Bristol production agency Skylark Media has scooped three awards at this year’s The Drum Roses Awards. The agency is among three Bristol-based businesses that won GOLD. Aardman Animations and The Collaborators for Butternut of London (Bristol), also received top honours.
The Drum Roses, which celebrates the UK’s most talented creatives outside of London, has been running for over 35 years. Skylark won GOLD in the Animation/Illustration category for its work with Viva!’s This Is Fine animation. The animation also picked up BRONZE in the Viral Video category. Viva!’s TV ad, ‘Takeaway The Meat’, placed SILVER in the esteemed TV/Cinema Campaign category.
MD Jo Haywood says, ‘We’re absolutely ecstatic to win at this year’s The Drum Roses Awards. To be recognised by industry peers for our creativity is a real stamp of approval. We were up against some big brands and excellent campaigns including our friends at Aardman Animations. We are proud of our team’s creative work in building some successful campaigns for our client, Viva!’.
Launch has been named the best small digital advertising agency in Europe at an award ceremony in Barcelona last night, May 26.
The paid media agency was recognised as the Best Small PPC Agency (under 25 employees) in Europe, and also won Best Use of Search in the B2B category for its work to drive global revenue for an ISO provider based in the UK.
The announcement was made at the European Search Awards, an annual event which rewards and celebrates the very best companies and people working in digital marketing across the continent.
The judges praised Launch for its ‘team-centric’ approach to its work, ensuring that the workload of their employees was carefully managed while also guaranteeing that their ambitious objectives were delivered for its clients.
Jaye Cowle, Founder of Launch was delighted with the awards; “Our mission is to be the happiest agency in the UK. I believe that happy people do great work, regardless of where you work or what you do. So, I am absolutely thrilled that the judges recognised this and saw how it is possible to deliver on challenging goals and have a happy work-life balance.”
Launch has offices in Bristol and Exeter and is currently recruiting.
Employee engagement is an efficient business strategy. Happy, engaged, and resilient staff is the ultimate goal, but it’s easier said than done.
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution to employee engagement. It’s a mix of rewards, recognition, wellbeing, and community-building. Yuup provides a bespoke solution to each of these concerns surrounding employee engagement:
Employees are the heart of your business and the reason you exist. They’re also a significant investment, so it makes sense to invest in them as well.
Yuup offers a solution for employee engagement that goes beyond traditional perks such as free lunches or flexible working hours.
Based on research into what employees want from their employers, Yuup provides businesses with an innovative way to engage their teams by giving them recognition and rewarding them with things to do that are enriching and personal whilst stimulating the local economy and supporting small businesses.
Yuup is an online marketplace that offers a range of experiences that are perfect for businesses both big and small.
From team-building days to performance rewards and from staff wellbeing experiences to ways to celebrate big wins. It’s a way for businesses to engage their staff in ways they may not have been able to before.
Would you love to work on exciting projects for amazing nonprofit organisations? Such as running paid search and social to raise millions for the Disasters Emergency Committee’s Ukraine appeal and supporting organisations such as Mind and Samaritans to reach people in need. We only work with socially responsible organisations doing good in the world.
If you’re keen to launch a career in digital marketing, you enjoy writing great copy and have good attention to detail, you should apply to our Digital Marketing Academy Day! You don’t have to have any previous digital marketing experience but you must be excited and eager to learn!
The Academy is a 12-month paid programme where you’ll learn new skills while working alongside mentors, leading to a full-time role.
The first step – apply to join our Digital Marketing Academy Day on Tuesday 24th May, hosted at our central Bristol office on Colston Street. Find out more and apply.
This is a great time to join Torchbox – we’re 100% employee owned and business is booming.
With 81% of people in the UK today saying that creating a well and healthy world is the biggest challenge of the 21st century and 52% of people in the UK saying that they have felt more unwell since the beginning of the pandemic, the immense scale of the task ahead is very clear.
To further explore this growing challenge, last week (April 28th), McCann Bristol and McCann Synergy hosted the second Talks on Toast event of the year, Truth About Wellness.
Hosted by Kathryn Ellis, Managing Partner, Strategy at McCann Bristol alongside Rodney Collins, Director at McCann Worldgroup Truth Central and Chloe Foy, Behavioural Strategist and ACC Coach at McCann Synergy, the event uncovered research based on 10 years of trended global data about the shape, role and meaning of wellness in consumer lives across 26 global markets – uncovering insights around mental, physical, emotional, financial wellness and much more.
Focusing on wellness both today and tomorrow, the research timeline demonstrated huge shifts in consumer behaviour from before the pandemic through to now. A large emphasis was placed on how far wellness has come in the last decade and the importance that is now placed on this for both customers and workforces.
With 74% of people saying they’re definition of wellness has evolved in the past year, what does it mean to be ‘well’ in today’s world? The insights uncovered suggest wellness remains multi-dimensional, however the definition of wellness we are familiar with needs to expand. Rodney talked through the eight dimensions of wellness including; emotional, financial, spiritual and social, with the focus drawing more now on how a sense of lack in one area can negatively impact another.
Rodney commented: “We’re really noticing that in the past 10 years what has shifted is that each of these dimensions appeared to exist in a silo, there was no mention about how ones mental health could impact ones physical health, how the bacteria in our stomachs affect how happy we are, how loneliness increases our chances of developing heart problems, or how the hitting costs of urban ride sharing is increasing environmental pollutants, which in turn are driving higher rates of Asthma. So the wellness conversation today has really become expansive, interconnected and networked.”
The discussion continued by identifying the erosion of this siloed approach, delving into the evolution of the wellness conversation and addressing five key additional shifts brands and businesses should foster and strive for to ensure a positive wellness evolution in the workspace.
Talks on Toast is a quarterly event hosted by McCann Bristol, delivering insight and global research at a local level based on key global topics.
Integrated marketing communications agency, McCann Bristol – part of McCann Central – has been awarded CPD Gold by the IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) for its outstanding professional development opportunities over the last 12 months.
The IPA CPD Gold scheme recognises and rewards agencies who demonstrate a genuine culture of learning, bettering the professionalism, development and reputation of the industry enhancing clients’ brands and agencies’ worth as a result.
Dean Lovett, CEO at McCann Central said: “This is a huge accolade for us. Building a strong learning culture that supports real business objectives, as well as supporting the professional and personal development of our employees is a priority for us.
“Thanks to our people, we have overcome the challenges of the last two years and the business is in a very strong position. Through this continued focus on our people, and their place within our business, we’ve been able to further improve the CPD opportunities available to them – such as our annual Day for Meaning where employees come together to create plans to improve conscious inclusion across our offices and enhance company culture.”
McCann Central is one of just 35 agencies UK-wide to receive the CPD Gold accreditation. Those applying for the award must demonstrate that CPD lies at the heart of their business, building a strong learning culture, in support of real business objectives and the development of employees professionally and personally.
Dean added: “This is also an award for all employees. Their commitment to learning as well as personal and professional development through a very challenging period, is really impressive.”
McCann Bristol provides integrated communications and award-winning creative across a range of best-in-class services including: strategy, research and planning, design and creative, broadcast, digital, PR and social, internal comms and employee engagement, activation and media buying.
📣 Introducing The MUZA Collective for Bristol & Bath-based Creatives 📣
Did you know the Creative Industries is one of the fastest-growing sectors of the UK economy, contributing over £111 billion every year? That’s almost £13 million every hour! But despite this impressive growth, work in the creative sector can be extremely precarious… especially for freelance creatives.
Sick pay? Holiday pay? Income security? IR35? Taxes? etc.
As part of our fourth-year innovation project at the University of Bristol, my co-founder and I (Harry Ellis) set about changing this narrative. We immersed ourselves in the region’s vibrant creatives communities, collaborated with experts from Nesta, The RSA and Creative UK, and have developed a solution that provides the necessary securities that freelancers typically miss out on. Introducing… The MUZA Collective.
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The MUZA Collective is a social enterprise concept to support Bristol and Bath-based creative freelancers by combining cooperative principles with the protective salaried status provided by a formal employment contract. Importantly, while our freelance members benefit from improved social security, automated tax/insurances and statutory employment rights, our shared enterprise does not sacrifice their autonomy as they are still in control and work on their own terms.
Our unique offerings:
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Sound interesting? Please register your interest today (it’s free, quick & easy!)
In order to move this project from concept to reality, we’d like to invite your support. By expressing your interest today, you can provide us with a valuable proof of desirability, which is vital for the next stage of our project: development!
Please express your interest at: https://www.muzacollective.uk/expression-of-interest (simply your name and email!)
If you have any questions or would like to find out more, don’t hesitate to get in touch!
– Harry and Frankie
JonesMillbank, Bristol-based video production company, went stateside with their content last week, featuring on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Last month they captured the session performances of three tracks – CRAWL!, CAR CRASH and THE NEW SENSATION – at The Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow.
The subsequent edit of CRAWL! was picked up by The Late Show ahead of IDLES’ appearance at Coachella, part of their US-wide tour, with notice and the recording delivered to CBS the day of the broadcast.
“Our portfolio of work across music has developed somewhat alongside the commanding ascent of IDLES” said Rob French, Senior Creative at JonesMillbank.
“We have collaborated with them for a few years now and have established a relationship built on trust and integrity – key when an artist has a distinctive ownership of their brand.”
“The band brought such a beautiful energy to these sessions, bearing in mind it was mid-tour and in the middle of three sold out shows at The Barrowland Ballroom. We could barely communicate or see the stage, the light and sound was so intense but it was such a privilege to capture such raw energy so intimately.”
You can watch the feature and the session at https://jonesmillbank.com/work/idles/barrowland-sessions, with the releases of CAR CRASH and THE NEW SENSATION coming in the following weeks.
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JonesMillbank are a passionate full-service video production company
They work exclusively in-house with a talented team of multi-disciplined creatives, all the while telling authentic stories long before it was cool for a range of clients such as University of Bristol, Battersea, The Royal Mint, IDLES and randstad.
jonesmillbank.com
01173706372
[email protected]
We’re delighted to announce that Armadillo CEO, James Ray, has been appointed one of the three agency heads boosting the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) leadership team and will be joined by OMD’s chief operating officer, Christian Byron and Republic of Media’s head of client services, Gill Jarvie.
James’ role will be as City Head for Bristol, Cardiff and the South West. He’ll serve as a figurehead and champion for the Industry in the region. He’ll engage with, and represent, the outstanding talent in the community, and provide a voice for IPA members in the areas.
Paul Bainsfair, director general, IPA comments “I’m delighted to welcome Christian, Gill and James into their new positions. I know they will provide valuable guidance and expertise to our wider agency community as we continue to recover from the pandemic.
James says: “It’s a great privilege to have been appointed as your new City Head for Bristol, Cardiff and the South West, not least as I have some big shoes to fill. I wanted to start by thanking Mike Leeson for his superb stewardship over the last few years, and I hope I can step up to his high standard.
I’m really excited to be taking on the role. With the uncertainty and disruption of the last few years driving a shift towards a more hybrid and even more accessible mix of benefits and support, there’s never been a better time to be an IPA member – especially for those of us outside of the capital”.
Armadillo joined the IPA in March 2020. We were incredibly pleased to join an organisation that, with over 266 agency members, who are responsible for over 85% of all UK advertising spend, supports and celebrates the best in the industry. We have thoroughly enjoyed working with them over the past two years and are incredibly excited to continue to develop this relationship further as the advertising industry continues to innovate and grow.
Last month was B Corp month — a time to appreciate what it means to be a B Corp. The B Corporation is a global movement of businesses rethinking what it means to be successful, focusing on regenerative, inclusive, and equitable practices that benefit everybody, not just the people at the top.
B Corp businesses not only listen to the demands of the climate crisis — they’re often leading the way. It’s a huge psychological shift taking place in the business sphere, happening across continents. There’s now over 4,600 B Corps in 78 countries around the world, covering 155 industries. We’re chuffed by how far this movement has grown. Tusko is also growing, and we’d like purpose driven creatives to join us.
We built our agency on the idea that private enterprises have a vital role to play when it comes to climate change, social injustice, and every unbalanced axis that tilts our world away from what’s good for all.
We’ve always wanted to be a part of the wave making a positive difference in the world. Because with the pressures of climate change just getting more intense by the year, we can’t just carry on with business as usual.
Our entire economic world is built on a model that has directly resulted in the catastrophic environmental effects we’re beginning to witness all around us, and will have to adapt to over the coming years. So for businesses to become a part of the change we need to see, they need to be solidly accountable for doing things in a better way.
Luckily, it is completely possible to balance profit, and purpose. And as Mark Carney warns, can businesses afford not to adapt, and create those urgently needed solutions?
The journey to B Corp certification has given us an incredible framework to grow with, and we’ve had to ask occasionally awkward questions of our suppliers and our customers.
Our practices as an agency now include…
asking if our associates have a ‘Code of Ethics’ in their business.
enquiring if they have relationships with ‘Sin industries’): Tobacco, Alcohol, Gambiling, Weapons, Pornography, Unfair Trade Practices, Fossil Fuels, Diamonds and precious gems, fast fashion, Pharmaceuticals, and businesses with their workforce in 3rd world countries.
asking if they would be happy to fill in our ‘Sustainability Survey’, to assess performance in this area.
But while we’ve had to make some hard decisions as a result of shifting our business to align with our ethics, we’ve also attracted some exceptional clients along the way too.
We’ve been working closely with a Bristol-based law firm NRG to create their new digital identity, and support an exciting rebrand project. They’re also on the journey to B Corp certification, and as we understand it one of the main reasons NRG wanted to work with us was because we are B Corp certified.
It’s highly rewarding to be able to work together with businesses from other sectors towards a common, essential goal.
We’ve been motivated to begin our B Corp journey by businesses who are already transforming our economy by transforming themselves.
We look to brands like Patagonia, a north star for sustainability in big business for many. They make the coolest outdoor gear, and they’re also a beacon for major corporation ethics, and contributions to sustainability.
Tony’s Chocolate have been making waves too — you might have seen their colourful campaigns against slavery in chocolate production.