Join now

The new year has continued on a high with Mr B & Friends appointed as the primary brand and marketing agency following a pitch.

Regina is part of the Sofidel Group, one of the leading global manufacturers of tissue paper for hygienic and domestic use. Regina is its most recognised range of products, with Blitz household towels, Seriously Soft and Seriously Strong toilet tissue and XXL kitchen roll among its core brands. The agency will lead the brand, creative and campaigns for Regina as it seeks to grow its share of the UK market.

Simon Barbato, CEO of Mr B & Friends, says, “We’re delighted to be chosen as Regina’s lead brand agency in the UK. The appointment marks a strong start to the year for us and we’re pleased to add Regina to our growing portfolio of FMCG clients.”

Mr B & Friends previously worked with Regina UK on a standalone project for pet cleaning towels, before being invited to pitch for the primary range at the end of 2020. The agency will be providing expertise in strategy, communications and campaign planning, as well as developing creative and digital campaigns and delivery.

Graeme Bralsford, Marketing and Sales Director at Sofidel UK said, “Having previously worked with the Mr B & Friends team, we felt they understood our brand and values. We love their clarity of thinking and creative excellence. We’re excited to see what we’ll achieve together.”

Executive Creative Director at Mr B & Friends, Steve Richardson, says, “We love FMCG work. Sofidel have some much-loved household brands and to renew acquaintances with the client team has provided brilliant chemistry and spark to our work. Looking forward to 2021 and beyond.”

Work has begun work on the account with virtual introductions to the Regina team and agency partners as well as developing campaigns for the coming year.

Bristol-based technology business, Sparkol, has made a strong start to the new year with a new brand created by Mr B & Friends.

Sparkol provides its customers with innovative software and video tools that help create inspiring presentations and storytelling, together with studio services that turn the mundane into the magical.

Mr B & Friends were appointed to deliver a new brand positioning and identity to increase its marketing effectiveness, whilst retaining the well-established product brands as part of its portfolio. The agency delivered this project through its Beta brand acceleration programme, which resulted in a complete rebrand in less than eight weeks.

The strategy centres on the new Organising Thought: Turn up the WOW! This idea conveys the product capability, creativity and audience reaction of this fast-growing SaaS and services business.

Senior Designer Nathan Crosby commented: “Our creative vision was to capture the spirit of the Sparkol company and the capability of its products. Expressive imagery alongside a bold type and colour system to make a real impact. The new logo design captures the reaction to Sparkol’s products in a clever graphical way.”

Sparkol products are already used in over 160 countries by educators, promoters and communications professionals. The brand refinement further strengthens Sparkol’s position as it targets wider adoption.

Zoe Taylor, Sparkol Owner and CEO, says, “Mr B & Friends helped us to get to the crux of what makes Sparkol special and translated that into a brilliant brand idea, visual identity and tone of voice that really stands out. We exist to help our users achieve surprise, delight and wonder, and the new brand really brings that to life.”

The agency has delivered the new brand strategy, identity, guidelines and key assets during lockdown working virtually with the client. The project was managed by Brand Producer Matt Joy and strategy by Planning Director Adam Partridge.

Simon Barbato, CEO at Mr B & Friends says, “We love the Sparkol story. It’s a story of hard work, innovative thinking and great entrepreneurship. What Sparkol has achieved globally from a modest Bristol base is incredible and we are proud to be able to deliver this platform for their ongoing growth and success.”

Exodus Travels has launched a new range of trips targeting travel enthusiasts in the prime of their careers, with a strategy and brand identity created by independent brand consultancy Mr B & Friends.

With nearly 50 years’ experience in the adventure travel market, Exodus Travels is well versed in how to create enticing breaks for those looking to explore the world. Its key audience has traditionally been the over 50s, who are more likely to have the luxury of time to invest in travel. However, in response to a rising number of requests from a younger demographic looking for small group adventures without career trade-off, Exodus saw an opportunity to create a new arm to their portfolio. Aimed at engaging professionals in their 30s and 40s, the adventure-grabbing itineraries bypass hours of holiday research while offering up bucket-list achievements that won’t absorb too much precious annual leave.

Mr B & Friends came up with a strategy that positions the new range as the shortcut to adventure. The approach demonstrates that while life is short and the world is wide, little by little you can travel far. The new compact, curated adventures are designed to enable exciting yet efficient travel, and with this in mind the venture has been named ‘Exodus Edits’. Among the initial 22 trip options available are ‘Secrets and Civilisations in Mexico’ and ‘Landscapes and Limoncello in Amalfi’.

Built around the proposition, “Life is short. See the world, one edit at a time”, the brand identity complements the strategy with a vivid journalistic aesthetic and an emotive storytelling approach to communication. Although the edits are based on shorter itineraries, the brand needed to also demonstrate that the one-of-a-kind experiences Exodus Travels has built its reputation on would still be foremost. While shorter than their mainstream adventures, there is no compromise on quality here. Ultimately Exodus Edits offers an additional stream to the company’s established portfolio, keeping them at the front of the pack.

Gareth Atkinson, Strategy Lead at Mr B & Friends, said, “We wanted to create a brand that inspired people to really make the most of their annual leave by enabling enriching experiences. We worked collaboratively with the team at Exodus Travels to develop a concept that embraces breaking down bucket-list holidays into a series of bite-sized adventures and then translated this into brand communications.”

The project was completed over eight weeks as part of the agency’s new accelerated brand programme. The fast-track approach is designed to accelerate the strategic and creative process through smarter working which aligned with the ambitious objectives Exodus Travels had set to get their new offering to market.

Hayley Georgiou, Head of Marketing at Exodus Travels said; “We are delighted with the work that Mr B & Friends have done to personify our new range of trips aimed at a younger, more time-poor audience. Exodus Edits is a fresh and contemporary brand that sits beautifully alongside the core brand of Exodus Travels, which has always been deep-rooted in the spirit of exploration.”

The Mr B & Friends diversity team has just marked a year of promoting equal opportunities within the creative industry and has produced a highlights video to celebrate.

Formed from recognition by the board that minorities are underrepresented in our industry, the diversity team has a remit to address imbalances through positively improving prospects. Over the last 12 months the agency has formed partnerships with a number of education providers to visit schools, host work experience placements and welcome students to the office for insight sessions. The efforts have been driven by a desire to raise awareness of, and opportunities for, those who might consider a career in the design industry, an area that is traditionally dominated by white, middle class males.

As well as working with school age children we’ve participated in events hosted by outreach programmes, attended a careers fair and dedicated time to two portfolio review sessions. We’ve also joined forces with a number of creative agencies in the region to support ‘Kerning the Gap’, a collective who are aiming to achieve more diversity in design leadership roles, with four of our team becoming mentors to women rising through the ranks in their field.

Last but definitely not least we’ve seen success from Ladies, Wine & Design, an initiative run by designer Sara Foley. Created in New York to champion women in the creative industry, Sara runs the Bristol chapter of the organisation, which has so far involved holding three sold-out events, all of which have been focused on inspiring and empowering women.

Building on the starting point of introducing flexible working practises to help parents a few years ago, the formation of the diversity committee has widened our scope of improving access to roles in the creative industry. The mission is far from over though and this year the team will be looking at tackling gender imbalance within the agency – and the diversity team itself – while continuing to build on changing the face of the industry for future generations.

As creative director, Kate Gorringe, says, “We still need to study our recruitment practices and job descriptions to address the dreadful statistics around women removing themselves from the application process when they’re more than qualified. This year has provided a solid foundation for us to build upon, but from here we need to evolve to engage more people and really encourage those across the industry to embed an active approach into their culture.”

Watch the film here.

Mr B & Friends has been appointed as the agency of note by Accsys for the brand development of their product: Accoya®, a high performance, sustainable wood.

Simon Barbato, CEO of Mr B & Friends, said “We’re delighted to have been chosen to be the agency for this account. The Accoya product is incredible in terms of both performance and its environmental credentials and we are looking forward to using our brand expertise and creative flair to develop the Accoya brand to support company growth.”

Accoya wood is created through Accsys’ proprietary acetylation process. The resulting combination of durability and aesthetics makes it an appealing product for architects and specifiers, and the wood used for the Accoya product is sourced from FSC® certified sustainable forests. Adopted for landmark projects such as The Ivy Collection restaurants and Cambridge University’s botanic gardens, the finished result is both beautiful and long-lasting.

Accoya is one of a limited number of products in the world to have received the coveted Cradle to Cradle CertifiedTMGold standard, which recognises a high level of environmental and social practices across five critical sustainability categories including material health, water stewardship and social fairness. The certification encourages continuous improvement by companies with a rigorous assessment every two years to retain certification for their products.

The Mr B & Friends team have just returned from an immersive visit to the Accoya plant in Arnhem, the Netherlands, where they saw how Accoya was made, examples of Accoya in use in many applications and met the wider team. In addition to the Accoya marketing services work, the agency will also be working on a new website for Accsys to reflect its new brand identity, bringing the overall vision of the company together.

Laura Keily, Head of Product Marketing at Accsys, said, “We’re excited about starting work with Mr B & Friends. From the outset we’ve felt they understand what we’re looking to achieve, and we can’t wait to see how the brand develops.”

Matt Joy has joined the Mr B & Friends team as a Brand Producer. The role spans client services, client consulting and seamless project management across complex brand strategy projects.

Matt was previously Head of Marketing at Bristol Sport, and had worked alongside the agency as a key client contact on the Bristol Bears and Bristol City Football Club rebrand projects. With a decade of experience in commercial marketing, Matt was keen to make the transition to agency-side and having been won over by the Mr B & Friends way of working couldn’t wait to make the leap.

Matt says, “I’ve always been passionate about testing myself and developing my knowledge in the agency side of marketing and had been really impressed by the Mr B & Friends team and their approach to brand projects as a client. When I was presented with the opportunity to join the team, it was the perfect time to take on this new and exciting challenge”

Outside of work Matt’s life is about to change dramatically with the imminent arrival of his first baby. Baby preparation aside, Matt enjoys playing (or trying to play) golf and exploring the wonderful city of Bristol, enjoying the many restaurants and bars on offer, whilst also keeping a close eye on all things Bristol Bears.

Simon Barbato, CEO of Mr B & Friends, says, “We’re delighted to welcome Matt to the team. Having already known him for a while we’re confident that he’s a great fit for the company. He brings with him significant marketing experience in one of our key verticals and will be able to offer a unique client perspective to our projects.”