POSTER BOYS

unLTD pay a visit to the team at Vice Press, a South Yorkshire-based company who are licensed by some of the world’s biggest studios to create bespoke alternative movie posters.

Situated on the edge of Rotherham city centre, a 15-minute drive from the unLTD offices in Kelham Island, you’ll find Vice Press HQ nestled amongst a community of modern offices and industrial spaces at Bizspace, Bradmarsh Business Park.

Step inside what may seem at first glance a fairly innocuous unit and you’ll enter a film-lovers paradise. Decorating the walls are striking alternative movie posters depicting some of the world’s most famous titles, ranging from cult classics and big blockbusters to indie favourites and brand-new releases.

That’s what Vice Press do: produce unique, officially licensed art prints of your favourite films, TV shows and comic books. Founders James Henshaw and Matt Ferguson founded the business in 2015 after James approached artist Matt while the latter was selling artworks at a convention in Leeds.

“We just got talking,” Matt tells us. “There were a few meetings in the pub and I was like, ‘I’m fed up of not being able to do the posters that I want to do.’ James wrote for a few online blogs featuring artists and some movie websites, so when he told me that he had this plan to start this up as a business, I was completely on board with it.”

Beginning in humble fashion out of James’ home garage in Retford, they shored up a business plan and started approaching studios with their pitch. The first major licence was granted by Rebellion A/S, the studio behind the famous 2000 AD comics, and there’s a wonderfully menacing Judge Dredd poster observing proceedings in the kitchen area to confirm this.

Once the foundations were laid, the duo found that their selfdescribed yin and yang personalities served their fortunes well: James provides the organisation, structure and perhaps a more natural inclination towards being commercially minded; whereas Matt’s more chaotic approach unleashes bursts of creativity and wacky ideas while also providing a valuable artist perspective on proceedings.

“Our interests when it came to pop culture and films were already quite aligned, which is obviously helpful,” says James. “We do have very different skill sets, but I think they blend together quite well too. Getting on together helps; being diplomatic and reaching compromises is another reason it has worked well so far. We can rein each other in that way.

“But then again, if one of us is really passionate about doing something, we don’t really inhibit each other. Of course, about 90% of what we do has to be commercially justifiable, but that’s not to say we can’t lean into a personal passion every now and again.”

In its eight-year history, Vice Press has been licensed by some of the most illustrious studios in the industry including the likes of

Studio Canal, Warner, Marvel, Paramount Studios and 20th Century Fox. James puts down a lot of the success down to a holy trinity of Matt’s artistic prowess, a robust business plan and tenacity when it comes to getting their pitches out there.

A rise in the popularity of alternative movie posters over this side of the pond has seen their market shift from being mostly US-based back to the UK - which was the original goal - and they now work with a wide pool of like-minded artists and printers to create their products, each one a bespoke design. Almost a decade of steady growth has seen them move from garage to a disused steel factory office in Attercliffe (which Matt claims was definitely haunted), later moving across to Bizspace Rotherham and, after a bit of moving around, eventually settling on a ground floor unit for their office and poster packing space.

A key aspect of their popularity was finding a niche. Rather than looking to appeal to art collectors who purchase original artworks for often eye-boggling amounts, Vice Press create high-end but accessible products for movie fans that would look just as good in someone’s living room as they would a cinema hallway.

Matt explains: “I’ve always said that I’m not making posters for people who collect posters; I’m making posters for people who like the thing the posters are about. So, if I make a Jaws poster, it’s for the people who like that film, and not really for the hardcore collectors out there. It’s allowed us to open what we do up to more people.” www.vice-press.com

WANT TO JOIN VICE PRESS IN A VIBRANT BUSINESS COMMUNITY?

Here are ten reasons to take office space at BizSpace Rotherham

Flexibility

It’s straightforward with easy in, easy out agreements.

Affordability

Great spaces with out of town prices you’ll struggle to find elsewhere.

Location

Easy access to both Rotherham and Sheffield. Only two miles from M1 junction 34/

Community

You’ll be able to benefit from regular on-site networking and events.

Weekly treat day

Helps to keep those Monday blues at bay!

Communal facilities

Enjoy your lunch away from your desk in a dedicated breakout room or central courtyard.

Meeting rooms

These can be hired hourly, half day or full day.

Free parking

There’s ample unallocated spaces for staff and visitors.

Onsite management team

Their friendly, supportive and honest team are here for you and your colleagues.

It’s dog-friendly

No need for expensive dog walkers or sad, lonely doggos!

Bizspace Rotherham has office space to let (2101500 sq ft), light industrial units ((1000-1500 sq ft), as well as meeting rooms and mailboxes for businesses just looking for a registered address.

Enquire on their website (www.bizspace.co.uk/ spaces/rotherham) or call 0800 975 0875.

Part-funded by the European Social Fund and Sheffield City Council, Advancing Digital is a free programme from Opportunity Sheffield which provides fully funded training in a range of digital skills, supporting businesses and employees on their learning journeys.

Last month, unLTD caught up with two of the faces behind the project, Bill Hilton and Chelsea Moffatt, to discover how businesses and individuals can make the most of this free training resource.

Tell us a bit about Opportunity Sheffield and your work with Advancing Digital?

BH: Opportunity Sheffield is the employment and skills service in Sheffield City Council. We have five main programmes aimed to break down barriers to employment, create job opportunities and help local businesses grow. One of those programmes, Advancing Digital, is part-funded by the European Social Fund and the idea is two-fold: to provide a free service for businesses in upskilling their employees, and to provide individuals with free upskilling opportunities so they can move into the type of career they want.

CM: Advancing Digital is very much focused on improving IT skills; a lot of it is about digital inclusion and closing the digital gap. A lot of people might associate the digital gap specifically with being unable to do advanced technical things such as coding, but there are also people in jobs where for whatever reason they haven’t been trained in basic IT skills. Programmes like Advancing Digital help to fill those gaps.

BH: There are a lot of essential skills training that people are missing out on, and we want to change that. The only remits are that you have to live or work in South Yorkshire and in some form of employment.

As well as benefiting individuals, it can help businesses to keep their employees fulfilled and motivated? www.careeradvancetraining.org.uk

BH: Yes, there’s a mutual benefit for employers and employees. One of the most significant costs for businesses is recruitment, and one of the best ways for businesses to keep their staff happy and motivated is by offering them upskilling opportunities. Everything we offer is free and incredibly easy to get involved with.

How can people get involved?

BH: It’s just a quick form, which doesn’t take long at all to fill in. People can get involved by emailing us at advancingdigital@sheffield. gov.uk, calling 0114 229 6188 or taking a look at the website www. careeradvancetraining.org.uk. Searching ‘opportunityshef’ on Facebook and Instagram will take you to our social media pages, which have plenty more information on how we can help local businesses and workers.

CM: The form takes a couple of minutes to fill in, and I’ll follow that up with a phone call to discuss their current role and whether they’re looking to upskill in that role or change careers. From there I’ll identify which accredited courses might be suitable for them.

What about people who like the idea of upskilling but are worried about finding the time to look into it?

CM: We are looking at making courses even more accessible.

For example, we’ll be running a completely virtual cohort for our Accounting/Bookkeeping course starting March 13th. We can sign people up very quickly online and I’m always on hand for advice. So people and businesses can come to you with a rough idea of what they’re after and you do the rest?

CM: Of course. You don’t need to come to us with a specific plan –that’s where we come in! We have a Career Advance Training Platform with over 200 courses available. Sometimes people will get in touch with a general direction of where they want to go, or sometimes they just want to learn and we can talk them through what’s on offer. What key career areas are covered by the platform?

BH: The Career Advance Training Platform is split into eight key areas: Financial Management, Resource Efficiency, Customer Relationship Management, User Experience/User Interface, People Management, Project Management, Data/Information Management and Cyber Security. It’s a constantly updating platform.

CM: The accredited courses we offer include Digital Marketing, Accounting/Bookkeeping, Leadership & Management, AutoCAD, Cyber Security & Digital Skills for Work. There are six live at the moment, between levels one and two, and are being run by The Sheffield College, Momentum Recruitment & Training and The Source Skills Academy.

Could you give an example of businesses who’ve contacted the Advancing Digital team and how they’ve benefited?

BH: Sheffield City Trust is one. They’re working with Advancing Digital on upskilling their staff on Leadership & Management, Excel skills, Bookkeeping and AutoCAD, the latter of which they use in all of their venues. That just shows you the sort of scope that there is for businesses, CM: CC33 are a contact centre based on Ecclesall Road. They’ve got their own leadership programme so we’re now offering them our Leadership & Management course, which complements their existing scheme perfectly.

BH: Most of the businesses we work with are SMEs or Micro SMEs, but it just shows that what we offer works for bigger companies too. It’s a brilliant programme and a real nobrainer for businesses and individuals looking for easy, accessible routes in upskilling.

How Advancing Digital Helped Me

Anwar runs Anwar Suliman Photography Services. He completed Digital Marketing Level 2 through the Advancing Digital programme in February 2023. The threeday course was taught by Momentum in Shalesmoor, Sheffield.

“I’m Anwar Suliman. I’m a photographer specialising in events and studio photography. I heard about the course through Business Sheffield who signposted me to Advancing Digital.

“It appealed to me because I knew how to do traditional marketing, but digital marketing was a bit new and scary.

“The tutor, Max was really good and explained everything well. It was a mixed-age group of people in the class, who could interact with each other and learn together.

“The course taught me all the different processes, all the way through, and how to utilize all the apps and tools in the marketing process.

“I think the course will help me progress my career further. Once I’ve learnt a bit more about social media, I’ll put it all together to make a comprehensive marketing strategy.

“I’d definitely recommend it to other small business owners, because I think it will really help them get on and promote themselves better.”

To join the next Digital Marketing cohort starting on Monday 3 April, email: advancingdigital@sheffield. gov.uk

The recent rise in litigation, including employment tribunal, unfair dismissal, and discrimination claims, is something that Bhayani Law is seeing across all sectors, as companies are struggling financially due to increased costs and individuals are more likely to seek opportunities to claim against their employers. This can lead to a reduction in staff numbers, sometimes unnecessarily and with great risk due to poor decision making that looks at cutting corners rather than planning ahead.

Bhayani Law represents both employees and employers, offering insight from both sides. Their aim is to help businesses use the proper procedures to prevent these challenges from escalating towards litigation. One the one hand, there has been a rise in opportunist employment tribunal claims, and on the other hand, employers are also being hit with rising costs and making rash decisions in terms of redundancies, leading to disputes where full consultation processes have not been followed and employees feel they have been treated unfairly.

When companies don’t take the time to plan and evaluate the need for redundancies properly, they are either leaving themselves short and having to hire again – which could potentially make any recent redundancies unlawful – or are having to make further redundancies within a short period, causing more