Beyond The Neighbourhood

Big Chip media partner Insider has begun profiling previous Big Chip winners on its website http://www.insidermedia.com/nwest to find out how the awards have helped their businesses.

Manchester-based animation and illustration studio The Neighbourhood was the big winner at the tenth Big Chip Awards in 2008, walking away with three accolades for the second year in a row.

The company, which launched less than three years ago, scooped the awards for Best Use of Animation, Best of Greater Manchester and the overall award for the night, the Grand Prix award.

The evening capped another year of success for the business, with judges saying the company’s work was a “new standard bearer” for animation in the region. And since last year’s ceremony there has been no let-up in the amount of work flooding in. Managing director Ben Davies says the studio has “never been busier”, despite the economic downturn.

“Since the Big Chip Awards last year, the team has expanded from eight to 12 and we’ll be taking on two more people in the next few months,” he says. “That’s on top of the regular team of freelancers that we have to work on projects.

“I think if you’re good at what you do, there are opportunities still out there. Without being big-headed, people don’t want to take risks during a recession so they work with companies which have a proven track record.”

To read more about The Neighbourhood’s story visit the Big Chip section of Insider’s website http://www.insidermedia.com/nwest/marketing_media/bigchip/index.html and click on “Past winners”.