A recent interview with our Head of SEO & Tech, Jake Bentham, explores how the rapid evolution of AI is reshaping the SEO landscape and what it means for brand marketers.
Discussing the biggest shifts in search behaviour, Jake highlights the rise of AI-generated answers and ‘zero-click’ searches, explaining: “More often than ever before, users are finding the answers they need directly via an AI summary at the top of the results page.” As a result, brands are being encouraged to rethink how they maintain visibility when fewer users are clicking through to websites.
Jake also emphasises the growing importance of authority-led content, noting: “Prioritise creating content that establishes trust, authority and expertise within your field.”
The interview also explores how at AgencyUK we are adapting our strategies to help clients stay visible in an increasingly AI-driven search environment.
Read the full interview on our website.
Congratulations! You’ve produced a video you’re really happy with. Now all that’s left to do is upload it to your preferred streaming platform and forget about it, right? Well, not quite. Uploading it to one platform and moving on is a missed opportunity. A single video can generate weeks or even months of marketing content when used as part of a structured video marketing strategy.
There’s a much better way to maximise your investment, and it’s far less expensive than you might think…
As video becomes more and more important in buying decisions (don’t just take our word for it) making the most of your content has become essential. The aim is to maximise the number of opportunities to engage with your audience and that means translating your content into the most eye-catching formats and showcasing it on the most relevant platforms.
Ensuring the consistency of your brand’s look and feel across each touch point is also key to helping build trust and recognition. Plus, it means you can have content that can more easily be used at a later date.
This is where the strategy of producing one main film and cleverly repurposing it with mini edits comes into play. Where appropriate, you can also use it to create micro content (films or animations). Extracting key moments and insights from the hero video means marketers can tailor their content to suit different platforms and audience preferences.
So how is it done? There are 3 main ‘Ms’ to bear in mind.
(view image in the original article here)
The first M (Main) is pretty straight forward, so we won’t spend too much time here. Your Main is the complete film you’ve put all your effort and time into. A tight script, some fun effects and clever camera work and you’re good to go.
As a rule of thumb, you’ll want to put this on YouTube or your preferred streaming platform etc. YouTube is perhaps the best know and makes your videos very discoverable, but you might benefit from the additional insights a platform such as TwentyThree can provide. This allows you to continue refining how you position your content and helps you attract more views.
*Don’t forget that you might want to hype your main film using your shorter pieces of content first, so hang fire on posting it until you’ve released a few canny ‘teaser’ edits.
We’ve used an example from the TOUGHBOOK campaign we produced for technology pioneers, Panasonic, highlighting how we maximised the video assets – from the primary film to short clips and teaser content.
(view the video in the original article here)
The second M (Mini) is where you start to create shorter, more focused edits of your Main film. A Mini edit’s purpose can either be to build a queue of people ready to watch your main film OR highlight unique parts of your offering.
For example, your Main film may be about your complete suite of products or services, but your Mini edits might break it down into your specialism in individual sectors. Equally, you might have produced a tutorial on how to use your product and found that people are most often searching for (and watching) one particular step of the process. Creating a Mini edit focused on that one step, packed with quality SEO, can increase your discoverability to new prospects.
The key here is not to create lots of new content, you should be aiming to recycle, reuse and reformat as much as possible into new edits.
Here’s a quick shorthand for how you might define those different types of edit.
These give the audience a reason to watch your main video. What are you audience going to find out? Does it give a glimpse of a new product or service? Are you announcing a particular date or event? Perhaps your interview had a nugget of gold in, you can create a short edit that leads up to that point, encouraging viewers to watch your main film to find out more.
Think of this as a short snappy edit that sets everything else up. This will come out in advance of your main video, so the goal is to create a queue of people ready and waiting for when the main video launches.
Here’s a little teaser video from the Panasonic Toughbook campaign.
(view the video in the original article here)
These combine as many hooks as possible to pull people towards your main film OR provide another CTA i.e. to a landing page or sign-up form.
By condensing the most compelling moments and messages from the core video into shorter formats, marketers can deliver targeted edits that resonate with different segments of their audience.
Now’s the time to think social media: using LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok etc. With these platforms, your audience often wants smaller bite-size content.
Whether it’s a brief teaser, a highlight reel, or a quick tutorial, each edit serves to capture attention and drive engagement, ultimately leading viewers back to the full video for a deeper dive into the content.
Check out this short snippet from the Toughbook campaign- a quick example of how a single core video can evolve into engaging mini content that grabs the attention of the viewer.
(view the video in the original article here)
This most often refers to content such as Gifs, presentations or web animations. Think of them as small single-issue messages, or very brief statements. Examples could be:
The key here is to keep it concise. If someone asked you to explain your micro edit, could you sum it up in one sentence? You’re giving potential customers clarity in seconds, and for the time-poor that’s a compelling reason to click.
The outputs for Micro tend to fall into gifs, MP4s, or Lotties and Rives, and the use cases are the broadest:
Here’s an example of how we make the most of one explainer video. This is our Atomic Design explainer video. We use the complete video to kick off pitches, giving the audience a quick overview of the methodology.
(view the videos in the original article here)
Video marketing remains a powerful tool for brands looking to engage audiences and drive meaningful interactions. By creating one full video and repurposing it into shorter edits, marketers can maximise the reach and impact of their content across various platforms –without drastically increasing the total cost.
A well thought out video marketing plan should guide your production of the video. It lets you know up-front exactly what the strategy is and the exact content you’ll need to produce. For example, when you animate that icon, is it also going to be needed for a Lottie? And, if so, what steps do you need to take to minimise additional work?
By combining compelling visuals with strategic messaging, and getting under the right noses, brands can create memorable experiences that resonate with their audience and drive tangible results.
If you’re wondering how to squeeze even more value out of your video content, or just want to talk through your ideas, get in touch at [email protected].
The latest World Advertising Research Center (WARC) report points to renewed confidence within the advertising sector, with brands continuing to invest as digital channels and on-demand media become a bigger part of everyday life. Ongoing improvements in technology, connectivity, and measurement tools are helping organisations plan campaigns with greater clarity and reach audiences more effectively.
Offering his view on the findings, our Managing Director, Sammy Mansourpour, explained, “Perhaps the greatest boost has been in confidence from brands to invest, based largely on improved targeting and measurement from platforms.”
This reflects a broader shift in how businesses approach marketing, with more emphasis on digital-first thinking, cross-channel planning, and flexible media choices. As audience habits continue to evolve, advertisers are placing increasing value on insight, adaptability, and long-term strategy.
Read Sammy’s full comments on our website.
Search is evolving quickly, and businesses are having to rethink how they appear online. The lines between traditional search engine optimisation and paid advertising are becoming less clear, which means brands need a joint approach rather than treating each channel separately. A strong content strategy now plays a central role in how organisations are discovered and how they stay visible to the right audiences.
As our Managing Director, Sammy Mansourpour, recently noted, “ChatGPT results and all the mainstream LLM models are based on search data inputs, so it is difficult to see how advertising – ChatGPT in this case – and SEO can be split. The present reality is that any robust search content strategy is informing ChatGPT results.”
This shift highlights the importance of planning content, advertising, and visibility together rather than in isolation. Businesses that adapt early are more likely to build stronger long-term digital presence and maintain consistent reach across platforms.
You can read Sammy’s full comments here.
A new podcast series, Nothing, Something Nothing, has launched from Nine Tree Studios, Bristol.
The series explores how people approach creativity, are inspired, and develop their creative practice.
It’s about the creative moments you didn’t know you missed. It’s about the space between ideas, and the highs and lows that shape creative work.
It’s sector-agnostic with some high-calibre guests from the worlds of music, food, art, business and design.
Season 1’s guests include Lee Kiernan (Guitarist, IDLES), Calum Franklin (Restaurateur, Harrods), and Alex Rodrigues (Producer/Director, Channel 4).
And – as a Bristol Creative Industries exclusive – the podcast will also be dropping an episode with Mike Bailey (Actor/Teacher), known for his role as Sid in Skins.
New episodes drop every Wednesday on your favourite platform; visit www.nsnpodcast.com to listen and subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube, as well as on social.
The podcast has launched from production company JonesMillbank and Nine Tree Studios, with recording currently taking place in Bristol.
***
JonesMillbank are a full-service production company based at Nine Tree Studios, their 10,000sq ft film studio.
Producing branded content, TV ads and social content their clients include local, global and household brands such as Dyson, Freixenet, DHL, Oxfam, Pukka and Vax.
jonesmillbank.com
01173706372
[email protected]
The primary goal of any filming day is the final polished video. But the true story of innovation, teamwork, and expertise often lies in what happens between the takes. This is the power of a well-executed Behind-the-Scenes (BTS) strategy.
BTS content delivers three key advantages:
– It showcases your people. BTS content captures the personalities and passion behind your brand. It’s about trust, collaboration, and the shared goal of creating something great.
– It builds audience trust by offering a transparent look at your process, showcasing the technical skill and planning involved.
– It fuels your marketing. A single filming day can provide a treasure trove of authentic photos and video clips to keep your social media channels buzzing for weeks.
Case study in action: Our recent shoot with Hot Robotics and the University of Bristol for their Cerberus robot project is a perfect example.
The accompanying BTS film (shared below) goes far beyond a simple “making-of.” It captures the reality of a complex shoot: setting up the master interview ‘studio’, coordinating drone on drone aerial sequences, fun with smoke pellets and, of course, the obligatory trip to Greggs! All the while maintaining a fantastic team dynamic.
This footage becomes an invaluable asset, demonstrating both technical capability and a strong collaborative culture.
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By ChatGPT
In November 2025, Epoch published its first flagship report titled ‘Understanding AI: A Deep Dive into Large Language Models‘. You can view the report and a recording of the webinar here. What follows is a summary of this report, written by ChatGPT using our CRAFT prompting framework. We hope it’s helpful.
Epoch’s latest flagship report breaks down the fast-moving world of Large Language Models (LLMs) and what they mean for marketers today. It’s a practical, human-centred guide that explains how these systems work, where they’re useful, where they’re risky, and how professionals can stay ahead as AI becomes woven into every part of our working lives.
1. What LLMs Actually Are
LLMs are essentially very advanced predictive text engines. They’re trained on huge amounts of online text, learning patterns between words so they can predict what should come next in a sentence. They don’t “think” — they calculate probabilities. And because they’re probabilistic, the same prompt may give slightly different answers each time.
They can also be fine-tuned through human feedback, and their behaviour is shaped by parameters (like temperature, token limits, and context windows) that control creativity, length, and style.
2. The Four Types of LLMs
The report outlines a simple two-axis framework (lightweight vs. heavyweight, general vs. domain-specific), giving us four categories:
Plus, there are task-specific LLMs designed for things like transcription, translation, and summarisation.
3. How Marketers Are Using AI Today
This isn’t theoretical — 88% of marketers already use AI daily. The biggest uses cluster into four areas:
To get the most out of an LLM, Epoch recommends the CRAFT method: Context, Role, Action, Format, Tone — a simple way to turn vague prompts into sharp, useful ones.
4. Concerns and Challenges
The report doesn’t shy away from the risks. Key issues include:
But it also stresses a crucial point: AI won’t replace humans — humans who use AI will replace humans who don’t.
5. How to Think About AI
Epoch explores a set of useful mental models — from “jagged intelligence” (AI is brilliant at some things and terrible at others) to “work slop” (the coming wave of low-effort AI content). These help us develop a more balanced, realistic perspective on what AI can and can’t do.
6. The Future of LLMs
LLMs are becoming more capable across four big areas:
They’ll also increasingly live in dedicated hardware — wearables that “see” and “hear” the world.
7. The Human Skills That Will Matter More
As AI takes on structured tasks, timeless human qualities become even more valuable:
In short: AI makes the human parts of our work more important, not less.
This article was written by Epoch’s Creative Director, Vix Hansard.
Every single day, the minute we step out of our house, we find ourselves swimming in a sea of visual cues. These cues can guide us, they can teach us, they can resonate with us or in some cases, they can shove us to the margins.
Take a hospital. You’re stressed, you’re scared, and the signs make no sense. Too small, poorly placed, or a muddle of colours. At best, it’s frustrating. At worst, it’s dangerous. Good design can soothe; bad design creates chaos.
Ever noticed raised metal bumps or concrete studs outside storefronts? They’re not decorative, they’re designed to stop homeless people from resting there. They are physical “no entry” sign for the most vulnerable. It’s hostile architecture and it’s basically telling us to f*@k off.
Visuals also reinforce bias. The press often show mugshots for black suspects and family photos for white ones. Before you even read the headline, the picture has framed your judgment. That’s not neutral design; it’s a loaded cue.
But visual design can also include, uplift, and connect.
In classrooms, images and symbols help diverse learners grasp complex ideas. In public transport hubs, clear, multilingual signs empower newcomers to navigate new cities with confidence and joy. A rainbow sticker on a café window is a clear invite to the LGBTQ+ community, saying ‘you’re welcome here’.
And long overdue, fashion is catching on. Inclusive mannequins are popping up in storefronts featuring prosthetic limbs, diverse skin tones, and more varied body shapes. Nike nailed it with their plus-size mannequins standing alongside their slender counterparts in their flagship London store. It’s not a gimmick. It’s visibility. It’s a ‘you matter too.’
Japan has a word for this kind of intentional, behaviour-shaping design:
Shikake (仕掛け), creativity that influences action and emotion without force. Like zigzagging pathways that naturally slow you down, or stairs that play music, SO MUCH more fun than the escalator. Playful, practical, effective.
In summary, we don’t just look at the world, we read it. Constantly. Every shape, symbol, colour, and structure around us is whispering (or shouting) something. The question is: What’s the message? Who gets to connect with it and who’s left out?
Design is power. It can open doors or build barriers. It can be a warm welcome or a cold shoulder. So, let’s design better stories and create visual cues that guide with clarity, include with heart, and resonate. Design speaks. Let’s make sure it says the right thing.
References:
Hostile Architecture by Ben Campkin and Ger Duijzings Designing Disorder: Experiments and Disruptions in the City by Pablo Sendra and Richard Sennett
Shikake: The Japanese Art of Shaping Behavior Through Design by Naohiro Matsumura EJI & Global Strategy Group (2021): Innocent Until Proven Guilty?
Signage and Wayfinding Design by Chris Calori & David Vanden-Eynden
Thanks to all the love and support from our amazing community, we have been named the 8th best workspace in the UK by the 2025 Tallys, and the highest ranked workspace in the South West.
All there is to say is thank you. To our members, our supporters, our incredible team, and to everyone who makes Square Works what it is.
When we started Square Works way back in 2019, we could never have imagined the amazing community we would build over the years – to be ranked so highly amongst many other incredible workspaces across the country is a privilege, and we couldn’t have done it without you.
To find out more about The Tallys and why Square Works has been ranked #8 in the UK, click the link below.
GenAI video has been causing quite a stir recently: whether it’s backlash over the tide of AI slop, something being decried as an AI fake (whether it is or not), or an agentic AI business formula that’s made ‘millions’ overnight. Oh, and the ‘ultimate’ prompt-writing masterclass? You’ll have seen all the ads…
But look a bit harder and there’s some really interesting work out there:
One thing is undeniable: AI is going to affect digital industries – the debate around the extent and exact timeline gets far more complicated.
With all that in mind, we wanted to use our yearly Xmas video as a test bed of GenAI, to see what it could do and, importantly, what it couldn’t. And we thought we’d bring you along for the ride…
It all started in August (don’t judge). We had just ironed out our company-wide AI training roadmap and we were updating our AI usage policy. As a creative agency, it felt like we were taking real leaps forward. But it also gave our creative studio a lot to think about. We each mulled over our own questions around authenticity and the future of creative production (the part of our job many of us love most of all).
So we got our heads together and talked about how we should be doing things. What we arrived on was that creative thinking, sketching, scribbling, chatting, tinkering, and FUN should all be ring fenced and given the time they deserve. That’s why we decided to collaborate on a brief so ambitious and outlandish it simply had to work.
It should no longer come as a surprise that typing a basic prompt into AI engines only leads to AI slop.
So, before we even touched a computer, we came up with a basic concept – the ultimate tongue-in-cheek pastiche of Christmas perfume ads – and then had a mass brain-storming session where we asked the whole company for their craziest ideas. And boy did they deliver!
In a short space of time, we had suggestions ranging from a simple Xmas magic box to rivers of gravy, something about a unicorn that didn’t quite make the final edit, and the perfect name – ‘Sléj’ (pronounced as ‘slay’, obviously).
Our copywriters pulled the ideas together into a script, using a knowledge of Christmas-related puns that took a lifetime (or previous life editing rather niche magazines) to develop.
This isn’t the place to be overly reliant on AI. Allowing people free reign to throw stuff at the page works well. Importantly, don’t shut down ideas too early. The most unlikely suggestions can get workshopped into something surprising and brilliant.
This could turn into a whole blog by itself. More than any other, this stage will determine the look of your film so the more references you can include the better.
It’s crucial to find references that you have rights to both use and pass to a third party – in this case, an AI model.
For this reason, we used Generative AI to generate our reference images, feeding the output images back into the AI multiple times and asking for tweaks and refinements.
This produced a combination of a storyboard and multiple accompanying style frames (high-quality images that give a good overall feel for what the video will look like once animated).
You’re aiming to find references for each part of the shot you want to generate, for example the setting, tone, pose, character and composition etc. You want the AI to have as much information as possible and limit how much it figures out by itself.
We quickly learnt that there isn’t one AI model to rule them all, with different options performing better for different tasks. We’d highly recommend experimentation here to find which works best for your requirements.
Using detailed prompts and the bank of reference images we had gathered for each shot, we generated our footage. Prompts were written in a similar way to how we’d add
notes on a storyboard, i.e. ‘camera push in’, ‘talent to walk across frame left to right’, ‘high-key lighting’ etc but they also included additional things that wouldn’t usually be directable without heavy VFX work, i.e. ‘swirling wind kicks up dust behind legs’.
The point here is to think like a filmmaker and art director, you need to be able to supply image references but, just as importantly, you need to be able to articulate what you want to see in the frame. Playing AI like a slot machine will lead to slop.
In the same way that you rarely edit footage together straight out of the camera, generative video will almost always benefit from some post work. Again, this is a place to add further human touches that a text box often doesn’t offer. This could be reframing, changing the colour, or in/out painting of items in the scene.
Editing and sound design is another area where, as far as we’re concerned, humans just can’t be beat (not yet). Editing – the process of deciding where to push and pull those beats and gaps – and sound design are very much a process of creating a feeling and mood.
As with traditional film making, have in mind what you want to see. Those hard-won post skills still have lots of value.
It would be remiss not to briefly discuss some of our thoughts behind the ethics of our experiment.
The ethics of AI are extremely complicated. As with most things, a simply binary choice may feel tempting, and at times compulsive, but this rarely does justice to the many nuances of a topic. There is so much for every individual and organisation to consider, and I’d argue the often-discussed environmental and job-replacement angles are just the beginning.
For further information I’d highly recommend:
For me, I think After Effect’s AI roto-brush sums up a lot of the debate:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXMTHe8z6Tw
So, how do I feel about the finished video? I think the team have done a great job of making a whimsical and audacious Xmas vid with just the right level of self-awareness. And with a level of production that, prior to GenAI, our budget simply wouldn’t have stretched to.
I also hope it’s as clear to you, as it is to me, that we couldn’t have come anywhere close to the result without the thought, skill, talent and humour that went into it from right across the agency.
And how do I feel about AI? It’s complicated…
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