million followers across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Surprisingly, with the highest brand value in the top ten, Apple came in at only eight in the new index, with a lower social following (48.4m) and ‘excellent’ Trustpilot reviews (18%) than most brands. However, they did rank higher overall than competitor tech brands Samsung (12) and Microsoft (17).
Interestingly, even though Coca Cola is perhaps one of the most recognisable brands of all time, it didn’t make it into the index and just missed out, ranking in eleventh place.
Joe Savery, head of design at Fishtank, said: “Your logo is not your brand, your brand is the perception of who your company is and what you do. The brands that have made it into our top ten have carefully built a deep connection internally and externally with their customers.
“In order to build a strong and successful brand, we recommend perfecting brand identity, values, and storytelling to build trust and loyalty.
“Consumers are smart and will spot if you aren’t fully invested in your values or have a real story to resonate with. A great example would be Disney.
“Disney stands for creating magical experiences for families, and they embody this belief perfectly in all areas, which is why they feature in the top ten successful brands.”
To find out more about the study and see the full list of successful brands, please visit: https://fishtankagency.com/blog/the-most-successful-brands-of-2021/
