Media Employer of the Year 2008 Winners

The winners of the Pathfinders' 10th annual Media Employer of the Year Award were announced on Thursday 27th November at China Tang at the Dorchester.

This year saw a first for the Award as the independent judging panel, many of whom have been finalists themselves in the past, scored two of the finalists with exactly the same total. The decision was therefore taken to make a joint award to both companies

The Red Consultancy- Red truly has their finger on the pulse of the current global economy and what that means to them as an employer. They are open, frank, engaging and fun and have a backdrop of processes to support this culture. Red has senior level buy in and involvement with what the company is trying to do and they also possess robust and exciting plans which will see them continue to innovate with their talent initiatives.

BEcause Marketing - an organisation which shows total commitment to the training and development of everyone involved with and representing their business - down to the considerable number of off site / part time staff the company employ. Excellence and intelligent thinking is clearly in their blood!

Both companies were thrilled to win the award with BEcause marketing actually going on to win another award that night with the CBI!

The standard of entrants this year was uniformly exceptional and the judges commended the finalists highly.

The successful Finalists for 2008 were: Starcom MediaVest Group BEcause Marketing Steak Media Golley Slater Metro Newspapers Red Consultancy

In the meanwhile, for information on the nomination process for next year's award please contact Wendy Duprey or Sue McLelland on 020 7434 3511. Nominations open in August 2009 however we are always happy to meet with companies before then to brief them on the judging criteria.

"Our people are central to Red's success and we work hard to attract the best people and then ensure their talent is recognised, rewarded and developed. We are delighted that our investment in training, career progression and social opportunities has been recognised by winning this award."

Mike Morgan, CEO of The Red Consultancy

"Everyone at BEcause was delighted about this achievement. We were especially proud of the recognition of our commitment to our Brand Ambassadors as well as to those empolyees at our Head Office. Extending great people practises across 1000 people, across the UK, has taken a real team effort. Winning the award was a fabulous validation of this."

"Thanks so much for asking me to take part – it was a fascinating experience and really interesting to see what best practice companies in the sector are doing – there were some fabulous ideas and innovations."

Cathy Wells, HR Manager - Hachette Livre (Judge)

“I found the judging experience fascinating, stimulating and above all inspirational. It was so encouraging to see how media businesses of all sizes are putting their people at the heart of their business strategy. I was particularly pleased to find that the most successful people strategies weren’t the ones that simply invested more money in their employees, but those that had a more innovative and creative approach, and empowered everyone to contribute individually to a positive and inclusive company culture”

Katharine Roseveare, Agency Director & Co Founder - Intelligent Marketing intelligent-marketing.com (Judge)