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Designers, animators, writers and everything in between. If you’re an ambitious student or graduate brimming with creative thinking, we want to offer you an authentic taste of agency life. We’re giving you the chance to work on big projects and campaigns, from conception to completion, alongside our talented creative team. 

So if you want to break into the industry, learn from some of the best, and have fun doing it; send your portfolio and a covering letter to creativeinternships@mrbandfriends.co.uk  

Want to know more? 

The lucky candidate will be offered a six month, paid internship starting around August or September. We’re happy to be flexible.

During your time with us, you’ll get an opportunity to experience every facet of agency life; from marketing strategy and collaborative idea generation, to beautifully crafted creative solutions across design, motion, copywriting and digital. 

All of this while side-by-side with great people and an agency culture that’s second to none. 

Here are just a few of the things you’ll benefit from at Mr B’s: 

• Competitive salary
  
• Hands on experience
  
• Agency environment
  
• Hybrid working – Home and in our studio (project and workload dependant)
  
• Commercial insight
  
• Career development
  
• Quarterly socials

“As a Mr B intern you’re straight into the deep end of agency life: with briefs rolling in, there’s never any doubt that you’re an important part of the team. I couldn’t have found a better way to learn huge amounts about design and the industry, or to meet so many great people.”

Interested? Send your portfolio and a covering letter to creativeinternships@mrbandfriends.co.uk 

The team at Noisy Little Monkey have welcomed a new addition to the Senior Leadership Team this month. Charlie Hunt will be responsible for managing people, processes and money for the organisation.

For the past seven years, Charlie worked at one of the largest SEO agencies in the UK, progressing from Finance Director to General Manager and overseeing the day-to-day running of the business.

Alongside the appointment of a new Operations Director, Noisy Little Monkey has welcomed another two new hires to the team including Andy Thornton (Digital Marketing Executive) and Alexandra Keyworth-Wright (Inbound Marketing Manager). They’ll both be supporting clients with all aspects of their digital marketing including SEO, marketing automation and HubSpot.

We can’t wait to see how the new team members will help the business thrive.

After the year or so we’ve all had, the mental wellbeing of employees is increasingly concerning. As human beings, our state of mental health is always in fluctuation but the pandemic and consequent lockdowns, working from home and homeschooling have all had a serious impact on mental wellbeing across the globe.

The statistics are shocking. According to the Nuffield Trust, at any time, one in six adults has a mental health condition and one in 100 has a severe mental illness.

The reality is that one could be anyone.

Including your employees or members of your team.

The pandemic has exacerbated our everyday stressors and concerns. Loneliness, in particular, has become a big issue as we’ve been separated from our loved ones and colleagues and asked to work from home. It’s becoming increasingly evident that we won’t necessarily be returning to the office life we knew before, and while there are of course a number of benefits to home working, there are plenty of people out there who are struggling with the change.

With the introduction of this new normal, it’s not enough for businesses to simply throw in a few new procedures and call the job done. It’s time to change the culture completely and destroy the taboo surrounding mental ill-health. Businesses owe it to their employees to take responsibility for its role in their well-being. And you, as an employee, owe it to your colleagues to ensure no one suffers in silence.

So how can you ensure that? 

Creating an open culture

It starts with the culture. Have you created a safe and supportive environment for your employees and colleagues? Have you made it clear, leading by example, that mental wellbeing is a priority? Have you provided channels of support or steps that can be taken by any employee who may be struggling, and do you promote a positive and supportive digital culture?

It’s important to strive towards an environment in which any member of the team feels comfortable coming forward with their concerns and sharing their feelings. This starts with being willing to share your own and being honest about your own difficulties.

Equally, you can’t always expect others to come to you. You must make it a priority to check in with employees and colleagues proactively. Working from home can be isolating and it’s not as easy to get a sense when something may be wrong. While you may notice a colleague looking a bit down or stressed grabbing a coffee in the breakroom, it’s much less likely you’ll notice the same subtleties during an online meeting. Make time to chat on an informal basis. It will be just as crucial to the success of your business as any other meeting, if not more so.

Crisis prevention

Normalise dealing with poor mental health before it reaches crisis point. Make mention of the mental health support available part of the everyday conversation and put an emphasis on the normalcy of asking for help. At Armadillo we provide a dedicated employee assistance programme through Health Assured. They provide both emotional and practical support through qualified and experienced counsellors and legal advisors. Not only do they offer 24/7 confidential support through telephone counselling, as a one off or a reoccurring structured service, but can support employees through things such as writing a will, immigration information and divorce procedures. They also provide the ‘My Healthy Advantage’ app which holds a range of valuable materials for employees such as videos and podcasts with celebrities on dealing with anxiety, stress and traumas, 4-week well-being plans and the opportunity to live chat with their support team.

It’s so important that staff know the services that are available to them and are encouraged to take advantage of what’s offered. There can be a stigma around things like calling a helpline when feeling overwhelmed but it’s important to make it clear that your business does not endorse that kind of thinking. A great way of showing this is by leading from the top and ensuring your senior management team are promoting what’s available and using it themselves.

Crisis management

Crises happen. Are you prepared?

As an employer you owe it to your employees to know how to help and support them when help and support is needed. And as a colleague (and hopefully friend) the same applies. We don’t want to think of crisis situations happening, but the truth is, sometimes it’s largely out of our control. But that doesn’t mean you can’t do something about it if it should happen.

Again, it comes down to creating a work culture that cares. At Armadillo we’ve offered mental health first aid training to ensure staff feel equipped.

Krisztian Szabo, Account Manager at Armadillo, is one of the team members who attended a two-day, mental health first aid training course run by Mental Health First Aid England. A mental health first aid training course is a wonderful way to empower staff and the business as a whole to feel confident taking action in a variety of mental health related crisis situations. The first aid training covers a variety of topics such as suicidal ideation and self-harm. All participants are briefed before the course begins to ensure their own mental health is protected and are also provided with an action leaflet at the end of the course to support them should they ever need to put their learnings into practice.

We really try to emphasise the course as an opportunity for Armadillo staff to learn valuable skills and techniques to protect their own mental health and support and nurture that of others.

Kris is passionate about making discussions surrounding mental ill-health as normal as those around physical ill health and ultimately that’s where you need to be as a business. You can only achieve this by making massive changes to work culture. Without this, amazing support procedures like phone lines and mental health first aid training go to waste because if your culture suggests mental health isn’t important, your staff won’t value it or feel it’s valued either.

We’re living in a new world. It’s time for a new attitude towards mental health in the workplace.

This article first appeared on Business Leader, May 2021.

By Holly Sorensen, Finance Manager.

This article first appeared on Thrive Global, May 2021.

Written by Andy Brown.

We live and work in an ever-changing environment and 2020 was a harsh reminder of this reality. We are constantly coming up against new challenges and demands and this especially applies to those of us in leadership roles. It has never been truer that leaders are having to adapt and adjust their leadership styles to reflect the constantly shifting world around them.

Modern leadership requires a willingness to continually adapt and change your approach.  The world is moving at a faster pace than it ever has before. Technological advances, shifting markets and fast-paced social and economic changes mean it is absolutely necessary for modern leaders to keep their finger on the pulse and be ready to pivot whenever necessary.

But how can we do this as leaders? How can we always be ready to adapt and what does good modern leadership look like?

Evolution over change

It is worth mentioning immediately that while the role of a leader is always evolving, the skills and basic principles will always remain the same. Yes, a modern leader has modern life to contend with, but the basic principles of leadership are timeless and can always be used as a solid foundation upon which to build.

Transparency

Communication is an essential part of leadership and modern leaders must be willing to communicate with transparency in order to earn and maintain the respect and trust of their team. People want to understand why a decision has been made and providing the primary data that has influenced your decision can help people to contextualise and understand the reasoning behind it.

When things are constantly shifting and changing it is vital that you are able to communicate with clarity and transparency in order to get your team on board with the necessary changes as quickly as possible. This is especially the case when we are working remotely, as many of us are at this time.

No matter your chosen leadership style, transparency is an essential part of the process and a modern leader is aware of this.

Lead by example

Modern leaders understand that asking a team to do as they do is far more effective than asking them to do as they say. Lead by example. It’s a classic principle that remains as relevant as ever.

It is also vital to remember that as a leader you are likely also a follower. Demonstrate what it means to be a good follower. Ask the right questions and show a positive and proactive attitude towards mutual goals. This will be especially important as we navigate the uncertainty of this coming year.

Risk and innovation

The balance of risk and innovation is delicate, especially coming out of a year as turbulent as the one we’ve just seen. It is absolutely vital that as a leader you communicate the levels of risk and innovation that are acceptable and expected within the business, and if they are different in certain areas.

Too much of either can be incredibly damaging to any business. Too much restriction and the business cannot soar, too much freedom and the business may run out of control and sink. As a leader, you are responsible for making sure this delicate balance is understood across the business and on every level.

Motivating your team

We’re all motivated by different things: money, autonomy, flexibility etc and these motivations are constantly changing throughout our lives are our circumstances and situations change.

Modern leaders must be in tune with what motivates their team both as a single entity and as individuals. Don’t waste your time offering financial gain to someone in need of more autonomy or flexibility for example, and vice versa.

Social capital

2020 saw a complete shift in how we communicate and socialise as beings. We were forced to adapt to digital means of interaction and business leaders must figure out how to maintain social connections across the business despite obstacles such as the pandemic.

Imperfection

The modern leader is not perfect and is very aware of that. They also do not try to be, for they understand that perfection has never existed and never will. Throughout history, there have been countless great and inspirational leaders, many of whom have become role models and phenomenal examples to me. And yet they too were flawed.

Trying to be a perfect leader will ultimately restrict you from being the leader you need to be. Modern leadership requires the willingness to fail, to make mistakes and to pick oneself back up again. Modern leadership is about understanding that both you and your team will sometimes have to learn lessons the hard way, but ensuring that you are equipped with the skills, the tenacity and the resilience to face those challenges and emerge the other side stronger, wiser and ready to take the next step.

This article first appeared on Thrive Global, May 2021.

Written by Andy Brown.

At Adapt, Covid-19 has provided us with plenty of positive insights. One key change we are focusing on is how we view our engagement with our offices and physical spaces. 

As we come out of lockdown, we are fully embracing what we have learned these past 12 months across our 2,000+ global Welocalize workforce and we refuse to revert to how it was before. 

We know we can do a whole lot more, and by that, we mean we will be more forward-thinking, more innovative, more flexible and more people-focused. 

We will stick to our word and provide a better environment for our team. We want to focus on providing people with a sustainable work/life balance, as well as a more enjoyable future work environment.  

We have one underlying principle: to encourage people to take ownership of their own time and how they choose to engage with our physical spaces when our teams are safe to return. In short, we want to ensure people are given the trust and therefore flexibility to work in a way they feel most productive. 

Why have we decided to change the way we work?  

Our working habits have changed. This pandemic has accelerated some principles for work that may have arrived in the future, but we are very lucky to be able to embrace these in 2021 – far earlier than we would have been able to over the next decade without Covid-19. 

We have very clear, tangible data across our global workforce that shows we simply do not need to gather everyone that works for a business in the same four walls every day to deliver for our clients, be productive and work well together. And our results prove quite the opposite – some of these trends have improved in the last year. 

Over the last 12+ months, our teams in the UK and globally at Welocalize have proven that we can deliver amazing results and work for clients regardless of location.

We have plans to grow our footprint internationally and already have major international hubs in Barcelona, Beijing, London, NYC and Portland.

On top of that, we have shared spaces all over the world for our teams to gather, meet clients and build face-to-face connections.

Embracing a more dynamic way of working, less focused on specific locations and more focused on how we best serve our teams and clients will make us a far stronger business in the future and better able to serve our clients. 

We have learned to embrace this far better than we could before the pandemic. And it is now time to take those findings into the future and shape our culture. 

What is our position on offices now? 

First and foremost, we want to facilitate our teams spending time together should they choose to, and we will do this by providing inspiring collaborative spaces around the world at Welocalize for people to gather on their own terms, with colleagues and clients. 

Where we have clusters of employees and clients, we will invest in collaborative spaces for people to use to their own benefit and to fuel their own productivity. 

As a result, we are opening a new collaborative space in Bristol city centre. 

This new space, ready to use when it is safe to do so, will give us a great opportunity to stay true to our new direction… to better support our team and clients where we have a strong presence. 

We could not be more excited to have a Bristol base to socialize and build stronger rapports and support the networking and growth of our team relationships. 

Want to join us?! 

Do you like our new approach to working? Do you want to work for a business that trusts you and gives you this kind of flexibility and has an international outlook? 

We have many current roles open across our business! Click here for Adapt and Welocalize careers. 

In today’s hypercompetitive market, attracting the best talent to join your businesses is no easy task. It’s your job to ensure your company stands out among the competition, and advertising active vacancies on online platforms and across your own social channels only go so far. 

In such an overcrowded market, you need to be ensuring you are doing something that catches the job seekers attention and entices them to want to find out more about your company. 

A great way to differentiate your company is by giving candidates a window into your employer brand and company culture, and video is one of the most successful ways of doing this.

Research has long heralded the powerful impact of video on social posts. Social media posts with video get 1200 percent more shares than social media posts with just text and images, according to Responsive Inbound Marketing. Furthermore,  Wyzowl research shows that 81 percent of people have been convinced to buy a product or service after watching a brand’s video.

Those statistics are pretty mind-blowing, right? With the attention spans of today’s consumers growing increasingly smaller, video is the most effective form of content to capture a slice of this. Add to this the opportunity to attract and inform job seekers, and you’ll understand just how much value video adds to a recruitment strategy. 

As a southwest video agency that has helped numerous clients unlock the benefits of video, we’ve put together a few tips on how to use this type of content as an extremely effective recruitment tool.

Convey your company culture

One of the first things candidates look for when browsing for job opportunities is for validation on whether they can see themselves working at that company. The last thing they want to do is find themselves joining a company where the environment is hostile, wishing they knew more about the company culture ahead of joining.

Video can be a really effective way of giving candidates a flavour of your company culture and the wonderful people who make it so brilliant. The key to this is keeping it authentic,  rather than using actors or staging it. Capture behind-the-scenes footage during the working day, during projects and on work trips. Testimonial-stye interviews are also a great way to allow your current employees to share their experience of working for your company.

Don’t be afraid to experiment

What you want to avoid is producing a video that is just like everybody else. Remember, the key is to stand out amongst the crowd and capture the attention of candidates. Producing something that is incredibly corporate and formal is not always the best way to get across the true personality of your company. Going with a more lighthearted style can be way more effective.

Try incorporating natural, unplanned footage as well as sit-down interviews. Try out different shooting styles and environments — don’t just constrain yourself to the office backdrop! Experiment with fun post-production techniques including memes, motion graphics and sound effects. The limit is your creativity! Daring to be different will be a surefire way of capturing attention.

Know your platforms

A key consideration when creating video for your recruitment strategy is to have a good understanding of the platforms you will be sharing it on. This involves knowing factors such as audience demographics, platform intent, the average decision duration, video drop-off times, screen orientation (portrait versus landscape) and more. 

These factors will determine the edit of your video, ensuring it is tailored per platform. Don’t worry —  this doesn’t mean you’ll need numerous budgets! Here at JMP, we leverage the video footage captured in a single shoot and repurpose it during post-production as per our client’s platform requirements. 

For example, a longer-form piece with sits on your company website can be broken down into shorter clips ideal for social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. From the edit, you could also create vertical clips designed specifically for Stories and IGTV. 

Don’t forget to think about those platforms surging in popularity such as TikTok. Gen Z and millennials make up 62 percent of TikTok’s audience, so it is a great channel for reaching and building brand awareness with students, new grads and early career audiences.

Here’s a great 2021 overview of the key demographics for the most popular social media platforms to help with your research.

Keep it brief

We’ve just discussed the importance of tailoring your video per platform, with duration playing a key role in this. If we take a step back and consider the optimum length for attracting candidates during the early stages of recruitment, keeping it short and snappy is most advised. 

While longer-form content is growing in popularity in recent times, with the introduction of IGTV and the surge in podcast usage, this tends to work best for brands that have already established a relationship with their audience. Users who enjoy this longer-form content typically have already invested in the brand.

On the other hand, prospective candidates who are scrolling through are much more likely to engage with shorter content from companies. According to research looking into the optimal video length for the most popular video channel by Hubspot:

• Instagram videos that averaged 26 seconds generated the most comments
• Twitter’s #VideoOfTheDay averaged at 45 seconds
• On Facebook, videos that are around one minute long generated the most engagement

This doesn’t mean you can’t experiment with longer-form video content at all. Many companies find it effective to use longer videos to engage talent who have found their way to your careers page, have completed an application, or simply want to find out more.

Work with the professionals

While advancement in smartphone technology is enabling everyone to have a great quality camera, factors such as post-production, the quality of sound, and poor lighting can really impact how well that video goes down. A poor video can really do more damage than good during recruitment.

Ultimately, you want to show candidates that you’re investing in your employees and bringing onboard new talent. Therefore, bringing in the help of professional videographers and editors will really ensure you’re creating a professional, flawless video that aligns with your company values and is a true reflection of your brand. 

Hiring can be costly, which is why communicating your company cultures and values during the recruitment process is vital to ensure you’re attracting the right candidates, and that likewise, the candidates are getting a good indication of the company they are joining.

Video is a brilliant way to get this message across in a fun and engaging way that’s sure to make you stand out. However, as with any marketing initiative, it’s important to always track your efforts and analyse results to ensure you’re getting a good ROI.

If you’d like to explore the possibilities of how video can ramp up your recruiting efforts, reach out to us here at JMPUK. Check out JMPUK’s own recruitment video here.

Almost without exception, agencies are embracing a more flexible attitude and approach to work and an overwhelming majority of employees would like to see this continue. But as you get to grips with what the future of work might look like, some aspects of agency life should become less flexible and even non-negotiable. And this is actually a good thing.

Flying in the face of constraints, the winning agencies will be the ones with an uncompromising focus on their culture, focusing on how they can support their people to be their best selves and do era-defining work. An awakening for some perhaps, but really just smart business as the battle for talent ramps up. The quality of agency culture is topping the list of reasons for the top talent to stay or go.

So where does an uncompromising approach pay when it comes to the codes you set, the teams you build and the way you work together?

We know from recent research and extensive work with our clients that a new cultural contract is emerging. Operating with a clear purpose, solid values and an unwavering commitment to wellbeing, diversity and open communication is non-negotiable. Structuring and supporting teams to play to their strengths, build healthy habits and be impact-driven is non-negotiable. Creating a connected working experience that makes the most of time and space wherever you might physically be, is non-negotiable.

We explore this new cultural contract and more in the Future Positive Talent guide, which you can download today. Find out more about what a new era of work demands and gain some critical advice on how to master it.

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