I’m an enabler,
an instigator, and sometimes…
A troublemaker.
Creativity isn’t the preserve of challenger brands, luxury products or headline-grabbing campaigns.
Some of the most important work happens in sectors that keep the country moving, connected and functioning. Infrastructure, utilities, education, housing, healthcare. Industries that shape everyday lives, often without fanfare. The audiences may be pragmatic, the challenges complex and the subject matter highly technical, but that only makes creativity more valuable. Because when people need to understand, trust or act, facts alone are rarely enough.
Creativity helps translate complexity into clarity, turn information into engagement and make important stories impossible to ignore. The sectors I work in may not always be glamorous, but they matter. And that makes the work matter too.
The storytelling gap
Right now, SMEs face a challenge that goes deeper than revenue charts and growth targets: the ability to tell a story that bloody matters.
Why we need friction
We’ve spent the last two decades obsessed with lubricating every interaction. Yet somewhere along the way, we discovered that the things which stay with us are rarely frictionless.
Award winning: Behaviour change with Southern Water
Award winning content: Stonewater Colleague Day
Award Winning: The Real Cost of Living
Changing the cycle with United Utilities
CIBSE: Repositioning for the next generation
Uniting The twelve: Brand Development
More Room: Development Campaign
A new look for a new decade of delivery
Building a brand for BCorp status: Simply Washrooms
Repositioning for opportunity: The Osprey rebrand
Repositioning for change: This is Solent Partners
Positioning Greater Manchester as a Hub for innovation
Five brands into one: Cavendish
Reimagining CCHQ: SoCrowd
Branching out from the parent brand: This is GenFlex
Creative partnership: Hares of Hampshire
Good old fashion storytelling.
Before we had written language, we shared wisdom and warned others. Today, stories activate more than just our language centres. They spark sensory regions and emotional networks. They even trigger us feel as if we’re in the story.
From engaging the whole brain to triggering oxytocin, great stories make us more empathetic and emotionally engaged. Oxytocin helps us share a human connection. It makes us sensitive to social cues.
When we feel connected, we desire to help, extend generosity, or show altruism. Even evoking distress and empathy during a story can motivate a desire to help others. They also sharpen focus and attention.
Revenge is bloody
UFC 204, like Manchester, was rich in narratives and played host to the next chapter in a story set in motion way back on UFC 100 when Bisping suffered a devastating loss to Dan Henderson. Bisping just wanted to fight; he didn’t really care who or where, but all the pieces had come together to give him the perfect location in front of a home crowd to close the book once and for all.
The anticipation and emotional stakes surrounding that moment were intense!
Legends fight here:
MSG, NYC, UFC.
Developing content strands for a tentpole event means being able to create narratives that appeal to different audience segments. For UFC 217 this was done by conceptualising an over arching theme which could be manipulated to tell different stories.
You are a wonder, woman.
The primary goal was to position UF C 219 as the can’t-miss event that closes out 2017. It will be an exciting card available on PPV, captivating fans who are in Las Vegas for New Year’s Eve.
However, were challenges, competing with holiday buzz and spending habits during the festive season, as well as other live sports events like CFB Bowl Games, NBA, and NFL.
The baddest man on the planet
“On the verge of history, Miocic sought to be the first UFC heavyweight champion to successfully defend his title three times in a row. To achieve his goal, he had to turn back the imposing threat of Cameroon’s Ngannou, whose back-to-back demolitions of Andrei Arlovski and Alistair Overeem had fans already anointing him as MMA’s next great big man.”
