Business Archives | Page 7 of 34 | Bristol Creative Industries

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On August 1st, Park Street based agency Dirty Design unveiled their rebrand. Timed to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the company’s founding by Charlotte Hockey-Berry in 2003, the new look is a huge development from the previous creampuff logo and signature Pantone 806 pink.

After a tumultuous few years which saw the unexpected loss of their founder, the Dirty Design team felt it was time to take stock and find a way to mark the progression of the company and acknowledge this new chapter, while still paying tribute to their roots.

The fresh identity expands on the existing colour palette with the addition of primary and secondary shades, which are paired with a bespoke font and set of unique and fun illustrations. The new Dirty Design logo is said to “reflect who we are as a company today; it’s personal, flexible and friendly”.

“After many years of putting our own visual identity on hold, we finally decided to practise what we preach and give ourselves a long overdue refresh. We pride ourselves on being a friendly and approachable agency, and our aim was to show that in our new look. It’s been great fun working on this with the other designers and collaborating with the whole team, to develop a style that suits who we are now and the company that Charlotte started 20 years ago.”

The rebrand marks an exciting time for the agency, who this year are expanding their work within the charity sector, including producing all design assets for this years YoungMinds #HelloYellow campaign, supporting national children’s charity Barnardo’s in design for various campaigns, and creating a fresh look and feel for the Motability Foundation’s direct mailer pack.

“I’m so proud of the whole team. Our new Dirty look is simply fabulous, and although light years away from the original it still portrays what we’re all about; a creative and fun bunch – and of course it’s still very pink! I’m so excited to see what the future holds and for us to continue to do what we do best, produce stunning designs and provide outstanding account management – to work with and support our incredible clients.”

You can see the full rebrand in action at Dirty Design’s website; dirtydesign.co.uk. You can also watch their 2023 showreel below:

McCann Bristol has strengthened its strategy operation with a senior promotion and the appointment of two new team members, including a new Strategist and a Strategy Director.

The strategy team are integral to the creative services offering at McCann Bristol, uncovering the truths that allow everyone to work together potently so we can create impact for our clients.

Sarah Warewinter, who joined the team as Associate Director in October 2022, has been promoted to Managing Partner, having made a significant impact with current clients as well as supporting agency growth.

Additionally, Matthieu Mondin joins the team as Strategy Director, bringing his CRM and digital strategy experience with him. Before joining McCann, he worked in Paris as a strategy specialist for Publicis and Dentsu before moving to Tessi as a shopper and retail strategist and, most recently, as a CRM and digital strategist. Matthieu will be working alongside Sarah to develop the strategy department with an approach that champions creativity and effectiveness.

Meanwhile, Beth Evans joins as Strategist, bringing her experience working in brand positioning, marketing strategy and consumer behaviour.

Managing Director at McCann Bristol, Andy Reid, said: “Our strategy team is integral to our success, ensuring that the work we create is truly effective for our clients. The growth we’re seeing within the business is a testament to our hardworking team and their commitment to help our clients deliver work with impact and potency.”

Sarah Warewinter, Managing Partner – Strategy, added: “We’re thrilled to welcome Matthieu and Beth to the team. Between them, they bring a wealth of knowledge and a different point of view that is already proving invaluable to our clients. I’m looking forward to seeing both of them grow and thrive here at McCann Bristol.”

Redeemer City to City is an international non-profit organisation with a heart for urban renewal – seeking to recruit, train and resource leaders to start new churches and strengthen existing ones.

Studio Floc were invited to create the identity and event collateral for Redeemer’s ‘Hub Weekend’; a high-profile fundraising weekend based in New York City.

Campaign idea
Taking place at the 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge, the driving idea behind the event’s campaign was one of connection, with delegates travelling from all over the world to join for the weekend. Studio Floc used the idea of connecting people and creating paths to new places as the core concept. This was rolled out across an extensive design suite of event collateral which was used in the lead up and throughout the weekend.

Never ending connection
At the heart of the event’s design concept was a vast illustration, created in-house to capture the breadth and vitality of life in New York City, the home of Redeemer City to City. Subtle details in the cityscape worked to honour other global partner cities. The mural, formed from continuous line drawings, was then, paired with type and colour, used both in sections and as a whole piece across the event assets.

Colour and typography
Supporting the illustration-heavy campaign was a subtle, yet extensive typographic system that was driven by the elegant serif, Chronicle Text (Hoefler & Co). Alongside the typography, a stripped back colour palette of navy and alabaster were used as the foundation for every design.

At the event
As part of the event, Studio Floc recreated the core illustration and hand drew a 17ft x 9ft mural in the atrium of the 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge, as a visual centrepiece to the event. Other designed collateral at the event included; table numbers, name cards, place cards, menus, bespoke fabric napkins, tote bags, information booklets and cards, signage, wayfinding, video creation and much more.

The Hub Weekend was a great success in raising money for the continuation of Redeemer’s work in cities worldwide. Studio Floc are already working on the event design for the next Hub Weekend in 2024 and look forward to further collaboration with Redeemer City to City in the future.

“Studio Floc are my go-to designers for event collateral. They are creative, sensitive, timely, very fun to work with, and brilliant at bringing my often-incomplete vision to a finished, effective, beautifully designed product. I’ve already recommended them to others and will continue to do so.”

Susan Thorson
Manager, Communications
Redeemer City to City

Having started the process in 2021, they join around 70 other companies in the region who are committed to making business a force for good.

B Corp Certification is holistic, not exclusively focused on a single social or environmental issue. To achieve certification, a company must:

saintnicks achieved a score of 88.9, but as with any company to gain the certification, they acknowledge that this is just the beginning of a commitment to do even more.

“We’re incredibly proud of the work we’ve done to become B Corp Certified, but we’re just getting started. We’re committed to continually reviewing our standards across the board, to not only maintain our efforts, but improve them.” said company Director, Chris Price.

“We’re very proud to be working with some brilliant clients, who are also committed to making positive changes to their business, so it’s a journey we’re going on together.” Price added.

BRAVA today announces the appointment of professional voice actor and performer, Sally Bailey, to the coaching team

Sally has been a professional voice actor for the last 11 years, working at a high level across narration, commercial and characters. Her impressive career spans over 30 years across radio and TV, starting as a breakfast presenter on Galaxy 101, moving on to co-host the network evening show, Core/Music Control, for GCap Media plc and then co-hosting the breakfast show for Capital FM, South Wales.

Sally moved to voice acting full time in 2012 and has voiced hundreds of commercials for clients including Pukka, GAME, Costa, Coca Cola, Thornton’s and Cartoon Network. Her TV presenting credits include a series of animations on historical figures for BBC Bitesize and documentary narrations for Channel 5 & Everyman.

Sally will join principal coach, Melissa Thom, as senior commercial coach at BRAVA.

‘We are delighted to welcome Sally to BRAVA. She has been a colleague for many years and the breadth of skills and expertise she brings to our offering as a professional voice actor and performer, is impressive. She has exactly the right approach as an educator and is a genuinely lovely individual. Sally will help us develop our offering to provide personalised training in voice acting, at the highest level.’

‘I am over the moon to be joining the BRAVA team. Being a voiceover is one of the best jobs in the world and working with people embarking on their career is both tremendously exciting and a complete honour.’

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.”

When: Wednesday 19th July 2023.
What time: 6.30pm – 9pm
Location: Huboo, 41 Corn St, Bristol BS1 1HT
Drinks and pizza provided.

Join us for the first Bristol MotherBoard community event! This event will be a networking event, with a panel talk starting 7.30pm.

With 50% of women leaving the industry by the time they are 35, we will be asking the important question “how we can retain more women in tech”.

We will offer practical takeaways including how businesses can support their female talent and drive retention, how businesses can offer an inclusive environment for mums and what we as individuals can do to support our peers and be advocates for all women working in tech.

If you have not been to one of our events before, MotherBoard is a community, event series and charter for everyone who believes we need more support for women working in the tech industry. We encourage everybody to join who is interested in understanding more about how to drive inclusion in the workplace.

The world of work has changed in a post pandemic world, both in where people conduct their work but also how. The side hustle has developed into an increase in people working in a contract or freelance capacity in their day-to-day jobs, giving them extra flexibility in their lives and essentially becoming their own boss.

Many industries have been tapping into this resource for decades but for other business leaders this is a new experience with pitfalls to avoid.

Contract and freelance arrangements offer numerous advantages; expanding to meet workflow demand, bringing in specific skill sets, reducing the risk of hire and much more, the list of benefits are endless. However there are many other things to consider when taking on a contract/freelance placement.

Rates – One key consideration is the difference in rates between contractors/freelancers and their permanent counterparts. Contractors and freelancers can command higher rates because of their experience but also because the hidden costs of employment are worked into the rate, sick pay, holidays, pension, ENI and equipment. When evaluating the costs based on the actual number of days worked, the gap between the two options begins to narrow significantly.

Tax Implications – With IR35 legislation very much in the news over the last couple of years this can create hesitancy for clients wanting to engage with contractors. IR35 is an area of tax legislation designed to reduce tax avoidance and application of IR35 is intended to identify legitimate contractors and ensure all parties are taxed appropriately. IR35 has been around since 2000, so it’s not new legislation. It has been in the news because there has been a shift in the responsibility from the worker to the client, of who determinates if the role is inside or outside IR35. This in turn determines what tax needs to be deducted at source by the party paying the worker. There are caveats and exceptions for this where you are either a small or large company. A more detailed statement on the changes to the legislation can be found here.

Roles inside IR35 can be less attractive to workers who operate as a Limited Company, if the rate isn’t adjusted to take into consideration the extra income they will effectively lose.

Oscar Dixon-Barrow is an Associate Director of the International Creative Recruitment agency mustard jobs who have been operating for 14 years placing contractors/freelancers within thousands of firms, shares his expertise.

“Hiring contractors and freelancers can feel like a complex process, but it shouldn’t” said Oscar Dixon Barrow, Associate Director at mustard jobs “Our aim is to simplify this process for businesses, providing them with advice on compliance and access to top-quality talent. We are committed to helping our clients make the best choices when it comes to engaging temporary professionals. But don’t set yourself or the contractor up to fail. Make sure you have a clearly defined set of tasks/project to complete, be able to provide guidance and resources to someone, who might be dropping into your business at short notice, the information they will need to complete the project. And then ultimately there will be some questions you will need to answer on the size and scale of your business to determine if the changes in IR35 rules apply ”

In conclusion, taking on a contractor or freelancer can be particularly rewarding to hire at pace for niche skills, flexibility, short-term, and the management of workflow peaks and troughs, but navigating the tax implications can require additional awareness. This article just scratches the surface but if you’re looking for more advice or guidance on hiring contract across the creative and design industries, then reach out to mustard jobs.

We are a group of friendly Digital and Tech runners who go for a social jog around Bristol’s wonderful harbour each Wednesday lunchtime at 12.30 from the Lloyd’s amphitheatre. It’s an opportunity to get away from our desks, get some air, and get to know some other people in the tech industry in Bristol.

We’re a super friendly bunch and everyone is welcome, whatever aspect of digital and tech you work in and wherever you work.

Our pace is gentle, it normally takes around 30 minutes to do the 5km loop around the harbour. Nobody gets left behind – ever! It’s totally free and we go for a coffee afterwards at the Society café.