‘You’re selling the vision and delivering the minimum feature set to visionaries, not everyone.’
— Steve Blank
Sports fans reading this might hear ‘MVP’ and think Steph Curry or Tom Brady, but this isn’t an article about superstar American athletes. In this case, we’re talking about Minimum Viable Product.
In a nutshell, the MVP is a product with just enough features to satisfy early customers, and provide adequate feedback for future product development.
Coined by Frank Robinson in 2001 — and popularised by Eric Ries and Steve Blank — the SyncDev co-founder described it as such:
‘The MVP is the right-sized product for your company and your customer. It is big enough to cause adoption, satisfaction and sales, but not so big as to be bloated and risky. Technically, it is the product with maximum ROI divided by risk. The MVP is determined by revenue-weighting major features across your most relevant customers, not aggregating all requests for all features from all customers.’
Some of the biggest success stories in digital business start out with an MVP of sorts. Take, for example, Instagram. The photo and video-sharing social media platform currently boasts a staggering 1 billion monthly active users — but this has been 10 years in the making.
Conceived in 2009 by Kevin Systrom, Instagram was originally called Burbn, an HTML5 mobile web app which primarily featured location check-in and friendship reward points, as well as photo sharing. The vision was an open network of photo sharing and discovery, an antidote to the typical closed friend models prevalent at the time.
After a successful seeding round 6 months later, Instagram — as we know it — launched in October 2010, with the hope of facilitating communication through images. What’s important to consider is that this early product was a fraction of the app it is today. Hashtags weren’t added until 2011, photo tagging and video-sharing until 2013, global advertising until 2015 — the list goes on. The vision was there, and the MVP which nabbed 100K users in its first week paved the way for that vision to be truly realised.
So you know what the MVP is, but what are the benefits? There are plenty…
Earlier this year, Bristol Media’s Marketing, Events & Operations Manager, Kirsty Phillips, headed off to the beautiful Backwell House for the one-day workshop ‘LeadershipiD’. Read on to discover Kirsty’s experience of the day.
“Leadership iD is an immersive, one-day experience that promises to help discover and define your personal leadership brand and action plan. The interactive workshop is set in the peaceful location of Backwell House and facilitated by Bristol Media Member Coaches, Mette Davis and Katie Scotland.
Surrounded by beautiful countryside, Backwell House is an escape from the everyday and certainly a welcome location to take time out to focus on your personal leadership style.
Katie and Mette introduced the overall concept of LeadershipiD and set expectations from the beginning by providing each person in our intimate group with a blueprint template to input into over the course of the day. The structure was based around a combination of working in pairs and group work, with self-reflection nestled in at the appropriate times.
I found the whole experience equally as rewarding as it was challenging. Participants delve into a spot of emotional soul searching and draw on previous experiences to help distinguish the key behaviours and traits that drive you as an individual. The end goal and final product – your unique, personal, tailored leadership iD to take away and put into action.
Moving through activities centred around topics such as: goal setting (from a personal, team and business perspective); challenges; enablers; and identifying developmental needs, Katie & Mette provide crucial guidance and framed questions in order to complete the sections of the blueprint.
Several weeks on I’ve started to put my learnings into practise. Having identified the key themes and behaviours I value as a leader which (reassuringly!) align with the values of Bristol Media, the blueprint is a useful prompt when discussing objectives with your team. One of my key leadership values was collectively celebrating achievements – so I now encourage my direct report to share the experiences that have gone particularly well in her working week. I’m looking forward to implementing the other elements of my action plan over the next 6 months.
LeadershipiD is not your typical leadership day – devoid of stuffiness, Katie and Mette ensure the whole experience is highly relatable, personal and all in all it’s thoroughly enjoyable. I’d recommend to anyone who is looking to discover and define their personal leadership brand and action plan.”
Katie and Mette are running another LeadershipiD workshop in September where Bristol Media members can attend for a reduced rate. Contact Katie Scotland or Mette Davies or details.
Reinventing Work: Bristol turns one in a few weeks time. We’ve grown and evolved considerably since our first meetup in July 2018. So almost a year into our journey I thought I’d introduce what we’ve evolved into as of July 2019. Also to share how you can get involved and contribute to our growing movement as we continue to take shape and adapt.
Reinventing Work is a global grassroots movement of ‘reinventers’ who want to learn and practice new, more human-centred ways of working. There are a number of monthly meetups around the world where we get together to share practical advice, explore ideas, and look at the patterns found in existing self-organising teams / self-managing workplaces.
Why? Because, globally, 85% of us are disengaged at work.
With your help, we want to help put this stat right. Reinventers participation is valued and you don’t need anyone’s permission to get involved with or to start working on whatever you are interested in. If it floats your boat and meets our purpose—making work better, one place at a time – then go for it!
That’s right, Reinventing Work has spread from Bristol to Melbourne, Adelaide, London, Bath and Lisbon. More and more people are reaching out and we’re chatting with and supporting others who are interested to start chapters in their cities. If you would reinventers who might like to start your own please get in touch—we would love to help them. Here’s a Trello board with some ideas on how to start your own chapter.
If you are new to this world but have a sense that work just isn’t working then watch this excellent 45 minute Google Talk by Aaron Dignan, Author of Brave New Work. It’s the perfect place to start—I can’t recommend both the talk and the book highly enough.
A few excellent next stops include:
A great first action in your workplace would be to:
Discussion between reinventers tends to take place over on Slack. You can join in here: http://bit.ly/ReinventingWorkJoinSlack. Hit ‘Channels’ on the left and join the discussions that sound interesting to you. If you have any questions or would like to seek advice on any aspect of new ways of working then ask away—we’re a friendly and supportive bunch.
Come along to Reinventing Work: Bristol to hang out with and learn from others who are passionate about new ways of working. We tend to do a lot of meetup organising on Slack and Zoom (or similar). If you would like to get involved then head over to Slack and hit ‘Channels’ to find #admin-bristol. In the spirit of transparency we encourage working out loud in these channels, rather than sending direct messages between co-organisers.
In between meetups, proposals can be made and decisions taken on Loomio http://bit.ly/ReinventingWorkLoomio. Everyone has permission to be involved in decision-making, to start a proposal and to ask reinventers to make a decision.
You can read articles from fellow reinventers about new ways of working and you can write them too! Let me know if you’d like to write and I’ll add you as an editor of https://medium.com/reinventing-work.
We know better than to try to predict and control this. We hope that there will be more meetups in more cities helping more people to reinvent work. But we don’t want to grow for growths sake, rather to make a meaningful impact in our workplaces—to make work better, one place at a time. It’s been a fun ride so far and it feels like we just got going!
Last year we bought reinventing.work and this year we want to make good use of it. I wonder what it will look like in July 2020? Your suggestions are very welcome, and you are very welcome to get involved and shape our future. We hope to see you soon at a Reinventing Work: Bristol!
Did you know The Professional Contractors Group estimates that there are 1.4 million freelancers working across industry sectors in the UK?
The South West’s freelancer economy is booming, so we’re pleased to offer this workshop with Sarah Williamson, Partner, and Jenny Marley, Associate, from Ashfords LLP.
Who’s it for?
Specifically for freelancers, self-employed individuals, and agencies/organisations who employ individuals on a temporary or contract basis, attendees will get a true understanding of the statutory employment rights involved when working as, or with, a freelancer.
About the workshop:
There are enormous benefits in employing freelancers in the creative industries. Freelancers regularly provide a flexible and diverse pool of talent, offering benefits over the traditional employment model. Similarly, it’s becoming an increasingly popular way for individuals to work enabling them to choose when and where they work.
Engaging freelancers and working as a freelancer is not without risks. Simply labelling an individual as self-employed, is not enough to remove an individual’s statutory employment rights. The status of an individual is a question of fact. Following the much publicised Deliveroo and Uber rulings and the rise in the number of individuals working as freelancers, we look at the so called ‘gig economy’ and some of the key employment law and commercial issues to take into consideration:
Tickets & Entry:
The freelancer economy workshop will take place at The Square Club from 3.00-5.00pm on Thursday 11th July. Tickets are £15+VAT for Bristol Media and Square Club members, or £25+VAT for non-members.
About Ashfords
Ashfords is a national provider of legal, professional and regulatory services. They help many different kinds of clients make the most of their opportunities, whilst effectively managing risk by providing legal advice that is not just technically sound but rooted in a wider appreciation of the real world in which we all exist. They aim to always provide straightforward, timely advice, delivered in clear and simple language.
Sarah Williamson is a Partner in the Commercial Team and Technology Sector. She handles complex technology and digital media work and has specific digital media experience in marketing and advertising, adtech, the licensing and monetisation of data and converged technology and media.
Jenny Marley is an Associate in the Employment Team. Jenny advises employers on a wide range of employment law issues including the gig economy and the impact on employees and employers.
Social Media Week – a global conference held in over 25 cities worldwide – returned to Bristol in June for the third year running. Our content apprentice, Izzy, had an access-all-areas pass as part of the digital squad to capture content from the week. It was a packed schedule of over 40 sessions, and Izzy has listed the four highlight events from her week…
1. Social Media Trends 2020
“To kick off day 1 of Social Media Week, I attended the sold-out ‘Social Media Trends 2020’ with Drew Benvie from Battenhall. What I found particularly interesting about this talk was trend 2, ‘Insta reality’.
Insta reality is when Instagram users step away from the fake, idealised, seemingly perfect post and instead show a more real and authentic perspective; for example, a ‘woke-up-like-this’ selfie with yesterday’s makeup and bed hair. I for one am exhausted of cherry picking through my camera roll, so I’m excited to see if Insta reality will really take off.
2. Sketchnoting for social
One my favourite events from the conference was Liam Williams’ workshop. I’m a huge fan of doodling, so learning that it’s actually a more effective way of making notes than plain words was great news to me.
In the session, Liam talked us through the different aspects of sketchnoting: shapes, lines, text, icons and faces. At the end we were put the test to create our own sketchnote, and while I’m not an expert just yet, it did teach me that it’s not about drawing ability, it’s about listening and that we should all ditch the lined paper! Look out for some Vision keynote sketchnotes in the coming months…
3. Harnessing the Power of Play
A more niche event, Fat Media’s ‘Harnessing the power of play’ was all about gamification. I was quite shocked to learn that using game-based content creates much more engagement than standard images and videos as users can stay for 30 seconds plus on a game but might spend just a second on a photo. It definitely got me thinking about some ways Bristol Media could implement gamification into our marketing operations.
4. The Social Detail – Closing Party
At the closing party on Thursday night, SMW Bristol ambassadors talked through their highlights. Almost all of them made the connection that the most engaging events were the ones that inspired change. Joyann Boyce from The Social Detail gave an amazing talk about inclusive marketing and then went on to talk on the ‘Activism in the social and digital age’ panel alongside Pussy Riot last minute!
There was so much to take away from both these sessions, but the one key thing is this: ‘Being inclusive in your content should be standard. Being representative of the people around us and the community we live in should be the norm’ – Joyann Boyce.
While I’m glad I won’t be running from venue to venue in the rain again anytime soon, I am so grateful to have been part of the experience. I’ve taken away new skills and knowledge that I can put into practise moving forward in my career. I’ll definitely be signing up to take part again next year and would 100% recommend that everyone in our industry get involved in some way, shape or form as a speaker, sponsor, digital squad member, or just attendee. Bring on Social Media Week Bristol 2020!”
Bristol Media Board Director, Paul Appleby, has been appointed an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List, announced on 8 June. The award is for services to the Creative Industries in Bristol & Bath.
A BAFTA award winning producer, Paul worked at the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol for 30 years and has spent the last decade promoting the wider creative industries that Bristol and the surrounding area has to offer.
Paul is a founding member of Bristol Media and has been on the Board since 2005, where he took up the role as Chair in April 2009 for several years.
Commenting on the award, Paul says: “It’s amazing to receive a national honour like this. But although it’s a personal award, I can’t do anything on my own, so it’s also a recognition of the strength of the creativity of the region.
“Our place alongside London and Manchester is testament to the concentration of brilliant people in a relatively small region. It’s great that Nick Sturge, who runs Engine Shed, also has the MBE – we’ve been on the journey together for the last decade, developing “CreaTech” as the region’s USP.”
Paul spearheads a number of projects at Bristol Media, including Visualiser, an apprenticeship programme designed to build connections between the best creative talent from our community and Bristol Media member companies.
As part of Bristol’s UNESCO’s City of Film project, Paul also leads ‘Our City’, an annual short film competition for young people to celebrate Bristol by making short films about life in the city.
Chairman of Bristol Media, Chris Thurling, says, “I’m delighted for Paul, he works tirelessly behind the scenes to celebrate the creative industries, raising the profile of the region and spreading the word about the achievements, both in and outside of Bristol. An MBE is truly deserved.”
Paul was heavily involved in the launch of Digital Bristol (now Digital Cities), an initiative now run by the BBC Academy. He is also chair of the creative industries sector group of the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).
“We’ve still got a lot to do in developing the Industrial Strategy,” Paul adds, “I’m looking forward to what the future holds and continuing to celebrate and recognise our region.”
Paul will receive his MBE at a later date to be announced.
(Image: Paul Appleby talking at Vision Bristol)
We caught up with Marissa Lewis-Peart, winner of the Bristol Media Ben Martin Apprentice Award, two months after her trip to SXSW in Austin, Texas to find out more about her experiences of the festival. Read on to hear Marissa’s story and how she ended up at the world’s largest annual celebration of the interactive industries.
“During Easter 2018 I attended a two-week placement at Epoch Design, after presenting a leave behind in the form of a personalised water bottle label to the CEO at a 3rd year university talk. Later that year, one of the managers told me about the Ben Martin Apprentice Award opportunity and encouraged me to apply for it. I was asked to submit a short video and/or 500 word paragraph about my design strengths. After speaking with studio staff from Epoch, one of them asked me what my ‘why’ was which prompted me to spend the next couple of weeks filming and editing a 40 second video about why I wake up every morning excited to design. One face-to-face interview and a few weeks later, I was announced as the 2019 Ben Martin Apprentice Winner! As part of the opportunity I was able to attend the world’s largest Tech, Media, Music and Film conference festival: SXSW 2019 in Austin, Texas.
My first day at SXSW was International Women’s Day and so it was only right to begin the day with a women’s led panel talk about how adaptive design is transforming brands. The physical ability and racially diverse panel of four women spoke about how brands are becoming more inclusive to cater to all audiences and the possible downsides such as diversity being a ‘trend’ rather than a genuine brand value. I attended 4 more conferences throughout my first day ranging from a Black Women in Tech conference through to a talk by author Laura Otting about Becoming Limitless – How to Live Your Best Life.
That evening I attended the IPA welcome drinks at a local hotel with Chris Thurling, Chair of Bristol Media and my mentor, and a couple of others where I had the chance to network with many people who are established in their industries. By the end of the day, I was shattered!
I attended many more talks over the course of the next few days however one that stood out to me was ‘An Ad Guy and a Psychologist Walk Into an Ad Agency’ where an ad guy and a psychologist deconstructed a few of the most iconic TV advertisements and explained why they were so successful through behaviour economics. I found it really interesting to see how psychology can have a real impact on how an audience engages with creative media and how I can introduce some of the tactics in my own work. Later that day, Chris introduced me to Ann Hiatt who worked in executive positions for both Amazon and Google for 15 years at her talk; Grit, Reinvention & Pivoting for Success, which was inspiring as she spoke about how she grew to end up in her executive positions. On the final evening at SXSW, Ann hosted an open invite dinner where attendees who work in the tech, media, music or film industries could network and build connections, which was interesting as everyone had such diverse experiences.
There were a few pop up buildings scattered around the local area from brands such as Amazon, Sony, Samsung, LG, Snapchat and Twitter, where I could get interactive with their latest tech prototypes like robots and sensory gaming as well as network or listen to smaller talks. As a graphic design student I’m aware of how artificial intelligence and augmented reality are changing how brands communicate with consumers however, before this trip I was feeling confused as to how I can harness this new technology and take my work to the next level. Having the chance to play around with new tech helped to open my eyes to the possibilities and I ended up including augmented reality in a D&AD submission back at university.
Aside from the overall SXSW experience and opportunities to network being huge highlights within themselves, a smaller highlight of SXSW19 was seeing one of my favourite rappers, A$AP Rocky, talking about ‘Using Design Differently to Make a Difference’ with the Chief Design Officer of Mercedes Benz. As A$AP Rocky is an artist and general creative that I’ve loved for both his music and style for years, it was exciting to see him on stage and for once not rapping but talking about something that I’m also passionate about; design.
Thank you to the companies and organisations that came together to give me this opportunity, I’ve learnt so much and now have a clearer vision of the direction I would like to take my career in. As I’m currently completing my final months at university, having this experience and the support has really helped me to feel more confident in getting ready to start my career.”
Tickets for SXSW2020 go on sale 1st August 2019. If you’d like to find out more about joining Chris Thurling and the Bristol & Bath delegation at next year’s event, please email: [email protected]
Bristol Media’s Chair, Chris Thurling, has just arrived back from Austin, Texas where he’s been attending SXSW 2019 – the world’s largest annual celebration of the interactive industries. On Tuesday 19 March, Chris will be joined by Ann Hiatt (former Amazon and Google Chief of Staff, SXSW speaker and one of our Keynote speakers last year) for a ‘hot off the press’ lunchtime digest to share their highlights and latest trends emerging from this year’s festival.
Following the 40-minute talk, there’ll be an opportunity to ask questions in a 20-minute Q&A.
The talk starts at 12.30pm on Tuesday 19th March at Zone, The Brew House, Tower Hill, Bristol BS2 0EQ. There’s a small fee of £10+VAT for Bristol Media members (£15+VAT for non-members), light refreshments will be provided.
We have very few places remaining for the talk so book now!
Today is International Women’s Day, an annual day dedicated to celebrating the achievements of women all over the world. To raise awareness against gender-based bias, the theme this year is #BalanceforBetter.
While it may seem like a balanced world at times, with female prime ministers and CEO’s, the truth is women are often under-represented in business and their achievements can go unnoticed. At Bristol Media, we recognise the integral work women do within the creative industries in Bristol and feel it is important to celebrate and show our support. Fortunately for us, we have some inspiring women on our board of directors who want to highlight what International Women’s Day means to them.
For Kate Gorringe, Bristol Media Director and Creative Director at Mr B & Friends it’s about raising women up in opportunity and confidence to achieve the success they deserve:
“Not long ago I met a design director who quizzed me on how to make the leap from senior creative to creative director. I was taken aback that the more I talked to her about ‘putting yourself out there,’ the more she tried to talk herself out of it – ‘What if I can’t do the job?’ This just throws a spotlight on how we habitually doubt our own abilities. Thing is, she almost certainly can do the job already, she’s probably been doing it for years, but she’s shrinking back when we know the guys are pushing themselves forward, even if they’re less experienced.
“If there’s one thing I want women on this day to do, it’s apply for that job. You won’t be able to do everything on the job spec, you won’t get every question right in the interview – but guess what, neither will the men. Let’s redress the imbalance – apply for that job, we are all routing for you.”
Roberta Fuke, Bristol Media Director and CEO of Speed Communications adds: “Balance in all things just makes sense. And gender balance in business makes perfect sense. So why are women so under-represented and under-rewarded so often? Empowering, encouraging and enabling women to both effectively contribute to and benefit from their contributions, is not only good business practice, but critical to shaping a balanced and better world. Making gender balance a matter of fact rather than a matter of ambition must be the goal. I’m delighted to support #IWD2019 and #BalanceforBetter.”
Lis Anderson, Bristol Media Board Director and Director of AMBITIOUS PR: “Promoting gender balance in our business is something that we discuss openly and importantly act upon. The industry is changing, and we support that. At home, one of the challenges / opportunities I think about often is being a mother of a young son. I will never know what it’s like to walk in his shoes, as he’ll never understand what it’s like to walk in mine, but I take responsibility in my role as mum and a woman in helping him experience balance and hopefully playing some role in equipping him for his future.”
It’s not just the females on the board who are working towards achieving a better balance. Chris Thurling, Bristol Media Chair and Executive Chairman of Armadillo CRM, says “I have two daughters and don’t like the idea of them experiencing a gender-biased society. Women need to have the same opportunities as their male counterparts and I will support them at every step, so I pledge to celebrate women’s achievements, not just on International Women’s Day but in the future, too.”
What does International Women’s Day mean to you? Are you or your business promoting a balanced workplace? If so, we’d love to hear how! Connect with us on Twitter @Bristol_Media.
[Image: Roberta Fuke (top left), Kate Gorringe, Chris Thurling (bottom left) and Paul Appleby, Directors of Bristol Media]
According to Business West’s Business Skills and Training Survey 2017, 64.9% of businesses in the West of England have never hired an apprentice, with lack of time cited as the main reason.
Yet with 96% of companies who take on an apprentice reporting benefits to their business (National Apprenticeship Service), organisations who do not consider this option when hiring or developing staff could be missing out.
Read on to find out more about some of the key benefits to employers of hiring an apprentice:
Increased Productivity
An astonishing 72% of businesses report improved productivity as a result of employing an apprentice, according to the National Apprenticeship Service. Having an extra pair of hands on the team means more tasks can get completed and you may even have time to explore projects or carry out research that you would not have previously been able to do. Although there can be time spent assisting an apprentice, the increased overall productivity can outweigh this.
Increased Revenue
On the back of this, increased productivity usually means an upturn in revenue and profit. The National Apprenticeship Service claims that the average person completing an apprenticeship increases productivity by £214 per week, so what’s not to like about that?
Lower Staff Turnover
Apprentices are often loyal to the company in which they gained their training and qualifications, with The National Apprenticeship Service reporting that 71% stay with the same employers once they finish their apprenticeship. They recognise that you have invested time and money into training them up in a particular skill, and at the same time will feel integrated into your organisation so will repay that with loyalty, resulting in a lower staff turnover and in turn, less money spent on recruitment.
Fix Skills Gaps
Taking on an apprentice within your company means that you can teach them the specific skills you need as a business. Working with a training provider, you can also use apprenticeships to upskill your existing staff where you feel it is needed most, so whilst technology advances and different skills are needed, you can protect your company from skills gaps that could have a negative impact in the long run.
Revitalise Your Business
Apprentices often come into an organisation with a fresh perspective, as well as bags of enthusiasm and energy. This can have a positive effect on your existing staff too, who may enjoy having someone with new ideas join the team. A positive workforce are more likely to perform better as well, so really it’s a win-win for you.
Build Your Brand
Apprenticeships are big news and are becoming a more popular recruitment method across all industries. Any organisation that has an apprenticeship scheme is likely to be seen as a business that is forward thinking and likes to invest in their staff, and that is attractive to anyone, whether they’re looking for a new role, or great company to work.
Apprenticeships can benefit any size of business, whether you’re a large corporate, SME or start up. Need more advice and information on where to start? Why not get in touch with the Skills Team at Business West who can let you know the best next steps to take. You can email them or call 0330 124 4446.