The JMS Group, one of the region’s longest established media companies, celebrates its 30th birthday this month in buoyant mood.
What began in an abandoned recording studio amidst farm buildings on the outskirts of Hethersett has since become a major provider of audio and visual productions in the UK and Europe.
JMS – founded by former broadcaster John Mountford – was initially set up in September 1983 to produce commercials for the then fledgling independent local radio industry.
Whilst busy establishing itself as a leading supplier to radio stations around the country, JMS also began steady progress into television.
Today, JMS makes around 250 TV commercials a year for local businesses and international brands.
Proud to be Norfolk based, The JMS Group employs a team of local writers, directors, sound and vision producers, video editors and motion graphics designers, who can create anything from a ‘how-to’ video, to studio drama, to amazing 3D animations.
There’s technological trickery aplenty at JMS. A click of a mouse button and editors can change a sunny day into a thunderstorm, whilst actors can be transported to the Paris skyline at dusk, or placed deep inside a candlelit castle dungeon – without leaving Norfolk – thanks to the enormous green special effects stage in JMS’ TV studio.
It’s this amazing blend of skills and technology which has seen JMS successfully ride out the economic turbulence of the past three decades. John Mountford says:
“In 30 years we’ve re-invented ourselves countless times, keeping abreast of taste and ahead of changing technology. Now, glossy commercials which in our early days would have taken weeks of work can be produced cost effectively in days or even hours. As a result more and more businesses, many of them local to Norfolk, have never found it easier to advertise on TV”.
“And some of today’s most exciting developments are online. Video is now the key driver of web-based content and businesses are increasingly investing in quality online video to set their site apart”.
JMS is still based in its original Hethersett location having gradually converted adjacent farm buildings to form a media centre which includes three radio studios (the group still makes around 150 radio commercials each month) and three TV edit suites.
But is being Norfolk-based a hindrance? Mountford thinks not – particularly now:
“The internet has made the world a smaller place so JMS can access voice overs and musicians absolutely anywhere with the flick of a switch, and send video files anywhere too – so rather than being in the big smoke, we’ve always embraced life here in Norfolk…and the parking’s better!”
It looks as if the steady stream of celebrities who visit the studios agree. John Hurt voiced his famous “Great Dragon” for the BBC blockbuster Merlin at Hethersett (and even a piece of dialogue for “Tinker Tailor”).
Stephen Fry, Tom Baker, Tony Robinson, Su Pollard, Philippa Forrester, Martin Shaw and Steve Coogan are just a handful of the names who have graced the building…and all of them have taken their place on the JMS ‘Wall of the Stars’.
John Mountford explains: “As the years rolled by and the celebs kept visiting us we felt we should commemorate each with their own blue plaque. Trouble is, we ran out of wall space a long time back – and there’s a waiting list! And as some of those original names are getting knighthoods we’ll need additional plaques, and more space, pretty soon!”
The JMS Group celebrates its 30th birthday on Monday 23rd September.
To find out more about TV, Web, Corporate or Radio commercial production, contact Tom Kay, Head Of Marketing at The JMS Group on 01603 811855 or 07939 598670.
