Marketing Magic Rising Star

Kirkwood Homes is an Aberdeen-based homebuilder, with developments across the city, shire, Broughty Ferry and Fife and a track record of more than 30 years.

“Bringing Quality to Life” is Kirkwood’s strapline and was at the heart of a campaign to engage budding home buyers, showcase the quality of Kirkwood’s homes and inspire them to choose Kirkwood and ultimately increase sales.

As well as the product, the campaign shone a light on the lives of those who surround it from Kirkwood team members who design, build and sell the homes, to the individuals, couples and families who will live and grow inside them.

It focused on the consideration and decision stage of the sales funnel - people actively researching and reviewing options for moving home and those already in discussions with Kirkwood.

It involved content marketing, digital advertising and website optimisation - all mapped out to provide a strong journey which maximised the potential of attracting high value people to the website and generating and nurturing leads.

The campaign was a resounding success and included, in June and July last year, achieving 1,594 landing page visits, 35,904 blog post visits with 30 leads directly generated. Other successes included 671 views of a video showcasing everything which goes into creating quality homes and how it has an impact on customers’ lives.

During those two months the campaign influenced 37 won deals totalling £13.8million revenue.

Shane Pirie didn’t know what he wanted to do when he left school until a team from Entier visited as part of its Fresh Olives Apprentice recruitment programme.

Shane knew that he preferred hands on work more than work with an academic focus, so entered the selection process and joined Entier’s Modern Apprenticeship scheme in 2013 as a Trainee Chef.

He quickly achieved SVQ level 2 and then 3 in Practical Cookery, demonstrating he was a competent and eager Chef. He was given experience across Entier’s onshore facilities preparing food from in-house client restaurants, for events of more than 200 people to small fine dining experiences. His positivity and determination shone through from an early stage.

He was the recipient of the Rising Star award as part of the company’s SHINE awards and has taken on an ambassadorial role for Modern Apprentices on many occasions for the company at local authority events and for Skills Development Scotland.

To give him a comprehensive experience he had to undertake work internationally on a variety of units including marine vessels and docked rigs travelling to Brazil, Alabama and Houston. He quickly demonstrated his ability to take on major operations like facility mobilisations, unsupervised, and as well as demonstrating his ability to his manager and seniors at Entier, he won the confidence and praise of the clients.

As an Apprentice Chef, and then as a Trainee Operations Manager, Shane watched and learned from others in their roles. He experienced how interactions could differ depending on the setting.

Over time he built his confidence to be able to support at client meetings, and now has responsibility for leading the client meetings for the area of the business for which he is responsible.

Shane now has operational responsibilities for Entier’s marine operations fully managing 12 assets.