by Andy Garner, MD, More Media Sales We’ve always had a fairly flexible set up here at More Media Sales.  Flexible working is something we’ve embraced from the beginning and so working from home was not particularly new to anyone.  The whole team working from home ... for getting on for 3 months ... well yes that is a bit different. There are obvious challenges that I’m sure we’ve all encountered – self motivation, working whilst home schooling, staying away from the fridge …! But we’ve somewhat surprisingly found a lot of good things about this new working set up. Aside from [...]

By Roxanne Vure, Associate Director, MediaCom Manchester The Covid-19 pandemic has brought dramatic changes to everybody’s lives. And not surprisingly, with global lockdowns and the resulting economic slowdown, there have been significant impacts on all companies. Consumer behaviours are having to constantly evolve and adapt to new guidelines and circumstances; as a result, attitudes towards brands are altering. Kantar research found that globally 78% of consumers believe brands should help them in their daily lives, and 75% say brands should inform people about what they’re doing. Consumers expect more from brands. More than ever they are under intense scrutiny, those [...]

By Anna Wilson, Head of Digital Development at Tangerine As the lockdown restrictions are lifting, eyes are turning from ‘hibernation’ or ‘maintenance’ activity to recovery planning. The truth of the matter is that not all businesses will be able to turn the lights back on and expect instant traffic or footfall during the recovery plan. Many will have to work to (re)engage their audiences online, communicate what their offer is going to look like now and to build up the awareness and goodwill that will lead to sales and leads in the future. The industry might have you believe that [...]

by Mick Style, CEO, Wavemaker North Few of us ever imagined that we’d ever work though a global emergency, but that’s what it is, still is, and remains maybe for some time yet as we move from easing lockdown into a new phase of recovery. It has been brutal for many families, individuals, businesses and communities - and our love to them all. One lesson I’ve learnt from the most tragic of personal circumstances is that you’ve got to have hope. Always. Whatever you’re up against. Without trivialising the ongoing horror and hardships for some right now, we have to [...]

Manchester Union Brewery is Manchester's first and only dedicated craft lager brewery. Photo left: Jamie Scahill, director of Manchester Union Brewery From the first conversation Will Evans (co-director) and I had, to us brewing our first batch of Manchester Union Lager, took over 4 years. During this time we weren’t waiting for the project to come together by itself, we were working very hard to move it forward. We thought the biggest challenge would be the financing but that was easy compared to finding a manufacturer to build the brewery that we wanted. You see, our brewhouse is unique: it’s [...]

Q&A with Richard Pearson, Creative Director, BJL It’s clear that the coronavirus crisis is forcing businesses to rethink their approach to advertising and communications at such a challenging time. Amid all the disruption and the restrictions of lockdown, Manchester-based creative agency BJL has been busy adapting its processes so that it can remain as reactive to the needs of clients as possible. Here, BJL’s Creative Director Richard Pearson explains how brands can remain relevant during the crisis, and why advertising is still an essential growth driver during a downturn. Has the role of creativity shifted during the coronavirus crisis? RP: [...]

Roger Ward is former MD of BDH/TBWA and now owner of Manchester’s independent chop houses L-R: Andy Hamilton, MBE, Mark Hamilton and Roger Ward in Studio Egrem, Habana, Cuba, Dec 1999 I was with my dad, Norman, for three weeks before he died in September 1999. I still miss him everyday. The last question he asked me was why I was still working for other people. BDH (as I still call us) had just won Agency of the Decade. After his funeral, I went back to work and finished chairing the IPA’s area Advertising Effectiveness Awards. We held a dinner [...]

By Phil Cookson, director at Creative Resource & co-founder School of Thought It’s fair to say that the last few weeks have been challenging for all of us in the creative and marketing industries, whether we are working from home, on furlough, running businesses, seeking jobs or freelancing. At Creative Resource, we’ve been working with universities, brands and agencies for some time with events like Handle This, School of Thought and Two+Two.  Using those contacts we have been able to pull together a programme of virtual workshops, masterclasses and webinars for industry folk and this year’s graduates.  The creative and [...]