Culture Archives | Bristol Creative Industries

🚫 “It’s great to be here.”
🚫 “Hello, I am [insert name, job title]. Today I’m going to talk about…”
🚫 “Thank you for having me”

Avoid these predictable presentation intros. These just set up your talk as nothing new.

If you want your talk to be memorable you need to hook your audience from the very beginning and give them a compelling reason to pay attention.

The graphic below from Sequoia Capital illustrates a typical attention span over 60mins and the potential to lose 90% of your audience within the first five mins…but how to remedy?

Here are three ways (and a bonus fourth😁) to help to set up your talk as unmissable:

🎬 Set the scene like a movie.
“Our industry is facing seismic challenges. That’s what I would have said – until six months ago we discovered something that changed everything. Here’s what happened..”

📊 Drop an eyebrow-raising stat.
“If women started and scaled new businesses at the same rate as men, we could create £250 billion in additional value to the UK’s economy, according to a recent review. Here’s what needs to happen…”

🔍 Use a prop or an attention-grabbing slide.
One influential presenter wordlessly put up an image of an elephant to kick off a talk where they went on to talk about tackling ‘the elephant in the room’ of their industry, while another promised a visual to capture the current state of the economy…and put up a completely black slide.

Remember: with audio only, retention of content three days later is around 10%, but with an image that increases to an incredible 65%

⭐ Or you can call us. We can to help you to be memorable in all your business interactions.

As part of ADLIB’s ‘True Diversity’ series, they had a chat with Andreyana Ivanova, Head of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing at KeolisAmey Docklands. With over 16 years of cross-sector experience her work focuses on building inclusive, resilient and high-performing cultures through insight-led strategy, organisational capability building and inclusive design.

Andreyana believes that thriving employees are the driving force behind sustainable business growth. She helps organisations reimagine and shape more human-centred, equitable employee journeys, cultivating workplaces where people feel they belong, are valued, and empowered.

ADLIB: Let’s start with the need for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) – what’s your take, why is it so important?

Andreyana: In my work, I approach DEI as a strategic lever for unlocking productivity, innovation and long-term growth. I often describe DEI as the engine of high performance and belonging as the fuel that powers it. When people feel safe, valued and empowered, they bring their full potential to work, perform at their best, and stay engaged and motivated. Organisations that embrace DEI not only attract and retain top talent, but also accelerate innovation and remain resilient through change. In other words, DEI is the infrastructure behind high-performing, human-centred and future-ready workplaces.

DEI goes beyond representation. It is about redesigning the systems, structures and everyday practices that shape how people experience work. When embedded in work design, leadership competencies and decision making, DEI helps organisations cultivate inclusive cultures, resilient workforces and human-centred workplaces where everyone feels they belong and can thrive. This people-first approach not only supports colleagues through key life moments, but also strengthens customer confidence and loyalty, ultimately accelerating organisational growth and social impact.

In an increasingly complex and polarised competitive landscape, DEI matters even more. Rising backlash in some regions makes it harder to sustain momentum, yet DEI remains the anchor that keeps organisations grounded in purpose and aligned with their values.

ADLIB: What are the risks of not prioritising DEI and what are the tangible benefits of building an inclusive workforce?

Andreyana: The link between DEI, organisational culture, resilience and performance is now widely recognised and backed by both research and practice. In the absence of inclusive cultures and equitable employee experiences, the consequences for organisations and their people can be significant: employees feel disengaged, isolated or struggle in silence, often resulting in presenteeism, attrition, or low discretionary effort. These outcomes not only impact individual wellbeing and performance, but also steadily erode organisational culture and long-term success.

According to Deloitte (2023), poor mental health costs UK employers £51 billion annually, with presenteeism alone accounting for £24 billion. The latest Workplace Wellbeing Deficit report (2025) adds further depth: people from lower socio-economic and marginalised backgrounds are disproportionately affected by mental health challenges at work. Rather than taking time off, many employees feel compelled to continue working while unwell, often to avoid stigma or falling behind (a pattern known as ‘leavism’). This hidden toll of exclusion leads to burnout, low psychological safety and a culture of survival. Over time, it deepens structural inequalities and stifles potential.

On the other hand, embedding DEI into the fabric of everyday work and employee experiences fosters wellbeing, engagement and belonging, and in doing so, boosts retention, performance and collective resilience. When people feel they belong, they are more engaged and connected, more likely to stay with their employer, and empowered to contribute meaningfully to the organisation’s shared success.

From a business perspective, embracing DEI provides a competitive advantage. Teams that reflect a diversity of lived experiences are more creative, adaptable and better equipped to solve complex problems. As research continuously shows, diverse organisations consistently outperform their peers. According to McKinsey’s 2023 report, companies in the top quartile for gender or ethnic diversity on executive teams are 39% more likely to financially outperform less diverse peers (McKinsey, 2023). Other studies on board-level diversity, such as those by Bloomberg Intelligence, point to similar trends across regions (Bloomberg Intelligence, 2023).

Cloverpop’s research shows a direct link between inclusive decision making and stronger business performance:

Taken together, these findings reaffirm that DEI is not only a moral imperative but a business one, delivering measurable results and long-term impact. Organisations that embed DEI as a core enabler of their strategy and ESG commitments are better positioned for sustainable growth. They connect more authentically with employees, customers and stakeholders, building cultures of trust and accountability. In doing so, they strengthen both their employer and customer brand, and establish themselves as credible, responsible leaders within their industries and communities.

The message for leaders and organisations is clear: if you don’t embrace DEI as a strategic advantage, your competitors will. In fact, the most forward thinking ones already have!

ADLIB: How can organisations make DEI more impactful and sustainable across the employee experience?

Andreyana: While there is strong evidence that more engaged employees drive stronger business outcomes, too few feel truly connected to their organisations in a human sense. Accenture’s research (2022) shows that only one in six employees feel a deep connection to their work, culture and colleagues, described as ‘omni-connected’, which has a significant impact on retention, productivity and revenue growth. This highlights the gap between stated commitment and lived experience.

The best place to start is by listening and learning, using both data and employee voice to identify barriers, inequities and opportunities to create fairer outcomes for everyone. Ask the deep questions: Do colleagues feel safe to speak up? Whose voices carry weight? Are policies designed for the diverse realities of employees’ lives? Alongside feedback loops, organisations need robust data and insights to identify pain points in the talent journey, inform their strategies and priorities, measure the impact of their efforts and hold themselves accountable.

The next step is to act. That means integrating DEI into every stage of the talent journey from attraction to offboarding, and embedding equity into systems, processes, leadership behaviours and daily practices that shape organisational culture and how people experience work. Crucially, DEI and Wellbeing go hand in hand: colleagues are more likely to thrive and contribute fully when they feel supported through key life stages and challenges. As part of this, digital platforms and AI-enabled tools must be reviewed through an inclusion lens to ensure they deliver fair outcomes rather than perpetuating bias.

Fundamentally, embedding DEI into the employee experience is about creating equitable workplaces where people feel safe to speak up, supported to grow, and empowered to contribute fully. Achieving this requires leaders, managers and colleagues to take an active role in DEI, modelling inclusive behaviours that strengthen organisational culture. To sustain progress, DEI must also be embedded into leadership responsibilities, performance metrics and promotion criteria, ensuring accountability is consistent, measurable, and aligned with the organisation’s purpose and values. When DEI is woven into every stage of the employee experience, it transforms daily interactions into a culture of belonging where people and organisations can truly thrive.

ADLIB: What skills, mindsets or shifts do DEI and People leaders need to navigate the future of work?

Andreyana: The future of work calls for a different kind of leadership: one that is collaborative, human and grounded in integrity. DEI and People leaders are not only delivering programmes; they are working to reshape systems and cultures that were often not designed with everyone in mind. That requires clarity of purpose, resilience and the ability to navigate complexity. In today’s world of increased scrutiny and polarisation, balancing commercial focus with humility is more important than ever.

We cannot ignore the dynamic global landscape. The backlash in some regions, particularly the US, has created a more complex environment, one where the value of DEI is being questioned or misunderstood. But this also presents an opportunity to reflect, realign and strengthen the case for meaningful, systemic change that drives innovation, customer trust and long-term growth.

The most sustainable change happens when DEI is built into the way an organisation leads, makes decisions and grows. Leadership is central as we need leaders at every level who model empathy, accountability and allyship, and who foster trust and psychological safety.

The best leaders I have worked with lead with curiosity, courage and vulnerability. They listen, reflect, ask the hard questions, collaborate and bring others with them, not through blame but through shared ownership. They adopt inclusive leadership and allyship in their everyday behaviours, using their voice and influence to make space for others, challenge inequity and act even when it feels uncomfortable. At the same time, they use data and storytelling to demonstrate impact, making the business case for DEI visible and credible across the organisation.

Ultimately, inclusive leaders recognise that DEI is a continuous journey, not a destination. Especially in times of uncertainty it requires intentional, collective effort, guided by clarity and consistency, and the courage to lead with vulnerability, integrity and compassion. As Maya Angelou reminds us: ‘Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.’

If you are a part of an initiative, brand or company that proactively champions diversity and would like to be featured as part of the “True Diversity” series please get in touch with Tony.

About ‘True Diversity’ by ADLIB:
Our series, True Diversity, is dedicated to featuring the people, organisations, and initiatives that truly understand why Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (EDI) matter.

We spotlight who they are, what they do, and why their work is important. Through their stories, we explore how they’re driving meaningful change and how businesses and potential employers can get involved in building a more inclusive future.

Season 3 of High Notes, the podcast about the business and art of voice, will drop from Monday 27th October for eight weeks. It will see host Melissa Thom talking to leading figures across business, culture, and communication.

Guests include world-leading speechwriter Simon Lancaster, voice coach Dr. Rockford Sansom, writer and historian Jane Duffus, BAFTA’s Colin Burgess, PR legend Lynne Franks, and broadcaster Janey Lee Grace.

Together, they explore how voice shapes influence, leadership, and true connection at work: how to stay composed under pressure, engage an audience and speak with authority.

High Notes’ host, Melissa Thom is a speech and communication coach and acclaimed voice actor with decades of experience voicing projects including Grand Theft Auto V for Rockstar Games, Elder Scrolls for Zenimax, LL COOL J, Google, Amazon, Nike and many more.

Melissa is also the Founder and CEO of BRAVA, and has trained thousands of people in communication and voice from the UK and beyond – from rappers and reverends to ad creatives and countesses.

Melissa Thom said: “This season of High Notes is focused on how professionals can use their voice for impactful communication in the workplace and beyond. Our guests bring a wealth of experience from different sectors and creative disciplines – we hope our listeners will both be entertained and come away with actionable tips to supercharge communication confidence.”

High Notes season 3 can be found at brava.uk.com/podcast and all major podcast platforms, from October 27th, 2025.

As part of ADLIB‘s ‘True Diversity’ series, Tony had a chat with Lee Chambers, Founding Director at Male Allies UK, business psychologist, male allyship specialist and speaker.

This article is based on a transcript from that chat where Lee talks about why inclusion matters, how it helps build better workplaces, and why men need to be part of the conversation.

Tony: Starting with the need for diversity and inclusion. Why is it so important?

Lee: So from my perspective, and from a lot of the work that I’ve done, the importance of diversity and inclusion spans a variety of different areas. The first one for me is, in an increasingly individualistic world, the things that actually bring us together, especially across difference. Because as we become more individualistic, we actually start to fear difference more than embrace and celebrate it.

So things that actively work to bring different people together in a proactive and intentional way are increasingly important in an algorithmic world, which is trying to bring commonality together rather than difference. I think it’s vital for society that we’re able to create communities of difference rather than communities of commonality.

I think, secondly, it’s important because we still live in a world without modern meritocracy. Your outcomes are still massively determined by lots of things that you can’t necessarily control yourself, but that do potentially present either an awful lot of systemic barriers to overcome, or significantly less. And we all benefit when we collectively work together to reduce some of those barriers, because fundamentally it means that we can create better outcomes from the work that we do together.

There’s more opportunity to work with great people. Talent gets the ability to rise. People can get closer to their potential. People get the opportunity to perform, which is vital for sustainable businesses. And more than ever, people feel like they can belong, not necessarily their whole self, because many people don’t want to bring their whole self into the workplace, but they would like to bring their best, most effective self. And an inclusive culture allows that to happen.

It allows that embracing of difference which, whether we’re looking at commercial or societal outcomes, helps us mitigate risks earlier, see more potential opportunities, create more effective products and services, and just make better workplace cultures where people want to stay, continue to develop themselves, and continue to contribute. They see it as a net positive rather than something that takes away from them.

I think that’s vital because the next generation is more sensitive towards these things and is definitely looking for more purpose and more alignment in the very work that they do. So yes, it’s vital in a lot of different ways. When it’s done effectively, and in a structured and really considered way, it simply makes for better ecosystems that humans can exist within.

At the end of the day, as humans, we need those spaces to be able to grow and thrive. And it’s not always on us as individuals to create those spaces.

Tony: That’s a brilliant answer. Thank you. Absolutely agree with all of that. Can you share a little bit more about what you do at Males Allies UK?

Lee: Male Allies UK fundamentally exists to help men engage in inclusion. From our work, we’ve seen that when it comes to people-orientated projects in the workplace, whether that’s around well-being, inclusion, people engagement, or people development, there are a lot more women who get involved. In the bigger picture, that means men are missing out on the opportunity to be part of designing what these people structures will look like in the future. If they’re not present, they can’t be part of co-designing and co-creating them.

We’ve also seen over the years the impact on men’s health when they don’t take a more collective approach to navigating the world. The isolation, individualism, self-reliance, and self-sufficiency, sold as independence and freedom, actually come at a cost. No man is an island. If men can connect with people, it gives them the ability to feel more connected to the world, and also to themselves.

So we exist to engage men in inclusion, to support them in building the skills of allyship, and to be honest about the systemic barriers that still exist for all genders in the workplace. We specifically start from a binary perspective and move beyond that over time.

We do this through delivering masterclasses that are more informational, busting myths and misconceptions, identifying barriers from our research, and highlighting the benefits of inclusion. Too often, inclusion is framed only around when it goes wrong, microaggressions, discrimination, poor behaviours, bad cultures, rather than amplifying the benefits of getting it right and doing it well.

We also create spaces and consult on engagement, whether that’s events, men’s networks, male partner networks, male strands, or male pillars. We host what we call creative spaces, where men can share their perspectives on inclusion without judgment, contribute their honest views, and express sentiments they might feel suppressed from sharing elsewhere. There are boundaries of respect, but it removes the sense of “I can’t say anything.” This lets them explore their beliefs, and as we go through that process with curiosity, we often find the root of resistance is linked to their own personal challenges, economic pressures, divorce, mental health struggles, fertility issues, lack of friends, caring for parents, and more.

If men don’t feel they can share these experiences, it can cause frustration that other challenges get more attention or visibility. In these spaces, they can connect, support each other, and see they’re not alone, because again, no man is an island.

We also look at what organisations can do systemically to get more men collaborating together. Our big mission, beyond those safe spaces, is to get everyone in the room together. It’s vital to shine a light on our blind spots, recognise that men and women are not homogeneous groups, and that there are massive intersecting identities within both. There are also common challenges across genders, and many issues that impact women in the workplace have a tail, end effect on men that often goes unconsidered.

If we can work together to address the gender stereotypes and norms that restrict us, many of which are at the root of these challenges, we can start to create a world where we can be who we truly are, rather than who we’ve been told to be. This will make us less judgmental, more curious about each other, and more able to explore what’s possible, bringing our own authentic expression into the world.

Lee: Yeah, so the word “allyship”, when I first came across it nine years ago, I didn’t like the term. It felt very militaristic, like “good guys versus bad guys,” a rallying cry of “join us and let’s blow them up.” That didn’t mirror my perspective on what I wanted to achieve.

I’d been on a personal journey, building a tech company, getting ill, learning to walk again, stepping out to become a stay, at, home dad, and through that, I began seeing the world differently. I realised there were many things I hadn’t seen or noticed before, a lot of unfairness in the world.

Initially, I resisted the term, but then I learned its root comes from the Old French word alliere, meaning “to combine, to unite, to come together.” That clicked for me. Allyship is about that collaborative, collective coming together, partnering with people for change, and partnering through difference.

Good allyship is multifaceted. It starts with personal work: unpacking your own conditioning, educating yourself on other perspectives without placing emotional labour on others. Then there’s allyship “in the moment”: thinking about who’s not in the room, who is in the room but not being heard, who’s being interrupted or not credited. It’s having the courage to bring someone in, amplify their voice, ensure they get the credit they deserve, and being mindful of who is doing work that goes unrecognised.

There’s also the systemic aspect, examining policies to see if they create more or less opportunity, and looking at processes like meetings, networking, promotions, project allocation, recruitment, and more. We all have different levels of systemic power to make change, but everyone has some ability to make change.

I see allyship as a skill to build, not an ideology to believe. We’re often beginners when it comes to the lived experiences of others, but over time we gain benefits from building these skills. It requires willingness to learn, humility, courage to challenge, and curiosity about what we don’t yet know.

Good allyship also means knowing when to step forward to challenge and question, when to step to the side to partner on change and projects, and when to step back to allow others to take the platform and lead. That ability to move fluidly, stepping forward, aside, and back, is the essence of allyship. It’s easy to get stuck in one of those positions, but true allyship is an agile skill.

Tony: I love that meaning of allyship! And your point about stepping forward, stepping to the side, and stepping back is a great one. A lot of people, maybe through fear of getting it wrong, default to stepping back, and I’ve done that in the past. Then, once you do step forward, the tendency might be to do it all the time or too much. So that’s a really good awareness point , I’ve learned something just from hearing that. Thank you.

Lee: In terms of good allyship, there are more great examples than we often appreciate. Sometimes those examples are small and easy to overlook, because we tend to think of allyship as lots of small, intentional, inclusive acts that build the skill set.

We don’t see allyship as making big sweeping statements, grand gestures, or one, off transformational changes. It’s about those micro, moments in the day, to, day. Yes, there’s a lot that could be improved, but even simple actions can be powerful, like seeing senior leaders openly say, “I’m going to pick my kids up” or “I’m taking time off with my children.” Especially for male senior leaders, that challenges stigma and models what I call “caregiving loudly.”

Other examples include men calling out sexist remarks in meetings and explaining why they’re problematic, or pulling women back into conversations when they’ve been interrupted, saying, “Hang on, you’ve just interrupted her, let her finish her point.”

Some of the most powerful examples of allyship, though, are the ones we don’t see, like changing policies or systems, or using institutional power to advocate for something you wouldn’t necessarily expect them to be passionate about. Those are moments when people put real skin in the game, because allyship can be uncomfortable.

If you’re going to build this skill set and take action, it’s going to feel risky at times. You might feel scared or unsure. In our research, fear is the biggest barrier to men stepping in. That’s understandable given the current climate, but fear can also be a signal to act. Today’s discomfort becomes tomorrow’s growth.

It’s important for men to see that allyship is a beneficial skill to build and to understand the potential personal benefits over time. That perspective can help turn discomfort into growth. While that might sound transactional or self, centered at first, we’ve seen that men who sustain their allyship journey often don’t know the benefits at the start, they discover them gradually, and that keeps them engaged.

Lee: Our social impact work as a company includes working with boys in schools. We’re passionate about that, because many of them are not far from entering the workplace themselves, a workplace that’s increasingly volatile, dynamic, and, at times, really challenging.

It’s a very different environment compared to the education system. These young boys have grown up in a fascinating but complex world. They’ve had a digital, first existence; social media has been present in their lives from the day they were born. Many of them have never experienced living on a street where they know all the neighbours, people of different ages, cultures, and political affiliations, and sharing those everyday connections, like a garden party. They haven’t had that exposure to difference.

Instead, they’re often algorithmically pulled into echo chambers of people who think and act exactly like them, manipulated, shaped, moved around, and sold to, growing into future consumers. At the same time, they’re living in a world where masculinity is unclear. The way it used to be isn’t how it will be in the future, but there’s no clear definition of what it is now. Many young boys are searching for answers during that crucial adolescent period, trying to figure out who they are.

We wanted to understand what it’s like to be a boy between 12 and 15 in the UK today. So we spoke to over a thousand boys, asking their perspectives on education, the future, technology, masculinity, and femininity, just to understand how they see these things. Our upcoming report will bring their voices to life, sharing their views directly, in their own words.

Ultimately, they too will benefit from building the skills of allyship in a world of disinformation and moral outrage, where they’re often told they’re hard done by. And yes, economically, it will be difficult for many young men to achieve what their parents did, given the current economic cycle.

But I take a lot of hope from speaking to them. They’re insightful, and I think we often undervalue their perspectives. More than ever, it’s a challenging time for them, but if we can support them through it, they can help us understand the world they want to live in. That’s why we need to work together across generations, something we haven’t always been very good at.

Lee: It’s going live on the 30th of October. We’ve got a launch event at the House of Commons.

Lee: Yes, there’ll be an accessible version available, which will be downloadable after the event.

Tony: How can businesses or potential employers get involved with Male Allies UK?

Lee: The best thing to do is connect with us on LinkedIn, where we share a lot of resources and perspectives. You can also visit our website, maleallies.co.uk, which has a range of resources.

Engage with us, because the most valuable thing we do is speak with people. We work across 13 different industries, so we see a wide range of perspectives, commonalities, and sector, specific challenges. Everything we do starts with a conversation.

We don’t gatekeep our lessons or knowledge, because we want companies to make this work relatable to them. The key is for us to connect and follow each other’s journeys. There might be a point where you’re looking to engage more men, or when allyship skills could benefit your culture, and at that point, we can partner and do something more formal.

Until then, it’s just good to be connected, to understand the work, and to know you’re not on the journey alone. This is meaningful work, and in these uncertain times, coming together is more important than ever.

Tony: Thank you so much, Lee. I’ve really enjoyed chatting to you and there are so many takeaways. Best of luck with everything and I look forward to reading the report when it’s live.

Male Allies UK is on a mission to normalise active allyship and cultivate gender equity within organisations and communities.

If you are a part of an initiative, brand or company that proactively champions diversity and would like to be featured as part of the “True Diversity” series please get in touch with Tony.
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About ‘True Diversity’ by ADLIB:
Our series, True Diversity, is dedicated to featuring the people, organisations, and initiatives that truly understand why Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (EDI) matter.

It’s no secret that creatives thrive on collaboration, culture, and team spirit. But when it comes to socials, too many of us fall back on the same old routine – a quick drink at the pub. Fun, sure. But does it really reflect the creativity and originality our teams live and breathe every day?

That’s where Yuup comes in. As a Bristol-based marketplace for local experiences, Yuup connects teams with independent hosts offering unique activities right here in our city. From hands-on workshops to unforgettable evenings out, Yuup makes it easy to plan socials that are as inspiring as the work your agency creates.

Working with clay is hands-on, playful, and grounding – the opposite of digital screen time. For creatives, it taps into the joy of making, sparks conversation, and encourages collaboration in a calm, open setting.

Cooking together builds collaboration under pressure while leaving room for fun and improvisation. For agency teams, it mirrors the creative process: ideas, execution, and presentation – with the added reward of sharing a meal together.

Escaping the city resets creative energy and helps teams see each other outside of daily routines. Fresh air and shared discovery are powerful for agency teams who thrive on new perspectives and storytelling.

This hands-on workshop encourages teamwork through creativity, patience, and shared discovery. From kombucha to kimchi, teams will learn ancient techniques with a modern twist, sparking conversations about flavour, culture, and process. Just like agency work, it’s about experimenting, refining, and enjoying the results together.

Removing sight forces teams to rely on other senses – and each other. It’s an exercise in trust, problem-solving, and adaptability, making it a uniquely bonding experience for teams used to thinking outside the box.

Guided by an expert, teams explore local landscapes while learning to identify edible plants and herbs. It’s mindful, surprising, and deeply grounding – a perfect antidote to screen time. For creative teams, it offers fresh perspectives and inspiration drawn directly from nature.

A relaxed, low-pressure space to sketch, laugh, and share ideas. For creative teams, it encourages vulnerability (nobody expects perfection), which builds trust and sparks new conversations beyond project briefs.

Printmaking celebrates experimentation and bold expression – perfect for teams who work with design and ideas daily. It encourages individuals to create side by side, with instant visual results that celebrate group creativity.

It’s playful, surprising, and guaranteed to make people smile. For creatives, this light-hearted experience breaks down barriers, reduces stress, and encourages teams to see the world (and each other) differently.

Exploring the city’s independent food scene gives teams the chance to connect socially while discovering new stories and flavours. It’s an experience rooted in place and culture – something every creative agency can appreciate.

The right social can do more than fill a calendar slot. It can spark ideas, strengthen culture, and remind your team why they love working together. Whether it’s creating, cooking, exploring, or simply laughing side by side, these experiences go far beyond a night at the pub.

A groundbreaking new festival is set to transform Bristol into an international beacon for technology, creativity and culture this October.

Taking place from from 6-11 October 2025 in and around Bristol’s Old City, BTF+ will offer an accessible and impactful experience for founders, technologists, creatives, investors and culture-makers.

The festival, curated by techSPARK in collaboration with Bristol Creative Industries and MyWorld plus headline partner Ghyston, will feature bold keynotes and panels alongside breakthrough tech demonstrations in several venues. They range from the prestigious Bristol Beacon and Bristol Old Vic to more intimate locations.

Attendees will experience cutting-edge tech showcases, immersive performances, live music and future-facing learning opportunities. Businesses involved will be able to speak, raise their profile and connect with potential partners and investors.

Inspired by legendary festivals like South by Southwest in Austin, BTF+, an evolution of the much-loved Bristol Technology Festival, is designed for start-ups, scale-ups, creators, storytellers, founders, technologists and anyone with curiosity about what’s next.

Whether attendees work in film or fintech, programming or performance, strategy or software, the festival provides a platform to grow businesses, launch ideas, discover emerging trends and help shape the future of their industries.

All profits from the festival will be reinvested into supporting local talent, start-ups and communities. It has been created with inclusivity and accessibility at its heart, through low-cost tickets and many free events to ensure broad participation reflecting Bristol’s spirit.

BTF+ is being brought to the South West with the intention of further cementing the region’s reputation as one of the most exciting and innovative not just in the UK, but in Europe. The event will look to drive growth, investment, and job creation across the region, emulating the impact seen from SXSW in Austin, Texas.

The compact city setting allows people and ideas to move freely, encouraging discovery and purposeful connections. Days will feature talks and workshops from regional talent across tech, creativity and culture, alongside national-level speakers sharing inspiration and insights. As evening falls, music and networking events will provide opportunities for attendees to connect, share experiences and celebrate together.

Bristol Creative Industries at BTF+

For our involvement in BTF+, we’ll be running an exciting two days of events on 7 and 8 October, with some high profile and inspiring speakers from across the creative industries. Look out for announcements over the coming weeks.

Early bird tickets for the BFT+ Summit which takes place on 6-10 October, and tickets to free events during the festival are available now. Find out more here.

One of the most common mistakes we see in immersive experience design is this: all spectacle, no soul. The lights are dazzling, the environment is beautiful, the tech is impressive. But something’s missing.

That something is story.

At Immersive Ideas, we believe narrative is the beating heart of a powerful experience. Whether it’s a theatrical show, a brand activation, a festival space, or an interactive exhibition, people need to know:

Why am I here? What is this world? What am I supposed to do with it?

Without those answers, even the most stunning environments can fall flat.

**The Role of Narrative in Immersive Design**

In traditional theatre, the story is front and centre. In immersive work, the story often surrounds you instead. But that doesn’t mean it should disappear. In fact, it becomes even more important, because the audience is no longer just watching, they’re in it.

A strong narrative:

Grounds people in the world you’ve created

Helps them understand their role or perspective

Guides behaviour and encourages meaningful interaction

Creates emotional connection and long-term impact

And here’s the key part: **even if your audience never fully sees or understands the story, you and your creative team still need to know it inside out**.

The internal logic of the world, the backstory, the rules, all of it matters. It acts as an invisible backbone. When everyone designing, performing, or producing knows *why* things are the way they are, the experience becomes richer, more coherent, more alive.

Audiences might not be able to articulate the story, but they’ll feel it. They’ll sense that this world makes sense. They’ll trust it. They’ll lean in.

This Applies to Brands Too

In experiential marketing, the term immersive gets used a lot. But too often, what’s actually being built is just a visually impressive space or activation, cool, yes, but sometimes a lil shallow. A brand might commission an activation with high production values and creative flair, super photogenic, but if there’s no narrative underpinning it, audiences walk away remembering the look, not the feeling.

Immersion isn’t just about aesthetics, it’s about emotional logic. If a guest walks into your space and doesn’t understand why they’re there, or what they’re part of, the moment doesn’t land. It becomes a photo op instead of an experience.

Narrative in this context doesn’t mean writing a script. It means understanding the purpose, perspective, and emotional arc of the guest. It means layering in meaning and intention. A well-designed brand experience should tell a story through its structure, its pacing, its language, its atmosphere. It should feel like stepping into a world that has depth, even if that depth is only hinted at.

What Happens When Story Is Missing

When narrative is an afterthought, audiences feel unanchored. They start asking questions that pull them out of the moment.
Am I allowed to touch this? Should I be doing something? Is this just for looking? Who am I meant to be?

This creates hesitation, not curiosity. Confusion, not wonder. It turns a space that should feel magical into one that feels awkward or unfinished.

We’ve worked on experiences that were visually stunning but emotionally hollow… until we added just a few layers of story. Suddenly, everything clicked. Audiences relaxed, interacted, cared. Because they understood their purpose in the space.

Start With Story, Not Stuff

It’s tempting to lead with the big ideas, the set piece, the wow moment, the cool tech. But those should always serve the story, not the other way round. We always ask our clients the same three questions at the start of a project:

Why are people here?
What world are they in?
What do we want them to feel when they leave?

Those answers shape everything else. From the layout of the space to the way performers interact, from sound design to signage.

Whether you’re producing a theatre piece or a branded experience, story creates meaning and meaning is what makes people remember.

Final Thoughts

A well-crafted narrative doesn’t just support an immersive experience. It is the experience. It’s the glue that holds it all together. It turns audiences into participants, spaces into worlds, and moments into memories.

If you’re building an experience and want to get the story right from the start, let’s talk. We’ll help you craft a world that feels real, purposeful, and impossible to forget, whether you’re making a new experience, launching a product, or creating a space your audience will genuinely connect with.

Sarah Morris – Immersive Ideas Ltd

Bristol’s culture sector generated £892.9m in economic impact in 2023/24.

The figure was revealed by Bristol City Council’s first culture impact survey, which said the findings demonstrate the vital role culture plays in the city’s development and growth.

Part of the impact was £122.4m in social value (benefits to wellbeing, education, employment, and environmental sustainability).

The council said the data will be used to support the development of a new cultural strategy and action plan for Bristol, and provide organisations with individual impact data to support funding bids, partnerships and long-term sustainability.

As part of the government’s industrial strategy and creative industries sector plan, the West of England gets a share of £150m to support creative organisations and businesses.

Culture sector members of Bristol Creative Industries

And, most recently, we’ve given ourselves a subtle-but-thorough branding refresh.

From a refocused strategy to a tweaked tone of voice, an updated identity to a brand spanking new website. It’s been an exercise in consolidation, clarity and the kind of brutal single-mindedness that we find ourselves forever reminding our clients to follow – but can prove so tricky to do when the tables are turned.

But all that effort and energy, blood, sweat and spreadsheets has got us to a point where every inch of our brand now has our essence imbued within it.

RENEWING OUR POSITIONING

Naturally, we started with our strategy. Putting people first has been a mantra that we’ve lived by for years – and that wasn’t about to change. But it did need defining. We’re certainly not the only agency that claims to put people at the heart of their creative, but the reality is, we do so much more than that. We dig deep. We delve into their lives to discover what they truly love. What they truly hate. Their ambitions, their anxieties, their desires, their doubts, their dreams.

“In an industry so often characterised by ego and bravado, ‘putting people first’ has been our subtle but strong rally cry. It’s not about us. It’s about the brands we build and the people they serve. With our new positioning, we’ve taken this one step further. We’ve articulated the ultimate benefit, for our clients, of this approach.”

REFRESHING OUR IDENTITY

To better reflect our new emphasis on connection, we wanted every element of our brand identity to communicate closeness, warmth and real, raw, human emotion – the highs, the lows, and everything in between. From our TOV to our photography, our palettes to our assets, wherever people encounter us, we want them to genuinely feel something. More than recognition, we want resonance.

“We get people. We truly connect with them. We take the time to listen, to observe, to understand not just what they do, but why they do it. And it’s only by understanding this behaviour, that we can build creative work that truly resonates. And it’s this idea that lives in the soul of our new brand identity.”

REBUILDING OUR WEBSITE

A contact page if you want to want to work with us, and one for if you want to work for us. With the support of fellow local agency Fiasco, we created a new site that stays true to that simplicity but with a little more to delve into. Now featuring a handful of recent projects that have proven to have connected with consumers and the key info about our Epoch Academy (our commitment to bringing the next generation of talent into the industry) – it’s single-minded, focussed and free of any unnecessary fluff.

Anyone that’s ever worked in branding will tell you that the hardest job is branding yourself. Upholding objectivity. Sticking to self-imposed deadlines. Allowing yourself to let go. And as we found – all of that is true. But as we also know, when you build your brand from a strategic starting point – a core purpose – it makes all that follows ‘make sense’.

From the amazing team that we’ve built up over the past 33 years to all the incredible work that we deliver. Creating meaningful connections is at the core of everything.

Earlier this year, Bristol Surf Cinema launched its very first event – a night dedicated to celebrating surf storytelling on the big screen. What started as a small, DIY project to bring people together around meaningful surf films quickly grew into something bigger, with almost 250 people buying for the inaugural screening in April.

The idea was simple: create a space to showcase surf films that go beyond the highlight reels, beyond the big brand edits – stories that dig into the social, political, and environmental threads woven through surf culture.

As a camera assistant working in film and TV and a lifelong surfer, I (Theo) set out to build something that connected those two worlds. In a time when the industry was unusually quiet, Bristol Surf Cinema gave me a creative project to get stuck into and a chance to pour energy into something that mattered. It was also a way to genuinely support filmmakers, every film we screen is fully licensed and paid for, and £1 from every ticket is donated to The Wave Project to help fund surf therapy for young people in the UK.

But perhaps what stood out most from the first event was how the Bristol surf community (and the wider ocean-loving crowd) showed up. Feedback from the night wasn’t just about the films, it was about the feeling in the room. People supported the event and made it clear they would like to see more. They wanted a space where all surf stories could be told, with better representation, better balance, and an even stronger connection to the community.

The next wave: July 2025

That’s where our second event comes in. On Saturday 12th July at Watershed Bristol, Bristol Surf Cinema returns with a matinee screening of Point of Change, a powerful documentary by acclaimed director Rebecca Coley. The film tells the story of Nias, Indonesia – a surf paradise that was ‘discovered’ in the 1970s and the environmental and cultural impact that unfolded for the local community as surf tourism in that area grew.

It’s a film that makes you think about the consequences of surf tourism — and we’re lucky to have Rebecca joining us on the day for a Q&A to explore those themes in more depth. Rebecca will be answering questions on her filmmaking process, handling delicate themes within documentary and the impact of tourism on the earth and native communities.

For those who can’t make the main event, we’ll also be running a catch-up screening on Wednesday 16th July — same films, just without the Q&A.

Both events will offer the opportunity for networking and drinks at the Watershed bar after the event so you can minglew with like-minded film or ocean enthusiasts.

Growing into something bigger

Bristol Surf Cinema was never meant to be a one-off. The ambition is to keep this platform going – to continue curating thoughtful, story-first surf films and to keep building a space where filmmakers feel supported and audiences feel connected.

Looking ahead, there are exciting plans for a national tour to bring these kinds of surf screenings to other UK cities and coastal towns. The vision is to grow Bristol Surf Cinema into a national platform, while always staying true to the ethos: supporting independent surf filmmaking, elevating underrepresented voices, and creating community-led spaces where ocean & surf centred stories, of all kinds, can be seen, heard, and shared.

Tickets for the July screenings are available now via the Watershed website: https://www.watershed.co.uk/whatson/13320/bristol-surf-cinema-point-of-change

To stay up to date with future screenings or to get involved, follow @bristolsurfcinema on Instagram.