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.”
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.
As a Bristol based web design agency we have been working with OpenCart for many years and between the members of the team have a wealth of knowledge and experience using the ecommerce platform to its full potential. We were approached by a client to look into solutions to help recover lost sales through cart abandonment, after trialling some pre-built solutions we found they either didn’t quite fit our clients needs or only addressed part of the problem.
So our next step was to explore the design and development of our own module that not only solved the problem of cart abandonment but also achieved it in a clean and thorough way.
WHAT IS AN ABANDONED CART?
For an order to be classed as an abandoned cart the customer needs to have entered their personal details and selected a product, the customer at the final stages of checkout then decides not to proceed with the order for an unknown reason, quite commonly this is due to delivery costs and if the customer leaves your website this will generate an abandoned cart that our module can then work with.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
The abandoned cart module helps to recover lost sales by incentivising the customer to return to the ecommerce website and recover their shopping cart, the incentive could be a fixed monetary discount or simply free shipping but gives the customer a reason to return.
An automated email is sent to the customer branded in the ecommerce website colours and logo and includes the cart contents from the most recent abandoned order, also included in the email is a unique coupon code which acts as that incentive. The customer can click a button and their shopping cart is restored to how they left it, by entering the coupon will give the customer a discount or free delivery.
All of the data is tracked, the initial abandoned cart through to if the order was restored and recovered so store owners can see data on the following:
WHAT FEATURES DOES IT OFFER?
HOW CAN I GET THIS MODULE ON MY OPENCART WEBSITE?
When doing some research into our other clients ecommerce websites we found that cart abandonment is very common and this is revenue that is simply lost, our module can help restore this lost revenue by bringing customers back to your website.
If you would like to find out more about how you can purchase this module for your website please get in contact with us so we can discuss the next steps and what is involved in joining one of the most important factors of running an ecommerce business.
ADLIB is immensely proud to announce that we have become a Certified B Corp.
We join a smidge over 3000 companies globally who have achieved B Corp status and sit alongside a handful of recruitment businesses (fellow recruiters, we salute you!).
B Corp Certification is provided by B Lab to companies that meet rigorous verified standards of social and environmental performance and use business as a force for good. B Corps are accelerating a global cultural shift to redefine success in business and build a more inclusive and sustainable economy.
B Corp captures the spirit that has run through ADLIB’s blood for many years. As a Certified B Corp business, we balance purpose and profit. We are committed to considering the impact of our decisions on everyone that works at ADLIB, our community, our suppliers and the environment. We are so much more than a recruitment company.
We’re in great company. Regional B Corp organisations include Pukka Herbs and Triodos Bank whilst a few other names you may recognise from further afield include Ben & Jerry’s, Patagonia and The Body Shop.
Collectively, we’ve all committed to driving this global movement forward, using what we do as a force for good.
You can learn more about B Corp via their website: https://bcorporation.uk/
And more from ADLIB here: https://www.adlib-recruitment.co.uk/b-corp-
Global cloud telecoms provider RingCentral have appointed Accelerate Agency to manage SEO duties for its EMEA division.
Founded in 1999, RingCentral is a NYSE-listed company providing cloud-based unified communications as a service (UCaaS) and VOIP to thousands of clients around the world. RingCentral’s single cloud solution platform provides businesses with multimodal communications capabilities, including voice, video, online meetings, team messaging, as well as digital customer engagement. It also delivers integration capabilities with other leading cloud business apps to enable seamless and customisable workflows.
Accelerate have been appointed to improve the quality and quantity of organic leads originating through search, starting with the UK and expanding to the rest of Europe.
Accelerate Director of Search Nick Brown said, “Working with RingCentral is an excellent opportunity for us to showcase our technical skills expertise. Both Accelerate and RingCentral prioritize strategic thinking, so culturally we are a great match. We’re looking forward to working with them to deliver targeted and sustainable growth.”
Founded in Bristol in 2017 as a full-service SEO and analytics agency, Accelerate has provided its expertise to a range of enterprise clients including global spice retailer McCormick/Swartz, Principality Building Society, BookingLive, and the Development Bank of Wales.
Hi Pete, what do you do at Prophecy Unlimited?
Prophecy Unlimited is a customer journey agency, launched in May 2017. We brought together two great South West agencies, EMO Unlimited, renowned for customer acquisition, and The Real Adventure Unlimited, experts in customer relationship management. We realised that we could combine the complementary skill sets and people together, the result being Prophecy Unlimited. That ultimately means we work across every channel in the mix, and for some clients we work end-to-end across the whole journey.
Customer journeys are rapidly changing in terms of technology and consumer behaviours, so we work with our clients to create a successful and impactful customer experience.
More specifically, my role as CEO involves two key jobs: one is making sure the Prophecy team are happy, and then making sure that clients are happy, too. The two are incredibly interrelated, happy team, happy clients, and vice versa!
Who’s in the team?
Everyone from client services, project management, creative content, data and insight, tech, HR… the list goes on. I’m responsible for making sure we have key team leads ensuring we all work to the best of our abilities. No one department is more important than another, it’s a real team effort.
What are you most proud of as a business?
The client list that we have for a South West agency – I’m so proud of it. We have several clients who have been with us for over 30 years, some large blue-chip brands and global players.
I’m ex London, and we tend to have this chip on our shoulders about London, thinking it’s the big be all and end all. But I actually think the work coming out of Bristol is as good, if not better, than the London players. Bristol has such an energy and creativity.
What’s your favourite office gadget?
Big Red – our coffee machine! It’s got to be at least 10 years old. Probably as long as we’ve been Bristol Media members it’s been trucking along, supplying us with coffee. As part of our induction for new starters we have a stint with the coffee machine. Not quite barista training, but it’s a proper machine so not just a press and go.
Whose work do you admire and why?
This is a tricky question, because I think about the campaigns I like at the moment and actually, I wouldn’t pin it on one particular agency or brand. I’ve never known a time for the agency world to be quite as challenging, in terms of the changes and the dreaded B-word. Any agency that’s making their client feel confident enough in them to buy work is absolutely doing great. Hats off to all!
What’s the biggest challenge your industry/organisation is facing at the moment?
I can think of two, clearly economic uncertainty is one of those, but also data. The scandal around Cambridge Analytica made consumers wary about their information and what’s being used and where. Not only that, but with more data available, we need to make sure we don’t just disappear into big systems like Adobe or Salesforce. It’s something we’ve been focussing on at Prophecy recently; transparency in the customer journey, not just getting the system to tell us the answers but making sure we’re sensitive to human emotion and using old school planning skills.
If you had one piece of advice for someone just starting out, what would it be?
Get involved, put your hand up, get stuck in and remember that your voice matters. Great ideas can come from anywhere, any team and any person. Don’t be afraid to speak up! And seek out a mentor if you can.
What’s your favourite place in Bristol/this area?
On Friday mornings I religiously make a breakfast run to Hart’s Bakery. The guys know to leave a small window in the diary so I can get my sourdough, or sausage rolls, or cheese toasties… There’s too much to choose from!
If you could sum up Bristol/this area in 3 words, what would they be?
First up, real. As a city, we don’t pretend to be anything different. We’re proud of our differences. Then vibrant and innovative.
What exciting plans have you got coming up this year?
That’s a really good question, because we’ve always got new things in the pipeline, and those vary by client. Probably the most exciting thing is our new customer journey methodology, it’s a model for getting to the heart of what’s working in a customer journey and what’s not.
We’re working it through now and we’ve got some clients using it. The hairs on the back of my neck are standing up a bit thinking of the difference it’s going to make. We’ll be sharing it soon so watch this space!
To see latest examples of Prophecy’s work, visit the website.
Fancy joining the Prophecy Unlimited team? They’re on the lookout for new hires, find out more about the roles available here.
If you’d like to be part of our Featured Member series and profile your business, get in touch.
So far 51 People are coming to the free Accelerate Digital Marketing Meetup will be taking place at the Royal Navy Volunteer on Tuesday the 20th of August from 18:00 to 20:00.
Come along to hear great talks on digital marketing given by industry experts. There will be free pizza too. So make sure that you say you’re going on the Meetup group to secure your place!
We are also looking for Speakers for our event, ideally people with experience with SEO, PPC, Google Analytics, CRO, Content Marketing, Digital PR or Social Media Marketing
We will be basing the initial talks on some of our blog post
Linkedin for SEO -If you’re a site owner or run a business, you might be missing out on some great opportunities afforded by LinkedIn. The social media platform can form a vital plank of your SEO efforts. Done right, using LinkedIn to boost your SEO can deliver notable results. What’s more, using LinkedIn doesn’t have to cost you a penny. That’s great news when you consider how much SEO can cost.
Google Analytics Tools – Google Analytics is an invaluable resource for webmasters and business owners. It helps you keep track of web traffic, site users and how they interact with your pages. That’s amongst many other types of informative data it can provide.
All of that is crucial to ensuring your site provides a relevant and useful experience to visitors. Not to mention helping to inform and improve your SEO and digital marketing efforts. The question is; are you getting the most out of Google Analytics?
The answer to that is a resounding no if you’re not using at least some of our top 39 Google Analytics tools. The following is the most comprehensive list around of the best features, add-ons, and plugins that can improve your data quality and keep you ahead of your competition.
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Accelerate Agency are digital marketing agency specialising in SEO in Bristol, Google Analytics Training in Bristol and Consulting
Our Content Apprentice Izzy headed over to Bath for this month’s Featured Member to talk with Sue Bush, Creative Director at Touchpoint Design, and find out more about what they’re up to. Here’s what we learned…
Hi Sue, tell us what you do?
We are a brand design agency, we design brand identities, primarily for arts and culture and not for profit clients. We work across all touchpoints, which is where we got our name. The touchpoints are: digital, printed materials and large-format visuals. Ensuring a consistent brand identity across all applications.
Who are your team?
There are 3 of us in the production team, myself (creative director), Georgia (designer) and Ian (technical director). We are a small team, but we collaborate with lots of talented associates that we bring in on a project by project basis.
How long have you been a Bristol Media member?
We’ve been a Bristol Media member for 4 years I believe. We became members because I moved to the South West from London, so it was a good way to get to know everyone and join the creative community.
What’s your favourite place in Bath and Bristol?
In Bath, Solsbury Hill, it’s really invigorating up there. It’s a steep hill but a great place to clear your mind. In Bristol, probably the harbourside, a great place for people watching.
What are you most proud of as a business?
I love that we punch above our weight. We’re only small but we take on some really big briefs, size is not an issue. Our rebrand of the American Museum & Gardens was a great example of where we demonstrated what we can achieve with a complex and demanding brief.
Our favourite projects to work on are those where we get involved right from the brand discovery stage, researching, unpacking client vision and values, positioning etc. Going in deep from the start gives us insight and helps us to maximise impact and spark really effective creative solutions.
What exciting plans have you got coming up this year?
We are working on a website with Taxi Studio for the West of England Design Forum to help women in design. There’s a big disparity between women reaching roles of seniority so it’s great to work for something we’re passionate about.
We’re also a part of a ‘mastermind’ group of 8 agency owners. We’re small giants, like the concept developed in the book Small Giants by Bo Burlingham. Based around the idea of sustainable agency growth, rather than expand for the sake of it, to make a wider positive impact beyond simply our own financial gain. So we’re excited to see where this takes us in the future!
Whose work do you admire and why?
Marina Willer from Pentagram. We love her, she’s very humble considering how successful she is, and she works in sectors we work in (charities and creative arts). Her work with Amnesty International and the Serpentine Gallery in particular. She creates clear solutions that are bold and impactful. She is a stand out influence for us.
If there’s one thing we need more of in this region, what is it?
In Bath, it would be great to see a big contemporary art centre. Bristol has Spike Island and the Arnolfini, and while Bath has great spaces, like The Edge and 44AD, it would be nice to have a permanent space that can pull in some of the bigger high-profile artists and act as a creative hub across disciplines.
If you could sum up Bristol in 3 words, what would they be?
Vibrant, refreshingly diverse and fiercely-independent.
What’s the best tip/trick you’ve learnt as a business?
For designers, use a notebook! Don’t go straight for the computer, sketch ideas before you start pushing pixels around, it’s so much easier and quicker. Leuchtturm notebooks are our favourite! Our greatest tip is to really listen. Ask questions, then actively listening to the answers. Prompt and facilitate those conversations to get insight.
Keen to feature your business? If you’d like to be part of our Featured Member series, email Kirsty or Izzy for more information. See you in September!
Bristol-based Digital Visitor has been selected by UK Parliament to oversee their digital advertising and engagement strategy.
UK Parliament is open to visitors throughout the year, who can tour the iconic building, view exhibitions or attend debates. In 2018, this landmark attraction welcomed over 1 million visitors and, in June 2019, they received a Group Travel Award for ‘Best Company or Venue offering Guided Tours’. Wishing to build on this success and engage new audiences, UK Parliament will be working with Digital Visitor to develop and implement a best-in-class digital strategy.
This activity will not only promote the paid-for tours open to all visitors, but also increase participation in the free tours for UK residents, awareness of the educational resources available and involve more diverse audiences.
Emma Terry, Senior Marketing and Communications Manager commented “UK Parliament recognises the need to reach new audiences on more diverse platforms to encourage greater participation in our democratic life. Whilst looking for an agency who can manage paid advertising, we also want an agency who can think innovatively about our audiences and help to promote our wider offer around education, outreach, visitor and retail services. It is vitally important to us to develop a strategy which includes both inbound and outbound marketing techniques. During our competitive tender process, it became clear that Digital Visitor are specialists in both digital marketing and the attractions industry and can provide the creative thinking we require. We are looking forward to using their expertise to help shape our future strategy.”
Founding Director, Anthony Rawlins, believes that there is a fundamental values fit between UK Parliament and Digital Visitor. “As an agency, it’s our ambition to engage more audiences in tourism and generally in our country, as well as promoting our attractions and indeed political systems to international audiences. We’re thrilled to be working with an organisation that values engagement and participation from their audiences.”
UK Parliament joins several other iconic attractions in the Digital Visitor roster, including Royal Museums Greenwich and the Science Museum Group.
To showcase some impressive and local career journeys as well as the wealth of knowledge and expertise those working within the South West agency landscape has to offer, we are catching up some of the people that play a part in producing brilliant (and often award-winning) campaigns for their clients as part of their client services teams.
Today, we’d like to feature: Lauren David, PR and Marketing Account Executive.
If you are thinking of embarking on a career in public relations and marketing as a PR Exec – some first-hand insights and knowledge for you right here: Lauren has worked as a PR, Marketing and Content Executive across the B2B tech and insurance industry.
Lauren: I graduated from University with a French degree and decided that I wanted to get into PR and Marketing. After a few setbacks, a recruitment agency got in touch and set me up for my first role in a B2B tech agency. After a travel break, I’m now doing PR in the insurance sector.
Lauren: I think when people are thinking about going into PR, they associate it with fashion, beauty, celebrities…all the glamorous industries! But be open to which sector you enter. You can gain valuable agency experience in tech, industry, finance, environmental etc., as you still learn the necessary skills for PR and will still get a fast-paced agency experience!
Lauren: Without fail you need excellent communication skills, written ability and organisation! As an exec, you will be pitching releases to journalists and starting to build relations with clients. You need to be confident in talking and liaising with people. When it comes to writing content, in an agency you will be expected to write about a plethora of topics.
You need to be able to grasp and take on your client’s brand ‘voice’ and engage your audience! As for organisation, you will be working across a number of accounts, so you need to be able to prioritise your workload and juggle things at short notice.
Lauren: Sign yourself up to any webinars you think might enhance your skills and ask your Manager or Director what training is available to you. But most importantly talk to your Manager’s and Directors. They will have years of skills, so set up regular one to ones and ask them which areas can you improve in. Don’t be afraid to suggest training opportunities for your team either. Sharing knowledge and ideas is what keeps agencies so fresh. Everyone has a different way of thinking!
Lauren: You need to develop a bit of a thick skin. Sometimes journalists can be quite blunt when you’re trying to pitch to them but don’t take it personally. You need to build a confident persona whilst on the phone, so don’t let yourself get flustered. Don’t be afraid to say no. In agency, the workload can get heavy very quickly as managers will delegate tasks on top of your workload. But it’s okay to ask them which they would like you to prioritise and even to say that you can’t achieve what they are asking in the time frame.
It’s better to be upfront than panicking at the last minute! No two workdays are the same. Having multiple clients means juggling different tasks. If you like variation, agency life is for you!
Lauren: I love the fast pace and the variation. In agency, you are fortunate to work across a number of accounts, so you have to be able to change your writing style, the audience you are pitching to and be able to deliver each client’s individual objective – meaning you never get bored! It opens you to a wealth of experience, as each client has a varied idea of what they want to achieve and how they do it!
This article was previously published on the ADLIB blog.
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