We have a jam-packed events agenda in July so we thought we’d summarise the education and inspiration you can enjoy.
All Bristol Creative Industries-run events are free for BCI members. If you’re not a member, sign up from only £4.50 a month.
1 July, 8.30am. Free for BCI members only.
Wake Up Call is our online event exclusively for BCI members that’s delivered by BCI members. It features a 30 minute practical presentation and Q&A every other Friday at 8.30am.
First up in July is copywriting expert Rin Hamburgh from Rin Hamburgh & Co.
On 1 July at 8.30am, Rin will look at the different types of blog post you might use to engage your audience at each stage of their buyer journey and guide them one step closer to doing business with you.
5 July, 12.30pm. Free for members, £25 for non-members.
Women over 50 are the fastest growing demographic in the workforce, and a significant percentage are likely to be in senior/leadership roles, plus on the front line of client relationships. 25% of menopausal woman say it can have a ‘debilitating’ effect on their ability to do their job, but unfortunately due to lack of awareness and societal shame, this is issue is not acknowledged enough in the workplace.
What can you do if you manage a team that includes women who could be heading towards menopause if you know nothing about it, and wouldn’t have much of a clue how to tackle a conversation about it?
In this online session, executive coach Fi Craig and Kinneir Dufort’s Tamsin Chambers discuss why this menopause is such a relevant topic for the workplace, why is it not spoken about enough, and what business leaders can do to address it.
14 July, 12.30pm. Free for BCI members, £25 for non-members.
In this online workshop, recruitment Liz Gadd will cover the affects of the pandemic, Brexit, the ‘Great Resignation’ of 2021, the gig economy and how they’ve have contributed to businesses’ current recruitment challenges.
She will suggest solutions and ideas on how you can better recruit including perfecting your recruitment process, advertising the roles, using job boards, working with recruiters, and much more.
15 July, 8.30am. Free for BCI members only.
This online session will demonstrate how you can drive lead quality through the roof and bid more efficiently using value-based bidding.
Harriet Barter, from paid media agency Launch, will guide you through what value-based bidding is, how it works and how to start using it right away, so you can target the conversions that mean the most to your business.
Running your own event? Submit details here for listing on the website.
All Bristol Creative Industries-run events are free for BCI members. If you’re not a member, sign up from only £4.50 a month.
With a name like Koko you’d expect these guys to be a bit nuts about coconuts, but the love they have for this plant goes way beyond their name.
A family-owned company that takes great care of their coconuts, growing them the way nature intended and packing them within hours of being picked – always by human hands – to guarantee, freshness, ripeness, and the highest quality.
With a range of delicious milk alternatives already in the market, Koko wanted to offer something more to their growing audience… a vitamin enriched coconut milk which contains enhanced nutritional benefits for both physical and emotional well-being.
Having worked together on previous Koko products, Episode Two were asked to bring this exciting new product to life.
“We wanted the packaging design to really champion the unique ‘natural goodness’ proposition” says Creative Director Mark Stubbington “and help elevate the Koko brand credentials.”
“While it was also important to stay true to the core range look and feel” adds Creative Strategist Rikki Payne.
And the result? Bursting with 11 vitamins and minerals, Koko Life! helps support the immune system, brighten the mind and look after skin – don’t you feel happy just looking at it?
“This was a tricky brief. We needed our new product to fit with the existing Koko range, but demonstrate the additional nutritional benefits and energy delivered by a product fortified with vitamins. The outcome speaks for itself, with a striking visual identity that perfectly balances the Koko brand with an elevated lifestyle proposition.” Heather Lewis. Senior Marketing Manager
Most of the time we wander around trapped in our own heads. Left to its own devices, our sense of self is remarkably resistant to change.
But stories offer a way out by ingeniously diverting us via someone else’s experience, disarming our defences by temporarily altering our point of view.
Released from the confines of our delusions, we are able to make fresh insights about how the world works and our place in it.
And the greater the jump the story can make away from what we know, in culture, language, environment and experience, the more we are confronted with the inadequacy of our preconceptions.
Take for example the act of killing. Most of us tend to think that the act of ‘murder’ is only committed by ‘murderers’. It is not only outside our experience but beyond our frame of reference for what is even possible.
But what if the capacity to kill exists in each and every one of us? What if it’s our circumstances alone that can define us ‘in the moment’?
And by circumstances I don’t just mean the immediate circumstances over which we might expect to have some measure of control, but also the larger forces at play in our family, community and society over which we have no control at all. The two can work together to insidiously bring us to the point of no return.
This was the question that I wanted to explore in ‘Arctic Crime & Punishment’.
Transported to a totally different context, a frozen village at the end of the world, could a story still provide the bridge to understanding our own capacity to kill?
And Arctic Greenland is a very interesting place to ask such a primal question because their code of justice is founded on this same principle of good storytelling. Those called to stand in ‘judgement’ of a crime must first step into the shoes of the ‘criminal’- they are required to give priority to the circumstances of the crime over the act itself.
This apparently tolerant view was not born out of some high-minded nobility, but from the necessity for survival.
“We cannot just expel people from society. We need all the people we have, and we have to accept those that we have been given. In Europe you can afford to sweep people under the carpet.” Judge Jens Kjeldsen.
Furthermore, as small, mutually dependent communities, they are able to judge from a position of knowing the defendant’s shoes very well.
But what about for the outsider? Cast into a completely different world, across the chasm of language, culture and environment, could a story persuade the viewer to step into the shoes of a killer too?
And what purpose does an understanding of such extremes of behaviour serve?
“Among all the miseries, there’s one that pierces our hearts most deeply, that wrings the bitterest tears from our eyes. It’s the awareness that we have committed a mistake that we can’t go back and fix. When we look back on our actions, I’m afraid there’s nothing quite so painful as thinking, ‘What have I done?’”
from ‘How Do You Live’ by Genzaburo Yoshino.
We met Naalu 3 days after her arrest. Our Greenlandic translator knew her and her parents. Over the course of the 3 months it took for her case to come to trial, we got to meet her family, and the relatives of her husband, the man she had killed.
If story can be a path for shared understanding and self-knowledge, it can also be a path to redemption and forgiveness.
“It’s truly painful to admit one’s own mistakes. Most people think up any excuse they can to avoid it. However, when you have made a mistake, to recognize it bravely and to suffer for it is something that in all of heaven and earth, only humans can do.
For error has the same relationship to truth as sleeping does to waking. I have seen that when one wakes from error, one turns to truth again as if revived.
We have the power to decide on our own who we will be. Therefore, we will make mistakes. However— We have the power to decide on our own who we will be. Therefore, we can also recover from our mistakes.”
from ‘How Do You Live’ by Genzaburo Yoshino.
Got a story to tell? Or purpose to communicate?
Need a partner in crime?
In a world of everything is potentially ‘fake news’ where can we find meaning?
We depend on our own finely-tuned radar of ‘emotional resonance’.
What feels true?
‘Truth is stranger than fiction” because it can’t be contrived. But how do we tell the difference?
Much of the power of non-fiction storytelling lies in its claim to ‘authenticity’. And with authenticity comes the potential for ‘emotional truth’ and ‘meaning’, what stories are supposed to deliver.
Documentary’s promise of ‘authenticity’ rests in its unique ability to express the spontaneous. That moment of revelation might be an action. It might be spoken. It might be in silence. But it’s always unexpected.
In the midst of Russia’s material collapse in the 1990s, ‘A St. Petersburg Symphony’ explores the power of music in a time of crisis.
After 2 weeks of filming inside The Russian National Library, the brilliant Ukrainian conductor, Vasily Zvarychuk, invited us back to his home.
This excerpt, from the first film I made in Russia, shows the film’s emotional turning-point, an unplanned moment caught by DoP David Katznelson.
This chance moment reveals Vasily quite unexpectedly, in all his vulnerability, beauty and love.
It shows not only how we use story to find meaning, but more specifically how story works as a means to discover who we are.
In the words of Matt Hague’s alien explorer from his book ‘The Humans’-
“It takes time to understand humans because they don’t understand themselves. They have been wearing clothes for so long. Metaphorical clothes. That is what I am talking about. That was the price of human civilisation – to create it they had to close the door on their true selves. And so they are lost, that is how I understand it. And that is why they invented art: books, music, films, plays, painting, sculpture. They invented them as bridges back to themselves, back to who they are.”
Bristol-based brand consultancy, Mr B & Friends, has unveiled a vibrant new look for cyber security and Cloud IT specialist Kocho, bringing the two established businesses together under one name.
Kocho is the company formed from managed services provider TIG, and identity and cyber security experts, ThirdSpace. Backed by the private equity house, BGF, they’ve come together to harness the benefits of their separate strengths, making them a leading provider specialist for Microsoft Security and Cloud Technology. The distinct combination of expertise will enable Kocho to help grow ambitious companies in a truly sustainable and secure manner.
The brand has been designed with transformation front of mind, and the name ‘Kocho’ comes from the Japanese word for butterfly. The logo features a crest-like butterfly symbol with a star symbolising the transformation and protection the new business provides its clients. The brand positioning is anchored by an organising thought of ‘Become greater’, demonstrating how Kocho enables every client, colleague, and partner to flourish.
The sector that Kocho operates is crowded, so it was vital to develop a brand that was distinctive and had clarity at its core. The entire branding system, including iconography, type, colour, photography and moving image, all ladder back to the strategy. The design system features a series of illustrated patterns and ever-changing shapes that suggest the fluid motion of wings. The tone of voice shows the humility and confidence in Kocho’s ability to deliver greatness and commercial impact at both enterprise and mid-market level businesses in the UK and beyond.
Steve Richardson, Executive Creative Director at Mr B & Friends says, “From our workshops with the client team ‘Becoming greater’ was our statement of intent. The identity and tone of the brand had to represent this, but also had to stand apart from its competitive set. What client doesn’t want to be greater today than yesterday? Huge thanks to the brave client team, who embraced this bold approach from the off.”
As part of the brand relaunch, Mr B & Friends worked on a light art launch film with Sola Lightbombing. This used Pixel stick light typography combined with real-time generation of light art both in a studio and in cityscapes. The light trails tell the story of transformation and innovation, creating a fresh way to build the Kocho narrative.
Gareth Rees Jones, Director of Marketing at Kocho says, “Mr B & Friends really captured the vision that we were trying to achieve. The new brand celebrates our people, our expertise and the outcomes that we achieve for our clients. We’re delighted to be launching our new combined business under the Kocho brand.”
As part of their ‘better business’ product launches, Six has released a CX Mapping product to help businesses focus on the people who matter most: their customers.
The product
Working together with Six, businesses are guided through the process of insight gathering (both internal and external), CX mapping distillation and visualisation, and playback workshops with key stakeholders to explore the map and to determine quick-wins to longer-term priorities. Businesses are given the chance to see what their customers see – the good and not-so-good – and supported by Six to turn this human-based insight into real-world action. This programme can be completed in as little as 6 weeks.
Why invest in CX?
The line between B2B and B2C customer experience (CX) is blurring. B2B customers are now looking for more than just a good product or service – they want to buy into businesses. And they expect consistent, personalised, and human experiences when they interact with organisations.
Getting CX right is about building insight across the customer lifecycle and creating the right business ecosystem to deliver against customers’ evolving needs. Once it is known what customers feel about a business and why, changes can be identified that will seriously improve their view of a business. And where customer satisfaction leads, business growth nearly always follows.
Better business
CX Mapping is the first in a series of offerings that Six are launching. Each one will answer a specific industry need to help brands and businesses connect with their customers on a more human level. After all, whether businesses are talking to an individual or communicating with an organisation, they have one thing in common: people sit at the heart. And this is just one of many ways Six is inspiring brands and businesses to be more human.
A strategic creative partner
Over the past 28 years, Six has partnered with local and global organisations to help grow and deliver value for their clients. And they’ve been doing it in three ways:
It’s this strategic, creative capability, coupled with their CX experience with the likes of bp, Lloyds Bank and St Modwen, which makes Six the go-to agency for customer and user-focused expertise.
Ready to start your CX Mapping project? Or want to find out how Six can partner with your business? Get in touch with [email protected]
Some of the most creative and inspiring projects we work on are with start-up brands. We love collaborating directly with founders whose passion for their brand and products is contagious.
Working with start-ups also offers a unique chance to measure the real impact that design has on consumers. When there is no, or very little other marketing activity going on, everything rides on the power of the packaging design.
Noto Gin is a perfect example.
The enigmatic founder, Yuki, is so passionate about his distinctive product that he wasn’t looking to sell it just in his home country of Japan, but simultaneously launch it 6,000 miles away, here in the UK, into an established and highly competitive Gin market.
Always ready for a challenge, we loved bringing Noto Gin to life with an authentic, provenance-led design that could appeal seamlessly to consumers in both countries.
And the power of the packaging design? More than 600 bottles sold in the first two weeks, with very few people having even tried the Gin!
This is just the beginning for Noto Gin. Follow their journey on Instagram @noto.gin
And find out more about this project here
Dear Storyteller,
That means everyone reading this.
We all use stories in search of answers, looking for pattern, shape and meaning.
Who am I?
Where do I belong?
Where have I come from?
Where am I going?
And why?
Everyone of us is hard-wired for story.
Stories act as bridges to the experience of others. They connect us through our shared humanity. They are about the emotion of shared experience.
Films are powerful vessels for story because they can communicate all the complexity and subtlety of emotion quickly. Through the curious alchemy of sound, picture and time, they can enable us to feel what it’s like to be someone else.
Every story we tell is an experiment that furthers our knowledge of how this chemistry works.
This post is the start of a story about story based on my own experiments and encounters.
I hope it will work as a starting point for a conversation about how stories work, with a community of people also fascinated by their magic.
Why are particular people such powerful vessels for story? And why do some moments resonate with ‘the truth’ so strongly?
I started out as a ‘picture editor’.
This is about as far from being a storyteller as it’s possible to be. I worked in the story equivalent of a factory- a processing plant for the industrial standardisation of reality into uniform ‘products’. These ‘stories’ were methodically stripped of meaning and emotion, to make each one feel the same.
This was ‘the news’.
And so, as an escape, I started wandering around with a camera.
I was stunned to discover that the camera acted as a catalyst. It gave me an excuse to talk to strangers. And because someone was listening, they were willing to talk. It was a good combination.
And this is how I chanced across Doreen Thomas, on a deserted beach, under a nuclear power station in Kent…
https://vimeo.com/sashasnow/review/699091269/91d2c31fbf
In this moment of clarity, Doreen taught me some invaluable lessons-
Sometimes, in the moment, people will say things that resonate. They are often things that they’ve never said, or even thought, before. Everyone is caught by surprise.
Their words carry the weight of ‘emotional truth’. This is a ‘truth’ that defies categorisation or analysis. You can’t prove it or check it. We just know in our heart that it is ‘true’ because it taps into our innate sense of universal human experience.
“The Eyes are blind. To see things as they are, you have to use your heart.”
–Antoine de Saint-Expery’s ‘Little Prince’
And this kind of truth is not something to be found like a lost penny.
It has to be ‘created’ or, to put it more accurately, it has to be ‘nurtured into existence’.
Got a story to tell? Or purpose to communicate?
Need some friendly advice?
📣 Introducing The MUZA Collective for Bristol & Bath-based Creatives 📣
Did you know the Creative Industries is one of the fastest-growing sectors of the UK economy, contributing over £111 billion every year? That’s almost £13 million every hour! But despite this impressive growth, work in the creative sector can be extremely precarious… especially for freelance creatives.
Sick pay? Holiday pay? Income security? IR35? Taxes? etc.
As part of our fourth-year innovation project at the University of Bristol, my co-founder and I (Harry Ellis) set about changing this narrative. We immersed ourselves in the region’s vibrant creatives communities, collaborated with experts from Nesta, The RSA and Creative UK, and have developed a solution that provides the necessary securities that freelancers typically miss out on. Introducing… The MUZA Collective.
🚀🚀🚀
The MUZA Collective is a social enterprise concept to support Bristol and Bath-based creative freelancers by combining cooperative principles with the protective salaried status provided by a formal employment contract. Importantly, while our freelance members benefit from improved social security, automated tax/insurances and statutory employment rights, our shared enterprise does not sacrifice their autonomy as they are still in control and work on their own terms.
Our unique offerings:
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Sound interesting? Please register your interest today (it’s free, quick & easy!)
In order to move this project from concept to reality, we’d like to invite your support. By expressing your interest today, you can provide us with a valuable proof of desirability, which is vital for the next stage of our project: development!
Please express your interest at: https://www.muzacollective.uk/expression-of-interest (simply your name and email!)
If you have any questions or would like to find out more, don’t hesitate to get in touch!
– Harry and Frankie
JonesMillbank, Bristol-based video production company, went stateside with their content last week, featuring on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Last month they captured the session performances of three tracks – CRAWL!, CAR CRASH and THE NEW SENSATION – at The Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow.
The subsequent edit of CRAWL! was picked up by The Late Show ahead of IDLES’ appearance at Coachella, part of their US-wide tour, with notice and the recording delivered to CBS the day of the broadcast.
“Our portfolio of work across music has developed somewhat alongside the commanding ascent of IDLES” said Rob French, Senior Creative at JonesMillbank.
“We have collaborated with them for a few years now and have established a relationship built on trust and integrity – key when an artist has a distinctive ownership of their brand.”
“The band brought such a beautiful energy to these sessions, bearing in mind it was mid-tour and in the middle of three sold out shows at The Barrowland Ballroom. We could barely communicate or see the stage, the light and sound was so intense but it was such a privilege to capture such raw energy so intimately.”
You can watch the feature and the session at https://jonesmillbank.com/work/idles/barrowland-sessions, with the releases of CAR CRASH and THE NEW SENSATION coming in the following weeks.
***
JonesMillbank are a passionate full-service video production company
They work exclusively in-house with a talented team of multi-disciplined creatives, all the while telling authentic stories long before it was cool for a range of clients such as University of Bristol, Battersea, The Royal Mint, IDLES and randstad.
jonesmillbank.com
01173706372
[email protected]