Three years ago, nobody had heard of Earworm.

We were a tiny Bristol startup with an idea about where podcasting was going, a handful of clients, zero real track record and – probably – more confidence than evidence.

Last night, we were named Marketing & Advertising StartUp of the Year at the UK StartUp Awards.

It feels slightly surreal writing that.

Awards obviously aren’t why you build a business. They don’t make the difficult months less difficult, they don’t fix your cash flow and they certainly don’t guarantee what happens next.

But every now and then, I think it’s worth stopping and acknowledging how far you’ve come.

And this one means a lot.

Building a creative business in Bristol

Earworm started here in Bristol in 2023, and the city has been a huge part of our story.

We now work with organisations including IG Group, Cisco, KPMG, Soldo and Mirakl, producing video podcasts and content that reaches audiences around the world.

But we’ve built the company from Bristol.

There’s something about the creative community here that I think is quite special. Bristol has world-class agencies, production companies, animators, filmmakers, designers, strategists and technologists – alongside a slightly rebellious streak that stops the city feeling like it’s trying to imitate somewhere else.

It’s a good place to build a creative company.

And I think we should probably shout about that more.

We’ve learned a lot in three years

The Earworm of today looks very different from the business we started.

We’ve made mistakes. We’ve hired brilliantly and occasionally badly. We’ve launched things that worked and things that didn’t. We’ve changed our pricing, our processes, our technology and probably our minds about almost everything at least once.

But a few beliefs have become stronger.

Great creative work needs to produce a result.

The lines between creative, content, media and performance are disappearing quickly. It’s no longer enough to make something beautiful and hand it over.

Clients increasingly want to understand what happened next.

Did people watch it? Did they engage? Did it reach the right audience? Did it change behaviour? Did it create commercial value?

That’s pushed us to become much more interested in the technology and data surrounding the content we produce – not just the production itself.

You have to be willing to tell clients the truth.

Sometimes the answer isn’t another video.

Sometimes a podcast isn’t working.

Sometimes the format needs to change, the strategy isn’t clear enough, or the audience simply hasn’t been properly understood.

Some of the strongest client relationships we’ve built have come from being prepared to have those conversations rather than simply producing whatever was originally briefed.

And you have to keep changing.

The creative industry is moving incredibly quickly.

AI is changing production. Distribution is changing. Search is changing. YouTube is increasingly central to podcast consumption. Brands are becoming media companies in their own right.

I don’t think creative businesses can afford to be precious about how things used to be done.

Our job is to keep learning faster than the market changes.

The bit I’m most proud of…

I collected the award, but Earworm isn’t me.

It’s the people who come into work every day and obsess over an edit, challenge an idea, solve a client problem, find a brilliant guest, improve a process or stay that little bit longer because they care about what we’re putting into the world.

Building a company is strange because you’re usually looking forward.

There’s another target. Another hire. Another client. Another problem. Another idea.

You rarely turn around.

Last night gave me an excuse to.

Three years ago, we were trying to convince people to take a chance on a Bristol startup they’d never heard of.

Today, we’re producing work for some of the biggest organisations in the world.

So thank you to every client who took that chance, to everyone who’s worked with us along the way, and especially to the team building Earworm today.

What happens next?

We’re nowhere near finished.

Over the next few years, our ambition is to build Earworm into one of the world’s leading video podcast and content agencies – and to prove that a globally ambitious creative business can be built right here in Bristol.

For now, though, I’m allowing the team – and myself – to enjoy this one. Probably over a few beers.

Then it’s back to work.

About Earworm Podcast Agency

Earworm is the UK’s fastest-growing podcast agency, specialising in producing compelling, high-quality podcast content for brands and businesses.