As we reach 13 years in business this summer, Loom Digital is celebrating its best ever half-year financial performance. Our Bristol-based digital agency has scooped 11 new clients in the past six months, including LITELOK – the brand behind the world’s lightest bike locks; fuel storage solutions company, Western Global; and summer school provider, Summer Boarding Courses (part of Dukes Education).
Loom has recently received an impressive score of 9/10 from clients in The Drum Recommends international agency rating scheme and has delivered a total ROAS of 735% with over £5m in sales for their eCommerce clients 2022 to date. Later this year, we will be supporting all clients with the adoption of Google Analytics 4 (GA4) as Universal Analytics is sunsetted on 1 July 2023.
“New clients have joined us because of our proven track record and our brilliant team, who are dedicated, experienced and talented. Client success and a strong, trusted team go hand-in-hand. Although we’re growing, we’re also incredibly proud of our staff retention, with 50% of the team being with us for over five years,” comments Nikki Ellison, founder of Loom.
Loom has upweighted our PPC and biddable offering in 2022 with the appointment of Dan Waller, boosted SEO expertise with Marco Morelli and Jack McGivern joining, and are currently recruiting for future digital talent. Although operating a flat structure, Loom is also committed to welcoming and nurturing talented people who are new to digital.
With increased competition in the industry, areas such as client experience and employee culture are increasingly the things that set agencies apart.
Here at Loom we’ve relaunched our employee benefits, introducing a more flexible approach to these by offering a wide range of monthly benefits the team can choose from. Each employee can decide between health and dental cover; gym membership, yoga classes; monthly massages; Audible or Headspace subscriptions.
All 16 team members are also offered professional coaching via MoreHappi, the one-to-one online workplace coaching company. All benefit from peer-to-peer support, including being given a budget to buy up to four gifts a year (sourced from local, independent shops) to say thank you to colleagues that have gone above and beyond.
“We are committed to providing a healthy, happy and progressive workplace, with our office as a hub but also welcoming a hybrid approach, depending on each team member’s circumstances. We’re 100% transparent and our new [perks package] and ongoing coaching also means everyone can find their purpose and grow in all aspects of their lives,” adds Vicky Hockley, People & Growth at Loom.
For full benefits, please visit Loom’s careers page here.
The founders of The Big Plastic Count – Greenpeace UK and Everyday Plastic – appointed purpose-driven creative agency, Enviral, to create its latest national campaign, which has lifted the lid on the country’s recycling rates and exposed that the government is talking trash about our plastic problem.
Through their launch video, The Big Plastic Count and Enviral encouraged 31 MPs and 97,948 households to take part in counting their plastic for a week in May, which equates to 1 in every 262 households in the UK. This was the biggest ever investigation into UK household plastics and the data uncovered will be crucial in convincing the government, big brands and supermarkets to take ambitious action on reducing plastic packaging.
Throughout the investigation, participants counted over 96 billion pieces of plastic and uncovered that only 12% of our plastic waste is actually recycled with 17% exported abroad, 25% sent to landfill and 46% incinerated.
Working in close partnership with the The Big Plastic Count team, Enviral developed the creative, the narrative and oversaw the shoot productions to create three hard-hitting films; a launch film, a how-to film and a shocking results film which puts pressure on the government to act.
Chris Thorne, Plastics Campaigner at Greenpeace UK said: “The plastic crisis is out of control but if the government acts we can get a grip on the problem. That’s why The Big Plastic Count is so important. Getting the narrative right on a campaign like this can be make or break. Through Envirals understanding of our needs and their collaborative approach they’ve helped us create assets we know the public will connect with and will lead to more and more people pushing the government to take ambitious action to end the plastic waste problem.
Joss Ford, Enviral Founder, comments: “We’ve been consistently beating the drum around the role of creatives in fighting the climate crisis and in connecting hearts and minds. So being able to partner with such an impactful organisation like Greenpeace UK really is a huge moment for our team and one which we hope brings real impact and holds those in power to account.”
This project embodies Greenpeace UK’s wider mission to defend the natural world from destruction, with a vision for a greener, healthier and more peaceful planet that can sustain life for future generations to come. The campaign evolved out of The Everyday Plastic Survey, pioneered by Everyday Plastic, a research-led non-profit focused on evidence-based education and campaigns. With the aim of mobilising and inspiring the UK population to help lift the lid on our recycling, it’s hoped this campaign will hold the government to account and bring real, positive change.
Enviral was awarded the contract after a competitive pitch process. With previous agency nominations including The Drum’s Best Use Of Video For Digital Advertising, Enviral is a full-service ethical brand communications agency based in Bristol that leverages the power of storytelling to effect real change for future generations.
Watch the launch video in full here.
The Enterprise Sessions is a new content series led by Prof. Michele Barbour Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor: Enterprise and Innovation at the University of Bristol.
The series has been created to inspire entrepreneurs and help them to realise impact from their ideas. Michele interviews founders, researchers and academics from different disciplines and career stages who’ve been part of the University’s Enterprise ecosystem. Each episode is a treasure trove of information covering a range of topics from funding, licensing and IP, consultancy, contract research and business incubation.
Guests include Konstantina Psoma, Professor Wuge Briscoe, Professor Roberta Guerrina and Dr Tom Carter.
Bristol now tops the list of UK universities for the return on investment achieved by spinouts and is ranked in the top 3 for equity investment.
Prof. Michele Barbour said: “The University of Bristol has an impressive track record of enterprise and innovation and we’re keen to share that knowledge within our community as well as with a wider audience. The Enterprise Sessions is a new content series that brings to life the personal stories of spinout Founders and how our enterprise ecosystem has them.
Firehaus took our idea and created a branded content series, introducing the broadcast-style interview approach, as well as the name and look and feel. The approach has allowed me to develop rich conversations with our interviewees and showcase their experience of our ecosystem which will be of huge benefit for anyone involved in research, innovation and enterprise.”
Nick Barthram, Strategy Partner at Firehaus said: “Firehaus has worked with a range of organisations in the Research, Innovation and Enterprise space, including UKRI, Made Smarter Innovation and The University of Bristol. Consequently, we’ve developed a clear understanding and methodology to ignite opportunities at the intersection of academia and industry”.
Strategy, Concept and Art Direction: Firehaus
Film Production: JonesMillbank
We’re delighted to announce that we’re wrapping up the first quarter of 2022 with a duo of new business wins. We’ll be working with Vivo Life on brand positioning and will aid the University of Bristol in the development of their commercial Quantum offering.
Vivo Life makes 100% plant-based health and fitness supplements. They have an enviable range of top-quality products which are not only great for people using them, but for the environment and world around them. Its growth has been fuelled by growing awareness and desire for plant-based, cruelty-free nutrition, and is underpinned by a strong sense of purpose as a business-for-good.
With a loyal following in the UK, US and Germany in particular, the business is looking to remain top-of-mind in an increasingly competitive environment, expand awareness to wider audiences within those core markets, as well as access new international markets.
Based in Somerset, Vivo Life is the latest purpose-driven organisation based in the region to work with us as they scale for growth.
We’ve been appointed to take the Vivo Life team through its Brand Ignition framework, beginning with defining a new Brand Position. We’ll also use our proprietary Spark survey with employees to understand how the brand currently shapes their internal purpose, culture and environment to set the business up for growth.
Salvatore Notaro, co-founder and Managing Director at Vivo Life comments, “With big change in the competitor landscape since our launch seven years ago along with rising marketing costs, we recognised that we need a new approach to be able to achieve sustainable growth. So, I’m delighted to be working with Firehaus and their Brand Ignition framework to get us to that next stage.”
We’ll also be working with the University of Bristol to develop its commercial quantum offering and brand positioning. The focus will be on Bristol bringing quantum technology out of the lab and into the world to help tackle the challenges of the future.
Nick Barthram, Founder and Strategy Partner adds, “We’ve been working behind-the-scenes with the Bristol quantum community for a year now and it still remains exhilarating to be part of something which could so fundamentally change the world we live in.”
See more images here
Top floor, corner of St Nicholas St and Clare St above Four Wise Monkeys – BS1 1YH
Minimum 6 month contract
Hey! What? and Duchess Media are looking for freelancers or small start ups to come share our recently expanded creative office space with us. We have 4 more desks available in our bright and spacious second room that includes its own kitchenette and a shared meeting room space.
We are a fun, creative and social group and are looking for people who will fit into the environment we have created.
Rent includes:
• Desk
• Internet
• Electricity
• Showers
• Cleaning
You will need to provide your own chair.
Anyone interested in coming to have a look please get in contact here or call Hamish on 07866 915 863.
We have a jam-packed events agenda in July so we thought we’d summarise the education and inspiration you can enjoy.
All Bristol Creative Industries-run events are free for BCI members. If you’re not a member, sign up from only £4.50 a month.
1 July, 8.30am. Free for BCI members only.
Wake Up Call is our online event exclusively for BCI members that’s delivered by BCI members. It features a 30 minute practical presentation and Q&A every other Friday at 8.30am.
First up in July is copywriting expert Rin Hamburgh from Rin Hamburgh & Co.
On 1 July at 8.30am, Rin will look at the different types of blog post you might use to engage your audience at each stage of their buyer journey and guide them one step closer to doing business with you.
5 July, 12.30pm. Free for members, £25 for non-members.
Women over 50 are the fastest growing demographic in the workforce, and a significant percentage are likely to be in senior/leadership roles, plus on the front line of client relationships. 25% of menopausal woman say it can have a ‘debilitating’ effect on their ability to do their job, but unfortunately due to lack of awareness and societal shame, this is issue is not acknowledged enough in the workplace.
What can you do if you manage a team that includes women who could be heading towards menopause if you know nothing about it, and wouldn’t have much of a clue how to tackle a conversation about it?
In this online session, executive coach Fi Craig and Kinneir Dufort’s Tamsin Chambers discuss why this menopause is such a relevant topic for the workplace, why is it not spoken about enough, and what business leaders can do to address it.
14 July, 12.30pm. Free for BCI members, £25 for non-members.
In this online workshop, recruitment Liz Gadd will cover the affects of the pandemic, Brexit, the ‘Great Resignation’ of 2021, the gig economy and how they’ve have contributed to businesses’ current recruitment challenges.
She will suggest solutions and ideas on how you can better recruit including perfecting your recruitment process, advertising the roles, using job boards, working with recruiters, and much more.
15 July, 8.30am. Free for BCI members only.
This online session will demonstrate how you can drive lead quality through the roof and bid more efficiently using value-based bidding.
Harriet Barter, from paid media agency Launch, will guide you through what value-based bidding is, how it works and how to start using it right away, so you can target the conversions that mean the most to your business.
Running your own event? Submit details here for listing on the website.
All Bristol Creative Industries-run events are free for BCI members. If you’re not a member, sign up from only £4.50 a month.
Launched to mark the programme’s 10-year anniversary and reinforce the agency’s commitment to Bristol as its UK home, the Noble Deeds initiative will see one local charity secure £12,000 worth of digital performance marketing support.
Noble Performs is inviting Bristol-based charities to attend the launch event on the 6th July, when entries will open, with the winner announced in August and work beginning in September.
Started originally by Noble Performs Nevada Headquarters, the Noble Deeds programme has upskilled dozens of charities & not for profits during the past decade, and scaled as Noble’s US business has grown, now donating in excess of $200,000 a year of services to worthy causes.
Noble’s UK managing director, Kate Sikora, explains;
“Ever since we first established our Bristol base in 2018 we’ve wanted to bring our Noble Deeds programme to the city. With charities and not-for-profits struggling more than ever to secure vital donations due to the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis it felt like the right time to be trying to help charities look at how their digital marketing efforts can help crucial fundraising efforts
“One of the reasons we chose the city as our UK home is it really resonates with our ‘Be Better Every day’ philosophy. Bristol is such a melting pot of businesses and not-for-profits of all shapes and sizes but there’s a real sense of genuine community and shared responsibility around making the city a better place to live and work for everyone.”
Helping clients such as Adobe, Rolls Royce, Air Asia and Yosemite with their international digital presence, Noble’s ambition is to replicate the scale of its Nevada Noble Deeds programme in Bristol as its UK footprint grows.
To enter registered charities or not-for-profits must be Bristol-based and complete a simple application form, which will be available on the Noble Performs website on July 6th, 2022.
The Bristol-based charity that wins a place on the programme will secure a package of digital marketing support and skills training tailored to suit its specific needs, however this could include; SEO, PPC, Analytics and Paid Social.
Charities who wish to register their interest in the Noble Deeds Programme and attend the launch event at the Bristol Observatory on Wednesday 6th July (6-8 p.m.) should email [email protected] to receive an invitation and secure their place.
To find out more about Noble Performs go to https://nobleperforms.co.uk/
First up ADLIB. Our very own Steve Kay has been promoted to MD of ADLIB 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
12 months ago, we set out to achieve a lot in preparation for this move. The result of which has seen us deliver our best ever financial year, the development of the ADLIB x enable group proposition, organically growing a group headcount of 55 talented and lovely people, all which comes without any need to scale and sell and best of all we’ve built an infinite business model that opens career opportunities without ceilings and a stakeholder profit model for all to enjoy.
Steve’s been with ADLIB for 9 years and instrumental to our growth and success from the day he joined. Alongside Steve is an incredible management team that have stepped up to support him in realising our future ambitions.
Next up is enable. It’s taken time to pull together the perfect leadership team that balances energy, opportunity and structure, but we now have it, and it’s been well worth the wait.
Tim Macmillan, enable’s Founder, brings his unstoppable energy and the ability to create opportunity, Oliver Howson has been promoted to be our new MD. Ollie flips seamlessly between the vision and driving the team’s success, whilst Shannon Matthews rejoins the business to bring the structure that underpins everything. enable is bursting with energy and opportunity, the team is growing fast, B Corp is underway, we’re excited for how the next 12 months will unfold.
As for Nick, he’s here to help our new MDs and leaders, to be the best the business has ever had (his words).
Viva ADLIB & enable.
Bristol Creative Industries board member Heather Wright joined a fascinating event discussing the future of south west business. Dan Martin summarises the conversation.
Heather Wright spent 22 years at Bristol Creative Industries member Aardman Animations and now runs Springboard Creative. She joined the Bristol Creative Industries board in January 2021.
Heather was part of a panel of founders and experts at ‘The future shape of south west business’, an event run by Insider Media. You can replay a live stream of the full event here.
Also on the panel was:
Event host Christian Annesley started by asking the panellists what most excites them about the south west economy. Dominic Mills, who has just raised almost £1m via crowdfunding for the Yuup experiences marketplace said:
“The thing that excites me most about Bristol and the south west is the sheer amount of activity that’s going on. We’ve just completed a fundraise and getting into that ecosystem again felt more vibrant. When you look at the stats around how much has been raised in the south west, it’s hugely exciting and, for me, very indicative of all of the cool things that are happening in the region, but also the appetite to support them.”
Recent figures back up his comment about the appetite for supporting businesses. Data from the British Business Bank showed that the south west saw the UK’s biggest increase in equity investment among SMEs last year. Finance deals in the region rose 49% in 2021, more than in any other part of the UK. The value of investments increased by more than 350%, reaching £821m.
Speaking on behalf of the creative industries, Heather Wright said the sector “is absolutely thriving right now”. She added:
“The big national figures are that the creative industries contribute like £115bn to the national economy and in the south west, it contributes around £2bn to the region economy.
“There’s a huge army of largely small and micro businesses driving it. 72% of Bristol Creative Industries members are businesses with 0 to 4 employees and only 6% have 250 workers.
“Nationally we’re recognising the role of the creative industries beyond traditional art, marketing and advertising to now being multidisciplinarity. VR is being used in the medical industry, 3d modelling and digital twinning is being used for city planning and engineering and the connections between creativity, technology, and other sectors are becoming completely embedded.
“The creative industries are also the tool by which we can influence behaviour change in society. If you want to convince people about health, net zero or sustainability and communicate why it’s important, it’s the creative industries that are going to help you do it. The importance of the creative industries to society and the economy are becoming even more pronounced.”
All the panellists agreed the battle for talent is a big issue for south west businesses.
Dominic Mills has spent 20 years working in tech. He said while there has been lots of changes during that time, the one consistent that has never gone away is the demand for tech talent. He added:
“Over the last five or so years, we’ve seen the exodus of talent from London to the West Country. In my agency days, we went from being a agency with only a Bristol office to also having a London base. That facilitated people being able to leave London and relocate to Bristol because they were at the point in their lives where that made sense in terms of lifestyle but they didn’t need to leave the company to do it.
“During the pandemic we saw that people could work from anywhere and many began to question how they wanted to live their lives. I think a lot of the rules around where you need to be to do things have changed and therefore from a talent acquisition point of view, it presents a big opportunity for businesses in the south west.”
Responding to a question about whether the reputation of the south west being a nice place to live is a “game changing opportunity” for the region when it comes to attracting talent, Tim Atkins said we still face challenges from the likes of Manchester for encouraging young tech talent.
“The south west has got work to do because we are competing against places which from a diversity point of view are stronger. We’ve got to step up our game to work together to promote ourselves to young people.
“If we really want to attract the brightest minds in the next generation, we’ve got to think about what the south west looks like. For example, Cheltenham has a brilliant offer in digital, tech and cyber but for a 22-year-old, is moving to Cheltenham going to be their first move? We are great at attracting people with young families but I think there’s a gap for attracting others.”
Heather Wright said attracting more diverse employees into the creative industries is a recognised problem.
“We’ve been very white and middle class for a long time. There are organisations like Bristol Creative Industries member Babbasa that’s doing amazing work getting apprenticeships up and running for people from diverse backgrounds and BeOnBoard that’s encouraging younger people as board members.
“It’s about looking at what those younger employees are looking for. They have a different value set to us who are older. They are looking for personal development and flexibility. They’re looking for hybrid working and their whole life isn’t about work. It’s about balance and fulfiling their purpose in life.”
In Cornwall, Mike Atkins said the region is a great place to live but one of the key factors impacting the ability to attract and retain talent is the availability of somewhere to live. “We’ve got a very distorted housing market because holiday lets are having a huge impact on the availability of housing,” he said.
Dominic Mills agreed on the housing point but added that it’s “so important that we celebrate everything we have in the south west.”
“I’ve spent a lot of time over the last few months in other regions as part of preparing for our platform expansion and I’ve found that a lot of civic and leaders in other regions look to Bristol and the south west as a pathfinder. They aspire to be like us.
“We absolutely should do more and strike to be better and to achieve more as a region, but I also think we should celebrate everything that we have.
“One of my biggest learnings from the last 18 months is the importance of engaging with all communities in Bristol because the talent that is already here in our city is phenomenal. I think we often overlook local communities. We need to find different ways of accessing it. Babbasa is a brilliant example of an organisation that can help us access talent that very often gets overlooked right here on our doorstep.”
Read top tips for how to attract Generation Z talent to your business.
Universities also have a role to play in attracting new talent to the south west. Dr Joanna Jenkinson from the GW4 Alliance, which brings together the universities of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter, said:
“The role and position of universities has fundamentally shifted in that they all take their civic mission really seriously. They are very much embedded in their communities and work with local authorities.
“We have apprenticeship programmes that are jointly run with small businesses. Apprenticeship programmes are really important for the technical community within our universities. We support the technicians in our universities to raise their profile. They are the lifeblood of a lot of the work that happens in universities.
“Another opportunity for universities to do things a differently is entrepreneurship programmes. If you look at Bristol University’s programme, 45% of the start-up founders are women and 24% are from a black, Asian or ethnic minority background. If you put a supportive environment around people, then you can do things differently.”
Heather Wright said colleges in Bristol are playing a key role in future creative industries talent.
“One of the reasons why Bristol is successful in the creative industries is because we have a good system of colleges and universities doing film courses etc. There are fantastic courses at both the University of Bristol and the University of the West of England. There’s also education providers like Boomsatsuma.
“I think there is still an issue with people coming out of college being work ready. As employers we can do more to build links and partnerships with colleges and universities. When I worked at Aardman Animations, if we had a big feature film or TV series we needed to crew up for and the crew didn’t exist, we would set up a special training course so people could apply for it. I think that organisations and industries that have the ability to give that finessing from when people leave university to being fully professional and fully employable in an income earning role is something that we should all take responsibility for.”
Read our in-depth guide to creative industries-related further and higher education in Bristol and Bath.
To support the expansion of our Bristol team and better serve our growing list of clients, we’re delighted to announce that we’ve opened an office right by Bristol Temple Meads station.
Eight of the 21-strong team will now be based in the new office, with Operations Director Mike Sharp heading up the Bristol space.
He says of the opening: “Our mission is to be the happiest paid media agency in the UK. We believe that happy people do great work. It’s brilliant to open the Bristol office because we know that our people want to be back in a shared environment, both for their own mental health, and their ability to work closer as a team to deliver for our increasing client-base in the Bristol area.”
We are actively recruiting to fill roles across the business as we respond to increased demand. Having recently been recognised as the Best Small PPC Agency in Europe and praised for our ‘team-centric’ approach, if you’re passionate about paid media, we’d love to hear from you.
For more information on the roles available – based in Bristol, Exeter, or remotely – visit www.launchonline.co.uk/careers/