Congratulations! You’ve produced a video you’re really happy with. Now all that’s left to do is upload it to your preferred streaming platform and forget about it, right? Well, not quite. Uploading it to one platform and moving on is a missed opportunity. A single video can generate weeks or even months of marketing content when used as part of a structured video marketing strategy.
There’s a much better way to maximise your investment, and it’s far less expensive than you might think…
As video becomes more and more important in buying decisions (don’t just take our word for it) making the most of your content has become essential. The aim is to maximise the number of opportunities to engage with your audience and that means translating your content into the most eye-catching formats and showcasing it on the most relevant platforms.
Ensuring the consistency of your brand’s look and feel across each touch point is also key to helping build trust and recognition. Plus, it means you can have content that can more easily be used at a later date.
This is where the strategy of producing one main film and cleverly repurposing it with mini edits comes into play. Where appropriate, you can also use it to create micro content (films or animations). Extracting key moments and insights from the hero video means marketers can tailor their content to suit different platforms and audience preferences.
So how is it done? There are 3 main ‘Ms’ to bear in mind.
(view image in the original article here)
The first M (Main) is pretty straight forward, so we won’t spend too much time here. Your Main is the complete film you’ve put all your effort and time into. A tight script, some fun effects and clever camera work and you’re good to go.
As a rule of thumb, you’ll want to put this on YouTube or your preferred streaming platform etc. YouTube is perhaps the best know and makes your videos very discoverable, but you might benefit from the additional insights a platform such as TwentyThree can provide. This allows you to continue refining how you position your content and helps you attract more views.
*Don’t forget that you might want to hype your main film using your shorter pieces of content first, so hang fire on posting it until you’ve released a few canny ‘teaser’ edits.
We’ve used an example from the TOUGHBOOK campaign we produced for technology pioneers, Panasonic, highlighting how we maximised the video assets – from the primary film to short clips and teaser content.
(view the video in the original article here)
The second M (Mini) is where you start to create shorter, more focused edits of your Main film. A Mini edit’s purpose can either be to build a queue of people ready to watch your main film OR highlight unique parts of your offering.
For example, your Main film may be about your complete suite of products or services, but your Mini edits might break it down into your specialism in individual sectors. Equally, you might have produced a tutorial on how to use your product and found that people are most often searching for (and watching) one particular step of the process. Creating a Mini edit focused on that one step, packed with quality SEO, can increase your discoverability to new prospects.
The key here is not to create lots of new content, you should be aiming to recycle, reuse and reformat as much as possible into new edits.
Here’s a quick shorthand for how you might define those different types of edit.
These give the audience a reason to watch your main video. What are you audience going to find out? Does it give a glimpse of a new product or service? Are you announcing a particular date or event? Perhaps your interview had a nugget of gold in, you can create a short edit that leads up to that point, encouraging viewers to watch your main film to find out more.
Think of this as a short snappy edit that sets everything else up. This will come out in advance of your main video, so the goal is to create a queue of people ready and waiting for when the main video launches.
Here’s a little teaser video from the Panasonic Toughbook campaign.
(view the video in the original article here)
These combine as many hooks as possible to pull people towards your main film OR provide another CTA i.e. to a landing page or sign-up form.
By condensing the most compelling moments and messages from the core video into shorter formats, marketers can deliver targeted edits that resonate with different segments of their audience.
Now’s the time to think social media: using LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok etc. With these platforms, your audience often wants smaller bite-size content.
Whether it’s a brief teaser, a highlight reel, or a quick tutorial, each edit serves to capture attention and drive engagement, ultimately leading viewers back to the full video for a deeper dive into the content.
Check out this short snippet from the Toughbook campaign- a quick example of how a single core video can evolve into engaging mini content that grabs the attention of the viewer.
(view the video in the original article here)
This most often refers to content such as Gifs, presentations or web animations. Think of them as small single-issue messages, or very brief statements. Examples could be:
The key here is to keep it concise. If someone asked you to explain your micro edit, could you sum it up in one sentence? You’re giving potential customers clarity in seconds, and for the time-poor that’s a compelling reason to click.
The outputs for Micro tend to fall into gifs, MP4s, or Lotties and Rives, and the use cases are the broadest:
Here’s an example of how we make the most of one explainer video. This is our Atomic Design explainer video. We use the complete video to kick off pitches, giving the audience a quick overview of the methodology.
(view the videos in the original article here)
Video marketing remains a powerful tool for brands looking to engage audiences and drive meaningful interactions. By creating one full video and repurposing it into shorter edits, marketers can maximise the reach and impact of their content across various platforms –without drastically increasing the total cost.
A well thought out video marketing plan should guide your production of the video. It lets you know up-front exactly what the strategy is and the exact content you’ll need to produce. For example, when you animate that icon, is it also going to be needed for a Lottie? And, if so, what steps do you need to take to minimise additional work?
By combining compelling visuals with strategic messaging, and getting under the right noses, brands can create memorable experiences that resonate with their audience and drive tangible results.
If you’re wondering how to squeeze even more value out of your video content, or just want to talk through your ideas, get in touch at [email protected].
In-person meetings might be the gold standard when it comes to fostering familiarity with your clients, but self-shot videos of you and your company might just run them a close second. Why? Because it’s a medium that works really well at capturing who you are, giving people a little sneak peek behind the scenes, and fostering brand loyalty.
We do appreciate that introducing yourself to the world can be a slightly strange experience, we’ve been there! But there are a number of compelling reasons to consider going for it:
Viewers are now far more forgiving of self-shot content than they were even a few years ago, so don’t worry if your budget doesn’t stretch to perfectly lit, noise-treated studios. Authenticity is the keyword here: you’re the experts, you’re the people current or potential clients will be speaking to.
‘Before you start filming, it is absolutely essential to plan down to the finest of details, and then you get on set and rip it up on day one.’
Niko Pueringer – Corridor Digital
We’ve put together a step-by-step guide to getting the most out of the filming kit you probably already own, leaving you to concentrate on what it is you really want to say.
Phone cameras and webcams struggle to capture complex or small-print patterns. This results in a visual distortion (known as moiré) that makes it appear as if your clothing is jittering or jumping.
It can also soften the overall image thanks to the available bandwidth being taken up in attempting to capture the patterns. It’s safest to stick to plain colours. Sorry to those with a love of jazzy shirts!
Cameras can struggle to capture the full dynamic range (this is the difference between the brightest and darkest parts of an image that our eyes can see). Filming with a window behind you will create a very large bright object with a shady silhouette of you in the middle. Atmospheric but not very informative.
Cameras love light, the brighter and more evenly lit your shot, the better it will look. Aim to shoot with any windows behind the camera, this way you are nicely lit with the brightest light available to you.
Try to shoot during the day when there is plenty of natural light. Shooting at night using household lights will force the camera to ‘work harder’. In a similar way to what happens when you turn up the volume on a stereo, this will create more distortion in the image.
If in any doubt, record a little segment and watch it back. You may notice that lamp behind you is appearing much brighter than you were expecting. Not a problem, just move it out of shot while you’re filming.
Don’t be afraid of using your phone, if it was good enough for Danny Boyle then it’s ok with me. Yes, I love the footage from our professional-grade cameras, but sometimes the ability to whip a phone out and start filming in a matter of seconds, all to a good enough standard, is the best option.
Viewers may be relatively relaxed about the visual quality of a video, but they do expect good quality sound. Think about what time you’re going to shoot: if you know the 10:15 to Cardiff always passes your window promptly, why not push filming back to 10:30 onwards?
You can massively improve the quality of your video by buying a cheap lavalier (clip-on) mic. Something like a Rode Lavalier Go is cheap, sounds much better than the audio captured on a camera mic, and is really straightforward to use. Most phones will have a free audio notes app and these are also a great option as portable audio recorders.
Deciding what format your video will take is a great start; is it going to be an interview or open discussion for example? Writing a rough script in advance can help clarify your thoughts. Go through and highlight the key phrases that remind you what you want to say, then write down just the highlighted phrases and use this as a prompt.
Equally, you may feel more comfortable just discussing the subject on the spot, and this often leads to the best outcomes: not overthinking answers can result in more natural footage.
It may be helpful to ask someone to sit behind the camera and deliver your answers to them. For most people it feels more natural speaking to a person rather than a camera.
If you’re anything like me on camera, I tend to relax a bit after the first couple of minutes (apologies in advance for the pre-prepared bad jokes I have stashed to cover those first-minute nerves!).
The lesson? Record a couple of takes. Sure, 80% of them will be similar, but occasionally you’ll nail a particular section that bit better and FGTOLOCAO (Finally Get That Overly Long Overly Complicated Acronym Out).
Planning on editing a few people together? A mix of answers can prove invaluable. A longer speech is great for covering a topic in more detail. A short sound bite is great to quickly reaffirm another person’s view or offer the counter narrative.
Compared to how we write, we speak and act very differently. We have a habit of adding ‘ummms’ and ‘ahhs’ (it’s a natural way our body creates some breathing space to recall and form the next statement). You might also have noticed that people often blink after finishing a sentence, editors often describe this as the body’s way of editing the world around it and creating some order (we’re very much artists, not scientists).
Viewers tend to prefer a well thought out answer to a perfectly polished one. If you want to re-shoot then, by all means, feel free but don’t worry about perfection: sincerity is the key here.
Our Video Toolkits give you the tools to brand your videos consistently, but more importantly, they’re super easy to implement. We’ve talked about these before, but it’s well worth a look!
Most importantly, don’t forget you can do as many takes as you feel comfortable with. And you might just enjoy it!
If this has left you with burning questions about self-shooting, or any other video-related stuff, then please do feel free to get in touch at [email protected]
The creative industries contributed £145.8bn in gross value added (GVA) to the UK economy in 2024, new government figures have revealed.
Creative industries GVA rose by 4.6% between 2023 and 2024, compared to the UK economy as a whole which grew by 1.0%, the data from the Department for Culture, Media Sport (DCMS) shows.
The sector’s GVA was 19.7% higher than pre-pandemic (2019) and 60.3% higher than in 2010, in real terms.
The growth was driven by the ‘IT, software and computer services’ subsector which increased by an estimated 8.7%, followed by ‘film, TV, radio and photography’ and ‘advertising and marketing‘ which grew by 4.6% and 2.1% respectively.
‘IT, software and computer services’ is the largest subsector of the creative industries by GVA, contributing an estimated £62.4bn in 2024. ‘Advertising and marketing’ is the next largest with £24.3bn.
Growth in creative industries subsectors, in chained volume measures (CVM):
Other data released this month showed the creative industries account for almost a 10th of UK firms classified as having ‘high-growth potential’, and a lot of those businesses are in Bristol and the south west.
The DCMS report also included data for the cultural sector which contributed an estimated £40.3bn in 2024, accounting for 1.5% of UK GVA.
GVA grew by around 2.4% from 2023 to 2024, compared to the UK economy as a whole which grew by 1.0%. From 2010 to 2024, culture GVA grew slightly faster than the UK economy (25.4% vs 24.3%).
DCMS said the increase in cultural sector GVA was almost entirely due to a 4.1% increase in the ‘film, TV and music’ subsector.
The subsectors that saw the largest relative growth in cultural sector GVA were the ‘radio’ which increased by an estimated 11.8% and ‘crafts’ subsector which grew by an estimated 4.9%.
‘Film, TV and music’ is the largest cultural subsector in size economically, contributing an estimated £23.8bn to the UK economy in 2024. The second largest is ‘arts’ with £11.4bn.
Growth in cultural sector subsectors, in chained volume measures (CVM):
Alongside the data for the growth of the creative industries, the government has announced new funding and related support for creative businesses.
It follows the publication last year of the creative industries sector plan. In addition, the creative industries is one of the eight key sectors of focus in the government’s industrial strategy and the West of England is one of the government’s priority areas for the creative industries. As part of that, the £25m Creative Places Growth Fund will run for three years from April 2026.
The new funding and support announced this month is:
DCMS has also published new resources to help creative businesses access funding including a map of finance available to the sector, and case studies of successful creative scale-ups.
Bristol Creative Industries also a regularly updated guide to funding for creative industries businesses in the West of England here.
Click on the map for links to all the sources of creative industries funding
We’ve seen how branded content evolves from campaign support into institutional infrastructure. At a certain point, what’s needed isn’t more output – it’s an engine.
There comes a point in many complex organisations when branded content stops being a marketing activity and starts becoming an operational, commercial responsibility.
The shift is gradual. Calendars fill up and channels multiply. Thought leadership, product storytelling, web content and social activity begin competing for attention. Regional teams interpret messaging in subtly different ways. Leadership asks for clearer evidence of impact. And the system begins to strain.
We’ve encountered this pattern repeatedly in global institutions and growth-focused organisations: nothing appears broken, but momentum becomes harder to sustain.
At that moment, the problem is rarely creativity or ambition. More often, it’s architecture.
Branded content has become central to reputation, growth and authority, yet it’s often still managed as a series of disconnected outputs – campaign by campaign, post by post, asset by asset. What’s missing isn’t volume, but continuity: a defined, constant engine that turns strategy into sustained, measurable narrative in market.
When branded content reaches that level of importance, it requires more than coordination. It requires a deliberate operating model behind it: a branded content engine.
Limits of the traditional approach
Most organisations respond to rising branded content demand in practical ways. They expand internal teams, commission freelancers, or engage agencies to support campaigns. Each approach can work, particularly in the short term, but none fully resolves the underlying question of operational design.
Internal hires bring proximity and brand familiarity, yet rarely encompass the full spectrum of skills required for sustained branded content leadership – editorial strategy, tone governance, digital optimisation, performance reporting and cross-channel adaptation. Freelancers offer flexibility but depend heavily on internal direction and oversight, which can create bottlenecks. Agencies often excel at campaign bursts, but episodic engagement doesn’t necessarily create institutional continuity.
Over time, this can lead to fragmentation. Tone drifts subtly between markets. Institutional knowledge resides in individuals rather than systems. Reporting becomes retrospective rather than forward-looking. The branded content function grows in importance, yet remains structurally underdeveloped.
Many marketing leaders recognise this – even if they don’t initially describe it in these terms. The challenge isn’t volume. It’s structure.
When branded content becomes infrastructure
As organisations mature, branded content stops being simply supportive. It becomes infrastructural. At that point, the question shifts from “Who can produce this?” to “How is this function designed to operate over time?”
Treating branded content as infrastructure means building a system rather than assembling outputs. It involves defined workflows, clear roles and accountable leadership. It calls for integration between editorial thinking, design execution, digital performance and governance requirements. It also requires financial visibility, predictable delivery rhythms and continuous optimisation.
In our experience supporting large-scale branded content programmes – from multi-market institutions to global campaign partners – the difference is rarely the idea. It’s the engine behind it.
In this context, branded content is no longer an occasional marketing initiative; it’s an ongoing organisational capability. Thought leadership programmes, executive commentary, website ecosystems, social storytelling and campaign narratives need to align under a coherent operating model. Without that model, even the strongest strategy risks dilution through inconsistent execution.
We’re also seeing this shift in organisations moving from service-based models into self-serve or SaaS products. Launch strategy is only the beginning; sustained growth depends on a consistent branded content engine that educates, reassures and converts over time.
Importantly, this doesn’t mean adding layers of bureaucracy. A well-designed structure doesn’t slow creativity; it supports it. When briefing processes are clear, approval pathways are agreed, and optimisation and reporting are embedded into the workflow, teams can focus on insight and storytelling rather than navigating friction.
Recognising the structural signals
Not every organisation requires a fully embedded branded content division. However, there are clear signals that a more deliberate model may be needed.
This moment often arrives when content demand becomes continuous rather than cyclical; when multiple markets need alignment around a shared narrative; when leadership expects performance data alongside brand storytelling; when procurement and finance require greater transparency around investment; and when internal teams find themselves managing coordination more than strategy.
These signals point to a structural reality: branded content has grown in strategic importance, but the operating model behind it hasn’t always evolved at the same pace.
Once that gap becomes visible, the solution isn’t simply to produce more material. It’s to design the system that sustains it.
Building the operating model behind branded content
A structured branded content function integrates several disciplines within a unified framework. Editorial leadership ensures narrative coherence and tone consistency. Design and digital expertise translate ideas into engaging, multi-channel formats. Optimisation and analytics provide visibility over performance and audience behaviour. Governance processes align the function with procurement, compliance and reporting structures.
Rather than treating each campaign or article as a standalone project, this model establishes continuity. Planning becomes strategic rather than reactive. Reporting becomes a regular, forward-looking discipline rather than an afterthought. Institutional memory accumulates and strengthens the organisation’s voice over time.
For Marketing Directors and CMOs, the benefit lies in predictability and clarity. Branded content activity can align directly with organisational objectives, budget visibility improves, and cross-market consistency becomes achievable without heavy-handed control. Expertise scales without permanently expanding headcount, and the organisation retains the agility to respond to emerging opportunities.
This approach also provides a stable foundation for innovation. As technologies such as generative AI and advanced analytics become more prominent, a structured operating model ensures that new tools are integrated thoughtfully, with human editorial oversight safeguarding quality and credibility.
A more deliberate future
Over the past decade, many organisations have invested heavily in brand positioning and digital platforms. Increasingly, attention is turning to the systems that sustain those investments. Strategy defines direction and platforms extend reach, but operational design determines whether branded content can deliver sustained impact.
For organisations navigating complexity – multiple stakeholders, global audiences, formal governance and high editorial demand – the conversation is evolving. The issue is no longer whether branded content matters; its strategic value is widely understood. The more pressing question is whether the structure supporting it is robust enough to match its importance.
If branded content now shapes reputation, authority and growth, it deserves the same rigour applied to any other critical function.
Because in many organisations, the real challenge isn’t content at all.
It’s structure.
If your organisation is reaching the point where branded content needs more than coordination, we’d be pleased to continue the conversation. Explore more of our work, or contact us to discuss how we can help.
In summer 2021 we ran an event discussing funding for creative businesses with the south west team at Innovate UK EDGE and a group of Bristol Creative Industries members.
During the discussion, attendees said it would be useful if we could provide regular updates on the finance schemes that are available for creative companies in the south west and beyond. This guide is our response.
The guide is one of Bristol Creative Industries’ most popular ever blog posts. We keep it updated with the latest funding schemes for creative businesses so check it regularly. We also include the post in our monthy email newsletter, BCI Bulletin. To sign up, go here.
Funding news:
The West of England is one of the government’s priority areas for the creative industries and the West of England Combined Mayoral Authority will receive £25m of the funding to support the region’s creative industries through the Creative Places Growth Fund.
The funding will run for three years from April 2026. Read more details about the fund here.
SMEs can apply for 50% match‑funded grants contributing toward projects valued between £20,000 and £80,000.
Funding can be used to address specific challenges or opportunities, such as adopting new technology, developing new products or services, or increasing operational capacity. The grants aim to support growth activity for SMEs from the UK government’s eight high-growth, high-potential sectors, known as the IS-8:
All funded projects must create at least one full-time equivalent role per £10,000 of grant awarded, ensuring meaningful economic impact for the region.
Eligible businesses must:
Applications close at 12pm on 12 March 2026. Companies need to complete an expression of interest prior to receiving an application pack.
The British Business Bank, the government-owned business development bank, has launched the £200m South West Investment Fund (SWIF) “to help address market failures by increasing the supply and diversity of early-stage finance for UK smaller businesses, providing funds to firms that might otherwise not receive investment”.
Aimed at businesses in Bristol, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire, the fund provides:
SWIF is managed by four fund managers:
The region is split as follows:
North of the region:
South of the region:
The funding is split as follows:
Businesses can apply for funding directly to the relevant fund managers here.
Grants of £2,500 to £10,000 are available to help small businesses, sole traders, charities, community interest companies (CICs), community organisations and creative and cultural groups open new premises.
The deadline for applications is 11.59pm on Monday 30 November 2026.. If all available funding is allocated before the deadline, the scheme may close early.
Successful applicants must start trading from the funded property by Friday 26 February 2027.
This £35m Creative UK and Triodos Bank investment fund provides loans of £100,000 to £1m.
Finance is directed to post-revenue creative businesses presenting promising growth potential and who:
PRS Foundation offers various grant funding schemes for music creators and organisations, including The Open Fund for Music Creators and The PPL Momentum Music Fund for artists/bands to break through to the next level of their careers.
The Black Artists Grant, offered by Creative Debuts, is £500 no-strings attached financial support to help Black artists.
The fund is an open access programme for arts, libraries and museums projects.
Funding of between £1,000 and £100,000 is available.
Loans of between £100,000 and £1.5m to UK charities and social enterprises based in England, Wales and Scotland.
Funding of between £20,000 and £50,000 for social enterprises grow. Repayments are based on a percentage of revenue so if revenue falls, repayments reduce.
This fund from Arts Council England supports individual cultural and creative practitioners in England thinking of taking their practice to the next stage through things such as: research, time to create new work, travel, training, developing ideas, networking or mentoring.
Grants of between £2,000 and £12,000 are available.
The next round of funding will open to applications in April 2026.
The £5m Supporting Grassroots Music fund supports rehearsal and recording studios, promoters, festivals, and venues for live and electronic music performance.
The Four Nations International Fund helps artists and creative practitioners from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales collaborate with each other and with partners around the world.
Th deadline to apply is 2pm on Wednesday 25 February 2026.
Travelwest provides match-funded grants for initiatives that improve sustainable travel provision in a business.
The aim is to provide financial support and incentives to employers to enable them to encourage sustainable modes of commuting or in-work travel (including site visits and meetings) amongst their staff.
The grants can be used for the implementation of physical measures, promotional events or any other measure that will encourage mode change amongst staff.
Grants are currently availables for businesses in Bristol and North Somerset.
Innovate UK’s £100m BridgeAI programme aims “to help businesses in high growth potential sectors such as creative industries, agriculture, construction, and transport to harness the power of AI and unlock their full potential”.
The programme offers funding and support to help innovators assess and implement trusted AI solutions, connect with AI experts, and elevate their AI leadership skills.
This fund supports organisations who work at the intersection of art and social change. It offers grants between £90,000 and £300,000 over three years.
Applications are currently closed but details of the next round will be announced soon.
This new £23m social impact investment fund is for socially driven arts, culture and heritage organisations registered and operating in the UK. It offers loans between £150,000 and £1m repayable until May 2030.
The Elephant Trust says its mission is to “make it possible for artists and those presenting their work to undertake and complete projects when frustrated by lack of funds. It is committed to helping artists and art institutions/galleries that depart from the routine and signal new, distinct and imaginative sets of possibilities.”
Grants of up to £5,000 are available. The next round of funding opens on12 March 2026, with a deadline of 12 April 2026.
Grants of up to £100,000 are available for arts, libraries and museums projects.
The grants support a broad range of creative and cultural projects that benefit people living in England. Projects can range from directly creating and delivering creative and cultural activity to projects which have a longer term positive impact, such as organisational development, research and development, and sector support and development.
The UK Global Screen Fund (UKGSF) is designed to boost international development, production, distribution, and promotional opportunities for the UK’s independent screen sector. It has the following schemes:
This fund aims to grow exports and global demand for UK independent film by supporting the UK film industry to achieve measurable results which would not have been achievable without the support.
Applications close on at 11.59pm on 31 March 2028.
This scheme supports the festival launch of UK films in order to enhance their promotion, reach and value internationally.
Applications close on at 11.59pm on 31 March 2028.
Supports UK producers to work as partners on international co-productions and help create new global projects.
The next round of funding is due to open for applications in February 2026.
A Start Up Loan is a government-backed unsecured personal loan for individuals looking to start or grow a business in the UK. Successful applicants also receive 12 months of free mentoring and exclusive business offers.
All owners or partners in a business can individually apply for up to £25,000 each, with a maximum of £100,000 per business.
The loans have a fixed interest rate of 6% p.a. and a one to five year repayment term. Entrepreneurs starting a business or running one that has been trading for up to three years can apply. Businesses trading for between three and five years can apply for a second loan.
If you’re running a creative social enterprise you may be able to access funding from UnLtd.
Finance of up to £5,000 is available for starting a social enterprise and up to £15,000 for growing a social enterprise.
Successful applicants also get up to 12 tailored business support plus access to access to expert mentors and workshops.
Businesses can apply for up to £3,500 to cover the costs of installing gigabit broadband.
Check if the scheme is available in your area here.
Grants to provide support towards the costs of the purchase, installation and infrastructure of electric vehicle chargepoints at eligible places of work.
The scheme covers up to 75% of the total costs of the purchase and installation of EV chargepoints (including VAT), capped at a maximum of £350 per socket and 40 sockets across all sites per applicant.
The deadline for applications is 11.59pm on 31 March 2026.
This grant supports the uptake of electric vans and trucks. It currently offers discounts up to £2,500 for small vans, £5,000 for large vans, £16,000 for small trucks, and £25,000 for large trucks.
On 18 August 2025 the government announced the plug-in van and truck grant has been extended until 2027.
If you know of another scheme that we haven’t listed and you’d like to share it with other creative businesses, email Dan to let us know.
BRAVA, a leading provider of high-quality coaching in the art and business of voice, is proud to announce a new partnership with Films @ 59, Bristol’s premier film and television studio complex.
This collaboration will see Films @ 59 provide world-class studio facilities for BRAVA’s extensive programme of group voice acting workshops and masterclasses, further strengthening Bristol and the South West as a global hub for voice excellence.
BRAVA is renowned for bringing the very best voice coaches from around the globe to Bristol and the South West, offering elite-level training that spans performance, technique, and the commercial realities of the voice industry. Through this partnership, Films @ 59 now offers the ideal environment to combine dynamic workout sessions with professional studio recording, giving participants a seamless, industry-relevant training experience.
The partnership enables BRAVA to deliver its workshops and masterclasses in fully equipped, high-spec studio spaces, allowing artists to train, record, and refine their craft in facilities used by leading productions across film, television, and voice media.
Melissa Thom, CEO of BRAVA, said:
“This partnership with Films @ 59 is a hugely exciting step for BRAVA. Our mission has always been to provide world-class voice coaching and to make Bristol and the South West a destination for excellence in the industry. Having access to such outstanding studio facilities means our artists can train and record at the highest professional level, right here at home. Together, we’re not just serving our local community, we’re putting Bristol firmly on the global voice map.”
Films @ 59, widely recognised for its state-of-the-art studios and commitment to creative excellence, sees the partnership as a natural alignment of values and ambition.
George Panayiotou, Business Director at Films @ 59, commented:
“We’re delighted to welcome BRAVA to Films @ 59. Their reputation for attracting the highest quality coaches and nurturing exceptional voice talent perfectly complements our facilities and our commitment to supporting the creative industries in Bristol and the South West. By bringing training, workouts, and professional recording together under one roof, we’re helping to elevate the region’s profile and showcase it as a serious global player in the voice and screen industries.”
Together, BRAVA and Films @ 59 aim to create a best-in-class training environment that supports emerging and established voice artists alike, strengthens the regional creative economy, and positions Bristol and the South West as an international centre for voice talent, innovation, and opportunity.
BRAVA’s series of advanced masterclasses will take place throughout 2026.
-ends-
A new podcast series, Nothing, Something Nothing, has launched from Nine Tree Studios, Bristol.
The series explores how people approach creativity, are inspired, and develop their creative practice.
It’s about the creative moments you didn’t know you missed. It’s about the space between ideas, and the highs and lows that shape creative work.
It’s sector-agnostic with some high-calibre guests from the worlds of music, food, art, business and design.
Season 1’s guests include Lee Kiernan (Guitarist, IDLES), Calum Franklin (Restaurateur, Harrods), and Alex Rodrigues (Producer/Director, Channel 4).
And – as a Bristol Creative Industries exclusive – the podcast will also be dropping an episode with Mike Bailey (Actor/Teacher), known for his role as Sid in Skins.
New episodes drop every Wednesday on your favourite platform; visit www.nsnpodcast.com to listen and subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube, as well as on social.
The podcast has launched from production company JonesMillbank and Nine Tree Studios, with recording currently taking place in Bristol.
***
JonesMillbank are a full-service production company based at Nine Tree Studios, their 10,000sq ft film studio.
Producing branded content, TV ads and social content their clients include local, global and household brands such as Dyson, Freixenet, DHL, Oxfam, Pukka and Vax.
jonesmillbank.com
01173706372
[email protected]
Immersive Ideas Founder Sarah Morris explores how ‘immersive’ emerged as a practice and methodology, not just a passing trend, but a cultural shift shaped by decades of experimentation.
The word immersive is now everywhere in the live experience industry. It appears across theatre, exhibitions, themed entertainment, festivals, brand activations, and cultural events. Yet its widespread use often obscures the fact that immersive is not a new idea, nor a shallow one. It is a term with a long, contested, and deeply theatrical history, and much much more than just a buzz word.
Immersive did not begin as a marketing label. It emerged through artistic experimentation, theoretical debate, and a growing dissatisfaction with distance between audiences and performance. While many disciplines have contributed to immersive practice, it was actually theatre that crystallised immersive as a cultural movement, articulated its values, and pushed it into the mainstream consciousness.
This article traces the history of immersive practice across theatre and live experience, arguing that immersive is not defined by technology or format, but by a convergence of artistic integrity, world building, audience journey and agency, story, performance, and theatrical design.
Immersion existed long before immersive had a name.
Before immersive became a recognised practice, performance was already concerned with how audiences enter a world rather than simply observe it. Classical theatre traditions were built around proximity, ritual, and shared focus. Greek tragedy used architecture, chorus, rhythm, and repetition to draw audiences into a collective emotional state. Medieval mystery plays moved through streets and civic spaces, embedding story into daily life and collapsing the distance between performance and reality.
Theatre scholar Dr Emma Cole notes that immersion has “intrigued humanity since antiquity,” pointing to the long standing human fascination with belief, illusion, and participation.
The impulse behind immersive work, the desire to step inside a story, to feel present within it, predates any contemporary terminology.
What emerges here is immersive as a practice not a label, it relies on trust, belief, and the willingness of audiences to enter into a world together. These principles sit at the heart of even the most mainstream immersive work today.
Although immersive thinking exists across many disciplines, it was theatre that transformed immersion from a design technique into a cultural force.
Experimental practitioners rejected the safety of the proscenium and began designing worlds audiences had to enter physically and psychologically. Immersion in theatre was never about comfort. It was about proximity, vulnerability, and consequence.
This is why immersive theatre became a movement, rather than simply a style. It was accompanied by critical writing, artistic intent, and cultural debate. Theatre gave immersion its intellectual backbone.
Alongside theatrical experimentation, theme parks and attractions had been developing immersive environments for decades. Dark rides, walkthrough attractions, and themed lands relied on coherent world building, scenic design, sound, smell, pacing, and audience flow to sustain belief.
Attractions understood something fundamental early on. Immersion depends on consistency. Worlds must operate according to internal logic. Set building, sightlines, operational choreography, and performance all reinforce narrative integrity.
What distinguishes attractions is scale, repeatability, and operational discipline and in contrast what distinguishes theatre is intent, intimacy, and liveness.
The most powerful immersive experiences today draw from both traditions, blending theatrical meaning with the spatial intelligence of attractions design.
The term immersive theatre enters academic discourse in the early 2000s as scholars attempt to name practices that resisted existing categories such as site specific, promenade, or participatory theatre, and naturally around a decade later, marketing terminology.
Dr Gareth White defines immersion as a perceptual and psychological state shaped by spatial orientation and attention.
Dr Josephine Machon emphasises embodiment and audience journey.
Language evolves because practice evolves. Immersive is not a perfect word, but it is a useful one. It sets expectations. It signals intent. It allows different disciplines to speak to one another.
To quote Joe Lycett, “not everything is immersive” But that does not invalidate the term. Language evolves alongside practice. Immersion exists on a spectrum, the word will continue to stretch as the work itself stretches.
Anger at the word immersive often masks discomfort with its popularity. But popularity does not negate legitimacy. It confirms cultural relevance. Don’t call something immersive just to sell tickets, but don’t be trapped by terminology either.
As Cambridge Dictionary quotes “IMMERSIVE – seeming to surround the audience, player, etc. so that they feel completely involved in something”
Language in the arts shifts as practice shifts, and as work needs to be communicated, words spread when they are needed.
For many audiences, immersive theatre became culturally legible through the work of Punchdrunk. Their productions introduced large scale environments, fragmented narratives, and audiences who moved freely through performance worlds rather than sitting passively in front of them. Theatre became the vehicle that carried Immersive into the mainstream.
Punchdrunk did not invent immersive theatre. They would be the first to acknowledge that. In fact, they now more often describe their work as site-responsive rather than immersive. What they did do was translate experimental practice into a form that captured public imagination at scale.
Immersive became something audiences could recognise, seek out, and pay for. Theatre made immersive visible.
Alongside this sat a rich ecosystem of UK companies making immersive, interactive, and participatory work throughout the 2000s, long before immersive became a mainstream label. You Me Bum Bum Train, Shunt, Les Enfants Terribles, Secret Cinema, Coney, DifferenceEngine, CoLab Theatre, Apocalypse Events, dreamthinkspeak, Blast Theory, Uninvited Guests, Third Angel, Improbable, Rotozaza, Invisible Circus, Lab Collective, Dank Parish, and many others were already experimenting with audience agency, world building, participation, and non theatrical space, this is also where a lot of the current practitioner (including myself) who have gone on to make more commercial experiences cut their teeth.
This list is far from exhaustive. It exists as a reminder that immersive practice is not new. It is rooted in decades of experimentation, often happening in warehouses, abandoned buildings, churches, shops, offices, basements, and outdoor sites, almost never on a traditional stage. These pioneers laid the groundwork for everything that followed.
In contrast to those early days, immersive experiences now operates at scale. Ticketing platforms have reported sharp rises in demand, with Eventbrite recording an 83 percent increase in searches for immersive experiences year on year, and DesignMyNight reporting an 88 percent rise in interest. The global immersive entertainment market has been valued at £98 billion – The Independent, pointing to sustained public appetite rather than fleeting novelty.
With that growth comes friction. The word immersive is now used widely, sometimes loosely, and sometimes badly. Misuse can be damaging, not because the term itself lacks meaning, but because poor delivery erodes audience trust and undervalues the craft behind the work.
The much publicised failed Wonka experience is a useful example. It was marketed as immersive because that was the intention. Tickets sold for a reason. Audiences wanted to believe in the promise. The failure was not the ambition, nor the terminology, but the absence of expertise, structure, and understanding needed to deliver immersive in practice.
The risk to the industry is not that immersive is used too broadly. Projection mapped digital art in a gallery space has every right to call itself immersive. So do theatre, live events, attractions, and hybrid digital worlds. The real risk is the wrong people making the work without the skills, experience, or long term practice required to support it.
Immersive is not the problem. Inexpert delivery is, or the work being created without intent as a money grab, but this shouldn’t tarnish the industry or the word immersive.
And The Stage rightly observed that “the term immersive has been maligned and misinterpreted but it is still the word under which some of the most exciting theatre is being made.”
Immersive went mainstream because people wanted it. The responsibility now is to make it well.
Immersive is not a genre. It is a methodology.
At its core, immersive practice brings together artistic integrity, world building, audience journey, story, performance, theatrical design, and craft-led making. Sometimes this is supported by advanced technology, sometimes it is entirely analogue. When these elements align with intention, immersion is not applied, it emerges.
What has changed in recent years is scale, support, and reach. Immersive is no longer operating at the margins. It is now underpinned by formal funding streams and strategic investment, including national initiatives such as Immersive Arts UK, alongside long established public funders like Arts Council Engand. This has enabled artists and companies to develop original IP, experiment, tour, build sustainably, and take creative risks that would previously have been inaccessible.
At the same time, rapid advances in technology have expanded what immersive can be. Spatial audio, real time engines, mixed reality, projection mapping, responsive environments, and networked digital platforms have allowed immersive work to exist beyond physical sites, opening up digital and hybrid spaces that are participatory, persistent, and globally connected. Audiences can now step into worlds that live online, overlap with physical environments, or evolve over time, often at a fraction of the cost of traditional large scale builds.
Alongside funding and technology sits a growing professional ecosystem. Communities such as The Immersive Experience Network and World Experience Organisation have helped formalise knowledge sharing, advocacy, skills development, and international collaboration. This matters as it creates clearer career pathways, supports freelancers and small studios, and continues to generate new roles across design, production, performance, fabrication, engineering, and digital development.
The question is not whether a term is used imperfectly, but whether the work behind it is intentional, crafted, and coherent, when it does it remains a meaningful way to describe work rooted in world building, audience journey, and lived experience rather than novelty alone. We may never all agree on the terminology, but the trajectory is clear: immersive is a practice and what it describes is real, growing, and here to stay.
This is not a phase. It is a movement.
Immersive Experience Network: IEN Summit 2024
Immersive Ideas Ltd is not a name we arrived at casually. We own it because we have spent over a decade living and breathing the work that defines it, in it’s simplest form putting audiences inside experiences, not just in front of them.
Our practice has been built through making immersive work across theatre, live events, festivals, attractions, brands, and experiential environments, long before the term became widely used. Through this we have learned what immersive actually demands when real people are present, moving through space, making choices, trusting the world around them, and responding in real time.
Our skills come from doing the work. From testing audience behaviour, designing and building spaces that have to hold together under pressure, and making creative decisions that balance emotion, logistics, safety, scale, budget, and meaning.
We understand immersive because we have built it, broken it, refined it, and built it again, often in the strangest of spaces, often under tight constraints of budget, time, and circumstance.
Our past experience has given us a strong instinct for emotional logic, clear audience journey, and the subtle mechanics of trust. We know what audiences want, what clients and collaborators need, and how to design experiences that feel generous, coherent, and alive. This kind of thinking only comes from long term, hands on immersive practice.
We use the word immersive with care because it accurately describes the work we specialise in – If a project is not immersive in nature, in some form or another, it is probably not the right fit for us, and that clarity is deliberate and honest.
If you want to work with people who understand where immersive practice comes from and where it can go next, we would genuinely love to talk.
You can explore more writing on immersive practice, world building, and immersive experience design on our website, or get in touch to discuss a project, collaboration, or commission.
Immersive is not about pulling audiences in. It is about building worlds, spaces, attractions, and live experiences that earn belief, establish trust, and reward curiosity.
When we say at Immersive Ideas Ltd “we make reality sweat” we really do mean it!
Last week, the Gather Round at Brunswick Square was buzzing. A packed room, a hum of anticipation, and a palpable sense that something meaningful was about to unfold as we kicked off the third year of our award-winning series, Gather Round Presents.
From the very first moment, the evening invited us into stories that stretched beyond words on a page. Our panellists didn’t just tell stories: they cracked them open. Stories of human understanding, our relationship with the world around us, and the narratives we carry about ourselves and others. Together, they explored how the past can be re-examined, reshaped, and used to imagine new futures and how powerful it feels when those stories land.
Sara Joyner, Senior Podcast Producer, opened the evening and wasted no time pulling us in. What began with a slightly shocking story instantly had the room leaning forward, unsure where it might lead. But that uncertainty quickly turned into delight as Sara revealed her craft with warmth, humour, and total ease.
With sticky notes representing three characters in an upcoming podcast, Sara physically rearranged the facts in front of us, showing, in real time, how a story can be subtly shaped. Laughter rippled through the audience as she explained, with playful honesty, how she “manipulates” the listener.
As the audience was invited to guess where the story was heading, there was a collective realisation: context is everything. By withholding or revealing certain details, a story and a person can be perceived in entirely different ways. Sara’s delivery was disarming and deeply engaging, leaving us entertained, slightly unsettled, and newly aware of how easily we’re led… often without noticing.
Connect with Sara on LinkedIn or check out her web page for more info on her work.
Dan Caulfield, Film Director and Storyteller at Enviral, followed and had us hooked within seconds. He began with what felt like a deeply emotional story: a grieving father, a lost child, and an epic journey born of love and loss. The room softened.
And then, laughter erupted.
The characters were revealed to be Marlin and Nemo. Pixar, of course. A collective groan, smile, and appreciation washed across the room.
He wasn’t done yet. The second story, a tender, hilarious retelling of a tale once told to him by his Irish grandad in a pub, had us in stitches. Dan described piecing together meaning from thick accents, facial expressions, and half-heard words, transporting us back to a time when storytelling was something you felt as much as heard.
Behind the humour was something deeper. Dan spoke passionately about the ancient tradition of oral storytelling and the responsibility of keeping it alive. Though he works in marketing, this wasn’t a sales pitch. It was human.
Stories, he reminded us, exist everywhere across cultures, languages, and generations. They shape who we believe we are. They can fuel fear… or they can bring us together. As the laughter settled, the room grew reflective. Dan invited us to consider the stories we tell ourselves about identity, worth, and belonging. Food for thought that lingered long after he left the stage.
Follow Dan on Instagram or connect with him on LinkedIn to see more of his work.
Ghostwriter and part-time stand-up comedian Nick Anderson Vines carried us into the first break and promptly had the room roaring. Sharp, self-aware, and genuinely funny, Nick brought a different energy while still keeping storytelling firmly at the centre.
He spoke about how he works LinkedIn with refreshing honesty, unpacking how to attract clients while still telling meaningful stories. When ChatGPT entered the scene in 2023, Nick admitted it shook the writing world fear, uncertainty, and the sense that everything might change overnight.
But then came the shift. Opportunity. A return to craft. Writing more. Writing better.
Nick’s passion was contagious. In a fast-moving digital landscape, he argued, stories are what stops the scroll. They’re what make us care. Using the pull of before and after, and reframing narratives with intention, Nick left us laughing — and quietly fired up to rethink how we tell stories online.
Connect with Nick on LinkedIn to hear more about his work.
Rosa ter Kuile, known as RTiiiKA, gently reset the room as the only visual artist on the panel. Her presence felt grounding, inviting us to slow down and see stories differently.
Rosa spoke about storytelling beyond words: through murals, characters, and playful alter egos. From the giant foyer mural at Bristol Beacon to the personas she created and played in videos to tell her story – ‘Grinder Guy’ and her ‘own agent’. She showed how storytelling can be both strategic and deeply personal and sometimes with a touch of humour. These characters, she explained, often became the most compelling part of her work — a way to narrate process, vulnerability, and creativity in real time.
As Rosa shared the recurring themes that shape her art: sexuality, falling in love, road signs, bikes (and more) the message became clear: stories exist everywhere. Some shout. Others whisper. It’s up to us to notice them.
Follow Rosa on Instagram to see more of her creations or connect with her on LinkedIn.
Mark DeLisser stepped onto the stage and immediately stilled the room opening with a poem from his new book, Ashes to the Breeze.
Mark spoke about his deep relationship with the natural world, and the idea that while he writes stories, often as poems, he is also being storied. By landscapes. By relationships. By life itself. There was a quiet reverence in his words as he described knowing he is part of something far bigger, a story that began before him and will continue long after.
He spoke of listening to the body while writing, noticing moments of tightening, softening, longing — and allowing those sensations to guide the words. Poetry, he said, comes from slowing down and noticing, not forcing meaning into existence.
Sharing two poems: Your Name and The Stories We Tell. Mark echoed something Dan had said earlier: the importance of telling stories about what we want to be true. Stories that interrupt the constant stream of horror and remind us of other ways of living. In that moment, it felt like the room was breathing together inspired, hopeful, and deeply moved.
You can buy Mark’s book Ashes to the breeze in Waterstones.
And follow him on Instagram to hear more of his beautiful words.
With just 24 hours’ notice, Kendra Futcher OG Cigar Factory member closed the evening, and what a closing it was. Ever-eloquent, deeply present, and emotionally generous, Kendra held the room with quiet power.
A self-described writer, thinker, and noticer, she spoke about paying attention to the smallest details: the inflection of a voice, a texture, a sound, the scrunch of a nose. This practice of noticing, she shared, became vital during Covid a way to stay alive to the world and to herself.
Kendra spoke about vulnerability as the beating heart of storytelling. Emotional honesty, she reminded us, is what truly connects people. Words can divide but they can also unite.
She spoke of her collection of photographs from protests placards filled with raw, urgent language that has so inspired her. She shared two poems with us – the first, Monobrow, about her daughter, silenced the room completely. It was her first time reading the poem aloud, and the moment felt sacred. You could feel the tears, the tenderness, the shared humanity.
For Kendra, truth is freedom. And that, she believes, is the essence of storytelling.
Follow Kendra on Instagram or connect with her on LinkedIn or have a look at her website to read more about her many skills.
Our beautiful event space at Brunswick Square is available for hire, email Hannah on [email protected] for more info and come and host your event at our place!
Follow us on Instagram for more stories from our creative community and if you want to come and join us, we’re currently offering 30% off for 3 x months if you join before 28th February 2026,more info on our offer page.
Bristol, UK – January 2026 — Ignition DG Ltd, the Bristol-based strategic events and exhibitions agency, as part of Istoria Group, today announces significant business growth. From expanded global reach to continued leadership, Ignition DG continues to generate impressive results in the sector.
Founded in 2007 with a mission to challenge traditional “build and burn” event practices, Ignition DG has grown into an award-winning creative agency known for blending strategic planning with world-class delivery.
Global Growth
Ignition DG designs and delivers hundreds of exhibitions and event programmes each year – serving clients across pharmaceutical, beauty, biotech, aerospace and technology sectors.
To support recent successes, Ignition DG ended 2025 with the opening of a new European office. With strategic hubs and warehouse facilities now established across the UK, EU and the US, Ignition’s global growth goes from strength to strength. Paired with trusted partners across Asia, the Middle East and South America, the business has consolidated its ability to support global programmes with local expertise.
Client Success
From complex exhibition portfolios and major congresses, Ignition’s work emphasises strategic intent, creative innovation, and seamless project management – underpinning sustained client retention and growth.
Alongside continued client success, Ignition has won awards for booth designs, creative event executions, and bespoke modular solutions that deliver high impact and cost efficiencies for global brands.
With recent client wins, Ignition has attracted new talent to the company, seeing a 19% increase in employees throughout 2025.
Innovation Through Change
In recent years, the company has responded to shifts in the events landscape by scaling its digital and hybrid capabilities. This adaptability has reinforced client partnerships, enabling Ignition DG to deliver hundreds of virtual events and hybrid programmes that seamlessly blend creativity with technology.
Innovation continues to be part of Ignition’s DNA. New strategic capabilities, such as building exhibition attractors in-house, are being launched, alongside medical content writing as a service.
Looking Ahead
“We’re proud of the sustained growth we’ve achieved while staying true to our founding values,” said Sam Rowe, CEO of Ignition DG. “Our team’s focus on creativity and strategic excellence has allowed us to support clients around the world with meaningful, measurable experiences.”
With continued investments in strategic solutions, talent and technology, Ignition DG is poised to grow further into 2026 and beyond. The company remains committed to helping clients across regulated industries to create impactful live experiences that drive business results without compromising environmental or ethical standards.
For media enquiries, please contact:
[email protected]
You need to load content from reCAPTCHA to submit the form. Please note that doing so will share data with third-party providers.
More Information