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
There are two basic ways of setting a price for a product. Either a business can calculate the manufacturing costs, add a profit margin, then use that calculation to set a price. Alternatively, a business can look at competitor prices, set a price that is competitive with those rivals, then work out how to manufacture to meet that price.
I doubt though that many consumers pay much attention to either of these approaches. Instead, consumers largely evaluate a price through reference points. For a consumer, value is not necessarily based on manufacturing cost for example, but what they think the product is worth in relation to something else.
For me, this is a starting point for studying the field known as behavioural economics i.e. working out how consumers assess value. There are many theories that explain the influences on the assessment of a price, such as how a price is ‘framed’, whether the product is ‘scarce’, or even whether it ‘signals’ high quality. I’ll go into some of these in future blog posts.
For now though, consider some practical examples. Most of us could buy a reasonable, newish car (four wheels, power steering, speeds of 70mph etc) for around £10,000, possibly less. Is a £50,000 sports car good value then? Well if you simply want to travel from A to B, you could argue no. But if other dealers are selling the same sports car for £60,000, suddenly the price looks good. It’s still £50,000 for a vehicle that essentially goes from A to B, but the reference point has made a difference.
Another example that provokes a lot of discussion: the price of petrol. I know people who will often remark about a 5p rise in the price of petrol perhaps costing them another £3 each visit. Yet, when my local petrol station began selling coffee for about £3 per cup, many customers decided that paying an additional £3 for an additional coffee was no problem. This is probably some form of ‘mental accounting’ process: I suspect petrol is seen as an expensive and painful necessity; coffee is an enjoyable caffeine boost.
Lastly, scale also makes a difference. When haggling with a vendor to buy a house, most of us wouldn’t think for too long about paying an extra £5,000 over the asking price to secure the house of our dreams. But if I added £5,000 to your water bill (bearing in mind that we all need water to survive) you’d probably protest in the streets! £5k when set against a large figure is a smaller proportion and therefore less scary. But it’s still £5k!
There is much more to say on these points, but this is a blog post rather than a book. I’ll save some for future posts. If you’re interested in discussing this or any other points regarding marketing and psychology, let me know.
First event: 10th February 1.30pm – 2.15pm
Bristol-based web design and development agency, Unfold has just launched a brand-new events series, Below the Fold. The series centres successful business people, giving them a platform to share learnings from their journeys. Hosted by Unfold’s founder, Harry Cobbold, these events aim to educate and inform attendees with insider knowledge and tips for success.
What it takes to get your business acquired
The first episode in the series will see Gapsquare’s Zara Nanu taking the guest seat, with Harry interviewing her on Gapsquare’s recent acquisition and what it takes to build and acquirable business.
You can catch the event on 10th February 2022 from 1.30pm – 2.15pm. All events in the series will be held virtually via Zoom for the foreseeable future. If you can’t make the date, you can register in any case and you will be sent the session recording following the event.
Register for the event here.
The new ‘Intro to Game Art’ short course will give you an insight into the world of game art, exploring the range of roles and essential skills needed to get you started when exploring a potential future career in game art. There is a host of exciting modules that your tutor will guide you through, including:
Planning and producing work to a design brief.
Working in the games industry
Concept art for computer games
Modelling for computer games
This new and exciting programme is designed to equip individuals (aged 19+) with the technical skills, knowledge and understanding needed to produce digital content across several platforms, ensuring you can use social media most effectively for your small business, sports team or trade.
This course will provide a great opportunity for you to develop media production techniques, such as camera operating (on mobile devices, DSLR cameras and broadcast cameras), video editing, graphics and motion graphics to produce content for Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and more. There is a host of exciting modules that your tutor will guide you through, including:
Planning your Project
Camera Production Techniques
Sound Recording Techniques
Editing Techniques
You need to load content from reCAPTCHA to submit the form. Please note that doing so will share data with third-party providers.
More Information