So, in case you hadn’t realised, last night the Zool team attended the Talk of Manchester Business Awards, and what a night it was. With 31 categories and Zool up for two awards – it was set to be a great night! Here is our round-up of the night.

Best Invoice Factoring Provider (Sponsored by The Boardroom)

The nominees for this award were: ALG Finance, Bibby Financial Services, Orchard Finance Solutions, Positive Cashflow Finance, and Ultimate Finance.

The winner was Bibby Financial Services.

Best Corporate Finance (Sponsored by The Boardroom)

The nominees for this award were: Bennett Verby, FRP Advisory, Grant Thornton, Kay Johnson Gee, and Pomegranate Commercial Finance.

The winner was Pomegranate Commercial Finance.

Best Boutique Accountancy Practice (Sponsored by Hatters)

The nominees for this award were: Edwards Veeder (UK),  In Accountancy, Jon Child & Co, and Langricks Accountants.

The winners were In Accountancy.

Best Accountancy Practice (Sponsored by Venom IT)

Alexander Knight & Co, Bennett Verby, Clarke Nicklin, Kay Johnson Gee, Pomegranate Consulting, Tree Accountancy and Williamson & Croft LLP were all nominated for this award.

A special commendation was awarded to Kay Johnson Gee and the overall winner was Tree Accountancy.

Best Event Management Company (Sponsored by The Boardroom)

Assured Events, Beyond 90, Brown Bear Events, Connectin Events, Just Watch Events, Ledigo PR, Make Events, Purple Riot, and Tracy Lavin Events were the nominees.

A special commendation was awarded to Assured Events with the overall winner being Tracy Lavin Events.

Best Business Insurance (Sponsored by The Boardroom)

Buckland Harvester, Crompton Bailey, Insure Risk, and LIFT-Insurance were all up for this award.

The winners were LIFT-Insurance.

Best PR Agency (Sponsored by Venom IT)

There was a lot of competition in this group, with nominees including Context Public Relations, Ledigo PR & Events, Lex Rex Communications, Philosophy PR,  Purple Riot, RMS, Roland Dransfield PR, Rumpus PR, Social Sugar, Sugar PR, The Harris Group, The Vault Group, Thirty 30 Media, Toast PR and Vital Management and Publicity.

A special commendation was handed to Toast PR and the award for Best Events PR went to Ledigo PR. However, the overall winners were our friends over at Rumpus.

Best Law Firm (Sponsored by Run2)

Another popular group, the nominees for best law firm included Ashwood Solicitors, Boote Edgar Esterkin Ltd (Bootes), Brandsmiths, HCC Solicitors, Irwin Mitchell Solicitors, JMW Solicitors LLW, Latitude Law, McHale & Co, Regent Solicitors, Slater Heelis LLP, Trowers & Hamlins, Turner Parkinson, and Ralli Solicitors.

The winners were JMW Solicitors LLW.

Best Personal Injury Law Firm (Sponsored by Run2)

The nominees for this award were: Ashwood Solicitors, HCC Solicitors, Howard’s & Henry’s Solicitors, Irwin Mitchell Solicitors, Khan Mather Solicitors, and Ralli Solicitors.

The winners were our table neighbours, Khan Mather.

Best Conveyancing Law Firm (Sponsored by Venom IT)

Nominated in this group were Connells, Gorvins Solicitors, JMW Solicitors LLP, Khan Mather Solicitors, and LPL Property Lawyers (A Division of Roper & Read).

The winners were Khan Mather again.

Best Family Law Firm (Sponsored by Venom IT)

The nominees were: BPS Family Law, Evolve Family Law, Hall Brown Family Law, McAlister Law Firm, Maguire Family Law and Merrick Solicitors.

The winner was Hall Brown Family Law.

Best Video Production Company (Sponsored by Run2)

Nominees in this category included Bank of Creativity, Basement Multimedia, Bellyflop TV, Reels in Motion, Rob Whitrow, Standby Studios, Sugar PR, The Gate Films, and WhiteNoise Media

The winners were WhiteNoise.

Best IT Support Company (Sponsored by The Boardroom)

The nominees for Best IT Support Company were: Comcare Technology, Eventura, Everything Tech, LEAP Legal Services, Midshire Business Systems North West, OneTek Business Solutions Ltd, San IT, Seamless Technologies, Stonegate Technologies, Tech Align, and Venom IT.

The winners were Eventura.

Best SME Support Business (Sponsered by Khan Mather)

Another hotly contested category with nominees including ALG Finance, Arena Creative, Horgan Legal Limited, LEAP Legal Services, Making You Content, Mandata Contracts Limited, Marmalade Marketing, Matthews & Godman, MiPA, and MSCT Training.

The winners were MiPA.

Best Brand Agency (Sponsored by Khan Mather)

The nominees for this award were: BGN Agency, Noir, The Harris Group, Thirty 30 Media, and Trust Brand Communications.

The winners were Noir.

Best Full-Service Agency (Sponsored by Jam)

Nominees in this group included 9y Creative, BIG Partnership, C21 Creative Communications, CTI Digital, Dawn Creative, One Brand Magic, Onside Creative, Purple Riot, RMS, Thirty 30 Media, Think Design Manchester, and Seventy7.

The winners were Thirty30.

Best Digital Agency (Sponsored by RWE Genesys)

This is the award that we have won two years on the run, so we had everything crossed. Nominees were ActiveWin Media, Ampersand, Bring Digital, Candid Sky, Cantarus, CTI Digital, Different Gravy Digital, Dreamr, Electric Circus, Icebox Designs Ltd, Platform 81, Pole Star Digital, Nine Yards Creative Communications, Trust Brand Communications, Ultimedia, and Zool. (That’s us!)

 

The winners were Zool!!! Yes, we won again – for the third year on the run!

Best Search Engine Visibility (SEO & SEM) (Sponsored by The Boardroom)

A new nomination for us, and we were up against Bring Digital, Candid Sky, CTI Digital, Clickoo, Pole Star Manchester, Run2, and SEO MCR – who were the category winners.

Best Social Media Company (Sponsored by Tracy Lavin Events)

Altrincham HQ, Different Gravy Digital, Engage Hub, Hoopla Marketing, Mancmade, One Bite Social, One Minute Briefs, Pole Star Digital, Purple Riot, Roto, Shoot the Moon, Social Chain, SocialTrend, and The Harris Group were nominated.

The winners were Purple Riot.

Best Technology / Technology Product (Sponsored by The Boardroom)

The nominees for this award were Hardy & Ellis Inventions, LEAP Legal, Midshire Business Systems North West, OrBiT by Review Travel, Radio.co, Weaver & Bomford, and VST Enterprises (VSTE). Two awards were handed out in this category.

Firstly, the award for Best Technology / Technology Product (Travel Industry) went to Orbit by Review Travel whilst the overall winner of Best Technology/Technology product went to HE and Technology Enterprise.

Best Telecommunications Provider (Sponsored by The Boardroom)

The award nominees for Best Telecommunications Provider included 08UK Ltd, Cloud & Fibre, InTec Business Solutions, Midshire Business Systems North West, NxComms, Seamless Technologies, Telecom Group, Think 7 and VS Group.

Again, two winners were announced for this category, with the award for Best Specialist Telecommunications (Not for Profit Sector) going to VS Group and the overall winner was Cloud & Fibre.

Best Travel Company (Sponsored by The Boardroom)

Nominees for this award were Blue Bay Travel, Carrier, City & Stadium Travel, Cresta World Travel, Destinology, Mark Bratt Travel, and Review Travel. The judges decided to split this category, and there were two winners.

Winner of Best Travel Company (Business Travel) went to Review Travel while the award for Best Travel Company went to Cresta World Travel.

Best Fitness & Leisure Company (Sponsored by The Boardroom)

Gym Works Group, NEON, NEU Apparel, The Lean Body Project, Triple X Performance Centre, and V1BE were all nominated for this award, and the winner was The Lean Body Project.

Best Health, Beauty & Wellbeing Company (Sponsored by Tracy Lavin Events)

The companies who were nominated for this award included Blossom Wellbeing Cheshire, House of Evelyn, KLNIK, Medi Spa, Nueva Luna Ltd, Revive Dental Care, and SCI-U Wilmslow.

The award was sponsored by Tracy Lavin Events, and the special commendation went to the lovely Penelope over at Blossom Wellbeing Cheshire, with the overall winner being KLNIK.

Best Recruitment Company (Sponsored by The Boardroom)

The list of Nominees for this award is a long one! It includes Aspire Recruitment, Cameron Cole International Recruitment, Cream Soda Recruitment, Detail2Recruitment, Lily Shippen, Forward Role, Get Recruited, Greenlight People, Hive Hospitality, Local Care Force, Mpeople Recruitment, Platinum Recruitment, Potential Recruitment, S/C, The Finegreen Group, The MRJ Group, and Pari Passu.

The winner of the Best Specialist Recruitment Company went to Mpeople while the overall winner was The Finegreen Group.

Best Financial Advisor (Sponsored by The Boardroom)

Nominees for this award were Capstone Financial Management, Clarion Wealth, Kathryn L Wilkinson Wealth Management, LIFT-Insurance, Mutual Finance, and Pareto Financial Planning.

The winner was Capstone Financial Management.

App of the Year (Developed in Manchester) (Sponsored by Venom IT)

Apadmi, Corner Boxing, VST Enterprises (VSTE) and VIPER were all up for this award, and the winner was VIPER.

Best HR Consultancy (Sponsored by Run2)

AzTiger, Dynamic HR Consultancy, and HR Dept were the nominees for this award and the overall winner was HR Dept.

Best Newcomer (Sponsored by Potential Recruitment)

Up for this award were Agents of, AzTiger,  BGN Agency, Blossom Wellbeing Cheshire, Colibri Scientific Ltd, Flock, GO! New Business Transformation, Intec Business Solutions, Lily Shippen, MSCT Training, Pin iT, The Harris Group and Tech Align.

A special commendation was awarded to GO! New Business while the overall winner was Lily Shippen.

Just two awards to go now and they are:

Female Entrepreneur of the Year

The nominees for this award were Holly Moore (Make Events), Julia Mitchell (Toast PR), Karla Zapolsi (The Fast Dollz), Kelly Gilmour Grassam (Making You Content), Laura Drinkwater (AzTiger), Rebecca Jane (The LIFE Expo) and Stephanie Ledigo (Ledigo PR).

The winner was Julia Mitchell from Toast PR.

And last but definitely not least, it is the award for;

Male Entrepreneur of the Year

Up for this award were Ansar Mahmood (Fluid Trust PLC), Christian Gleave (Review Travel), Damian Gregory (City & Stadium Travel), Jack Mason (Dreamr), Jason Savion & Kevin Penman (VS Group Comms), Johann Coppet (Limes Media), John Hardy (Hardy & Ellis Inventions), Louis-James Davis (VST Enterprises), Matt Ager & Mark Salvin (Get Recruited) Michal Wisniewski (Flock), Nick Entwistle (One Minute Brief), Saqib Khan (Khan Mather Solicitors), and Steve Bartlett (Social Chain).

The winner was Christian Gleave from Review Travel.

Congratulations to all the nominees and winners, a great night was had by all. Looking forward to next year already!

Ultimate List of the TOMs Awards 2018

  /  

So, in case you hadn’t realised, last night the Zool team attended the Talk of Manchester Business Awards, and what a night it was. With 31 categories and Zool up for two awards – it was set to be a great night! Here is our round-up of the night.

Best Invoice Factoring Provider (Sponsored by The Boardroom)

The nominees for this award were: ALG Finance, Bibby Financial Services, Orchard Finance Solutions, Positive Cashflow Finance, and Ultimate Finance.

The winner was Bibby Financial Services.

Best Corporate Finance (Sponsored by The Boardroom)

The nominees for this award were: Bennett Verby, FRP Advisory, Grant Thornton, Kay Johnson Gee, and Pomegranate Commercial Finance.

The winner was Pomegranate Commercial Finance.

Best Boutique Accountancy Practice (Sponsored by Hatters)

The nominees for this award were: Edwards Veeder (UK),  In Accountancy, Jon Child & Co, and Langricks Accountants.

The winners were In Accountancy.

Best Accountancy Practice (Sponsored by Venom IT)

Alexander Knight & Co, Bennett Verby, Clarke Nicklin, Kay Johnson Gee, Pomegranate Consulting, Tree Accountancy and Williamson & Croft LLP were all nominated for this award.

A special commendation was awarded to Kay Johnson Gee and the overall winner was Tree Accountancy.

Best Event Management Company (Sponsored by The Boardroom)

Assured Events, Beyond 90, Brown Bear Events, Connectin Events, Just Watch Events, Ledigo PR, Make Events, Purple Riot, and Tracy Lavin Events were the nominees.

A special commendation was awarded to Assured Events with the overall winner being Tracy Lavin Events.

Best Business Insurance (Sponsored by The Boardroom)

Buckland Harvester, Crompton Bailey, Insure Risk, and LIFT-Insurance were all up for this award.

The winners were LIFT-Insurance.

Best PR Agency (Sponsored by Venom IT)

There was a lot of competition in this group, with nominees including Context Public Relations, Ledigo PR & Events, Lex Rex Communications, Philosophy PR,  Purple Riot, RMS, Roland Dransfield PR, Rumpus PR, Social Sugar, Sugar PR, The Harris Group, The Vault Group, Thirty 30 Media, Toast PR and Vital Management and Publicity.

A special commendation was handed to Toast PR and the award for Best Events PR went to Ledigo PR. However, the overall winners were our friends over at Rumpus.

Best Law Firm (Sponsored by Run2)

Another popular group, the nominees for best law firm included Ashwood Solicitors, Boote Edgar Esterkin Ltd (Bootes), Brandsmiths, HCC Solicitors, Irwin Mitchell Solicitors, JMW Solicitors LLW, Latitude Law, McHale & Co, Regent Solicitors, Slater Heelis LLP, Trowers & Hamlins, Turner Parkinson, and Ralli Solicitors.

The winners were JMW Solicitors LLW.

Best Personal Injury Law Firm (Sponsored by Run2)

The nominees for this award were: Ashwood Solicitors, HCC Solicitors, Howard’s & Henry’s Solicitors, Irwin Mitchell Solicitors, Khan Mather Solicitors, and Ralli Solicitors.

The winners were our table neighbours, Khan Mather.

Best Conveyancing Law Firm (Sponsored by Venom IT)

Nominated in this group were Connells, Gorvins Solicitors, JMW Solicitors LLP, Khan Mather Solicitors, and LPL Property Lawyers (A Division of Roper & Read).

The winners were Khan Mather again.

Best Family Law Firm (Sponsored by Venom IT)

The nominees were: BPS Family Law, Evolve Family Law, Hall Brown Family Law, McAlister Law Firm, Maguire Family Law and Merrick Solicitors.

The winner was Hall Brown Family Law.

Best Video Production Company (Sponsored by Run2)

Nominees in this category included Bank of Creativity, Basement Multimedia, Bellyflop TV, Reels in Motion, Rob Whitrow, Standby Studios, Sugar PR, The Gate Films, and WhiteNoise Media

The winners were WhiteNoise.

Best IT Support Company (Sponsored by The Boardroom)

The nominees for Best IT Support Company were: Comcare Technology, Eventura, Everything Tech, LEAP Legal Services, Midshire Business Systems North West, OneTek Business Solutions Ltd, San IT, Seamless Technologies, Stonegate Technologies, Tech Align, and Venom IT.

The winners were Eventura.

Best SME Support Business (Sponsered by Khan Mather)

Another hotly contested category with nominees including ALG Finance, Arena Creative, Horgan Legal Limited, LEAP Legal Services, Making You Content, Mandata Contracts Limited, Marmalade Marketing, Matthews & Godman, MiPA, and MSCT Training.

The winners were MiPA.

Best Brand Agency (Sponsored by Khan Mather)

The nominees for this award were: BGN Agency, Noir, The Harris Group, Thirty 30 Media, and Trust Brand Communications.

The winners were Noir.

Best Full-Service Agency (Sponsored by Jam)

Nominees in this group included 9y Creative, BIG Partnership, C21 Creative Communications, CTI Digital, Dawn Creative, One Brand Magic, Onside Creative, Purple Riot, RMS, Thirty 30 Media, Think Design Manchester, and Seventy7.

The winners were Thirty30.

Best Digital Agency (Sponsored by RWE Genesys)

This is the award that we have won two years on the run, so we had everything crossed. Nominees were ActiveWin Media, Ampersand, Bring Digital, Candid Sky, Cantarus, CTI Digital, Different Gravy Digital, Dreamr, Electric Circus, Icebox Designs Ltd, Platform 81, Pole Star Digital, Nine Yards Creative Communications, Trust Brand Communications, Ultimedia, and Zool. (That’s us!)

 

The winners were Zool!!! Yes, we won again – for the third year on the run!

Best Search Engine Visibility (SEO & SEM) (Sponsored by The Boardroom)

A new nomination for us, and we were up against Bring Digital, Candid Sky, CTI Digital, Clickoo, Pole Star Manchester, Run2, and SEO MCR – who were the category winners.

Best Social Media Company (Sponsored by Tracy Lavin Events)

Altrincham HQ, Different Gravy Digital, Engage Hub, Hoopla Marketing, Mancmade, One Bite Social, One Minute Briefs, Pole Star Digital, Purple Riot, Roto, Shoot the Moon, Social Chain, SocialTrend, and The Harris Group were nominated.

The winners were Purple Riot.

Best Technology / Technology Product (Sponsored by The Boardroom)

The nominees for this award were Hardy & Ellis Inventions, LEAP Legal, Midshire Business Systems North West, OrBiT by Review Travel, Radio.co, Weaver & Bomford, and VST Enterprises (VSTE). Two awards were handed out in this category.

Firstly, the award for Best Technology / Technology Product (Travel Industry) went to Orbit by Review Travel whilst the overall winner of Best Technology/Technology product went to HE and Technology Enterprise.

Best Telecommunications Provider (Sponsored by The Boardroom)

The award nominees for Best Telecommunications Provider included 08UK Ltd, Cloud & Fibre, InTec Business Solutions, Midshire Business Systems North West, NxComms, Seamless Technologies, Telecom Group, Think 7 and VS Group.

Again, two winners were announced for this category, with the award for Best Specialist Telecommunications (Not for Profit Sector) going to VS Group and the overall winner was Cloud & Fibre.

Best Travel Company (Sponsored by The Boardroom)

Nominees for this award were Blue Bay Travel, Carrier, City & Stadium Travel, Cresta World Travel, Destinology, Mark Bratt Travel, and Review Travel. The judges decided to split this category, and there were two winners.

Winner of Best Travel Company (Business Travel) went to Review Travel while the award for Best Travel Company went to Cresta World Travel.

Best Fitness & Leisure Company (Sponsored by The Boardroom)

Gym Works Group, NEON, NEU Apparel, The Lean Body Project, Triple X Performance Centre, and V1BE were all nominated for this award, and the winner was The Lean Body Project.

Best Health, Beauty & Wellbeing Company (Sponsored by Tracy Lavin Events)

The companies who were nominated for this award included Blossom Wellbeing Cheshire, House of Evelyn, KLNIK, Medi Spa, Nueva Luna Ltd, Revive Dental Care, and SCI-U Wilmslow.

The award was sponsored by Tracy Lavin Events, and the special commendation went to the lovely Penelope over at Blossom Wellbeing Cheshire, with the overall winner being KLNIK.

Best Recruitment Company (Sponsored by The Boardroom)

The list of Nominees for this award is a long one! It includes Aspire Recruitment, Cameron Cole International Recruitment, Cream Soda Recruitment, Detail2Recruitment, Lily Shippen, Forward Role, Get Recruited, Greenlight People, Hive Hospitality, Local Care Force, Mpeople Recruitment, Platinum Recruitment, Potential Recruitment, S/C, The Finegreen Group, The MRJ Group, and Pari Passu.

The winner of the Best Specialist Recruitment Company went to Mpeople while the overall winner was The Finegreen Group.

Best Financial Advisor (Sponsored by The Boardroom)

Nominees for this award were Capstone Financial Management, Clarion Wealth, Kathryn L Wilkinson Wealth Management, LIFT-Insurance, Mutual Finance, and Pareto Financial Planning.

The winner was Capstone Financial Management.

App of the Year (Developed in Manchester) (Sponsored by Venom IT)

Apadmi, Corner Boxing, VST Enterprises (VSTE) and VIPER were all up for this award, and the winner was VIPER.

Best HR Consultancy (Sponsored by Run2)

AzTiger, Dynamic HR Consultancy, and HR Dept were the nominees for this award and the overall winner was HR Dept.

Best Newcomer (Sponsored by Potential Recruitment)

Up for this award were Agents of, AzTiger,  BGN Agency, Blossom Wellbeing Cheshire, Colibri Scientific Ltd, Flock, GO! New Business Transformation, Intec Business Solutions, Lily Shippen, MSCT Training, Pin iT, The Harris Group and Tech Align.

A special commendation was awarded to GO! New Business while the overall winner was Lily Shippen.

Just two awards to go now and they are:

Female Entrepreneur of the Year

The nominees for this award were Holly Moore (Make Events), Julia Mitchell (Toast PR), Karla Zapolsi (The Fast Dollz), Kelly Gilmour Grassam (Making You Content), Laura Drinkwater (AzTiger), Rebecca Jane (The LIFE Expo) and Stephanie Ledigo (Ledigo PR).

The winner was Julia Mitchell from Toast PR.

And last but definitely not least, it is the award for;

Male Entrepreneur of the Year

Up for this award were Ansar Mahmood (Fluid Trust PLC), Christian Gleave (Review Travel), Damian Gregory (City & Stadium Travel), Jack Mason (Dreamr), Jason Savion & Kevin Penman (VS Group Comms), Johann Coppet (Limes Media), John Hardy (Hardy & Ellis Inventions), Louis-James Davis (VST Enterprises), Matt Ager & Mark Salvin (Get Recruited) Michal Wisniewski (Flock), Nick Entwistle (One Minute Brief), Saqib Khan (Khan Mather Solicitors), and Steve Bartlett (Social Chain).

The winner was Christian Gleave from Review Travel.

Congratulations to all the nominees and winners, a great night was had by all. Looking forward to next year already!