Global education service provider and brand owner of TopUniversities.com, QS Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) have appointed AgencyUK as social media partner. QS is the world’s leading provider of services, analytics, and insights to the global higher education sector and famed for its university rankings, which have become the annual benchmark for universities around the world.
AgencyUK were appointed following a three-way pitch, in response to a social strategy and brand awareness brief set by the QS marketing team. AgencyUK will develop the organic social media strategy for the higher education and student communities around the world and launch a new programme of social media content off the back of it.
The pitch was overseen by Tim Edwards, Chief Marketing Officer at QS. Its purpose was to find an agency team who can support, unite, develop and promote their mission – to empower motivated people anywhere in the world to fulfil their potential through educational achievement, international mobility and career development.
The first wave of activity undertaken by AgencyUK includes strategy and creative that is based on education sector insights gathered from their world-leading independent market research and data analysis. The strategy will extend into the development of a global strategy and social media content plan rolled out in partnership with the QS global marketing team.
Tim Edwards, CMO, QS, said: “We were looking for an agency with strong strategic and creative capabilities and a track record in disrupting competitive markets. QS has grown rapidly through a combination of new product development and corporate acquisition, but we remain focussed on maintaining our market leader position, and to do so means being closer to our target audiences and continually investing in channel marketing.’’
Amy Stobie, Commercial Director, AgencyUK, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have been appointed by QS. They are a well established brand with a host of well known digital properties and a continuing ambition for growth. Our social and creative teams are well placed for reaching out to these target communities and we’re keen to get going.”
AgencyUK are an independent brand communications agency with 32 staff based in the UK. The company has demonstrated 200% growth over the pandemic period, largely attributed to the expansion of their healthcare portfolio. QS is the fifth global account win in the past 12-months.
First event: 10th February 1.30pm – 2.15pm
Bristol-based web design and development agency, Unfold has just launched a brand-new events series, Below the Fold. The series centres successful business people, giving them a platform to share learnings from their journeys. Hosted by Unfold’s founder, Harry Cobbold, these events aim to educate and inform attendees with insider knowledge and tips for success.
What it takes to get your business acquired
The first episode in the series will see Gapsquare’s Zara Nanu taking the guest seat, with Harry interviewing her on Gapsquare’s recent acquisition and what it takes to build and acquirable business.
You can catch the event on 10th February 2022 from 1.30pm – 2.15pm. All events in the series will be held virtually via Zoom for the foreseeable future. If you can’t make the date, you can register in any case and you will be sent the session recording following the event.
Register for the event here.
As we approach a new year, Bristol Creative Industries editor Dan Martin looks back at 2021.
It has been another very challenging year for business. We started 2021 with the pandemic continuing to take hold and we sadly end it with COVID-19 still very much dominating the headlines.
As restrictions eased over the summer and we saw a welcome return to in-person meetings and events, we were hopeful of a return to business as usual in 2022. However, Omicron looks set to have put paid to that with new restrictions very much on the cards in the new year, if not sooner.
But if there’s one thing we know about creative industries businesses in our region, it’s your resilience and creativity!
We’ve seen so much innovation over the past 12 months and we are delighted to see increases across all our membership categories as businesses looked to the network to boost knowledge and form new collaborations.
Our total membership is up 50% over the year with business membership seeing a 26% increase. In addition, individual membership has risen 20% and our student membership has grown by 123%.
Chris Thurling, chair of Bristol Creative Industries, said: “Despite the immense challenges of the pandemic, the year at Bristol Creative Industries has included many positives.
“The situation has encouraged more businesses to see the value of connecting, networking and collaborating. It’s great to see an increase in our membership, our events remaining very popular and the growth of many member businesses. At times throughout the year, our jobs board has featured more jobs than ever before!
“The prognosis for the creative industries in the region is a healthy one. In many ways, lockdown has liberated the creative industries from the south east. Many have realised that to build a successful business, you don’t need to be in the centre of London.
“People still want to be near a strong ecosystem and Bristol and Bath have got the combination of factors needed to be competing as alternative locations for creatives.”
The year kicked off with a big announcement as we revealed the new BCI board of directors. They are Julz Davis, Marissa Lewis-Peart, Heather Wright, Gail Caig and Dr. Susan McMillan.
As we said in January: “The diversity of Bristol’s creative industries is something we are immensely proud of, but we also recognised the need for our board to better reflect that diversity. We need individuals who can bring different perspectives and experiences and help us widen our reach across the city. That will help us to future proof the organisation and better support our members.
“We are extremely grateful to the stellar line-up of individuals who have joined our board. With their incredible expertise, they will help us build stronger connections with creative businesses, government organisations and individuals in all corners of the city.”
Talent and diversity remained a strong theme throughout the year and a focus of our efforts to support our members.
It’s a subject we discussed with Heather Wright, the BCI board director who spent 22 years at Aardman, during an in-depth interview in July.
She said: “You get a better quality of idea when you have lots of different windows on the world in front of you. Everybody comes with a different window and a different viewpoint. The more ideas you have in the room from different places the better.
“That’s the problem with the Westminster bubble; they talk to people like themselves all the time. The only way to break out of the bubble is to go further and have a greater diversity of ideas. That comes from a greater diversity of people including ethnic diversity as well as age, people who are less able bodied etc. It’s all about having people with something different to bring which is not the usual employing people in your image which is often the worst thing you can do.”
In September, we launched The Talent Network which gives 17 to 21 year-olds the opportunity to network with creative employers in Bristol and Bath.
The first event allowed young people to find out what skills creative employers are looking for – now and in the future – and to ask the questions they’ve always wanted to ask such as ‘how do I get a job in TV?’, ‘What skills should I focus on?’ and ‘How can I turn gaming into a career?’.
Chris Thurling, BCI chair, said: “A common challenge for our members is the struggle to hire a workforce with the right skills. There are, however, lots of young people with the skills needed but they don’t know the pathways in.
“BCI is there to do the things agencies can’t do on their own and by adding our unique capabilities, we can help tackle the challenge of connecting talent to businesses. We have already started with initiatives like the Talent Network but it is just the start of many things to come.”
We had a busy events programme this year including our monthly virtual members’ lunches where we love catching up with lots of you.
We’ve also had many workshops and keynote events. Big thanks to all the experts for sharing their expertise.
January:
BCI board member Marissa Lewis-Peart led a student networking event and Kit Altin led an online workshop on writing the perfect creative brief.
February:
David C. Baker, described by the New York Times as “the expert’s expert”, joined us from the US for a brilliant keynote event covering how creative businesses can write the perfect positioning statement. We’ve summarised his tips here.
March:
Social media expert Drew Benvie told us all about the app that everyone was talking about, Clubhouse. Read a summary of his tips here.
Digital agency mentor Janusz Stabik began a series of three workshops explaining the strategy needed to run an efficient and effective agency. Read Janusz’s blog post on how to attract better quality agency clients in three easy steps and download his free strategic growth planner for digital agencies.
Lawyer Rebecca Steer from Steer & Co delivered a Brexit and Covid-19 legal update. Find the latest legal news and advice on Rebecca’s blog.
Katie Scotland began a series of four workshops to help attendees use their strengths to feel more confident, have more impact, build better relationships & create more inspiring ways of working with others.
April:
Paul Feldwick worked at the legendary creative agency Boase Massimi Pollitt for over 30 years. His latest book, Why Does the Pedlar Sing?, examines what creativity really means in advertising. He joined us to share some of his insights. Read a summary here.
May:
The team at Tonic Creative Business Partners shared perspectives on what makes great content.
June:
Kit Altin returned for a workshop on how to be more persuasive, and Tom Evans, co-founder of strategy, design and communication agency BEHAVIOUR, shared advice on presenting creative work.
August:
We held our first in-person event for many months as a group of BCI members joined us to discuss funding for creative businesses. 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. As a response, we published this post and we’re keeping it updated.
September:
We ran a networking event with a difference as a group of members donned their walking boots to explore the beautiful Mendips. The feedback was very positive and we are planning to run another Walk & Talk event with Outside next spring.
Andy Nairn, who has been named the UK’s number one brand strategist for the past three years, joined us for a fascinating and entertaining event. In his new book, he explains how the history of marketing and advertising is full of brands that stumbled across great ideas by accident or turned misfortunes into huge successes. During the event, Andy highlighted examples and outlined the lessons for creative companies. We summarised his insights here.
Consultant Mette Davis-Garratt and Morag Ofili from Kiltered began a brilliant five-part series to help people make sense of what diversity and inclusion means for their business, why it matters, and how to turn the conversation into action.
October:
With the aim of giving 17 to 21 year-olds the opportunity to network with creative employers in Bristol, we launched a new collaborative initiative called The Talent Network. We teamed up with education provider boomsatsuma for the first event and gave young people the chance to find out what skills creative employers are looking for and to ask the questions they’ve always wanted to ask.
If you’re a creative industries employer and would like to get involved in The Talent Network, please contact [email protected].
Anne Thistleton, who has spent over 20 years as a marketing practitioner in the field of mind science, joined us from South Africa for an online event where she shared fascinating insights about how understanding the way the human mind works can help creatives build more effective campaigns. Here’s a summary of her brilliant advice.
One of the benefits of Bristol Creative Industries membership is publishing your own content on our website. We love reading your news!
BCI members have won plenty of awards this year including Unfold, Mr B & Friends and Launch.
Other reasons to celebrate included Atomic Smash becoming a WordPress VIP Silver Agency Partner, the opening of Gather Round’s second co-working space in Bristol and Gravitywell being named among the top app developers in Bristol.
Congratulations to you all!
We’ve seen some fabulous innovation by BCI members for great causes in 2021. Here are some examples:
We love behind the scenes peeks at our members’ businesses and this post is one of our favourites. It’s the story of how digital designer Mayumi Kurosawa has overcome incredible odds to get to where she is today – a much-loved member of the Proctor + Stevenson team.
Bristol is home to some of the best arts organisations in the UK and we were delighted to welcome two of them – art gallery Royal West of England Academy and concert hall St George’s Bristol – as members in 2021.
BCI members have also shared some brilliant business advice in 2021. Here are the 20 most popular posts.
You can read all the news, advice and updates from BCI members here.
Looking at wider happenings for the creative industries in Bristol and Bath, 2021 has been a huge year for film and TV production in the region.
In a very popular article, The Guardian said: “TV crews are falling over each other to film drama in ‘Bristolywood'”, with a 225% rise in production on pre-pandemic levels. There were four major drama productions under way in Bristol in 2019/20. That grew to 13 during the first quarter of 2020/21 and since January this year, 15 high-end TV dramas have been filmed in the city.
Among the high profile shows calling Bristol their home are The Outlaws, the comedy thriller from local boy Stephen Merchant, and BBC legal drama Showtrial.
Forget James Bond, here’s the red carpet event of the year. Premiere of my new show The Outlaws last night – and proud to hold it in my hometown of Bristol. #theoutlaws pic.twitter.com/YCmlFWhF3d
— Stephen Merchant (@StephenMerchant) October 5, 2021
Bath has also been popular with production companies including being transformed into a winter wonderland in the middle of autumn for the new Willy Wonka movie with Timothée Chalamet.
Animation is a big deal in the region too, thanks to the likes of Bristol Creative Industries member Aardman, which has recently launched Robin Robin on Netflix.
Speaking of Netflix, the streaming giant organised a special event in Bath’s Assembly Rooms in November to celebrate the success of its productions made in the South West. The location for the event is featured in global hit Bridgerton.
As the film below shows, the UK economy has been boosted by over £132m over the last two years as a result of Netflix productions created in the South West of England.
In other broadcast events this year, Channel 4, which opened a creative base in Bristol in 2020, delivered its evening news programme from Bristol Beacon on 10 September. It was part of the Black to Front project, a day of programming featuring Black presenters, actors, writers and experts, contributors, and programme-makers. The one hour news broadcast featured a wide-ranging discussion on contested heritage, Black Lives Matter and Bristol mayor Marvin Rees on what has happened since the toppling of the Edward Colston statue.
Publishing its “blueprint for the future”, the BBC said it will expand its BBC Studios base in Bristol. BCI chair Chris Thurling said: “Spreading investment more evenly across the UK is the right thing to do, and I welcome the BBC’s explicit commitment to Bristol.”
The creative industries education sector continued to grow in 2021 with the breadth of courses on offer to the next generation demonstrated by this guide we published in October to further and higher education in Bristol and Bath.
BCI member bootsatsuma has done some great things this year including an innovative street poster exhibition showcasing the work of some of its brilliant students.
Access Creative College resurrected Bristol’s iconic Bierkeller as an events and education space. The venue previously welcomed some of the biggest names in music to its stage, including Nirvana, The Stone Roses and Arctic Monkeys.
Despite what has been another hugely challenging year for the arts, you could still get your cultural fix in Bristol and Bath with artists and others adapting to the need for safe and outdoor events.
Street art festival Upfest was cancelled again but more than 75 murals were created on the walls of south Bristol for locals and visitors to explore during their own personal walking tours.
Bristol artist Luke Jerram, who has achieved international success, brought his stunning In Memoriam installation to the city’s College Green in October. It was created from over 100 flags, made from NHS hospital bed sheets as a memorial to losses during the COVID-19 pandemic and in tribute to the NHS, health and social care staff and volunteers who have given so much to so many.
Luke Jerram’s spectacular Museum of the Moon, a suspended model of the moon measuring seven metres in diameter, went on show in Bristol Cathedral in August and is displayed in Bath Abbey until Christmas Eve.
As the COP26 conference took place in October, an art piece was installed in Pulteney Weir in Bath to highlight the climate change emergency. Sinking House is a red 5.5m by 3.5m house semi-submerged in the water.
The brilliant Love Bristol campaign continued with the painting of socially distanced hearts which were perfect for sitting with your household or group of six to enjoy takeaways from nearby businesses in the spring sunshine.
The festive edition of the campaign is Christmas Adventures, a trail of illuminated lyrics from classic Christmas songs.
Royal West of England Academy launched a multi-million pound renovation project with pop-up exhibitions in other venues around the city so people can still enjoy the art.
We end the year with uncertainty. As a new variant of coronavirus takes hold, it’s possible we will see in the new year with more restrictions. It may not be a full lockdown but we’re likely to return to Zoom calls, takeaway eating and quieter streets.
There is much to look forward to though. We have been so impressed by the continued resilience and innovation of our region’s creative businesses in 2021 which stands us in good stead for the future.
BCI is here to support and we urge you to take part in our super important survey so we can shape our future support and advocate to the government what the region’s creative economy needs.
As we wish you all a fabulous Christmas and brilliant new year, we’ll close with the words of Alli, our membership manager, from her interview in September:
“We help members to learn, grow, and connect. It’s through connecting that people learn and grow. We are a community of people who have a common interest of working in or being interested in the creative industries in Bristol and the surrounding area. We’re the central hub that brings everyone together.”
One of the big benefits of Bristol Creative Industries membership is the ability to self-publish content on our website. We’ve seen lots of great content published in 2021 including some brilliant business advice. Here are the 20 most popular posts of the year.
Chase Design Group examines the legacy that COVID-19 will leave for brands, and what newly adopted trends and ways of communicating should stay with us. Read the post here.
Having a strong organisational structure in place is key to growing your digital agency. Janusz Stabik explains your options and how to know which structure will guarantee employee and customer satisfaction and allow you to scale your marketing agency. Read the post here.
Carnsight Communications is one of the most prolific BCI bloggers so it’s no surprise that the business has made the top 10. In this great post, company founder Jessica Morgan outlines what her previous career in marketing taught her about public relations. Read the post here.
After the couple of years we’ve all had, the mental wellbeing of employees is increasingly concerning. Armadillo explains how the approach to mental health in the workplace needs a culture change. Read the post here.
Janusz Stabik makes his second appearance in the top 10 with tips on how digital marketing agencies can attract high-quality clients. Read the post here.
In another post from Carnsight Communications, learn five key things to remember when looking to secure engagement on LinkedIn. Read the post here.
Looking for your business to make headlines? OggaDoon shares top tips on how to write the perfect press release. Read the post here.
Brands can’t lead the conversation on social media, says AMBITIOUS in this great post. Read the post here.
“As joint leader of an independent agency, 2020 meant sleepless nights. But it provided opportunities to inspire others and galvanise our team,” says Andy Brown, chief financial officer at Armadillo, in this post outlining leadership tips for 2021 that will also serve us well in 2022. Read the post here.
How can an entrepreneur attract the perfect investor? Gravitywell outlines six qualities investors look for in tech startups. Read the post here.
Want to post your own content on the Bristol Creative Industries website? Become a member.
Some B2B brands find social media a challenge but there’s lots that you can do as this post by AMBITIOUS shows. Read the post here.
The winning agencies will be the ones with an uncompromising focus on their culture, looking at how they can support their people to be their best selves and do era-defining work, says Tonic Creative Business Partners. Read the post here.
If there’s anyone who knows about being successful at blogging, it’s Helen Savage from Blog Write Ltd. She shares some great tips. Read the post here.
OggaDoon shares a list of 10 essential features you didn’t know you could use with Google Ads. Read the post here.
Sparro House Creative Ltd outlines three tips to improve your content marketing. Read the post here.
If your primary audience is other businesses, then case studies are the perfect tool for creating authority, building trust and delivering social proof. George Devane shares some tips. Read the post here.
The phrase ‘SEO; now covers optimisation strategies and techniques on a wide range of different websites including Instagram. Varn outlines how to improve your SEO on the social media platform. Read the post here.
Leaders and managers have often received little to no training in how to have a ‘difficult’ conversation and so we end up avoiding the situation altogether until it becomes really serious. That can mean getting into performance management, grievance procedures or even worse. Jonathan Rees shares advice. Read the post here.
Chris Thurling from Armadillo provides his advice on what to consider when seeking out a marketing agency that’s suitable for your business. Read the post here.
As you prepare to hit send on your latest business mailing, ask yourself whether it would pass the ‘hover test’. Here are five easy ways, shared by Carnsight Communications, to make sure it does. Read the post here.
Please respond to our new survey about the creative industries in Bristol and Bath. It will help us design – and advocate for – future support for the creative economy in our region.
Lockdown puppies. Admit it. You considered one. A little companion to keep you company working from home, a playmate for the kids and a reason to get out for your 10,000 steps each day. And if you did end up getting one? You’re not alone.
According to the BBC more than 3.2 million more pets were bought during lockdown. Veterinary charity PDSA’s research shows nearly 2 million of these were puppies, with many owners saying it was the first time they had owned a pet.
Over the same period 1.4 million more claimants registered for financial support as the pandemic effectively stopped people being able to earn a living. More pets, more first time owners and more economic uncertainty. A perfect storm for PDSA who treat the pets of owners who cannot afford veterinary treatment.
PDSA turned to CRM specialists Flourish to develop a campaign to raise awareness and money to meet the forecast jump in demand for their services. The resulting Give Pets a Fighting Chance campaign went live in late November 2021.
An initial priming film was shared on social and via email underlining just how much pets mean to us and have enriched our live during lockdown. This was followed by a fundraising phase on social, email and via direct mail to existing supporters.
The campaign celebrated pets, paying homage to just how amazing they are for our physical and mental wellbeing. This celebration provided the platform from which to ask for donations witch communications suggesting that: “For all pets do for us, they deserve a fighting chance.”
The response to the campaign has been incredible, with celebs including Ricky Gervais, Michaela Strachan, Alesha Dixon and James from the Vamps showing their support on Twitter.
Preliminary results are incredibly encouraging with the campaign being well on track to meet its financial targets to make sure any increase in need for PDSA services will be met.
Laura Tovar Senior Account Director at Flourish said: “The potential increase in need for PDSA services had to be addressed, and quickly. We’ve been working with PDSA for 3 years now and in that time our campaigns have always hit their targets and often smashed them. Our Give Pets a Fighting Chance campaign has been well-received and I have no doubt that many pets lives will be saved as a direct result of it”.
If you have a CRM project you’d support with, you can get in touch with Flourish by contacting Steve Davis. Alternatively take a look at some of our work.
Anne Thistleton, the founding partner of LIGHT Consulting who has spent over 20 years as a marketing practitioner in the field of mind science, joined us from South Africa for an online event where she shared fascnating insights about how understanding the way the human mind works can help creatives build more effective campaigns. Dan Martin summarises her brilliant advice
Anne opened her talk with the story of the 2007 experiment which saw world-renowned violinist Joshua Bell pose as a busker in a Washington DC subway. Despite usually being able to command audiences paying thousands of dollars to see him play, out of 1,097 people that passed by, just 27 gave him money, and only seven stopped and listened for any length of time. In total, he made $52.17, $20 of which was from one person who did recognise him.
So why did that happen? “People didn’t hear him because we don’t hear with our ears,” Anne said. “We listen with our ears, but we hear with all of our senses. They are constantly sending information into our mind, enabling us to connect the outside world with our memory and make sense of the world…influencing how we act and how we react.”
The people in the subway, Anne explained, were getting clues about what was going on at an unconscious level. They were telling them that they were in the subway and connecting with memories of seeing past performers who they passed by and didn’t have time to stop and listen to. Joshua Bell was just another busker.
Anne shared more examples of mind science in action:
In Australia, Mcdonald’s increased the price of a cup of coffee from $1 to $2 and sales doubled. A colleague of Anne’s visited and said the “coffee even tasted better.”
A study of a Cinnabon store found when someone was close enough to take in the aromas of the bakery products, they were three times more likely to help someone with a problem or question compared to customers in other parts of the shopping centre.
In a print ad for a delivery company, a clock was put on the wall in the image. It was “a clock that no one can consciously recall but when asked to describe what they remember from the print ad, expectations of speed and service increased by 50%”.
During a two week experiment in a supermarket, French music was played for the first week and 77% of wine sales were French wine. The next week they played German music and sales of German wine increased by 73%.
A study by a team of Yale professors showed that when an offer price by a customer to pay for a new car was rejected by the salesperson, buyers sitting in a soft chair at a car showroom increased their offer by 40% compared to those sat on a hard chair.
Why did all that happen?
“While we as marketers have been stuck in the dark ages of decision making, the good news is that there has been a complete explosion in mind science and how the brain works,” Anne said. “And the undeniable headline is humans are not rational decision makers. We’re not even rational thinkers.”
Take the example below. If you were asked out of the two tables which one you’d like to take a nap on and which you’d prefer to eat pizza from, you’re likely to pick the one on the left for the first question and the one right table for the second. But as the image shows, they are exactly the same size.
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
“Even though the image shows the tables are the same size, you still can’t see it,” Anne said. “It demonstrates that in many instances we are still unable to see things in a logical, rational manner.
“Our mind is the most complex system in the world. But with just a few basics, I believe it can materially change how you look at communication.”
The science behind why the above results occurred can be explained by mind science. Watch this video with Anne outlining it in detail:
Now we know how the science works, here’s why the results above in the five examples occurred:
McDonald’s $2 cup of coffee: “Over time, our minds have been trained to know that a high price means high quality and vice versa. And at that point in time $2 was an abnormally high price for a cup of coffee in McDonald’s, but not in Starbucks. As the “Starbucks node” has already been created in the mind of the audience, where expensive coffee means good coffee, then the $2 primes them for a good cup of coffee. McDonald’s can’t sell a bad cup of coffee, make it expensive and pass it off for a great cup of coffee, but they can make a good cup of coffee that can become a great cup of coffee because of the cues that they’re priming their audience with.
Cinnabon: “Aromas of fresh baked goods lights up powerful memories of home and family which makes you feel good. So when someone asks you for help with something, you’re going to do it because you’re already in a much better mood.”
Delivery company print ad: “In Western society, clocks have become associated with timeliness. The clock implicitly lights up this idea and the core message of speed and service, which is exactly what the company is trying to do with that print ad. Even the background items, the ones you can’t recall, are picked up by our non-conscious processor and can have a significant impact on the message.”
Wine sales: “Just like the clock on the wall was bypassing the customers’ conscious visual processor, the French and the German music wasn’t consciously registering either but it was lighting up those ideas via people’s auditory processor. French or German-related memories were guiding customers to those specific shelves.”
Car buying: “We take on information through our sense of touch all the time, whether actively as we’re touching something or passively such as being seated in a chair. It turns out that the hard chair equals a hard heart. It triggers feelings of duty, stability and toughness. For your next salary negotiation, may I suggest you look for that hard chair so that you don’t give it too easily.”
Anne concluded: “The important thing for all of this is that it’s the non-conscious processor that’s wielding the enormous influence. That’s what’s driving so much of our decision making. That’s where the power lies.”
So what steps can you take to use mind science to improve your marketing and creative campaigns?
For every piece of communication you send out, ask what are you lighting up and do it from all of the five senses. Do a sensory audit, Anne said. “Think through every single single sense and it’ll be amazing what it will eliminate.”
Although an exaggerated example, Anne said say you were running a condom brand. Your options for a message on the front of the packaging are ‘5% failure rate’ or ‘95% success rate’. “If you ask the question of what are you lighting up, do you want to be lighting up failure or do you want to be lighting up success?”.
“Focus groups, online mobile surveys, brand tracking. The problem is these traditional methodologies are all talking to the conscious processor because we thought that’s what drove action. But remember, when you talk to the conscious processor and you ask people who’ve just bought either French or German wine did music influence your choice, 86% are going to say no. But that’s isn’t the case because you monitored the behaviour and the only thing that changed between one and two was the music.”
Examples of research which led to failures include Heinz’s green ketchup. The company failed to understand how colour influences a decision, Anne said.
‘New Coke‘, a new recipe for Coca Cola, is another example. “It was the most highly researched new product of its time; 40,000 interviews and $4m spent. It was an incredible disaster because they didn’t realise they were talking to the conscious mind. The brand is so much more than just what is inside the can and defined by a taste test.”
Anne said methodologies that can help you surface what’s happening in the non-conscious processor include metaphor elicitation, implicit association testing, biometrics, eye tracking and facial coding.
The first principle for connecting is that it must be easy, tell simple stories and don’t make them hard to understand. “Stories are the glue of our memories,” Anne said. “It is how knowledge was transferred before the written word. Stories speak to the rhythm and the patterns of our mind.”
Secondly, it must be sticky. Make it memorable. “It’s got to get into long term memory to drive behaviour,” Anne said.
Thirdly, you must then repeat and repeat until it makes a strong connection.
An example of an advert that follows the principles above is this one:
“The ad tells a story,” Anne said, “but they also weren’t afraid to leave things out and because they did that we can co-create, we can picture ourselves in it and we can feel it.”
Marketers and creatives should harness the power of their own non-conscious processor because that’s where your creativity and your imagination lies.
Anne said: “You have got to find your mental playground. Find a consistent time and place with no phones, no music, no friends, just you so you can cultivate your creativity and your imagination. That’s the core of your livelihood.
“One thing you don’t want to do is brainstorms. They go so quickly that you’re only tapping into your conscious processor. That’s not where your power for ideas lies. Also, a typical rule of brainstorming is no criticism. You actually want criticism. I know this almost sounds like sacrilege, but you want criticism because you’re trying to expand your mind. You’re trying to get to the parts of the mind that don’t often get tapped into.
“You need to use criticism because when you hear something, it lights up a different part of your mind, it fires in new ideas, and you start to connect that to what you already know.”
Taking us back to the first story at the start of her amazing talk, Anne concluded: “We are all Joshua Bells. We all need to be heard and mind science provides that powerful learning to enable us to be heard.
The creative industries contribute to making Bristol and Bath amazing places to live and work. But how can they grow and prosper? Tell us in our survey here.
*Aardman Director to support The Grand Appeal this year with exciting content exclusively for Jingle Jam gamers*
The world’s biggest games charity event, Jingle Jam, brainchild of Bristol-based gaming company, The Yogscast, is back today for its 10th anniversary, and better than ever, raising vital funds for Bristol Children’s Hospital dedicated charity, The Grand Appeal.
Each year, Jingle Jam raises millions for charities around the globe through its Games Collection, which is available for fans to get their hands on in return for a donation to their chosen cause.
This year, Jingle Jammers will have the opportunity to jump into the world of Aardman with Director & Designer, Gavin Strange. Creative power-house Gav will be doing a dedicated stream allowing fans to have a sneak peek into life at Aardman and provide the opportunity to ask him any burning fan questions. Audiences will also be able to receive the Games Collection in return for donating to The Grand Appeal.
Fans can get hold of the stream on Sunday 12th December as part of this years much anticipated Jingle Jam charity event which goes live today on 1st December at 5pm on the Yogscast Twitch channel. It finishes at midnight on 14th December.
Jingle Jam has raised a massive £15m for numerous different charities in the last 10 years. Previous Jingle Jam Games Collections have featured dozens of games worth hundreds of pounds, with this year’s bundle worth over £600. Organisers are aiming for the Jingle Jam Games Collection to be the number one gifting purchase for Christmas this year, with the aim to raise thousands of pounds for each of its 14 chosen charities.
The partnership with The Yogscast has raised over £1.1 million for The Grand Appeal since 2017 to fund a ground-breaking new development for Bristol Children’s Hospital. The pioneering new patient development will be one of the first of its kind in the UK for sick children and their families.
Nicola Masters, director of The Grand Appeal, commented: “The Jingle Jam is a fantastic and much-loved event across the globe that raises an incredible amount of money for worthy causes each year. The Games Collection is exceptional value for money, and we’re always blown away by the incredibly generous support we get for The Grand Appeal from the gaming community.
“This year, we are very excited to have the opportunity for Grand Appeal supporters to get involved with Jingle Jam by streaming their own content and where fans can purchase the Games Collection directly from. We are honoured to have Gav’s involvement and no doubt it will be hugely popular, and that Jingle Jam 2021 is going to be a roaring success for everyone.”
Gav Strange, Director and Designer at Aardman added: “Jingle Jam has become one of the key calendar dates for gamers in the UK and globally. Creating fantastic gaming content all in the name of raising money for charities like The Grand Appeal is a brilliant initiative and I’m really stoked to be able to do my bit to help this year.’
During the first two weeks in December, more than fifty Jingle Jam streamers are involved in special events – such as cooking, painting, poker, karaoke and more. For the first time this year, any creator keen to join in with the Jingle Jam can set up their own fundraising streams, with their audiences also able to receive the games collection in return for donating to charity.
Jingle Jam was the brainchild of Lewis and Simon of Yogscast in 2011, when they asked fans to donate to Oxfam via a Just Giving page, rather than send them Christmas presents. As the largest YouTube gaming channel at the time, Jingle Jam rapidly grew to include, live streaming, unique content and the introduction of specially curated bundles known as the Jingle Jam Games Collection.
The new ‘Intro to Game Art’ short course will give you an insight into the world of game art, exploring the range of roles and essential skills needed to get you started when exploring a potential future career in game art. There is a host of exciting modules that your tutor will guide you through, including:
Planning and producing work to a design brief.
Working in the games industry
Concept art for computer games
Modelling for computer games
This new and exciting programme is designed to equip individuals (aged 19+) with the technical skills, knowledge and understanding needed to produce digital content across several platforms, ensuring you can use social media most effectively for your small business, sports team or trade.
This course will provide a great opportunity for you to develop media production techniques, such as camera operating (on mobile devices, DSLR cameras and broadcast cameras), video editing, graphics and motion graphics to produce content for Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and more. There is a host of exciting modules that your tutor will guide you through, including:
Planning your Project
Camera Production Techniques
Sound Recording Techniques
Editing Techniques
Vegan charity Viva! has launched its first-ever TV ad, with a brave concept by Bristol video production agency, Skylark Media.
The renowned vegan charity hopes to raise £40,000 to screen the advert to more than 16 million people on Channel 4.
The ad follows a meat-eating couple ordering a takeaway online from ‘Just Meat’, a fictional delivery app. They order ‘pulled pork’ and are shocked to discover a small piglet, with the delivery driver holding a butcher knife. Voiced by actor Peter Egan, the ad centres around the lost connection between animals and our plates – and leaves the viewer with a dilemma: would you kill the pig?
Skylark worked collaboratively with Viva! founder Juliet Gellatley and Canpaigns Manager Laura Hellwig. Skylark’s concept took its inspiration from the popularity of food delivery apps, and the disconnect between the nation’s love of pets and farm animals. Juliet says, ‘We worked with Skylark on some smaller projects and we were so impressed that I felt really comfortable going forward with this bigger project. Ultimately Viva! is about saving animals and Skylark completely get Viva! and what we’re about, and that’s been really important to us too.’
‘We wanted to reflect the passion behind the Viva! brand with an impactful creative,’ said Skylark’s MD, Jo Haywood. ‘Once we had talked to our advisors at Clearcast and got the script cleared for broadcast we could get into production, the hardest part of which was definitely casting the pig!’
The project was awarded to Skylark following the creative production of Viva!’s Vegan Recipe Club and This Is Fine campaigns this year.
For more details of Viva!’s crowdfunder: https://viva.org.uk/tv-ad/
