After a sell-out keynote in January, we’re thrilled that Rory Sutherland will be joining us online on Thursday 9th July (12.30-1.30pm) to share his thoughts on the future of work, in particular creative work, in this new and very changed world.
If the old world was about efficiency, the new world is about variety and resilience.
If the old world was about ordaining specific rules, the new world is about finding recurring patterns.
So if the old world was about specialists, the new world will need generalists.
And if the old world was about logic, the new world will be about magic.
And if the old world was linear and mechanical, the new world can be curvy and psychological.
Creative people – people who, in the words of Herbert Simon “design and see possibilities” should enjoy something of a renaissance in this new world. But no one will hand over power willingly.
Booking is via Eventbrite – click here to book your place. We will send the Zoom link nearer the time.
This is a free event for Bristol Media members although we’d be grateful if members would consider making a donation. There is a charge of £20+VAT for non-members.
Whilst some of our members have been unaffected by COVID-19, we recognise for others this is still challenging business climate so we want to do what we can to support. As many will know, Bristol Media operates as a not-for-profit Community Interest Company and revenue comes solely from membership fees and events. We receive no other funding or financial support. We’re hopeful that the donation approach will allow all members to continue accessing our events whatever their financial situation whilst also allowing us to replace some of the revenue we’ve lost over recent months. All our speakers give their time and expertise voluntarily. Thank you for your continued backing and we hope that you’ll be able to support this approach and look forward to being able to deliver a series of worthwhile events that our members enjoy and importantly find beneficial to their businesses.
Rory is the Vice Chairman of Ogilvy, an attractively vague job title which has allowed him to co-found a behavioural science practice within the agency.
He works with a consulting practice of psychology graduates who look for ‘unseen opportunities’ in consumer behaviour – these are the very small contextual changes which can have enormous effects on the decisions people make. It is a hugely valuable activity – but, alas, not particularly lucrative. This is because clients generally do not have budgets for solving problems they have not noticed.
Before founding Ogilvy Change, Rory was a copywriter and creative director at Ogilvy for over 20 years, having joined as a graduate trainee in 1988. He has variously been President of the IPA, Chair of the Judges for the Direct Jury at Cannes, and has spoken at TED Global. He writes regular columns for the Spectator, Market Leader and Impact, and also occasional pieces for Wired. He is the author of two books: The Wiki Man, available on Amazon at prices between £1.96 and £2,345.54, depending on whether the algorithm is having a bad day, and Alchemy, The Surprising Power of Ideas that don’t make Sense, published in the UK and US in March 2019.
Wednesday 8 July 2020, 11:00-12:00
The future is not what it used to be. And that’s a positive thing.
For the agency world it’s time to move to a better model – shifting away from just ‘doing’ to genuinely making a difference. Solving significant challenges for clients, attracting and empowering a diversity of top talent, and building a sustainable business that’s valued and valuable.
So, how can you create this positive future for your agency? What are the new standards? What do you need to think about or rethink about when it comes to your approach? And how should you go about making it happen?
Join us on Wednesday 8th July, 11am-12noon, as the Tonic team tackle these questions head on, share perspectives on new expectations, and provide a framework for future success.
This is the first event in the Future Positive series. Upcoming sessions will cover more on how to earn and grow client commitment, how to inspire and empower your talent and how to create and manage business value. More details to follow on these.
This session is available to Bristol Media members only and aimed at agency founders and senior leaders.
Places are limited to allow for a more personal and productive discussion. In the interests of fairness, places are also limited to one attendee per agency. To reserve your space, register here.
This is a free event, although we’d be grateful if members would consider making a donation.
Whilst some of our members have been unaffected by COVID-19, we recognise for others this is still challenging business climate so we want to do what we can to support. As many will know, Bristol Media operates as a not-for-profit Community Interest Company and revenue comes solely from membership fees and events. We receive no other funding or financial support. We’re hopeful that the donation approach will allow all members to continue accessing our events whatever their financial situation whilst also allowing us to replace some of the revenue we’ve lost over recent months. All our speakers give their time and expertise voluntarily. Thank you for your continued backing and we hope that you’ll be able to support this approach and look forward to being able to deliver a series of worthwhile events that our members enjoy and importantly find beneficial to their businesses.
We’re the business consultancy to add clarity, colour and confidence to your ambition.
We add our collective knowledge and specialist expertise to help you realise your full potential and value.
The Future Positive series will be run by the Tonic senior team, who will draw on their experience leading and guiding some of the best agencies in the world through uncertain times.
To find out more about Tonic, click here.
As a network championing hundreds of creative businesses and individuals across Bristol, we’ve been working closely with our members to support them through the challenges of COVID-19. Part of that support has been to represent members on The West of England Combined Authority’s Regional Recovery Taskforce – a place where industry views can be heard regionally and nationally and to feed into plans for economic recovery following the Covid-19 pandemic. After consulting with our members, Bristol Media’s Chair Chris Thurling took their views to the table and over the coming weeks we’ll be taking the opportunity to keep you updated …
Getting valuable feedback from our members that we could present to The West of England Combined Authority ’s Regional Recovery Taskforce involved one to one discussions and a short survey that was sent out to members. We wanted to understand how lockdown affected businesses and to what scale? And, what are industry views on the government‘s interventions designed to help businesses survive? The questionnaire looked at a number of areas, from use of government support schemes, impacts on businesses and confidence looking forward. Here’s a short summary of our findings.
We had 79 responses; 80% were limited companies, 14% sole traders, the remaining respondents were split between partnerships and community interest companies. Turnover ranged from under £50,000 to over £5 million. Of these businesses most were micro business – 54%; the remaining 46% were small businesses employing six to 100 people.
So what had happened to these businesses during lockdown? We looked at turnover and unsurprisingly 75% have experienced a decline. However, more optimistically just over 20% reported a stable turnover, so their businesses had been able to continue at pre-Covid levels. For those businesses reporting a decrease, almost half reported a significant decline of over 50%.
We also asked businesses to give us an idea on what they thought would happen to their turnover going forward. Almost half thought they would experience more decline, and a quarter forecast turnover increase.
Over half of respondents have used the Job Retention Scheme, 17% the VAT deferral and 34% the HMRC “time to pay” scheme. Business Rates Holiday and Self Employed Business Support Scheme featured at a rate of 10% of respondents using them.
Gaining access to support measures has been good. One notable exception that came out of the comments was the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme which a few had found difficult to access.
With any scheme there are those that find they are not eligible or that support is very limited. In this survey two examples were repeatedly flagged up: those who had only recently started trading, and those whose income was not recognised as it was paid as dividends.
Grants are allocated based on profits over the past three years, so people who started working for themselves between April 2018 and March 2020 are unable to apply for financial help. In addition company directors found their pay not covered fully by the furlough scheme when pay is in part from dividends.
The other loophole has been those on maternity leave, these women are unable to return to self employed work due to Covid-19 but unable to claim for grants as, despite being on a low income currently, if their average over the past three years is higher than £50,000 applicants are not eligible for the SEISS grant.
Just over a third thought government guidance was not clear in relation to easing the lockdown with comments about information such as “ambiguous”, “inconsistent”, “flaky” and “confusing”. Those businesses already working remotely have experienced little interruption to work. However, for those businesses that rely on people coming together within our sector, e.g. events, film production, photography, work has come to a halt.
We asked about risks to their businesses with lockdown easing and had a host of comments including worries for the safety of staff, of a second spike of Covid-19, to how to cope if staff have to go on long term sick leave and how to survive with reduced staff capacity. Suppliers or customers going bust, staff trying to work and juggle childcare and home-schooling, economic uncertainty, and providing clear directives to staff when government advice is not clear were also cited as concerns.
When asked if the government should be doing more to help businesses like theirs, a third said yes, more help please! Comments ranged from very specific feedback on government schemes such as, “directors dividend pay to be recognised in the furlough scheme”, to more general comments such as “more help for self employed”, “relief on rent for empty workspaces”, “more provision for serviced office space”, and “a road map on how to move forward after lockdown”. Some businesses are dependent on servicing sectors which have been hit hard by the effects of Covid-19 such tourism and travel, so their recovery is dependent on the recovery of other sectors.
When asked about travelling to work there was lots of confusion about social distancing on public transport and wearing facemasks. And when offices are reopened the majority did not feel confident with their staff being able to use public transport to get to work. The main reason given was that their staff would not feel safe from Covid-19 on public transport. Employers are adapting work following the Covid-19 pandemic, the main changes are allowing vulnerable people to continue to work from home, having remote working as the norm and, for those that are in the workplace, undertaking social distancing.
Of those using the furlough scheme there was a wide range of staff being furloughed from 10% of staff in some businesses to over 75% in others. The scheme has not stopped redundancies completely as just under 10% of respondents have already made employees redundant due to the Covid-19 crisis. Unfortunately redundancies are expected to continue and be greater as over 20% of respondents anticipate redundancies when the furlough scheme ends.
We also asked what additional government support was needed to retain jobs and skills: there were comments on the national picture; getting the whole economy moving,having a plan, grants for apprenticeships, retraining women returners, having better childcare, more time for VAT payments, reduced business rates, more local authority loans, to avoid a no deal Brexit.
And there were comments specific to the sector such as upskilling in the creative and digital sector, technology training grants. So like many businesses in the UK, the picture is tough in the SW creative sector; particularly for those not eligible for support, those businesses servicing tourism and travel and businesses that rely on people coming together. There are some businesses who have been able to adapt and continue at pre-Covid levels and some levels of optimism to build on.
This research was passed on to the WECA Regional Recovery Taskforce through Bristol Media Chair, Chris Thurling. Your views will be used to influence plans for the SW creative sector’s recovery from the impact of COVID19.
If you want to continue to Have Your Say or join in the conversation in regional recovery get in touch with the team or chat to us at our regular virtual member lunches.
Whilst often overlooked for its more glitzy, good time cousins, Operations is the driving engine for business performance, achieving growth, diversification or simply survival in turbulent times.
Covid, in its wild merciless shake up, has altered the business landscape at speed, exposing the internal workings of organisations whilst providing new opportunities to adapt.
As we start to emerge into a new world, those businesses with robust operational frameworks will be better placed to take advantage of this, enabling them to survive and thrive.
Join us on Tuesday 30th June (11am – 12 noon) for a round-table with Charlotte Lavender, Operational Consultant and Director of The Lavender Partnership to hear and discuss how Covid-19 has brought operations into sharper focus and the opportunities it opens up for businesses.
Owners, MDs or senior directors of businesses with more than 10 employees. Numbers are limited to allow for a productive discussion.
This session is available to Bristol Media members only.
Please book via Eventbrite.
Whilst this is a free event, we’d be grateful if members would consider making a donation.
Although some of our members have been unaffected by COVID-19, we recognise for others this is still challenging business climate so we want to do what we can to support. As many will know, Bristol Media operates as a not-for-profit Community Interest Company and revenue comes solely from membership fees and events. We receive no other funding or financial support. We’re hopeful that the donation approach will allow all members to continue accessing our events whatever their financial situation whilst also allowing us to replace some of the revenue we’ve lost over recent months. All our speakers, give their time and expertise voluntarily.
Thank you for your continued backing and we hope that you’ll be able to support this approach and look forward to being able to deliver a series of worthwhile events that our members enjoy and importantly find beneficial to their businesses.
Charlotte advises successful organisations on how to reach their next stage of growth, through operational excellence, identifying the pain points and implementing change to unlock revenue & unleash talent. Prior to setting up the Lavender Partnership, she spent 20 years in both independent and network agencies including BBH, Grey and Ogilvy. Most recently she was Chief Operating Officer at Publicis before moving to Bristol last year. She’s advised clients such as Heineken, Amex and Ford on digital transformation and creating the right business models for success and as MD of an integrated agency, has first hand experience of remodelling agencies both large and small.
The West of England Combined Authority Mayor Tim Bowles has been asked by Government to set up a Regional Recovery Taskforce to identify the challenges and opportunities affecting Economic Regional recovery and renewal from Covid19. The aim of the Task Force is to identify the adverse economic impacts of the pandemic and drive renewal of the region’s recovery that is clear and inclusive.
Under this Task Force are a number of Sector Specific Groups. We’re delighted that Bristol Creative Industries Chair, Chris Thurling, will be joining the Creative Industries and Digital Technologies Group to represent the views of the region’s creative sector.
This provides an opportunity for the views of our members, past and present, to be heard regionally and nationally. It’s also for those views to influence the plans for the SW’s creative sector to recover from COVID19. It’s vital that we gather as many views as possible ahead of the kick-off meeting on Friday 5th June so Chris can share a representative viewpoint.
Please complete this short survey by 5pm on Thursday 4th June at the very latest.
Together we’re greater than the sum of our parts.
Whether you’re looking for guidance on your business strategy, 1-2-1 mentoring/coaching sessions, financial tools and advice, or employee communications support from an experienced HR professional, take a look below at the free offers of support for agencies and creative businesses in the South-West.
Share your Pay it Forward initiatives with us and we’ll add them to this article. Keep checking back as we’ll be updating this page as we hear of more initiatives for the creative community in Bristol, Bath and the South West. Please help us #payitforwardBristol
Are you a Bristol Media member offering free drop-ins for creative businesses? Have you set up a virtual networking event to help people connect? Have some available time to help a young creative with their portfolio? We want to hear it.
Send Alli an email with details of your initiative, including a summary of what you’re offering, who would find it useful, your online link (this can be a LinkedIn post, tweet, blog etc), plus details for how people can get in touch. We’re focussing on support offers from individuals and organisations within the Bristol Media membership community.
We’ll be regularly adding to this blog so keep checking back for updates.
#payitforwardBristol
The above information is being provided as a convenience and for informational purposes only; it does not constitute an endorsement or an approval by Bristol Media Group CIC of any of the services, products, or opinions of the individuals or organisations mentioned.
(Photo by “My Life Through A Lens” on Unsplash)
We want to let our members and the community know that we are still very much in operation during this challenging period. Whilst our keynotes, member lunches, workshops, and initiatives are currently on pause, we will continue to deliver value and support the local creative community by sharing advice and positive stories via our digital network.
We recognise that this will be a very difficult time for most of us and to get through it we all need to support each other. Remote working can be challenging but it’s been heart-warming to see some brilliant initiatives appearing within the network.
We’ve already come across some great examples of ideas to help creative businesses get through these turbulent times. For instance, ‘Digital Guzzle’ Friday’s from the Noisy Little Monkey clan, Virtual Book Clubs with Armadillo, and members offering free services such as copywriting, tips for remote working and how to manage your finances.
Our region is known for its unique collaborative spirit, so, we have an ask: share your initiatives and offers of support with us and we’ll add them to this blog page where we’re compiling positive news and stories to keep you going.
Are you offering free drop-ins for creative businesses? Have you set up a virtual networking event to help people connect? Written a blog about weathering the storm? We want to hear it!
Let us know by emailing Kirsty with details of your initiative, including a summary of what you’re offering, who it’s for, your online link (this can be a LinkedIn post, tweet, blog etc), plus details for how people can get in touch. We’ll be regularly adding to the blog so keep checking back for updates.
If you’re a member, we’d encourage you to self-publish your own articles and share the positive activity and good news with the network. Please also continue to post your job opportunities and virtual events to our website over the coming months. The more positivity we can circulate the better.
To kick things off, Chris Thurling (our Chair, business coach, mentor and serial networker!) is opening a virtual drop-in where members can book a free 20-minute coaching and mentoring session. Chris has earned multiple battle scars through surviving three periods of recession, so can provide useful advice and words of wisdom he’s learned throughout his journey.
Slots are available on Wednesday afternoons (between 2pm – 4pm) on 25th March, 1st April and 8th April. If you’re a Bristol Media member and would like to book, please email Chris.
If you’re a local business offering a short-term or freelance role for people working within the creative industries, please get in touch. You can advertise the vacancy for free on our Jobs board until the end of April.
We appreciate that for the smaller businesses and self-employed amongst you, it’s going to be a particularly testing time. The environment is changing at a rapid rate, so we’ve created a Slack channel for our freelance members to share info, resources, opportunities, and anything that will help support the local gig economy through the current situation. If you’d like an invite, please email Alli.
We will continue to work with local businesses and networks to ensure we are all actively supporting the creative industries in our region. If you are an organisation who can offer your services to support creative businesses in Bristol, Bath and the South West, please let us know.
If you have any questions or would like to speak to one of the team, please get in touch.
Together, we are greater than the sum of our parts.
In light of the current news surrounding COVID-19, we’ve made the decision to postpone all Bristol Media events until further notice.
Our events rely on collaboration so ensuring our members, facilitators and venues feel safe is our highest priority and we want to ensure the best possible experience for those attending.
Obviously we’re disappointed but this is the right thing to do.
No event is more important than the health of our creative community so we’re doing the sensible thing. We all have a responsibility to look out for others and we hope that you’ll continue to support Bristol Media and other local businesses. Please be particularly mindful of freelancers and small businesses in Bristol and the South-West who will be impacted by the developing situation.
The following workshops will be postponed until further notice:
We are in the process of issuing refunds for all upcoming workshops.
You should receive a refund via the original payment method within the next ten days, please get in touch if this does not happen.
Please note: If you paid via Eventbrite, their policy states that the admin fee is non-refundable, however we understand this does not apply for cancelled events so you should be refunded the complete amount.
As soon as we have confirmed new dates for each workshop, we will contact the original ticket holders prior to tickets going on sale. You will then have the first chance to rebook onto the workshop. If you choose not to rebook, we will release the ticket to the community.
We’ve contacted all attendees, speakers and facilitators via email with more specific information about postponing planned events but feel free to contact us if you have any other questions. Contact Us
We will cover the best way to collaborate and work with other freelancers and give you tips on how to agree reasonable terms with your clients. The talk will also provide guidance on GDPR and relevant data legislation, best practice policies, and the impact of the new IR35 legislation for freelancers who operate via a personal service company, and their clients.
The workshop will be run by Bristol Media member and lawyer, Rebecca Steer, from Steer and Co. All attendees are welcome to a free of charge follow-up call on any specific contract or legal question.
This legal workshop is recommended for Freelancers, start-ups, existing SME’s, and anyone involved in either running or setting up a small-medium sized business in the Creative, Digital and Tech sectors.
This workshop will be held between 3-5pm on Tuesday 21st April at Zone, The Brew House, Tower Hill, Bristol BS2 0EQ. Tickets are £25 +VAT for Bristol Media members, £40 +VAT otherwise. Places are limited. Tea/coffee will be provided.
There will be a Q&A after the session, plus time to chat with Rebecca directly if you’d like to discuss specific issues affecting your business.
A specialist commercial, media and technology lawyer with considerable in-house counsel and private practice experience, Rebecca Steer is a leading expert for Technology, IP and Media and is ranked as one of the top 10 lawyers in Bristol and the South West for IT and IP.
“I come from a creative and entrepreneurial family originally from St Thomas, Jamaica. My granduncle founded the Voice newspaper, my grandfather is a Reggae artist and my Mother is CEO of her own fashion company, so I like to think that influenced me to pursue my own dreams and carve my own path in life.
“Like most boys growing up in the 90s I was a big fan of anime. Shows like Dragon Ball Z, Pokémon and Naruto were regular scheduled programming at my home in Fishponds. It was my desire to recreate these shows in my spare time, through pencil and paper, that led me into art.
“Drawing wasn’t my strong point so it was hard to excel in art class, probably in part to me only being interested in drawing characters from my favourite tv show at the time! I was also into video games but, oddly, because I thought they were such a cool medium. I think I grew up in a time where video games were just beginning to be acknowledged as an artform, much like film and tv, and not just something that turns kids into ‘mindless zombies.’ I loved how video games placed you in the mind of the protagonist and allowed you to put yourself in situations you could only dream of before.
“Fast forward and this underlying love of psychology, art and computer screens coupled with a strong sense of ambition is what led me to where I am today – seeking to explore a career in UI/UX & Tech.
“Growing up I knew very little about the creative industries in Bristol. I think that’s what pushed me to study in Cambridge (Lord Ashcroft International Business School), but it was being away from Bristol and coming back that really opened my eyes to how vast and booming the city is which is why I moved straight back. So when I found out about the BMAA and that it was essentially a nosedive into the industry, I knew I had to apply.
“The biggest challenge I faced in my career was definitely making my first ever film, especially when it’s for a nationwide platform like the BBC and will be watched by thousands of people. The opportunity came about through the BBC New Creatives scheme. Managing a whole crew and cast of around 20 people whilst writing and directing a film is about 100 times harder than it sounds! But it was fun and the end result was well worth it.
“Now that I’ve won the BMAA and am travelling to Texas next week it’s hard to pin down what I’m most excited about. The food, talks, art exhibitions, film screenings, the robots… Or the world renowned ‘Southern Hospitality’? Honestly, I’m not too sure. But what I am sure of, is that I am excited. Funnily enough, I’m not really nervous about anything. My perspective is just ‘enjoy it’, take what comes with Texas and the internships as enjoyable experiences which I no doubt will learn and gain a lot from.”
Upon his return from SXSW, Okori and the BMAA runners up will have the opportunity to take part in a series of paid internships at local agencies. For more information about supporting the BMAA and offering a paid internship for Okori and the runners up, click here.
Bristol Media would like to thank our 2020 headline sponsor, ADLIB, for supporting the BMAA. Thanks also to Babbasa and the growing list of agencies who have committed to making a difference: Armadillo CRM, Tallt Ventures, McCann Bristol, Mr B & Friends, Oakwood, Immediate Media, Epoch Design, Halo, Torchbox and Diva.
You need to load content from reCAPTCHA to submit the form. Please note that doing so will share data with third-party providers.
More Information