For many of us, the season of good cheer comes with the stirrings of looking ahead and contemplating new year’s resolutions. Various studies indicate that 50% of us make resolutions only for 20% of the cohort to follow through beyond February.
Surprisingly, we rush to set resolutions without stopping to consider properly our current status. To my mind, the drop off statistics are explained not by weakness of will, but rather by a lack of an informed resolution choice. It’s a bit like getting in a car for a long journey without bothering to check the fuel gauge.
If we knew where we stood on a few key life headings (exercise, sleep, relationships) before making bold promises, we’d be able to set the right direction and stay the course well beyond the arbitrary 12 months.
Before you rush to make pledges for 2022, why not check in with yourself meaning your resolutions will be from a position of insight and strength? If you need a helpful tool or two, do get in touch.
One of the big benefits of Bristol Creative Industries membership is the ability to self-publish content on our website. We’ve seen lots of great content published in 2021 including some brilliant business advice. Here are the 20 most popular posts of the year.
Chase Design Group examines the legacy that COVID-19 will leave for brands, and what newly adopted trends and ways of communicating should stay with us. Read the post here.
Having a strong organisational structure in place is key to growing your digital agency. Janusz Stabik explains your options and how to know which structure will guarantee employee and customer satisfaction and allow you to scale your marketing agency. Read the post here.
Carnsight Communications is one of the most prolific BCI bloggers so it’s no surprise that the business has made the top 10. In this great post, company founder Jessica Morgan outlines what her previous career in marketing taught her about public relations. Read the post here.
After the couple of years we’ve all had, the mental wellbeing of employees is increasingly concerning. Armadillo explains how the approach to mental health in the workplace needs a culture change. Read the post here.
Janusz Stabik makes his second appearance in the top 10 with tips on how digital marketing agencies can attract high-quality clients. Read the post here.
In another post from Carnsight Communications, learn five key things to remember when looking to secure engagement on LinkedIn. Read the post here.
Looking for your business to make headlines? OggaDoon shares top tips on how to write the perfect press release. Read the post here.
Brands can’t lead the conversation on social media, says AMBITIOUS in this great post. Read the post here.
“As joint leader of an independent agency, 2020 meant sleepless nights. But it provided opportunities to inspire others and galvanise our team,” says Andy Brown, chief financial officer at Armadillo, in this post outlining leadership tips for 2021 that will also serve us well in 2022. Read the post here.
How can an entrepreneur attract the perfect investor? Gravitywell outlines six qualities investors look for in tech startups. Read the post here.
Want to post your own content on the Bristol Creative Industries website? Become a member.
Some B2B brands find social media a challenge but there’s lots that you can do as this post by AMBITIOUS shows. Read the post here.
The winning agencies will be the ones with an uncompromising focus on their culture, looking at how they can support their people to be their best selves and do era-defining work, says Tonic Creative Business Partners. Read the post here.
If there’s anyone who knows about being successful at blogging, it’s Helen Savage from Blog Write Ltd. She shares some great tips. Read the post here.
OggaDoon shares a list of 10 essential features you didn’t know you could use with Google Ads. Read the post here.
Sparro House Creative Ltd outlines three tips to improve your content marketing. Read the post here.
If your primary audience is other businesses, then case studies are the perfect tool for creating authority, building trust and delivering social proof. George Devane shares some tips. Read the post here.
The phrase ‘SEO; now covers optimisation strategies and techniques on a wide range of different websites including Instagram. Varn outlines how to improve your SEO on the social media platform. Read the post here.
Leaders and managers have often received little to no training in how to have a ‘difficult’ conversation and so we end up avoiding the situation altogether until it becomes really serious. That can mean getting into performance management, grievance procedures or even worse. Jonathan Rees shares advice. Read the post here.
Chris Thurling from Armadillo provides his advice on what to consider when seeking out a marketing agency that’s suitable for your business. Read the post here.
As you prepare to hit send on your latest business mailing, ask yourself whether it would pass the ‘hover test’. Here are five easy ways, shared by Carnsight Communications, to make sure it does. Read the post here.
Please respond to our new survey about the creative industries in Bristol and Bath. It will help us design – and advocate for – future support for the creative economy in our region.
This year we are celebrating Studio Giggle’s 15th Birthday. Like all great British ideas, the company was conceived in a pub over a beer. It was born out of a desire to create work on the cutting edge of technology and creativity, which is still at the very core of what we do.
When I asked Steve about the intriguing name, he smiled; it’s a question he’s been asked many times.
“Giggle really sums up the way we work. Creativity should be fun! It is often stressful, but by keeping a sense of humour and a lightness to our approach, we can make the whole process more enjoyable for everyone involved.
The creation of The Giggle Group wasn’t a spur of the moment decision. Steve had honed his skills over ten years, starting in theatre then working for various production companies as an editor, director and writer. He met James Carnaby and Adam Castelton, who helped him set up the company and whose continued support and advice are always welcomed. It was this experience that prepared Steve to open The Giggle Group in 2006.
In 2013, two worlds collided as Steve met Jonathan Brigden on a flight to Dubai as part of a UKTI creative industry mission. Jonathan had been running his own company, Knifedge, for 19 years. Knifedege created immersive and innovative events and groundbreaking projection content for an impressive list of global clients. It was evident that Steve and Jonathan shared similar creative ambitions, a love of immersive and live events and most importantly, a sense of humour. We also moved to our current home in the heart of Bristol’s creative community at The Paintworks.
In 2014 when Jonathan and Steve decided to merge their companies, they could create one cohesive animation and event machine.
In 2017 a new era of Giggle began when we rebranded from ‘The Giggle Group’ to ‘Studio Giggle’. This better reflected the growth and transition of the company over the years, from film to animation to creative studio. The “Studio” part of the name was to draw attention to the incredible team, which enabled us to deliver our award-winning work.
In its 15 years, Giggle has weathered some major global events. In 2008 Giggle overcame the financial crash by switching the company’s focus to animation over film production. In more recent years, the Giggle team showed extraordinary skill and creativity during the early days of the COVID19 pandemic. This was a challenging time for the company as we shifted to a remote working model and pivoted our production pipeline to deliver virtual events. This resulted in our most successful year to date. We won Manchester United as a new client, we hired 4 new staff members and developed XR and Virtual production solutions, all in just 6 months.
Studio Giggle in 2021 is a very different company from The Giggle Group of 2006. We now have offices in Bristol and Brighton, with our own Green screen virtual production studio which doubles up as our R&D test space. We can deliver live and virtual events anywhere globally, producing work for some of the biggest brands on the planet. As 2021 comes to an end, and we take a moment to celebrate 15 years of Giggle, we also look to the future. We intend to continue to create spectacular content for both live and virtual events, combined with beautiful animation and film with storytelling at their heart. We aim to always be at the forefront of our industry. We will continue to research and develop new technology solutions that can enhance the work we create for our clients.
We would like to take this momentous occasion to thank all of our team, suppliers, partners, freelancers, family and friends but especially our clients. Their continued trust and belief enable us to evolve and grow in ways we could never have imagined.
Roll on 2036 for our 30th Birthday!
If this has inspired you to work with us then please contact [email protected] or call 0117 972 0081.
Anne Thistleton, the founding partner of LIGHT Consulting who has spent over 20 years as a marketing practitioner in the field of mind science, joined us from South Africa for an online event where she shared fascnating insights about how understanding the way the human mind works can help creatives build more effective campaigns. Dan Martin summarises her brilliant advice
Anne opened her talk with the story of the 2007 experiment which saw world-renowned violinist Joshua Bell pose as a busker in a Washington DC subway. Despite usually being able to command audiences paying thousands of dollars to see him play, out of 1,097 people that passed by, just 27 gave him money, and only seven stopped and listened for any length of time. In total, he made $52.17, $20 of which was from one person who did recognise him.
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So why did that happen? “People didn’t hear him because we don’t hear with our ears,” Anne said. “We listen with our ears, but we hear with all of our senses. They are constantly sending information into our mind, enabling us to connect the outside world with our memory and make sense of the world…influencing how we act and how we react.”
The people in the subway, Anne explained, were getting clues about what was going on at an unconscious level. They were telling them that they were in the subway and connecting with memories of seeing past performers who they passed by and didn’t have time to stop and listen to. Joshua Bell was just another busker.
Anne shared more examples of mind science in action:
In Australia, Mcdonald’s increased the price of a cup of coffee from $1 to $2 and sales doubled. A colleague of Anne’s visited and said the “coffee even tasted better.”
A study of a Cinnabon store found when someone was close enough to take in the aromas of the bakery products, they were three times more likely to help someone with a problem or question compared to customers in other parts of the shopping centre.
In a print ad for a delivery company, a clock was put on the wall in the image. It was “a clock that no one can consciously recall but when asked to describe what they remember from the print ad, expectations of speed and service increased by 50%”.
During a two week experiment in a supermarket, French music was played for the first week and 77% of wine sales were French wine. The next week they played German music and sales of German wine increased by 73%.
A study by a team of Yale professors showed that when an offer price by a customer to pay for a new car was rejected by the salesperson, buyers sitting in a soft chair at a car showroom increased their offer by 40% compared to those sat on a hard chair.
Why did all that happen?
“While we as marketers have been stuck in the dark ages of decision making, the good news is that there has been a complete explosion in mind science and how the brain works,” Anne said. “And the undeniable headline is humans are not rational decision makers. We’re not even rational thinkers.”
Take the example below. If you were asked out of the two tables which one you’d like to take a nap on and which you’d prefer to eat pizza from, you’re likely to pick the one on the left for the first question and the one right table for the second. But as the image shows, they are exactly the same size.
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“Even though the image shows the tables are the same size, you still can’t see it,” Anne said. “It demonstrates that in many instances we are still unable to see things in a logical, rational manner.
“Our mind is the most complex system in the world. But with just a few basics, I believe it can materially change how you look at communication.”
The science behind why the above results occurred can be explained by mind science. Watch this video with Anne outlining it in detail:
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Now we know how the science works, here’s why the results above in the five examples occurred:
McDonald’s $2 cup of coffee: “Over time, our minds have been trained to know that a high price means high quality and vice versa. And at that point in time $2 was an abnormally high price for a cup of coffee in McDonald’s, but not in Starbucks. As the “Starbucks node” has already been created in the mind of the audience, where expensive coffee means good coffee, then the $2 primes them for a good cup of coffee. McDonald’s can’t sell a bad cup of coffee, make it expensive and pass it off for a great cup of coffee, but they can make a good cup of coffee that can become a great cup of coffee because of the cues that they’re priming their audience with.
Cinnabon: “Aromas of fresh baked goods lights up powerful memories of home and family which makes you feel good. So when someone asks you for help with something, you’re going to do it because you’re already in a much better mood.”
Delivery company print ad: “In Western society, clocks have become associated with timeliness. The clock implicitly lights up this idea and the core message of speed and service, which is exactly what the company is trying to do with that print ad. Even the background items, the ones you can’t recall, are picked up by our non-conscious processor and can have a significant impact on the message.”
Wine sales: “Just like the clock on the wall was bypassing the customers’ conscious visual processor, the French and the German music wasn’t consciously registering either but it was lighting up those ideas via people’s auditory processor. French or German-related memories were guiding customers to those specific shelves.”
Car buying: “We take on information through our sense of touch all the time, whether actively as we’re touching something or passively such as being seated in a chair. It turns out that the hard chair equals a hard heart. It triggers feelings of duty, stability and toughness. For your next salary negotiation, may I suggest you look for that hard chair so that you don’t give it too easily.”
Anne concluded: “The important thing for all of this is that it’s the non-conscious processor that’s wielding the enormous influence. That’s what’s driving so much of our decision making. That’s where the power lies.”
So what steps can you take to use mind science to improve your marketing and creative campaigns?
For every piece of communication you send out, ask what are you lighting up and do it from all of the five senses. Do a sensory audit, Anne said. “Think through every single single sense and it’ll be amazing what it will eliminate.”
Although an exaggerated example, Anne said say you were running a condom brand. Your options for a message on the front of the packaging are ‘5% failure rate’ or ‘95% success rate’. “If you ask the question of what are you lighting up, do you want to be lighting up failure or do you want to be lighting up success?”.
“Focus groups, online mobile surveys, brand tracking. The problem is these traditional methodologies are all talking to the conscious processor because we thought that’s what drove action. But remember, when you talk to the conscious processor and you ask people who’ve just bought either French or German wine did music influence your choice, 86% are going to say no. But that’s isn’t the case because you monitored the behaviour and the only thing that changed between one and two was the music.”
Examples of research which led to failures include Heinz’s green ketchup. The company failed to understand how colour influences a decision, Anne said.
‘New Coke‘, a new recipe for Coca Cola, is another example. “It was the most highly researched new product of its time; 40,000 interviews and $4m spent. It was an incredible disaster because they didn’t realise they were talking to the conscious mind. The brand is so much more than just what is inside the can and defined by a taste test.”
Anne said methodologies that can help you surface what’s happening in the non-conscious processor include metaphor elicitation, implicit association testing, biometrics, eye tracking and facial coding.
The first principle for connecting is that it must be easy, tell simple stories and don’t make them hard to understand. “Stories are the glue of our memories,” Anne said. “It is how knowledge was transferred before the written word. Stories speak to the rhythm and the patterns of our mind.”
Secondly, it must be sticky. Make it memorable. “It’s got to get into long term memory to drive behaviour,” Anne said.
Thirdly, you must then repeat and repeat until it makes a strong connection.
An example of an advert that follows the principles above is this one:
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“The ad tells a story,” Anne said, “but they also weren’t afraid to leave things out and because they did that we can co-create, we can picture ourselves in it and we can feel it.”
Marketers and creatives should harness the power of their own non-conscious processor because that’s where your creativity and your imagination lies.
Anne said: “You have got to find your mental playground. Find a consistent time and place with no phones, no music, no friends, just you so you can cultivate your creativity and your imagination. That’s the core of your livelihood.
“One thing you don’t want to do is brainstorms. They go so quickly that you’re only tapping into your conscious processor. That’s not where your power for ideas lies. Also, a typical rule of brainstorming is no criticism. You actually want criticism. I know this almost sounds like sacrilege, but you want criticism because you’re trying to expand your mind. You’re trying to get to the parts of the mind that don’t often get tapped into.
“You need to use criticism because when you hear something, it lights up a different part of your mind, it fires in new ideas, and you start to connect that to what you already know.”
Taking us back to the first story at the start of her amazing talk, Anne concluded: “We are all Joshua Bells. We all need to be heard and mind science provides that powerful learning to enable us to be heard.
The creative industries contribute to making Bristol and Bath amazing places to live and work. But how can they grow and prosper? Tell us in our survey here.
Bristol Institute of Performing Arts
Our team is made up of industry professionals from all corners of the creative industries. Performers will be put through their paces by our academic team of performers, directors and choreographers which is supported by our Student Experience and academic support teams.
Our Purpose Built Campus
The Bristol Institute of Performing Arts is based at the SGS WISE Campus a £17.5 million pound campus designed for sporting, performing and visual arts excellence.
Olympus Theatre
The Olympus Theatre based at the Bristol Institute of Performing Arts/SGS WISE Campus has been producing and receiving theatre on a local and regional scale for almost 15 years. Since opening in 2005, the cultural and creative significance has exceeded expectations, making The Olympus a premier destination for theatre performance and education in the South West region.
Our Students perform in our 250 seat auditorium which holds over 35 productions a year through our in house production team.
Studio 22 Theatre
The Studio 22 Theatre is our most diverse performance space, kitted out with fully flexible seating which allows a variety of production design styles. Students will be immersed into a space designed for intimate productions, showcases and cabaret performances. The Studio 22 theatre can accommodate an audience of up to 80.
10 Studios & Workrooms
All our dance studios are equipped with sprung flooring, mirrors, barres and a speaker system. Our rehearsal rooms also feature a range of equipment and speakers
Studio 1 – Dance StudioStudio 2 – Rehearsal StudioStudio 3 – Dance StudioStudio 4 – Dance StudioStudio 5 – Dance StudioStudio 6 – Rehearsal StudioStudio 7 – Rehearsal StudioStudio 8 – Rehearsal StudioStudio 9 – Rehearsal StudioStudio 10 – Practice RoomWorkroom 1 – Scenic Design WorkshopWorkroom 2 – Technical TheatreWorkroom 3 – Costume & Scenic Store
We all love an underdog.
One of our Digital Designers, Mayumi Kurosawa, has overcome incredible odds to get to where she is today – a much-loved member of the Proctors’ team.
This is her story.
Act 1: A blessing in (deep, deep) disguise?
I may be happily settled in Bristol today, but the journey I took to get here started in Japan.
In 2018, I was working as a translator – my dream job back then. After five years in this role, my British-native husband told me he wanted to move back to the U.K. It wasn’t the best timing, but being the amazing wife I am, I agreed, making the decision to leave my job and challenge myself in a new country.
After along slog (another story in itself), I was finally granted permission to come and work in the UK. I landed an admin job working for a Japanese company dealing in imported car parts.
But bad timing struck again. The knock-on effects of Brexit were being felt in every industry, and within 8 months of starting my job, I was made redundant.
And to top it all off, my husband and I had just made the decision to move to a new city: Bristol.
Act 2: Kintsugi – Repairing what’s broken, with gold
After coming to terms with what had happened, I came to a realisation. Yes, I’d been dealt a few poor hands. But now I had a brand-new opportunity to discover what I really wanted from the next stage of my career.
So, I doubled down and made a plan: I gave myself one year to study and find out exactly what it was I wanted to do. And I had an idea of what that might be…
Act 3: The impossible dream
Since childhood, I’d dreamt of working within the creative industries. But I’d never felt confident enough to even talk about it – never mind found the guts to try. Nevertheless, the dream had stayed with me. And without the excuse of ‘being too busy’ now redundant, it was time for me to take a chance.
I knew I was interested in design, in its broadest sense. But, of course, modern ‘design’ covers a wide range of occupations.
It took me a while to focus on one discipline. First, I started studying UX/UI design with an online course called Interaction Design Foundation. Then, I moved into front-end web development with Codecademy – an online platform offering coding classes for people interested in developing their skills within the digital design sector. Finally, I studied graphic design, learning even more about the principles of aesthetics and creativity.
Every discipline had its merits, making it difficult to choose which specialism I was going to focus on. And just one year of learning seemed too short to become skilled enough in all of these different areas if I wanted to secure a job.
Act 4: The Great Battle of Imposter Syndrome
The truth is, I spent a lot of time over the course of that year doubting whether I was making the right choice. However, I’m stubborn by nature, and after every moment of uncertainty I would rebound into bursts of productively, further pushing and developing my professional skills.
There’s a cliché for a reason: the only difference between the people who succeed and the people who don’t, is whether they give up on what they want. And I just didn’t let myself give up.
So, I started creating a portfolio. I turned my skills to a selection of different websites that I felt could be improved with a mixture of design and UX. Not only did the process help me use the skills I had learnt, it also helped me to test myself – and prove to myself that I really could become a designer.
When I had three websites redesigned and mocked up, I took a chance and started to apply to some roles.
Act 5: An ending – and a beginning
To my surprise and delight, I received interest from some of the applications I sent, and managed to squeeze myself* into the creative industry. Now, I’m a digital designer for Proctor + Stevenson – and I got here without a relevant degree or industry experience.
Everyone is very warm, keen to help, and I genuinely enjoy working here. They are serious professionals, but at the same time they love to laugh and have fun.
I’ve just started my new career, so can’t give much industry insight yet. But I hope I can encourage people who want to learn something new, or want a career change, that if I could do it, you can do it too.
Post-credits
A quick comment from Proctors (and Mayumi’s manager, Dan Hardaker, Director of Digital Design).
*There was no squeezing necessary when it came to offering Mayumi a role with Proctors. Her portfolio – and her story – demonstrated so much potential and clear talent that we knew would make her a perfect fit for the role.
It’s important to us to look past a person’s work experience alone. Your drive and attitude are just as important as the places you’ve worked before. We believe in giving people the opportunity to develop their skills in a professional environment, and in supporting your goals with mentoring and training resources. So together, we can lay a career path just for you.
Why not take a look at our current career opportunities? There could be a new flagstone waiting for you…
Andy Nairn, who has been named the UK’s number one brand strategist for the past three years, joined us for a fascinating and entertaining event to share insights from his new book, Go Luck Yourself: 40 ways to stack the odds in your brand’s favour.
In the book, Andy explains how the history of marketing and advertising is full of brands that stumbled across great ideas by accident or turned misfortunes into huge successes. During the event, the co-founder of advertising agency Lucky Generals highlighted some examples and outlined the lessons for creative companies. Dan Martin summarises his insights.
Opening his talk, Andy Nairn explained that we have a strange relationship with luck in the UK. “Other parts of the world find it completely natural to talk about luck and it’s a perfectly acceptable part of business conversation,” he said, “In the West, we’re a bit snooty about the whole thing. We think of it as a bit primitive and not to be trifled with.”
The negativity around luck was cemented in Victorian times, Andy said. The Industrial Revolution and the Protestant work ethic created the belief that if you were rich, you were successful because you had worked really hard for your money and God had smiled upon you, but if you were poor, it meant you hadn’t tried hard enough, you were work-shy and you should try harder.
That attitude around only hard work can generate good results still prevails, shown by the blurring of work and personal lives during the pandemic, Andy said.
“We can all think of situations where working an extra hour hasn’t given us a creative breakthrough and it can actually sometimes make it worse. Working hard means we’re stuck in the middle of it and what we really need is to get some fresh air and space around us.
“The book says yes, hard work is a good thing but you also need a bit of luck. The more you think about luck and the more you’re conscious of it, the more you can do to increase the chance of it coming your way. If you just deny that luck exists, it’s very hard for you to do that.”
There are 40 tips in Andy’s book that fit under the following four themes:
You might not realise it but you are highly likely to have assets in your business that you are not taking full advantage of. Andy used three non-business examples to illustrate his point:
Many businesses are guilty of not appreciating what they’ve got, Andy said. Brand history, heritage and provenance are often neglected by brands but talking about the history of your business, where it’s from and why it’s called what it is could be a valuable benefit to your marketing and other business activities.
Other examples include the data your business holds and the window display in your business’ offices.
And what about your logo? Could that be used in a different way?
Andy’s business, Lucky Generals, was asked to come up with an advertising campaign for Amazon that worked in multiple countries. The answer turned out to be a simple but very powerful one that was inspired by the company’s existing smile-shaped logo. As the Lucky Generals website says: “We hit upon the simple idea of heroing Amazon’s iconic packages and the epic journeys they make, to put a smile on the faces of people around the world.”
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To illustrate this point, Andy highlighted a 10-year study into the nature of luck by Professor Richard Wiseman. As part of it, he gave a group of people a newspaper and asked them to count the number of photographs. The unlucky people took around two minutes whereas the lucky people took just three seconds. The reason was that on the second page of the newspaper was the message: “Stop counting. There are 43 photographs in this newspaper.”
The study concluded that lucky people are good at constantly looking for opportunities beyond what they’re working on or the thing they’ve been told to do.
This can also be illustrated by the world of science, Andy said. Several important discoveries have been made accidentally and of the most famous is Alexander Fleming who discovered penicillin after spotting some mould that had accidentally developed on a plate.
Diversity of teams is important here too. It’s easy to recruit people who are the same as you but that can mean you’ll just come up with the same ideas. However, if you take on people from different cultures, backgrounds and experiences, “it gives you a much better chance of striking it lucky” and spotting opportunities you might never have discovered.
There are many examples of businesses converting a bad experience into a good one. One brilliant one is Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, an early character created by Walt Disney in 1927. It was popular but a contract dispute with his producer led to Disney quitting work on the cartoons. On the train home from a meeting, he came up with a new idea. It developed into Mickey Mouse, the most successful cartoon character of all time.
“We’ve all experienced our ideas being pulled, budgets being cut, timings being changed and clients changing their minds, but what we have to do is go again and come up with something that is even better, like Walt Disney did,” Andy said.
“The best companies don’t just deal with a bit of bad luck, it’s almost like they go running towards the bad luck. There’s a good energy that comes out of that.”
Steve Jobs was known for killing off his own products (the iMac killed the Macintosh and the iPhone killed the iPod) because, as Andy said, “his attitude was, if I don’t kill them off, someone else will.”
There are also some brands that take on taboos and talk about them directly. Bodyform and periods is an example.
Others take what could be seen as an annoying product flaw and turn it into a positive. Think of Guinness and “good things come to those who wait”.
When working with a big brand, Andy said he goes to the “darkest corners of social media” to find the negative conversation about that brand. “The jokes and nasty comments often have a truth and by acknowledging them, you can own the joke, turn it on its head and turn against those people.”
Andy’s last point is about deliberately building luck into your processes. He illustrated it with examples from music.
What similar techniques can you build into your business processes so you constantly generate ideas?
Be lucky!
The next Bristol Creative Industries online keynote is with Anne Thistleton, marketing veteran and former strategy lead for The Coca-Cola Company in South Africa. She will share easy and practical lessons from mind science to make sure your audience really hears you. BCI members get £15 off tickets. Book your place here for the event on 21 October.
In his book on creativity, Dave Birrs (ex Poke, McCann, etc.) explores what creativity is and isn’t. He presents an approach to help individuals and organisations develop better ideas.
In the first half of “How To Get To Great Ideas” Dave debunks a few of the myths surrounding creativity. These include “creativity = art”, “creativity = originality,” and “you can’t develop creativity”. He concludes that creativity is more of a path to get to ideas. The book continues on to explore the relationship of creativity to human development from our neolithic selves to the present day. Along the way, we learn that the human brain is shrinking, curiosity is the foundation of creative thought, and that it may be almost entirely impossible for a single person to discover something new in the modern day.
The second half of the book focuses on the process. Dave introduces us to his R.I.G.H.T. thinking framework. While it would be great to have a little more meat on the bone in the form of activities and examples, overall, he delivers enough practical advice here to work into your own creative processes. The framework starts with Research. So often, we are put off of researching by its dry nature. However, it is a powerful tool. When data is given context by adding information and knowledge, we can get to wisdom. It is from this wisdom that good ideas take shape. Dave is keen to encourage us to create divergence from habits and routines, use play within our team sessions, develop our individual creativity, learn how to judge good ideas, and then hone them into great ideas.
I like the book because it provides a balance of insight and practical tips. These help you develop your creative thinking prowess and build out a culture of curiosity and creativity in your team. I found that I picked up quite a few points that I missed on the first reading. So, I recommend keeping it around to refer to while you tweak your ideas generating machine.
Head over to Amazon to get your copy.
If you would like to find out more about our creative process, check out Chris’s article on creative workshops.
Prolonged work stress and burnout are on the rise in employees according to a study conducted last year by Indeed. The findings showed that over half of those that took the study (52%) had experienced burnout in 2021 and that burnout is affecting employees of all ages and types of workers in 2022.
Encouraging and supporting employee wellbeing is becoming more of a concern for management and those in positions of leadership. Having happy and healthy employees is good for productivity, talent retention, and for the long term success of a business- but it’s also a concern on a very human level. For those managing and caring for a team of people, it’s hard to watch anyone struggle.
But how do you ensure that you are making the right steps for employee wellbeing? There are many solutions, but it all depends on the nature of your organisation and the people working within it. Companies such as Bumble and Nike have made headlines by giving their staff a week off to re-energise and others such as Google have wellness programmes that allow staff to spend more time with their families, choose how they best recharge, and allow them to pursue fulfilment outside of the office.
You don’t have to be a massive, global company to implement staff wellness practices. In fact, many small businesses and start-ups that rely on the efforts of a small, dedicated team have found the benefits of having a rewards package that looks after employee mental health.
At Yuup, we offer businesses the opportunity to purchase experience vouchers as rewards for their employees or to book group wellness sessions to refresh and rejuvenate their team. With a diverse range of lifestyle and wellness hosts and experiences on Yuup, we have something to suit and support any team.
One of the biggest issues plaguing the office is the lack of a decent night’s sleep. Irregular sleeping patterns, bad sleep habits, and disrupted sleep can cause fatigue, burnout, stress, and illness.
Working together with our host Giles, you’ll embark on a journey to demystify sleep and discover solutions to this nightly battle. As a coach, mentor, and author of ‘Positive Sleep – A Holistic Approach to Resolve Sleep Issues and Transform Your Life’, Giles has overcome his own obstacles with sleep and insomnia and is prepared to guide you through your own recovery.
After the session you will receive a copy of his book to take home and continue your journey.
We have a number of experiences to enjoy with Breathe Meditation, both for individuals and groups. This experience, in particular, is an excellent idea for team-building with a difference. Instead of after-work drinks or a challenge to get the cogs going, it might make a refreshing change to go for something that boosts everyone’s mood and gives you all time to connect on a deeper level.
Encourage harmony and peace among coworkers with a work lunch like no other.
Clare is an artist currently studying to become an art therapist. With a wealth of knowledge in emotional healing and de-stressing, Clare will guide you and your team through unwinding through both creativity and nature.
Set against the peaceful backdrop of Bridge Farm, their workshops centre around wellbeing and communication and their experience is a great way of creating a safe and open space for colleagues to open up about any internal difficulties they might be experiencing.
We’ve all lost our confidence at one time or another. Self-doubt, low-self esteem, and impostor syndrome can all creep in- especially if we aren’t feeling our best shiny selves. It’s hard to admit if you are lacking or have lost confidence in yourself, and it can seriously affect your performance at work.
Confidence is not all about being good at public speaking or being the loudest voice in the room, it’s about trusting in yourself and your abilities. If you have noticed an employee or colleague that seems to be wavering in their self-belief, offering support in this area could completely change their life and stop them from heading towards burnout or mental distress. Similarly, you might feel that you need to develop your inner cheerleader and would benefit from this one-on-one masterclass in confidence.
Creativity and Community: a Love Story
Calling the laptop cafe junkie, the kitchen table connoisseur and the battle-weary spare room crew. There’s a new way. A way with the flexibility, community and creativity you need at its centre. And the coffee is (probably) way better.
Shared office spaces have been popping up since San Fran paved the way and a generation of freelancers and startups are flourishing. Offices split across cities and a new approach to flexible working from modern start-ups mean that co-working is here to stay.
The benefits of joining a co-working space are as long as your to-do list;
Increased productivity
Spaces designed for your working day and with focus and efficiency in mind. A relaxing, comfortable space to break for a coffee is as important as a heads-down quiet space for deep thinking.
Peers
The inspiration of like-minded souls around you and a friend always on hand to give feedback.
Connections
Co-working spaces can’t promise lifelong friendships, but they do have chats over coffee and someone to share lunchtime with.
A work-life balance to be proud of
You get to go home! A different place to where you work! Such a novelty!
Networking
A whole load of independent, creative businesses looking to work with independent, creative businesses (just like you).
Cost Efficiency
Pay only for the space you need, with the flexibility you need as your business grows into a huge, massive, gigantic billionaire corporation.
Bristol’s favourite co-working space Gather Round know all about the benefits of co-working, and they know exactly what makes the perfect space. The team there couldn’t find what they were looking for so they decided to create their own; a space designed by creatives, for creatives.
After meeting Fiasco Design and Pixelfish at Gather Round and seeing the incredible work they were capable of, working with them on our launch was a natural choice. They helped the vision for Twelve, our sustainability strategy and communications consultancy, become a reality. – Jess Ferrow, Founder of Twelve
Gather Round; Community, Creativity, Collaboration
Bristol is a city long-known for its celebration of creativity. Tastemaking musicians, culture aplenty and a love of art found from the pavements of Clifton to the patched grass of Turbo Island (if you know, you know).
The decision to build a creative business here was a simple one for founders Ben and Jason. After a successful start, their design studio Fiasco Design grew quickly and they found themselves moving studios as they expanded. After struggling to find a workspace that wasn’t a corporate office with extortionate rates and a long term contract, the idea of Gather Round was born.
The Southville residence at the old Cigar Factory proudly hosts creative thinkers and doers that call it home. Morning coffee chats, lunchtime collabs and a deep understanding and respect of one another is something that has happened naturally. They’ve created a space that allows that all to thrive. They’re soon to be heading north of the river to Brunswick Square to hold court for another incredible bunch of creatives.
Why Gather Round?
I met Amelie of Duo Hue when she joined Gather Round. She was looking for some imagery to further her brand, it felt like the perfect collaboration. Sharing a space made the planning and creative process easy and the work we produced featured in national press. – Nic Kane, Photographer/Director
Body
The Gather Round team have a few simple rules; no indoor caravans, tardis-style meeting rooms or beanbags; just beautiful spaces and good design. They’ve got all shapes and sizes covered with roomy co-working areas, permanent desk spaces for freelancers and separate offices for micro-businesses. There are spaces for collaboration, whether you’re musing over an idea, chatting out a project or need a full-blown meeting room to launch your world-takeover plan.
Mind
With Flexi desks, Resi memberships and dedicated studios for small businesses, there are flexible memberships for business needs.
For solo entrepreneurs, micro-businesses or small startups the support of peers is invaluable. Within the community at Gather Round, you’ll find support from like-minded people. Our campfire talks, morning workouts and members breakfasts, fuel the mind and body of all that attend. A day that starts with a croissant amongst friends and ends with a creative discussion on businesses in the climate emergency – is a day well spent.
Soul
Here at Gather Round, they take design seriously. Their buildings are chosen because of their character and soul. You won’t find grey walls, no-spill carpets and budget-friendly lighting. Beauty breeds beauty, and Gather Round have created a space that feels like home. If your home has deep velvet sofas, bespoke shelving and enough plants to start a greenery obsession.
The latest offering in the beautiful Brunswick Square is almost at the ribbon-cutting stage. An almost perfect location with Bristol greats such as Circomedia, Farro Bakery and Yoga on The Square, all just a stone’s throw away. Temple Meads station can be reached in 15 minutes and you can (almost, but not quite) hear the thrum of the city centre close by. They’ve created a slice of creativity in a building steeped in it and it awaits Bristol’s brightest and best.
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