JonesMillbank, Bristol-based video production company, marked their 10 year anniversary last week. Having collaborated together since 2008, Co-Founders Russell Jones and Adam Millbank founded JonesMillbank in February 2011 and have become a mainstay of Bristol’s creative community.
“It goes without saying that the last year has certainly been the most interesting and challenging of the last 10. It’s somewhat odd that we found ourselves forced into the freelance world following the financial crisis of 2008, and now 10 years after founding the company we’re adapting to the next one” said Russell.
“It’s been an amazing 10 years, and like most anniversaries it’s gone both fast and slow; some elements of our work have changed dramatically whilst others have remained remarkably similar.”
“That’s particularly true of equipment vs content; we used to film on magnetic MiniDV tapes where you’d have to capture footage in real-time by playing the tape back like a VHS, and now we’re shooting in 8K raw on 1TB solid state drives. And yet what’s in front of the lens is still predominantly people and their stories”.
“The last year has certainly been interesting, but way more successful than we ever thought it would be when the proverbial was hitting the fan and projects were getting postponed and cancelled left, right and centre back in March 2020.”
“In fact September 2020 turned out to be our busiest month on record. We managed to adapt rapidly; we directed two music videos for IDLES, a new sector for us, our animation capabilities flourished, and we helped our clients continue communicating through virtual tours and live streams alongside ‘traditional’ video content.”
JonesMillbank boast a broad range of cross-sector clients, with recent projects for The Royal Mint, University of Bristol, Universal Music, Toshiba, NHS, Bristol City Council and Battersea.
Adam added: “Graduating into a recession and then marking ten years in lockdown has bookended the last decade of working interestingly. Despite all the changes, the challenges, the highs and lows, what’s been constant is the absolute love for what we do. Telling stories will always be the most interesting and engaging thing I can imagine doing and to have been able to do it with the friend I graduated with has been nothing short of a privilege.”
“I think what’s ensured that JonesMillbank has had such a solid foundation throughout the last decade is the fact that although both myself and Russell are quite different people we understand each other so well and can make joint decisions on what we do. Just like any good long term relationship!”
“We’ve always pushed ourselves to get the most value out of budgets and when I think back to the very first pieces we created the attitude was just the same. It wasn’t easy back then to get a company to take a chance on two individuals with no real portfolio or experience so we can appreciate all the risks people took with us in the early days”.
“We’ve traveled the world and met the most interesting people along the way and who knows what the next decade has in store. Seeing the team grow, the projects get more ambitious and the pure enjoyment that we all get from being creative every day is something I’m hugely grateful for.”
On the 10-year anniversary, Russell said “we usually try to make the most of things like this, with previous Christmas parties seeing us spend a few days in Athens, Bucharest, Warsaw and Bruges. So we’ve decided to delay our party until the summer when we can celebrate and commemorate properly with the whole team and their families. Everyone was bored of Zoom a long time ago!”
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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 and IDLES.
jonesmillbank.com
01173706372
[email protected]
McCann has further strengthened its strategy team with the promotion of Kathryn Ellis and Gideon Wilkins to managing partners.
Kathryn has over 15 years of experience in leading brand, business and communications strategies, alongside holding the position of associate lecturer in Advertising at Southampton Solent University. She is a leading voice on growing and retaining female talent within the industry, and her acclaimed research in this area has formed the basis for her many keynote speaker appearances at IPA and Creative Equals events, as well as her published work. Whilst at McCann Bristol she has been integral in rebranding the Royal Mint, launching Motability’s first ever direct to consumer campaign and taking Pink Lady apples global.
Gideon joined McCann Birmingham in 2019, having previously held the position of Global Brand Guidance Director at Kantar where he led the Unilever account. In just 18 months, he’s been instrumental in further innovating the McCann strategy offering, enhancing its signature planning and research capabilities, as well as introducing a host of exciting new talent and skills.
The promotions follow the 2020 appointment of Gary Armitage as Regional Head of Strategy, Mastercard last year, and are the latest steps in expanding McCann Central’s 30-strong division of strategy, research and planning specialists, who sit at the core of its effective creative.
Dean Lovett, CEO at McCann Central, commented: “Strategy, planning and research are a fundamental part of everything we do here at McCann and in our pledge to help our clients play a meaningful role in people’s lives. Every day, our expert strategists, planners and researchers uncover insights to guide our creativity and – crucially – create positive results for our clients, which is why we are delighted to be further strengthening our strategy team.
“It’s an exciting time for our business and we recognise that a strong strategy team is central to continuing to deliver the world-class work for which we are known and building on our celebrated philosophy of, ‘Truth Well Told’. We’ve always prided ourselves on the strength of our offering but thanks to these latest developments, we are now the strongest we’ve ever been.
“We’d like to congratulate Gideon and Kathryn on their promotions. We have no doubt that, along with our brilliant team, they will continue to ensure our creative work is the bravest and best it can be, and more importantly truly effective for our clients.”
The McCann strategy team brings different agency disciplines together to build campaigns with a shared, consistent approach. Its strategists’ experience, skills and capabilities include brand planning for digital communication and creative development, from analysis of consumer trends, needs and segmentation, focus groups, workshops and co-creation, to campaign creative and proposition evaluations.
Creative educator boomsatsuma is showcasing students work with an innovative street poster exhibition on Bristol hoardings.
The talents of Creative and Digital Media level 3 extended diploma students, from year 13, will be on display from Jan 25th, as boomsatsuma, once again gets ‘street cred’, overcoming pandemic challenges and restrictions.
Education for boomsatsuma’s creative students continued undisrupted throughout lockdown tiers and shutdowns, as boomsatsuma swiftly implemented and maintained Covid-19 safe processes. However, it was clear that any public exhibitions of student works would not be viable due to pandemic restrictions.
Photography course lead at boomsatsuma, Samuel Fordham, enthuses:
“It’s exciting for our students to see their creativity displayed in one of Bristol’s most prominent locations, opposite Temple Meads station. During previous years’ students have been able to showcase their works in public exhibitions, but with all venues shutdown, we’re sharing their artwork for the people of Bristol to enjoy.
“We briefed students to create images using photography, graphics or design, responding to the theme of representation, stimulating students to choose issues that speak to their generation. I’m very proud of the results and look forward to seeing them in the giant poster format, encompassing subject matter ranging from race, genre, climate change, to body image.
“We are currently interviewing for our first intake of students for our new Documentary Photography and Print (BA Hons) degree, and the standard of work we’re seeing here bodes well for the talent looking to forge ahead with their education towards a career in photography.”
To precede the exhibition a series of posters have appeared as an ‘In Bristol You Can’ campaign, with an eye-catching poster installation opposite the students’ Engine Shed location; highlighting Bristol’s flourishing creative industries. boomsatsuma is providing strong education pathways, recently launching six new degrees leading into creative careers in film, television, games art and VFX and acting, working in close partnerships with industry partners*.
Ends
*Degree partners
Photography: Royal Photographic Society
Film Production: The Bottle Yard Studios and Films @ 59
Acting Degrees: Tobacco Factory Theatres and The Bottle Yard Studio’s
In the two and a half years since launching, Bristol-based Haio has gone from strength to strength, making their mark as one of the fastest growing local UX and development agencies in Bristol and the surrounding area.
Now the team have taken an exciting new step, relaunching the brand – including taking on a new name; Unfold.
Making the complex simple…
Making the most complex things seem simple has always been the super-power behind the Haio team – helping growing digital businesses to create world-class user-experiences and digital platforms. The team works under the belief that with the right people and tools, anything is possible.
So what do Unfold actually do?
In short, the team build websites, web apps and digital platforms for start-up and scale-up businesses. They help entrepreneurs and business leaders develop world-class experiences by bringing expertise across four areas:
So why the change?
Working closely with fellow BCI member Sue Bush from Touchpoint Design, Haio needed a fresh platform and a clearer market positioning to continue growing alongside it’s clients scaling businesses. The team sought-out their raison d’être and in uncovering this essence, a better definition of who they are and what they do. Unfold is the culmination of this journey and sets the scene for their next exciting chapter.
So, what can you expect from Unfold?
Unfold’s mission is to empower and propel entrepreneurs and their businesses to the next level.
They’re also making their expertise from across the team more accessible, offering free, no obligation 1 hour consultancy sessions with a product or technical lead, to help talk through some of the challenges you might be facing. You can book a call any time through their website https://bit.ly/3oHJu70.
In addition to this, they’re on a mission to share their knowledge and break down barriers in understanding regarding tech development, startup success and digital platform scaling. This is why their new website has a fantastic new Resources Hub, dedicated to entirely free articles and reports on everything in the startup ecosystem – from fundraising through to scaling your technology.
Win a free UX audit for your business
Thirdly, to celebrate the launch they’re also running a small competition – offering 5 free UX audits to UK businesses. This is a chance to have a professional UX designer review and recommend some approaches to a specific challenge you may be facing with your digital product. You can find out more about that here https://bit.ly/3pFIrWx
Access Creative College (ACC) has begun work on Phase Two of its campus in Bristol City Centre, which will see it occupy the former site of legendary music venue, Bierkeller. The development represents an investment of £4.5m by the college, as it looks to give the space a new lease of life with a host of cutting-edge sound facilities and classrooms for ACC’s range of creative courses.
The Bierkeller site has remained unused since it closed its doors to music fans back in 2018. Over the years, the venue welcomed some of the biggest names in music to its stage, including Nirvana, The Stone Roses and Arctic Monkeys, to name just a few. At over 13,000 sq. feet, ACC’s Phase Two development will more than double the floor space of its Bristol Campus, as the college looks to develop the talent and skills that are so vital to the future growth of the creative industries in the city and beyond.
Mark Smithers, Access Creative College Bristol Centre Manager commented, “Bristol has a rich heritage of creativity and it is an exciting place to be teaching the next generation of digital and arts professionals. As we break through into the former Bierkeller site next door, it will soon be home to some of UK’s leading creatives of tomorrow as we bring it back to life as an education and state-of-the-art events space.”
ACC’s Phase Two facilities will include an events space and stage, a music studio and production pods, where students will be able to mix music, create podcasts and record video and sound. There will also be a range of classrooms equipped with all the latest tech, as well as a number of breakout spaces and student collaboration areas.
Smithers continues, “As an organisation we have been in Bristol for the best part of two decades now. The opening of the first phase of our city centre campus meant we could expand our offering to students, providing a broader range of courses with cutting edge facilities for the very best learning experience. We couldn’t be happier to now take that to the next stage with this new development.”
Following an initial investment of £5m, Access Creative College launched Phase One of its new digital and games campus back in March 2019 and has since rolled out a range of courses including Esports Management, Creative Computing, Software Development, Games Art, Games Technology, Film, Video & Photography and Graphic & Digital Design.
Jason Beaumont, Chief Executive at Access Creative College, added, “As we approach our 30th academic year, this Phase Two development is proof if our intentions for further growth. We understand that by listening to the needs of our students and the wider industry, we’ll be in the best position to provide meaningful education and continue our track record of high student achievement and progression.’
“We are continuing to adapt our curriculum to support the increasingly digital market and of course working closely with industry and employers to best prepare our learners for careers remains a core focus of ACC’s approach to Further Education.”
Having previously operated out of its campus in Hengrove for over 18 years, ACC was Bristol’s first college with a sole focus on the creative industries. Artist Development, Music Technology & Production and Vocal Artist courses, which were previously run from the South Bristol site, will now be brought into the main campus in the city centre, where ACC’s Phase Two facilities will play a pivotal role in skills development.
This announcement follows a significant year for Armstrong Learning group, the owners of the College, during which it secured investment from Apiary Capital and welcomed the National College for the Creative Industries (NCCI) to its portfolio. ACC has also recently announced a number of new senior appointments, including former Minister of State for Universities Jo Johnson, as the college’s new chair, and former Ofsted inspector and Adult Learning Inspectorate Steve Stanley as Director of Evaluation and Impact.
For more information on the development, please visit http://www.accesscreative.ac.uk/bristol
Public sector service design specialists chosen by NHS Bristol, North Somerset & South Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to help support parents and carers of children with special or additional needs.
Government service design specialist, Mace & Menter, has won a competitive tender to work with the NHS on a series of projects to adapt and innovate health services in the South West.
The service design specialists will support Bristol, North Somerset & South Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group’s ongoing drive to design more effective and inclusive services around the needs of people in the region.
“We needed a partner with deep experience in service design and user research to bring to life human-centred design, and to help us understand how we can apply that in the wider health and care system. We wanted someone who could help us benchmark our skills and upskill the team,” says Ben Carlson-Davies, Insights and Engagement Manager, Bristol, North Somerset & South Gloucestershire CCG.
He adds: “Mace & Menter stood out as the strongest candidate with lots of experience in working with public sector teams. They also really took the time to understand the business needs, and actively challenged us about our own capabilities and where we want to be in the future.”
The Mace & Menter team will initially run research and digital concepting work for the CCG, and North Somerset Council to help them improve the Local Offer website for parents and carers with children with special or additional needs and disabilities.
Working in partnership with the CCG, North Somerset Council and North Somerset Parent Carers Working Together, this research will aim to better understand the current needs of parents and carers when using the Local Offer website. Alongside the research, Mace & Menter will be showing ways the service could be improved through concepts, storyboards and prototypes.
Sam Menter, Co-founder and Managing Director of Mace & Menter, says: “Our research project will ultimately feed into a business case for development and improvements to the existing services across the South West region. The first phase will help increase communication, awareness and information available to parents and carers in North Somerset.
“We have extensive experience running public sector service design projects, upskilling internal teams and embedding a people-centred mindset. Our combined experience of design for services, design and the built environment make us a great fit for the NHS and local government.”
JonesMillbank, Bristol-based video production company, conceptualised, produced and directed a music video for Bristol-based Keir’s latest release, Say Love, dropping yesterday.
Managed by Bristol-based Crosstown Concerts and signed to Vertigo Berlin, a division of Universal Music, Keir’s latest single features on the EP A Thorn With A Face.
Rob French, Senior Creative at JonesMillbank and Director of the music video, worked with the team and Keir on the concept and messaging of the video.
“There is a consistent awareness of others around us but it’s never something we dwell on. Walking through streets, everyone has stories. Stories of love, loss, compassion, remorse, lust, an endless list.”
“Say Love leans into this observation and positions our lead storyteller (Keir) on his own journey, balancing on his own path while others are woven around him. This ensemble collectively represent connections we all have with people through our lives, know matter how brief or long, but ultimately fade away as we continue to move forward on our own journey for love, whatever that may mean to that individual.”
One of JonesMillbank’s largest productions to date, the video was shot on-location at Ashton Avenue Bridge, spanning Bristol’s New Cut, with 30 extras, 15 crew, 5 security, and, last but absolutely not least, 1 coffee van.
“Utilising Ashton Avenue Bridge in Bristol was entirely intentional for Say Love.
“The symmetrical, brutal structure enveloping all the action was the perfect pairing to offset the tenderness and vulnerability in the song.
“A hopeful symphony between the architecture and the natural light danced with those emotions as we travel through the uniformed light and shade that floods the bridge in the mornings.”
Full road closure was granted by Bristol City Council with permits from Bristol Film Office, with the concept adapted and the production managed safely and appropriately during national lockdown.
The commission follows the release of two music videos and album content for Bristol-based and Mercury-nominated IDLES.
Visit jonesmillbank.com/work/keir/say-love for the official video, additional write-up and BTS videos and stills.
***
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 and Above & Beyond.
jonesmillbank.com
01173706372
[email protected]
Welcome to the third and final blog in our series on Augmented Reality (AR).
In case you missed it, our first segment introduced AR technology and its impact on markets across the globe, while our second blog explored AR’s potential when it comes to marketing, today. Today’s final instalment delves deeper into the practical use-cases for AR today, along with some of the loftier examples of where its tech could take us.
If you had one, you were of course, lucky enough to be able to afford an extortionately expensive high-end smartphone. You were also probably unlucky enough to be pestered by people who wanted to ‘have a go’ for themselves.
Arthur C. Clarke said, ‘Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.’ And touchscreens certainly had enough magic to magnetise the masses. Now, AR is taking a similar step from the realm of the mystic, into reality. And the timing couldn’t be better.
From the everyday, to the extraordinary: there are opportunities for the world’s biggest brands, most digital-savvy marketers and forward-thinking businesses.
In the age of the smartphone, you could be forgiven for thinking business cards have largely become redundant. But if the line ‘Are you on LinkedIn?’ doesn’t set you on fire, an AR business card could be a stronger opener when encountering potential business contacts in the wild.
Upon scanning your business card, the recipient could be greeted by a showreel video of your products, a short introduction to your business, a tour of your office locations or even live and up-to-date special offers – in fact, there’s limitless potential.
And best of all, creating an AR business card could be a lot simpler than you think. Prototypes already exist which simply work by the recipient scanning a QR code on the card with the camera on their smartphone – no special apps or software necessary!
It goes without saying: this tech doesn’t need to be contained to your business card. Product catalogues, service leaflets and even your quarterly reports can all be brought to life with some clever AR, making your brand not only more appealing – but more engaging, too.
For those of us who treat clothes shopping like a competitive sport, aiming for a new P.B. each time we hit the rails, life could become simpler with the introduction of augmented reality.
One option, which many of us will already be aware of, is ‘virtual try on’ – both online, with the assistance of your laptop or smartphone camera, and in-store through specially-AR-activated mirrors.
L’Oreal was one of the first businesses to introduce AR ‘smart’ mirrors at beauty counters, offering consumers the option to try on cosmetics with ease – and my guess is this will only become more prevalent after the hands-OFF-your-face impact of the pandemic.
Virtual try-ons aren’t just for people, either.
If you’ve visited the Ikea website recently (who hasn’t during lockdown?) you can now ‘try on’ furniture, wallpaper, tiles and more to visualise products in your home. And the same principles can be applied to commercial premises, too.
So if you’re selling high-end office furnishings, commercial signage, or even an air conditioning unit, you can easily make your products more impactful by introducing them directly into your customers’ lives – even if it’s virtually.
This doesn’t need to be just about chasing Pokemon. You can create a treasure hunt for adults which introduces a new level of interactivity between your brand and your customers anywhere you have a physical presence.
For example, if you’re attending an expo, you can place AR locators around your exhibition stand to deliver information about your individual products and services. You’ll stand out from the other exhibitors at the event, and be able to engage your visitors more effectively, keeping them attentive for longer so your employees can follow up the conversation too. And, again, it’s a great conversation starter.
If your business has a retail presence, you can replicate this experience in your showrooms – or even choose to implement an AR window display which could be used to great effect on social media, too.
So imagine this. You hear the clunk of your letterbox and head to collect the post. There’s a small, shallow cardboard box with a bold message printed on top.
GRAB YOUR PHONE AND GET READY.
You open the box, and a leaflet drops out: SCAN ME. Opening your phone’s camera app, and capturing the QR code, you’re taken straight to a video, introducing a teaser on an Amazing New Productᵗᵐ.
Upon further inspection, the leaflet introduces you to the brand behind the ANPᵗᵐ – you even watch a video about the team and see they’re local. In fact, their interactive office location map shows they’re just a mile away, where you can pop into their showroom for even more information.
It might sound otherworldly. But at Proctors, we’re making virtual, reality today. We can help you to create an irresistible campaign, whether it’s wowing shareholders with your next quarterly report or enticing new customers with clever interactive artwork in a viral social campaign.
Talk to us, and let’s discuss your possibilities at [email protected].
Here at Armadillo we’re excited to announce that we will now be offering all staff external coaching with renowned confidence coach, Jo Emerson.
The introduction of external coaching follows our decision to move away from a traditional line managed structure. We have chosen to replace line managers with networked support; task-based support to bring clarity to deliverables, skills-based support to build expertise in key specialisms, and growth-based support. This is where the coaching will come in. We hope that this move will give people the headspace to work through their challenges, ambitions, frustrations and ideas, as well as empower staff to seek their own solutions and decide their own actions.
Fiona Craig, our Strategy and Planning Director, explains why external coaching was a must-have for us: “Internal support is very much focused on the work we do for our clients – you could say the client is the key stakeholder here, and all efforts are focused on doing a good job for them.
Fiona continues: “The support offered by external coaching is centred exclusively around the individual – often there can be a tension between the two areas of focus, and in a traditional structure, line managers can struggle to do a really good job of supporting on all fronts. So, this allows those who are exceptionally skilled in one area to excel, while the individual still gets supported on all sides.”
Jo Emerson is a confidence and human behaviour expert, author, and the winner of International Executive Coach of the Year (2019-2020).
Fiona goes on to say “Jo is highly experienced in dealing with change and confidence, and has a wonderful energy that felt right for us here at Armadillo. She will spark some great conversations and even greater ideas, we feel sure.”
Jo adds, “It’s a real privilege to be working with Armadillo at such a critical time and to support team members as they grow and develop within an incredibly fast-paced industry. Armadillo’s new networked-support structure coupled with external and objective coaching shows what an innovative and agile company they are!”
We hope you will join us in offering Jo a very warm welcome. We thoroughly look forward to working with her and cannot wait to see members of the Armadillo team succeeding in their career and self-development goals.
2020 has certainly been a rollercoaster and while we’ve had some pretty big lows, there’s also been some highs. Over the year, one thing that has come up again and again is the number of inspiring people and businesses that have come together in our city over the past year to support each other.
From our favourite restaurants providing free school meals to virtual initiatives across all sectors, it’s been efforts like these which have helped us get through and kept spirits high despite all the doom and gloom.
To share the love ahead of the end of the year, we thought we’d spend some time saying thank you to Bristol’s Best people and businesses, and encourage others to do the same.
We’re encouraging everyone to use the hashtag #BristolsBest to thank the businesses and people that have been brilliant over the past year – whether someone has stood by your business, supported you in personal capacity or just made you laugh. Why not take 30 seconds to call them out as Bristol’s best?
To help share the love, for everyone who tags us into a social media post ( LinkedIn, twitter or insta) we’ll be randomly sending little gifts from a selection of some of Bristol’s best independent businesses to those nominated and those saying thank you.
So, what are you waiting for? Let’s end the year on a high. Who do you want to call out as BristolsBest?
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