Whilst often overlooked for its more glitzy, good time cousins, Operations is the driving engine for business performance, achieving growth, diversification or simply survival in turbulent times.
Covid, in its wild merciless shake up, has altered the business landscape at speed, exposing the internal workings of organisations whilst providing new opportunities to adapt.
As we start to emerge into a new world, those businesses with robust operational frameworks will be better placed to take advantage of this, enabling them to survive and thrive.
Join us on Tuesday 30th June (11am – 12 noon) for a round-table with Charlotte Lavender, Operational Consultant and Director of The Lavender Partnership to hear and discuss how Covid-19 has brought operations into sharper focus and the opportunities it opens up for businesses.
Owners, MDs or senior directors of businesses with more than 10 employees. Numbers are limited to allow for a productive discussion.
This session is available to Bristol Media members only.
Please book via Eventbrite.
Whilst this is a free event, we’d be grateful if members would consider making a donation.
Although some of our members have been unaffected by COVID-19, we recognise for others this is still challenging business climate so we want to do what we can to support. As many will know, Bristol Media operates as a not-for-profit Community Interest Company and revenue comes solely from membership fees and events. We receive no other funding or financial support. We’re hopeful that the donation approach will allow all members to continue accessing our events whatever their financial situation whilst also allowing us to replace some of the revenue we’ve lost over recent months. All our speakers, give their time and expertise voluntarily.
Thank you for your continued backing and we hope that you’ll be able to support this approach and look forward to being able to deliver a series of worthwhile events that our members enjoy and importantly find beneficial to their businesses.
Charlotte advises successful organisations on how to reach their next stage of growth, through operational excellence, identifying the pain points and implementing change to unlock revenue & unleash talent. Prior to setting up the Lavender Partnership, she spent 20 years in both independent and network agencies including BBH, Grey and Ogilvy. Most recently she was Chief Operating Officer at Publicis before moving to Bristol last year. She’s advised clients such as Heineken, Amex and Ford on digital transformation and creating the right business models for success and as MD of an integrated agency, has first hand experience of remodelling agencies both large and small.
Bristol-based communications agency, Purplefish, has supported St Pauls Carnival on its announcement that it will be hosting an online programme of events for the local community.
The St Pauls Carnival team is excited to announce ‘Spirit Up! United at Home’, an online programme of events from the 20th June culminating on 4th July which would have been Carnival day 2020.
The 2020 Carnival was cancelled earlier this year when it became apparent that staging a mass public gathering would not be safe because of the pandemic.
The ethos of St Pauls Carnival has always been based around ‘community’, therefore organisers felt the magic of the annual celebration should not go unmarked in 2020.
The team has been working hard through lockdown to programme an alternative online celebration designed, as ever, to unite and inspire through a celebration of African-Caribbean culture.
Showing support for artists who have lost work since the lockdown has become a key part of the 2020 ‘Spirit Up!’ themed carnival.
The programme will start on 20 June and finish on Carnival day itself, 4th July – with a special showcase of events as we approach the big day itself.
St Pauls Carnival Spirit Up! will feature favourite carnival DJs and performers streamed directly into homes and bring friends and family together online in a joint celebration.
Carnival Day – 4th July 2020
Carnival Day 2020 will showcase an eclectic line-up of DJs and artists who have graced the St Pauls Carnival stages in years gone by alongside some new faces.
There will be a mix of pre-recorded and live-streamed performances including poetry, music, storytelling, arts and craft activities for the family and lively debate sessions. Organisers have put a schedule together which offers something for everyone. Full details and timings will be announced in the coming weeks.
St Pauls Carnival executive director LaToyah McAllister-Jones said: “We are really excited to be working with many of our much-loved local community artists to put on a two-week programme of Carnival-inspired art and performance.
“Our motivation behind this online series of events is to show support for our artist community who have been hit so hard by the reality of the pandemic.
“It is really important for us to show solidarity and support where we can. We also want to keep our community spirit up; we all need positive encouragement right now.”
St Pauls Carnival is also launching the 2020 Crowdfunder campaign, having raised money via its inaugural Crowdfunder in 2019.
The 2020 fundraising campaign will enable the organisation to continue its ongoing community work and schools’ education programme as well as look to plan for additional events as and when this is appropriate before next year’s carnival. To contribute to the Crowdfunder campaign and earn rewards and prizes click here: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/st-pauls-carnival-spirit-up.
St Pauls Carnival board director Dr Aylwin Yafele said: “COVID-19 has stopped play this year; as an arts and culture organisaton, we are committed to supporting both local and national public health policy.
“We are also thinking ahead to 2021 and what we have to do to come back bigger and better.
“It’s no secret that every year we have to fundraise 50% of the half a million total cost to put Carnival on each year. Carnival’s history, cultural significance and vibrancy are too important for Bristol to lose. We want our community and the city to get behind carnival. We ask everyone to give what you can and back your carnival.”
More details on how you can get involved in this year’s online ‘Spirit Up! United at Home’ Carnival will be released by mid-June.
Whether you’re looking for guidance on your business strategy, 1-2-1 mentoring/coaching sessions, financial tools and advice, or employee communications support from an experienced HR professional, take a look below at the free offers of support for agencies and creative businesses in the South-West.
Share your Pay it Forward initiatives with us and we’ll add them to this article. Keep checking back as we’ll be updating this page as we hear of more initiatives for the creative community in Bristol, Bath and the South West. Please help us #payitforwardBristol
Are you a Bristol Media member offering free drop-ins for creative businesses? Have you set up a virtual networking event to help people connect? Have some available time to help a young creative with their portfolio? We want to hear it.
Send Alli an email with details of your initiative, including a summary of what you’re offering, who would find it useful, your online link (this can be a LinkedIn post, tweet, blog etc), plus details for how people can get in touch. We’re focussing on support offers from individuals and organisations within the Bristol Media membership community.
We’ll be regularly adding to this blog so keep checking back for updates.
#payitforwardBristol
The above information is being provided as a convenience and for informational purposes only; it does not constitute an endorsement or an approval by Bristol Media Group CIC of any of the services, products, or opinions of the individuals or organisations mentioned.
(Photo by “My Life Through A Lens” on Unsplash)
This summary first appeared on the SearchStar blog on 24th March 2020…
All of you, no doubt, have been thrown a curveball or two – or perhaps more – by the unfolding COVID-19 outbreak. SearchStar is no different, with the future of ADFUTURES20 cast into doubt and our event partners making murmurings – rightly – of cancellations.
What a shame it would have been to cancel ADFUTURES20, give the success of FacebookXADFUTURES earlier in the year. So, turning a challenge none of us were expecting into a positive for everyone involved, we decided to take YouTubeXADFUTURES online.
What a fantastic decision that turned out to be. With just two weeks to work with, we took what was going to be an intimate in-person event at Google HQ and turned it into a webinar for all, welcoming a far larger 150 people into the “room” for a morning of insight and product announcements.
With Google and YouTube involved, this was no ordinary webinar; NDAs needed to be signed, addresses gathered for swag and prizes to be won.
Unfortunately, because of the required NDA we’re unable to simply share the video in this blog post. But if you would like to watch and discover more about the future of YouTube and video advertising, and don’t mind signing on the dotted line, please just get in touch >>>
As a quick teaser of all the glorious content inside, below you’ll find a quick summary of everything Dan talked about, followed by the synopsis of each of the talks from Google and YouTube. What isn’t below is Rob Langan’s Intrepid Travel case study, to see that you’ll have to watch the webinar!
Dan Fallon, SearchStar
Dan started his State of Youtube presentation by highlighting just how shrewd Google’s $1.6bn 2006 purchase of the business was. Indeed, the platform took $15bn in ad revenue in 2019 alone, and that figure is growing.
But why is it so successful, and why does it continue to grow?
Firstly, tv simply isn’t what it used to be – its ability to reach and deliver ROI is eroding. To illustrate that, achieving an 80% reach in 2013 cost £1.1m. Today, that reach would cost £2.7m. Addressable YouTube makes far more sense to get the reach.
Secondly, YouTube is far more accessible to smaller businesses. A huge number of “start-up” businesses have seen huge success on YouTube. For them it simply makes sense. They can push very targeted content out to a closely defined audience. With YouTube you can be a big brand to some people – those who matter – and totally unknown to audiences who aren’t in your target market.
The other joy of YouTube, for Dan, is the platform’s ability to work across the entire funnel. You can craft creative that targets every step of the customer journey, from brand awareness, to more in-depth explainer videos, right through to sales messaging.
Roxanne Brownlee, Google
YouTube is not just an online streaming platform. Every day, a billion hours of content are consumed on YouTube – this incomprehensibly large number is 6x the daily global watch time of Netflix. YouTube is a cultural phenomenon which has disrupted linear TV, community building, social influence and consumer behavior. This talk will show you how. Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of YouTube.
Kelsey Bowers, YouTube UK
“On YouTube, people watch what they want to watch. And they aren’t an easy audience—the entire internet and every other video on YouTube are just a click away.” What makes a great YouTube creative? Kelsey will deep-dive into the ABCDs of effective YouTube creative; how to attract, brand to, connect with and direct action from your audience.
Subir Majumdar, YouTube Ads
You can’t always outspend your competitors, but you can out think them. Subir will talk through what success on YouTube looks like, the best in class features, and how you can construct a winning strategy, whatever your marketing goal.
This summary first appeared on the SearchStar blog on 24th March 2020…
In light of the current news surrounding COVID-19, we’ve made the decision to postpone all Bristol Media events until further notice.
Our events rely on collaboration so ensuring our members, facilitators and venues feel safe is our highest priority and we want to ensure the best possible experience for those attending.
Obviously we’re disappointed but this is the right thing to do.
No event is more important than the health of our creative community so we’re doing the sensible thing. We all have a responsibility to look out for others and we hope that you’ll continue to support Bristol Media and other local businesses. Please be particularly mindful of freelancers and small businesses in Bristol and the South-West who will be impacted by the developing situation.
The following workshops will be postponed until further notice:
We are in the process of issuing refunds for all upcoming workshops.
You should receive a refund via the original payment method within the next ten days, please get in touch if this does not happen.
Please note: If you paid via Eventbrite, their policy states that the admin fee is non-refundable, however we understand this does not apply for cancelled events so you should be refunded the complete amount.
As soon as we have confirmed new dates for each workshop, we will contact the original ticket holders prior to tickets going on sale. You will then have the first chance to rebook onto the workshop. If you choose not to rebook, we will release the ticket to the community.
We’ve contacted all attendees, speakers and facilitators via email with more specific information about postponing planned events but feel free to contact us if you have any other questions. Contact Us
Since its launch as an alternative music festival in 2009, Boomtown Fair has grown into one of the world’s most recognised ‘experience festival’ brands, each year giving rise to an entire theme-town bursting out of the Hampshire hillside. As well as hosting world class musical acts like Gorillaz and Wu-Tang Clan, Boomtown Fair also presents the most theatrically immersive festival experience on earth. It includes live theatre, movie-like sets, immersive actor driven experiences and ARG gamification.
The event has spawned a mass following on social media and a host of one night music and theatre events throughout the year, at their Bristol venue Area 404. As the festival grows exponentially, it has become a serious contender for the Glastonbury Festival crowd.
As part of its strategy for growth, AgencyUK has been appointed to help develop the Boomtown proposition, placing festival goers at the heart of its brand marketing activity. By analysing their fanbase and sales information they will create data driven strategy for digital, media and on-site experiences.
Sammy Mansourpour, managing director, AgencyUK, explained: “Boomtown Fair has a very creative team in house and their focus has always been on making the festival a bigger, more engaging and immersive spectacle each year. Having grown organically over a decade, the festival has become a right of passage for many young people first entering the festival scene. Over time they have grown up and the festival has naturally evolved to appeal to a wider audience, but it’s never been actively marketed in that way.
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“We’ll be working with Experian to profile their audience data, segment their fanbase and ensure the performance media selected delivers the right message and ticket sales. Our role is more than just advertising, it includes customer journey mapping, web interface design and development. We have an amazingly ambitious and passionate client team matched only by our enthusiasm to make Boomtown Fair a household name.”
Anna Wade, marketing director for Boomtown Fair, explained: “Boomtown Fair, unlike most music festivals, diversified into a theatrical experience early on. This has made our festival unique with global appeal. We are always pushing the limits of what we can do, and part of that is relying more heavily on data intelligence to inform our content, artistic performances, music acts and on-site gamification. Our mobile app, website and social channels have become our most valuable ecosystem for data mining. We just needed the right partner to help us plan our future, structure our marketing and grow our brand.”
Boomtown Fair 2020 kicks off on 12 August, with tickets available online at https://www.boomtownfair.co.uk/.
AUK is an integrated brand communications agency. Founded in 2008, they have been ranked the UK’s number 1 independent agency for four years. Their appointment by Boomtown Fair is the latest in a string of new client wins. In January the agency announced they will be relaunching sweets brand Chewits to UK consumers on behalf of their new owner, the historic Swedish confectionery company Cloetta.
Now in our 10th year, once again we are delighted to have collaborated with World Book Day on their website for 2020. Eight months of strategy, development and design concludes with over half a million unique visitors to the website on the day itself — we are proud to see the website grow year on year.
This is the third year of their ‘Share a Story’ campaign to encourage children to share stories with people in their lives for ten minutes every day. To celebrate this, the nation is currently joining the Reading Revolution to help World Book Day ‘Share a Million Stories’ — which has featured on a number of publications including ‘The Beano’, and ‘The Week Junior’.
There have been lots of exciting additions to the site this year, including:
Celebrate stories. Love reading.
We will cover the best way to collaborate and work with other freelancers and give you tips on how to agree reasonable terms with your clients. The talk will also provide guidance on GDPR and relevant data legislation, best practice policies, and the impact of the new IR35 legislation for freelancers who operate via a personal service company, and their clients.
The workshop will be run by Bristol Media member and lawyer, Rebecca Steer, from Steer and Co. All attendees are welcome to a free of charge follow-up call on any specific contract or legal question.
This legal workshop is recommended for Freelancers, start-ups, existing SME’s, and anyone involved in either running or setting up a small-medium sized business in the Creative, Digital and Tech sectors.
This workshop will be held between 3-5pm on Tuesday 21st April at Zone, The Brew House, Tower Hill, Bristol BS2 0EQ. Tickets are £25 +VAT for Bristol Media members, £40 +VAT otherwise. Places are limited. Tea/coffee will be provided.
There will be a Q&A after the session, plus time to chat with Rebecca directly if you’d like to discuss specific issues affecting your business.
A specialist commercial, media and technology lawyer with considerable in-house counsel and private practice experience, Rebecca Steer is a leading expert for Technology, IP and Media and is ranked as one of the top 10 lawyers in Bristol and the South West for IT and IP.
**TWO PLACES LEFT – BOOK HERE**
Presenting work can be a challenge for even the most experienced presenter. Creative industry professionals come up against numerous obstacles when presenting work – extensive rounds of internal approvals, the confidence to present an effective message, and not to mention the client’s ability to kill the creative idea in one fell swoop. But how do you ensure your work sees the light of day?
Led by former TBWA Executive Creative Director Tom Evans, during this 1-day course you’ll learn how to present your work persuasively to increase the odds of your ideas making it to the outside world. It’s an ideal workshop for those looking to develop (or brush up on) skills for creative pitching, where you’ll emerge as a more confident and more competent presenter.
The 1-day workshop is on Tuesday 31st March from 9.30am – 5pm at Foot Anstey, Glass Wharf, Bristol.
Tickets £249 +VAT for Bristol Media members and £349 +VAT for non-members. Places are limited to 15 so book early to avoid disappointment. Lunch and refreshments are provided.
**This event has sold out. If you didn’t manage to book your place, please add your name to the waitlist HERE and we’ll be in touch if a ticket becomes available**
This interactive workshop will help creative business professionals understand how businesses make money. We’ll consider the implications of your pricing approach and how the everyday decisions you make affect the bottom line and impact client relationships. Mette Davis, will share different pricing models, strategies and tactics, as well as practical advice on ways to communicate them effectively without compromising relationships.
By the end of the workshop you’ll have the tools and confidence to deliver a positive impact on your profitability.
Tuesday 28th April from 9am – 1pm at Amdaris, Finzel’s Reach, Bristol.
Tickets are £120 +VAT for Bristol Media members, £160 +VAT otherwise. This is a small, interactive workshop for up to 20 people so book early to avoid disappointment. Refreshments will be provided.
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