Since 2012, the study has tracked how confident agency owners feel about the year ahead by giving a rating out of 100. Above 50, owners feel confident and below 50, they expect this year to be worse than last year. Confidence has now reached an average rating of 74.
BenchPress: The year agencies bounced back
“2021 was the year that agencies bounced back,” writes The Wow Company co-founder Peter Czapp in the report.
After the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the confidence was driven by an increase in turnover with 84% of £1m+ agencies growing fee income in 2021, up from 49% in 2020.
More than half of agency owners increased their earnings when compared to last year and at 53%, the percentage of agency owners earning more than £100,000 per year is at the highest level ever.
A global focus and getting the big deals
The report looked at client work and how agencies charge clients. It found that agencies that work with international clients grow quicker, are more profitable, and their owners earn more.
The findings also showed that winning deals worth in excess of £50,000 is more likely to see agencies performing in the top 25% by earnings and profitability, and agencies that had between 41-60% of fee income on retainer saw the biggest growth in their fee income last year.
The power of purpose
The BenchPress report also examined how agencies deal with sustainability and the social and environmental impact that they have.
It found that larger agencies were more likely to invest in impact with 77% of £1m+ businesses spending some profit on positive environmental or social impact compared to 62% of agencies under £1m.
An overall 24% of agencies invest 1-5% of net profit on social and environmental impact, 9% spend 6-10% and a significant 2% dedicate more than 10%.
When it comes to specific initiatives, 71% of large agencies make charitable donations, 48% give time for free to work for charities, 41% are taking active steps to be net zero and 28% plant trees to offset the carbon they produce.
For smaller agencies, the figures are 52%, 47%, 24% and 17%.
Such actions have a direct result on business performance. Those agencies that participate in social and environmental impact initiatives grew quicker, made more profit and earned more last year than those that didn’t, the study revealed.
[Read advice on business as a force for good and how to become a B Corp here]
The challenges for agencies
Despite the positives, the report highlighted several stumbling blocks for agencies including recruitment.
“Recruitment is as hard as it’s ever been and is now the number one challenge facing £1m+ agencies. As you’ll see from our recruitment and retention benchmarks released later this year, not enough is being done to tackle this challenge.
“67% of agencies don’t have a conscious strategy to deliver a great candidate experience, and 81% don’t measure team engagement often enough. That’s a lot of agencies with room to improve.
“Meanwhile, smaller agency owners are struggling to spend enough time working ON their business, rather than in it. The demands of dealing with a pandemic meant they needed to roll up their sleeves and get stuck in. Many are now struggling to step out of the day-to-day.”
Launching in May 2022, YOU. is a unique community leadership programme designed to support young changemakers and business leaders in the creative industries through peer-to-peer coaching.
What’s the format?
YOU / Culture & Creativity is one of two industry specific cohorts launching on 5th May. The programme runs over 8 weeks with all participants learning coaching skills together, combined with real-world leadership experience by coaching and being coached to support each other’s individual challenges.
The commitment is only 2 hours per week to attend online group coach training sessions with an additional 1 hour for peer to peer mentoring sessions arranged at your convenience.
Peer to peer mentoring ‘pairs’ (one business leader matched with one young changemaker) will provide a positive space for mutual learning to practise and refine coaching skills and support each other’s individual challenges and opportunities.
The programme is being delivered by Tomorrow and North Somerset Enterprise Agency, with all places fully funded through the UK Community RenewalFund.
Who is it for?
CHANGEMAKERS. Young people (18-35yrs) who are looking to make a change. Maybe explore a business idea, learn skills to develop a creative project in their community and currently living in communities in the North Somerset region.
ORGANISATIONS. Employees who are purpose-led leaders, managers or supervisors who are looking to improve their leadership skills with the tools to adopt a coaching approach in their work.
We are looking for 15 creative leaders who are looking to make a positive impact in their organisation or team culture; and 15 creative young changemakers who are exploring future creative careers.
Why should I join?
In a rapidly changing world, entrepreneurs, changemakers and leaders of the future will need to be able to coach. Coaching skills form a valuable part of any leader’s repertoires of management tools, aiding effective working relationships with diverse teams and individuals. A coaching approach can enhance performance, improve working relationships and develop communications skills for the benefit of any future leader.
So, if you are an individual who is looking to break into the creative industries; or you are a business within this sector, looking to make a positive change, this programme is designed for you.
PR expert Jessica Morgan has been a Bristol Creative Industries member since 2016 when she founded Carnsight Communications. She speaks to Dan Martin about her business journey, the importance of flexible working, how BCI has benefitted the business and her tips for getting your story in the press.
How did you start Carnsight Communications?
“Around 20 years ago, I started working in advertising in London. After a few agency mergers, I ended up working at Proximity which is an amazing agency. However, I had come from a small, incredibly creative ad shop, and now I was at a big agency. I was at a transition point in my career and the PR consultancy that used to work for Craig Jones, the niche boutique agency I was at, approached me and asked if I was interested in doing some PR instead.
“I was told about 50% of the job would be similar to advertising because it’s still about building relationships, communicating and getting messages out there, and 50% would be totally different. My CEO at the time said it would be another string to my bow and so I made the leap.
“I joined an agency called Pumpkin, a specialist in agency PR, in 2009. I was there until 2015 when prompted by my daughter being about to go to school, my husband and I thought that after 15 fantastic years in London, we wanted something different. We didn’t necessarily want our children to grow up in London and we’re both from villages. Cornwall, where I’m from, was calling me, and my husband’s from Kent. We compromised with the Bristol area. I studied at the University of Bristol and I absolutely loved it. It was great to move back.
“In 2016, I started working for myself. I was on maternity leave and had my first client who I worked with during evenings and weekends. Early on a brand specialist suggested I think about a brand name rather just going under my own name. I settled on Carnsight Communications. ‘Carnsight’ was the name of the house in Cornwall where I grew up.”
What were some of your start-up challenges and how did you overcome them?
“One of the biggest challenges was that it was just me. I knew early on that I wanted to work with other people but when cashflow is tight at the start, you can’t employ a second person. I had to find ways to work with others, be that client meetings, co-working or networking, so I had people around me to bounce ideas off.
“Another challenge was doing everything myself. I did get an accountant to help set up the business, but everything else was me. That was something I had to learn to balance well. How much time do I spend pitching to journalists or updating my website?
“In terms of finding clients, I’ve been lucky with my network. I had my contacts from London and and I knew some people in the west. However, I still needed to know more people and networks like Bristol Creative Industries have been very useful. Someone suggested early on that I join Bristol Media [the former name for Bristol Creative Industries]. It wasn’t expensive to set up my profile. I very quickly had people reaching out to me after seeing my profile and four became clients. It was really helpful.”
Flexible working was important for you from the start. Tell us more about that.
“It started with me thinking that I wanted to create a business I’d really like to work for. Ever since I’ve had children, I’ve worked four days a week. It’s really important to work hard, but I feel my team is probably more productive because we do fewer hours. My ambition is for everyone in my team to work three or four days a week or whatever suits them and the business. If they work four days, they are paid for full time work.
“The nine to five, Monday to Friday is a construct. It’s something that has evolved. If we were going to start again, would we still work it like that? Or would we be flexible and fit in more outside passions and time off? I feel I can offer people something that’s more suited to the work/life blend. I don’t talk about work/life balance. We don’t just work and then stop and do home life. During the day, we do things like take a personal call or go to a doctor’s appointment.
“This approach has enabled me to work with a variety of people. For example, I’ve worked with an amazing consultant who could only give two days a week for a certain amount of time and that was absolutely fine. I’ve also worked with MA students who need to do a certain amount of work and a certain amount of study. That has worked really well too.
“My approach has opened up the talent pool to more people and set the tone for the business.”
Do you also apply the flexible working approach when finding clients?
“Relationships in PR work best when there’s mutual respect between the client and the agency. I’ve said ‘no’ to people because I felt they were not the right type of client for us. I strongly believe that if they don’t buy into us and our approach from the start, they’re probably not going to be satisfied at the end.
“This needs to be a sustainable business that people are delighted with the service from and that people enjoy working for. Lots of places don’t get that balance right, so I wanted to create it.”
You are very active at posting content on the Bristol Creative Industries website. Why do you see that as a key benefit?
[Self-publishing content on the BCI website is a member benefit. Find out more here.]
“Posting wherever your target audience or peers can read your commentary is really valuable. Also, the content doesn’t just sit there; BCI actively uses it by posting it on Twitter and LinkedIn and sending it out via newsletters. It’s a great way to get your message shared.
“I’ve also attended Bristol Creative Industries events, such as the member lunches, and met really interesting people. It’s nice to feel connected to other local creative businesses, especially during recent times when we haven’t been able to meet face-to face. It’s a good way to keep tapped into what’s going on. It’s a great community.”
What’s your advice to business owners looking to get coverage in the media?
“You need to think about why you’re doing it. Why are you doing PR and what do you want to say? I think people often start with the fact they want to communicate without stripping it back and thinking about what they actually want to say.
“We start off new clients with a ‘three lens messaging session’. We get all the key messages written down and ensure that we know exactly what we’re saying, it’s clear and there’s a story behind what the client wants to say.
“Make sure you’re already in the process of communicating that story through any channel available whether that’s free social media or other content.
“Before doing PR, get yourself ready. For example, are you happy with the copy on your website? You need to be ready to face the outside world and take enquiries before you send your first press release.
“It doesn’t start with a press release, it starts with talking about yourself and your story and what’s different about you.”
What are some common PR mistakes?
“We always assess if a story is newsworthy. For example, a new website isn’t very interesting or particularly newsworthy, but the fact that you’re rebranding and relaunching could be more interesting. I often see stories I think are lazy and are what the agency desperately wants to say rather than something that’s interesting for the outside world and what journalists want to write about.
“I still hear all the time about the scattergun approach where people send press releases to everyone on a massive media list. All that does is give PR a bad reputation and make journalists cross. You need to research which journalists could be interested in your message, whether they are still at the publication and if they are the right person to contact.
“I also think people often don’t treat each PR push as an opportunity to communicate broadly. They might have a story that’s great for local media but that’s all they do. However, people are often doing brilliant things that could be of interest to the national media. You need to think wider. It’s very easy to get into the habit of just communicating with the same group of people every time.”
Fancy joining Jessica Morgan as a Bristol Creative Industries member? Benefit from industry expertise, training, leads, curated news, kudos and more. Sign up here.
Learned in Texas, delivered in Bristol. TMW Unlimited are hosting a free event at Origin Workspace to round up the most interesting bits from the world’s biggest knowledge-sharing festival, South by Southwest.
Liv Wedderburn (Social & Influence Director) and Paul Dazeley (Strategy Director) have returned from from Austin brimming with ideas and topics to discuss.
When they last returned from the last SXSW all the way back in 2019, they were most struck by how the conversation had shifted from revering tech to fearing it, with big corporations coming under mounting pressure over their ethical practices.
In the 3 years since, there’s been a pandemic, a new President, a Facebook rebrand and a whole new web has developed – so to say there’s a lot of new ground to cover is probably an understatement.
Besides a hefty dose of jet lag, the biggest issue in preparation so far has been trying to filter down the colossal amounts of information and choosing the most important things to share.
Liv and Paul will be diving into unknown realm that is our future: from the climate crisis, to demystifying the hype around the metaverse and Web 3.0, all the way to weird and wonderful conversations on space, sex tech, synthetic biology and much, much more.
To attend, register here. Free ticket includes drink, canapes and fun for all.
I was lucky that starting a business in PR meant I could work from my kitchen table, quite literally. Back in January 2016 I had a laptop, a phone, contacts and experience, and I didn’t need much else besides that at the start. Working on my own to build a PR consultancy around two small children was manageable (naptime permitting) and it was a good way to begin Carnsight.
But something I did miss initially (aside from a night or two of unbroken sleep!) was company. I sometimes cherish time on my own to focus on writing and proposals, but more frequently I love working alongside other people – discussing ideas, chatting about approaches, sharing contacts or even just sharing a cup of coffee.
Before I began to grow the business and took on my first employee, I found it invaluable to work alongside others. I quite quickly found that it’s possible to create a tribe even as a sole trader. This is where I found mine:
Amongst clients
Pre-pandemic, meeting clients face-to-face was the norm, and I relished the opportunity of getting together, discussing their challenges and also deepening relationships. Many of our clients are fellow small business owners and we may work in very different industries but there are a lot of parallels. We certainly work best with clients with whom we have mutual respect – we like to act as partners. So client meetings are generally fruitful and enjoyable.
Friends who are small business owners
As a new business owner, suddenly you’ll have even more in common with friends who also run their own businesses. But whereas you might not have talked about accountancy software together before, you will now! Mine include marketing professionals, photographers, videographers, florists and many more besides. It’s great to meet and chat and also support each other – whether that’s through social media, on your websites or even by exchanging services.
Local small business owners
I’ve found small business owners gravitate towards each other in a community and there’s often common ground. We had a local business owner Christmas dinner in our local pub a while ago, for example. Since we were missing out on lavish company parties we made sure we got together and enjoyed ourselves. It’s a good idea to keep in touch with local business owners and they’re also a great source of recommendations on services and companies to use in the area.
Business owners in your building
When we moved into our offices a few years ago, I didn’t know many of the business owners, but now it’s like having a whole new network of friends, not just contacts. It’s nice to have a quick break from work and catch up with them on their businesses and get another perspective on business challenges. It also helps that our offices are dog-friendly and that there are some lovely four-legged friends in the building.
Groups or networking
There are also groups set up to help you create a network – but I found you often don’t know about them until you start working for yourself. These include local networking groups, national networking groups, even global networking groups (made possible by the Zoom era we live in). There are sector-only groups, female-only, council-run, walking and talking groups and many, many more. My recommendation would be to ask around and try a few – you’ll soon find out what works for you. A good national one is Enterprise Nation which runs brilliant events as well as having a supportive community. Attending an event is also nice to get out, chat with some new people and hopefully make interesting contacts along the way.
Good luck in finding your tribe. It will be invaluable as you grow and develop as a business.
Click here for tips to find your business inciting incident and how to tell a great story.
Please note: Since publication this crowdfund has closed. £988,776 was raised in 28 days with Yuup reaching 131% of its desired fundraising target.
Yuup, the Bristol-based online local experiences marketplace, has been offering the city’s creative community a platform to generate income through hosting experiences since it was founded in September 2020.
In just a year company has grown from supporting just under 40 experience hosts to now being a community with over 270 people and small businesses and 500+ experiences to enjoy throughout Bristol city.
On Yuup’s platform you will find anything from unicycle lessons to rum tasting, wild winter swimming to hot air balloon rides, and pottery making to fresh pasta making masterclasses. Each one of these unique experiences is hosted by a local person that can’t wait to share their skills and passion with new people.
The platform has seen side-hustlers and hobbyists turn their favourite thing to do into a business and their main source of income. In the past year, Yuup has generated over £450k of income for local people and small independent creative businesses in the Bristol and Bath region.
Maria Fernandez, from Healing Weeds, hosts foraging workshops in Bristol. Her experiences teach guests how to identify seasonal wild produce and how to make balms, medicines, cordials, and elixirs from the foraged harvest. Using Yuup, Maria was able to change her career in order to properly pursue the thing she loves. She said:
“Yuup helped me turn my hobby into a business and Healing Weeds is now my main source of income.”
A positive impact for creative sectors and small independent businesses
Since launching in the middle of a pandemic, Yuup has been used by Bristol creatives to help their income streams and businesses bounce back from lockdown and the effects of the pandemic.
The drop in economic activity within the UK in response to the pandemic impacted SMEs and the self-employed significantly in comparison to their larger business counterparts.
Local businesses were forced to adapt in order to survive. For indie businesses that could facilitate experiences, Yuup provided a platform that allowed alternative revenue streams to the local businesses that were struggling to achieve their pre-pandemic footfall.
Alice from Trylla shop on North Street joined Yuup early on in order to use the platform as a kickstart to her business’ post-pandemic recovery. Her pottery making experiences have been so popular that Alice has since hired new staff to help support the demand for her pottery classes on Yuup.
Yuup’s positive social impact extends to platform support, marketing, and a ticketing system for charity events and fundraisers. Yuup’s recent collaboration with Belly Laughs comedy festival 2022 raised over 22k for charity and generated over 10k of revenue for local restaurants and bars. The company have also recently supported grassroots charities such as MAZI Project and KASK’s Ukraine Fundraiser.
Four ways to join Yuup’s growing community
At the start of February 2022, Yuup announced that the business will be opening up investment to the public to allow for the company’s scaling up operations this year. There are a number of ways that you can join the Yuup community. As an investor, as a Yuup host, by introducing a Yuup host, or as a customer.
How to join the Yuup community as an investor:Yuup’s crowdfund is open until March 31st, and the funds raised will go towards reaching hundreds more potential experience hosts in Bristol and Bath, generating income and jobs for locals and the communities that need it most.
Yuup will also be launching in its second city this summer, connecting creatives, makers and dreamers from another UK city to the Yuup community.
You can join the crowdfund from as little as £20. You will own a part of Yuup and participate in the financial rewards of share ownership. Your investment will support local independent businesses whilst helping even more people to discover incredible things to do in their local area. Visit the Yuup crowdfund webpage to watch the investment film and find out more here: https://invest.yuup.co/
How to join Yuup as an experience host: If you are a creative or passionate local person, you could turn that love of something into an experience for others to enjoy. Yuup helps people create, promote, and host experiences.
It’s free to join the platform, and you get simple tools, a host portal, and marketing support and investment. A small commission is taken from each sold experience, so Yuup only makes money when you make money.
The scope for experiences is almost boundless. From food and drink tours to cooking classes, craft workshops to cinema nights, outdoor adventures to indoor wellbeing sessions. If you love it, why not share the experience? Get in touch with the Yuup team about your future experience here: https://www.yuup.co/pages/join
How to introduce an experience host: Do you know a wicked weaver? A crowd-pleasing cook? A passionate painter? A cool climber? Refer your friend to the Yuup team and help them turn their passion into a business. Refer an experience host here: https://www.yuup.co/host_referrals/new
How to join the Yuup community as a customer: Just browse yuup.co and pick something that you would love to do! Alternatively, you can also buy experiences as gifts, purchase gift cards, or use Yuup’s experiences in your employee rewards scheme.
SPAR UK & NI has announced Mentor Digital’s appointment as their new digital agency partner. Following a competitive tender process Mentor was chosen as the winning bidder to design and develop the new SPAR UK & NI corporate websites, and to deliver ongoing creative, technical, and digital marketing solutions to help deliver on SPAR’s digital strategy.
SPAR is the world’s largest retail food chain and has around 2512 stores in the UK. Mentor Digital will partner with SPAR to: Build brand new websites for SPAR UK & Northern Ireland; to develop the digital application of the SPAR brand; and to provide SEO and digital marketing support.
Website technology is moving fast, and customers expect high quality, super-fast experiences across all devices. Keeping users engaged with retail brands online offerings and remaining cutting edge and relevant is an ongoing challenge. SPAR is in an excellent position having both ‘clicks and bricks’ through their stores and existing online presence, and Mentor Digital will work to provide modern web applications delivering on SPARs digital strategy that will focus on community and health and well-being.
Mentor’s MD Holland Risley said: “We are absolutely delighted to be adding SPAR to our client portfolio and it really feels like we are levelling up as an agency taking on clients of this calibre. I think this really reflects the high quality of the work that we have been producing in recent years. The design work is already looking really exciting, we are focusing on bringing depth and quality to the sites by using micro UX, emotive design and parallax effects and we are really looking forward to launching the new look SPAR websites later this year.”
SPAR shops are central to communities across the UK, and the new websites will support local communities by nurturing neighbourhoods, creating community hubs, and promoting health and wellbeing campaigns, as well as showcasing special offers and driving footfall to stores.
SPAR & Mentor Digital are carrying out an in-depth process of stakeholder engagement, design, and prototyping. Mentor Digital will create full mobile responsive prototypes as part of the project process to allow for the sites to be fully tested to ensure that all user journeys are intuitive and clear.
The new SPAR websites will be developed using the open-source Umbraco CMS platform, which provides highly secure, enterprise level, content management experiences with no ongoing licenses. Mentor Digital is an Umbraco Gold Partner and has implemented Umbraco CMS for many NHS Trusts and CCGs along with a wide range of B2B and B2C clients. The agency has won awards at the prestigious Umbraco awards in 2020 and 2021.
We have been officially recognised as a ‘Great Place to Work’ by being awarded the sought-after certification.
Great Place to Work’s mission is to “help organisations create exceptional, high performing workplaces where employees feel trusted and valued”. Through the Certification process, they capture valuable employee feedback and details about the practices that make workplaces unique.
As part of this employee feedback, we were absolutely thrilled to report a 90% overall trust index from our team.
Some of our favourite bits from our team’s ratings include:
100% said ‘I am proud to tell people I work here’
98% said ‘there is a family or team feeling here’
95% said ‘people are encouraged to balance their work life and personal life’
95% said ‘when I look at what we accomplish, I feel a sense of pride’
95% said there is job security
But what do the team actually say about working at cxpartners?
Come on – we’re a team of research consultants! Of course we love quantitative data, but we’re obviously going to go and gather a little qual too…
Megan Simmons, UX Consultant:
“cxp is a great place to work since we practice what we preach – it’s an empathy driven workplace”
Ollie Miller, Creative Director:
“There are no egos at cxpartners. From my experience that’s very unique. It means you can be you. You can feel comfortable sharing your ideas with people who really value your thoughts and really listen.”
Lauren Howells, Marketing Manager:
“We have such a supportive culture with space for everyone to have an opinion and speak up”
Chris Edge, Account Director
“It’s such a friendly and passionate team at cx, a diverse mix of skillsets working well together to really make a massive difference to our clients”
Nicola Pritchard, Senior User Researcher:
“Flexibility, support, adult to adult relationships, everyone’s proper passion for their subject, feeling connected, feeling heard, having permission to bring my whole self to work without judgement, total kindness of all the people here.
When I stop and think, that’s an amazing list!”
Henry Bacon, UX Consultant:
“I’ve only been here for about 6 weeks, but so far I’d say the people! Everyone’s super friendly and welcoming.”
Sharon Webster, UX Consultant:
“What I love about working at cx is being empowered, having opportunities to develop my career, learn from awesome colleagues and that being people-centred is lived and breathed here. Oh and there’s some fun projects too!”
Mark Skinner, Principal UX Consultant:
“I think the best thing is that we’re not expected to be robots – we can be ourselves, and when we need support, it’s there!”
Claire Barrett, Senior UX Consultant:
“Today’s pod catch up demonstrated one (of the many!) reasons cx is a great place to work… a bunch of lovely human beings asking brilliant questions on subjects that matter and just generally having insightful chats!”
Join us!
Not only are we a Great Place to Work, but we also have some pretty great benefits too, including:
25 days holiday
MacBook laptop and iPhone with call plan
A generous hobby fund to spend on what you like
A personal training budget of £750 per annum
Working from home budget
Flexible working and supportive of remote working
Cash-back healthcare scheme with BUPA
Pension plan
Life insurance
Free eye test
Enhanced maternity and adoption pay
We offer ‘remote-first’ working, with offices available in London and Bristol, and are currently recruiting for:
However, if you’re keen to join the team but your skillset doesn’t quite match the roles above – get in touch, we’d still love to hear from you.
The West of England Combined Authority (WECA) has unveiled a new document which highlights why the west is the go-to place for investment in the creative industries.
Launched by Metro Mayor Dan Norris, the ‘Cultural Plan‘ showcases the region’s art and cultural businesses alongside details of how WECA intends to support creativity across the West of England.
Culture, creativity and the West of England
“The West of England is an incredibly vibrant, diverse and creative region,” the plan says. “It includes the two thriving cities of Bristol and Bath along with divergent towns and communities.
“The region is recognised as a national and international cultural and tourist hot spot, with a vibrant mix of urban, rural and coastal areas providing an exceptionally diverse cultural ecology.
“But the West of England is also one of the country’s economic success stories. It is the most productive city region in England outside London, with a breadth of innovative businesses and a highly skilled workforce.
“With economic links to Wales, the Midlands, London and the South West, ensuring a strong economy recovery in the West of England will help to drive a wider national recovery.”
The plan outlines some of the incredible statistics which highlight the breadth of the creative industries in our region.
The sector has around 7,000 businesses which employ 50,000 people and contribute almost £2bn to the regional economy.
The West of England is home to the UK’s third largest TV sector with 445 production companies including Bristol Creative Industries members Aardman Animations, Troy TV, Woven Films and JonesMillbank.
Many major TV shows have also been filmed in Bristol and Bath. They include Stephen Merchant’s The Outlaws and Netflix’s Bridgerton.
Around 800 million people each month watch digital content produced in Bristol and Bath.
The West of England also has the UK’s most productive technology sector and a fast growing games industry with examples such as the chart topping Game Plague Inc created by Bristol agency Ndemic Creations.
Supporting the creative industries in the West of England
WECA says its vision is to “create a region which is an international exemplar of the power of culture to transform and enrich lives, places and businesses”. That vision has four areas of focus:
cultural and creative skills
creative freelancers, start-ups and SMEs
placemaking
wellbeing
Cultural and creative skills
“The creativity of every child and young person in the region should be given space to flourish; and that emergent talent should be given every means to succeed,” the plan says.
WECA says it will ensure culture is included across the curriculum and “develop inclusive, ambitious and effective skills pipelines for culture in the region and beyond”.
Proposed initiatives include cultural sector school twinning, cultural curriculum exemplars and targeted cultural and creative careers support.
Bristol Creative Industries is also committed to diversity in the creative industries. When we revealed the new BCI board of directors last January, we said: “The diversity of Bristol’s creative industries is something we are immensely proud of, but we also recognised the need for our board to better reflect that diversity. We need individuals who can bring different perspectives and experiences and help us widen our reach across the city. That will help us to future proof the organisation and better support our members.”
Steps we have taken so far include launching The Talent Network which gives 17 to 21 year-olds the opportunity to network with creative employers in Bristol and Bath.
Creative freelancers, start-ups and SMEs
“We will prioritise recovery from the impact of Covid-19, but also focus on the need to thrive and prosper in the period ahead,” the plan says.
WECA’s proposed initiatives include a freelancer transition, an industry leading accelerator programme and a targeted inward investment campaign.
“Investment in culture drives productivity and employment and contributes to the regeneration of areas and revitalisation of our high streets. It helps to bring communities together – opening up new perspectives, encouraging participation in civic life,” the plan says.
WECA says it will “place culture at the centre of placemaking, community-making and regeneration strategies with proposed initiatives including a Cultural Infrastructure Toolkit and Charter, an immersive digital experience, working with partners to create a coherent and compelling narrative for the West of England and a “regional mega-event”.
Wellbeing
“Culture is an essential part of a life well lived. Arts and culturebased interventions offer new and surprising ways to promote the health and wellbeing of communities and to help them flourish and grow. Participation in culture is a fundamental human right, as outlined in Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” the plan says.
WECA says it will “ensure that all residents and visitors can access culture and cultural activities for their own wellbeing, development, and enrichment” with proposed initiatives including an arts and homelessness civic plan, widening access to culture including targeting specific barriers for groups and communities, disabled access support and supporting libraries to deliver cultural experiences.
Metro mayor Dan Norris said:
“In the coming years I am determined we do much more than just survive, but to go on and really thrive – to build back even better and progress far further. I want to ensure more local people than ever before have the opportunities to achieve their full potential and make sure as many people as possible know about the amazing things we do here. Above all, I want to put our truly great West of England region even more firmly on the map for national and international success.”
We’re the membership network uniting Bristol and Bath’s creative industries behind a common cause, driven by the belief that we can achieve more collectively than alone. Join as a member and benefit from industry expertise, training, leads, curated news, kudos and more.
GYDA Initiative is delighted to announce the acquisition of Very Good Digital and Digital Agency Coach. The acquisition, completed in January 2022, sees two of the UK’s most prominent business growth experts for digital agencies, Robert Craven and Janusz Stabik, join forces to create one of the leading business consultancies for the Agency sector.
Robert Craven says:
‘We are super-excited! Acquiring this business gives us more firepower to help a greater number of agency leaders. Janusz and his team of expert consultants bring even more breadth and depth to the GYDA Initiative team. 2022 will see us become the leading growth consultancy for digital agencies in the UK and Europe.’
Janusz Stabik says:
‘Having worked with Robert and the GYDA Initiative for three years on projects with Google Partners and consultancy clients, I am delighted that my business has been acquired by Robert, and to become Managing Partner for the GYDA Team. 2022 will be an awesome year for the GYDA Initiative and our clients!’
About the GYDA Initiative
Launched in 2013, the GYDA Initiative is a specialist growth consultancy working in the digital agency industry. The team of been-there-done-it digital agency experts, led by Robert Craven and Janusz Stabik, helps clients to run the agency they really want to run.
Already working across 23 countries, the Initiative is tasked with one goal… helping digital agency leaders to grow and run their agencies, and to do this smarter and faster. Build the company you want to run… run the agency you want to lead… lead the life you want to live.
About Robert Craven
Robert is known for his no-nonsense approach to business growth; he has worked with agencies and platforms from London to Dublin, from Singapore to New York. He is the author of Grow Your Digital Agency, and founder of the GYDA Initiative and GYDA Member Hub. His strategy and marketing consultancies, The Directors’ Centre and GYDA Initiative, help agency owners and directors to run the business they want to run, so they can live the life they want to live.
Robert writes from experience. His work with Google Partners over the last eight years has made him the go-to expert on growing digital agencies. Working with 150 of Europe’s leading digital agencies, he has identified the key characteristics of the ‘above-average’, and how to implement this in other agencies. GYDA Initiative supports you on your journey and provides the toolkit for becoming one of the above-average.
About Janusz Stabik
Janusz is a consultant, coach and digital strategist who helps agencies to deliver more value to their clients and shareholders. He works to define their vision, to grow high-performing teams, to execute projects better, and to sell more of the right kind of work. With over 15 years in the digital agency industry, he’s built, grown and exited his own agency, and now works exclusively with agencies in the creative sector.
As the lead coach for the UK and Europe Google Partners Elevator program, Janusz continues to guide and advise agency leaders on their growth journey.
Janusz joins GYDA Initiative as Managing Partner. Running a team of over ten consultants, Janusz will take the business into 2022 with a real sense of purpose, resulting in our clients’ greater success.
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