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/
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.
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:
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
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