Atomic Smash is pleased to announce the sponsorship of a desk space at Spike Island Workspace – the same co-working space where Piers Tincknell and David Darke, co-founders of Atomic Smash, first set up shop as WordPress and WooCommerce specialists over a decade ago.
Atomic Smash will cover the full desk space costs for 12 months so that the recipients can concentrate on developing their business, with the option – but no obligation – to continue as users in Spike Island Workspace after the sponsorship ends.
Spike Island Workspace is the perfect location for emerging or micro-businesses who are ready to develop and establish themselves further. Working from the space expands your connections and opportunities for growth, as you join a dynamic and diverse community of artists and creative businesses.
This sponsorship is aimed at:
The sponsorship is open to all creatives who would benefit from the opportunity and we welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds.
Through your application, you will be able to tell us how this opportunity could make a significant difference to your future. Please also describe any access requirements you may have within your application.
Recently refurbished, Spike Island Workspace is located close to Bristol harbourside and in a busy building offering art exhibitions, artists’ studios, offices, production facilities and a café. Find out more about the space.
Monday 18th October 2021: Application closing date
Monday 25th and Tuesday 26th October 2021: Interview dates
Friday 29th October 2021: Spike Island Workspace visit
Monday 8th November 2021: Sponsorship start date
Friday 4th November 2022: Sponsorship end date
Would you benefit from this opportunity? Apply here!
Creativity and Community: a Love Story
Calling the laptop cafe junkie, the kitchen table connoisseur and the battle-weary spare room crew. There’s a new way. A way with the flexibility, community and creativity you need at its centre. And the coffee is (probably) way better.
Shared office spaces have been popping up since San Fran paved the way and a generation of freelancers and startups are flourishing. Offices split across cities and a new approach to flexible working from modern start-ups mean that co-working is here to stay.
The benefits of joining a co-working space are as long as your to-do list;
Increased productivity
Spaces designed for your working day and with focus and efficiency in mind. A relaxing, comfortable space to break for a coffee is as important as a heads-down quiet space for deep thinking.
Peers
The inspiration of like-minded souls around you and a friend always on hand to give feedback.
Connections
Co-working spaces can’t promise lifelong friendships, but they do have chats over coffee and someone to share lunchtime with.
A work-life balance to be proud of
You get to go home! A different place to where you work! Such a novelty!
Networking
A whole load of independent, creative businesses looking to work with independent, creative businesses (just like you).
Cost Efficiency
Pay only for the space you need, with the flexibility you need as your business grows into a huge, massive, gigantic billionaire corporation.
Bristol’s favourite co-working space Gather Round know all about the benefits of co-working, and they know exactly what makes the perfect space. The team there couldn’t find what they were looking for so they decided to create their own; a space designed by creatives, for creatives.
After meeting Fiasco Design and Pixelfish at Gather Round and seeing the incredible work they were capable of, working with them on our launch was a natural choice. They helped the vision for Twelve, our sustainability strategy and communications consultancy, become a reality. – Jess Ferrow, Founder of Twelve
Gather Round; Community, Creativity, Collaboration
Bristol is a city long-known for its celebration of creativity. Tastemaking musicians, culture aplenty and a love of art found from the pavements of Clifton to the patched grass of Turbo Island (if you know, you know).
The decision to build a creative business here was a simple one for founders Ben and Jason. After a successful start, their design studio Fiasco Design grew quickly and they found themselves moving studios as they expanded. After struggling to find a workspace that wasn’t a corporate office with extortionate rates and a long term contract, the idea of Gather Round was born.
The Southville residence at the old Cigar Factory proudly hosts creative thinkers and doers that call it home. Morning coffee chats, lunchtime collabs and a deep understanding and respect of one another is something that has happened naturally. They’ve created a space that allows that all to thrive. They’re soon to be heading north of the river to Brunswick Square to hold court for another incredible bunch of creatives.
Why Gather Round?
I met Amelie of Duo Hue when she joined Gather Round. She was looking for some imagery to further her brand, it felt like the perfect collaboration. Sharing a space made the planning and creative process easy and the work we produced featured in national press. – Nic Kane, Photographer/Director
Body
The Gather Round team have a few simple rules; no indoor caravans, tardis-style meeting rooms or beanbags; just beautiful spaces and good design. They’ve got all shapes and sizes covered with roomy co-working areas, permanent desk spaces for freelancers and separate offices for micro-businesses. There are spaces for collaboration, whether you’re musing over an idea, chatting out a project or need a full-blown meeting room to launch your world-takeover plan.
Mind
With Flexi desks, Resi memberships and dedicated studios for small businesses, there are flexible memberships for business needs.
For solo entrepreneurs, micro-businesses or small startups the support of peers is invaluable. Within the community at Gather Round, you’ll find support from like-minded people. Our campfire talks, morning workouts and members breakfasts, fuel the mind and body of all that attend. A day that starts with a croissant amongst friends and ends with a creative discussion on businesses in the climate emergency – is a day well spent.
Soul
Here at Gather Round, they take design seriously. Their buildings are chosen because of their character and soul. You won’t find grey walls, no-spill carpets and budget-friendly lighting. Beauty breeds beauty, and Gather Round have created a space that feels like home. If your home has deep velvet sofas, bespoke shelving and enough plants to start a greenery obsession.
The latest offering in the beautiful Brunswick Square is almost at the ribbon-cutting stage. An almost perfect location with Bristol greats such as Circomedia, Farro Bakery and Yoga on The Square, all just a stone’s throw away. Temple Meads station can be reached in 15 minutes and you can (almost, but not quite) hear the thrum of the city centre close by. They’ve created a slice of creativity in a building steeped in it and it awaits Bristol’s brightest and best.
In the digital age the focus is shifting from longer prose in the form of articles and handwritten letters, to short, snappy sentences on social media. That’s if there’s any copy used at all with attention turning increasingly towards images and videos online. While the faster means of communicating via social media has its benefits and is an excellent way to reach more people, more quickly than ever before, it is taking something important away too.
The written word is a wholly powerful thing. Here’s an example to demonstrate its importance. Think about how it feels to receive a text from a friend. As much as you care about the person texting, it probably isn’t much of an event anymore. It’s probably short for starters, and it’s more likely to be about something practical or light-hearted than it is to be about something deep and emotional. Of course, that’s fine for day-to-day interactions, but now think about how you would feel if you received a handwritten letter through the post. Perhaps from a friend or family member telling you how important you are to them, or how grateful they are for something you have done, or how proud they are of what you have achieved. Because we know a letter has taken more time, effort and thought, it means more. It is also something you can hold on to forever.
Prioritise a personal touch
The same thing applies in the business world too. Social media is a fantastic way to promote your wares as a business and reach more people. But used alone, it isn’t very personal. It can’t be when you’re using so few words to talk to so many people. And with the rise of shorter, faster, more convenient ways to communicate, has come an increasing lack of attention to detail. It’s as though speed and quantity are more important than quality. Unfortunately, it probably is in terms of social media or SEO algorithms, but what does it say about you or your business when your written word is full of typos, grammatical errors, and spelling mistakes? Don’t get me wrong, we’re all human, we all make mistakes. A few errors here and there can be forgiven, but a consistently problematic read is jarring and affects our perception of the author, whether we realise it or not.
The power of persuasion
When done well, the written word can harness the powers of persuasion in a way short text and images cannot do. People believe what they read in magazines, newspapers and trusted online sources, so when they read about best practice or advice on particular product options at length, they are likely to believe the content. Many of these pieces are ghost written by a copywriter or PR agency and serve to position businesses in the way they want to be seen, whether market leading, ethical, customer focused, or all of the above!
Future generation of writers
I have been lucky/unlucky enough to be in the mass of home schooling parents during the Covid-19 lockdown periods. This allowed me to see very closely the process of my reception child learning to write his first words, sentences, even stories. The pleasure to see him gradually grasp the different sounds and put them together on the page is immense and we will keep a lot of his writing to show him when he’s older. He may even decide to keep it and show his children one day. But what is the future of this creative outlet for him? Will there still be a requirement for any longer prose when he’s an adult, or will he gradually unlearn these skills and techniques and freedom to express himself, in exchange for quicker, easier ways to communicate?
I hope this isn’t the case because the impact of the written word on someone else whether in your personal life or in the business world, is something special and powerful and future generations should have the opportunity to give and receive this gift. The power of the written word should not be left behind in the digital age.
Pay your audience the attention they deserve
Whether you are talking to prospective customers or new or well-established customers, pay them the attention they deserve by spending more time on your communications. Quick and consistent social media messaging is great, but giving more thought to longer advice blog posts, a thank you note for their custom, or feature length articles in their industry magazines, offer a different level of connection between you and them. Aside from anything else it offers far more potential in terms of word count, to get your message across to them.
If the idea of this sounds appealing to you, but you simply don’t have the time, don’t forget you can delegate (read more about when and how you should delegate here https://blogwrite.co.uk/to-delegate-or-not-to-delegate/) to ensure you don’t miss out.
Cytel, the world’s largest provider of statistical software and advanced analytics for clinical trial design, has appointed AgencyUK to lead the strategy and roll-out of Solara, the next generation in statistical and predictive trial design and selection software. This trial strategy platform combines massive cloud computing with Cytel algorithms to dramatically expand available design options for confident selection of the optimal design. Unifying statistical design and clinical strategy to improve clinical development productivity, Solara helps teams control uncertainty by simulating millions of design options in minutes; minimizes costs by ensuring teams find opportunities to shorten trial duration; accelerates speed to market (10-20% faster) and benefits the patients sooner.
The technology is such an advancement for the sector, that the Cytel board are investing heavily in its rollout, which includes a significant marketing effort led by Rebecca Grimm (Vice President, Marketing), Cytel and the team at AgencyUK.
“Solara is a real first for our industry, and we’re already active with live customers and their case studies which are starting to emerge. We appointed AgencyUK based on their sector experience, proven test and learn methodology as well as their passionately creative team. In partnership with AgencyUK, we’re looking forward to seeing the rollout expand globally over the coming months” says Rebecca Grimm, VP Marketing, Cytel.
“Our team has been working with pharma, biotech and clinical research organisations since 2008, and it’s always exciting to be at the forefront of new technology that can change how an industry operates forever. We’ve been developing the Solara brand and proposition alongside the go-to-market strategy. Digital media plays a vital role in its successful adoption by big pharma teams and biotech leaders alike, and we’re looking forward to its global roll-out over the coming months” says Sammy Mansourpour, Managing Director, AgencyUK.
Heather Wright is an executive producer and creative industries consultant with 30 years of experience. She spent 22 of those years at iconic animation studio and Bristol Creative Industries member Aardman Animations.
In 2020 Heather left the company that has given us legendary characters like Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep to launch Springboard Creative. She also joined the Bristol Creative Industries board.
Dan Martin speaks to Heather about her career, the storytelling and employee culture lessons other businesses can learn from Aardman, what she is up to now and why is supporting the work of BCI.
“The 1980s and 90s was an extraordinary time to be working at advertising agencies. They made you feel like anything was possible. I worked at Saatchi and Saatchi which had the slogan “nothing is impossible”. Although that was sometimes frustrating to try and deliver to, it did mean you were always looking for a creative solution to make something happen. It wasn’t just acceptable to say “this can’t be done”. I also worked for Chiat Day and their slogan was “good enough is not enough”.
“It made me realise that if you have the confidence to know that there could be a way around a problem, you just need to find the right questions, understand the motivation or think about the other person’s point of view and what makes them tick. I learned a lot about creativity, both artistically and in business, during that time.”
“They advertised for someone to run their commercials team. I thought “animation, that sounds good because I know nothing about it so if they want someone to stay after six o’clock and do some animation problem solving, they won’t ask me. But I do know a lot about what Aardman should be doing in the advertising world!
“I applied for the job and got it. I grew as the company grew. My whole experience was growing from that starting point to becoming an executive producer and working on a breadth of different activities. I was instrumental in setting up their computer animation team, I ran their immersive team for AR and VR games and I worked on a big Wallace and Gromit concert at the Royal Albert Hall.
“From not knowing about animation, I soon learned lots and I very quickly became an absolute devotee of the art form. I was lucky to be surrounded by other people who also absolutely loved it and because it is a world leader in animation, the calibre of people who came to work there was always high. You were constantly surrounded by great creative thinkers, problem solvers and technicians. Everybody grew together; that idea of a rising tide lifts all boats.
“Aardman is very good at making sure everyone feels involved in all the parts of the company. If there’s a new show being worked on, it is shared with the whole company. There were issues around secrecy but in the end, we decided we just needed to trust people because it is in all employees’ best interests for the ideas to be kept confidential.
“During a big project, we were aware that employees’ families weren’t seeing them for months on end, so getting friends and relatives involved was crucial to maintaining the wellbeing of all the staff in the studio. When a big movie was finished, there would be a friends and family tour day, and after the production was released, we would take over all the screens at Vue Cribbs Causeway.
“The business also encourages everyone to come up with creative ideas, not just the creative departments. I know of a couple of ideas thought up by somebody in the finance team.”
“Employee ownership was a vehicle that allowed Peter Lord and David Sproxton [the founders of Aaardman] to step out of the day-to-day running of the business and to ensure its independence. It could very easily have been bought by a big channel or network and have just become part of somebody’s balance sheet. Independence has always been a strong tenet of what the company is about; the ability to make their own shows, make their own decisions and to run it as they want to. When Pete and Dave decided to take a step back, employee ownership worked well because the company had always been about everybody contributing.
“It’s not a super easy ride becoming an employee owned trust, but I encourage any company that’s thinking about it to consider it very seriously. Everyone becomes a partner and there is a change in the culture because it makes people feel like they really do have ownership and they really do have a say. We set up a staff council for employees to be involved with strategic decisions and to have input on how things were done. It was much more than somewhere for people to go if they had a complaint.
“Companies that have that kind of approach with values that everybody should share in the success are proven to be more successful businesses.”
“Nobody wants a yes man on board and everybody wants an intelligent conversation. All you can do is be your authentic self, know that your product is good, believe that your product is good and be able to explain why it is good.
“Work with the client as a team and be open to their ideas as much as you expect them to be open to yours. Build a very strong collaborative working relationship with a shared vision. I always made sure that the vision of the people inside Aardman and the vision of the client were going in the same direction. The path to get there may be rocky and can take different turns at different times from either side, but that’s ok as long as everyone is heading in the same direction and knows where they want to get to.
“Create cohesion, build true working relationships and be fun to work with.
“The other tip I would advise is if a big brand wants to work with you but you don’t think you can properly answer the brief because of time or money, say so and don’t take it on. If you do, you’ll end up doing a bad or half hearted job and not delivering something you’re proud of. The client will be disappointed in you and never come back to work with you.”
“They believe in quality of craft, excellence and humour. They believe in themselves and the stories are told from a very British point of view because that’s who they are. They don’t pretend to be American; it’s always about authentic storytelling,
“They also focus strongly on independence and collaboration. Those are the kind of things that attract people. It’s always about the quality of the craft, the quality of the thinking and the quality of the ideas.”
“It took me about two years to make the decision. The company was going through a change and I was starting to have ideas. I thought to myself “have I got anything else in me other than working for Aardman for the rest of my life?” I had an idea and I just needed to find out if it would work.
“I’m still friends with them all at Aardman and I’m proud to be associated with the company.”
“The main thing I am working on is an animation app called Magic Fox. It enables children to make animated personalised, real time movies of their own. It’s about developing creativity in five to seven-year-olds. I’m working with two partners and we’re currently seeking seed funding.
“I also still get involved in exec producing and I’m working on a couple of really big projects that I can’t tell you about right now! The other string to my bow is working with Innovate UK Edge, who support small creative businesses to get started with their strategy.
“I love helping people to fulfil their potential and that’s what all of my endeavours are about.”
“The government has realised that the creative industries is a huge earner for UK PLC. The trouble is they haven’t really known how to invest in it because unlike most other industries where you end up with huge companies, most of the creative industries are small or micro businesses. The idea of how you actually support innovation in the creative industries is something that they are continuing to grapple with.
“Innovate UK Edge recently ran the new Creative Industries Fund which provided a small amount of start-up money. It’s very unusual to have such a broad funding competition that appeals to lots of people.
“That particular scheme is now closed but knowing Innovate UK Edge and the way they work, if lots of people applied and they got some good projects out of it, they will run it again. They will also run a scale up programme of some sort because they want to progress people from start-ups to scaling up to a growth phase and being investable. That proves that the innovation works.
“If you can kind of get into the system, they will support you through all phases of growth. Their ears are open right now and want to know how best they can do it. They are absolutely looking to have conversations with small and micro businesses in Bristol and the south west about what innovation means to them. It’s a unique time to get involved.”
Find out more about Innovate UK Edge here. You can also follow Innovate UK Edge South West on Twitter.
“The pandemic has been a disaster for performing arts venues in particular but I think the government has realised that there is huge value in culture due to the impact of having lots of places closed.
“People gain emotional intelligence and learn about how to be in the world through storytelling. The creative industries bring meaning to the world, whereas science and technology bring facts. The question is how do you quantify what that meaning and understanding is? Is it through storytelling, different types of apps, watching something on your phone etc? They are sometimes intangible ideas that are hard to grasp hold of, but that’s what people in the creative industries do; they make the intangible tangible.”
“The creative industries rely on freelancers and small businesses. Anything we can do to encourage people to start their own business will lead to success for the whole of the creative industries and the UK. I’m absolutely in favour of those kinds of measures.”
Read more about the report here.
“I’ve always been really interested in the Bristol creative scene. At Aardman although we believed in supporting Bristol, most of our customers weren’t Bristol based but I was always interested in what was going on it the city and went to events like First Friday at the Watershed.
“I could see cities like Manchester and Leeds getting ahead but Bristol has a huge amount to offer. I’m really keen to support Bristol to become a stronger creative industries hub than it already is. It needs to punch above its weight and I want to be part of making that happen. Bristol Creative Industries is a vehicle to galvanise us as a city and make sure that we have a strong ecosystem that supports each other to reach out beyond our city.”
“It absolutely needs to happen. 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.
“It will take time. Nobody wants to get a job just because of their ethnicity or age; they want to get a job because they are the best person to do it. It requires grassroots support from the industry. The creative industries wants to do it, but they sometimes struggle to know how to do it. That’s another area where Bristol Creative Industries can help by endorsing programmes that are working and advising on how you go about creating a more diverse workforce.
“We’ve got such a diversity of people in Bristol and the wider region. We have the opportunity to test some of the ideas and prove that they work.”
“Start with a character. Think about how they would do a particular thing, what type of issues that kind of person would have, who are their friends and where do they live. You will come up with a much stronger story that way than saying, for example, “wouldn’t it be great if our mobile phones could all talk to each other on the table.” That’s an idea but it isn’t that interesting. But what about a tiny little character that has a big nose who’s really good at sniffing out unusual smells or situations. Maybe he’s frightened so he hides a lot. Or maybe he just gets really huge so how does he deal with what happens to him. Starting from the point of view of a character is much better than starting from a plot or a set of circumstances.
“Tell stories that you know, understand and are authentic to you. There are universal truths such as love, hate, anger and jealousy that everybody in the world, no matter where they live, understand. Apply those to your own set of circumstances and those values will still come across. It will make the story interesting for everyone because they will recognise the love, hate, jealousy and anger, but they will see it set in the context that makes sense for the storyteller. If you start to tell stories from a place that you don’t really understand, that’s always going to be much harder.”
Not yet part of the Bristol Creative Industries member community? Join today.
Despite billions in losses due to the coronavirus pandemic, the UK’s creative industries can lead the post-COVID recovery if the right investment is unlocked.
That’s the big headline in a major new study by the Creative Industries Federation and Creative England, which together comprise the non-profit Creative UK Group.
The organisations’ report, The UK Creative Industries: Unleashing the power and potential of creativity, found that the pandemic has hit our sector hard. Creative industries are estimated to have lost almost £12bn in GVA, with job losses predicted to reach over 110,000 by the end of the year.
Freelancers have suffered five times as much as those on payroll, with 95,000 freelancers losing jobs compared to 18,000 employees. Creative organisations reliant on footfall, such as museums and performing arts, has been the hardest hit sub-sector, whilst the creative industries in the North East and Wales are expected to be slowest to return to pre-pandemic levels.
But despite such a devastating impact, the impact could have been much worse. The report said UK, devolved and local government support, such as the £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund, have been “enormously instrumental” in preventing the 400,000 job losses that the Creative Industries Federation warned of in June 2020.
As Britain looks to recover from the pandemic, Creative UK Group said the creative industries need to be at the heart of the government’s plans.
Included in the report is new data from Oxford Economics which showed that before the pandemic, the creative businesses directly supported more than one in 10 UK jobs. As well as the 2.1m pre-pandemic jobs in the sector itself, another 1.4m roles were directly supported through its supply chains.
Oxford Economics also estimates that for every £1 the creative industries before the COVID-19 outbreak, an extra 50p was generated in the wider economy via supplying businesses. That amounts to a combined economic contribution of £178bn.
The report said that with the right investment, the sector could recover faster than the UK economy as a whole, growing by over 26% by 2025 and contributing £132.1bn to the economy in GVA. That’s £28bn more than in 2020, and more than the financial services, insurance and pension industries combined.
By 2025 the Creative Industries could create 300,000 new jobs which is enough new roles to employ the working-age population of Hartlepool and Middlesbrough twice over.
Caroline Norbury MBE, CEO at Creative UK Group, said:
“The past decade has seen the creative industries achieve remarkable growth and success with the sector’s vast power to grow wealth and employment extending throughout local communities across the whole of the UK.
“With ambitious investment, the creative sector can rebuild faster than the UK economy and make a major contribution to the country’s post-pandemic recovery. We are money makers, job creators, innovators and problem solvers. We can reshape this country’s future for the better, but to realise our ambitions for tomorrow, we must invest in creativity today.
“We are not asking for handouts. We are asking for meaningful, targeted investment in creative ideas, creative industries and creative skills, that can unlock the incredible potential of the creative sector to kickstart our country’s recovery, and that will be repaid many times over.
“It is critical that we seize this opportunity to unlock the UK’s incredible creative potential, and avoid leaving key parts of our sector – and our country – behind.”
Tim Marlow OBE, chief executive and director at Design Museum, added:
“The creative industries have been hit incredibly hard by the pandemic. They are also central to our recovery. The creative industries – and design in particular – have the capacity to change behaviour, bring people together, empower communities and transform individual experience.
“The UK is world renowned for its creative industries, which in turn make it an attractive place to live, work and invest. Human creativity, unlike so many of our natural resources, is limitless – so it makes sense to invest in its potential to transform lives, level up and build sustainable and inspiring futures for many.”
The report contains several ideas for how the creative industries can be supported. They include:
The report outlines in statistics the make-up of the creative industries which show just how important it is.
Although the UK is world-renowned for big creative names such as Tate, Burberry and Working
Title Films, the creative sector is predominantly comprised of small businesses, micro-businesses and freelancers. As the report says: “Together we punch above our weight in terms of impact.”
There are thousands of examples of businesses pivoting and adapting to deal with the impact of the pandemic. We are delighted to see a Bristol initiative featured in the report:
“The immersive cinema group Compass Presents, whose planned productions were cancelled during the pandemic, brought the skills and knowledge they’d gained through immersive practice to disadvantaged communities in partnership with Knowle West Media Centre. Supported by BFI Film Hub, the organisation delivered 12 weeks of training in immersive screening to a group of young people in South Bristol, culminating in them organising their own immersive event for their local community.”
Ahead of the government’s Spending Review, Creative UK Group is calling on creative business owners and employees to highlight the importance of the sector to their MP.
To do that, it has launched the #WeAreCreative campaign.
You can download a draft email to send to your local MP and ask them to sign up to the pledge to support the creative industries.
You are also encouraged to shout about the sector on social media. We’d love to see Bristol Creative Industries members getting involved. Use the #WeAreCreative hashtag and tag us and your MP. We’re on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.
You can use the tools here to create your design. You are encouraged to start your post with ‘We Are…’ to “build a recognisable campaign that simply cannot be ignored”.
This week sees the end of the Government’s ‘work from home’ mandate in England which has been in place since the start of the pandemic. We know anecdotally that many businesses within the region’s creative industries have taken this opportunity to review their flexible working policies and we’re keen to understand what the future looks like for the South West’s creative community.
We’ve pulled together a handful of questions that will give us a top-line view of the new normal. We’ll be more than happy to share the findings with BCI members who may like some guidance on shaping their future flexible working policies. Share your thoughts here.
Photo by Kevin Bhagat on Unsplash
Let’s face it….after almost 18 months of many of us being tied to our desks in our home offices feeling a little Zoomed out, we could all do with some fresh air and thinking space.
Our members’ lunches have long been a firm fixture in the BCI events calendar – the perfect opportunity for a small group of members to connect and exchange information about their businesses. That said, these sessions are way more than just pitching; they offer a shared space for connecting with your peers to share successes and discuss challenges….and boy, there’s been a few of those in recent times!
As the world starts to open up once again, we’re keen to offer our members more creative ways of networking so we’re teaming up with Outside for a BCI Walk & Talk session on Friday 17th September. Similar to our members’ lunches, we’ll gather a group of 12 people who are keen to don their walking boots and explore the beautiful countryside around Bristol and Bath.
Over the course of a 3 hour circular walk, you’ll get to spend 10-15 minutes chatting to each of your fellow walkers. No agenda as such, just clear open space for thinking, connecting, sharing experiences and exploring possibilities. Chris Thurling (BCI’s Chair) and Alli Nicholas (BCI’s Membership Manager) will be joining the group too so it’s a great chance to chat to them about getting the most out of your BCI membership.
The starting point for our first Walk & Talk will be in the beautiful Mendips, just south of Bristol. We’ll meet in the car park at Burrington Combe ready to leave at 9am. If this format proves popular, we’ll look to arrange future walks starting from different locations around the area.
This event is exclusively for BCI members. There’s no charge but you do need to register in advance here.
Bristol-based Gather Round is a growing family of unique, soulful, creative workspaces, purposefully designed for creatives by creatives. Its mission is to build remarkable co-working spaces where creative thinkers and doers can connect, collaborate and thrive.
Founded by Fiasco Design owners, Ben Steers and Jason Smith, Gather Round’s flagship workspace, in the Cigar Factory, Southville, opened its doors to Bristol’s curious creative community in 2019 and it will be opening the doors to a second venue, in Brunswick Square, St. Pauls, in early September 2021.
Its members are creative industry professionals; designers, writers, filmmakers, publishers, photographers, brand strategists… A truly eclectic and talented bunch, and the diverse mix of businesses within its member community is valued as highly by members, as the beautifully designed workspaces themselves.
New Gather Round, Brunswick Square
Gather Round, Brunswick Square, breathes new life into 15-16 York Street, a unique, historic building in one of Bristol’s most vibrant neighbourhoods. From early September 2021, a supportive community of 80-90 creative professionals will take residence here; freelancers, self-employed and micro-businesses, from the surrounding areas of St Pauls, Montpelier, Easton, St. George, Kingsdown, etc.
The space will provide flexible areas with fixed and casual desks, a mix of small to medium-sized studios, private meeting rooms, hang-out areas, communal kitchen tables and quiet areas for thinking. It will also have a dedicated public event space with room for 50-60 person events.
Gather Round offers private studio, resident and co-working membership options, with part-time flexible co-working costing £110 per month plus VAT, and full-time memberships from £195, plus VAT.
First month’s membership FREE
Knowing that signing up to a co-working space can feel like a big step, Gather Round are offering new members who join Brunswick Square before Monday 16th August, their first month free.
Community Support Commitment
Gather Round creates nurturing environments in which local creative businesses flourish and it is also committed to supporting its neighbouring communities in the following ways:
Founders Ben Steers and Jason Smith say, “By design, Gather Round provides an intimate, supportive creative environment. We know that a nurturing community makes all the difference to our members’ businesses and we’re delighted to be extending what we offer in Southville to residents of North Bristol. Our aim is to open the doors at Brunswick Square in September, with a ready-made creative community.”
Find out more about Gather Round’s latest creative co-working space and membership options, or contact Amie Thompson, Community Manager for Gather Round – [email protected]
*Image: Gather Round members attend a ‘Campfire Talk’ at Gather Round, Cigar Factory, Southville
“We should definitely launch a podcast, more people than ever before are listening, and we’ve got budget to spend as we’re no longer running that big outdoor campaign”
This is the sort of conversation going on within brands and agencies in 2020 (well, at least we hope it is). It is a really exciting time to be launching a podcast, and so it’s really easy to go all in on imagining what podcast might sound like, who’s going to present it or how you’re going to get it produced. But before you’ve allocated your entire budget before you’ve even started, to get an idea of the costs it’s worth take a little step back and looking at the bigger picture.
We chat to a lot of brands about podcasts and hear some amazing ideas, but there’s a few vital podcast costs to consider that it’s easy for brands to overlook when you’re planning to nudge Joe Rogan down the charts. So, we thought we’d share them with you:
Hands up who has ever (literally) judged a book by it’s cover? 🙋 Or, bought a bottle of red saying ‘i love that grape variety’, when really it was the colourful art or on-trend font that really swung it? 🙋 Then we can all appreciate the value of having podcast artwork that pops. With a patchwork of podcasts in any given podcast app, it’s worth ensuring that your artwork isn’t an afterthought or ends up being your company logo hastily pasted onto a background in Photoshop.
Hosting is the means of getting your podcast out there to the world and the best and easiest way of doing this is with a good hosting provider. At its most basic you should expect your podcast to be distributed to every listening platform (the big three of course being Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts). But, for brands especially, getting insight into who is listening and how they’re listening via a great set of analytics, is the added value that your podcast needs.
We know that most people listen to podcasts via a podcast app on their smartphones (around 65% according to Edison Research), but that doesn’t mean it’s not important to have somewhere online for people to listen. Having a dedicated podcast page on your existing site, or it it’s more relevant, a standalone site is important for a few reasons:
At its most basic, the site can be a list of all your episodes with an embedded audio player, which all the top hosting platforms provide for you. The more added content you can then add, the better.
The hard work doesn’t end when you hit publish and put your podcast out there to the world, in a way it’s only just beginning. There are a lot of podcasts out there for listeners to choose from (we’ll be reaching one million active podcasts at some point soon), so they’re going to need a helping hand finding yours, no matter how great it is. We like to talk about how brands are going to promote their podcast and how it fits into a wider strategy right from the start, it’ll have an impact on your production and release schedule and maybe even the content too. There’s lots of things you can that don’t cost (apart from time), earned media such as creating engaging assets to share on social media and good old fashioned plugging on other podcasts, blogs or media. But increasingly important is assigning some budget to run podcast ads on other podcasts, a great way of attracting listeners who are already into the same podcasts as yours.
when we’re working with brands, we’re having these conversations from day one
A well known host or having notable guests on your podcast can be a great draw for listeners, giving you a boost to your promotional efforts. Someone with presenting skill or experience sets a high bar in terms of professional quality as well as making for better script delivery and guest interviews. Ultimately however the decision, like many you’ll make, should be based on your audience, the sweet spot is finding someone who your listener will connect with and who has a natural curiosity and interest in the subject matter, even if they’re from a different walk of life (and often they’re the best ones). However, people don’t expect to work for free, so have a think about who might be a good fit, it goes without saying that the more well known they are, the higher the fee, but there’s no harm in aiming high!
There’s a lot to think about when creating a podcast from scratch that not only stands out from others but fits seamlessly into your wider content strategy. That’s why when we’re working with brands we’ll make sure that we’re having conversations about all of the points in this post from day one. Nothing should be an afterthought, and finding the right approach all depends on the objectives, the audience and the budget available, but knowing what’s required from the outset means that budget is spent in the most effective ways.