The creative industries deliver economic, social and reputational value. They add over £100bn to the UK’s economy, export £46bn in goods and services worldwide and are growing at twice the rate of the general economy. The sector employs more than 2 million people, and expects to create one million more jobs by 2030. Beyond these economic benefits, the creative industries continue to tackle regional inequalities, build communities across the UK, and enable individuals to lead lives that are happier, healthier, more sociable, and enriched through access to culture and creativity.

There is enormous potential to go further. Despite their great successes, our creative industries are often under-capitalised, suffer from skills shortages that impede growth, and are hampered by a lack of diversity and unequal access to the opportunities that organisations and individuals need to reach their full potential. While talent and creativity can be found everywhere, access to the money, markets and networks needed to succeed cannot. The result is lost opportunities for individuals and communities as well as a cost to the national economy.

This 10-point manifesto outlines the statement of intent, and aims to drive inclusive growth and innovation across towns, cities and rural areas, in every nation and region throughout the UK. It builds on the landmark Creative Industries Sector Deal, agreed by government with the Creative Industries Council working with the Creative Industries Federation and others.

Bristol Media, along with hundreds of creative organisations and individuals from every region of the UK, have contributed to the development of the manifesto.

Read the manifesto here. 

The award was set up in memory of the late Ben Martin, a local, entrepreneurial agency MD who was committed to an inclusive culture and actively encouraged diversity.

Marissa Lewis-Peart won last year’s award, travelling to Austin with Chris Thurling, Bristol Media Chair, to attend the world’s largest digital festival, SxSW. This was followed by a 5-month paid internship programme with a range of the top agencies in the South West – McCann Bristol, Bray Leino CX, Armadillo, True, Mentor Digital, Ragdoll, Tallt, Wonderland Communications, Mr B & Friends, saintnicks, Taxi Studio, Great State, Six and Halo. Read about Marissa’s experience here.

This year Bristol Media and ADLIB, together with a growing list of agency sponsors, are extending the award to 4 candidates. A candidate briefing session in mid-October, hosted by ADLIB, Bristol Media and Babbasa, will allow candidates to fully explore the opportunities available to them, according to their preferred area of interest in either the creative, technology, data or tech sector.

Applicants should submit a video (no more than a min) or short written piece (around 500 words), explaining why they stand out and should be selected. Successful applicants will be interviewed by a panel of experts and the winner and 3 runners up will be awarded paid internships. The winner will, once again, attend SxSW with Bristol Media and a group of industry professionals.

To enter the award, please send your submission to [email protected] by Friday 22nd November 2019. Winners will be announced in early December.

Terms and Conditions

Applicants must be over 18.

Applicants must be willing to create and supply content of their journey for media usage.

Applicants must be able to travel to Texas in March 2020.

Applicants must be living in the South West of England.

*DEADLINE EXTENDED – We’ve had some fantastic applications, and are now looking for freelancers who specialise in Copywriting, Animation or Video production*

We’ve had several requests from our membership community to bring back our famous Portfolio Review Nights. Well, there’s good news! We’ve secured the date and the venue, and the next Portfolio Review night will be held on Wednesday 13th November at Origin Workspace, Berkeley Square.

If you’re a Bristol Media Freelance Member working in the creative sector, this is a fantastic opportunity to have your portfolio work reviewed by top creative directors from several of the most successful agencies in the region. We’ve got 15 creative directors signed up from agencies including Mr B & Friends, Oakwood, Epoch, Armadillo, Proctor + Stevenson, Zone, saintnicks, Great State, Bray Leino CX, The Way, Halo, Home , Six and Prophecy who are all eager to meet local talent.

Freelancers will have up to 8 minutes with each director who will offer their advice and constructive feedback in a speed networking environment. In the past, Freelancers have often secured a project or been invited for a further interview with the agency team, and we hear that the creative directors have a great time, too!

We’re now looking for freelancers working in the fields of digital, graphic design, branding, web development, video production, animation/motion graphics, VFX, photography, illustration and copywriting.

This is a very popular event which is for Bristol Media members only. We only have 15 places available.

TO APPLY:

Please email [email protected] saying why this is the perfect opportunity for you right now, along with a link to your portfolio or website. Applications close at 5pm on Friday 25th October.  

Today’s announcement of the merging of the Creative Industries Federation and Creative England (whose HQ is in Bristol) is a step towards a stronger profile for the industry in government circles. Bristol Media is a strong supporter of the CIF, with director Paul Appleby on their UK Advisory Council, and they have done great work on policy and lobbying.

Now that programmes under the Industrial Strategy Sector Deal are rolling out, including £1.35m allocated to WECA to develop a Creative Scale-up programme for the region, and the national Creative Careers Campaign delivered by CIF with ScreenSkills and Culture & Creative Skills, closer working with the regional presence of Creative England makes the whole support structure stronger.

The new organisation will be formed in Spring 2020 and maintain a UK-wide remit, with CE’s Caroline Norbury taking the CEO role.

We look forward to continuing our strong relationship with the new organisation, and if you have any thoughts do contact [email protected], and he can take them to the November CIF Council meeting.

To read the press release, visit: https://www.creativeindustriesfederation.com/news/creative-industries-federation-and-creative-england-unite

Hi Pete, what do you do at Prophecy Unlimited?

Prophecy Unlimited is a customer journey agency, launched in May 2017. We brought together two great South West agencies, EMO Unlimited, renowned for customer acquisition, and The Real Adventure Unlimited, experts in customer relationship management. We realised that we could combine the complementary skill sets and people together, the result being Prophecy Unlimited. That ultimately means we work across every channel in the mix, and for some clients we work end-to-end across the whole journey.

Customer journeys are rapidly changing in terms of technology and consumer behaviours, so we work with our clients to create a successful and impactful customer experience.

More specifically, my role as CEO involves two key jobs: one is making sure the Prophecy team are happy, and then making sure that clients are happy, too. The two are incredibly interrelated, happy team, happy clients, and vice versa!

Who’s in the team?

Everyone from client services, project management, creative content, data and insight, tech, HR… the list goes on. I’m responsible for making sure we have key team leads ensuring we all work to the best of our abilities. No one department is more important than another, it’s a real team effort.

What are you most proud of as a business?

The client list that we have for a South West agency – I’m so proud of it. We have several clients who have been with us for over 30 years, some large blue-chip brands and global players.

I’m ex London, and we tend to have this chip on our shoulders about London, thinking it’s the big be all and end all. But I actually think the work coming out of Bristol is as good, if not better, than the London players. Bristol has such an energy and creativity.

What’s your favourite office gadget?

Big Red – our coffee machine! It’s got to be at least 10 years old. Probably as long as we’ve been Bristol Media members it’s been trucking along, supplying us with coffee. As part of our induction for new starters we have a stint with the coffee machine. Not quite barista training, but it’s a proper machine so not just a press and go.

Whose work do you admire and why?

This is a tricky question, because I think about the campaigns I like at the moment and actually, I wouldn’t pin it on one particular agency or brand. I’ve never known a time for the agency world to be quite as challenging, in terms of the changes and the dreaded B-word. Any agency that’s making their client feel confident enough in them to buy work is absolutely doing great. Hats off to all!

What’s the biggest challenge your industry/organisation is facing at the moment?

I can think of two, clearly economic uncertainty is one of those, but also data. The scandal around Cambridge Analytica made consumers wary about their information and what’s being used and where. Not only that, but with more data available, we need to make sure we don’t just disappear into big systems like Adobe or Salesforce. It’s something we’ve been focussing on at Prophecy recently; transparency in the customer journey, not just getting the system to tell us the answers but making sure we’re sensitive to human emotion and using old school planning skills.

If you had one piece of advice for someone just starting out, what would it be?

Get involved, put your hand up, get stuck in and remember that your voice matters. Great ideas can come from anywhere, any team and any person. Don’t be afraid to speak up! And seek out a mentor if you can.

What’s your favourite place in Bristol/this area?

On Friday mornings I religiously make a breakfast run to Hart’s Bakery. The guys know to leave a small window in the diary so I can get my sourdough, or sausage rolls, or cheese toasties… There’s too much to choose from!

If you could sum up Bristol/this area in 3 words, what would they be?

First up, real. As a city, we don’t pretend to be anything different. We’re proud of our differences. Then vibrant and innovative.

What exciting plans have you got coming up this year?

That’s a really good question, because we’ve always got new things in the pipeline, and those vary by client. Probably the most exciting thing is our new customer journey methodology, it’s a model for getting to the heart of what’s working in a customer journey and what’s not.

We’re working it through now and we’ve got some clients using it. The hairs on the back of my neck are standing up a bit thinking of the difference it’s going to make. We’ll be sharing it soon so watch this space!

To see latest examples of Prophecy’s work, visit the website.

Fancy joining the Prophecy Unlimited team? They’re on the lookout for new hires, find out more about the roles available here.

If you’d like to be part of our Featured Member series and profile your business, get in touch.

Our Content Apprentice Izzy headed over to Bath for this month’s Featured Member to talk with Sue Bush, Creative Director at Touchpoint Design, and find out more about what they’re up to. Here’s what we learned…

Hi Sue, tell us what you do?

We are a brand design agency, we design brand identities, primarily for arts and culture and not for profit clients. We work across all touchpoints, which is where we got our name. The touchpoints are: digital, printed materials and large-format visuals. Ensuring a consistent brand identity across all applications.

Who are your team?

There are 3 of us in the production team, myself (creative director), Georgia (designer) and Ian (technical director). We are a small team, but we collaborate with lots of talented associates that we bring in on a project by project basis.

How long have you been a Bristol Media member?

We’ve been a Bristol Media member for 4 years I believe. We became members because I moved to the South West from London, so it was a good way to get to know everyone and join the creative community.

What’s your favourite place in Bath and Bristol?

In Bath, Solsbury Hill, it’s really invigorating up there. It’s a steep hill but a great place to clear your mind. In Bristol, probably the harbourside, a great place for people watching.

What are you most proud of as a business?

I love that we punch above our weight. We’re only small but we take on some really big briefs, size is not an issue. Our rebrand of the American Museum & Gardens was a great example of where we demonstrated what we can achieve with a complex and demanding brief.

Our favourite projects to work on are those where we get involved right from the brand discovery stage, researching, unpacking client vision and values, positioning etc. Going in deep from the start gives us insight and helps us to maximise impact and spark really effective creative solutions.

What exciting plans have you got coming up this year?

We are working on a website with Taxi Studio for the West of England Design Forum to help women in design. There’s a big disparity between women reaching roles of seniority so it’s great to work for something we’re passionate about.

We’re also a part of a ‘mastermind’ group of 8 agency owners. We’re small giants, like the concept developed in the book Small Giants by Bo Burlingham. Based around the idea of sustainable agency growth, rather than expand for the sake of it, to make a wider positive impact beyond simply our own financial gain. So we’re excited to see where this takes us in the future!

Whose work do you admire and why?

Marina Willer from Pentagram. We love her, she’s very humble considering how successful she is, and she works in sectors we work in (charities and creative arts). Her work with Amnesty International and the Serpentine Gallery in particular. She creates clear solutions that are bold and impactful. She is a stand out influence for us.

If there’s one thing we need more of in this region, what is it?

In Bath, it would be great to see a big contemporary art centre. Bristol has Spike Island and the Arnolfini, and while Bath has great spaces, like The Edge and 44AD, it would be nice to have a permanent space that can pull in some of the bigger high-profile artists and act as a creative hub across disciplines.

If you could sum up Bristol in 3 words, what would they be?

Vibrant, refreshingly diverse and fiercely-independent.

What’s the best tip/trick you’ve learnt as a business?

For designers, use a notebook! Don’t go straight for the computer, sketch ideas before you start pushing pixels around, it’s so much easier and quicker. Leuchtturm notebooks are our favourite! Our greatest tip is to really listen. Ask questions, then actively listening to the answers. Prompt and facilitate those conversations to get insight.

Keen to feature your business? If you’d like to be part of our Featured Member series, email Kirsty or Izzy for more information. See you in September! 

Previously executive creative director and Vice Chairman of Ogilvy & Mather, as well as creative lead for Google’s The Zoo, Patrick has a career spanning over 30 years, and we’re delighted to welcome him back to Bristol.

20 years ago, Seth Godin wrote “Permission Marketing”. He had such high hopes for advertising, suggesting that the digital revolution would make advertising personal and relevant and thus anticipated and welcome.

But it didn’t quite work out that way…

Not only do people dislike advertising (there are a billion ad-blockers installed on devices around the world) they dislike the advertising profession too. In the UK, advertising people often rank below politicians, which takes some doing! Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, Google and Brand Safety, the new tech giants have had a disastrous effect on how advertising is both made and seen.

BUT, despite all this, advertising can still help sell products and grow brands. It’s just that there are new rules.

BOOK YOUR TICKET

About the keynote:

In this talk, Patrick Collister will apologise for the cliché (new rules) but will explain how it gives a framework for understanding the five conditions brands need to meet if they want to get through to people.

He’ll talk a bit about data, a lot about insight and he’ll mention the fact that 30% of the audience will have bought something on their mobile phones while sitting on the toilet. He’ll squeak excitedly about some of the new toys in the tech-box but pull a frown when he gets to the slide with the poo emoji. That’s when he’ll be discussing Programmatic and how it is an opportunity that creative agencies miss at their peril.

He’ll talk about ideas a lot, use the word creativity quite often, and may even try to sell you his book, “How To Use Innovation & Creativity In Business.”

Tickets & Entry

Join us and Patrick on Tuesday 17th September (12.30-14.15) at the riverside offices of Foot Anstey, 2 Glass Wharf, Bristol BS2 0FR.

Tickets are £40+VAT for Bristol Media members, £55+VAT for non-members and include lunch. A limited number of £10+VAT tickets will be available from 9th August to Bristol Media freelance members.

BOOK YOUR TICKET

About Patrick

Patrick was the executive creative director and Vice Chairman of Ogilvy & Mather, London. Then executive creative director of the EHS Brann network of direct marketing agencies. From 2013 to 2018 he was the creative lead for Google’s creative think-tank The Zoo. He has won many awards, the most prestigious being Cannes Gold in 2013 with Cheil for Samsung. In his spare time, Patrick publishes Directory magazine and resource.

Patrick will return in October to run his critically-acclaimed workshop ‘Getting the Big Idea’… find out more.

You may have been to one of Bristol Media’s monthly Vision keynote events, which exist to open your mind to new ideas and ways of creative thinking. We host a variety of world-class speakers throughout the year for our community to experience ideas and creativity from global thought leaders and visionaries.

We want to ensure our Vision keynote events are accessible to all our members, whether they’re a large agency organisation or an independent freelancer. So, we want to remind you about a new offer available exclusively to Bristol Media Member freelancers:

For many of our Vision keynotes we’ll release 10% of tickets to Bristol Media freelancers for just £10*

Our next Vision keynote is Patrick Collister with ‘Permission Denied’ on 17th September at Foot Anstey. We’ll release a limited amount of £10 tickets to Bristol Media freelance members this Friday 9th August. Head over to Eventbrite and choose Bristol Media Freelancer from the drop-down to claim your £10 ticket. We don’t expect these to last long so be quick!

GET MY £10 TICKET

*Tickets include lunch and are available on a first come, first served basis to Bristol Media freelance members only. Price excludes VAT and Eventbrite processing fee.

If you’ve not yet joined Bristol Media, take a look at the benefits of being a member and join today. We’re planning more fantastic keynote events later this year, so keep an eye out for announcements in the coming months. We hope to see you at our next Vision keynote event!

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