The West of England’s first-ever Good Employment Charter has been launched by Metro Mayor Dan Norris as part of a push to develop good jobs, deliver opportunities for workers to progress and help local and regional employers succeed.
First to sign up is the world famous, four times Academy Award winning animation studio Aardman. Others already pledging their support include Visit West as well as Bristol’s Wake the Tiger, Bath’s Storm and Stoke Gifford’s Service Robotics.
The Charter has been designed by trade unions, employers and employees from across Bristol, Bath and South Gloucestershire.
Local firms big and small will be supported by the West of England Combined Authority, led by the Metro Mayor, to raise standards across a number of areas, including regarding recruitment and worker engagement, with a two-tier approach to help them progress.
The two tiers of the West of England Good Employment Charter are:
Tier 1: Supporters – working with aspiring organisations to help them take steps to improve their own practices, including through a personalised action plan, workshops and other events, raising employment standards across the whole region, to meet the requirements of accreditation.
Tier 2: Membership – requiring employers to demonstrate excellent practice in key characteristics of employment practice. These are:
Businesses receiving funding through the West of England Combined Authority’s investment funds will also now be required to become Charter supporters, confirmed the Metro Mayor.
Currently more than 15% of West of England workers take home less pay than the Real Living Wage, while an estimated 111,000 in the wider South West are on zero-hours contracts.
Metro Mayor Dan Norris said: “I’m delighted to see this manifesto pledge fulfilled. No matter what job you do, everyone deserves dignity at work, fair pay and secure work in a safe workplace with clear opportunities to progress and develop. I want to praise the brilliant employers we have in our region such as Aardman.
“Recognising those good employers and seeking to persuade everyone else to do the right thing is what this is all about. We know that employers who are best at properly supporting their employees are usually the most successful. So this a win-win for employers and employees. I welcome the employers ego have started the journey with us today, and I’ve no doubt that many, many more will join them soon.”
Aardman Managing Director Sean Clarke said: “We’re really pleased to support the Good Employment Charter and feel that improving employment standards is crucial for staff wellbeing, retention, engagement and productivity. Many policies such as the Real Living Wage and Secure Work have been in place for some time, which has already made a positive impact to the business.
“As an employee-owned business we are always looking to expand and improve engagement with the ‘partners’ in the studio and have various forums for partners to have a voice on the how the studio is managed and our business planning and priorities. Aardman is committed to providing a workplace where people and their ideas can really thrive.
“We believe that implementing these standards helps us to nurture our most important asset – our people – and ensures we are well placed to attract and retain our talent in an increasingly competitive talent market.”
Employers interested in signing up to the West of England Good Employment Charter should email [email protected]
Access Creative College, Condense and LocalGlobe have teamed up to offer Bristol students a Metaverse Development Scholarship to bring more diversity to tech.
Access Creative College, the UK’s leading games, music and media college, metaverse specialists Condense and venture capital fund LocalGlobe are offering up to eight fully funded scholarships to start in September.
To coincide with the launch, leading Bristol artists Lebo, Dread MC and Badliana were invited into Condense’s cutting edge metaverse environment on 26 July to perform.
Using a state-of-the-art 360-degree camera rig constructed by Condense, the three artists each stepped into a virtual landscape to record their own performance. It is the creation of these virtual landscapes and their live-streaming capabilities which Access Creative College are now offering the chance for students to study.
Jackson Armstrong, executive head of marketing at Access Creative College, commented: “What better way to celebrate the launch of this new scholarship programme than by having some of Bristol’s brightest upcoming artists perform in the metaverse, which our scholars will be working to produce.”
Kicking off in September, successful scholars will learn how to stream live events into one of the world’s most exciting new technologies, the metaverse. The successful applicants will take part in a 12-week programme, full of rich and intensive study, completely funded through the scholarship.
Jackson Armstrong continued: “When it comes to board positions within leading tech companies in the UK, the statistics are deeply concerning with the lack of gender split and those from ethnic minority backgrounds.
“We’re excited at the prospect of helping to change that through this new scholarship programme and we’re currently on the lookout for applicants to apply online.”
Scholars will learn digital graphics, 3D modelling, photogrammetry and textures, realtime VFX, plugin integration, in game/venue scaling and enhancing virtual worlds, enriching virtual worlds, interactions, spatial sound, player movement and networking basics.
James Tong, head of people at Condense, added: “You should apply for this scholarship because while everyone has a story to tell, not everyone has the same opportunities in life.
“This is an incredible opportunity to carve out a career in engineering and metaverse content creation. It’s a 12 week fully-funded intensive course, so you will meet other people with similar interests and ambitions, and it could even lead to a permanent job with Condense.”
Applications for the course are now open, and can be made through Access Creative College here.
GYDA is thrilled to announce its repositioning as a Mastermind-centred business. The relaunch which happened in June 2022, sees GYDA increase its focus from being a business consultancy who helped agency leaders through traditional consultancy methods, to one that focuses on peer-to-peer Mastermind groups for agencies leaders all over the world.
The relaunch was the culmination of a six month project initiated by the managing partners Robert Craven and Janusz Stabik.
Robert said:
‘Our experience of running Mastermind programs spans back over seven years and includes the renowned Google Elevator program. It made sense to pivot the business to focus on the tools that work for agency leaders. We continue to support our clients with additional 1-2-1 coaching and growth centered consulting.’
The project included an in-depth strategy phase where GYDA collaborated with their growth experts and agency clients. Followed by a rebrand project with TinyBrand.
Janusz said:
‘We were so excited to work with Jemma at Tiny Brand again. Helping us to solidify and refine our brand strategy, they went on to create a new visual identity and collateral for GYDA. We are over the moon with the results. Our beautiful new brand fits perfectly with our audience and confirms GYDA’s position as market leader for mastermind programs.’
Visit GYDA.co to learn more about GYDA Mastermind
Visit Tiny Brand
An explainer video is a wonderful thing. Done right, it can promote and simplify a complex product or service while dazzling your audience by showcasing your brand in motion.
We’re going to tell you a bit about explainer videos and what makes them a compelling tool for brands, as well as showing you some great examples produced by our Video and Motion Graphics team.
What is an explainer video?
Explainers are often confused with tutorials, but they serve a slightly different purpose. A tutorial is purely instructional. It’s there, for example, to tell you how to install an Isofix infant car seat when you’re running an hour late for an appointment – the importance of which cannot be overstated.
The objective of an effective explainer video is to bring a product or service to life in a way that drives engagement and inspires action.
This can be an especially powerful tool for companies whose offering or story is even harder to grasp. Take one of our more high-tech clients, Prysmian – a world leader in cable manufacturing. While they provide a fascinating range of services, the complicated language and intricate specifications can steal focus. That’s why creating an explainer video that gets to the core of what Prysmian does would add real value, cutting through the complexity and highlighting what really matters.
And because shoots on location have – for obvious reasons – become a bit challenging over the last couple of years, brands have begun to branch out and explore other storytelling media such as animation.
Animated explainer videos help to bring impossible stories to life – they can transport us to new worlds and introduce us to new ideas – and all in a way that yields tangible results. Offering up to 300% more traffic and possible leads, animated explainers are one of the best tools available to set you apart from your competitors.
Research shows that viewers are twice as likely to buy a product they’ve seen in an online video and four times as likely to choose Youtube, over other platforms, for information about a product or service. This gives us a clear indication that users want their product information in more digestible and dynamic formats.
Keep it simple.
Simple animations can pack a serious punch. While many believe animated explainers must involve either big-budget cinema-level CGI or garish cartoon characters Cbeebies would be proud of, that’s simply not true. There are various techniques and styles to adopt, and harnessing the power of simplicity may be exactly what your brand needs. Clean, punchy text sequences with elegant shape animations can deliver something really engaging that will resonate with your audience and propel your brand into the beyond. There is also real value in keeping your video short and sweet (ideally two minutes or less) and getting the core message in early.
Atomic Design: What is it and why is it important in 2022? video here.
Atomic Design: What is it and why is it important
Our explainer about Atomic Design is a good example of how simple graphics and a well-crafted script can effectively streamline a complex concept. This appropriately named approach to building modern websites, through the use of so-called ‘atoms,’ ‘molecules’ and ‘organisms,’ has countless benefits. But, as you may agree, a written explanation alone isn’t compelling or informative enough. Watching this video is much more enjoyable and crucially, more memorable than reading a wall of text. Plus, it’s more likely that the viewer will share it.
An Introduction To Bud’s Training Management Platform video here.
Bud Systems: Introducing Bud – Powering apprenticeship delivery
We love a good brand-led explainer video. Bud’s bold, clean branding meant we could use some technicolour flair to design an equally vivid video. We started by extending Bud’s multi-coloured logo form into a visual suite of colourful geometric shapes and key lines which capture the simplicity of the platform in an eye-catching yet understated way. We then brought these shapes to life with various motion techniques and sound editing, interspersed with shots of the platform in action. The resulting video echoes the vibrancy and enthusiasm Bud’s users rediscover in their work with the help of this all-in-one platform.
Motion: Breathe life into your website with motion design (2022) video here.
Motion: Breathe life into your website with motion design
Our explainer video about motion design on the web is a perfect example of the power of simplicity. Through the use of geometric shapes and clean, playful movements we demonstrate not only the practical examples and best practices but communicate the benefits of doing so in an effective, captivating way.
So, how do we approach explainer videos?
Concept
Every successful video starts with a great idea. We take your brief on board – or work with you to create one – and use it to craft a compelling concept with your brand, mission and audience in mind.
Script
Our talented copywriters will transform that idea or content into a script that’s fit for video. We can craft your entire script from scratch, or simply recommend amendments to an existing one.
Storyboard
Our team of creatives can begin to bring the finalised script to life. After choosing a style that fits the brand and concept, the video is mapped out scene by scene. This is an exciting stage where you get to see your story take shape, review the content and give feedback.
Production
Once we get to work putting all the magic pieces together, you can sit back and relax. Behind the scenes we’ll be taking care of everything, from tweaking keyframes, ensuring smooth transitions and sculpting audio to enrich the experience through to sourcing and directing voiceovers until we’re finally ready to export and review.
You finally have your explainer video and you’ve shared it with the world. Now what?
Well, it doesn’t have to stop there! You can repurpose, reuse and re-share that lovely content across a whole host of different platforms. Switch up the voiceover, translate it to different languages, make it vertical for Instagram reels – the options are endless, and you’ll have a suite of assets ready to wow.
What are you waiting for? Let’s get together to craft your message and make it stand out.
At AUK we not only make a meaningful difference through our work, but we have a strong focus on creating positive impacts on the health and wellbeing of our team. Our strong values surrounding health and wellbeing mean we get the best out of our day, both mentally and physically. Creating a working environment that supports good nutrition is key to AUK’s approach as it’s the backbone to how we function, especially as a creative agency. We need to get those creative juices flowing!
In 2021 we joined forces with Registered Dietitian & Nutrition Consultant Laura Clark to become our own AUK nutrition and diet advisor, guiding us on our learning and development. Laura has already helped the team take a look at the connection between mental health and nutrition, and this year we have a strong focus on maintaining our energy levels.
“How we choose to fuel our working day has the potential to have a profound impact on our productivity, energy levels and mental resilience. However, we seem to be fond of creating a structure in which we expect our brains to do it all simultaneously. Food should be tasted, savoured and enjoyed, if only for a few brief moments away from the keyboard. We tend to succeed more with all tasks that we decide to devote our attention to. Appetite regulation and energy management are no different.” Laura Clark, Registered Dietitian & Nutrition Consultant
Being an agency for all means we love to give back, so we wanted to share our ways of working to our AUK friends to give them a deeper understanding of our values surrounding nutrition and our approach to the work we create. Check out their thoughts:
“We spend a lot of our lives at work, so ensuring that we are fuelling ourselves with the best possible things to optimise energy feels really important to me, now more than ever after attending Laura’s talk. It also made me realise that it’s not just all about me. It’s about the impact I have on others too. If I’m running low on energy or having a slump, others will feel that impact too.” Kate Gray, Cookpad
“Good nutrition fuels our minds and bodies – our two biggest tools when it comes to doing impactful creative work. Feed your body, nourish your brain. It was great to see Laura take a realistic look at nutrition and wellness. She explained how to balance a diet that is realistic and sustainable for working professionals.” Alyssa Jaffer, Deliveroo
“Creating a flexible culture where breaks to eat at a time that is right for individuals, away from the desk and in a mindful way, is encouraged will foster empowerment to personalise wellbeing through food, which ultimately will benefit all.” Amanda Butterworth, Trust My Care
“Managing energy levels is key to productivity across a team, and nutrition plays such a huge role in this and affects everyone regardless of their exercise habits or sporting interests.” Simon Rollings, The Canned Wine Co.
“We all deserve the opportunity to fuel our brilliance. With small tweaks and an ethos that supports the foundational aspects of employee wellbeing, we can really set ourselves up for success,” says Laura Clark, Registered Dietitian & Nutrition Consultant.
The IPA has awarded Bray Leino Gold CPD status for the 11th time, in recognition of our ongoing commitment to the professional development of our people. This makes 2022 the fifth year that we can claim Platinum status – the highest industry accolade for gold-standard consistency.
The IPA’s Continuous Professional Development (CDP) accreditation is the yardstick against which the UK’s best Agencies are measured and awarded, recognising exceptional investment in employees’ professional development.
In 2021, amid the changing working practices of the global pandemic, we took the opportunity to re-examine what CPD means within Bray Leino. Yes, it is a powerful tool to help deliver business objectives, but more than ever we witnessed the direct link between achieving our commercial goals and the happiness and engagement of our people. And in a year when our focus simply had to be on wellness and well-being we were reminded that personal learning and growth is every bit as much tied to continual development as the professional variety. The full extent of our CPD programme – from apprenticeships and mentoring to ongoing reviews and enhanced training packages – is outlined in our IPA CPD submission booklet, Room to Grow.
The IPA described Room to Grow as “an extremely comprehensive and thorough submission from an Agency which places CPD at the heart of everything they do. Senior leaders show an impressive commitment to learning and development and their staff in turn benefit from a rich variety of training programmes and initiatives.”
We would like to acknowledge that the degree to which CPD was made possible remotely was the speed with which so many providers went online. The agility of providers – not least the IPA – was tremendous and provided us access to an enhanced range of training content. And our Agency’s existing CPD culture meant we were in the best possible position to take advantage of these new opportunities.
Kate Cox, CEO, says: “Our people are our business, personal development and earning are fundamental to our identity. On top of the individual training our people have undergone, we as a business have learnt some valuable lessons from the last two years, proving there’s always room to grow.”
We’re excited to share that we have launched a new academy, starting with positions for Junior Developers and Digital Marketing Executives.
Get hands-on experience that will drive your career forward while getting paid!
The first step is to find out more about the roles available and then apply to join an Academy Day.
Our Academy days make the interview process more inclusive, interesting, and (hopefully) fun!
Spend the day with our mentors, participate in activities with other guests, and show us why you’re a good fit for being at Torchbox.
There will be a baseline of knowledge and skills required depending on the role you’re applying for. The full criteria is included in the specification.
The Academy Days are running on the following dates:
Find out all you need to know and how to apply.
Launching in May 2022, YOU. is a unique community leadership programme designed to support young changemakers and business leaders in the creative industries through peer-to-peer coaching.
YOU / Culture & Creativity is one of two industry specific cohorts launching on 5th May. The programme runs over 8 weeks with all participants learning coaching skills together, combined with real-world leadership experience by coaching and being coached to support each other’s individual challenges.
The commitment is only 2 hours per week to attend online group coach training sessions with an additional 1 hour for peer to peer mentoring sessions arranged at your convenience.
Peer to peer mentoring ‘pairs’ (one business leader matched with one young changemaker) will provide a positive space for mutual learning to practise and refine coaching skills and support each other’s individual challenges and opportunities.
The programme is being delivered by Tomorrow and North Somerset Enterprise Agency, with all places fully funded through the UK Community Renewal Fund.
CHANGEMAKERS. Young people (18-35yrs) who are looking to make a change. Maybe explore a business idea, learn skills to develop a creative project in their community and currently living in communities in the North Somerset region.
ORGANISATIONS. Employees who are purpose-led leaders, managers or supervisors who are looking to improve their leadership skills with the tools to adopt a coaching approach in their work.
We are looking for 15 creative leaders who are looking to make a positive impact in their organisation or team culture; and 15 creative young changemakers who are exploring future creative careers.
In a rapidly changing world, entrepreneurs, changemakers and leaders of the future will need to be able to coach. Coaching skills form a valuable part of any leader’s repertoires of management tools, aiding effective working relationships with diverse teams and individuals. A coaching approach can enhance performance, improve working relationships and develop communications skills for the benefit of any future leader.
So, if you are an individual who is looking to break into the creative industries; or you are a business within this sector, looking to make a positive change, this programme is designed for you.
For full details, to contact us or apply now via www.youbethechange.co.uk
GYDA Initiative is delighted to announce the acquisition of Very Good Digital and Digital Agency Coach. The acquisition, completed in January 2022, sees two of the UK’s most prominent business growth experts for digital agencies, Robert Craven and Janusz Stabik, join forces to create one of the leading business consultancies for the Agency sector.
Robert Craven says:
‘We are super-excited! Acquiring this business gives us more firepower to help a greater number of agency leaders. Janusz and his team of expert consultants bring even more breadth and depth to the GYDA Initiative team. 2022 will see us become the leading growth consultancy for digital agencies in the UK and Europe.’
Janusz Stabik says:
‘Having worked with Robert and the GYDA Initiative for three years on projects with Google Partners and consultancy clients, I am delighted that my business has been acquired by Robert, and to become Managing Partner for the GYDA Team. 2022 will be an awesome year for the GYDA Initiative and our clients!’
Launched in 2013, the GYDA Initiative is a specialist growth consultancy working in the digital agency industry. The team of been-there-done-it digital agency experts, led by Robert Craven and Janusz Stabik, helps clients to run the agency they really want to run.
Already working across 23 countries, the Initiative is tasked with one goal… helping digital agency leaders to grow and run their agencies, and to do this smarter and faster. Build the company you want to run… run the agency you want to lead… lead the life you want to live.
Robert is known for his no-nonsense approach to business growth; he has worked with agencies and platforms from London to Dublin, from Singapore to New York. He is the author of Grow Your Digital Agency, and founder of the GYDA Initiative and GYDA Member Hub. His strategy and marketing consultancies, The Directors’ Centre and GYDA Initiative, help agency owners and directors to run the business they want to run, so they can live the life they want to live.
Robert writes from experience. His work with Google Partners over the last eight years has made him the go-to expert on growing digital agencies. Working with 150 of Europe’s leading digital agencies, he has identified the key characteristics of the ‘above-average’, and how to implement this in other agencies. GYDA Initiative supports you on your journey and provides the toolkit for becoming one of the above-average.
Janusz is a consultant, coach and digital strategist who helps agencies to deliver more value to their clients and shareholders. He works to define their vision, to grow high-performing teams, to execute projects better, and to sell more of the right kind of work. With over 15 years in the digital agency industry, he’s built, grown and exited his own agency, and now works exclusively with agencies in the creative sector.
As the lead coach for the UK and Europe Google Partners Elevator program, Janusz continues to guide and advise agency leaders on their growth journey.
Janusz joins GYDA Initiative as Managing Partner. Running a team of over ten consultants, Janusz will take the business into 2022 with a real sense of purpose, resulting in our clients’ greater success.
To find out more, visit:
+44 (0)1225 851 044
Ever feel like normal marketing advice doesn’t apply to you because you’re marketing something that’s not very… sexy?
It’s easy when you’re selling very technical products to feel like a lot of standard marketing advice doesn’t really fit your remit.
If this sounds familiar, you should come along to the Business as Unusual Webinar this month with the fantastic Andi Jarvis. He’s going to teach us how to write copy that converts the personas that you’re targeting.
Like every Business as Unusual, you’ll have a chance to ask any questions you’ve got for Andi in the Q&A at the end.
Date: 17th February 2022
Time: 3pm – 4pm
Location: Zoom
Register here: mnky.bz/bau
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