At P+S, we’ve spent over 15 years delivering enterprise Drupal solutions. We’ve seen the good, the bad, and the painfully slow. That’s why we created the P+S Drupal Starter Site – a modern, headless, editor-friendly solution that gets you to market faster than ever.
Drupal is one of the most powerful content management systems (CMS) available today. It’s trusted by governments, global enterprises, and mission-critical websites to manage:
Unlike many SaaS-based platforms, Drupal gives you complete control:
And thanks to its modular architecture, Drupal isn’t just for websites. It can power e-commerce, employee, customer or partner portals, learning platforms, and more – all from the same backend.
“We’ve gone ahead and created a custom Drupal distribution that changes EVERYTHING. It’s a production-ready Drupal backend, preconfigured in alignment with best practice. Content structures, SEO tools, and accessibility are all baked in and ready to go.”
Despite its power, Drupal has long had two major drawbacks:
Many organisations end up trading control and flexibility for a quicker launch and better editorial UX elsewhere – even if it means compromising in the long term.
A traditional content management system (CMS) bundles two things together: the backend where you create and manage your content, and the frontend – the design that displays it to visitors. Everything comes as one package.
When everything is bundled together, making changes becomes difficult and expensive.Want to redesign your website? You might need to overhaul your entire system. Want to create a mobile app using your existing content? You’ll likely need to start from scratch. Need faster loading times? You’re limited by what the whole system can handle.
A headless CMS separates content management from website design. You still have a user-friendly interface to create and organise your content, but the content isn’t tied to any specific website design.
Instead, your content is made available through an API. This gives us the opportunity to match our clients with the best possible solution that delivers all the benefits of Drupal, along with design, flexibility and usability that rivals any other CMS.
We’ve gone ahead and created a custom Drupal distribution that changes EVERYTHING. It’s a production-ready Drupal backend, preconfigured in alignment with best practice. Content structures, SEO tools, and accessibility are all baked in and ready to go. This means it solves most of your needs right out of the box.
In short: an enterprise-ready, headless Drupal solution that’s as quick to launch as a WordPress site, but far more powerful.
Our starter site is designed to eliminate the two biggest historical issues:
We care as much about your editor experience as your end-user experience.
Next.js gives us everything we want in a modern frontend stack:
Next.js helps your website load incredibly fast. And that’s important; faster pages mean a better user experience and can lead to more conversions.
Next.js is built to help your content get found on Google. It gives you the tools to rank well in search engines, which is essential for attracting the right audience.
Since the CMS backend is decoupled and not publicly exposed like traditional CMS systems, it’s far less vulnerable to direct attacks.
From subtle transitions to full-screen motion graphics, Next.js handles complex animations with ease. The kind of high-impact visuals that turn heads and boost engagement.
Whether you’re launching a single marketing site or a multi-brand, multi-region platform, Next.js scales beautifully both in architecture and in performance.
By going headless, we can deliver content not just to the web, but to mobile apps, digital kiosks, voice assistants, AI agents, and more — all from a single source of truth.
For B2B marketing sites, it means fast load times, a flexible design system, and future-proof technology.
Despite the advantages list above, headless Drupal often comes at the cost of the editor experience.
We’ve created the headless Drupal CMS we all want, need and deserve:
It’s time to empower your team and future-proof your stack with complete control – and faster than ever.
To learn more about how the P+S Starter Site can transform your next digital project and explore all your CMS options, get in touch: [email protected]
By Jules Love, Co-Founder of Spark AI
I started work in the late 1990s with Andersen Consulting, just as the internet was beginning to seriously disrupt business. Amazon was founded in 1994 and Google in 1998. Back then, we were asking ourselves whether we were better off using Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer. Looking back, that was completely missing the point. The browser didn’t matter. What mattered was that the entire business model of how companies reached customers was being fundamentally rewritten.
Now, having worked with more than 50 agencies over the past 18 months through Spark AI, the company I co-founded, I’m watching the same thing happen again. Only this time, it’s moving faster.
That’s why I wrote Shift – AI for Agencies. Not because I had all the answers, but because after 18 months on the frontline of AI adoption with agencies, I certainly knew most of the questions.
Here are the 5 lessons agencies need to take on board:
When digital arrived, agencies had years to adapt. Broadband took 10 years to roll out. The iPhone didn’t appear until 2007, and the App Store didn’t open until 2008. Influencer marketing took a decade to become the juggernaut it is today. Agencies had two decades to experiment, learn, pivot, and rebuild their capabilities.
AI is different. More money is being poured into generative AI than any technology in human history. As a share of US GDP, it’s more than double what was spent on the Apollo moon missions in the 1960s. This level of investment means the rate of improvement we’ve seen since ChatGPT launched in late 2022 shows no sign of slowing down.
The models improve every few months. New capabilities arrive constantly. What seemed impossible last year is standard this year. And unlike the digital transition – which required new infrastructure and new devices – AI tools are immediately accessible to anyone with a laptop and a £20 monthly subscription.
But here’s what catches most agencies off guard: AI tools don’t work like the software you’re used to.
When you learned Photoshop or InDesign, you learned specific commands. Click this button, use this tool, apply this effect. The software did exactly what you told it to do, the same way, every time. Mastery meant knowing which buttons to press.
AI doesn’t work that way. The same prompt gives you different results each time. There are no buttons to press, just conversations to have. You don’t learn commands—you learn how to communicate intent, how to refine outputs, how to work iteratively with something that’s part tool, part collaborator.
This means agencies need to develop completely new capabilities. Not just “how to use ChatGPT” but how to prompt effectively, how to evaluate AI outputs, how to combine multiple AI tools into workflows, how to know when to use AI and when not to.
If AI was just about learning new tools, agencies would adapt fine. They’ve done it before. From desktop publishing to digital design to social media, the industry has consistently upskilled as new technology arrived.
But AI is different. It doesn’t just change your toolkit—it changes how creative work happens.
Think about the traditional creative process. You brief a team. They go away for days or weeks. They come back with three concepts. The client picks one. You refine it. You iterate. Eventually you have a finished brand or campaign that goes live.
Now imagine this: your strategist uses AI to analyse thousands of customer reviews in a few hours, identifying patterns that would have taken weeks to surface manually. Your creative team generates 20 concept directions in a day instead of three in a week. Your designers create 200 variations of each concept to test against different audiences. Your account team runs simulations of client presentations to anticipate objections before the meeting.
The work itself is different. It’s not about executing specific creative visions anymore—it’s about designing frameworks and parameters within which AI can generate brand-appropriate content. You become the architect of creative possibility rather than the executor of individual ideas.
This is where most agencies are missing the real story. AI doesn’t just make existing tasks faster. It redistributes where time gets spent and where value lives.
Junior creatives used to spend weeks creating multiple concept directions. Now they spend hours generating hundreds of options with AI. Their value shifts from execution to curation and refinement.
Your senior creatives used to spend days perfecting a single visual. Now they spend their time designing the guardrails and parameters that guide AI generation at scale.
Your strategists used to spend weeks doing desk research and analysis. Now they spend that time on higher-order thinking—interpreting patterns, making connections, developing insights that AI can’t.
And here’s the critical bit: the traditional pricing model begins to break.
When creating 100 variations doesn’t cost much more than creating one, how do you charge for that work? When a task that took three days now takes three hours, why would clients pay the same rate? When work that seems – even if only from the client’s perspective – increasingly automated, why pay agency rates at all?
Any time you save through AI efficiency will eventually be passed to clients. The market will force your hand. If you try to pocket those gains as margin, someone else will undercut you.
So the agencies that are getting ahead are redefining where value comes from. They’re moving from selling deliverables to selling ongoing creative capability. From project-based pricing to outcome-based models. From “time × rate = fee” to “impact × expertise = value.”
One agency director told us: “AI hasn’t made our work cheaper, but it has made it better. Now we’re exploring more territories, testing more ideas, and then refining them more.” The agencies succeeding aren’t trying to work faster at the same things. They’re doing fundamentally different work.
Many agencies come to us asking: “What’s the best AI tool for creating social content?” Or “What’s a great prompt for writing headlines?” Or “Should we use ChatGPT or Claude?”
They are treating AI like they treated Adobe Creative Suite, just another piece of software to master. Learn the tools, get certified, move on.
But that’s like asking in 1998 whether you should use Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer. The browser didn’t matter. What mattered was that the entire business model of how companies reached customers was being rewritten.
The agencies getting this right are asking completely different questions:
These aren’t questions about tools or prompts. They’re questions about business transformation.
Our research revealed something striking: about 20% of agencies were deliberately moving forwards with AI—building adoption programmes, implementing policies, training their teams. Meanwhile, 50% were stuck at the experimental stage, where AI use was down to individual initiative with little support to move beyond it. And 20% still aren’t really doing anything at all – just letting their teams do what they want.
Shift – AI for Agencies captures everything we’ve learned in the last 18 months about how to transform your agency with AI.
It’s built around what we call the AI Maturity Model—a four-stage framework from
The book walks you through:
I studied Applied Generative AI at MIT, then co-founded Spark AI to help agencies navigate this future. We were supported by Innovate UK to build our AI Accelerator programme, and Shift contains everything we’ve learned from the frontline of AI adoption. Many of the concepts in this book I teach as part of the ‘Advanced Diploma for AI in Business’ at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School.
The agencies that will thrive aren’t the ones with the biggest budgets or the most advanced technical resources—they’re the ones that understand they’re not just adopting new technology, they’re rebuilding what an agency is, what it does, and how it creates value.
Get the book
Order ‘Shift – AI for Agencies’ to transform your business for the AI era. To celebrate it’s launch on 4th November, BCI members will be able to buy the Kindle edition for 99p for the first 48 hours.
About Spark AI
Spark is an AI training, coaching and consultancy working with agencies and brands. We help leaders upskill their teams, build AI workflows and reconfigure their businesses. We have been supported by Innovate UK and teach our AI for Leaders programme at Oxford University’s Said Business School. 👉 https://www.wearespark.ai/
About the Author
Jules Love is a co-founder of Spark AI. He studied Applied Generative AI at MIT, regularly speaks about AI on the global stage, and is one of BIMA’s 100 for 2025.
The government’s 2025 Autumn Budget takes place on 26 November.
Bristol Creative Industries members share what they would like to see in chancellor Rachel Reeves’ speech for creative businesses.
“It’s a tough market right now for creative businesses. We’re an economy of SMEs and micro-enterprises so support that encourages both business start up and scale is critical to our sector growth.
“While it’s encouraging to see central government championing the creative industries, we need that ambition to translate into tangible support. Support, simplification, and incentives for growth are what we’d like to see. That means easier access to enhanced funding, grants and investment, particularly for digital transformation and innovation, alongside tax strategies and initiatives that will create impact including practical help to make hiring entry-level talent affordable and accessible.
“The creative economy is ready to grow, we need support to help us do just that.”
Lis Anderson, co-chair of Bristol Creative Industries
“As the Autumn Budget approaches, creative business leaders must make the case for real investment in young talent. Our industry runs on innovation, but too many aspiring creatives are shut out by lack of access, training, and opportunity.
“Government support for employers to offer paid placements, mentorship, and creative facilities would unlock a wave of energy and ideas our sector urgently needs, and provide the foundations of a solid growth strategy. Investing in the next generation strengthens our talent pipeline, fuels diversity, and keeps the UK’s creative industries globally competitive.”
Mustafa Mirreh, Tell ’em Mo
“Rachel Reeves should be bold. It would be a good start to give the UK’s creative industries a leg up by doubling the Discover Creative Careers programme to £6 million, getting 100,000 disadvantaged kids into apprenticeships and setting up hubs in places like the North East and Midlands to close the jobs gap with London.
“A freelancer package, sorting out IR35, chucking in a £500 startup credit, easing late payment hassles, and a £10 million AI upskilling pot could tackle the skills shortage and calm 60% of creatives worried about job losses. That’d really spark inclusive growth!”
Jayne Caple, Vivid Imagination
“I’d like to see better support for creative businesses, especially when it comes to upskilling and investing in training. Improved R&D and innovation tax reliefs (with proper guidance on how to access them) would go a long way, as would targeted funding and incentives for skills development.
“With the big AI wave reshaping how we all work, it’s crucial that the UK government keeps backing the creative sector and helps it stay at the forefront of innovation.”
Rob Morrisby, Jambi Digital
“If the government is serious about fuelling the UK’s creative growth, it can’t keep treating podcasting as a hobby. The UK podcast and audio industry is now worth £5 billion annually – one of the fastest-growing in the creative economy – and a vital export channel for British storytelling.
“A targeted tax relief and global IP fund would turn that momentum into measurable economic impact, giving independent creators and production studios the same investment confidence enjoyed by film and TV. This isn’t a hand-out; it’s a high-return strategy. With the right fiscal framework, podcasting could become the UK’s next world-class creative export”.
Matt Allen, It Starts With a Podcast
“There’s some truth to that, but it also highlights an issue with discourse surrounding these big-ticket fiscal events.
“Will Rachel Reeves break a tax pledge? Who will the winners and losers be? This is interesting for those in the business of news and politics, but my issue is that it misses a bigger point.
“We have a government with a huge majority, elected on a mandate to change things. They have an opportunity to overhaul an economy that’s visibly and palpably failed too many people for too long – especially outside London and the South East. This is the backdrop for so many of the problems facing us today.
“My hope for the Budget is that we start to see the government’s vision for the country and understand how it plans to get us there. I would start by putting more resource with town and city leaders and getting Treasury officials out of London more often to better understand what places need to thrive and see where their policies over the last 40 years have failed.
“Creating the conditions for businesses and their teams to thrive should be top of any government’s growth agenda. Affordable homes, training and transport that works should all feature in some way.
“This would also add some meat onto the bones of the government’s slogan of ‘change’ and justify any tax rises that seem certain to happen. Polls suggest many people would pay more for public services that work. The challenge for the government is to join the dots between the measures and the outcomes they want. Whatever measure grabs the headlines, I hope we get more of a sense of what ‘change’ really means.”
Ben Lowndes, Distinctive Communications
“The UK’s creative industries thrive on talent, but nurturing that talent takes investment. I’d like to see the Autumn Budget prioritise easily accessible funding for apprenticeships and professional development, especially for independent agencies who want to bring in the best new people but are faced with complex (or costly) schemes.
“We also need sustained support for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that make creative careers possible for people from all backgrounds, not just those who can afford to take unpaid opportunities.
“Finally, a commitment to regional investment beyond London would unlock creative potential – and economic growth – across every part of the country.”
Ailsa Billington, Proctor and Stevenson
“Last year the creative industry was highlighted as a “key sector for economic growth”. This year I’d like to see the government go further. Creativity is an essential part of our economy, and we need stronger confidence, particularly in our region.
“Agencies like ours do more than “make things look good”. We craft world-class brand stories, shape digital experiences, and deliver campaigns that drive exports, growth, and innovation across the UK.
“Yet SMEs like ours are constantly squeezed. Rising costs, AI and immersive technologies are transforming how we work, and without targeted support and innovation agencies risk being left behind.
“The Autumn Budget is a chance to see more funding in that pace, and I’d like to see more opportunities with procurement to smaller agencies, and any business support via tax reliefs would be hugely welcome!”
Ruth Clarke, Six
“Employers shouldered the biggest tax rises in the October 2024 Budget, felt through the increase in employers NICs. Whilst Rachel Reeves has given herself very few tax levers to pull for the November 2025 Budget without breaking her manifesto pledge, I think it’s unlikely that further tax will be put on employers.
“Taxing businesses will only create more uncertainty. The creative sector needs a Budget that will bring back confidence in the UK economy.”
Karen Pearce, Loom Digital
“I feel like the Autumn Budget has been a long time coming – partly because it’s later than usual but partly because I’ve read so much about what may or may not happen. Most of it gloomy. But I’m waiting for the facts.
“I’m expecting changes to tax thresholds, but we’ll see what detail there is around that. I’m also expecting national minimum wage increases, but as a Living Wage Employer we’re well set up for them. I am encouraged by the recent measures announced to tackle late payments, which are a big problem for small businesses.”
Jessica Morgan, Carnsight Communications
“We saw business rates rise by over 30% overnight in the last review just a couple of years ago. With another review due next April — and no clarity from the Valuation Office, I’m deeply concerned. In uncertain times, the last thing businesses need is complete unpredictability.
“There’s talk of favourable changes for smaller high street properties being funded by higher rates on larger properties, but its just a mess. The entire business rates system needs rethinking. I hope a national review is on the agenda this autumn in time to give some clarity ahead of April.”
Jason Smith, Gather Round and Fiasco
“As a small, independent, creative business leader, I’m looking to the Budget for reassurance that skills funding will work for businesses of my size and nature. SME access to funds for AI and digital upskilling is critical in helping us maintain pace with some of the larger creative players.
“I would also welcome harder enforcement on late payments as cashflow has become increasingly challenging with rising business costs since the last Budget. Do this and agencies like ours in Bristol will have the support to continue our growth journeys, contributing to the wider creative offering within the South West.”
Lucy McKerron, Purplefish
“We hope the Autumn Budget recognises the vital role of the creative industries in driving economic growth and innovation. AI offers incredible potential for agencies like ours, and with the right support, such as relief on AI investment, we could combine technology and human imagination in even more powerful ways.
“Incentives for content creation would further unlock bold ideas and new jobs across the UK’s creative economy. Ultimately, a Budget that treats creativity not as a luxury, but as a catalyst for progress, would be a powerful statement of intent.”
Kit Worrall, Team Eleven
“TV sets (and mobile phone and routers) are all coming with a big NPU (neural processing unit) inside which will allow the device itself to modify the content while the user watches. You can be in EastEnders for example!
“This creates massive new opportunities for UK creatives to lead, but to do it requires investment in tech as well as the creative industry.
“The tech to do this is created in the UK (we are one of those tech companies) but generally tech is ignored by the creative industry.
“This is not expensive cloud based AI. This is Edge-based AI running in the device, at no cost to the broadcaster. So far only the American and Chinese hyperscalers are taking advantage of this UK tech!”
Trevor Neal, RedSquid AI-TV
Look out for a guide to what the Autumn Budget 2025 means for the creative industries after the speech on 26 November.
A guide to the government’s creative industries sector plan
A guide to the government’s digital and technologies sector plan
Government names West of England as priority area for creative industries
We’re delighted to announce our third Skills Bootcamp in Virtual Production!
Starting Wednesday 17th December 2025, these fully funded courses offer an incredible opportunity to gain cutting-edge skills that are transforming the future of film and media production.
We are offering two specialist courses:
• Virtual Production with Unreal Engine
• Virtual Production with Sony VENICE 2
These bootcamps are free to learners, funded by the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority (WEMCA) and led by the University of Bristol in partnership with MARS Academy (MARS Volume), Gritty Talent, and accredited trainers in Unreal Engine and Sony VENICE 2.
Virtual production is revolutionising the screen sector by blending live action, visual effects, and real-time 3D environments into a seamless creative process.
Applications close at midnight on Wednesday 12th November 2025, please share with your wider audience.
UK digital agency, Torchbox, delivers major website transformation focused on environmental responsibility and inclusive design
Bristol, UK – 14th October 2025 – Torchbox, the digital agency behind open source content management system Wagtail, has developed a new website for World Wildlife Fund-US that demonstrates how sustainable web development practices can work hand-in-hand with improved user experience.
The project helps one of the United States’ leading conservation organisations share its critical conservation message with its nearly 10 million annual users by rebuilding its digital platform.
“Working with a conservation organisation like WWF-US meant sustainability couldn’t just be a talking point, it had to be built into every technical decision,” said Gabi Mamon, Client Partner, Torchbox. “We’ve created a platform that performs better whilst reducing its environmental impact through thoughtful technical choices at every level.”
The new platform runs on Cloudflare’s renewable energy infrastructure and employs modern web development practices, including optimised image formats, efficient content delivery networks using caching to serve all content. These improvements deliver faster page loads whilst reducing the data transfer required for the site’s 30 million annual pageviews.
Accessibility features are integrated throughout the platform, including enhanced keyboard navigation, improved colour contrast, proper semantic markup, and screen reader compatibility. The rebuild also involved thoughtfully reorganising 6,000 pages of conservation content to create clearer user journeys.
“Our website is where millions of people come to learn about global conservation and how it helps both people and nature thrive,” said WWF-US Vice President of Digital Projects Diane Querey. “It’s important that it welcomes users in a way that highlights the important role nature plays in all our lives while conveying the urgency and importance of our mission.”
The project required tight deadline management, with Torchbox working closely with WWF-US’s internal team to migrate and reorganise content whilst building new functionality.
For WWF-US, the new platform provides a foundation for long-term digital growth. The successful delivery demonstrates Torchbox’s capability to meet the complex requirements of large international charities working under demanding timescales.
Visit the new site at https://www.worldwildlife.org/
AI and copyright of content is a controversial issue in the creative industries, with the government receiving 11,500 responses to its consultation on the UK’s legal framework for copyright. Ministers say they are reviewing all the responses and technology secretary Peter Kyle said:
“I am determined to harness expert insights from across the debate as we work together to deliver a solution that brings the legal clarity our creative industries and AI sector badly need in the digital age.”
We asked some Bristol Creative Industries members what they think the government should do. See below for their responses.
Join our Wake Up Call webinar on 1 August: When AI kills the click, what comes next for SEO?
Russell Jones, JonesMillbank (see JonesMillbank’s BCI profile here):
“Jean-Luc Godard (1930-2022), a pioneer in filmmaking, said “It’s not where you take things from – it’s where you take them to”. Had he lived three more years, would he be saying the same thing about the generative imagery we’re seeing today?
“When nothing is original, and humans have copied and been inspired by others since the dawn of time, where do we draw the line between human inspiration and en-mass machine learning?
“Nobody has the answer yet, but any regulation must be worldwide – human-wide – to avoid creating an AI-divide.”
Phil Robinson, Proctor + Stevenson (see Proctor + Stevenson’s BCI profile here):
“I believe clarity and fairness are the two critical factors here. AI offers exciting creative opportunities, but we need a legal framework that respects the rights of artists while helping us explore new tools. Creators should know if their work is used to train AI, and there must be proper consent and fair compensation.
“I’d like to see rules that protect originality but also empower creatives to be ambitious and produce incredible work. If the government gets that balance right, AI could become a genuine asset to the creative industries, not a threat to them.”
Catherine Frankpitt, Strike Communications (see Strike Communications’ BCI profile here):
“Creative professionals are natural early adopters, so we must balance protecting our intellectual property with harnessing AI’s potential through proper legal safeguards.
“The government must work urgently with creative and tech sectors to establish a legally enforceable framework requiring clear disclosure of AI training data sources and mandatory opt-in licensing. We need a distinction between AI as a creative tool versus unauthorised training on copyrighted works. Creators must retain ownership and receive fair compensation for any AI usage of their work. Given AI’s global reach, this framework needs both robust UK legislation and international coordination.
“Finally, we must move at pace with regular legal reviews to ensure our protections evolve alongside the technology, preventing creators from being left behind.”
Mark Shand, UWE Bristol (see UWE Bristol’s BCI profile here):
“The proposals in the government consultation reflect an inconsistent approach to intellectual property, favouring undisclosed AI companies (other industries compensate creators), while disadvantaging university copyright holders across culture, research, education, business, science, and health. It places an unfair burden on creators, remains vague, appears technically unfeasible, and perpetuates business practices that undermine creators’ control and compensation.
“We are also concerned by the accompanying narrative, which frames creators as being at odds with ‘innovators’. In reality, our students and staff are innovators – they are also current and future income generators, market disruptors, and employers.”
Tim Shapcott, Tiki Media (see Tim Shapcott’s BCI profile here):
“Painful as it is to consider, it may be unrealistic to hold AI companies accountable for what’s already been done. Rather than close our borders to the world as other countries take advantage of the up-side, a more pragmatic path may be to focus on future solutions.
“Applying pressure to the AI industry to establish clear checks and balances could ensure that original creators receive fair recognition and compensation as AI evolves. This balanced approach may allow us to embrace the benefits of AI while still supporting our creative talent. If ‘back pay’ is possible as a part of that, then awesome!”
Claire Snook, AMBITIOUS (see AMBITIOUS’ BCI profile here):
“For the last 20 years, AI has helped our work and operations through programmatic ads, content development, chatbots, virtual assistants and more.
“But it’s undermining our creativity. Copyright is essential to protect our work. Our government has a responsibility to provide clarity for how AI is used in conjunction with creative work; we need clear and defined safeguards for creators. This should have been in the works decades ago.
“Companies are taking measures to protect our content. Cloudflare, one of the biggest architect providers, now prevents AI crawlers from scraping content without the creators’ permission meaning websites will be able to charge AI companies for accessing their content.
“We need a practical approach that protects and ensures our creative labour isn’t stolen, while making sure people can responsibly use AI for their needs and wants.”
Susan Pearson, Wordways (see Susan Pearson’s BCI profile here):
“The copyright for anything I write is 100% mine or my client’s. No-one or no ‘thing’ should ever have the right to reproduce the words of writers exactly unless these words are expressed within quote marks with the source of the quote acknowledged – unless they have specific permission. Anything else would be creative theft.
“Weakening of copyright law in any way will have a profound effect on the livelihood of writers and others in the creative industries. Even the suggestion that AI software can re-hash original material from creatives is a suggestion that theft should be legalised!”
Jessica Morgan, Carnsight Communications (see Carnsight Communications’ BCI profile here):
“AI is rarely out of the spotlight – particularly in the creative industries. It’s also a growth opportunity identified by the government, so it’s likely to remain there. This feels like a pivotal moment. Will we be left behind if we don’t evolve our regulations, or do we risk completely exploiting creativity if we do?
“Holding the consultation is a good first step, and those thousands of views given will have to be considered and taken into account (AI may prove useful here!) The key thing is, creative work is important and should be valued. Copyright exists for a reason and we’ve been abiding by it for decades. Any path forward needs to acknowledge that.”
Sandra Mouton, French translator (see Sandra Mouton’s BCI profile here):
“Copyrighted works available for reading online are routinely used to train the LLMs AI runs on. In my field of translation, that’s translated books, but also magazine articles, white papers from businesses or NGOs, video game content, etc. All this IP was created within the framework of copyright law and the protection it’s meant to provide for authors’ and copyright-holders’ rights.
“The government needs to ensure that protection is real and that the work of creatives like translators cannot be exploited for money without our express consent (with a default opt-in rather than opt-out system) and adequate compensation through royalties.”
Alex Murrell, Epoch (see Epoch’s BCI profile here):
“Human creativity thrives on curious minds and their insatiable appetite for inspiration. Film, fashion, art and architecture; it all gets devoured, connected and remixed into new and novel ideas. Copyright laws protect this process: copy too closely, and you risk infringement.
“But now, generative AI is rewriting the rules. If a machine uses your work to train a model, is that theft or fair use? Is it ethically different from a human remixing their inspiration? Should copyright continue to cover one’s output, or should it cover the input as well? That’s the question governments must answer—and fast.”
Emma Barraclough, Epoch
“AI is reshaping the creative landscape; enabling highly personalised, efficient design at scale. And as it becomes mainstream, using it has become essential to staying competitive in a fast-moving industry. But there are concerns we can’t ignore. Ambiguity around the ownership of AI-generated content presents legal challenges.
“For brand assets to be valuable, they must be protectable. And yet without clear rules AI generated assets are at risk of being copied and compromised by others. For AI to become a truly powerful tool for creatives, we need laws that make its output safe, ownable, and enforceable.”
Penny Beeston, Beeston Media (see Beeston Media’s BCI profile here):
“As an SME in the creative sector we embrace AI where it improves the efficiency of our craft. The red flags are where AI stifles or steals creative human endeavour. The horse may well have bolted in terms of past copyright theft, but the government has an important role to play in regulation going forward.
“Original assets used in generative AI should be traceable, accredited or paid for by third parties. The government’s commitment to investing in AI research and innovation with projects such as the Isambard-AI supercomputer is impressive. Let’s use that sovereign capacity for good by creating AI tools to shift the balance of power from poachers to gamekeepers.”
Chas Rowe, voiceover artist (see Chas Rowe’s BCI profile here):
“First, AI steals from creators. Then, AI steals from creators. Two wrongs don’t make a right. The government should stop providing shovels for the gravediggers of the creative industries.”
Join our Wake Up Call webinar on 1 August: When AI kills the click, what comes next for SEO?
Features that enhance user experience and website functionality. Features that are accessible, easy to use and make managing a site less of a hassle.
And right now, artificial intelligence is undoubtedly the game-changing technology shaking up the digital world.
So how is Drupal keeping pace with the rise of AI?
Drupal was introduced to the world as an open-source content management system (CMS) in 2009 but has now evolved into the central component of a digital experience platform (DXP). A DXP is a software platform that includes a range of tools to support the management, delivery and optimisation of digital experiences.
While a traditional CMS platform focuses on managing content, primarily for websites, a DXP goes beyond website content and is capable of much more, such as data management, customer journey and digital touchpoint tracking, and personalisation and automation.
Drupal consists of a core website hosting platform, with multiple modules that can be added as an extension to its functionality. Modules that are increasingly appealing and relevant to digital designers, including the team at Proctors, are AI modules that can be installed and configured to add value to a site straight away. As AI has transformed the digital space, these are tools that offer many advantages for website hosting and marketing automation.
So, let’s take a look at some of the potential use cases for Drupal’s AI integrations.
Drupal’s AI capabilities include the integration of Large Language Modules (LLMs) which can be used to analyse data, generate content and even assist with image creation. An LLM is a type of artificial intelligence that uses deep data processing to understand and generate human language. These AI modules can be accessed via Drupal’s user interfaces or integrated into the code of the site, meaning content editors and developers alike can use them.
Below are some examples of Artificial Intelligence modules that can be added to your Drupal core platform and utilised as extensions to your team:
1) AI Assistants API + Chatbot modules provide a way for all users, including the creators, of the site to interact with a chatbot. This functionality can either be specific modules or integrations with third-party tools such as OpenAI or ChatGPT. The AI API module allows developers and content creators to generate content quickly, translate content into multiple languages and change existing content to match desired tones. On the other hand, chatbot integrations can be used as a 24/7 virtual assistant, allowing users to receive personalised and accurate responses to queries. Chatbots have proven to be a highly valuable tool for improving user experience, with around 55% of companies who use chatbots for marketing experiencing a rise in high quality leads.
2) AI Search module enables content of a Drupal website to be indexed and allows for more relevant and accurate search functionality. Search can be combined with the chatbot functionality, allowing users to search the site via a chat interaction. The search module is highly beneficial for large enterprises, such as banks, consulting firms and software companies, who have large amounts of internal documentation and resources that need to be easily searchable. This tool can also offer search insights that track what users are looking for to improve content strategy and UX.
3) AI CKeditor module is a specific text editing module that can fix your spelling, summarise your content and adjust your tone of voice. This function involves simply adding a button to any What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) text field to create content via an LLM and change the tone. It’s a great tool for non-technical users or editors as it gives the flexibility to rapidly adjust and manage content as and when it’s needed.
4) With AI Translate, pages can be translated with one click, cutting down the time and expense it takes to hire someone to manually translate content on a site with a lot of pages. This tool is particularly useful for organisations who are running websites in multiple languages – reducing translation costs and maintaining consistency across tone and terminology.
As the use of AI is becoming the norm online, it’s clear that Drupal has embraced artificial intelligence through its latest modules, showcasing the platform’s commitment to integrating AI capabilities and leveraging its functionality. These advancements demonstrate the powerful possibilities AI brings to web development.
For our clients, this means faster project turnaround, more personalised experiences and smarter automation.
At Proctors, we’re continuing to develop our skills and expertise across AI technologies including across Drupal modules. By leveraging AI, your existing Drupal site can deliver more relevant content, tailored tone and language, and an improved search experience – all with minimal effort.
If you’d like to explore how our team of Drupal experts can help you leverage Drupal’s platform and powerful functionalities, get in touch with us at [email protected].
When shiny new frameworks seem to pop up all the time, it can be overwhelming trying to figure out which one fits your needs. Should you go with something trendy? Something easy? Something flexible? There’s a lot to consider.
In this blog, I’m diving into why Laravel might just be the perfect fit for your website or web application. Whether you’re building something simple or scaling up a complex platform, Laravel brings a lot to the table—and I’ll walk you through exactly why it stands out.
Laravel is a modern PHP web-application framework known for its elegant syntax, powerful features, and developer-friendly tools. Whether you’re using Laravel 10 or 11, the framework provides a robust foundation for building secure and scalable web applications.
It simplifies the development of custom web platforms, business applications, and enterprise-level software with a rich set of features. And its handy modular structure and reusable components help accelerate development, reduce costs, and improve performance. All-in-all, that makes it a top choice for companies looking to build high-quality digital solutions.
Laravel comes with a ton of handy features, right out of the box, allowing for quick (and cheap!) creation of a minimum viable product (MVP). Take Laravel migrations: this feature allows developers to programmatically create database tables and columns, populating them with the required data needed for the site to function. The benefit? It makes it really easy to pass the site to another developer and immediately have them set up the development environment and the correct database. It can also be used to modify a pre-existing database in a safe and efficient way.
Another benefit of using Laravel is the unit testing that comes with it. This allows for robust code-driven tests to be written and executed upon any deployment. Combining this with Test-Driven Development, you can easily and autonomously ensure all edge cases are covered before your site goes live, providing a seamless user experience.
It’s not as alarming as it sounds. A headless website is one where the frontend and backend of the site run separately. This can be created by using Laravel with React, or any front-end framework of your choice. A huge benefit of this is that the frontend can be optimised to provide an extremely speedy page load, and faster navigation of the site for the users. This has been proven to increase conversion rates and enhance your SEO score, meaning you reach a larger audience.
Headless sites are also more reliable and robust than standard websites. Why? Because any issues with the backend will not be reflected in the front end.
One of Laravel’s biggest strengths is its powerful ecosystem of plugins and packages that helps developers build faster, smarter, and more efficiently. Whether you’re launching a new web application or optimising an existing Laravel website, there are packages designed to handle everything you need.
Popular starter kits like Laravel Breeze and Laravel Jetstream make setting up user authentication and security features quick and easy. If you need a professional admin panel, Filament offers a low-code solution for creating beautiful dashboards and backend systems. Managing roles and permissions? Bouncer for Laravel provides flexible access control without the usual complexity.
And when it comes to boosting your site’s visibility, SEO packages like Laravel SEO Tools help optimise meta tags and generate sitemaps effortlessly. No matter your project size, Laravel’s rich package ecosystem saves development time, enhances performance, and helps deliver a more scalable, SEO-friendly web application.
Over 700,000 sites currently use Laravel and that’s because it’s the ideal candidate in a lot of situations.
It’s an excellent choice for businesses building a learning management system or Partner Portal. These types of applications benefit from Laravel’s speed, scalability, and strong support for role-based access control. Its built-in authentication and permission systems make it easy to enforce strict user-level access, meaning you can be sure of a secure and robust platform tailored to complex user hierarchies.
It’s also a great fit for custom business tools like inventory management systems, internal dashboards, or booking platforms. When off-the-shelf software doesn’t meet specific operational needs, Laravel’s flexibility allows developers to build tailored solutions that integrate seamlessly with third-party APIs —whether it’s for payments, shipping, CRMs, or analytics. This makes it easy to connect external services while automating workflows and syncing data in real time.
Combined with its clean architecture and rich ecosystem, Laravel is ideal for developing reliable, maintainable apps that power day-to-day operations.
If you’re interested in finding out how Laravel could work for your business, we’re here to help.
Get in touch at [email protected].
Do you create TV programmes? Or TV adverts?
We are creating the interactive TV set. Personalising the content inside the TV set while it is being watched.
Imagine – your dog in the dog food advert?
Swiping though paint colours and interior trim options while watching a car advert?
See how many Ketchup bottles you can stack during a 10 second advert !!!
The world of TV is changing again. We are the people changing it, creating the tech for interactive TV. We are looking for partners in advertising and content creation to help us define the product.
BRISTOL — Torchbox Public, the public sector division of digital agency Torchbox, has been awarded a contract to develop and implement a new intranet for Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, one of the UK’s largest and busiest NHS trusts.
The project will transform internal communications across the Trust by providing one easy-to-use, fully accessible digital space for staff to connect and find essential information across all hospital locations and on any device. The new platform will serve over 23,600 staff across multiple sites, including five hospitals and 23 local community health centres.
Guy’s and St Thomas’ currently has two different intranet sites and wants to support all staff by creating one consistent experience. The new intranet will make it quicker to access the information they need, and reinforce that, despite the Trust’s size, staff are part of one organisation with shared values and a reputation for clinical excellence, high-quality teaching, and research.
“We’re a diverse and welcoming organisation, which is incredibly proud of our staff and the dedication they show to our patients and each other. We’re creating this new intranet to make it easier for everyone to connect and access the information they need to deliver the high-quality and compassionate care we are known for” said Lindsay Gormley, Head of digital and content at Guy’s and St Thomas’.
The new intranet will be built on Wagtail NHS Intranet, an open-source platform developed by Torchbox specifically for NHS organisations. This innovative solution was made possible through the initial support of Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and continues to evolve through collaborations with other trusts, including Gloucestershire NHS.
The solution builds on successful implementations for multiple healthcare providers, where the intranet has improved staff communication, information access, and operational efficiency while eliminating ongoing license fees.
Key features of the new intranet will include:
“We’re honoured to partner with Guy’s and St Thomas’ on this transformative project,” said Ben Heasman, Client Partner, Torchbox. “Our experience creating digital platforms for NHS organisations has shown us how a well-designed intranet can break down barriers, improve efficiency, and ultimately contribute to better patient care. We look forward to delivering a solution that will serve the Trust’s diverse workforce and support its vital work.”
The project will take a phased approach, with initial discovery and design work already underway.
Guy’s and St Thomas’ provides 2.8 million patient contacts in acute and specialist hospital services and community services every year. The Trust includes Guy’s Hospital, St Thomas’ Hospital, Evelina London Children’s Hospital, Royal Brompton Hospital, Harefield Hospital, and adult and children’s community services in Lambeth and Southwark
As one of the biggest NHS trusts in the UK, with an annual turnover of £2.9 billion, Guy’s and St Thomas’ employ around 23,600 staff. www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk
Guy’s and St Thomas’ is part of King’s Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre (AHSC), a collaboration between King’s College London, and Guy’s and St Thomas’, King’s College Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts. www.kingshealthpartners.org
Torchbox Public is a specialised division of Torchbox that partners with public sector organisations to tackle complex challenges through progressive, collaborative approaches.
As a certified B Corporation and 100% employee-owned business, Torchbox brings together a diverse team of over 120 digital specialists committed to creating inclusive, accessible, and sustainable digital solutions. The company has delivered transformative digital projects for leading organisations across healthcare, charity, and cultural sectors, including Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Samaritans, Mind, Children’s Health Ireland, the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), and London Museum. Torchbox is a leader in open-source technology and distinguishes itself through its evidence-based approach, collaborative partnerships, and commitment to social and environmental responsibility.
ENDS
For more information, please contact:
Lisa Ballam
torchbox.com
You need to load content from reCAPTCHA to submit the form. Please note that doing so will share data with third-party providers.
More Information