Bristol Archives | Page 9 of 42 | Bristol Creative Industries

Welcome to the not-so-mysterious world of search engine optimisation, where your site’s visibility determines whether it is the needle or the haystack in the huge online landscape. To make sense of it all, small business owners and inexperienced webmasters may feel as though they must possess the skills of an enigma codebreaker. But do not worry! I’m here to guide you through the confusing world of SEO audits and make sense of the technical SEO language.

What’s an SEO Audit and Why Should You Care?

Determining how well your website is optimised for search engines is the essence of an SEO audit. Think of it like a MOT for your car: it checks a variety of components to make sure everything is in working order and maximises the likelihood that Google and its friends will find your website.

Technical SEO: This refers to the specific backend aspects of SEO, such as website security, mobile friendliness, and speed (HTTPS is your friend in this situation).
On-page SEO: Content reigns supreme here. To make sure the material is as appetising as a Sunday roast for the Google crawlers, we’re talking about keywords, meta tags, and appropriate header usage.
Off-page SEO: Although they are less visible, off-page elements like social media signals and backlinks can offer your website the credibility it needs to be among the cool kids in search engine rankings.

By doing this assessment, you can get a detailed breakdown of what you’re doing well and what needs some extra work. The final objective? To improve the SEO score of your website and move up the search results page.

Debunking the SEO Score Myth

Your website’s credit rating for search engines is comparable to your SEO score. It’s a ranking that indicates how optimised your website is out of 100. The better your site is optimised and the more probable it is that you will appear on Google’s first page—the promised land—the higher your score.

It’s important to keep in mind that this score is merely a general indication offered by SEO tools to help you with your optimisation efforts; it is not an official Google grade. Better visibility and a respectable score go hand in hand, so what is our recommendation? Consider your score and adjust as necessary!

How to Use SEO Audits to Your Advantage

Are you prepared for a basic introduction to SEO success? Let’s get started. The SEO audit is the first thing to do. You may find a lot of tools to help you with this, ranging from more in-depth solutions that can get to the specifics of your website’s SEO health to freemium options like Google’s own Search Console.

After receiving your audit, it’s time to put those suggestions into practice. Make sure your website loads quickly, fix any broken links, and make sure it looks great on mobile devices. Not sure where to begin? BrisTechTonic can help in situations when a little expert elbow grease might be exactly what’s needed.

Essential Tips for Climbing the SEO Ladder

Keywords: Use appropriate terms to draw in the right kind of traffic. Not a word that would baffle your grandmother!
High-quality content: Provide content that responds to the inquiries of your users. Visitors are encouraged to stay longer on websites with helpful and engaging content, which lowers the dreaded bounce rate.
Meta descriptions: These brief summaries have the power to entice visitors to visit your website. Consider them the chat-up lines for your website; make them succinct and pertinent.
Backlinks: The foundation of off-page SEO are backlinks. Search engines will view your website as more reliable and trustworthy the more respectable websites that link to it.

Each of these elements forms part of a holistic strategy to start climbing search engine rankings today. Remember, it’s a marathon, not a sprint – SEO benefits build up over time.

Time to Take the Next Step!

I hope that this has been a lovely, relaxing kayak in the shallow end of SEO for those of you who are just starting started. But I can guide you through the depths of this ocean that exists out there. Let’s schedule a discovery call to discuss how SEO may help you realise the full potential of your website. Together, we’ll make sure your website is running smoothly and prepared to win the race for visibility. With BrisTechTonic by your side at every turn, the road to SEO mastery begins here. Thus, why do you delay?

Bristol Beer Factory stands as a brewing icon in the city and beyond. Bristol-based design agency Rhombus Studio is excited to announce its new creative partnership with the independent brewing giant, crafting a new chapter in BBF’s beer branding story.

Rhombus is excited to draw inspiration from the city to continue Bristol Beer Factory’s incredible design work across cans, kegs, casks, merchandise, and more. The partnership will encompass the core beers and the brewery’s special releases, pouring a fresh touch into every new brew.

Rhombus Studio, a proudly independent design agency from Bristol, crafts identities, and websites for progressive businesses, change-making charities and forward-thinking people. Their commitment to creativity and community aligns with Bristol Beer Factory’s vision, a brewery that lives, breathes and brews Bristol.

This collaboration is more than design; it’s about values and a shared commitment to the local community. BBF has always looked for ways to give back – recently, the brewery launched Brewed to Give – contributing 2% of their total brewery sales to activities that uplift people and places across Bristol.

Brewed to Give supports a range of vital community services across the city, from primary school play equipment, subsidised sporting activities for young people from deprived areas, cooking classes for asylum seekers and refugees, and mental health therapies for men to care and support for people with terminal illnesses.

Bristol Beer Factory and Rhombus Studio are raising a toast to community, creativity, and collaboration – cheers to giving back!

South West-based brand and communications specialist AgencyUK has announced record growth as evolutions in the company’s culture continue to drive unprecedented levels of performance, despite an economically turbulent period for many.

AgencyUK (AUK) achieved record numbers in their 2023 financial results, following two years of cultural alignment and investment in their new Senior Management Team led by founding members Sammy Mansourpour and Amy Stobie. The business has delivered 220% annual growth in revenue for each financial period since January 2020, putting them on track to becoming one of the UK’s largest independently owned agencies.

“Celebrating 16 years is a seminal moment for the whole agency. It really feels like a transition into adulthood. As an established agency business with a team rich in experience, it is in no small part down to our team embracing creativity and new technology. AI and data analytics have made a meaningful difference to our work, by fuelling our creativity and building in new features around advertising campaign performance. This has been instrumental for our clients, particularly those in the B2B space, where we have a particular foothold in the healthcare sector. And we’ve seen the agency grow exponentially because of it,” says Sammy Mansourpour, Managing Director.

In 2021, the Senior Management Team focused on expanding the agency’s client portfolio in the health, life science and pharmaceutical sectors, leading to a record signing of three top-tier new drug development organisations, as well as launching Our Future Health, a nationwide health research programme in partnership with the NHS, which now has over 1.2 million participants across the UK.

The agency now boasts a stronger B2B portfolio making up 50% of its revenue. The remaining 50% houses well-known food, drink, health and wellbeing brands, including beloved sweet brand Chewits, currently enjoying a renaissance since our amplified brand campaigns and award-winning work across social media.

In response, the agency has expanded its in-house teams by growing its creative department and assembling a new senior management team, recruited from its in-house fast track careers programme. Overall staff numbers have increased by 50% with a further 30% expected to be in place by January 2025.

“We are of course delighted with the performance of the business over the past five years, and we have no doubt that our long-term investment in developing the agency’s culture and staff careers plays a significant part in our success on the bottom line. We welcome turning 16 with open arms,” says Amy Stobie, Director.

The AUK leadership team has embarked on a comprehensive programme of cultural development, sustainability and community outreach. Framed around people, planet and community, these initiatives also form the bedrock of the agency’s commitment to being a certified B Corp since their accreditation in 2021, as well as an award-winning staff development and well-being programme.

Illuminating the city at the height of winter, Bristol Light Festival will once again bring a stunning combination of light, sound and colour to the heart of Bristol – and three never-before-seen-in-the-South-West artworks will take centre stage at the next edition

Attracting 250,000 visitors and encouraging a £3.3 million increase in spend to Bristol in 2023, the fourth iteration of the award-winning festival will take place between Friday 2 – Monday 11 February 2024*.

It will welcome two new-to-Bristol installations by Somerset-based partnership, This is Loop, PULSE and Emergence, as well as a second immersive artwork by multidisciplinary art collective, Atelier Sisu, Elysian.

2024’s Bristol Light Festival will also see the welcome return of the festival’s popular favourite Swing Song, produced by Bristol Light Festival and Tired Industries. The artwork will take on a new lease of life for the next edition, bringing immersive play ever further to the forefront for guests.

Welcoming artists from near and far to showcase their masterful light-based installations in its immersive, family-friendly showcase of talent, Bristol Light Festival continues to surprise, delight and shine bright.

Bringing not one but two installations to the city centre for Bristol Light Festival is This is Loop, a Somerset-based collaborative partnership between artists Harriet Lumby and Alan Hayes. Known for their large scale, experiential installations, This is Loop are introducing PULSE and Emergence to the winter event, supported by our presenting partner Redcliffe & Temple BID and artwork partner, Broadmead BID.

PULSE is an immersive audio-visual installation that explores the perspectives of visual and auditory perception, welcoming visitors to step inside enormous rings of light made up of more that 14,000 individual LEDs as they travel through the sequence. This is Loop collaborated with audio artist Dan Bibby aka ’Weatherbrow’ to create the custom track for PULSE. The main show is a five minute high intensity, tightly choreographed and fast paced audio visual journey and is best viewed from start to finish. Accompanying this is a 20 minute long piece with a slower, more ambient feel which can be joined at any point.

Emergence is an award-winning audio-visual art installation, created as a place of contemplation amongst the chaos of the outside world. The sculpture is a huge, mirrored structure that is completely reflective and designed to provide audiences with a new perspective of a once-familiar space. Each section is carefully constructed to create an optical illusion inside the unit creating a complete sphere of light when viewed from close by that morphs into a giant grid of light when viewed from a short distance. This enables distinct experiences for the viewer which range from collective to intimate depending on location

Inspired by the ever-changing nature of the world, Elysian immerses guests within illuminated arches to both walk through and under, thanks to our artwork partner Cabot Circus. Inflatable in nature, the work is described as being “at the precipice of change” by the artist. The work is that of award-winning Sydney-based art practice Atelier Sisu. Led by Peruvian sculptor and industrial designer Renzo B. Larriviere and architectural designer and artist Zara Pasfield, the work is inspired by the intertwining of art and architecture, better known as art-chitecture.

Swing Song, based on a concept by Bristol Light Festival and brought to life by Tired Industries

Swing Song has been a standout installation at Bristol Light Festival in previous editions. A series of six swings, the childhood favourite artwork is set to music produced especially for the festival, which plays as the audience swings back and forth. One swing controls the bassline, another controls the melody, and a third controls drums and percussion.

Small movements produce simple tunes, but as users swing higher and higher, the tracks evolve into more complex melodies, giving users control over the song they produce as they swing the night away. Surrounding the installation this time around will be various interactive games, so audiences both young and young at heart will be able to enjoy an increasingly more playful environment.

Bristol Light Festival coincides with the Winter Lights project, which has seen new street lights added across the city for the festive season. These will stay illuminated from 11am to midnight each night throughout January, February and March. New winter tree lights have also been introduced in locations around the city which will be lit daily.

Bristol Light Festival is a free event, and will run from the 2 – 11 February 2024. An award-winning festival, guests travelling from further afield can bolster their visit with an overnight stay in one of the city centre’s award-winning hotels, enjoying all that Bristol has to offer.

Many hotels in the area are offering discounted rates for those visiting, including The Bristol Hotel, Clayton Hotel, Doubletree by Hilton, Hilton Garden Inn, Leonardo Hotel, Bristol Marriott Royal Hotel, The Berkeley Square Hotel and Bristol Harbour Hotel. Last year’s edition saw more than two thirds of all attendees take part in other activities during their visit to the festival, including eating and drinking, shopping and other city centre entertainment – with 20% of those visiting coming to Bristol specifically for the event. For more information on booking your discounted accommodation, head to www.bristollightfestival.org/accommodation

Bristol Light Festival was founded by Bristol City Centre Business Improvement District (BID) and is presented in partnership with Redcliffe & Temple BID. The festival’s Artwork Partners are Broadmead BID and Cabot Circus. Visit Bristol, Visit West’s consumer channel for Bristol, is this year’s media partner. The festival is curated by Katherine Jewkes, Creative Director. This year, a partnership with Bristol’s Left Handed Giant see’s the local brewery providing the official festival beer for the event.

The iconic Bristol Harbour Festival will return between Friday 19th – Sunday 21st July 2024 – and organisers are keen to hear from talented locals who want to take centre stage at both well-known as well as new-for-2024 feature areas in the unique setting of the city’s harbour.

Expression of Interest applications for the maritime festival’s next edition are now open here, and the festival’s new curators are calling for singers, performers, organisations, charities, and other crowd and community-wowing initiatives to submit their applications to perform before the deadline on Wednesday 31st January 2024.

Bristol Harbour Festival is one of the UK’s biggest free-to-attend events, attracting around 250,000 people across the long weekend in what is a unique opportunity to showcase the city’s rich maritime, musical and cultural heritage. Delivered by Bristol City Council, this year will also see two of the city’s Business Improvement Districts, Bristol City Centre BID and Redcliffe & Temple BID, become key stakeholders in the event – bringing the business community to the heart of the festival.

For 2024, Bristol Harbour Festival will be curated, produced and delivered by international events production agency, Proud Events, in partnership with immersive theatre and events company, Swans Events. The client roster of the two organisations includes UK Black Pride, The Cambridge Club, Wychwood Festival, Sheffield Food Festival, Festival of the Sea Grimsby and Lightopia Festival.

An on-the-ground steering group has been brought together, to assist in curating a festival that represents both local ethos and talent as well as international best practice in event operations and production. Local organisations on board include cultural icons Bristol Old Vic, Watershed, Bristol Pride, ACH Refugee Integration Services Provider and Bristol Community Ferry Boats Ltd. amongst many more, in order to represent the diverse communities and businesses that Bristol is proud to play home to.

The steering group will meet regularly in the lead up to the Bristol Harbour Festival to agree on the many facets of the event and ensure neighbourhoods, groups and districts across the city are represented throughout the three-day festival.

The wide-spread stages that are synonymous with the Bristol Harbour Festival will continue to include stellar acts spanning the genres of music, circus, theatre, on the water and more. New additions and areas are set to join the line-up for 2024, with more information yet to be revealed.

Previous editions of the Bristol Harbour Festival have seen more than 80% of the acts and entertainment on offer coming through the Expression of Interest application form. As such, applications are open to everyone and anyone looking to share their talent.

For those wanting to perform and join in the city’s 2024 celebrations, they should head to the Bristol Harbour Festival website and complete the Expression of Interest form before Wednesday 31st January 2024. Organisers are hoping to attract the newest and coolest into the festival from all corners of the city.

Applications for boat owners and visiting vessels who wish to attend this year’s festival will soon go live, as will applications for trading at the festival. More information can be found on the Bristol Harbour Festival website.

To keep up to date with all Harbour Festival news and updates, follow them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter or visit the website.

We’re thrilled to share the news that as of the 23rd of December 2023, The Discourse is a Certified B Corporation™.

Achieving our certification is up there as one of our most significant achievements to date. Joining the B Corp movement has given us the opportunity to interrogate what it means to be a ‘good’ business, and while we’ve always believed that our mission to use design as a force for good was the right way to approach our work, the B Corp process has allowed us to validate this belief internally and open the wider business to external scrutiny.

Having now completed our certification, we’re proud to be a part of a community of over 2250 B Corps in the UK and over 7650 internationally, all committed to using business as a force for positive change. Our experience, not without its frustrations, has given us confidence that the B Impact Assessment process is rigorous, and a good way to help judge claims that a business may make to be doing things the right way. That’s not to say that it’s right for everyone, flawless, or by any means the most important thing that an organisation can do, but we do believe that the approach to business that is advocated by B Lab and the B Corp movement will pave the way for a new standard across the world, where it comes to balancing the interest of people and the environment with profit.

We were fortunate enough to have an incredible amount of support along the way, both through professional consultants and existing B Corps always willing to share their advice and experience. To pay this forward, we have compiled our thoughts and advice into the article below, hoping that it helps, inspires and motivates others. We’ve covered the reasons we applied in the first place, what we’ve learned about certification as a small business, what we wish we knew from the start, and our improvement plans for the next three years prior to recertification.

If you’re currently going through the process yourself, or even thinking about starting, we hope you find this useful and please feel free to reach out with any questions.

To B or not to B (why we applied)…

Since first registering our company in 2020, design as a force for good has been central to our ethos. Day to day we see how design can empower purpose-led businesses and charities, and while we’ve always tried to make a positive impact with our work, our B Corp certification has enabled us to validate our policies, processes and impact based on the stringent criteria set by B Lab.

In case you don’t know, B Lab is the non-profit network behind B Corp that is working to transform the global economy to benefit all people, communities and the planet. Achieving the certification has required us to adhere to high standards of social and environmental impact, public transparency, and legal accountability; a set of standards which we are pleased to have met. For a young(ish) business, it’s provided a benchmark to which we can hold ourselves accountable and ensure that our business truly is a force for good, both internally and externally. It also signals to anyone that doesn’t already know us, who we are and what we stand for.

Although not our primary motivator, it’s worth mentioning that certified B Corps tend to outperform their competitors in both ESG and financial performance, seeing an impressive turnover growth of 26% between 2017 & 2020, compared to a national average of 5% (B Lab, 2021). This proves the claim that doing business the right way and making money are not mutually exclusive, and this mindset is starting to redefine the way people perceive success in the business world.

The journey from A to B (Corp)

The B Corp certification involves a thorough review of how your company impacts various stakeholders. The review path will vary depending on the nature and size of the company, and the impact assessment will review the following areas:

Governance (policies and practices)
Workers (employee well being)
Community (local economic and social well-being)
Environment (the planet)
Customers (the value that you create)

Your total score must be above 80 for certification and the review is conducted in two phases – assessment and verification. The B-Impact Assessment is the initial ‘health check’ and submission of intent to become a B Corp, verification is a detailed audit by B Lab into the claims you’ve made and the documentation provided. As we learnt during our own audit, scores can fluctuate, so we recommend aiming for at least 90 points at the assessment phase if you can.

Completing the B Corp certification has been challenging but very worthwhile. It helped us to understand the policies and processes that we needed in the business to achieve high standards of social and environmental impact. That’s not to say that it is the only thing that a business should do in order to be ethical or sustainable, there are many businesses out there that have chosen not to certify and this takes nothing away from the incredible work they do.

As a small business, without a dedicated sustainability lead or ESG department, it has been the perfect tool and process to help us level up. It has enabled us to understand what we are doing right, in addition to what we need to improve and how projects such as the design for good grant can be developed further to create the change in the world that we want to see.

However, it wasn’t all smooth sailing, so if you’re on the journey to B-Corp yourself there are a few things we wish we knew from the start that would have helped us on the way…

Managing expectations (timescales):

Becoming a B Corp is no walk in the park; it’s a time-consuming and labour-intensive process. This isn’t just a checkbox exercise, the B Impact Assessment delves into every aspect of a company’s social and environmental footprint, and the devil is in the detail. Providing substantial evidence is a challenge, so the more adept you are at documenting your processes and your wider impact, the smoother this journey will be.

We submitted our application in March 2023, but the heavy lifting started to happen in the summer and over the last few months of the year, where we needed to dedicate a substantial number of hours each week to get everything ready in time for our interview. As a team of creatives we have mastered the art of procrastination, so our advice to anyone embarking on this process is to carve out dedicated time each week to chip away at the work, as it’s not something you can easily achieve as a casual side project. More on this below…

Asking for help (just do it):

One highlight of our B Corp certification journey was the incredible sense of community that embraced us. We were showered with invaluable advice and support from a number of remarkable individuals, and a huge shout-out to Ecolibrium, Pieminster, Skylark Media and Enviral for their advice and encouragement on the way. If you’re navigating this process, don’t hesitate to reach out to existing B Corps for guidance, as you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the amount of support you receive.

It’s also worth highlighting that there are some incredible consultancies dedicated to assisting businesses in achieving B Corp certification. The advice and support we had in the early stages of the process from Namoi Lawson (a local B Leader), Andy Hawkins (Business on Purpose) and Will Powell (Future Shift) was invaluable, there’s no way we would have achieved certification without them. Our advice to anyone reading this, given affordability, is to enlist professional support as early as possible. Had we done this much earlier in the process we easily could have halved the amount of time it took to complete.

While we may not have all the answers, we’d be more than happy to share our learnings and support you along the way. The B-Corp journey is still very fresh in our minds so feel free to reach out with any questions you may have.

Be adaptable (as things will change):

We submitted our impact with a stellar initial score, only to watch it dip during the verification stage due to technicalities around our impact business model – a bit of a buzzkill, to be honest. It was an aspect we had been warned about but not really considered, and although we were frustrated by elements of the outcome, it’s given us confidence that the process is becoming much more rigorous. If you find yourself in a similar situation, don’t let it demotivate you. Expect some fluctuations during the verification stage as it’s all part of the process.

The B Corp certification is a serious test of your ability to document and validate any claims you make as an organisation to be ethical, sustainable and impactful. A few of our clients like WECIL and Frank Water, proved to be game-changers for us when it came to measuring the wider impact of our work. While it’s a lengthy journey, it’s also a valuable opportunity to re-engage with your clients and beneficiaries, understand where you are and benchmark your business against best in class criteria. Admittedly, the process took much longer than expected, but without a doubt, it’s been worth the effort and we’ve emerged as a stronger and more mature business for it.

Over the last 12 months, our Project Manager Holly Smith was invaluable to getting our certification over the line. Here’s what she had to say about it…

“B Corp was a great learning curve for me. It gave me such a great insight into the accreditation itself but also about what being a “good” business looks like. It was great to get into the detail of what The Discourse really stands for and how the business meets the standards that B Corp sets out. It was great to work through the company’s aspirations with Ed, to understand what we do now but more importantly, how much better we have the potential to be and how we’re going to get there.

There is a lot of work to be done throughout the whole process. It is time consuming and you really need to manage it as a project. You need to understand how different areas interlink and what you need to deliver in order to meet the criteria. Then comes the part where you need to ensure you have the processes and structure internally to stand it all up and ensure it becomes a continuous way of working and doing business. B Corp isn’t about ticking a box and becoming accredited, it’s about changing your business to benefit people and the planet, and aspiring to change it even more going forward.

I am particularly passionate about the Community and Workers part. It’s good to see the commitment from the business to treat its people fairly and also to do good in the community.

If I had to do something differently, I would treat it as a project right from the start. It wasn’t until we were quite far along, that we realised how many deliverables there were. I would create a detailed plan from the start, with date commitments and timeframes. It would have made things much clearer and I think we would have completed the process much quicker too.”

Our results (and plan for the future)

Achieving our Impact Assessment score of 91.8 has made it clear how much we have to be proud of already. Within the five B impact areas, Governance and workers emerged as our strongest areas, which makes us proud of how the business has matured in just over three years. Our mission-locked, impact business model secured a decent number of points, underscoring the very essence of why The Discourse was founded – to support businesses and charities in shifting the narrative in society and industry. Our fair employment policies and our offices at The Future Leap, a carbon neutral business hub, were a huge asset, as it meant we were able to track, monitor and record lots of our environmental impact.

Becoming a B Corp doesn’t mean that a business is perfect, far from it, and there is always room for development. As well as working on our customer stewardship, environmental footprint and our support for underserved populations, we are significantly increasing the amount of work we deliver each year through the Design for Good grant.

For us, B Corp Certification is a commitment to accountability, transparency and continuous improvement. Attaining the status is a fantastic endorsement of what we achieved, but the real driver for us becoming a B Corp is looking forward – it sets the future direction of The Discourse as a progressive and ethical design agency, and represents our ongoing efforts to leverage our business as a positive force in every aspect.

Conclusion:

We hope you found this helpful, we will be giving regular updates on our involvement with the community so follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram, and sign up to our newsletter to keep up to date. If you’re a business working towards their B Corp or have any questions about the process, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Independent human-centred design consultancy Six, has kicked off 2024 in style by promoting Sally Gillo to Partner for Client Experience – making her the sixth member of the Board. Sally will be joining CEO John Argent, Partner for Growth Ruth Clarke, Partner Julian Barclay, Creative Partner Dickon Langdon, and Finance Director Alison Evans.  

Over the last seven years, Sally has played a pivotal role in mentoring and leading the client experience team at Six. Her ability to build strong relationships by consistently delivering exceptional experiences has led to growing and leading the agency’s key accounts, including S&P Global, Lloyds Banking Group and bp.

As Six enters its 30th year, Sally’s promotion also reflects the agency’s increasingly strategy-first positioning. Central to Six’s growth plans, Sally will help drive the agency’s vision forward: to help every transformative strategy land with impact.

John Argent, CEO of Six, said, “Sally’s promotion is so well-deserved. Not only is she hugely talented, armed with great vision, energy and pragmatism, she has proved to be an exceptional leader and inspirational mentor within Six. Her drive and fresh perspective perfectly complement the blend of strengths in our Board – and will only help accelerate our progress in pursuit of helping solve our clients’ complex transformation challenges.”

As a collaboration between Wasabi and mustard jobs, the ground floor of Bristol’s historic Tramshed building will now be open for desk space hire.

Being a stone’s throw from notable Bristol landmarks like the Bristol Beacon, the Christmas Steps and the Hippodrome, this office is perfectly placed for any freelancers, start-ups and small businesses looking to take that next step. The collaborative duo hope that the space will become a bustling creative hub offering opportunities to new businesses.

The recently renovated office boasts an array of facilities including:

Interested in viewing the space in person? Reach out to the team: [email protected]

South West Agency Salary Guide: A Comprehensive Analysis of Average Salaries and Key Considerations

Understanding agency salaries is pivotal for job seekers and employers alike. In this comprehensive guide, we delve into the average salaries for agency roles in the South West, shedding light on crucial factors influencing pay scales and considerations beyond just the numbers.

How do we benchmark Agency salaries?

At ADLIB, we’re always keeping close to market trends and how things can fluctuate between organisations. Here, we aim to provide an overall range of salaries based on the spectrum of roles within the South West agency world. Factors that can influence one’s salary: the size of business and team, their location, the size and number of accounts you may be working on, management responsibilities, the industry sector, and specific marketing skills, will all have an impact.

What to consider when assigning a salary to a role

While salary is a key factor, it’s not the only consideration. To attract the best talent, employers should also focus on:

Comprehensive Salary Guide for Agency Roles in the South West:

This guide provides salary bandings for various Agency sector roles and their respective job titles, including:

Conclusion

By considering not only salary but also the holistic work environment, employers can attract and retain top-tier talent. Use this guide as a resource to navigate the intricacies of agency salaries in the dynamic South West market.

A new skills training programme to support creatives looking to break into behind-the-camera roles on scripted film and high-end TV productions made in the West of England will launch later this month.

It comes after Bristol City Council’s Film Services have secured almost £300,000 (£299,818) from the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority, led by Metro Mayor Dan Norris, to deliver an industry-led West of England Film & High-End TV Workforce Development Programme to help creatives make their impact and find new career opportunities.

Delivered by The Bottle Yard Studios, Bristol UNESCO City of Film and Bristol Film Office – the three departments that make up Bristol City Council’s Film Services – the year-long programme will be open to regional participants from backgrounds currently underrepresented in the industry. Tailored training will demystify the world of scripted production and prepare trainees for entry level crew positions, with the aim of strengthening the pipeline of diverse local crew talent.

The investment comes at an important time of continued growth in the West of England’s film and high-end TV sector, with an estimated 21,000 new crew forecast to be needed across the UK by 2025.*

Metro Mayor Dan Norris, who leads the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority, said: “The West of England is fast becoming the Hollywood of the UK. Only recently, huge names like Disney+ have checked in to The Bottle Yard Studios’ new state-of-the-art and West of England Mayoral Authority-funded TBY2 facility – that’s a massive vote of confidence in our world-leading creative industries. But to keep up the pace, we need to tap into the extraordinary wealth of creative talent we have in the West. That means supporting them with world-class training to create that new home-grown creative generation for the sector.

“That’s why I’m delighted to be launching this programme fully funded by the Mayoral Combined Authority I lead, to give West of England residents the opportunities they need to thrive in film and high-end TV – something the West does so well. It gives a platform to the next generation of talent who will shape our region’s bright creative future. So, to those considering a career in film and TV: I want to hear from you!”

Councillor Craig Cheney, Deputy Mayor of Bristol with responsibility for City Economy Finance & Performance said: “It’s brilliant to see Bristol’s thriving film and TV sector in the spotlight once again and we are delighted to secure funding to further support this vital industry, as well as the talented people who bring Bristol’s creative sectors to life.

“Bristol remains a world-leading hub for film and TV production, with some the industry’s biggest names choosing our city to produce their shows. Bristol’s new state-of-the-art film studio, The Bottle Yard’s TBY2 facility, has already played host to some of the UK’s most exciting productions since opening its doors in 2022 supported by £12 million in funding. However, as the sector continues to go from strength to strength, more targeted investment into training and developing the next generation of homegrown production talent is becoming increasingly necessary. This industry-led development programme will tap into the deep pool of creative talent here in the West Country and open new career pathways to underrepresented groups who may never have had the opportunity to take their first steps into this fast-growing sector.”

Laura Aviles, Head of Film, Bristol City Council says: “We’ve long made the case that targeted skills investment for scripted crew in our region is essential if we’re to develop this often-overlooked segment of the screen workforce. Film and high-end TV production levels in Bristol and the West have been increasing steadily in past years, supported by The Bottle Yard’s expansion and the region’s Film Offices facilitating more productions on location. With this success comes the opportunity to grow our local talent base – which is crucial when the existing crew base hits capacity, something we anticipate as we move on from last year’s US writers and actors strikes. We are delighted to have secured this funding to deliver a programme designed to help local entrants understand and navigate the fast-paced world of production they are not yet familiar with, to support them in identifying the right opportunities and having the confidence to step into industry roles that suit their talents and ambitions.”

Natalie Moore, Bristol UNESCO City of Film Manager, says: “Developing a local skills pipeline for scripted crew is a key priority in our Bristol UNESCO City of Film Action Plan. Opening up opportunities for regional talent from a wide range of backgrounds makes for a more sustainable and resilient industry base. With so many career opportunities that can and should be made available to people living within the region, we want to make access routes into the film and TV industry easier to navigate and provide support to build a more diverse local workforce. This programme will create a clear pathway to help underrepresented talent from Bristol and the West into scripted production careers, demystifying the industry and preparing them for employment with the right level of support and guidance.”

The programme, which is funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, will feature a series of sessions repeated for three intakes throughout 2024, including a ‘Get to Know the Industry’ webinar, an Industry Induction Day at The Bottle Yard Studios, and a specially designed 5-week training scheme to equip potential new entrants for a career in film and high-end TV production. Training will focus on confidence-building, set etiquette and work-readiness, communication skills and teamwork, wellbeing and resilience, as well as digital and financial literacy and how to find work as a freelancer.

The programme will aim to engage up to 750 people in total across its different strands of activity, with a view to 45 undertaking the 5-week training course that will equip them to go on to get jobs. Those who complete the full training will be added to a New Entrants Portfolio given to film and high-end TV productions filming in the region.

The programme will also launch a digital New Entrants Hub, designed to signpost anyone in the West of England interested in a career in film or high-end TV to useful resources, training and development opportunities that are relevant to the region.

Applications will be invited from residents of Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, and South Gloucestershire aged 17 and above**. Underrepresented target groups will include young people aged 17-25**, those not in education, employment or training, under-employed people and those on zero-hour contracts, women, people from the global majority, disabled people, people living with mental health issues, carers and care leavers. An Access Fund will be provided to support any participants who face a financial barrier to taking part.

The West of England Film & High-End TV Workforce Development Programme has been devised following recommendations of the BFI Skills Review (June 2022) and Olsberg’s Workforce Development Report commissioned by Bristol City Council and The Bottle Yard Studios (July 2023). The first call for applications will open in January 2024.

The West of England Mayoral Combined Authority is working in partnership with Bristol City Council’s Film Services (comprising The Bottle Yard Studios, Bristol UNESCO City of Film and Bristol Film Office) to deliver the Mayoral Priority Skills Fund. This fund provides flexible grants to meet current priority skills gaps in the region. This project is part-funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

Upcoming productions recently filmed in Bristol and the West of England include Jilly Cooper adaptation Rivals (Disney+), series three of spy thriller Alex Rider (Amazon FreeVee), series three of Stephen Merchant’s The Outlaws (BBC/Amazon Prime Video), comedy drama Boarders (BBC Three), teen crime thriller A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (BBC Three) and series five of children’s drama Malory Towers (CBBC). Titles currently in production in the region include Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light (BBC/Masterpiece PBS) and romantic comedy The Road Trip (Paramount+).