*This event is now SOLD OUT. Please add your name to the waitlist and we’ll confirm if a ticket becomes available*
Humans are innately illogical, and make unconscious decisions based largely on our emotions. Yet when confronted with a business or personal challenge, we have become obsessed with absolute logic, rationality, algorithms and data, and it’s threatening to stunt us: politically, socially and economically. What if there were an alternative to logic and rationality –a ‘psycho-logic’–that was far more pervasive and powerful than we realise, and when employed correctly, creates the kind of magic (or alchemy) most businesses or economists can only dream of?
Join us for a keynote with Rory Sutherland, the legendary Ogilvy Vice Chairman, the ‘Don Draper of the UK’, and one of our most acclaimed behavioural economists, who will share insights into his book ‘Alchemy – The Surprising Power of Ideas that don’t make Sense.’
Sutherland will use real case studies from his work and research with the world’s biggest brands and influencers, to reveal how we must learn to identify and understand the basics of ‘psycho-logic’, to get ahead in the modern world.
This keynote takes place between 12.30 – 14.00 on Tuesday 28th January at Foot Anstey, 2 Glass Wharf, Bristol BS2 0FR.
Tickets are 45+VAT for Bristol Media members (£60+VAT for non-members), a limited number are available to Bristol Media Freelance Members for £25+VAT.
Tickets include a buffet lunch and a copy of Rory’s book ‘Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas that don’t make Sense’ to take away.
Rory is the Vice Chairman of Ogilvy, an attractively vague job title which has allowed him to co-found a behavioural science practice within the agency.
He works with a consulting practice of psychology graduates who look for ‘unseen opportunities’ in consumer behaviour – these are the very small contextual changes which can have enormous effects on the decisions people make. It is a hugely valuable activity – but, alas, not particularly lucrative. This is because clients generally do not have budgets for solving problems they have not noticed.
Before founding Ogilvy Change, Rory was a copywriter and creative director at Ogilvy for over 20 years, having joined as a graduate trainee in 1988. He has variously been President of the IPA, Chair of the Judges for the Direct Jury at Cannes, and has spoken at TED Global. He writes regular columns for the Spectator, Market Leader and Impact, and also occasional pieces for Wired. He is the author of two books: The Wiki Man, available on Amazon at prices between £1.96 and £2,345.54, depending on whether the algorithm is having a bad day, and Alchemy, The Surprising Power of Ideas that don’t make Sense, published in the UK and US in March 2019.
Check out more Bristol Media events on the What’s On pages
What’s your favourite place in Bristol/this area?
There’s a little curved edge on the corner near the Arnolfini, and if you look across the water towards the giant giraffe cranes at the right time, the sun comes around the M-shed and it is quite stunning. Whether you’re a student hanging out there, dangling your legs over the edge with a cider, or you’re taking the baby for a stroll, that little spot is particularly special.
There are so many wonderful things about Bristol, things that just don’t exist anywhere else. It’s so unique.
What are you most proud of as a business?
There was a real sense of pride when we moved into our new premises. Every single time we’ve done something big, whether it was moving or buying a bit of kit, it’s always been such a morale booster, and we get re-energised. But moving into Temple Studios at the beginning of the year was so different because it was suddenly our space, we had this ownership that we hadn’t had before.
Overall, we’re proud of the fact that every step we’ve taken has led to the creation of something that’s been a benefit for someone, as well as being beautiful and enjoyable to watch. So, any little production whether it’s a small 30 second piece or a TV campaign, we’re massively proud of what we can actually create as a team.
What’s your favourite office gadget?
Everyone else’s favourite is probably the coffee machine or PlayStation, but mine is our old 1930s film projector. It was a prop for a TV ad we created. We were so happy because it actually works! We’ve got Tom and Jerry reels and these amazing documentaries from Africa; it’s absolutely incredible. It weighs a tonne… But I love that thing.
What exciting plans have you got coming up this year?
Historically, we’ve organically grown by one or two people a year, but with the amount of work that’s coming in that’ll be accelerating very soon. We’ve already taken on another animator and we’re currently advertising for a camera operator. By next year we might be a team of 10!
The investments we’ve made in kit this year will mean that we can really throw ourselves at some huge projects. We’ve also been working on our passion projects, one in particular that we’ve been creating looks into masculinity and it’s gone really deep. We’re hoping to push that towards a broadcast commission next year. And this is all under the assumption that we’ll survive the Christmas party in Athens!
Whose work do you admire and why?
Aardman’s work is beyond amazing. I went along to Nick Park’s ‘Cracking Conversations’ event recently, and I just have a huge admiration for someone who can imagine what he can and just create it. I think they are really leading the way in Bristol.
But there are so many incredible companies in the area that are doing new things, like the Ultrahaptics team.
If you had one piece of advice for someone just starting out, what would it be?
The best piece of advice I can give anyone is just keep swimming. You have no idea where any little decision might take you. If I could go back in time and speak to my younger self, I would definitely say chill out, everything will work out the way it’s meant to. There are certain things you have no control over, so why worry about it? Make mistakes and learn from them.
In terms of actually getting work, we get a lot of emails from people wanting work experience with us and that’s absolutely a great thing to do; but on the flip side, there’s no problem in just making your own stuff. You can build a great portfolio of work when you’re not making it for anybody but yourself. It’s good to show off your own individual offering.
What’s the biggest challenge your industry/organisation is facing at the moment?
The constant changing landscape in the world of content is a challenge, people are being told they should be doing certain things, producing content like video and suddenly they’re thinking they should be doing that. Rather than thinking ‘what’s the problem I’m addressing?’ As a production company, we’re navigating through all the noise. And there’s a lot of noise out there that isn’t contextually relevant to anything or anyone. The big challenge for us is cutting through that noise with original, authentic content that tells a story and will make a brand sing.
To check out the full member profile for Jones Millbank or get in touch with the team, click here.
Following on from the success of last year’s graffiti mural, Stuff has been once again been commisioned by Visit Bristol to promote the city at Christmas.
Stuff Creative Director, Richard Spruce, explains: “We wanted to go bigger and better for 2019, so having secured an amazing location on the front of the Colston Hall, we set to work thinking how to make the most of it.
With the large windows creating natural panels, we decided to use 8 different artists to produce 8 different murals. As well as last year’s artists, Cheo and Silent Hobo, we also brought in Kid Crayon, Marta Zubieta, Elaine Carr, Andy Council, Tim Ulewicz and Lucas Antics to help us achieve our vision.
Based on the campaign hashtag #MERRYBRISTMAS, we came up with a different scene for each artist, each one depicting the different attractions and festive offerings of Bristol. We then tied these together with 8 different words, the initial letter of each spelling out the word BRISTMAS.”
The end result is a wonderfully colourful and creative piece of work, celebrating all that is great about Bristol at Christmas, viewed through the eyes of some of the city’s leading graffiti artists. The artwork has then been used to create a digital & social campaign along with leaflets and postcards.
Silent Hobo also painted a version of his mural onto a canvas live at the campaign launch event, which has been donated to local charity Caring in Bristol to sell at auction and raise funds for their Caring at Christmas project.
Caring at Christmas is a pop-up shelter in the centre city centre that shelters up to 60 people each night and feeds over 150 homeless and vulnerable people each day over Christmas and New Year. You can make a bid for this unique piece of Bristol art and support this vital work here.
Instagram has continued to prove itself as a social juggernaut within the last year, with an increase to 1 billion monthly active users and more than 500 million of those using the platform every day. So how do you get your content seen among all the big influencers and bots?
In this creative and strategic workshop, Instagram experts Jess Siggers and Keri Hudson will show you how to up your Instagram game and find your tribe.
After a refresh of the most up-to-date Instagram essentials, Digital Content Creator/Community Manager Jess Siggers (@porthjess/@igersbristol) will talk you through all the latest tools, tips and secret tricks you’ll need to supercharge your feed & Stories for 2020.
We’ll then go behind the scenes with Ads Manager and explore best practice for Instagram advertising. Social media expert Keri Hudson (@keritweet) will share her top creative and targeting tips to help you produce effective campaigns for brand awareness and sales. She’ll also give you a heads up on the latest paid activity trends and a glimpse at what the future may bring!
The workshop takes place from 3 – 5pm on Wednesday 4th December at Prophecy Unlimited, Glass Wharf, Bristol. Tickets are £20+VAT for Bristol Media members and £30+VAT for non-members.
Jess Siggers (aka Porthjess) is an experienced Digital Content Creator & a photographer focusing on bold, vibrant colour. A Community Manager who runs the Bristol Instagrammers network IGers Bristol, and an Ambassador for SMW Bristol and Destination Bristol, Jess has been featured by the BBC, Time Out, The Chromologist, The Guardian & Mollie Makes. See Jess’s Bristol Media member profile here
Keri Hudson is a Social Media Consultant specialising in teaching businesses how to think strategically about their online activity. With a decade of experience, she’s worked with brands of all shapes and sizes, including Cancer Research UK, Land Rover, The BFI and Yotel. A strategist at heart, Keri focuses on the tactical and tech sides of social media, and is passionate about helping brands get the best from the platforms’ organic and paid functionality. See Keri’s Bristol Media member profile here
Since winning Our City 2018, winners Patch De Salis and Michael Doran have been busy creating new content and gaining experience with top production agencies in the local area. We spoke to them to find out more about the inspiration behind their films and what they’ve been up to over the past year.
“I originally saw the ‘Our City’ competition advertised at a networking event. It looked like a great opportunity that I wanted to be involved in, so I started planning what was to become ‘BeBristol’.
“I knew right from the get-go that I wanted to feature my friend Urban Mckenzie (the star cyclist) in the film, since we had worked together before and he would tie my selected scenes of Bristol together nicely.
“My brother Wilfred de Salis offered to compose the music and co-direct the film, so I graciously took up his offer as he is an excellent film composer. We contacted friends, clubs and groups to showcase in the film before we began filming. It was important to me to show varying locations, cultures and people.
“The highlight of my experience has been the exposure, which has led to current work. I have been filming for various clients and musical artists, as well as creating my own films and working towards starting my own limited film company. My most recent film featuring Bristol’s acclaimed rap artist ‘Jay0117’ is about the day in the life of an inner-city Bristolian, reflecting on societal issues, lifestyle and UK culture. (Check it out on YouTube – Jay0117 – A Day In The Life.)
“The companies I met along the way that provided work experience have been a great influence and I hope to gain future collaborations with them.”
“I heard about Our City on Twitter in 2017. I follow Marvin Rees and he tweeted about the opportunity. However, I knew for my idea that I needed to film the city’s summer festivals and by this point I’d missed that opportunity, so I waited until the competition returned the following year.
“I watched a video on YouTube made as part of Detroit’s pitch to Amazon to have their new HQ built there (obscure, I know!). It celebrated the history and culture of Detroit in a way which I believed lots of the tourism videos of Bristol available online were missing. Needless to say, I was massively inspired and felt I could use this as the foundations of the film!
“The montage nature of my film meant filming across the year at a variety of locations and events. It was the first time I created a film whereby I had to collate footage in this way which was a great experience in itself. However, it also taught me how to keep motivation going on a project once you’re over a year into it.
“It was also my first time collaborating with another creative, my incredibly talented friend and fellow Bristolian Joey Mitchell who wrote and performed the words for the voice-over. This was an invaluable experience as it opened my eyes to the potential of working creatively with others as prior to the competition I’d only ever worked by myself.
“Of course, the prize money was also very useful as it enabled me to invest in some new equipment which has further improved my production quality.
“Since winning, I’ve completed my A Levels and began my gap year, I’ve been undertaking several other projects and doing some freelance work. I’ve also completed a week’s work experience at Icon Films – an opportunity that I was fortunately offered thanks to the competition and its partners.”
We’re now welcoming applications for this years’ Our City competition, and the deadline is the 30th November. To help anyone wishing to apply, we asked Patch and Michael if they had any advice for future applicants:
Patch: “If I could give a piece of advice to future applicants, it would be to try and show Bristol in the unique way that you see it rather than accommodating to an audience in an un-natural light.”
Michael: “I would say get shooting! I was fortunate as I had a clear vision however that is often rare. Sometimes you just need to get out there and shoot and an idea will come to you. If like me, you do have a clear vision, then don’t beat yourself up if the end product isn’t quite what you imagined – it rarely is. In my opinion, that’s all part and parcel of being a young creative!
“In addition, don’t be afraid to ask for things (politely of course)! I shot many of Bristol’s events with a media pass that were kindly given to me by the events and their media teams. This also opens up the opportunity to make new contacts who you can potentially work with in the future.”
The brief is to produce a 90 second film or animation that captures your view of Bristol and what makes Our City the most creative, rebellious, diverse and pioneering place to be. Submit your entry by clicking the link below – you’ll need to provide an online link.
The winner receives a £1000 prize and the opportunity to work with local partner companies to build your skills and experience. Competition closes on 29th November 2019, we’ll announce the results of this year’s competition in December.
Be sure to follow the updates onTwitter @FilmOurCity
You can follow Patch’s work on his Instagram @patch_productions and his YouTube Patch Work Productions.
You can follow Michael’s work on his website michaeldoranfilm.net and his YouTube Michael Doran.
Main image photo by Vanilla Bear Films on Unsplash
The award was set up in memory of the late Ben Martin, a local, entrepreneurial agency MD who was committed to an inclusive culture and actively encouraged diversity.
Marissa Lewis-Peart won last year’s award, travelling to Austin with Chris Thurling, Bristol Media Chair, to attend the world’s largest digital festival, SxSW. This was followed by a 5-month paid internship programme with a range of the top agencies in the South West – McCann Bristol, Bray Leino CX, Armadillo, True, Mentor Digital, Ragdoll, Tallt, Wonderland Communications, Mr B & Friends, saintnicks, Taxi Studio, Great State, Six and Halo. Read about Marissa’s experience here.
This year Bristol Media and ADLIB, together with a growing list of agency sponsors, are extending the award to 4 candidates. A candidate briefing session in mid-October, hosted by ADLIB, Bristol Media and Babbasa, will allow candidates to fully explore the opportunities available to them, according to their preferred area of interest in either the creative, technology, data or tech sector.
Applicants should submit a video (no more than a min) or short written piece (around 500 words), explaining why they stand out and should be selected. Successful applicants will be interviewed by a panel of experts and the winner and 3 runners up will be awarded paid internships. The winner will, once again, attend SxSW with Bristol Media and a group of industry professionals.
To enter the award, please send your submission to [email protected] by Friday 22nd November 2019. Winners will be announced in early December.
Terms and Conditions
Applicants must be over 18.
Applicants must be willing to create and supply content of their journey for media usage.
Applicants must be able to travel to Texas in March 2020.
Applicants must be living in the South West of England.
Recent successes include big scale factual entertainment show Race Against the World, documentary series Forensics: The Real CSI, The MisAdventures of Romesh Ranganathan and scripted content MotherFatherSon and Defending the Guilty.
Holland is keen to tell the stories that reflect the diversity of modern Britain and is committed to commissioning more regional indies. He will share his ambitions for BBC Two, including how to showcase the channel brand in an iPlayer world and discuss ongoing opportunities for producers across a range of genres.
Prior to this role, Patrick was Head of Commissioning, Documentaries, BBC and before joining the BBC, he was MD of one of the UK’s biggest factual indies, Boundless. This event is hosted by Lynn Barlow, Chair of RTS West of England
Tickets & entry:
Tickets are free for RTS Members, or £6.50 for non RTS Members and includes a complimentary drink after the session
Doors open 6.15pm
Session will run from 6.30-8pm
Networking drinks in the bar afterwards, 8-9pm
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.
Bristol Media’s new Visualiser apprenticeship programme has its first recruit! Congratulations to Kheamah Powell, who has recently joined animation company A Productions as a Production Management Apprentice.
Launched in May this year, Visualiser is a partnership between Bristol Media, Babbasa, Ujima Radio and the City Council, and this new apprenticeship is a perfect fit for the team at A Productions.
Melissa Lipscombe, A Productions, says “The team wanted to take the opportunity to reach out to a more diverse range of candidates to be part of our production crew, alongside promoting the profile of the studio within the wider local Bristol community.
Working closely with Jo Sunderland from Diverse Insights, we ran two events, one with Babbasa, based at Wilder Street and one with Ujima Radio based at St Pauls Learning Centre. We advertised through our own website but also through Creative Access.
There was a fantastic response and Kheamah was one of 33 applicants who applied. The competition was tough, but Kheamah really stood out and we are delighted that she has accepted a job as part of our Production team.
Cirencester College have been great to work with, they advised on, and coordinated the recruitment process and will continue to support Kheamah and A Productions throughout her contract on the production. We couldn’t recommend the whole process enough!”
Kheamah says: “The apprenticeship has given me real hands on experience – I’m really enjoying working and learning every day!”
If you’d like to widen the diversity of your team or would like to speak to someone about the Visualiser apprentice programme, get in touch with Paul Appleby ([email protected]). For more info on Visualiser visit: https://www.bristolmedia.co.uk/news/4685/visualiser-new-talent-in-your-business
Previously executive creative director and Vice Chairman of Ogilvy & Mather, as well as creative lead for Google’s The Zoo, Patrick has a career spanning over 30 years, and we’re delighted to welcome him back to Bristol.
20 years ago, Seth Godin wrote “Permission Marketing”. He had such high hopes for advertising, suggesting that the digital revolution would make advertising personal and relevant and thus anticipated and welcome.
But it didn’t quite work out that way…
Not only do people dislike advertising (there are a billion ad-blockers installed on devices around the world) they dislike the advertising profession too. In the UK, advertising people often rank below politicians, which takes some doing! Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, Google and Brand Safety, the new tech giants have had a disastrous effect on how advertising is both made and seen.
BUT, despite all this, advertising can still help sell products and grow brands. It’s just that there are new rules.
About the keynote:
In this talk, Patrick Collister will apologise for the cliché (new rules) but will explain how it gives a framework for understanding the five conditions brands need to meet if they want to get through to people.
He’ll talk a bit about data, a lot about insight and he’ll mention the fact that 30% of the audience will have bought something on their mobile phones while sitting on the toilet. He’ll squeak excitedly about some of the new toys in the tech-box but pull a frown when he gets to the slide with the poo emoji. That’s when he’ll be discussing Programmatic and how it is an opportunity that creative agencies miss at their peril.
He’ll talk about ideas a lot, use the word creativity quite often, and may even try to sell you his book, “How To Use Innovation & Creativity In Business.”
Tickets & Entry
Join us and Patrick on Tuesday 17th September (12.30-14.15) at the riverside offices of Foot Anstey, 2 Glass Wharf, Bristol BS2 0FR.
Tickets are £40+VAT for Bristol Media members, £55+VAT for non-members and include lunch. A limited number of £10+VAT tickets will be available from 9th August to Bristol Media freelance members.
About Patrick
Patrick was the executive creative director and Vice Chairman of Ogilvy & Mather, London. Then executive creative director of the EHS Brann network of direct marketing agencies. From 2013 to 2018 he was the creative lead for Google’s creative think-tank The Zoo. He has won many awards, the most prestigious being Cannes Gold in 2013 with Cheil for Samsung. In his spare time, Patrick publishes Directory magazine and resource.
Patrick will return in October to run his critically-acclaimed workshop ‘Getting the Big Idea’… find out more.