Online to champion local talent

Jul 30 2009 by Andrew Mernin, The Journal

A TYNESIDE design agency has created a new website for a company which is seeking to unearth the best performing and modelling talent in the North East.

Design, marketing and advertising firm Foundry 34, which employs three staff at offices in North Shields, was hired by Gateshead-based NE8 Castings to create an urban, Northern look and feel for the start-up, as well as an easy-to-use website.

Founded by Lisa Laidler, who comes from a performing arts background, NE8 Castings finds and provides models, actors and extras, presenters, dancers, voiceover artists, singers and speakers to all areas of the media industry.

Lisa said it was important to have a website to help the firm stand out against its big-name London competitors.

She said: “We know there is a huge amount of talent in the whole of the North East, which, in a lot of cases, goes to the big name London agencies. What we wanted to do was create a real credible alternative for this talent here in the North East.

Chris McIntyre, managing director of Foundry 34, said: “It’s great to be working for a client making a real success in an industry that the North East hasn’t really been known for in the past.

“Companies are waking up to the fact that by using technology and good web development they can really compete on a national and even international stage.”

Foundry 34 is a member of Codeworks Connect, the trade association for the North East’s digital sector.

The group’s head of sector development Carri Cunliffe said: “One of the things we seek to do at Codeworks Connect is to retain the brightest creative and technical talent in the North East’s digital sector.

“So it’s great to see that NE8 are doing a similar thing for the entertainment industries, and that they’ve chosen one of our region’s many top agencies to produce their creative work.”