Responsible Transportation Programme- An interview with Alphabet (GB) Ltd

Alphabet (GB) Ltd is a leading provider of business mobility services. We were interviewing them as part of our Responsible Transportation programme for Sky TV.

Alphabet provides a range of fleet solutions to public and private sector companies. They offer a flexible service that is tailored directly to their customer. They start by analysing a company’s fleet, before matching it with the most suitable vehicle to its needs; be it electric, hybrid or non-electric. Their team puts together a complete plan for the service, and is confident that they can improve a client’s productivity and profitability.

Alpha City is their innovative corporate car sharing scheme, which is a fresh approach to pool cars and helps fleets drive down costs by offering the most efficient solution to their needs. Alphabet’s other main service is Alpha Electric. This is their broad range of electric vehicles, which includes Renault, Nissan and BMW amongst others. With the range and type of electric vehicles developing and improving constantly, we found this a fascinating interview.

Our production team met at Waterloo Station, and one fraudulently expensive bagel later, were on their way out to Alphabet’s offices in Hook, Hampshire. Alphabet’s spacious office is very stylish, and the huge windows allow the sun to stream in. We were immediately made to feel at home by Communications Manager David Jones. He’s not to be mistaken for the pirate Davey Jones, and is a thoroughly nice bloke. He gave us a tour of the building and gave us coffee and cookies as we planned the shoot. We liked him immediately.

The passion that David has for the company and the services was infectious throughout the shoot. We interviewed 5 of their department leaders, who each gave their unique perspective on their company and the transportation industry as a whole. It was nice to get such a range of interviews and David was helpful throughout each interview.

We interviewed Kit Wisdom, Head of Corporate Mobility, outside. Aside from topping up our tans, this allowed Kit to show off their range of electric and non-electric vehicles. This provided a nice background for our shot and it was also great to see Kit demonstrate their key-card system, which allows users easy access to the vehicles. This does away with the need for car keys, which can be surprisingly time consuming when customers are operating large fleets.

The other interviews were all inside and we were given some great locations to work with. We filmed John Burdekin, Head of Consultancy Services in front of charging docks for their electric vehicles. We started the interview but realized that the lights from the charging docks were showing up on one side of his face and making him look other worldly. This is something worth looking out for on any shoot. After slightly moving the seating position we were rolling again and John talked fluently and in great detail about Alphabet’s role within the UK transportation industry. He passed on some interesting knowledge that driver-less taxis had been trialled successfully in several European countries. They are due to be trialled in Milton Keynes, and by 2017 they are planning to have 100 driver-less vehicles on the roads.

It was great to carry out each interview in a different place and we were able to take advantage of their lively artwork as a backdrop for the next interview. Each interview was informative and everyone we spoke to really knew their onions. That’s just a phrase, I’m not sure about the level of onion related knowledge, as we were busy interviewing about their products and services.

After a lovely spot of lunch in their excellent restaurant, we filmed the remaining interviews and got lots of good footage of their office, vehicles and the staff who didn’t get camera shy and leave. After soaking up the abundant knowledge on offer, we packed up our camera equipment and we were on our way back to London to start the edit.

If you’re interested in Alphabet and what they could do for your company take a look at their website and get in touch with their team.

If you’re interested in filmmaking, read about our production process and comment with any questions for our team. If you liked this post, then please share it on social media below.