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I'm a hard-working journalist, marketer and comms expert who has worked his way up to numerous senior roles, overseeing entire departments and campaigns, working with huge numbers of diverse clients, and creating innovative, original and interesting pieces. I am trustworthy, intelligent and creative, with excellent man-management skills. I am multidimensional, fast, and knowledgeable about sport and current affairs. I have also never had a day off work ill.

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Senior Comms advisor, Peterborough City Council: 2022-present

• Leading on flooding, energy resources

• Advisor responding to requests from media

• Video production, photography, social media

• Mentoring and managing junior advisors

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Editor/Chief Reporter: Peterborough Matters, 2019-2022

• Launch of an innovative multimedia news site for Peterborough, overseen by Archant/Google, reporting on news, business, sport, culture, human rights, and more - a minimum of 12 stories a day

• Editing/writing/live reporting/podcasting/managing social media/video interviews

• Overseen growth from zero to more than 500,000 page views per month in the space of a year; 28,000 newsletter subscribers with open rate of around 30%; Establishing more than 25,000 followers across social media channels

• Commissioning freelancers and columnists; utilising and mentoring students for columns, features

• Viral videos - including Facebook live videos of Primark reopening (40,000 views in first day) and Lido reopening (16k); a piece on Nintendo hit 30,000 visits in a day

• Investigative journalism (writing and editing): The discovery of Millfieldʼs ʻmissingʼ £7.5m; Regular statistical analysis of Covid in Peterborough; Why Bourges Boulevard is always flooding; An overview of development in Peterborough

• Posh Matters; Up to 1,500 views a week of a video/podcast on all things Posh

• Weekly appearances on PCR Radio, regular appearances on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire,

• Marketing/copywriting: Promoting the PM brand and linking up with local businesses and organisations, including University Centre Peterborough; founder member of Citizens UK Peterborough; launch event with more than 150 guests

• Winner of the Innovation of the Year award 2020 in the Athene Awards

• Mentoring, training and managing: One reporter left to take up a role on the Daily Star, another was shortlisted in the British Journalism Awards for the ʻlocalʼ category; and the third has just been promoted to a new role within Archant.

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Marketing Officer, Peterborough City Council: 2017-present

• Implementing media marketing campaigns for the council’s products and services, including waste disposal, Peterborough City Market, the Perkins Great Eastern Run, the council’s homelessness strategy, the Stand Up For Peterborough campaign, and many more. 

• Working with external partners such as Peterborough Cathedral, market traders, and many more.

• Press events including attending events across the country with council leaders; acting press officer on election night and at numerous other events;

• Video creation/social media for all campaigns. I have more than doubled the level of engagement for the market’s Facebook channels and some videos gained more than 6,000 views in the first day.

• Maintaining strong productive, professional working relationships with councillors, staff and partners at all levels.

• Innovations: Including a big screen showing videos from our marketing campaigns in our train station and in the Visitor Information Centre; upcoming Food and Music Festival for the market.

 

Senior Content Editor, Zazzle Media, Market Deeping: 2014-17

• Writing blog pieces, guest posts, in-depth guides, LinkedIn posts, on-page web copy and content, and features for clients including eBay, AO, Mecca Bingo, Hertz, Tesco, Superdry, Hope Education, Money Advice Service, Jobs Today and many more.

• Liaising with clients; devising marketing strategies based on research; arranging meetings with journalists/external agencies/

• Filming and editing video pieces for clients 

• Outreaching work and working with journalists. For example, I worked with our strategy and PR teams to create a great campaign for Jennings Motor Groups on drink driving at Christmas found its way into the Daily Mirror, Huffington Post and many other regional sites from Dorset up to Northumbria. Another campaign for AO, built around Euro 2016 and other summer events, achieved massively successful metrics.

• Author of a 4,000-word ebook on using public information for marketing purposes

• Worked with Zazzle partner organisation Stickyeyes to achieve strong metrics.

• Following guidelines on SEO, PPC best practice 

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Features Editor, Peterborough Telegraph: 2010-14

• Editing, copy checking, subbing, commissioning columns and features from freelancers, photography, weekly advertising features

• Creating/researching/writing features, nostalgia, ad features, sport 

• Online: videos, slideshows, and updating of social media when required. Two features - a night with out emergency services during Christmas, and a Q and A with the leader of Peterborough City Council - were fifth and eighth in the top ten list of most viewed stories online for 2012.

• Organising events and ceremonies with the promotions team including Pride in Peterborough, Green Awards and Education awards - scriptwriting, contacting nominees, research. I was also responsible for a successful campaign to raise £100,000 for new oncology equipment for Peterborough City Hospital

• Winner of PR company Athene Communications’ ‘Journalist of the Year’ award for 2012

• Numerous front pages, including an investigation into metal thefts, Christmas burglaries, sniffer dogs, and a dad-of-the-year with a unique terminal condition.

• Investigations including a critical analysis of council meetings, HMO residences, CCTV traffic enforcement, flytipping; Freedom of Information act pieces investigating animal thefts

• Human interest stories: People with rare illnesses, interesting lives and acts of human endeavour. First person features: taste test at Peterborough Beer Festival, the first night at PCH Accident and Emergency department, a parachute jump and giving blood, a night in Peterborough’s prison cells.

 

Reporter/Web Editor, Spalding Guardian: 2005-2010

• Writing stories including courts, inquests, council meetings etc, and running newsdesk when required. Successes included saving a skilled Sudanese doctor from deportation, a campaign which raised £15,000 for a piece of medical equipment, an expose of undetected major crimes, and an interview with a convicted drug smuggler while he was behind bars.

• Stand-in editor at the Bourne Local on several occasions, helping out at the Stamford Mercury.

 

Senior Manager, Cottage Crafts, Sutton Bridge: 2000-2004

A day care centre for people with learning difficulties and mental health problems, as well as pupils who had been excluded from mainstream education. The job entailed meetings with social workers/guardians, devising activities and education (including examinations), organising day trips, and helping clients with their lives and back into education or work.

 

Education/Qualifications

• Google Squared Certificate in Digital Marketing (2016)

• Senior journalism qualifications: NCE (2007), NCTJ Prelims, shorthand 100wpm

• University of Warwick (1997-2000) - BSc Psychology

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Personal life​

• Leisure events: I’ve enjoyed: Boxing events across the country including Froch-Groves II, Bellew-Haye and Calzaghe-Kessler; Two US road trips (around Boston and the Deep South);  Euro 2016 (and Russia 2018 soon); Football at the Nou Camp, Hampden Park and San Marino; Muay Thai in Thailand; Climbing Mt Kilimanjaro and walking Hadrian’s Wall; Snorkelling in the Maldives and white-water rafting in Sri Lanka; Train treks across Eastern Europe and Lapland; Parachute jump and four half marathons

• On-screen: I have appeared on The Chase in 2015, and as an extra in various small films and small productions including The Good Girl (speaking role)

• Computer skills: Adobe Premiere Pro, Photoshop, Audition; Apple Pixelmator, Final Cut Pro; Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, Excel; Final Cut Pro X; Wordpress (example here)

• Writing for magazines including Boxing Weekly, Mensa monthly, and the now defunct Football First

• Radio/new media: In 2003/04 I spent a year working voluntarily for BBC Radio Lincolnshire. While living in Spalding I also hosted my own live programme for two years for community radio station Tulip Radio.