JonesMillbank, Bristol-based video production company, went stateside with their content last week, featuring on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Last month they captured the session performances of three tracks – CRAWL!, CAR CRASH and THE NEW SENSATION – at The Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow.
The subsequent edit of CRAWL! was picked up by The Late Show ahead of IDLES’ appearance at Coachella, part of their US-wide tour, with notice and the recording delivered to CBS the day of the broadcast.
“Our portfolio of work across music has developed somewhat alongside the commanding ascent of IDLES” said Rob French, Senior Creative at JonesMillbank.
“We have collaborated with them for a few years now and have established a relationship built on trust and integrity – key when an artist has a distinctive ownership of their brand.”
“The band brought such a beautiful energy to these sessions, bearing in mind it was mid-tour and in the middle of three sold out shows at The Barrowland Ballroom. We could barely communicate or see the stage, the light and sound was so intense but it was such a privilege to capture such raw energy so intimately.”
You can watch the feature and the session at https://jonesmillbank.com/work/idles/barrowland-sessions, with the releases of CAR CRASH and THE NEW SENSATION coming in the following weeks.
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JonesMillbank are a passionate full-service video production company
They work exclusively in-house with a talented team of multi-disciplined creatives, all the while telling authentic stories long before it was cool for a range of clients such as University of Bristol, Battersea, The Royal Mint, IDLES and randstad.
jonesmillbank.com
01173706372
[email protected]
Last month was B Corp month — a time to appreciate what it means to be a B Corp. The B Corporation is a global movement of businesses rethinking what it means to be successful, focusing on regenerative, inclusive, and equitable practices that benefit everybody, not just the people at the top.
B Corp businesses not only listen to the demands of the climate crisis — they’re often leading the way. It’s a huge psychological shift taking place in the business sphere, happening across continents. There’s now over 4,600 B Corps in 78 countries around the world, covering 155 industries. We’re chuffed by how far this movement has grown. Tusko is also growing, and we’d like purpose driven creatives to join us.
We built our agency on the idea that private enterprises have a vital role to play when it comes to climate change, social injustice, and every unbalanced axis that tilts our world away from what’s good for all.
We’ve always wanted to be a part of the wave making a positive difference in the world. Because with the pressures of climate change just getting more intense by the year, we can’t just carry on with business as usual.
Our entire economic world is built on a model that has directly resulted in the catastrophic environmental effects we’re beginning to witness all around us, and will have to adapt to over the coming years. So for businesses to become a part of the change we need to see, they need to be solidly accountable for doing things in a better way.
Luckily, it is completely possible to balance profit, and purpose. And as Mark Carney warns, can businesses afford not to adapt, and create those urgently needed solutions?
The journey to B Corp certification has given us an incredible framework to grow with, and we’ve had to ask occasionally awkward questions of our suppliers and our customers.
Our practices as an agency now include…
asking if our associates have a ‘Code of Ethics’ in their business.
enquiring if they have relationships with ‘Sin industries’): Tobacco, Alcohol, Gambiling, Weapons, Pornography, Unfair Trade Practices, Fossil Fuels, Diamonds and precious gems, fast fashion, Pharmaceuticals, and businesses with their workforce in 3rd world countries.
asking if they would be happy to fill in our ‘Sustainability Survey’, to assess performance in this area.
But while we’ve had to make some hard decisions as a result of shifting our business to align with our ethics, we’ve also attracted some exceptional clients along the way too.
We’ve been working closely with a Bristol-based law firm NRG to create their new digital identity, and support an exciting rebrand project. They’re also on the journey to B Corp certification, and as we understand it one of the main reasons NRG wanted to work with us was because we are B Corp certified.
It’s highly rewarding to be able to work together with businesses from other sectors towards a common, essential goal.
We’ve been motivated to begin our B Corp journey by businesses who are already transforming our economy by transforming themselves.
We look to brands like Patagonia, a north star for sustainability in big business for many. They make the coolest outdoor gear, and they’re also a beacon for major corporation ethics, and contributions to sustainability.
Tony’s Chocolate have been making waves too — you might have seen their colourful campaigns against slavery in chocolate production.
It’s hard to think of a brand subject to as much controversy as BrewDog lately. A recent BBC documentary brought a fresh raft of accusations against the company – off the back of which, it has emerged, boss James Watt hired private investigators to scrutinize former employees. Here, AgencyUK’s Sammy Mansourpour digs into what brands can learn – good and bad – from BrewDog’s stratospheric rise and tumultuous second phase.
There’s only one thing that makes a brand brilliant and that is meaningful difference – meeting consumers’ needs while successfully standing out from the crowd.
Kantar and Millward Brown have been testing this out for over a decade and the numbers are in. Brands with a quantifiable meaningful difference can grow 207% faster than the rest.
Never has this been so brilliantly showcased than by BrewDog, the punk beer brand imploding in front of our eyes. But let’s look beyond James Watt, the sometimes-ridiculed book he wrote and all the reasons why BrewDog is in such a pickle. Let’s look first at what made BrewDog so brilliant.
No one can say building BrewDog was just blind luck. Look at BrewDog’s ability to define itself precisely, then talk about it. The core of its image is ‘punk’. You might think building out an anti-establishment vision based on troublemaking would be easy, but the alcoholic drinks market is highly regulated and getting a foot in the door is expensive. To dodge those rules you need to know them – particularly the ones you intend to break.
To build an establishment-challenging brand, you need mass and movement. BrewDog delivered both in spades. It quickly grew a following into a sizable community.
BrewDog seized on every challenge it faced, using them to talk about how industry titans (and regulators) leveraged legislation, introduced red tape and increased cost. This messaging made the small but growing BrewDog community feel duped and enraged. This galvanized them around the BrewDog brand and started to distance them from other beers.
With social media in hand, Watt (and co-founder Martin Dickie) were able to start a revolution, then get their revolutionaries to pay for it. Their crowdfunding investment gathered millions before private equity got involved and these investors are the same folks buying the beer.
If you read Watt’s book, you’d believe this would never end. But for anyone with a grasp of social media and a flair for stunts, this is where the lesson begins.
Harry McCann famously said that advertising is “truth well told”. But did BrewDog always stick to the truth? Some of its social media marketing has been called out as false or misleading. The promotions team pledged to plant trees for every investor and drinker of Planet Pale Ale. The land they bought reportedly remains empty and an application by BrewDog for a Scottish grant to pay for the trees has now been made public.
And with all the attacks on beer brands and the need to fight the good fight – even blowing up cans of rival products on Facebook Live – it turns out Watt invested in Heineken.
Oh, and did anyone mention the reported non-disclosure of banned additives present in BrewDog beer that may have rendered some shipments illegally imported into the US?
Through all of BrewDog’s punk rule-breaking, no one asked why the rules and regulations existed until they came crashing down around them. If they did, the media gave them little airtime.
No one seemed to adequately explain the reasons behind regulating a market and constraining companies from acting so freely. BrewDog stuck with its belief that the consequences were always minor when compared to the commercial advantages of a breach – until it was no longer possible to keep telling that story.
Building a brand that is meaningfully different is the key to success and that success can only be realized for the long term if you’re not lying about it. So perhaps authenticity is what makes a brand brilliant. But who wants an authentic brand that nobody wants?
Sammy Mansourpour is co-founder and managing director of AgencyUK.
Global education service provider and brand owner of TopUniversities.com, QS Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) have appointed AgencyUK as social media partner. QS is the world’s leading provider of services, analytics, and insights to the global higher education sector and famed for its university rankings, which have become the annual benchmark for universities around the world.
AgencyUK were appointed following a three-way pitch, in response to a social strategy and brand awareness brief set by the QS marketing team. AgencyUK will develop the organic social media strategy for the higher education and student communities around the world and launch a new programme of social media content off the back of it.
The pitch was overseen by Tim Edwards, Chief Marketing Officer at QS. Its purpose was to find an agency team who can support, unite, develop and promote their mission – to empower motivated people anywhere in the world to fulfil their potential through educational achievement, international mobility and career development.
The first wave of activity undertaken by AgencyUK includes strategy and creative that is based on education sector insights gathered from their world-leading independent market research and data analysis. The strategy will extend into the development of a global strategy and social media content plan rolled out in partnership with the QS global marketing team.
Tim Edwards, CMO, QS, said: “We were looking for an agency with strong strategic and creative capabilities and a track record in disrupting competitive markets. QS has grown rapidly through a combination of new product development and corporate acquisition, but we remain focussed on maintaining our market leader position, and to do so means being closer to our target audiences and continually investing in channel marketing.’’
Amy Stobie, Commercial Director, AgencyUK, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have been appointed by QS. They are a well established brand with a host of well known digital properties and a continuing ambition for growth. Our social and creative teams are well placed for reaching out to these target communities and we’re keen to get going.”
AgencyUK are an independent brand communications agency with 32 staff based in the UK. The company has demonstrated 200% growth over the pandemic period, largely attributed to the expansion of their healthcare portfolio. QS is the fifth global account win in the past 12-months.
Every January the digital marketing industry is ablaze with talk of new trends that will shake up how we do PPC. 2022 is no different.
And the pace of change is, almost unbelievably, accelerating. 2022 is set to be a big year for PPC – keeping up with Google’s new-and-improved policies, like the removal of expanded text ads (ETAs), and the world domination of TikTok can seem near impossible.
So, to help 2022 feel a little less daunting, we’ve picked the top 5 trends you need to focus on this year and how to integrate these into your PPC campaigns.
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is the latest analytics tool from Google, and it’s better equipped for the future than the previous model, Universal Analytics.
This is because GA4 has more advanced tools and reporting such as predictive insights, cross-device measurement capabilities, deeper integration with Google Ads, and more granular data controls.
Google’s plans to phase out third-party cookies by 2023 shouldn’t be news to you. In a cookieless world, it will be even harder to track consumer activity. So, in response to this, Google is offering “Enhanced Conversions“, which will improve your conversion tracking.
If you haven’t been focusing on offline conversion tracking, now is the time to do so. Most brands today run both on and offline, and some businesses forget that customers still make purchases offline.
If you just use traditional conversion tracking methods, then these offline purchases would not be linked to your online ad campaigns. Without this knowledge, you won’t be able to accurately measure the success of your campaigns.
In 2022, Google will continue to create and promote AI, so it’s vital you keep up with these changes. One of the big changes we will be touching upon in a moment is the changes to expanded text ads.
AI and automation are still quite new to the digital marketing world, but they will be at the forefront of PPC over the next few years. They are particularly useful for those of you looking to automate certain menial tasks to free up your time.
AI combined with automation can help you create impactful advertising campaigns while also improving your conversion rates. These concepts can dynamically create your ads based on user intent and website content, automating the bidding process, and automating ad success reports.
The world of PPC will experience a big change in June 2022. When June arrives, you will not be able to create or edit ETAs in the Google Ads Interface.
Google’s solution to this change is responsive search ads (RSAs) and dynamic search ads (DSAs). These will become Google’s default search ad type.
The role of machine learning in automation is the cause of this change. And this is where Google’s RSAs and DSAs come into play. As you would expect, both these ad types rely on automation.
Google will take the reins and determine the most effective headlines and assets supplied by you. These choices will be based on an extensive amount of data collected by Google from advertisers.
June is not that far away, so you need to learn how to use RSAs and DSAs now. Once you allow automation and AI can take control, you’ll have more time to craft new ad campaigns.
When you use RSAs you are handing over a great deal of control to Google, and this can feel scary… especially if you haven’t trailed this type of ad before. So, test what works for your brand now while you still have time.
You need to provide Google with accurate information to choose the best ads for your campaign. And to do this, test and discover the data you need to run an effective ad campaign.
We’ve touched upon this lightly already, but it needs to be explored properly. One of the biggest trends for the whole of the digital marketing industry is the departure of third-party cookies.
Google is planning to ban all third-party cookies by 2023, and this is going to dramatically impact the digital advertising landscape…
Up until now, marketers have been complacent with how they collect their data, seeing as third-party cookies made the process of collecting data so easy.
The thought of advertising without third-party cookies is daunting. But you need to think of this as a great opportunity. It’s one that offers great rewards for those of you who have already been prioritizing privacy throughout your customer service strategy.
Today, first-party data has never been so valuable, and the success of your digital advertising will rest on how you obtain your own first-party data.
And you can start using first-party data as an integral part of new algorithms for Google, Facebook, and other large eCommerce platforms.
Right now, TikTok is the fastest growing social media network with more than 1 billion active users per month. And its reach will only continue to grow in 2022 and beyond.
Advertisers can’t rely on one form of advertising anymore; they need to diversify their ads. And TikTok is the perfect platform to experiment with.
The world of advertising is always changing, and you need to move with the times and adapt your strategy if you want results. In 2022, you need to look beyond paid ads and explore other avenues.
Today, influencer marketing is one of the hottest trends in marketing, and TikTok is the leading platform bringing influencers and brands together.
Organic content posted by influencers tends to be successful. For users today, videos are more engaging, and they are more likely to trust an influencer’s opinion over yours.
However, there’s more to organic marketing than just influencer marketing. Take the time to improve your Search Engine Optimisation, or explore the world of digital PR. It’s also worth diversifying your content marketing strategy and promoting user-generated content.
This year is set to change the world of PPC as we know it. So, if you want to be at the forefront of these changes, you need to start adapting your PPC strategies now.
Audience numbers are growing, and you need to innovate your offering to meet this audience’s needs. And now you have new tools to play with, you can experiment and implement new and effective strategies in 2022 and beyond.
There are thousands of cyber companies across the world. We ask: how do you stand out and differentiate your offering in this highly competitive market?
Independent third party media coverage gets your company in front of your audience, possible investors and leads.
What are renowned cyber security organisations doing great? Besides developing a great product or service, they are building their brand awareness and credibility through public relations. Using the power of their comms to inform their audience about solutions to existing problems, they have gained increased visibility in the cyber security sector and differentiated themselves from others in the sector.
So your product is excellent, and you know exactly how it can benefit your audiences. But do they know it?
You can’t sell your product if nobody knows you. The best thing you can do for your company is to build out your PR presence on credible platforms and in publications that your stakeholders recognise and trust; then they will be more open to consider if your products and services might help them solve their problems.
Without PR you’re just left with the sales department to generate leads, but they’ll face the barrier of lack of credibility and brand awareness, due to the absence of any public relations coverage.
We want to give you some tips to get started with PR for your cyber security company:
We’re happy to help with more advice on how to get landed in the press. Let’s talk.
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
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 graphic design techniques, such as designing and producing a brand identity and branded graphics for Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and more. There is a host of exciting modules that your tutor will guide you through, including:
Planning your Project
Typography and Layouts
Working with Illustrator and Photoshop
Creating a Brand
Bristol-based Gather Round is a growing family of unique, soulful, creative workspaces, purposefully designed for creatives by creatives. Its mission is to build remarkable co-working spaces where creative thinkers and doers can connect, collaborate and thrive.
Founded by Fiasco Design owners, Ben Steers and Jason Smith, Gather Round’s flagship workspace, in the Cigar Factory, Southville, opened its doors to Bristol’s curious creative community in 2019 and it will be opening the doors to a second venue, in Brunswick Square, St. Pauls, in early September 2021.
Its members are creative industry professionals; designers, writers, filmmakers, publishers, photographers, brand strategists… A truly eclectic and talented bunch, and the diverse mix of businesses within its member community is valued as highly by members, as the beautifully designed workspaces themselves.
New Gather Round, Brunswick Square
Gather Round, Brunswick Square, breathes new life into 15-16 York Street, a unique, historic building in one of Bristol’s most vibrant neighbourhoods. From early September 2021, a supportive community of 80-90 creative professionals will take residence here; freelancers, self-employed and micro-businesses, from the surrounding areas of St Pauls, Montpelier, Easton, St. George, Kingsdown, etc.
The space will provide flexible areas with fixed and casual desks, a mix of small to medium-sized studios, private meeting rooms, hang-out areas, communal kitchen tables and quiet areas for thinking. It will also have a dedicated public event space with room for 50-60 person events.
Gather Round offers private studio, resident and co-working membership options, with part-time flexible co-working costing £110 per month plus VAT, and full-time memberships from £195, plus VAT.
First month’s membership FREE
Knowing that signing up to a co-working space can feel like a big step, Gather Round are offering new members who join Brunswick Square before Monday 16th August, their first month free.
Community Support Commitment
Gather Round creates nurturing environments in which local creative businesses flourish and it is also committed to supporting its neighbouring communities in the following ways:
Founders Ben Steers and Jason Smith say, “By design, Gather Round provides an intimate, supportive creative environment. We know that a nurturing community makes all the difference to our members’ businesses and we’re delighted to be extending what we offer in Southville to residents of North Bristol. Our aim is to open the doors at Brunswick Square in September, with a ready-made creative community.”
Find out more about Gather Round’s latest creative co-working space and membership options, or contact Amie Thompson, Community Manager for Gather Round – [email protected]
*Image: Gather Round members attend a ‘Campfire Talk’ at Gather Round, Cigar Factory, Southville
Thinking of making a promotional film for your business or brand? Not sure how to go about getting that pitch perfect film which shows you at your best?
We can give you a few pointers to help you plan from the offset.
Thankfully, there is no one size fits all ethos in video production otherwise it would be a very boring industry to work in. There are a whole realm of possibilities and the sky’s the limit when it comes to production techniques and sources.
Kah Productions has been producing films for the broadcast sector since 2003. Our staff are all former BBC and ITV producers and crew who have, over the years, built up a wealth of knowledge and expertise in making high end films.
So if you are looking to find ways to enhance your business potential through the medium of film, how should you be thinking ahead and what are the pitfalls?
Three W’s
When clients get in touch wanting a promo film, we ask three questions.
What are your goals?
Who are your audience?
Where will your promo be viewed, TV or online?
Get ahead in the game by identifying the answers to these three imperatives.
We will also ask you lots of other questions, but we come to that further on into the process.
Quantity and Quality.
We all want engaging and informative content, but a great starting point is to decide how much time you need to get your message across. In our experience less is more. Aim to sell yourself within 3 mins. Attention spans are not what they used to be, and potential clients will make up their minds about connecting with you within the first 10 seconds of watching your film. This leads nicely onto my next point.
Be bold with your opening scene, sentence, image or graphic. Go for the
‘attention jugular’ Soft openers will result in soft responses. Think about your favourite speaker, author, music video, why do you like them so much? It is because they draw an emotional response from you and that’s the aim of the promo video too. Ultimately you are after a response from your viewers.
However do not rest on your laurels because you have come up with a brilliant opener. Just like a good novel, your promo needs a strong beginning, middle and end. The last thirty seconds will be your call to action but make it clear, concise, and memorable.
Keep the strong imagery going throughout. Video is obviously picture driven so devote a decent amount of time to thinking about which images will work for your product or brand.
Do not be afraid to get creative. Reconstructions, animation, graphics, music, and subtitles are all friends of the promo video and can be incorporated to add presence to your film, so it stands head and shoulders above the rest.
Slash the Statistics.
You may have impressive figures based on what you are trying to sell but as a rule people are turned off by statistics. Your potential clients will be more interested in how your product, brand or idea will benefit their lives and not a bit interested in your pre-production market research. Go for the human touch, remember you are trying to connect with real people not number crunching robots.
Let us Talk.
The most important aspect of producing a promo is collaboration and communication.
A good production company will keep you informed at each stage of development. Your input is valuable and necessary to ensure your vision bears at least some resemblance to the finished product.
Get in touch if you would like further information, get in touch.
www.kahproductions.co.uk