At Nova, as well as shooting beautiful footage we like to think we help our clients extract exactly what makes them special.
With this in mind, we were delighted when Sewell Group came to us to help them celebrate receiving the UK’s most prestigious business accolade, the Queen’s Award for Enterprise for Promoting Opportunity.
Already acknowledged by the Sunday Times as one the best places to work in the country, Sewell is a company that champions diversity and strives to improve the communities it serves.
The job needed a quick turnaround, so after receiving a detailed brief from the team at Sewell (always a bonus for us!) we decided the way to go was to shoot short interviews to match up with short sequences of b-roll.
Over a period of three days, we travelled around Hull and across Yorkshire shooting interviews with shop assistants, cleaners, food bank managers, artists, graduates, construction workers and many others who make up the Sewell family.
“They just let me be me”
We spoke to them about their career paths and grassroots projects and what it is about the culture at Sewell that elevates it above being just like any other employer.
Their responses reflected the diversity and scale of Sewell but also the showed a shared sentiment of togetherness and investment in community.
Shared Agenda graduate Aidan explained: “I get a bit of pride in myself, knowing that that health centre is going to provide those opportunities to my family and people I know.”
Rob Cawkwell, MD at Sewell Construction, recalled the job interview for his first role at the company 31-years-ago.
“All the way through that interview we talked about having a career rather than having a job,” he said.
“The important thing for me is making sure other people in the business get those same opportunities to grow and shape their careers as they go forward as well.”
One of many employees who have benefitted from these opportunities is Louise Alexander, store manager at Sewell on the go, who moved up the ranks after joining the business as a cashier.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re having a good or a bad day they don’t judge you, they’re just there for you… If you don’t enjoy coming to work then what’s the point,” she said.
Creating opportunities for our people and the communities we serve is at the heart of everything we do. We’re lucky to have so many talented people as part of the Sewell family. #QueensAwards #QueensAward4Sewell #PromotingOpportunity @TheQueensAwards pic.twitter.com/Pq3bAQFj8V
— Sewell Group (@Sewell_Group) April 29, 2021
Our three-day whirlwind tour of the Sewell universe ended on a Friday afternoon with an interview with Luke Garner, a young illustrator with autism, who has been commissioned by Sewell to create designs for the hoardings on the construction site at Broadacre Primary School.
Luke had no trouble articulating what it is that makes Sewell special – “They just let me be me,” he said.
“The tone, style and execution were absolutely spot on”
Congratulations on the award to everyone at Sewell Group! We loved working with you on this and we’re delighted you love the final product.
Rachel Smurthwaite of Sewell Group said: “To celebrate our Queen’s Award we wanted to tell the story of our people – Nova really helped us to bring this to life and captured the heart of what we wanted to get across.
“The tone, style and execution were absolutely spot on, and as ever, the team were a pleasure to work with, helping put our people at ease get the best out of them.”
