Werkshop Weekender (formerly known as Werkhouse) is finally back! This year they’re changing it up, and the torch for hosting has been passed on to Halo.
The weekend, where future designers, copywriters, and strategists are given the chance to connect with the industry and get a taste for agency life first hand through a real brief, is happening in Bristol on 16th and 17th November 2024.
Breaking down barriers
As Halo takes over the mantle, they are continuing to dial up the focus on diversity and inclusion. The weekend is open to anyone over 18, no matter their previous experience or education, and all applications are being judged blind.
“We know that university isn’t accessible, or even the right route, for everyone but yet there’s still such a heavy onus on having a degree when trying to move into the Creative Sector. We don’t think this should be the case. Creativity is open to everyone, and always should be, no matter where you are in life or what you’ve been (or are going) through. “ ~ Bryony Greenwood, People & Studio Coordinator at Halo
Werkshop Weekender brings together professionals from some of the best studios in Bristol and Bath, with curious individuals looking to enter the creative industries. Participants are divided into squads to tackle a real life brief from a client in the charity sector, developing ideas and communicating their concepts, with the support of assigned team leaders and on hand professionals.
Studios that so far have signed on for the weekend are:
How to apply
Applications open on 2nd September and close on 1st October, but if you for any reason need more time to finish, please contact Halo at [email protected] and they’ll do what they can to accommodate you.
The Werkshop Weekender team has made it clear; the weekend isn’t for those with experience. It’s for those with an interest in communications, design, and commercial creativity. They aren’t looking for professionals, they’re looking for those with a curious attitude and drive, who want to gain insight into agency life.
“If you’re passionate, if you have ideas, if you’re curious, we want to hear from you. Good ideas come from every aspect of life, and the experiences and the way people perceive life right from day one are what forms rounded ideas. We know life isn’t linear, and your journey into the creative space may not be either (mine wasn’t), so if you have even an inkling to apply, please do!” ~ Bryony Greenwood, People & Studio Coordinator at Halo
Go to the Werkshop Weekender website to find out more and to access the application when it opens.
Bristol-based CRM specialists Flourish have today joined forces with the creative services agency Curious and The Harbour Collective, in what is the first step in the development of a new marketing company – the Harbour Group.
The group will be led by Paul Hammersley. Previously founder of Harbour Collective, Hammersley will become the CEO of Harbour Group, with Hugo Varney taking on the role of CFO. Before forming Harbour, Hammersley was a chief executive of DDB and Cheil. He launched Harbour in 2017.
Hammersley said, “For some time we have been discussing with a number of our Collective member agencies how to more closely align their shared interests and create a more connected plan for future growth and value creation… central to those discussions has been our desire to allow for the continued autonomy of the agency Brands.”
Founded in 2004, Flourish built its reputation in CRM and Customer Journey marketing, working for clients such as Nissan, Twitch and ASOS. Today, the agency employs over 50 people and operates from offices in Bristol and Dubai.
Of Flourish’s three founders, Neil Hecquet and Rich Hartson will be departing the agency, whilst Keith Nichol will remain, taking a position on the Harbour Group board. Nichol said, “The last 20 years have been such an incredible personal experience. I couldn’t have hoped for better partners than Neil and Rich and both have been instrumental in Flourish’s success. The time has come to push on and this opportunity with Harbour enables us to add our strength to a wider group proposition.”
Ian Reeves, Flourish’s Managing Director, said “The Harbour Group vision is clear and offers our clients tangible value through vertically integrated and complimentary services. We’re excited to start the journey alongside Curious and believe their offering can help push the creative barriers of what can be achieved within CRM.”
For more information, please contact Aimee Blakemore, Marketing Manager at Flourish on 01173 117620 or [email protected].
About Flourish
Flourish, which has offices in Bristol and Dubai, is a CRM agency “specialising in the development and delivery of personalised data-driven experiences, direct communications and content”. Its clients include Nissan, Bet365 and Asos.
About Curious
Curious is a “tech-driven agency that provides design, artwork, photography, video, CGI, and content distribution services”, with clients that include Diageo, Specsavers and Patek Philippe.
About Harbour
Harbour Collective, described as a “standalone company which manages a membership base of a number of independent agencies”, includes Live & Breathe, Pretty Green, Thursday, Platform, Digital Natives, TCO, Just So and Mi Media.
We are thrilled to announce that Varn has been selected as a finalist for The Small Business of the Year Award, at the prestigious Lloyds Bank British Business Excellence Awards 2024. This is a real honour and a testament to the hard work and dedication of our entire team.
The Lloyds Bank British Business Excellence Awards are the UK’s largest awards programme celebrating the best of British business. These awards welcome and celebrate businesses of all sizes, from entrepreneurial start-ups and SMEs to well-established key industry players in the FTSE 100. Being selected as a finalist in this prestigious awards process is an incredible milestone for Varn, particularly as this year there has been an unprecedented number of entries.
The Small Business of the Year Award is a highly competitive category open to organisations with up to £5 million turnover in their last financial year. This category celebrates companies that demonstrate strong growth & resilience, plans for sustained growth and innovation, as well as customer/staff engagement, an ethical approach to business and strong business results.
Rob Wilde, Managing Director of Varn proudly shares that, “Being named a finalist for category of The Small Business of the Year Award at the Lloyds Bank British Business Excellence Awards 2024, is a fantastic recognition of the hard work and dedication of our wonderful team at Varn. We are truly honoured to be acknowledged alongside such outstanding businesses and are excited for what lies ahead.”
The winners will be announced at the Awards ceremony, to be held at Grosvenor House Hotel in London, on 12th November 2024. Being part of this esteemed awards process is a remarkable achievement for Varn. We are immensely proud of our team’s efforts and delighted to part of the awards process, as we eagerly look forward to the next stage of this journey.
If you would like to find out more about the Lloyds Bank British Business Excellence Awards or have any questions for our team, please get in touch and you can contact us here
It’s always important to consider potential restrictions and regulations before deploying a paid advertising campaign. It is clear that restrictions will always impact some sectors such as pharmaceuticals, alcohol or financial services. However, even if you think that your particular industry or sector may not be impacted by advertising restrictions, both Google and internal policies could have the potential to impact your advertising’s approval.
Before running a Google Ads campaign, our advice would be to give Google’s advertising policies section a read, no matter your industry. It’s important to note that policies can significantly alter by location targeted, and some violations can easily result in a permanent account suspension.
The same applies before running any campaign on Meta. Running ads on Facebook or Instagram have additional restrictions to consider. For example, you are unable to infer any personal attributes about the user such as age, gender or medical conditions in your advertising. If this is a concern and you want to find out more it’s helpful to view further details about Meta’s advertising restrictions here.
If you’re running ads in what may be considered a ‘safe’ industry, for example a D2C apparel ecommerce site, then it’s vital to be aware that there still needs to be careful consideration of restrictions when running advertising. With Google Shopping and Performance Max campaigns, despite advances in Google’s AI, their review tools can get tripped up easily. We have frequently seen instances of totally innocuous products being flagged as weaponry, tobacco or other heavily restricted categories – which then require a manual review before being able to advertise and can take several days to remedy.
It’s always valuable to have a read through product titles and descriptions and see if there’s anything that could potentially flag them for restriction. For example, maybe a specific item colour is described as ‘tobacco’ or ‘gun metal’ which could be an issue. Doing this won’t prevent all errors, so it’s important to ensure you’re frequently checking disapprovals in your Merchant Centre account and that your product feeds are optimised.
On Google Ads, using trademarked terms in ad copy can limit them or cause disapprovals. If you’re launching a product in collaboration, it’s vital your partner has cleared their trademarks for you to use by filling in this third party authorisation form. This can be quite a time consuming process to complete. Even if not running a collaboration, your ad text could accidentally use a trademarked term, which would then require editing.
Aside from trademark restrictions, it’s good to note that copy sign-off can be a complex process which needs to be planned for and will potentially take longer than you anticipate. It can involve many departments or have to go through multiple companies in different locations. Ensuring brand restrictions and guidelines are met can take months, especially if requiring review by legal departments.
Our recommendation is to start building a draft of your paid media campaign well in advance of a potential launch. Ideally do this four weeks for a new account, and only after carefully reading policy documents, no matter your sector. If working with partners in other companies, ensure you have a contact who can assist you in providing access and clearance to prevent delays.
If you need support with your paid media campaigns contact our expert team to discuss your challenges and any concerns about restrictions, we would love to help.
If you’re struggling to write content that ranks well on Google, you aren’t alone. Business owners, content creators, and marketers often face this challenge. They struggle to find a starting point for writing content that not only meets Google’s high standards but also ranks well in SERPs, and drive conversions. For years, SEO techniques have been designed for search engines, rather than users. However, the SEO landscape has been changing, with algorithm updates, innovative AI, and SERP feature updates / changes. This has led to a shift in the industry and the need to reassess strategies to align with Google’s request for user-first content; accessible and helpful.
At Varn, we take a holistic approach taking into account the wider aspects of technical SEO, AI-driven analytics and content optimisation, that align with the latest user experience principles. This helps to guide our clients through an ever-evolving and increasingly complex digital landscape.
Google’s E-E-A-T Principle is a cornerstone in raising your website’s SERP profile and rising through the ranking to the first position. By producing consistent useful and helpful content, a steady stream of traffic and conversions will follow. This article outlines the techniques to write quality content that both users and search engines value and ensuring you are writing with E-E-A-T at the core of your content strategy.
E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. E-E-A-T content should be part of any long-term SEO strategy to boost your website’s credibility and ranking. These guidelines are used by Google’s algorithms to help to evaluate the quality of the content on websites and in 2022 Google announced they were adding an extra E to the original EAT Guidelines.
So what does EEAT stand for?
This refers to the first-hand or personal experience of the content creator.
This identifies the creator’s knowledge and skill in the subject matter.
Assesses the credibility and recognition of the creator or website.
This evaluates the reliability and integrity of the content.
You may be thinking, what does all of this actually mean? In short, it means creating helpful and people-centric content.
E-E-A-T factors help to keep high-quality, reliable and relevant information available to users on the SERP. A content strategy that keeps ahead of keyword opportunities, utilises cross-functional teams, and produces organic content ensures your website’s content matches the high quality that Google is looking for. It’s also important to update existing content with contemporary research and updates so that this becomes evergreen content. Evergreen content refers to high-quality, valuable content that is relevant and useful to readers over a long period of time and unlike news articles or trend-based content that can quickly become outdated, evergreen content is designed to provide long-term value, attract ongoing traffic and continually engage audiences.
Organic SEO-first content is something we specialise in at Varn, whether for our client’s on-page content, blogs and product landing pages, through to off-page data-driven articles, guest blogs or PPC landing pages.
When creating or updating content for your website, we recommend you incorporate the elements explored below, into your overall SEO strategy to match E-E-A-T guidelines. Ultimately it’s about ensuring your content is as attractive as possible for the search engines to find, understand and rank.
Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness can be shown in various ways. For example, you can include detailed author bios on your website when someone writes and shares an article demonstrating your expertise. It’s vital to produce high-quality and well-researched content, cite credible sources and engage with the industry.
Social-proof your content with reviews or client testimonials, accreditations or awards you’ve achieved. Help the reader understand why they should listen to you. If you don’t have credentials to be speaking about a certain topic, be sure to collaborate with someone who does. Industry partners, influencers, and expert quotes featured in your content will help you to create user-first E-E-A-T content.
Include a brief section about your business, explaining your expertise, the areas you serve, and the scope of your services. Why should people listen to you? Remind users why they should choose you for a service or trust your advice on a subject. A ‘Why choose Us?’ section or a succinct ‘About Us’ that mentions the years you’ve been in business, and partners you have worked with, will help to position yourself as a credible expert.
An internal link is the hyperlink on your website that takes the user to another page within your website. Contextual internal linking extends the user journey and helps search engines understand your website’s hierarchy structure and the importance of content. It doesn’t just add SEO value, it also aligns with improved user experience and conversion. Internal links add context to the relationship between pages in your website and shares page authority to important pages. Before diving into creating an internal linking strategy, make sure you understand why internal linking is important.
Anchor text is the clickable text in a hyperlink. Rather than using generic phrases like “click here”, use descriptive anchor text that aligns with your destination page’s keyword mapping strategy. Build on a page’s keyword authority with descriptive anchor text. This will help users and search engines understand your content’s purpose.
You can align the anchor text with keywords informed by Google’s perception of keyword authority for a page with Google Search Console. If you haven’t set up Google Search Console, take a look below at these helpful tips.
Make sure your call to actions (CTAs) for a page match the page’s intent. If you’re unsure of a user’s intent, understanding search keyword intent will help. Use CTAs to encourage users to take specific actions, they can be particularly effective at the end of your introduction and content. If in doubt, prompt users with your company’s credentials and offer to get in touch or speak to experts.
It’s vital to think of the user journey, so for example, if you have a blog about the benefits of a service or product, you would expect to see the service or the product page linked. Understand where in the marketing funnel your user is, if they are looking at a blog that is an introduction to a product or service, then they have just started their journey. Therefore you can make them aware of problems with the solutions that you offer, speaking to their pain points, challenges and desires. To do this effectively, you will need to know your audience inside out.
Focus on high-quality, informative content. You and your team are experts, real people with a breadth of valuable first-hand experience that people want to learn from. Your team’s first-hand experiences are invaluable. They match the Experience part of the E-E-A-T guidelines. Share them to create authentic, informative content.
Here are some helpful tips how to write user first E-E-A-T content:
Write for your audience first, then tweak and structure for SEO. Google is discouraging SEOs from writing content just for search engines. And rightly so, we’ve all clicked on a result in the SERP and been met with AI-generated nonsense. Google asks us to provide ‘Helpful, Reliable, People-First content.’ The days of writing content based on search volume alone are over. Search engines are now flooded with AI content – Google struggles to find the most helpful content to rank. In this new age of SEO, business owners, experts and SEOs must work together to find a middle ground, that is both helpful for users and optimised correctly for the search engines.
Work with a marketing/ SEO expert to perform user research. This should consist of understanding pain points, desires and the audience’s buying journey. For example, in the decision stage of the buying journey, we need to catch users when they are in the consideration stage of that journey. So think about your blog content, and capture solutions to help solve their pain points, queries, worries, wants, and needs. It’s vital to capture your audience’s attention by writing content that resonates with their experiences and aspirations.
Reflect on the next steps you want users to take and use internal links to support their decision-making process. Think about what makes sense for them, and explore this around aligning the actions you want taken which are based on your business goals and the user journey you want them to experience? Is it a brochure download, to get in contact or book an appointment?
You can use existing data from Google Analytics to help inform your decision making. The GA4 Page Path explorer can tell you which blog pages were part of the converting/purchasing users’ journey. Use this information to guide your internal linking, and take your user on a journey through the buying funnel. You can take this a step further with natural placements where a related topic is introduced. It’s important to remember that there is no need to add links for the sake of it, it must be natural, and these links need to add value.
It’s vital to ensure your content is accessible and engaging. One element to consider is the readability of your content or article on a desktop, compared to when people may be scanning the content when using a mobile. Additionally without good content structure, even the most insightful/helpful information can be dismissed as untrustworthy or irrelevant by search engines.
Structuring E-E-A-T content with keyword-rich headings doesn’t just have SEO value, it also improves user experience. These headings make it easier for users to navigate the content, find the information they need and hence perceive the content as authoritative and trustworthy. Clear, relevant headings also help the search engines understand the content’s topic, making it more discoverable and likely to rank higher.
Eye tracking research can be used to help understand how users interact with headings on webpages, revealing their role in capturing initial attention and guiding navigation. This data informs effective design decisions to enhance readability, user engagement plus overall user experience. Eye-tracking research studies found that when people read on the web, their approach depends on what they are doing, what they expect based on their past internet use, how the page looks, and the type of content it has, like text or pictures.
The most common scanning patterns are:
The F theory – where the user will mainly look on the left side of the webpage and examine the top of the page.
Spotted pattern – where the user will jump around to the most interesting spots – often influenced by effective website design and UX.
The layer-cake pattern – where the user will focus on headings and subheadings as they act as signposts for information.
Incorporating FAQ sections into a website’s content strategy aligns well with E-E-A-T principles, as this helps to create content that is not only informative and reliable but also highly valued by both users and search engines. You can use Google Search Console, to help you uncover long-tail keyword opportunities to feed into your FAQs.
If you want to find FAQ opportunities in Search Console you can do the following;
Don’t forget to structure your FAQ content to appear as snippets in search results with schema mark up optimisation, to help increase click-through rates.
On a final note, user-first content that adheres to E-E-A-T principles isn’t just about chasing low-hanging fruit or seeking quick wins. It’s about building a foundation of trust and authority for your brand and business that will continuously fuel organic search growth over the long term.
Still not sure where to start? Our team of innovative SEO experts can support you to develop a robust E-E-A-T content strategy that will drive traffic and conversions. Contact our expert SEO team to discuss your E-E-A-T challenges, we would love to help.
Mostly Media, the Bath-based media planning and buying specialists enjoyed recent success at the Independent Agency Awards scooping not one, but two awards.
Hosted by the Alliance of Independent Agencies at the leading worldwide marketing and digital festival ‘MAD//FEST’, this prestigious award ceremony celebrates the finest work across the independent agency sector.
Firstly, for the third time in four years, Mostly Media proudly received the Best Use of Media award, this time for their work on behalf of the UK charity, Crohn’s & Colitis UK.
Secondly, Mostly won the coveted Freedom Award for Client Service, a testament to their exceptional culture and dedication to clients.
Head of Digital Tom Marshall who led the team’s digital campaign commented: “It is a fantastic achievement for such a wonderful cause. To receive the recognition for both Best Use of Media & Client Service was really special, and so well deserved for all the amazing planning and strategic work from the CCUK (Crohn’s & Colitis UK) team, they were amazing to work with on this campaign, so a big thank-you to them for trusting us with this project. Special mention also to the Mostly Team for their brilliant strategy, planning, implementation, and optimisation work – 250,000+ symptom checker completions & delivery of the campaign message to potential sufferers of Crohn’s & Colitis is out of this world!”
Recap of Mostly Media’s Recent Award Wins:
– **2021**: Best Use of Media on behalf of thortful (DTC / Brand Response)
– **2023**: Best Use of Media on behalf of Cawston Press | B-Corp™ (FMCG / Brand)
– **2024**: Best Use of Media on behalf of Crohn’s & Colitis UK (Charity / Performance)
– **2024**: Freedom award for Client Service on behalf of Crohn’s & Colitis UK (Charity / Performance)
About Mostly Media
Based in Bath, Mostly Media is an award-winning top-20 independent media planning & buying agency that prides itself on scaling businesses at pace through media strategy.
Founded on the principles of creativity, agility, and client-focused service, Mostly Media has a proven track record of achieving exceptional results for a diverse range of clients.
Bristol creative agency SIM7 has taken home a prestigious ‘Búho’ award for Brand Strategy at Spain’s Educafestival. The agency was recognised for its work creating the Real Leadership brand campaign for IESE Business School.
The Búhos (Owls) are awarded to the best global creative campaigns in the education sector, welcoming entries from Europe, Latin America and the USA. They are part of Spain’s Educafestival, an annual event (20 June 2024) held in the Centro CaixaForum de Madrid.
Simeon de la Torre, owner and creative director of SIM7 says, “As an agency that works with higher and business education clients around the world, winning a Búho is a huge honour for us. And we did it by creating something really different with a big dollop of humour and heart.
“The Real Leadership campaign for IESE has been a huge strategic branding exercise that brought together all our skills in messaging, design and positioning. It spawned a slightly insane video featuring unicorns and gorillas that has been watched over two million times, a hit podcast, billboard ads in Germany and Spain, and more.”
The Real Leadership brand campaign was conceived as an antidote to the clichéd ‘business speak’ creative that has dominated the sector in recent years. By using an authentic narrative and tapping into the genuine concerns and motivations of business leaders, it resonated with IESE’s
core audiences and has delivered substantial results in the form of awareness, enquiries and admissions.
Oriol Gil, IESE’s Brand & Content – Senior Manager (pictured, above) says: “The world of MBA and executive education is changing fast, with a more nuanced audience profile and expectations. SIM7 created a major campaign for us that pushed the boundaries of our brand guidelines and created a completely new strategy. The Real Leadership campaign features an honest, authentic and human approach that playfully mocks the outdated ‘hustle’ culture.”
SIM7’s Búho award was judged by a panel that included celebrated Spanish film director Daniel Sánchez Arevalo, as well as creative leaders from Google, Coca-Cola and Clear Channel. The Real Leadership campaign was scored for:
• Educational value and content
• Developed strategy
• Idea and execution
• Obtained results
Says SIM7’s Simeon de la Torre, “We knew from the start that this had to be a campaign with cut-through, and that pure creativity wasn’t enough. It had to be built on the foundations of solid strategy and an understanding of the sector. This is what our team does best and it’s superb to see all our hard work recognised. On a personal level, it’s been great working on something that my Spanish father can be proud of and talk to his family in Spain about – he’s always been a bit clueless about what I do for a living!”
Notes
SIM7 is a Bristol-based creative agency that works with clients around the world in sectors including education, property, technology and more: sim7creative.co.uk
Founded in 2017, the agency uses language to empower design and drives growth by creating brands, campaigns and strategy. SIM7 currently employs six people, has increased its turnover significantly in the past 12 months and is set to build its international client base even further in 2024/25.
IESE Business School is ranked #2 in the world (Financial Times).
For interviews, quotes and further images contact: Simeon de la Torre, [email protected]
For more information on the awards, visit educafestival.org/2024-edicion (Spanish language)
BIMA star James Hobbs appointed Head of Tech at Aer Studios
Aer Studios, a leading creative technology studio in the South West, is thrilled to announce the appointment of James Hobbs as Head of Technology. Hobbs, who brings a wealth of experience from his time at Dyson and Great State, joins at a time when Aer Studios also announces a new trio of practice leads, including Max Waring (Front End), Jon Chard (Back End), and Aaron Bushell (DevOps).
Hobbs’ appointment comes shortly after the addition of Lucy Rees, Head of People and Culture, further strengthening Aer Studios’ leadership team. These strategic hires mark a significant step in Aer Studios’ growth, as well as its commitment to excellence and innovation in the creative technology sector. Last year it secured a coveted place on the BBC Digital Design Roster.
Notable career achievements for Hobbs include a six-year period at Dyson, where he successfully led the global digital technical team from its inception to over twenty members. At Great State, Hobbs was instrumental in driving the company’s technology strategy, leading an engineering team delivering multi-award-winning work.
In addition to his impressive career achievements, Hobbs has been recognised in the prestigious BIMA 100 for Sustainability, underlining his commitment to sustainable practices. This aligns perfectly with Aer Studios’ 2024 BCorp certification and its ongoing efforts to prioritise sustainability in all aspects of its operations. Aer Studios won its own prestigious BIMA Award in the Innovative App category in October 2023.
“James’ appointment comes at a time when Aer Studios is gearing up for growth,” said Tom Harber Managing Director at Aer Studios. “His experience and values fit perfectly with our ambitions. With James on board, we’re excited to amplify our efforts and lead the charge in transforming the tech industry into a beacon of sustainability for the future.”
“I’m delighted to have joined Aer Studios,” said James. “It was immediately clear from my initial conversations with Lucy and Tom that Aer Studios have a deep focus on people and planet, both of which are really important to me, alongside delivering outstanding work for clients.”
Hobbs’ arrival at Aer Studios is set to propel the company towards new heights, enhancing its technical capabilities and reinforcing its commitment to sustainable practices. With a cross-capability leadership team in place, Aer Studios is well-positioned to lead the industry in creative and sustainable technology solutions.
About Aer Studios
Aer Studios is an award-winning creative technology studio based in the South West of England. Its mission is to create meaningful digital experiences that have a positive impact on people & planet. Partnering with leading brands in the public and private sectors, its clients include Warner Media, Cartoon Network, BBC, Dogs Trust, Diabetes UK, CNN, History Royal Palaces and GOV.UK. With a particular focus on employee experience, Aer Studios ranked in the top 100 best workplaces and best workplaces for wellbeing by the Great Place to Work awards.
www.aerstudios.co.uk
Bristol based Creative Agency joins the growing movement of companies using business as a force for good
Shaped By, a creative agency for the b2b world – based in Bristol, UK, has announced its certification as a B Corporation (or B Corp), joining a growing movement of companies that are reinventing business for the benefit of all people and our shared planet. Verified by B Lab, the not-for-profit behind the B Corp movement, the achievement demonstrates that Shaped By meets high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability alongside a commitment to goals beyond shareholder value.
The news comes as the ongoing climate crisis and widening social inequality continue to pose urgent challenges to our economy. B Corp Certification assesses the entirety of a business’ operations and currently covers five main impact areas: Governance, Workers, Community, Environment and Customers. The certification process is rigorous, with companies required to reach a score of 80 points in the B Impact Assessment while providing evidence of responsible practices relating but not limited to energy supplies, waste and water use, worker compensation, diversity, and corporate transparency. A business must also legally embed their commitment to purpose as well as profit in their company articles.
Shaped By is now part of a growing community of over 8,000 businesses globally that have certified as B Corps. The B Corp community in the UK is one of the largest and fastest-growing in the world, with over 1,700 companies spanning a range of different industries and sizes. Names include The Guardian, Innocent Drinks, Patagonia, Tony’s Chocolonely, The Big Issue, Finisterre, Elemis, and Sipsmith Gin.
Chris Turner, executive director of B Lab UK, says:
“We are pleased to have B Corps of all shapes and sizes as part of our community — from startups to multinationals and across many different industries. Business is a powerful force and B Corps demonstrate that positive impact is possible in any sector. Welcoming Shaped By is an exciting moment for the creative industry. B Lab UK and the rest of the B Corp community are really pleased that Shaped By is paving the way for a new way of doing things.”
Nick Farrar, founder of Shaped By, says:
“Becoming a B Corp and joining the global community of businesses dedicated to building a better world was one of the first, and easiest, decisions we made after changes to the agency’s ownership last year. It aligns perfectly with our belief that design and creativity have the power to improve lives and positively impact the world around us. I’m looking forward to embracing what being a B Corp company means and committing to maintaining and improving our standards now and in the future.”
Bristol based PointZeroGroup has acquired world leading employee experience agency Home.
The acquisition sees Home join a growing network of employee communications and experience agencies in Bristol under the PointZeroGroup banner, further strengthening the city’s reputation as a hotbed for creative brilliance in this field.
The addition of Home to the PointZeroGroup adds employee experience to their service lines for the first time and strengthens their already burgeoning global client portfolio. All group clients now have access to a full suite of employee and candidate propositions.
PointZeroGroup now consist of Home (employee experience and internal comms), RewardPointZero (benefits communications), That Little Agency (social and digital), and BrandPointZero (employer brand). All group agencies are based in Bristol.
PointZeroGroup founder and BrandPointZero Managing Director Andy Bamford said,
“We have admired Home for a long time. Their work in employee experience and internal communications is second to none and a great addition to the PointZeroGroup. They have built an enviable group of experts that we’re now proud to call colleagues. We look forward to collaborating with the team at Home as we grow together in the coming months.”
Home will continue to operate from their office at Unicorn Park, Whitby Road.
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