Want more? Read the full interview to find out about Keri’s thoughts on Bristol, her work with Cancer Research UK and why she decided to take the freelance route as a social media consultant.

Finzels Reach, hands down. Spicer + Cole is a great place for meetings and getting in a few hours of work over a coffee (or three). And Left Handed Giant is a great place to head in the evening (they have gin and tonic on tap – blows my mind!). They also have a great event space too – lovely local agency Maya recently held an art exhibition there with local artists to raise money for mental health charities: OTR and Bristol Mind.

Finzels is becoming a real creative hub too, with BDH and Channel 4 already calling it home and a co-working space due to open next year. Exciting times!

What are you most proud of as a business?

Definitely my work with Cancer Research UK, during which I was the social media lead for its mass participation events (such as Race for Life). I focused on driving event entries, encouraging fundraising, raising awareness of cancer prevention and educating our followers on our scientists’ work. While I love working for brands, working at CRUK allowed me to truly make a difference. I was able to track how much of the money raised through events could be attributed to social media – and it ran into the hundreds of thousands during my time there.

I also worked on the #nomakeupselfie campaign, which raised £8million in just a few days. The selfie challenge wasn’t actually planned – we saw it trending on Twitter and thought we’d jump on it and see what happens, and it just flew. A great example of being in the right place at the right time and capitalising on it.

What gadget could you not live without?

I couldn’t live without my phone (not a massive shock, coming from a social media consultant!). My favourite app is Twitter, I feel like it’s the only social platform that’s kept its original essence. It’s not bloated with ads, and the focus remains on the users. Of course, there are huge downsides – much needs to be done to combat trolls and bots. But it’s still the first place I turn to when something big happens. I love the drama! I’m also a big believer in curating your own social media feeds for self-care; I’ve got all sorts of words muted (‘Snowflake’ – ugh) and focus on following funny and interesting accounts.

What exciting plans have you got coming up?

Lots! I’m delivering an Instagram workshop with Bristol Media and Jess Siggers, giving a 2020 Social Media Trends talk, and I’m also excited for our next Glug Bristol event. We’re focusing on creativity for good, with talks from Ben Akers, Epoch and The Bard Collective, with all proceeds from the event donated to Caring in Bristol.

Whose work do you admire and why?

I want to give a massive shout out to Joyann Boyce for the work she’s doing to raise awareness of diversity in the industry. We need to make some big changes – and I’d fully encourage you to get in touch with her to start that discussion.

Also big up Tiny Giant for its brilliant AI experiments, McCann for its backwards poems campaign for domestic abuse charity Refuge, and Rubber Republic for its hilarious videos.

What encouraged you to go freelance when you first started out?

I’d always thought about going freelance; the freedom of being able to choose who I worked for, and when and where I worked were always attractive. But taking the jump was always a bit too scary; it was safer to stay employed. But then, at the end of 2017, I was made redundant – so I didn’t have much choice! I figured that I’d try freelancing out and see how it went, and two years later, I’m still going.

It’s definitely a challenge, but I’ve learnt a LOT. I’ve also been able to diversify. In my previous role, I managed the social media delivery team – so most of my focus was on creative strategy, client services and line management. Since going freelance, I’ve expanded my services into training, workshops and public talks, as well as offering general consultancy. And because I manage my time, I’ve also been able to carve out invaluable space to explore other projects, such as launching Glug Bristol. I never thought I’d run events, but here we are – 12 Glugs later!

Keen to feature your business? If you’d like to be part of our Featured Member series, get in touch for more information.

Digitally-centred marketing, shopper & sales promotion agency, Activation, has announced that it has appointed Claire Moyne as Client Services Director. Previously the Managing Director at Bristol-based Edo, a digital customer experience consultancy, Claire has joined to support Activation with it’s ambitious growth plans, leading and developing client relationships whilst heading the client services function within the agency as a member of the senior management team.

With 23% growth last year, and following a number of recent wins, Activation has a number of exciting brands on its books, and leading these relationships will be an area of focus for Claire. The agency also launched it’s reworked proposition in the summer, with a uniquely differentiated offering in digitally-centred brand, shopper and promotional marketing. This proposition is generating interest in the grocery sector, leading to a growing new business pipeline.

Matt Ramsay, MD of Activation comments – Claire brings with her a unique mix of skills with her experience in leadership, digital, customer and client experience and grocery brand promotions – we know Claire will be an asset to the business and we’re really looking forward to working together and introducing her to our clients, where her abilities will help us grow and improve our overall business. I’m delighted to welcome Claire to the A-Team

With this role, the agency has also embraced flexible working, with Claire also working the role around her recent purchase of a coffee shop in Bristol!

October saw the return of SearchStar’s annual advertising conference to the Apex Hotel in Bath. Close to 350 delegates from fantastic companies, charities, institutions and agencies turned out to fill Bath’s Apex Hotel and listen to the latest digital thinking from Google, Facebook, Hitwise and, of course, SearchStar.

With a clear theme of “growth”, the eight presentations were curated to give those present food for thought and real inspiration to evolve the thinking behind their digital marketing strategies and take advantage of cutting-edge developments in the industry.

Feedback about the day has been wonderfully positive. In fact, it’s officially our best-rated conference to date, with both the speaker and their presentations receiving universal acclaim.

The State of Advertising

In his trademark style, Dan’s opening presentation very much set the scene by introducing topics that would be covered in more detail later in the day.

Dan has spent a lot of time with senior staff at Google recently, and used the knowledge gleaned from his discussions to frame much of his content. The key message was that advertising shouldn’t be just about efficiency – it had to be about effectiveness too.

Future-Proofing in the Age of Machine Learning

A presentation from Google always promises a wealth of excellent content. Roxanne did not disappoint as she provided a full view of how machine learning and AI can be leveraged to deliver real business growth from advertising: not just in the future, but right now.

Google Analytics: A Year of Change

Jon loves Google Analytics. And, given the chance, he’s always happy to share that passion with an audience. So, we gave him the chance and he delivered a brilliantly expert view on the good – and the not so good – developments in the field of web analytics.

From Localisation to Digital Transcreation

Rawad Jammoul, Head of Paid Media, Adapt Worldwide and Ryan Webb, Conversion & Analytics Director, SearchStar

When it comes to memorable stage duos, Morecambe and Wise have nothing on Rawad and Ryan. The pair took us on a fantastic tour around the world of localisation and transcreation to uncover exactly what is meant by these two terms and how they can be employed to turbocharge international growth.

Building a Zero Friction Future

Lars and John provided an excellent overview of the solutions that Facebook and Instagram have to offer in reducing friction for consumers in order to “deliver on the promise of now.”

Customer expectations have never been higher, with a real desire for businesses to be able to provide what customers want instantly and seamlessly. Moreover, these expectations are constantly rising, so businesses have to work incredibly hard to keep up.

Amazon Advertising: Threatening The Duopoly

Sian made use of her wealth of experience with Amazon advertising to show how and why the ecommerce giant is coming to represent a major force in online marketing. Indeed, advertisers are already recognising this, as Amazon’s share of digital ad revenue has grown from 2% in 2016 to 9% in 2019, and is forecast to grow to 14% by 2023.

The Trends Shaping Digital Advertising Today

Hitwise is a company driven by data, and seek to help advertisers and agencies uncover important insights and opportunities for growth. Taking internet usage data from a panel of 3 million users in the UK alone, they’re incredibly well placed to do just that, and Charlotte took us through three of the most interesting trends that have emerged over the last year.

The Future of Digital Advertising

Rounding off the day, Ed looked to tie some of the themes together to deliver his view on what the future might look like for digital advertising.

It was contended that the industry had got stuck in a bit of a rut, experiencing Groundhog Day when it came to endlessly labouring the importance of mobile, video, attribution and personalisation.

Change in the industry isn’t happening as fast as it might, not because of a lack of technological innovation or consumer appetite, but because of an entrenched conservatism and reluctance to embrace change among advertisers.

Liz Gadd, Co-Founder and Recruiter at Moxie and Mettle, is an experienced recruiter in PR, Communications, Digital, Social, Creative and Marketing.

In this workshop Liz will share with you some of her 30 years of experience placing freelance PR, marketing, creative and communications professionals. This includes…

what potential new clients are looking for in applications and approaches;
how to find and meet the right people;
how to approach and target the decision makers;
some honest facts about salaries, day rates and charges.
Flexible hours, remote working and part time working patterns and how to approach this subject with clients and employers.

Liz looks at CVs, Linked In, direct approaches, and general hints and tips about how to get the right work for you. It’s real world career advice with plenty of knowledge to share about what it’s really like and what really works in finding freelance work with clients and new job opportunities. Liz will also share how to create a perfect 10 second introduction for you and your services, when talking to prospective clients and new contacts.

This workshop will take place on Tuesday 20th November from 0930-1200 at The Ivy Clifton Brasserie, 42-44 Caledonia Place, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 4DN. Tickets are £20+VAT for Bristol Media members and £30+VAT for non-members. A light breakfast is included in the ticket price. Booking is via Eventbrite.

It’s been almost a year since we announced Marissa Lewis-Peart as the winner of the 2019 Ben Martin Apprentice Award (BMAA). Marissa’s had an enviable experience of Bristol’s creative sector since being selected. 12 months later and with applications open for the BMAA 2020, we wanted to find out more about the opportunities she’s received since last year’s victory.

“Hi, I’m Marissa, a Graphic Communication graduate, and I won the 2019 Ben Martin Apprentice Award!

As part of my award I attended SXSW in Austin, Texas – The world’s largest interactive media festival, where I had the opportunity to immerse myself into the latest technology and attend talks by industry leaders. Read the article about my festival experience here. Since finishing my final year at university, I’ve been making my way around 15 different Advertising, Marketing, Branding, Design and Digital agencies, taking part in 1-2 week internships.

As a student wrapping up my final year at university, I felt nervous about what would lie ahead of me in terms of finding a graduate job and not wanting to lose my creative freedom. Winning the Ben Martin Apprentice Award came at the perfect time and it took a lot of that stress away for me. It provided me with connections to people within the industry and paid internships straight out of university, providing a rare opportunity to experience the biggest creative agencies in Bristol and learn about the various roles within these agencies, all in one go! Some of these agencies include Armadillo, McCann Bristol, Bray Leino, Wonderland Communications, Halo, Tällt, Saintnicks, Mr B & Friends, Taxi Studio, True Digital, Great State and more to come.

I’ve met so many great and supportive people who have taken time out of their schedules to explain to me how exactly the Internet works, or why my website has disappeared from Google, how Pantone colours are used, or have written me a reading list of creative strategy and design books to get stuck into! I’ve had the chance to work on projects for Disney Cruises, McDonalds, The Royal Navy and many more companies, as well as attend a commercial photo shoot for a campaign and facilitate my own user testing sessions for an app that’s being developed, all within my first 4 months out of university!

It’s a crazy feeling when I reflect on notes that I took during my first few internships and how I’m beginning to apply my knowledge now, and I realise how much I’ve learnt in such a short space of time. Nothing compares to gaining real industry experience and I’m so glad to have been given this opportunity.

I’m now beginning to wrap up my last few internships and I’m weighing up my options in terms of whether to go back to a few agencies to do longer internships and gain more, varied experience, or whether to settle into a permanent job role. Whatever I choose to do, I’m grateful to have options and be in the position to choose my next steps thanks to the Ben Martin Apprentice Award.

If you’re reading this and considering applying for the 2020 Ben Martin Apprentice Award I definitely recommend you do! I was unsure about applying when I first came across the award. I doubted whether I stood a chance at winning, but you miss 100% of the opportunities that you don’t put yourself forward for! What’s the worst that can happen?”

We’re now looking for sponsors to come forward and support the BMAA in 2020. If you’re committed to making a difference, get in touch for details.

For candidates, more information about the 2020 Ben Martin Apprentice Award and how to apply can be found here.

The Advertising Standards Authority has finally started to catch up with influencer marketing, with a string of investigations this year.

For example, it has recently said that Instagram content which includes a product counts as advertising if the influencer has any kind of payment from a brand. This applies even if the influencer wasn’t paid to publish the specific post. In other words, if they do a ‘freebie’ post they still need to tell their audience that it’s a paid promotion.

Now the problem here is that it isn’t necessarily just the influencer who gets named and shamed – but most importantly it’s the brand.

And if you’re an agency who works with influencers, the ASA can go after your client, not you.

The effect of that on relationships, your agency’s reputation and your bottom line should be clear – clients won’t be impressed if you get them in trouble with the ASA.

The ASA publishes new decisions every Wednesday – and they’re usually quite digestible for non-lawyers. Staying up to date will help you understand the pitfalls and communicate them to your team and clients, reassuring them that you know you’re doing.

Doesn’t make it ok. If other influencers promote a brand without making it clear it’s an ad, that doesn’t give you a green light. This is especially true when the brand or influencer is based in another country with different advertising and marketing rules.

Speaking of which, don’t be tempted to try to skirt the rules by using, for example, an Australian influencer to market to a UK audience. If your client is UK-based, they’re probably still on the hook as far as the ASA is concerned.

If you’re in the UK, promoting something for a UK company, to a UK audience or with a UK influencer, usually the safest option is to follow UK rules.

Let’s be honest – whilst you should always follow the rules, it’s possible to over-scrutinise content for risks.

The way to effectively manage risk is to understand how the ASA gets involved in the first place – namely when it gets complaints.

It follows then that content which attracts more complaints, rightly or wrongly, is more likely to get investigated. Competitions are a good example– if an influencer promotes a prize draw for your client’s brand, disappointed entrants might decide to complain. It sounds petty but it does happen.

So if you run competitions with influencers you might have a simple rule that posts should be cleared by an account director. You could have a similar rule for products – like medication – with special advertising restrictions.

You probably have a standard contract for influencers. (if you don’t, you should!) You can amend that to stop them promoting your client without saying it’s an #ad – even if they do it for free.

The goal here is to avoid getting your clients into hot water, not just to be able to point the finger at the influencer when things go wrong.

So explain the new rule to the influencer when you send them the contract. In an ideal world influencers would read every contract and get their own legal advice on it, but in reality not all of them do.

If you do get into trouble with the ASA over influencer marketing, then consult a lawyer as soon as you can.

1) The earlier you can get an advertising lawyer involved, the easier is it is to sort the problem out.

2) As I said at the start, an ASA investigation won’t go down well with your client. Panic mode can kick in. By involving a specialist, you show them that you take the issue seriously and are in control, which gives you a chance of preserving the relationship.

Annalisa Checchi is a media and technology lawyer at top 100 law firm Foot Anstey. You can get in touch with her via email: [email protected]

*DEADLINE EXTENDED – We’ve had some fantastic applications, and are now looking for freelancers who specialise in Copywriting, Animation or Video production*

We’ve had several requests from our membership community to bring back our famous Portfolio Review Nights. Well, there’s good news! We’ve secured the date and the venue, and the next Portfolio Review night will be held on Wednesday 13th November at Origin Workspace, Berkeley Square.

If you’re a Bristol Media Freelance Member working in the creative sector, this is a fantastic opportunity to have your portfolio work reviewed by top creative directors from several of the most successful agencies in the region. We’ve got 15 creative directors signed up from agencies including Mr B & Friends, Oakwood, Epoch, Armadillo, Proctor + Stevenson, Zone, saintnicks, Great State, Bray Leino CX, The Way, Halo, Home , Six and Prophecy who are all eager to meet local talent.

Freelancers will have up to 8 minutes with each director who will offer their advice and constructive feedback in a speed networking environment. In the past, Freelancers have often secured a project or been invited for a further interview with the agency team, and we hear that the creative directors have a great time, too!

We’re now looking for freelancers working in the fields of digital, graphic design, branding, web development, video production, animation/motion graphics, VFX, photography, illustration and copywriting.

This is a very popular event which is for Bristol Media members only. We only have 15 places available.

TO APPLY:

Please email [email protected] saying why this is the perfect opportunity for you right now, along with a link to your portfolio or website. Applications close at 5pm on Friday 25th October.

Today’s announcement of the merging of the Creative Industries Federation and Creative England (whose HQ is in Bristol) is a step towards a stronger profile for the industry in government circles. Bristol Media is a strong supporter of the CIF, with director Paul Appleby on their UK Advisory Council, and they have done great work on policy and lobbying.

Now that programmes under the Industrial Strategy Sector Deal are rolling out, including £1.35m allocated to WECA to develop a Creative Scale-up programme for the region, and the national Creative Careers Campaign delivered by CIF with ScreenSkills and Culture & Creative Skills, closer working with the regional presence of Creative England makes the whole support structure stronger.

The new organisation will be formed in Spring 2020 and maintain a UK-wide remit, with CE’s Caroline Norbury taking the CEO role.

We look forward to continuing our strong relationship with the new organisation, and if you have any thoughts do contact [email protected], and he can take them to the November CIF Council meeting.

To read the press release, visit: https://www.creativeindustriesfederation.com/news/creative-industries-federation-and-creative-england-unite

John Thornton, social media copywriter for Innocent Drinks, encouraged brands to start using Twitter “like a human” at the Digital Gaggle conference last week.

Speaking to an audience of over 190 marketers hyped up on free smoothies at the Watershed, John gave much food for thought on how brands can use social media.

During his session, John illustrated the power of a personable and consistent tone of voice to generate genuine engagement with consumers online. Using examples of his most popular tweets, varying from a #DogOnATrain thread and his weekly Great British Bake Off commentary, he made a convincing argument to not mention the product at all.

John said: “We don’t use our social media to push our products, we use it to push our brand”.

John explained how Innocent’s Twitter has stayed relevant because of their lack of a sign off system, opening them up to “reactive gold.” Dissecting the unexpected popularity of their new smoothie campaign, ‘Bolt from the Blue’, he explained how none of this could have happened if he did not have the freedom to respond right there and then to the flood of incoming tweets.

Alongside John’s talk, there was a wealth of more actionable tips shared by speakers throughout the day.

Jon Payne (Technical Director of Noisy Little Monkey) coached the audience on ‘Influencing Buyers to Grow Profit’. His talk taught attendees how to deploy subtle psychological nudges in their marketing in order to convert more of their prospects into customers.

Following Jon’s talk was Joyann Boyce (founder of The Social Detail) who taught Digital Gaggle attendees about inclusive marketing. In her session, she used examples of popular brands that have missed the mark when it comes to inclusivity and provided attendees with lots of tips to help them better represent their diverse audiences.

The brilliant Kirsty Hulse (founder of Manyminds and Roar! Training) closed the show with a galvanising talk that taught attendees how to harness the power of neuroscience to develop a slick process for coming up with creative ideas to implement in their marketing.

Kirsty said: “We need to stop seeing creativity as something we have or something we lack. We can teach ourselves to be creative”.

Audience members were also pleased to discover the virtue of day-dreaming, which Kirsty explained to be a vital part of the creative process.

Digital Gaggle will return to the Watershed on 23rd April 2020 with another stellar line-up of speakers to inspire you on your next digital marketing campaign. Subscribe to the newsletter to be the first to find out when tickets are released.

eckhoMedia have recently launched an exciting new website for Ardo Breastpumps, a family owned, award winning supplier of breastpumps who work closely with healthcare professionals within the hospital environment. The Ardo breastpumps are used in maternity and neonatal units as well as milk banks and childrens centres. Along with this their pumps and accessories are sold online through their website for mums at home.

The project begun by completely redesigning the user interface and experience to be clean, modern and easy to navigate. To make the most of the available technologies we developed this website as a hybrid of OpenCart and WordPress which gives the best of ecommerce and content management.

By using our hybrid system of designing and developing websites, Ardo Breastpumps has a feature rich, mobile friendly and search engine friendly website to drive sales and conversions. As part of this project we also provided an OpenCart upgrade service to bring the website to the most stable version of the OpenCart platform.

As with any ecommerce website that is online and trading, developing a new website can be tricky as there is the need to ensure customers, sales and order data is transferred. As part of this project and the go-live process, we synchronised the websites to ensure no data was lost and all order and sales data was migrated to the new website.