Category Archives: Creative News

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Lucky Number 13!

Written by Jon Kelly, Founder and CEO, Meet and Potato.

Celebrating 13 years as one of the UK’s leading experiential events agencies, Meet and Potato’s Founder and CEO, Jon Kelly looks back on their reign to date and explains why unlucky for some 13 has actually been quite the opposite for this Liverpool powerhouse.

Why did you create Meet & Potato? 

“I originally set up M&P because at the time I hated how agencies were structured. I wanted to create something different, an environment with a relatively flat hierarchy in which everybody had an equal voice. Thirteen years ago, this was a relatively new approach, these days it’s more common and that’s a good thing. M&P has always been a safe space, encouraging personal growth and a place for people to thrive. The bottom line was never my focus, the team was because I firmly believe if you take care of your people, they will take care of the business.

Why do you feel you have had a great 13 years?
It’s been quite the ride with ups and downs along the way, but I’m pleased to say it’s been mostly ups. The industry has seen many changes over the years, we’ve learned a lot and adapted. We’ve never been what you call a big agency and I think in many ways that’s been our strength. We’re agile and our flat, no-hierarchical structure has meant we can be responsive in ways large agencies can’t. We’ve also had the unwavering support of clients that allows us to take risks.

Is the number 13 unlucky?

I’m not superstitious so the number has no negative connotations for me, quite the opposite. I once put money on number 13 at the roulette wheel in a Maltese casino during a client event wrap party and I won! 13 has been my lucky number ever since.

With 13 in mind, what 13 points would you share with others that have enabled you to drive M&P to success over the years:

  1. Have a clear purpose. What are you trying to achieve, who do you want to attract and what do you want to do. This will guide you in the early days and will act as your guiding light.
  2. Do things differently. It’s often a cliche but don’t be afraid to challenge the norm. That doesn’t have to just be in terms of service offering, it can be how you operate your business, what you offer staff, how your business behaves etc.
  3. Invest in your team. Without them, your business does not operate. Pick the gems and treat them properly because it’s their dedication, creativity and hard work that drives your business forward.
  4. Values. Having clear values that you and your team live by is essential and guides all business decisions. At M&P we all care deeply about what we do, always aiming above client expectations, and we embody the agency values:
    We are creative.
    We are passionate.
    We are knowledgeable.
    We are fun!
  5. Pinpoint Your Proposition. Nail what you do and make it clear to potential clients. For us, we create moments of magic that leave a lasting impression. This sits at the heart of everything we do, we want our live events, creative content, and communications campaigns to be remembered for a long time.
  6. Pick Your Clients Wisely. It’s a two-way street with clients and you want to work with brands that are on the same page as you as this will enable long-lasting and successful relationships. Several of our clients have been with M&P for more than a decade. Not many agencies can share those levels of retention, and it makes me super proud as their unwavering support allows us to be bold when proposing creative solutions. Now when we go after new clients, we need to be sure we can bring our M&P magic to them.
  7. Trust Is Intrinsic. Our policy of total honesty and transparency with our clients is part of the reason they keep us around and I really believe every business would benefit from this approach. This enables you to truly understand the brands you work with and allows the client to trust us to challenge their internal teams to step outside their comfort zone and collaborate to deliver something new.
  8. Great Expectations. Push the boundaries and set those sky-high expectations. It’s always great to hear clients ask us at the end of an event how we can possibly top it next year, but somehow, we always do. We love nothing more than to impress an audience with fresh and exciting ideas, introducing new event trends, and immersive experiences. Sometimes we’re managing clients with Gucci aspirations and H&M budgets so it can be a challenge, but it’s always one we embrace.
  9. Measure and Celebrate Your Success. In fast-paced businesses that are constantly busy, it’s easy to just move on to the next project. Make sure you and your teams are constantly keeping a close eye on your successes and celebrate them regularly. Whether that’s looking at the impact you’ve made on clients to demonstrate how successful a project has been, looking back at the quarter or year that has just been completed or rewarding teams through socials, it’s always important to take a moment.
  10. Encourage Recognition. Seeing the team progress and individuals grow in confidence is rewarding for me. It’s great to see them recognised by industry peers too which is why we put our teams forward for several awards. This year, our Senior Producer, Sophie Greatbanks has been nominated for CN Agency Producer of the Year and Content Coordinator, Niki Toth has just been awarded the title, CN Agency 30 Under 30. Amazing achievements for fantastic team members.
  11. Future Focus. As well as having the foundations in place for the business, make sure you’re looking forward. What’s next, who do you want to work with, what is the next best event you want to work on. Always keep an eye on the year ahead.
  12.  Lead as you’d want to be lead – setting an example and getting your hands dirty from the top down
  13. Share your knowledge – for the sake of the future of the industry, share your best practices and learnings whether this is internally with the team, on socials or through industry events or media, educate the next generation of creative event professionals.

Looking forward, what do the next 13 years look like?
I’m stepping away from the day-to-day running of the agency to concentrate on business development. I’ve always been very hands-on so it’s not an easy move to make but it’s the right thing to do with a view to our future growth and the next 13 years. I’m chasing that dream client, Adobe or Google for example with big budgets to allow our creativity to go wild. It’s been an amazing journey so far and I can’t wait for the next chapter.

Business Advice, Creative News

Unleashing Business Potential Through the Vibrant Canvas of Creativity

Pop art first entered the art scene in the late 1950s, revolutionising the world of art with its bold, vibrant aesthetics that challenged traditional boundaries. While pop art originated from the creative minds of artists like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, the visual language and ideology behind the movement contain invaluable lessons for the business world. By embracing creativity, companies can ignite innovation, engage employees and customers, and unlock unique value in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

The Vibrant Spark of Creativity

What fuels the vibrant colour palette that defines pop art? Creativity. The pioneering pop artists of the 1950s and 60s challenged the establishment and broke free from the mainstream by experimenting with new materials, processes, and visual rhetoric. Business leaders should follow their lead by nurturing a culture where creativity can thrive.

Research shows that embracing pop art characteristics like fun, playfulness, and boundary-pushing boosts productivity, problem-solving, collaboration, and employee retention. Yet, in many corporate environments, creativity gets suppressed by hierarchical management structures, risk-averse mentalities, and lack of autonomy. Providing mechanisms for employees to explore ideas freely through design sprints, innovation hubs, and collaborative spaces can unlock a wellspring of creativity that translates business challenges into pop art-esque bursts of ingenuity.

Bold Disruption: Pushing Boundaries

A core pop art characteristic lies in boundary-pushing disruption. Pop artists like Warhol and Lichtenstein took familiar items from mainstream culture, like Campbell’s soup cans and comic strips and reinterpreted them in bold aesthetics using commercial printing techniques. This fusion of the familiar and groundbreaking created something novel and captivating.

Businesses should identify opportunities for positive disruption by questioning traditional norms, processes and business models. The pandemic led many companies to rapidly digitise operations, transition to remote work structures and rethink supply chains. Maintaining an openness to pushing boundaries can present new possibilities for reaching customers and progressing society. Of course, poor execution of disruptive change can prove detrimental, so organisations must perform careful analysis before leaping boldly. But the vibrant spark of curiosity that was core to pop art can help companies continually reinvent themselves.

Playful Communication

A playful spirit radiates throughout pop art, which took familiar cultural symbols and reimagined them in cheeky ways. Business leaders should tap into playfulness and humour to spice up customer and employee communications in memorable ways that spread organic excitement.

Research by several universities found that humour makes people more receptive to ads and brands by reducing scepticism, enhancing sophistication perceptions and boosting neural activity. Fun internal communications help foster camaraderie and diffuse workplace stress. Companies seeking to ignite pop art levels of cultural resonance should incorporate tasteful humour and playfulness in external branding efforts and internal employee engagement initiatives.

Responsible Rebels: Driving Social Progress

Beneath pop art’s flashy patina of tongue-in-cheek cultural wit often lay deeper sociopolitical commentary on materialism, consumerism and the human struggle. While pop artists like Warhol and Lichtenstein achieved fame through their vibrant aesthetic innovations, their work also carried undertones of social consciousness and reflection on deeper collective challenges

Similarly, companies today face increasing public demand to steward environmental, social and governance (ESG) change rather than just pursuing profits in isolation. Business leaders must consider how their organisations can drive maximum benefit for society, even if disruptive to conventional corporate approaches.

For example, sustainable shoemaker Allbirds continually questions norms by assessing its environmental impacts at every level of operations, no matter how inconvenient business-wise. Yet this pop art spirit of convention-defying responsibility earned the companytremendous growth, cultural cachet with purpose-driven younger consumers, and a $1.7 billion IPO…on its own unconventional terms.

Celebrating Individual Expression

While pop art is recognised for its unified visual style, a closer examination reveals the movement gave voice to artists’ distinct personalities and perspectives. Andy Warhol explored fame and mortality, while Claes Oldenburg playfully anthropomorphised everyday objects. This freedom of individual expression devoid of creative limits birthed some of history’s most impactful cultural icons.

Business leaders should recognise that diversity of thought and allowing associates to contribute unique skills makes organisations more creative, resilient and responsive to complex market dynamics. An atmosphere where people feel psychologically safe to express themselves yields fresh insights and talents that can unlock new sources of innovation and value. Analysis found the most diverse executive teams were 70% more likely to see market share gains from new innovations. Simply put, individuality and self-expression provide the vibrant sparks that ignite creativity and growth.

Like a Warhol print bursting with colour, pop art overturned mainstream sensibilities through its visual audacity and ingenuity. This vibrant form of creativity contains invaluable lessons for businesses around boosting innovation, engaging stakeholders, and pushing boundaries. By unleashing creators, leveraging positive disruption and incorporating humour and playfulness, companies can channel pop art perspectives to unlock unique sources of value in a complex business landscape.

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.

Charity & CSR, Creative News, Marketing, News, PR and SEO, Tech

Disability charity can help families more easily thanks to creative agency’s website design

DISABILITY charity Designability has been helped to improve its support for disabled people by creative agency Milk & Tweed.

The Wiltshire agency, which specialises in website, brand and logo design and digital marketing, has designed a new website for the Bath charity that, says Digital Communications Manager Fiona Cromwell, will make life easier for parents and carers looking for information.

The charity, which was founded in 1968 and is based at Bath Royal United Hospital, develops products to give disabled people more independence.

Its most successful product is the Wizzybug, a colourful powered wheelchair aimed at children under five. The charity has more than 300 Wizzybugs on free loan to families and over the last 11 years more than 1,400 children all over the UK have benefitted.

Of late Designability has focused more sharply on family mobility and is also developing a pushchair that can be used with a manual wheelchair and design guidance for accessible EV chargers, as well as being part of a national working group on improving access to transport for disabled people.

Mrs Cromwell said the charity needed a new website to make it easier to communicate what it does, both for service users and would-be donors.

“We don’t have any regional teams around the country and yet we are trying to reach people all over the UK, so for us, our digital presence is something we rely on,” she said. “It is completely invaluable to us to have to have an effective website.

“Our old website didn’t reflect where we have got to as a charity, as we have this new focus on family mobility. We just wanted something brighter and more contemporary, but the user journey was the biggest priority.”

She said the new site, with its more modern, uncluttered, feel has had a positive response. “We had a small group of user testers, which was a mix of  Wizzybug parents, volunteers and supporters and all of them had really positive things to say,” she said. “They felt it was very easy to use and said it looks really modern and looks exactly how we feel it should look.

“It felt like from the get-go, it fulfilled those basic things we wanted to get out of it.”

The new site will soon have a Wizzybug Zone for parents who have one on loan. “It will be incredibly useful to families,” said Mrs Cromwell. “They’ll be able to log in  and see confirmation of when their provisional end of loan date is. They can access tutorial videos and a directory of other organisations that might be able to support them. It’s going to have a wealth of information.”

She said the excellent working relationship with Milk & Tweed’s team has contributed to the success of the redesign project. “I found them really personable people, really warm and approachable,” she said. “If there were certain things I had queries about, they were always very responsive and I felt like they really understood the charity and what our objectives were.”

The charity was recently the subject of a BBC fundraising appeal. “We had a website traffic surge as a result of that, which obviously was fantastic,” said Mrs Cromwell. “It was very important to us that we got the website live in time for that, because we wanted people to have a really great experience when they looked us up, as they obviously did.”

Jamie Lawton, Head of Design at Milk & Tweed, said: “It was an absolute pleasure working with Fiona and the Designability team to create a more modern and streamlined website with clearer user journeys. It was important that the website helped to better showcase the incredible work that the charity does, and tell some of the happy stories of individuals and families using their innovative products.

“We love to work with charities, especially when they’re based locally, and as we complete the Wizzybug Members Zone and look to create a smoother online application process, there are still lots of exciting developments to come.”

See the charity’s new website at designability.org.uk and find out more about Milk & Tweed’s services at milkandtweed.com.

Creative News, News

TMW Unlimited wins world’s largest sports streaming service DAZN

Following a competitive pitch, integrated creative agency TMW Unlimited, part of Unlimited, has been appointed by DAZN to refresh its CRM programme globally, a six-month project.

Launched in 2015, DAZN has grown to become the world’s largest global sports streaming service, delivering over 27,000 live events in 2021, DAZN is the market-leading sports broadcaster in Italy, Germany, Spain and Japan, where it holds the top tier domestic sports rights as well as key non-domestic sports properties such as the English Premier League and Champions League and a strong international boxing proposition in other global markets.

DAZN operates a hyper-personalised CRM programme, which delivers bespoke content recommendations to customers based on content consumed on the platform.

Tom Burrell, SVP –Lifecycle and Retention Marketing at DAZN said, “We were very impressed by TMW’s ability to combine creative flair and human intelligence to drive customer engagement. Their experience in delivering first-class global programmes, backed by insights and validation, convinced us that they were the perfect partner to take DAZN’s customer engagement to the next level”

Chris Mellish, CEO at TMW Unlimited said, “DAZN is one of the world’s fastest growing brands so it’s great to have the opportunity to supercharge their customer engagement offering. We pride ourselves on blending standout creativity with end-to-end connectivity.  DAZN’s industry is a competitive space, and we know by using the right combination of emotion and motivation to drive action in DAZN’s CRM, we can give them a real edge.”

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

Fox + Hare appoints Mark Smith as first Managing Director following period of significant growth

Independent purpose-driven creative consultancy Fox + Hare has appointed Mark Smith as its first ever Managing Director, following a period of significant growth.

Smith joins Fox + Hare bringing with him 28 years of marketing industry experience, with previous roles including Co-Founder and Managing Director at Table 19 (working with clients such as Sky and Carphone Warehouse), Managing Partner at LIDA/M&C Saatchi (working with clients such as RBS/NatWest, The FA and Carnival Cruises) and Managing Director at SevenC3 (with clients including Vitality, Bosch and WW).

In his new role, Smith will work to ensure that Fox + Hare provides an outstanding offering to its growing list of clients. He will focus on winning new business and developing the consultancy’s proposition, and he will also play a pivotal role in Fox + Hare’s plans to expand into international markets including the US and Europe.

In line with the consultancy’s recent B Corp and EcoVadis accreditations, Smith is also tasked with helping its clients drive positive impact as well as delivering against their commercial objectives.

His appointment follows a period of significant growth for Fox + Hare, which has seen it pick up new clients including Britvic Group, easyJet holidays, OneID and Vestiaire Collective, as well as achieving organic growth from its existing client base.

The hire also comes hot on the heels of the appointment of a new leadership team and a rebrand for the consultancy earlier this year.

Smith will report to Craig Hares, Founder, Fox + Hare and will oversee the day-to-day operation of a team of up to 20, initially.

 

Mark Smith, new Managing Director, Fox + Hare, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to join a fast growing and extremely talented agency that’s focused on purpose driven outcomes that fit today’s society. Fox + Hare is committed to really making a difference in the positive impact space, for both our clients and their customers. I’m thrilled at the prospect of making #ImpactEveryDay, and helping guide the agency to the next stage in its very exciting journey.”

 

Craig Hares, Founder, Fox + Hare, added: “Mark has impressive industry experience, having held senior positions across some exciting agency groups. He also has an incredible thirst for developing people, making positive change, innovation, and doing things differently in business – a passion we both share.

 

“As someone who has already achieved a huge amount in his career, Mark was looking for a new challenge. This newly created role will enable him to be part of an organisation that is making a clear difference to people, planet and businesses.”

 

 

Creative News, News, North of England

TrunkBBI opens Leeds office and sets ambitious targets

TrunkBBI, an award winning creative and activation agency, is going from strength to strength as it opens their third office on Greek Street in Leeds city centre.

The agency, which reported a turnover of more than £5m last year, is headquartered in Manchester with clients including Greene King, GE, Halewood Artisanal Spirits, Halfords, Hollister, and American Golf.

The agency chose to open an office in Leeds as the city has become a haven for the digital marketing sector and is keen to attract even more of the UK’s talent.  With ambitions to grow their turnover to £8.1m within the next 18 months, TrunkBBI will be looking to recruit more creative and digital talent as well as onboard new clients in the B2B and B2C sectors.

 

Adam Britton, MD of TrunkBBI commented on the opening of the Leeds office. He said, “We are excited about our expansion into Leeds, and our office has already been buzzing as some of our staff live closer to Leeds and are balancing their time between working from home and in our new office. Our hybrid model of working allows our staff the flexibility to work from any of our 3 locations.”

Adam continued, “With our expansive portfolio of B2B and B2C clients and our desire to host more collaborative meetings, having multiple locations makes it convenient for our clients to choose which office suits them best.”

 

Katherine Shoesmith, Account Director, commented on the opening of the new office. She said, “Having worked in Leeds throughout my career I know first-hand how strong the talent pool is here, so I’m really excited to be helping TrunkBBI set up this office, alongside our Group Account Directors, Andy Warner & Paul Wainwright. Following our recent rebrand we’re bringing a unique proposition to an already competitive market that I think clients are really going to be interested in.”

 

TrunkBBI is an agency that does everything under one roof, and offers clients a full range of services in-house, spanning film, animation, and creative technology, to strategy and insight, organic and paid social, influencer activation, SEO, paid search, PR, copywriting, and user experience.

For more information and employment opportunities, visit www.trunkbbi.com

 

 Photo Caption: L-R: Paul Wainwright, Andy Warner, Lauren Kirkland, Adam Britton, Phil Cardwell, Katherine Shoesmith, Paul Munro

 

Charity & CSR, Creative News, News

Design duo team up to raise almost £2000 for Ukraine appeal

Two graphic designers have raised £1,927.75 for the Ukraine crisis appeal by teaming up and using their skills to solve a common business branding issue.

Trudie Avery of Avery Creative – who is often referred to as the Logo Lady – partnered with illustrator and graphic designer Dave Officer, of Doodle Juice Design, to ‘fix’ business logos in return for donations to Ukraine Crisis Charities.

Despite never having met in person, the pair decided to work together on the special project and put out to their LinkedIn connections a one-time offer to create a vector version of company logos – one that is scalable and can be used at any size without losing quality and that can be put on any background without having a white box around it.

More than 30 companies took Trudie and Dave up on their offer, each donating £25 or more to the worthy cause. One business pledged a whopping £1,000 for the service.

Trudie, who has been working in graphic design and branding for 25 years, said: “We wanted to use our skills to raise some money for the Ukraine. Dave is a fabulous designer/illustrator and came to me with this idea and I jumped at the chance to do something so worthwhile.

“Many company logos are jpeg files, which are essentially an image file on a white background. If you use it on a dark background it will have a white box around it and it doesn’t scale up well.

“We turned the jpeg files into vector files which are much more useful for scalability and useability and raised almost £2,000 in the process.

“What is going on in the Ukraine is so tragic and I was glad to be able to do something to help in this awful situation.”

Dave added: “We’ve all sat in absolute horror watching the events in the Ukraine unfold. The feeling of sadness and helplessness is a little overwhelming, but I was keen to do a little something to help. Although the gesture of fixing logos is tiny in the grand scheme of things, I am delighted that the money we’ve raised will make some difference, however small.”

For more information on Trudie Avery, visit www.logolady.com or email hello@logolady.com.

For more information on Dave Officer visit www.doodlejuice.co.uk or email hello@doodlejuice.co.uk

 

Creative News, News, Recruitment News

Creative agency helps cyber recruitment firm to smash £1 million turnover after just two years

CYBER security recruitment firm Intaso broke the £1 million turnover barrier in just its second year of trading thanks to an explosive growth in the industry and the support of a creative agency.

Managing director Ryan Surry left a lucrative recruiting role in London to set up Intaso in Swindon, which helps clients find high quality information and cyber security experts and sales staff, so he could spend more time with his wife and two small children. He says a key part of its ability to keep pace with the rapid growth of the sector is the website and digital marketing provided for it by Wiltshire creative agency Milk & Tweed.

“The cyber security industry is on an absolute rocket ship and every business needs it,” he said. “It is the fastest growing technology market and it’s growing three times faster than early IT. Every single thing that connects to the Internet needs securing now and in five years’ time, every single business is going to need a security function.”

Intaso, which has offices at Lydiard Fields in Swindon and also in London, relies on the image presented by its website to help it stand out in an increasingly competitive market. Mr Surry said: “When 100 per cent of people in my industry spend 90 per cent of their time on a computer it’s essential to have a good online presence.”

“We wanted a site that looks polished and feels like we’ve been around for a long time, but also relates a little bit of our personality and some of the softer skills that we try and embed into everything. We work with some multi-national companies but also start-ups so we want to look credible but also young and dynamic and I think we’ve achieved that.”

When he left his job in London and used his contacts and knowledge of the cyber recruitment sector to launch the company in January 2020, things started well but within weeks the country was locked down as the pandemic hit. “Recruiters were furloughing staff but we decided to go on the offensive and brought in more staff while talking to the companies in my network about their plans,” he said.

“When things started up again we were in pole position to start bringing in business and we haven’t looked back.”

Intaso, which now has ten staff, is set to quadruple that in the coming year. With more and more companies expanding their cyber security departments, Mr Surry said the potential seems limitless.

Mr Surry, who lives in Chippenham, said: “The threats from hackers keep changing every day, and they find new ways to breach things. The growth in the industry will never slow down because there are always new threats.”

To meet the ever-expanding demand for new recruits he is mentoring on schemes to bring in people from other industries and helping his clients spread their nets wider in their search for staff. “The beauty of the cyberspace is there’s almost a home for everyone,” he said.

Milk & Tweed has helped Intaso’s clients by building a salary calculator on its website that benchmarks job requirements by factoring in responsibilities, location and experience to come up with a salary band required.

The agency’s creative director Jake Jeffries said: “Ryan wanted the site to look like a young, modern company but obviously with some sophistication. We also wanted to make sure Intaso and Ryan are seen as thought leaders. That was the idea behind the salary calculator because no one else has done that. And no one else is doing cybersecurity recruitment quite like Intaso either.”

Mr Surry added: “The website and the Search Engine Optimisation have evolved as the company has evolved. We’ve got a really good website that represents us brilliantly and we are performing well on Google, so we have a lot to thank Milk & Tweed for. When you grow as quickly as we have done you need to work with the right people to help you maintain your growth and I believe we have done that with Milk & Tweed.”

Find out more about Milk & Tweed at milkandtweed.com and Intaso at intaso.co.uk.