Category Archives: Creative & Marketing

Creative & Marketing, Creative News, News, North of England

Rebrand for Cheshire creative agency, LOVELIVE

Cheshire creative agency LOVELIVE has unveiled a new-look branding; coinciding with the launch of a new website as they celebrate 22% year on year growth and an exciting new focus.

LOVELIVE are a Cheshire based full-service design agency. They began life working largely with design, print and events, but have since grown a strong additional team in creative strategy, video animation and e-learning; offering a full service to clients. Founded in 2010 by James Gibson and Kim Collier, they are now a team of 17 and are currently hiring for a full time Presentations Designer role to boost their team.

The majority of their clients are in the healthcare sector and this specialism has evolved over the last 14 years. However, more recently they have branched out into the professional services sector.

The rebrand incorporates a dynamic new logo, look and identity for their brand alongside a new website and strapline “Bringing to life everything from complex data to creative storytelling”.

Kim Collier, joint CEO of LOVELIVE said: “We’ve been the powerhouse behind the transformation of brands in the healthcare services sector since 2010, so we understand the importance of offering new creative and digital solutions whilst maintaining high-quality delivery. We’re currently expanding our team and diversifying into the professional services sector. With new clients in this space, it felt like it was the ideal time to refresh the look and feel of our brand and website.”

James Gibson, joint CEO of LOVELIVE also commented: “In the past 14 years, we’ve gone from strength to strength; growing our team as well as clocking up an incredible 22% year on year sales growth. But the journey doesn’t end there! As we continue to expand and grow; as does our passion for delivering the best results for our clients. With our new website and brand – we wanted something that showcased our expertise and creative prowess and we’re confident we’ve achieved this.”

To learn more, visit www.loveliveagency.com

Creative & Marketing, Creative News, News

Fluid Ideas creates drive-in Derby studio to rival Manchester and London facilities

Creative agency Fluid Ideas has unveiled the latest phase of its expansion – a drive-in studio for filming, photography, recording and events.

The studio, called Flux, features an infinity cove, a fully-functional kitchen set and an audio booth for recording voiceovers and podcasts.

Fluid has invested a six-figure sum to transform a 1,300sq ft building next to its headquarters in a former cotton mill at Darley Abbey Mills, a World Heritage Site on the outskirts of Derby.

Jamie Hovell, an associate partner at Fluid, said the new multipurpose facility – in the old Engine House – gives the Midlands a genuine alternative to Manchester and London for filming, photoshoots and recordings.

“The combination of the drive-in feature, the infinity cove with overhead lighting rig and the kitchen set means we have a distinctive and really versatile space which our team will utilise for client projects,” he said.

“In just 10 weeks, we’ve transformed a vacant and unloved industrial building to create a real point of difference for Fluid and the region, and one which we are confident will appeal to our clients and the wider creative community.

“It’s a spacious open studio with plenty of space for lighting and cameras. The infinity cove is brightly lit and curves into the floor, so there are no corners or shadows. It can easily be repainted according to the colour needs of each client.

“We’d been scoping out places to create a facility of this kind for some time, and visited a number of potential sites before the Engine House became available. It’s the perfect location, and seeing the new space we had envisioned for so long transformed from a blank canvas and spring into life over the weeks has been a real joy.”

Jamie added: “We see Flux becoming a hub in the Midlands. Until now, people have had to travel to Manchester or London for such a facility.

“Now there is somewhere closer to home which businesses, art directors, marketing teams and other agencies can hire for their own projects. It can also be used for off-site meetings, product launches, get-togethers and workshops.”

Joint managing director Phil Harvey and Jamie led the renovation project for Fluid. Associate partner Carrie Gregory led on the branding and interior design. The trio were supported by a wider team including Dan Chadwick, Bec Utley and Liv Beighton to bring the proposition to life.

The drive-in capability of the new studio is aimed at Fluid’s roster of automotive clients, while the high-end kitchen is envisaged for a variety of uses, including food styling and household product photos and videos, recipe guides, and for meetings and events.

Fluid is an award-winning, full-service agency which celebrated its 20th anniversary in November 2023. It has a team of nearly 60 creatives, strategists, developers, designers, artworkers, CGI artists, photographers, copywriters, social media specialists, motion-designers and digital marketeers.

It serves a global client base across sectors including automotive, manufacturing and distribution, education and training, property and developments, health and wellbeing, retirement living, leisure and hospitality, food and drink.

Dan, a partner and art director at Fluid, said: “I think I can comfortably speak for all of us in saying how immensely excited we are about the new opportunities this studio will bring.

“Having a facility of this kind in-house has been a longstanding ambition for Fluid. It looks fantastic and, as well as serving as a catalyst for our own creative aspirations, we envision this space as a dynamic hub for our clients and the wider creative community.

“It’s not just about elevating our offering; it’s about providing a versatile canvas for clients – new and existing – to bring their visions to life, fostering connections and nurturing talent. The prospects and potential are huge.”

Creative & Marketing, Creative News, News

Stafford agency sponsors the National Manufacturing Summit

Technical PR agency Stone Junction is sponsoring the 2024 National Manufacturing Summit (NMS), taking place at the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) on March 14. The convention of British manufacturers, advanced engineering companies and broader government, funding and academic stakeholders will be the first public, in-person debut of Stone Junction’s new branding. NMS is a hybrid event, run simultaneously in person and online by MTC Events, and is free to attend. More information and tickets can be found here.

 NMS returns after a successful 2023 event, which attracted in-person representatives from 265 companies and nearly 6,000 online participants. The 2024 conference promises to be even bigger, with keynote speeches on The Exponential Age from Arash Ghazanfari, CTO of Dell Technologies and Reimagining Human Flight from Richard Browning, founder and chief test pilot of Gravity Industries.

Elyn Corfield, CEO for business and commercial banking at Lloyds Banking Group, will give a keynote address on the skills gap and workforce challenges facing British manufacturing and engineering in both the short- and long-term future.

“The manufacturing industry has been facing some difficult challenges in light of the skills shortage, rising prices and supply chain difficulties,” explained Leah Elston-Thompson, account director at Stone Junction. “But there are also huge opportunities. NMS is a great event, attracting incredible speakers and an engaged pool of delegates, to discuss the latest developments and how we can collectively drive British manufacturing forward.”

Stone Junction is a specialist STEM agency, with more than 50 clients from the science, tech, engineering and manufacturing industries. The company provides consultancy and brand strategy, creative PR and marketing, branding, design, and content services, and will be available to discuss how it can support delegates at the event.

To find out how Stone Junction could help your manufacturing or engineering business to communicate with your target customer base, read about our technical PR capabilities here: https://www.wechangeminds.com/sector/technical-pr/.

Creative & Marketing, International Women's Day, News

Who runs the world? GIRLS!

At Meet and Potato, we have several leading ladies working for the business so for this year’s IWD we asked them (and some of the men!) for their thoughts on IWD and what needs to be done to drive forward the theme of Inspiring Inclusion.

 

CEO, Jon Kelly is a huge supporter of the females in the business.

“What better way to celebrate International Women’s Day than spotlighting the female talent within our agency? Women make up 62% of M&P and 2 of our 3 directors are women. I’m proud of our small team, we’re an interesting mix, diverse in age, sex, nationality, and background. We know our differences are our strengths, and we bring it all together to drive the business forward. It’s great to raise awareness of inequality and to inspire inclusion with IWD but for me, it’s not just for a day, it’s every day.”

 

Karen Clarkson, MD of Meet and Potato shares her thoughts. 

What does International Women’s Day mean to you?

International Women’s Day means a day to take stock of how far we’ve come, but more importantly how far we’ve got to go. There are a lot of people making empty promises for lengthy LinkedIn statuses, but what we should be doing is using the day to pledge how we’re going to actively make a difference to the year ahead and holding our business community accountable for this throughout the year.

Why is it so important to Inspire Inclusion? 

It’s important to shine a light on inequality and biases of any sort, whether that be gender, race, sexuality, age or people with disabilities for example. Inclusion in the workplace is paramount to this and will inspire the next generation.

I urge businesses to take a look at their teams including leadership teams and ask if their businesses are representative. This is from all communities and diversities, but for the theme of IWD, do women in your business have a voice and are they in an environment where they feel they can use it? And if not, then why?

 

Jo Prosser, Creative Director at Meet and Potato, added: 

We need to create psychologically safe spaces where everyone feels comfortable and confident to speak up and speak out. Women in senior roles have an important responsibility to nurture younger generations rising through the ranks. We need to celebrate their talents and build their confidence by giving them opportunities to succeed. It’s important to foster diversity, including multi-generational teams, we have so much to learn from each other. Youth and wisdom together will conquer all.

 

Over to Sophie Greatbanks, Senior Event Producer.

What does International Women’s Day mean to you?

IWD for me is an opportunity to reflect and appreciate, not only the women who make strides and influence you in your day-to-day life but also an occasion to remember those women throughout history who have managed to create the opportunities now readily available to modern women. That’s not to say that there still aren’t areas for improvement or that we shouldn’t be appreciated every day, but it’s a moment in our busy lives to reflect. I’ve been lucky enough to be surrounded by strong women who have constantly pushed the realms of what I’ve deemed possible and achievable in both a personal and professional capacity. Helping to guide and teach rather than hinder with old school connotations of what should be “pink jobs”, the women I have surrounded myself with have helped shape, but also celebrated, my achievements. With women like that in your life, anything is possible!

 

Why is it so important to Inspire Inclusion? 

It’s important to inspire inclusion to those around you, but also to future generations to make sure women’s momentum in society doesn’t stagnate. Women have already broken the glass ceiling that tried to determine what their traditional roles and responsibilities were (and continue to do so). It’s important to make sure the future is surrounded by allies saying “why shouldn’t you?!” rather than trying to stifle what women bring to the table.

 

Now to Niki Toth, Content Coordinator:

 

What does International Women’s Day mean to you?

To me, IWD is about celebrating women not only historically and globally, but also those women close to me. I am surrounded by a network of strong, empowering women within my family, among my friends, and in my workplace. I look to them for guidance when facing challenges. To me, these women are the embodiments of resilience, determination, and strength.

IWD also means we can put extra emphasis on raising awareness about gender-based issues, such as violence and (even verbal) harassment, discrimination, or unequal pay. It’s a day to shine a spotlight on the challenges that women face worldwide simply because of their gender.

 

Why is it so important to Inspire Inclusion?

Inspiring inclusion can lead to a more equal society, where there are no gender-related roles and discrepancies in pay, education or workplace. Where men are not considered the superior/stronger gender and where all women are acknowledged and valued based on their abilities.

Women are a force to be reckoned with, and when united, there is no limit to what we can achieve. Without recognising our complexity, mind-blowing ways of logical thinking and incredible strength, the world would not be the same, so inclusion is not only inspired, but indispensable.

Who runs the world? GIRLS!

 

Mark Jones, Production Coordinator, added:

“Representation is everything. People will never aspire to be what they do not see. IWD is about celebrating and recognising inspiring women.”

Cardiff, Creative & Marketing, Creative News, Marketing, News, PR and SEO, South West England News

GoCompare co-founder joins Welsh creative agency

Cardiff-based creative agency Toward announces the addition of Kevin Hughes, co-founder and former chief finance and marketing officer of GoCompare, to its leadership team as a Non-Executive Director. Kevin’s appointment stands as a pivotal moment for Toward’s trajectory, following the successful rebrand from well-known agency, Bluegg and the kickstart of an ambitious growth strategy.

While Toward has been successfully led by founders Mike Jordan and Tom Lloyd for the past two decades, the collaboration with Kevin Hughes marks a significant step forward. The agency is now aiming to become the first and best choice for businesses located within Wales and the southwest of England for strategic creative services.

 

Kevin Hughes, renowned for his instrumental role in growing Confused.com into a billion-pound company and co-founding GoCompare.com, brings a wealth of experience to Toward. In his role as Non-Executive Director, Kevin will lend his expertise to mentor and advise the team, offering guidance to the directors as they embrace the challenge of their new ambition.

 

Kevin said: “I’ve always loved working with leaders who truly aspire and have ambitions to grow and be successful; both Tom and Mike have that in abundance. I’ve known of the reputation that Toward (formerly Bluegg) carried and through other ventures have experienced their expertise first hand. My only regret is that I didn’t know of them during my GoCompare days, when on most occasions, our default was to speak to London based agencies.

“It’s an exciting time for both the agency and myself and I’m delighted to be part of this project. Today, I want local founders, CEOs, and marketing directors across Wales and beyond to add a talented local agency, of the quality you’d expect from a London alternative to their pitch lists. Don’t go on autopilot like I did years ago, and think you need London for the best creative services.”

 

Kevin continued: “I met Mike several times at events, and the spark for ambitious growth was evident in him. The role I now play relies on my ability to guide them, helping to put in structures and processes that many creative agencies tend to disregard. We’ve already outlined a strategy and started making very positive changes together. The team has touched so many businesses over the years and there’s so much more to come.”

 

Mike said of Kevin’s appointment: “We’re delighted that Kevin agreed to join us as a Non-Exec Director. His credentials speak for themselves, and his approach with us has been nothing short of inspiring. Tom and I have built a great business over the last 20 years but the timing of this was perfect having used our own rebrand as a catalyst. We knew that we needed expertise to push us further. Kevin has opened our eyes beyond belief, and we can’t wait for the next phase of Toward.”

 

Tom added: “Already in the short space of time working with Kevin, small changes have already made a big difference to how we work. We’ve grown in confidence, and as owners of the business, we’re now running things much differently, being much more transparent and inviting about everything with our team, from financials to new opportunities. Ultimately, we want to see growth, increased sales, larger profits, more services offered, and new partnerships flourish for the benefit of both existing and prospective clients.”

 

Toward is a UK based strategic branding and digital agency that helps ambitious clients grow their businesses. Most recently Toward won contracts with global medical company Frontier Medical Group, international construction products manufacturer Catnic, and luxury hotel group The Celtic Collection.

For further information please visit https://toward.studio/

 

Appointments, Creative & Marketing, Creative News, Marketing, Newport, PR and SEO

Fast-growing creative agency Milk & Tweed’s staff is expanding – and so is its office

FAST-GROWING creative agency Milk & Tweed has made two more appointments to keep up with demand from an ever expanding list of clients.

At the same time the Wiltshire agency is expanding its head office in Chippenham by taking on the unit next door to provide more space for its growing team.

Creative Director Jake Jeffries said the agency, which specialises in website, brand and logo design and digital marketing, needs the extra resource and space to stay ahead of new business coming in. “We made seven new appointments last year to maintain our high standards of customer service as well,” he said.

“When the opportunity to take on the extra space came along we jumped at it. It will give our team a lot more room to work comfortably. We’re knocking through to make one big open plan office and we’ll create two extra meeting rooms so that we can welcome even more clients.”

Joining the team are graphic designer Hannah Woolley and web designer Sara Antonacci. Both had been working from home in previous roles and said they were attracted by the prospect of being based in the agency’s Chippenham office, where there is a strong staff culture.

“I’ve been in situations where remote working has been really good but for the past year I have needed to get back into an office and be around people,” said Hannah, who has worked for several agencies since graduating from Falmouth University with an MA in Communication Design.

“I really wanted to go somewhere where they really valued team and really cared about people, where you felt like you were a part of it as well and you were part of building something,” she said.

She will be working as part of the design team working on new projects and liaising with clients. “I’m quite comfortable with that client relationship side of things and I also really enjoy like the process side and organisation and building the team,” said the 27-year-old.

Sara, who is originally from Rome but moved to the UK to study, said she was looking for somewhere where she could work among a team. “I’ve been working from home for years, so it was quite isolated,” she said. “What I was looking for was actually to go in an office, spend time with people, have some social interaction and also be able to rely on somebody else’s advice if I needed to.

“After my interview I liked the vibe here and I really, really wanted to be picked for the role. It’s the change that I needed so I was so pleased to be offered it.”

The 34-year-old, who learned web design while working at an agency in Newcastle, has already been busy. I’ve jumped on various different projects in my first few weeks and I’ve now been assigned a few new builds of a couple of projects by myself, which is quite exciting,”

Mr Jeffries said the agency’s emphasis on its staff culture is having a bearing on recruitment. “It is definitely more challenging finding the right people but we’ve found that the quality of the work we produce and having a good, creative and supportive atmosphere really helps.

“I’m delighted to welcome Hannah and Sara to Milk & Tweed, they are already proving to be excellent appointments.”

Sara added: “I felt I’ve known everybody here for a long time already, so I think it’s a good feeling to have, meaning that you’re probably in the right place.”

Find out more about the agency’s services at milkandtweed.com.

Awards, Creative & Marketing, Marketing, PR and SEO, Travel

A-List Status for Meet & Potato’s Senior Event Producer

Sophie Greatbanks has been awarded A-List status in the creative event industry by Conference and Incentive Travel Insight (C&IT) Magazine.

Picking up the award at a glitzy ceremony on Wednesday (8th November),  run in partnership with sponsor Oman Convention Bureau, Sophie was recognised for her talent and dedication to the industry, with a particular focus on creative retail events and conferences across the UK.

Working on a range of events from business seminars for 100 people, to international conferences for 1500 delegates, Sophie supports the team for all production needs. Winners were recognised by a diverse panel of industry experts based purely on their outstanding achievements.

Speaking about the accolade, Sophie, said: “It’s a real honour to be recognised by C&IT and be awarded amongst other hugely respected figures in the industry. At Meet and Potato we live and breath by producing the very best creative and immersive events for our clients so this has put a real spring in my step as we enter a hugely busy period.”

Having worked at his agency for over two years, CEO of Meet and Potato, Jon Kelly, added: “We know Sophie is fabulous at what she does and so do our clients, but for her to get national recognition from the industry is a real coup and truly deserved. I look forward to watching her grow from strength to strength with the business and watch her continue to excel.”

When asked which event she had been most proud of, Sophie replied: “ I produced a big conference for Dunelm at the start of last year (2022). It was a post-pandemic celebration and represented a complete transformation in the way that the business communicated to their people. It was a true collaboration with the client, and they were absolutely delighted with the results. It doesn’t hurt that it was also nominated for a C&IT award for best celebratory event too!”

 

For more information about Meet and Potato, its work or its accolades, visit mandp.agency