Loom Digital will be hosting weekly digital marketing surgeries throughout September, providing free advice to businesses in Bristol.
“We know it’s not an easy environment for businesses at the moment, and we’d like to do our bit to give back to the Bristol business community.” Karen Pearce, Director
Every Friday morning in September, Loom will be opening their doors at Temple Studios to marketing managers and business owners in Bristol and surrounding areas who would like advice on anything related to digital marketing strategy, PPC, SEO and content. The surgeries are delivered on a 1-2-1 basis and will last one hour. All information shared in the surgery will be kept confidential and participants will leave with tangible takeaways to supercharge their digital marketing.
The surgeries are ideal for marketing managers or business owners looking for forward-thinking digital marketing advice. Each surgery will be tailored to your business, below are a few examples of topics businesses might like to discuss::
There are a limited number of slots and appointments are first come first served. To find out more and to request a slot please visit https://www.loomdigital.co.uk/bristol-digital-surgery/
This year Loom Digital celebrated 14 years as a Bristol digital marketing agency. Starting off as a niche search agency, over the years Loom has grown their remit to cover SEO, content marketing, Google Ads, Meta advertising, LinkedIn advertising, digital strategy, data and analytics.
We often get asked what is “managed web hosting”, and why should a client host their website with us. When we build a website we always ensure it is built to modern coding standards, the core code is quick and efficient and there is no bloat or unnecessary plugins or code blocks that the website doesn’t need.
To ensure clients websites are hosted in the right way we recommend clients use our managed web hosting service for a variety of reasons.
We say to clients let us worry about your website so you can focus on your business, with our years of experience we can take care of the technical jargon and leave clients to get on with generating business. One of our business aims is to form long term business relationships and we have succeeded on this year after year, many of our clients have been with us since we started back in 2008 and we continue to this day, we are trusted to host their important websites that generate leads, sales and interest day in day out, 24,7,365.
But I can get hosting for £4.99 a month!? Yes you can get your website hosted for less than an expensive coffee per month, but you will not have any support, you will not have any backups, no updates, basic security, the website will be shared with thousands of other customers and you won’t get our great customer service and all the extras that come with that.
If you would like to find out more about our managed web hosting service, our web design service or for anything else please do not hesitate to contact us.
Read the full article on our website https://www.eckhomedia.co.uk/what-is-managed-web-hosting/
Noble Performs Celebrates Five Years in Bristol
Digital marketing agency Noble Performs is celebrating five years in Bristol with a record year in business for its team, who have broken the £1million turnover barrier for the first time.
Established in 2018, Noble Performs was started in Bristol by US West Coast agency Noble Studios and Mr B & Friends, with one on-the-ground employee – current managing partner Kate Sikora. Tripling the size of the business during the pandemic, with significant client wins including premium footwear brand Rockfish, and Bristol’s beloved St George’s concert hall, Noble Performs is hoping to double the size of its 11-strong team during the next three years.
Built on the same ‘Be Better Every Day’ ethos as its US sister company, CSR has been at the core of Noble Performs since day one. During the last financial year, the business donated £12,000 of digital marketing support to local charity Heart of BS13 as part of its ‘Noble Deeds’ initiative. Recently launched, this year’s Deeds programme will receive a 30% increase in funds in line with Noble’s turnover increase, to support a local not-for-profit or registered charity with its digital marketing performance.
“I am so proud of all the team has achieved during the past five years and being able to give back to the local community and create more employment opportunities for others at the same time is incredibly rewarding, said Kate Sikora, managing partner, Noble Performs.
“Bristol has been the perfect home for us – it’s a thriving city with some great businesses and networks, but what underpins this is a real sense of community and collaboration and a genuine desire to do the right thing. This really resonates with our values and we’re excited to see what the next five years brings,” she added.
To celebrate its fifth anniversary, the UK team took a trip to the US earlier this month to visit sister company Noble Studios in Nevada. The celebrations will continue in September in the UK with the ‘Be Better Bash’ – a party for employees and their families, friends and associates of the business, and Noble Deeds recipients past and present.
Ahead of the festivities, Noble Performs will also host a Masterclass, where speakers will be invited to share a quickfire twenty minute ‘Five things’ session on a diversity of topics from AI to ESG.
More details on the Be Better Bash and Masterclass, including speakers and how to register attendance, will be announced in the coming weeks.
As we celebrate our 14th birthday this week, we’re looking back on 2023 to date. As always, we’ve been doing everything we can to help our clients thrive and survive in the current economic climate. We’ve helped clients launch new products and services, expand into new markets and to new audiences. We’ve also adjusted work and media spend to suit changing price points and profit margins. We pride ourselves on being with our clients through thick and thin, and 2023 has been no different.
Our clients have seen some great successes in 2023. In many instances we’ve helped clients to exceed target ROI and hit KPIs, showing that businesses are still thriving in today’s climate. Our managed Google media spend is up 80% year on year – a testament to our team and their ability to keep delivering strong results. To learn more about recent successes, see our case studies here.
It’s been a strong start to the year for Loom, too. We’ve had six new businesses join our client portfolio, We’ve achieved some fantastic accreditations and our team continues to expand. And while we’re also adapting to current circumstances, we’ll continue to work hard and help our clients get through even the toughest of challenges.
A big thank you to all our loyal clients and our extremely capable team, who have made all of this possible. Below, we take a look at some of the key changes in 2023 and reflect on the progress we’ve made.
We’re delighted to be working with a number of new clients this year. From gardening and cooking to education and kitchenware, we’ve teamed up with a variety of B2B and B2C businesses in 2023, which include:
Representing a diverse range of industries, we’ve already helped them get closer to their business goals with our digital marketing strategies.
And it’s not just new clients. This year we’ve also had three new digital marketing experts join the team; Tegan, Hugh and Daniel.
Our new additions have already been invaluable in ensuring Loom delivers the best possible service to our clients, and we’re delighted to have them onboard.
As well as returning from maternity leave myself, we’ve also welcomed Tommy back from parental leave. He’s dived back into work and is already making us wonder how we survived without him.
“After a few months off to spend time with my little girl, I was so excited to return in February. Nikki and the team did an incredible job whilst I was off. It’s not been an easy climate in which to run a business over the past year, and I’m really proud of how committed the team are to clients and their success. Whilst we love celebrating strong results with clients, we also pride ourselves on being able to navigate through the tricky times with them.” Karen Pearce
2023 also saw a milestone Loomiversary for Tom Spooner, marking ten years as part of the team! Since joining Loom back in 2013, he’s made an undeniably huge impact on Loom, creating and implementing market-leading digital marketing strategies . Anyone who has had the pleasure of working with Tom knows the level of thought, understanding and strategic input he has on accounts. A real marketing force and we’re proud to have him.
“It’s been a genuine pleasure to mark a decade at Loom and reflect on the evolution of our industry and Loom as an agency. I firmly believe that we’re currently delivering the best service to our clients with an incredibly talented team. I’m immensely proud to be a part of Loom and look forward to helping existing and future clients overcome challenges to succeed.” Tom Spooner
It’s always nice for achievements to be recognised. We’re proud to have three new accreditations this year for our performance and employment practices.
As always, we couldn’t have achieved any of these without our clients and team. We provide all the support we can and are grateful for those who support us. We’re 14 years young and we still have clients from day one.
“It’s been a great start to 2023 at Loom. We’re so proud to now be awarded the Great Place to Work accreditation, as well as being part of the Google Employment Charter South West. Both accreditations are a testament to the culture, values and team here at Loom. We’re always looking for ways to make it an even better place to work and have lots more planned for our 15th year.” Vicky Hockley
As our team continues to expand, we needed a new office to accommodate everyone. Fortunately, we didn’t need to move far. We’re now on the second floor of Temple Studios, located just by Temple Meads station in the heart of Bristol, meaning we’re still easily accessible for both our clients and team members travelling from further afield.
Each quarter we book an evening as a social for the Loom team. In March, we took part in a pottery evening hosted by local potters Pottymouth Workshop at The Star and Dove pub in Totterdown. While we might not be quite ready for The Great Pottery Throw Down, everyone enjoyed the opportunity to get together as a team and take their handiwork home with them.
In June, we went on a glamping trip to the Wye Valley. After canoeing down the river Wye, the team took part in guided foraging lessons and farm tours and played games at the campsite, with refreshments provided by a mobile pizza oven and cocktail bar.
The weather can make or break a camping trip, and fortunately, we were blessed with sunshine (which also helped dry out the occupants of a capsized canoe). It was a great opportunity for everyone to relax and bond, and for our new Loomies to meet the rest of the team.
Keep up with life at Loom by following us on Instagram.
Our Illoominate initiative aims to deliver digital skills to the next generation of professionals in Bristol. As part of this, we have advised charities on how to improve their digital marketing strategy through Media Trust and also offered work experience internships at Loom for all ages.
This year, we’ve already welcomed two Loom interns, Tyler and Jazmine, who were given an introduction to digital marketing at Loom and did a great job getting stuck in with some tasks set by the team. Find out how they both got on here and here.
As well as dealing with tougher circumstances, there have also been some huge changes to the digital marketing industry in 2023. Notably, the transition from Universal Analytics (UA) to Google Analytics 4 (GA4) has meant a huge amount of work collecting as much data as possible and ensuring the transition went smoothly for our clients. We have invested in GA4 training for all our Loomies and have supported this with regular sessions for personal development and team knowledge shares, ensuring we were well prepared to guide our clients through this process.
Find out more about GA4 in our guide.
At the tailend of 2022, Google updated their Quality Rater Guidelines, expanding the concept of E-A-T (‘Expertise, Authority and Trust’) to include ‘Experience’. This update was designed to tackle poor-quality content, which, of course, wasn’t a problem for clients using Loom’s SEO and Content services! With AI tools and boilerplate content quite common on the web, it makes sense that Google made this change to promote valuable content written for users, rather than search.
Find out more about the EEAT update in our blog.
Speaking of AI, the rise of artificial intelligence continues to make waves in the industry, as content generation becomes more sophisticated and accessible. We explored what it can offer and its limitations but concluded it’s no match yet for the skills, expertise and human touch of the Loom content team.
Given the challenges our clients have faced this past year, it’s more important than ever to keep on top of the latest marketing trends in order to help our clients adapt. We’ve been pivoting our work to accommodate both industry developments and the external factors businesses are currently facing, creating intricate strategies that build and maintain strong online visibility.
To stay up to date with the ever-changing digital marketing industry, explore our Insights section.
It’s not easy running a business right now. With so many challenges to navigate, 2023 hasn’t been the easiest year for everyone. Saying that, we’re here for our clients every step of the way and are proud to be sharing our journey with them.
We’re delighted with all that we’ve achieved this year and look forward to seeing what the next one brings. We’d like to give another big thank you to our clients, partners and our team for all that they’ve done to make 2023 such a success.
“We’re really proud of what our team has achieved in our 14th year, doing what they can for our clients and taking our strategies from strength to strength. Our next year is all about focusing on building a more purposeful-led agency, and understanding how we can embrace machine learning to achieve even more for our clients and build on the successes of this year.” Nikki Ellison
If you’d like to find out more about our digital marketing services, whether that’s PPC & Biddable or SEO and Content, then browse our website or get in touch today.
2023 has turned into another milestone year for ADLIB.
To recap:
In 2019 ADLIB became a certified B Corp, with a score of 82.3.
In 2020 ADLIB became 100% employee-owned.
In 2021 ADLIB launched the MotherBoard Movement.
In 2022 ADLIB broke all of its records.
In 2023 ADLIB recertified as a B Corp, with a score of 130.3, invested into HeyFlow and proudly refreshed our brand to reflect who we truly are today.
We’ve said for a long time that ADLIB is so much more than a recruitment agency.
ADLIB is a true talent partner, we go beyond candidate acquisition, we’ve created business solutions that tackle inclusivity, health, well-being and retention head-on.
We care authentically about the planet. We track and publicly report on our footprint, working with suppliers to support the regional business community.
All of which needed translating into our refreshed brand. From the look and feel, we opted for sustainable risograph techniques that reflect the business to perfection, whilst technically ensuring lean UX, negative space and page weights were priorities throughout our website build.
With our propositions growing at pace, geographical reach expanding into the US and influence happening at the government level, there has never been a better time to join ADLIB and make a difference.
Social media can have a direct impact on your website’s visibility on traditional search engines like Google or Bing.
While it doesn’t have the same effect on SEO as with content marketing, social signals such as gaining more followers, likes, shares and retweets can increase your visibility to potential customers by increasing traffic to your site and helping you to rank higher.
In other words, while social media efforts don’t influence SEO directly, they do influence SEO indirectly.
Social media signals are activities that contribute to your page or website’s search engine rankings. Some examples of social signals include likes, shares, retweets and pinning.
Google has never explicitly stated that social signals affect rankings. But there’s no denying that the more traffic you receive through social media networks, the more your material will be shared. This may significantly affect how you rank in Google search results.
The social media platform you choose should be directly related to the type of business you run and your marketing objectives. It should also be determined by where your target audience prefers to spend their time. However, in terms of SEO functionality, the following social media and digital marketing networks offer several advantages:
We’ve established how social media impacts SEO. Now, we can look at ways to boost SEO through social media marketing. Here are four social media algorithms and SEO tips to help boost SEO on social media.
Did you know that social media profiles are frequently shown among the top search results?
Up 75% of customers use social media to evaluate brands before making a purchase. They look for reviews, genuine recommendations, inspiration, high-quality images and brand information. As a result, social media profiles should be optimised as part of your SEO strategy.
Optimised social media profiles can drive your target audience to your account and convert them into customers. Your goal is to make all your content accessible. Here are some easy ways of optimising your social profiles to get results:
Good social media profiles increase trust by giving your brand authenticity. They should be able to teach your target audience everything they need to know about your company in a matter of seconds. Your profile should sound natural, honest and carefully written, and it should showcase your own personality.
Creating and releasing high-quality content is crucial for social SEO.
It can enhance organic web traffic back to your website, improve search visibility and assist you in obtaining quality backlinks.
By distributing long-form content such as a high-quality blog post, written with specific keywords via your social platforms, you can encourage your social media followers to share your content further. This will boost your content marketing strategy and strengthen your social signals by amplifying reach through social SEO.
Be wary though, using too many keywords, otherwise known as keyword stuffing, can be frowned upon by traditional search engines and may have a negative impact on your online visibility.
Traditional SEO stands you in good stead when you aim to create valuable content based on a customer’s needs, so be sure to stick to the most relevant and important keyword clusters.
Search engines and shareable content go together like bread and butter. The more people that engage with and share your content, the wider reach you’ll have on keyword search pages and the better your social media visibility. You’ll also generate more backlinks, or inbound links, and enhance brand recognition.
When you publish content that your audience will want to share, it can help Google with the indexation of relevant searches for your posts. This can lead to more organic search traffic and better Google rankings.
Did you know that the images you upload to your social media accounts can actually make a difference to your social SEO? The act of making the images you publish with your social media posts as SEO-friendly as possible is referred to as image optimisation.
Optimising the images across your social media platforms can improve user experience. Search algorithms also tend to prioritise the images that follow best practices, meaning you could appear higher up in search results, improve website traffic and reach more potential customers.
Here’s how you do it:
Image optimisation across all your social networks is a simple technique that may make a major difference in your social media marketing efforts.
A high-quality image will also boost your overall social media performance. It can improve the appearance of your brand by making it more appealing, intelligible, relatable, and memorable.
One strong tactic for improving your social SEO and social media strategy is to use social listening. This is the process of monitoring online conversations on major social platforms and media networks to learn what your audience is saying about you. It’s also a great way to keep track of your competitors.
Social listening can help you find opportunities for link-building. You may discover that your brand has been referenced on blogs, forums, Facebook pages or news sites. You can find these mentions using a social media monitoring tool and contact the writers to ask them to include a link to your site.
Social listening is an effective method for conducting audience research and learning what people are talking about in your sector. This will help you in discovering new ways to contact your target audience and increase your social media presence.
Social media helps SEO in several different ways. The best method is always the successful combination of social media and search engine optimization efforts.
The government’s long awaited creative industries sector vision has been launched with an aim to grow the creative industries by £50bn and support a million more jobs by 2030. Dan Martin looks at what it could for creative businesses, particularly those in the Bristol Creative Industries region.
Describing the sector as “a global British success story”, prime minister Rishi Sunak’s foreward to the full vision document says:
“As well as projecting our values on the world stage, the creative industries drive our economy at home. The contribution they make has often been underappreciated. These industries generate £108 billion a year. Employ over 2.3 million people in every corner of the country. And there is a real sense of energy in the sector, which has grown at more than 1.5 times the rate of the wider economy over the past decade.”
The vision promises to drive growth by “facilitating innovation and investment, alongside building a skilled workforce”. It includes £77m in new government funding.
Culture secretary Lucy Frazer said:
“The imagination and ingenuity of British designers, producers, content creators, writers and artists are spearheading growth right across our economy.
“The government is backing our creatives to maximise the potential of the creative industries. This sector vision is about driving innovation, attracting investment and building on the clusters of creativity across the country. And from first days at school to last days of work, we will nurture the skills needed to build a larger creative workforce to harness the talent needed for continued success.
“Working with the industry this vision is helping the UK creative sectors go from strength to strength – providing jobs and opportunities, creating world leading content and supporting economic growth across the country.”
The vision outlines the following funding announcements:
The government says it will invest at least £50m in the next wave of the Creative Industries Clusters programme. It will be used to identify and support at least six new clusters specialising in creative subsectors, helping entrepreneurs and businesses in these areas innovate with new technologies, secure investment, and access global markets.
Bristol and Bath is currently one of the clusters supported by the programme through Bristol & Bath Creative R&D.
Alongside the creative industries
sector vision, it was announced that 300 creative companies across the UK have received a share of £13m in government grants to help them innovate and reach their high growth potential.
The government will increase the budget of the Create Growth Programme by £10.9m, bringing it to a total of £28.4m until 2025. It says the increased funding will enable it to double the number of regions it covers to 12 and support 2,000 businesses to commercialise their ideas and access resources, knowledge and private investment to scale.
The West of England is one of the six regions currently part of the programme. The other regions are Greater Manchester, East Anglia, North East England, South East and East Midlands.
Alongside the creative industries sector vision, Innovate UK announced 108 creative industry businesses across the six current regions that get a share in the latest £3m of funding from the programme. It includes the following 13 companies from Bristol and the West of England:
The next round of funding (£4m across the six regions) launches in autumn 2023. Keep an eye on our funding guide for the latest information.
In the West of England there is also a support scheme as part of the Create Growth Programme run by Watershed and West of England Combined Authority. It includes training, workshops and a £2,500 grant to spend on mentoring, consultancy and coaching.
The second cohort for the support scheme launches in May 2024. Register your interest here.
Creative Catalyst is a £30m programme to help creative businesses commercialise their creative ideas.
Alongside the vision, Innovate UK announced a new partnership between the Creative Catalyst Programme and Creative UK. It will engage with key senior industry stakeholders and create exciting funding opportunities for small and micro businesses to address important industry challenges.
It also announced that the first Creative Catalyst sector-specific competition will focus on MusicTech. The £1m competition will launch later in the year.
Finally, Innovate UK announced over 200 creative companies across the UK that have received a share of £10m of innovation funding from the first round of Creative Catalyst. As part of the programme, the successful companies also will receive business growth support, join a peer network to encourage collaboration and have access to international missions to help expand their global ambitions.
The government said the majority of the funding has been provided to companies outside of the Greater South East including Bristol, Bath, Exeter and Cornwall.
Keep an eye on our funding guide for the latest information on the grants available through Creative Catalyst.
The UK Games Fund, run by UK Games Talent and Finance Community Interest Company, launched in 2015. It provides grants for prototype funding of up to £30,000 and supports graduate talent development.
The creative industries sector vision announces £5m in additional investment for the UK Games Fund which it says “will provide UK games studios with larger grants for content funding, supporting development of intellectual property that will allow companies to attract investment and reach their next stage of growth”.
The government will expand Arts Council England’s Supporting Grassroots Music Venues Fund by providing an additional £5m over two years to support around 400 grassroots music venues.
Funding for the Music Exports Growth Scheme, which provides grants to support touring and help emerging musicians break into new global markets, will be expanded to £3.2m over the next two years.
The most recent round of funding provided £500,000 to 28 UK artists including Bristol singer-songwriter Katy J Pearson.
The government referenced the announcement in the Spring Budget which reforms audio-visual reliefs into expenditure credits with a higher rate of relief than under the current system.
The vision added that the government is “considering the case for further targeted support for visual effects work, and will provide an update on this later in the year”.
On securing investment the vision says:
“While parts of the creative industries are attractive to investors, many entrepreneurs and creative businesses find it hard to access investment. The value of creative businesses commonly lies in their intangible IP, which can be hard to value, and project-based business models often create peaks and troughs of activity and revenue.
“Moreover, some products such as music or films can be ‘hits’-based, with unpredictable consumer demand. These factors, coupled with a lack of market intelligence and data, can make creative businesses appear a risky proposition to investors.
“These challenges are felt more keenly outside of London, with early stage equity finance and venture capital investors much less prevalent. The government and industry will work together to improve data on investment into the sector, to improve benchmarking against other sectors, and to better understand new and emerging business models and their finance needs.”
It said creative businesses can access the British Business Bank’s regional investment funds which offer loans from £25,000 to £2m and equity investment up to £5m.
The Bank’s £200m South West Investment Fund launched in July. Aimed at businesses in Bristol, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire, the fund provides:
Find full details in our funding guide for creative businesses.
The creative industries sector vision pledges “a creative careers promise” to “build a highly-skilled, productive and inclusive workforce for the future, supporting one million more jobs across the UK“.
The vision adds:
“Over the previous decade, the creative industries’ workforce grew at almost five times the rate of the rest of the economy, and it has the potential to continue growing rapidly. There are a huge range of roles in the creative industries and collectively they are the jobs of the future: more resistant to automation, highly-skilled and highly rewarding.
“The sector also has high levels of project-based working and reliance on freelancers, who make up over a quarter of the total creative industries workforce (about double the whole-economy average).
“A skilled, inclusive and productive workforce is vital to ensuring creative businesses can adapt to changes, compete commercially and identify new areas to innovate and grow.”
Skills and diversity is a major challenge for the creative industries. The BCI-commissoned A Creative Force to Be Reckoned With report found that increasing diversity and inclusion is a significant priority for six in 10 (59%) creative firms in Bristol, but almost half (48%) said they want help finding diverse talent from underrepresented groups.
The government says it will:
The vision highlighted Bristol Creative Industries member Boomsatsuma as a good example of creative skills training. It said:
“Boomsatsuma has identified opportunities to build on traditional models of education to better support creative employers. With a portfolio of 10 flexible further and higher education-level courses, Boomsatsuma aligns its offer with skills shortages faced by creative businesses across South West England, including rapidly growing Createch businesses in the region that are utilising digital and tech.
“Young people are nurtured through a system that guides them from school to college to a degree and into employment. It particularly suits young people from disadvantaged backgrounds who do not want to go down the conventional university route.”
Another example of giving young people the skills they need to access careers in the creative industries is the Bristol Creative Industries internship programme which supports 18-24-year-olds from underrepresented backgrounds.
As part of the programme in partnership with Babbasa, 14 creative companies from the BCI member community are providing full time paid placements to applicants in roles covering advertising, marketing, design, animation and digital.
Graphic from the vision document:
Dr. Susan McMillan, an award-winning television producer and executive dean of Boomsatsuma, is a member of the Bristol Creative Industries board. She said:
“The Bristol Creative Industries board is looking forward to helping the city, its creative businesses and its education and training providers achieve the goals of the creative industries sector vision. The UK’s creative industries are so important to our future economy, generating £108bn a year, employing over 2.3 million people and growing at more than 1.5 times the rate of the wider economy.
In Bristol, creative industries employers make a unique contribution to the city’s identity and global reputation – think Aardman and the BBC Natural History Unit, as well as the multitude of creative companies producing everything from games to software.
“The report proposes that, as a sector, we can do more to unlock the growth potential and create opportunities for young people and the next generation of creative talent. Bristol Creative Industries is already doing that through our successful internship programme which is helping members access new and exciting creative talent. We plan to build on this success over the coming years.
“We are looking forward to working with our members on future initiatives to grow the sector, meet its skills needs for future talent and explore how the creative industries can contribute to addressing the big challenges of our day.”
The vision has the following goals for 2030. Click the links to go to the relevant sections.
Objectives are:
2030 innovation objective: increased public and private investment in creative industries’ innovation, contributing to the UK increasing its R&D expenditure to drive R&D-led innovation.
2030 investment objective: creative businesses reach their growth potential, powered by a step-change in regional investment.
2030 exports objective: creative businesses grow their exports and contribute to the UK reaching £1 trillion exports per year.
Objectives are:
2030 education objective: a foundation of education and opportunities to foster creative talent from a young age.
2030 skills objective: stronger skills and career pathways generate a workforce that meets the industry’s skills needs.
2030 job quality objective: all parts of the creative industries are recognised for offering high quality jobs, ensuring a resilient and productive workforce that reflects the whole of the UK.
Objectives are:
2030 wellbeing objective: creative activities contribute to improved wellbeing, help to strengthen local communities, and promote pride in place.
2030 environment objective: Creative industries play a growing role in tackling environmental challenges, helping the UK reach the targets set out in the Powering Up Britain plan.
2030 soft power objective: creative industries increase their reach to global audiences, strengthening the UK’s soft power and positive influence on the world.
If you’d like to share your thoughts on the creative industries sector vision, email Dan.
Global leaders in procurement and supply chain management, Efficio are the largest independent consultancy in the world. With this sole focus for more than 20 years, their specialist consultants are equipped with the expertise and technology to dig deeper, innovate faster, and deliver greater efficiencies for clients.
Talisman Sparro has played a critical role in Efficio Consulting’s repositioning and rebrand programme, delivering an impact that has helped the company stand out as the only remaining independent, specialist consultancy in the procurement and supply chain consultancy marketplace. With Efficio’s unique approach to delivering sustained client success at the core, Talisman Sparro has helped to shape a comprehensive strategy that has driven internal engagement and reflected Efficio’s ambitious growth plans.
The “Partners in Progress” brand platform developed has resonated with both clients and employees, driving engagement and building a strong internal culture. The rebranding programme delivered has overhauled Efficio’s branding, messaging, and positioning to be more contemporary, modern, and appealing to a broader audience.
Our support included:
Bristol-based branded podcast production company 18Sixty is pleased to announce that senior marketing business leader, agency founder and podcaster David Maher Roberts (pictured left) has been appointed as Board Advisor.
This announcement comes off the back of three years of solid growth for 18Sixty where they’ve established themselves as a renowned player in the branded podcast space, working with big name brands, talent and picking up major award wins and nominations for their premium quality podcasts.
Founder and CEO Gareth Evans (pictured right), who launched the business in early 2020 after a decade-long career in commercial radio (Virgin Radio, Absolute Radio) has his sights set on further growth over the next two years. Evans says, “I’ve been aware of David’s reputation in the marketing agency and digital content spaces for some time, having over 20 years experience in board-level roles within PE and VC-backed companies and, impressively taken digital marketing agency Dialect Inc. from a $4m to $30m business in 5 years.” He goes on to say, “having worked closely with David professionally over the last few months, I’m really excited by the prospect of having him on board to help take 18Sixty into the next stage of our growth. Our mission continues to be helping world-renowed brands reach new audiences with podcasts they love listening to whilst having a positive impact on people and planet, pushing the creative boundaries where brand meets audio and to further establish our place as one of the world’s most creative branded podcast producers.”
In addition to his marketing agency expertise, Maher Roberts also has a deep passion for the podcast space, having produced and co-hosted Podworld (a podcast that celebrates the craft of great podcast-making) with journalist and BBC podcaster Louise Blain. Maher Roberts says “I really believe in the unique power of podcasts to engage audiences and provoke thoughtful conversation. 18Sixty has already made a significant impact in the industry and I can’t wait to help further the exciting work Gareth and the team are doing.”
Driving Bristol’s growth as a leading audio hub in the UK and empowering the local economy
Bristol has emerged as a thriving audio hub, fostering numerous globally renowned podcast businesses and housing exceptional audio production talent. In this dynamic soundscape, 18Sixty stands firmly committed to amplifying the audio industry’s impact on the economy of Bristol and the wider South West region.
The surge in demand for exceptional branded podcasts continues unabated. Recent data from hosting platform Ausha revealed a remarkable 17% audience increase for this category in 2022. Notably, brands embracing podcasts as a medium experience significantly higher levels of engagement compared to other forms of media, such as video.
“By nurturing Bristol’s audio landscape, 18Sixty is committed to drive economic growth whilst capitalising on the rising appetite for quality branded podcasts,” said Gareth Evans, Founder and CEO at 18Sixty. “Our mission is to leverage the region’s exceptional audio production talent, supporting their creative endeavours and propelling Bristol as the go-to destination for groundbreaking audio content.”
At JMP, are delighted to welcome Matt Joy to our growing team, joining as Managing Partner.
Matt has a wealth of industry experience, having spent more than 10 years in the sports industry, and most recently four years at a strategic brand agency.
His previous roles have included five years as Marketing Manager at Stoke City during their Premier League golden years, before moving south and helping create the Marketing team at Bristol Sport during the rebuild of Ashton Gate. Following that, he spent four years at Mr B & Friends in Bristol.
In regards to his responsibility at JMP, Matt will be a crucial cog in our ability to excel as an agency, offering additional strategic insights and creative campaigns to our clients.
Managing Director Joe Meredith expanded on this.
“It’s a significant role, the biggest addition we’ve ever made to the business,” he said.
“It’s something that I feel we’ve both wanted to happen for a long time. Everything just needed to align. Matt is in a position to elevate the offerings of JMP and I’m really excited to work with him to take JMP to the next level ”
Matt expressed his excitement about what lies ahead, for both himself and JMP.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” he said. “I’ve known Joe since I initially moved to Bristol and how he has grown the agency in that time has been great to see. It’s an exciting time to now get involved and add to the recent successes.
“My role is going to be quite broad but ultimately I will have a real focus on the growth of the agency. First of all to define who we are, our offerings and identify where we can add real value to our clients, both current and new.”
Matt joins our newly-formed Senior Leadership Team, alongside MD Joe and Operations Director Vicki Theobald.
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