blackwell’s britain - the creative industries · an astounding success story that i hadn’t...

BLACKWELL’S BRITAINNEXT STOP NEWCASTLE

supported by

SUP_NEWCASTLE_10_JUN _COVER.indd 1 03/06/2015 13:17

Clever just got simpler.

Need a cross-platform content management system that’s super flexible, super scalable and super compatible?

You’ve just found it.

SuperCleverStuff.co.uk

SCS Advert 240X330mm.indd 1 22/05/2015 09:43FullSinglePage.indd 1 03/06/2015 12:59

Clever just got simpler.

Need a cross-platform content management system that’s super flexible, super scalable and super compatible?

You’ve just found it.

SuperCleverStuff.co.uk

SCS Advert 240X330mm.indd 1 22/05/2015 09:43FullSinglePage.indd 1 03/06/2015 12:59

THE DRUM 10.JUN.15 www.thedrum.com NEWCASTLE03

A WORD FROM THE SPONSORSCONTENTS

04 Putting Newcastle on the map In his regional tour of Britain’s creative industries, nowhere has Lewis Blackwell felt so strongly that it’s time a great success story was better recognised.

08 Creative credibility Newcastle should be seen as pretty damn cool when it comes to creative credibility, but it isn’t because the achievement is so big it’s almost hidden in plain sight.

12 Talk of the Toon Voices from Newcastle’s creative sector give us the inside track on the health of the industry in the north-east, the talent produced there, and the general mood among agencies in the city.

Written by Lewis Blackwell Editing by Thomas O’Neill, Katie McQuater Design & Production by Amanda Dewar, Ross Lesley-Bayne Commercial Management by Liz Hamilton, Gavin Floyd

THE DRUM is published by Carnyx Group Limited. The publishers, authors and printers cannot accept liability for any errors or omissions. Any artwork will be accepted at owner’s risk. All rights reserved. On no account may any part of this publication be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the copyright holder and publisher, application for which should be made to the publisher. © CARNYX GROUP LIMITED 2015 ISSN 2046-0635

As the IPA broadens its involvement in the wider UK creative industries agenda, Greater Newcastle represents a key target for support and promotion on the national and international stage.

IPA agencies are prolific in the city region with six leading creative, digital and media businesses in membership, including Cravens, Everything Different, Drummond Central, Carat Newcastle, The Media Network and Radio Works, and more expressing interest by the day. The IPA out-of-London office is located in the region with Lynn Hogarth at the helm ([email protected]).

Not only are our members significant employers in their own right, they also attract inward investment from client businesses, and sustain the specialist creative, tech and micro businesses in the local supply chain.

In supporting this supplement, we seek to invite new members to join our growing network, unite Greater Newcastle behind a common purpose, celebrate success, identify growth opportunities and accelerate business development.

Janet Hull OBE,IPA director of marketing and executive director, Creative Pioneers Challenge

Caroline Norbury MBE, chief executive, Creative England

Contrary to popular misconceptions, creative talent and the investment opportunity it represents can be found in every part of our country, not just in London and the south-east.

Newcastle has long been a vibrant and distinctive centre of creativity that has delivered classic films, iconic architecture, world-class writers, theatre, music and innovative new ideas. And the city is going from strength to strength as its creative sector continues to grow in scale and significance. Indeed, recent estimates from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport show that across the north-east region, some 58,000 people are employed in the creative economy.

The chancellor of the exchequer recently proclaimed that the UK’s creative industries are in the midst of a new ‘golden age’. In supporting this supplement, we wanted to celebrate Newcastle’s achievements, recognise the city’s unique contribution to the UK’s world-leading creative economy and look to its future and all the promise it holds.

supported by

About the author Lewis Blackwell is a former editor-in-chief and publisher of Creative Review. He has also served as the worldwide creative head of

Getty Images and chief creative officer at Evolve Images. Blackwell’s Britain sees him tour the UK to analyse its creative hubs. The next stop is Yorkshire, published in October.

SUP_NEWCASTLE_10_JUN _CONTENTS.indd 3 03/06/2015 13:09

www.thedrum.com 10.JUN.15 THE DRUM04BLACKWELL’S BRITAIN

From Jony Ive to JK Rowling, Marvel to Mortal Kombat, Newcastle’s understated creativity has been bringing big names to the north-east, writes Lewis Blackwell.

CREATIVE CREDIBILITY

When we judge creativity, size doesn’t really matter. And that over-used word ‘innovative’ doesn’t really carry so much weight either.

What really matters is that difficult to define thing called quality. You know it when you see it. But you might not see it because great genius, talent and true achievement is often not so big or self-promoting.

Newcastle should be seen as pretty damn cool when it comes to creative credibility, but it isn’t because the achievement is so big it’s almost hidden in plain sight. For example, Sir Jonathan Ive. Yes, Newcastle has a claim to the design guru of Apple, probably the most valuable player in the world creative industry. Where did he get an education? Newcastle Poly, now Northumbria University.

And what about the recent blockbuster movies Guardians Of The Galaxy and Avengers: Age of Ultron? Well, a fair bit of the look of those Marvel superhero movies came out of an astounding studio of 20 people in Gateshead. I tip my hat to Atomhawk, an astounding success story that I hadn’t heard of until researching this article. Now I can’t stop telling people about what the company does. At the heart of the story is Ron Ashtiani, a former head of art in the games company Midway who, with Midway’s collapse and once again finding himself out of work in that volatile industry, invented a new kind of creative services company in 2009.

He recruited a team of great concept artists who then helped a range of major computer game

companies outsource the design concept work for their new products; while those businesses moved to a lower core cost base and greater flexibility, Atomhawk built a world-leading expertise in the design concepts that have driven the look and feel of many bestselling games of recent years (Mortal Kombat X, anyone?).

Those skills drew others: when Th_nk, the leading Newcastle-based digital agency, won the work to develop Pottermore, the JK Rowling website, it turned to Atomhawk for help with the sophisticated look and feel. More than five years of effort has now gone into crafting the visual experience. Huffington Post said ‘the illustrations are better than what you saw in the movies.’

Having also worked with the agency Adam&EveDDB on aspects of promoting Pottermore, Ashtiani is keen to further extend beyond games, movies and websites. “We are looking to work more with agencies and are targeting growth there,” he says. “We may open a London office but our core will

SUP_NEWCASTLE_10_JUN _CREATIVE.indd 4 03/06/2015 13:18


From Jony Ive to JK Rowling, Marvel to Mortal Kombat, Newcastle’s understated creativity has been bringing big names to the north-east, writes Lewis Blackwell.


When we judge creativity, size doesn’t really matter. And that over-used word ‘innovative’ doesn’t really carry so much weight either.

What really matters is that difficult to define thing called quality. You know it when you see it. But you might not see it because great genius, talent and true achievement is often not so big or self-promoting.

Newcastle should be seen as pretty damn cool when it comes to creative credibility, but it isn’t because the achievement is so big it’s almost hidden in plain sight. For example, Sir Jonathan Ive. Yes, Newcastle has a claim to the design guru of Apple, probably the most valuable player in the world creative industry. Where did he get an education? Newcastle Poly, now Northumbria University.

And what about the recent blockbuster movies Guardians Of The Galaxy and Avengers: Age of Ultron? Well, a fair bit of the look of those Marvel superhero movies came out of an astounding studio of 20 people in Gateshead. I tip my hat to Atomhawk, an astounding success story that I hadn’t heard of until researching this article. Now I can’t stop telling people about what the company does. At the heart of the story is Ron Ashtiani, a former head of art in the games company Midway who, with Midway’s collapse and once again finding himself out of work in that volatile industry, invented a new kind of creative services company in 2009.

He recruited a team of great concept artists who then helped a range of major computer game

companies outsource the design concept work for their new products; while those businesses moved to a lower core cost base and greater flexibility, Atomhawk built a world-leading expertise in the design concepts that have driven the look and feel of many bestselling games of recent years (Mortal Kombat X, anyone?).

Those skills drew others: when Th_nk, the leading Newcastle-based digital agency, won the work to develop Pottermore, the JK Rowling website, it turned to Atomhawk for help with the sophisticated look and feel. More than five years of effort has now gone into crafting the visual experience. Huffington Post said ‘the illustrations are better than what you saw in the movies.’

Having also worked with the agency Adam&EveDDB on aspects of promoting Pottermore, Ashtiani is keen to further extend beyond games, movies and websites. “We are looking to work more with agencies and are targeting growth there,” he says. “We may open a London office but our core will




remain here in Gateshead.” Ashtiani’s team is small in agency terms at around

20 but he points out that this is one of the largest teams in the design concept art space. He has an expertise and strength that stands out on a world level in quality and capacity. A recent creative twist saw Atomhawk expand into product design: the virtual barista experience of the new Costa coffee machine (currently in Terminal 5 but probably one day soon at a service station near you) has Atomhawk graphics for the interface on-screen experience while Pininfarina styled the overall casing.

The games industry has beaten a path to the north-east for some time, recognising the expertise of games developers and artists in the region. Ubisoft has a major base with its 30-year-old Reflections business based in the area, while Icelandic company CCP set up a new base in Newcastle to tap into the talent that fell out of the Midway collapse in 2009. They worked so well on the project DUST 514 that CCP then moved

Atomhawk worked with Marvel on Guardians of the Galaxy

supported by


Office 1.01 | Quayside i4 | Newcastle Enterprise Centres | Albion Row | Newcastle upon Tyne | NE6 1LL

0191 275 5050 ex 171 | [email protected] | www.independent-events.com

IMMERSIVE 360°EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING

Immersive



development of its acclaimed multi-player game Eve:VR to the team, which now has this as its sole focus under the renamed title Eve:Valkyrie.

Andy Robertson, who heads the team, says the company doesn’t only draw on the local pool but draws new talent in. “With a cutting edge project like Valkyrie that is pushing the boundaries of virtual reality, we have had no trouble attracting talent from outside the local area. Their expertise filters through and grows the experience of the team. Whenever we have people travel over, Newcastle plays a huge part in making them feel at home. The culture and community make it an easy choice to stick around!”

Creativity comes in many guises, though. The recent expansion of the branding and digital agency Blumilk is an interesting example of the diversity of the area’s output. With offices in Glasgow and now London, as well as its core in Newcastle, Blumilk stands out particularly for the strength of its work in healthcare (with no less than 10 NHS clients, including the recent win of Bart’s Health, the country’s largest hospital trust) and education branding.

Creative director Colin Robertson says the agency has moved into working extremely closely with its

clients to understand business needs and advise on overall strategy and development, often as much as giving a simple graphic solution. “We expect our creative to be good, but it is how you combine that with really understanding the business objectives and then delivering on time and on budget.”

Blumilk seems to be in the forefront of mining the new seam of work that results from healthcare and education changes, where the consultant needs to combine an effective delivery of creative output with understanding a very different kind of business proposition and communication need.

In business all creativity is judged on whether it works in the market. In this regard, perhaps the shining light in Newcastle’s creative scene is a business that is not, strictly speaking, in the creative industry at all. Ignite is at the heart of understanding how many new creative businesses may come about – it is Britain’s leading pre-seed funding accelerator

programme for startups and has now put three ‘cohorts’ of small businesses through its programme and helped them pick up £10m in funding.

With VC backing from Northstar Ventures and others, Paul Smith, managing director of Ignite, also has an incubator workspace in the form of Campus North, where he fosters tech startups. For him, the region is a natural place to create a new creative business. “You have relatively low overheads, which is vital for a startup. You also have a city that has a heritage in this area: Newcastle was one of the first to get independent TV and radio, and has always had a strong regional press. Then the games industry came here. It’s huge in digital. There is a prejudice that all digital startup stuff happens in London, but actually 70 per cent is outside of the capital and Newcastle has immense advantages in being a place to start and grow a creative business fast.”

Silicon Roundabout had better watch out.

“NEWCASTLE HAS IMMENSE ADVANTAGES IN BEING A PLACE TO START AND GROW A CREATIVE BUSINESS FAST.”

supported by

Eve: Valkyrie work by CCP



SUP_NEWCASTLE_10_JUN _BUSINESS.indd 8 03/06/2015 13:07




Newcastle isn’t very good at marketing. Itself, that is. Flying largely under the radar, it’s about time this creative success story was better recognised.

PUTTING NEWCASTLE ON THE MAP

Mike Ashley, as if we didn’t know it, is to blame for a lot. As is the Guardian.

The Sports Direct mogul’s canny management of Newcastle United as a business rather than a religion not only failed fans of the football club but could also explain our undervaluing of the creative industry of the city, along with feeling unexcited about the general economic performance of the region. And a daft piece in the media’s favourite newspaper last year titled ‘The north-east of England: Britain’s Detroit?’ didn’t help.

I’m not expecting Mike to give a toss about this anytime soon, or indeed the folks in the black box at King’s Place, but in my regional tour of Britain’s creative industries I have never felt so strongly that it’s time a great success story was better recognised.

Newcastle flies under the radar, largely un-championed in the national consciousness, despite being heroic in its achievements. For a start, the city is in the only region that, economically speaking, is creative in that it actually produces more in hard money terms than it consumes. In 2012 it was found that the north-east was the only region that is a net exporter for the country. This less-celebrated industrial hub of Britain is quietly beating the world, or at least the rest of Britain, when viewed through this measure.

The creative industries might not be as guilty as Big Mike when it comes to the brand health of the area, but there is some irony that companies who do

communication for a business have yet to really forge a collective image that matches their achievements. Perhaps it is because it is they are too modest – not usually a complaint you can make about advertising and design folk.

“It’s true the north-east doesn’t particularly market itself very well,” says Julie Drummond, founder of Drummond Central, an independent agency that has quietly grown to have national and international stature, with game-changing work for Bet365 and others.

“Yes, the creative industry here is a bit of an anomaly,” she admits. “We really don’t shout about what we do much, unlike others. This country has a phenomenal capital in London, then there are good stories with other cities, Manchester, Edinburgh… they have pull. And yet we could beat them hands-down if we marshall ourselves, believe in ourselves.”

Drummond says there may have been an “unhealthy internal competition” in the past, where a few regional agencies fought over regional business and leadership, but “that era is over and the businesses active today are more respective and complementary... we talk together and look to improve what can happen overall.”

Ben Quigley, chief executive of Everything Different, and the IPA out of London agency chair, says the industry has switched from being traditionally inward-

Geordieland interactive map by Drummond Central and Everything Different’s

Wimbledon campaign for Cabot Circus

supported by


HAMSTER_AD.indd 1 02/06/2015 16:45FullSinglePage.indd 1 03/06/2015 13:01

HAMSTER_AD.indd 1 02/06/2015 16:45FullSinglePage.indd 1 03/06/2015 13:01


“WE COULD BEAT THEM HANDS-DOWN IF WE MARSHALL OURSELVES, BELIEVE IN OURSELVES.”

looking some years ago to now being altogether outward-looking. “The creative industry here is not reliant on the regional economy, it has national and international ambition.” Different itself sees 70 per cent of its business coming from in and around the M25, according to Quigley.

“Geography is really not a problem,” he adds. “I’m on the train to London typically three days a week. Companies here can thrive by being seen as independent, agile, fast to move.”

Quigley sees this creative industry economy being a result of three key factors. One is the strong university sector, delivering graduates in areas that can feed the gaming and digital expertise of the region. Another is the benefit of the regional development agency (while it ceased to be funded and ended in 2012, “people are now working together better”). And then there is the fact that good people move to the area – yes, incomers are welcome.

“People come for the quality of life and find

opportunities here,” says Quigley. “I came up from the south, for love, as you do, and stayed.”

But creative industry performance doesn’t come without growing pains. The ‘post-PC’ digital agency HedgehogLab recently went public in the Newcastle Journal on how it was having to turn down work as it couldn’t hire the right calibre of staff. Co-founder Sarat Pediredla says: “We struggle with finding the talent here, there’s a lot of demand and the supply is low of the right kind of digital skills for us. It’s partly why we opened in India last year and why we’re also in Boston in the US.” The agency has built connections with Northumbria University and other colleges, “but that’s not going to fix what we need quickly”.

Creative North is an organisation that exists to help with that fix by encouraging young people to see the creative and digital industries as a career choice. Founder Rob Earnshaw says: “It’s partly a problem of young people not being encouraged to see the industry as an option. Colleges need to help but so

does the industry itself.” His organisation is celebrating ‘digital champions’ of the region and implementing a ‘badge of excellence’ for good employer companies.

One thing nobody disputes is that the region has a great advantage with its cost base. With much lower house prices, creative workers have a good quality of life while costing less. “It’s a great environment for small creative businesses to grow as the cost benefits mean they can accelerate faster,” says Earnshaw.

Phil Coverdale, managing director of full service agency Cravens, which has grown to have around 40 per cent of its business outside of the UK and an office in Dubai, says part of the secret is that “today you should collaborate to compete”.

Coverdale says the agency works with a powerful network of great suppliers, within and beyond the north-east, and this is how an independent agency can be agile, responsive and capable of great work. “There is a power in small. Not just in the business but in the size of the region. You get to know people. I’d like to think in the area we tend to be straight-talking, genuine, looking to make things happen.” He admits talent recruitment and retention can be an issue, but adds “people also return... the pull of roots brings people back.”

Hedgehog lab is Hult International Business School’s preferred post-PC partner while Drummond Central has been working with Bet365 and on Newcastle City Council’s ‘Keep it Clean Newcastle’ campaign

supported by



Voices from Newcastle’s creative sector give us the inside track on the health of the industry in the north-east, the talent produced there, and the general mood among agencies in the city.

TALK OF THE TOON

What’s the mood like among the industry in the city at present?

Ben Quigley, group chief executive, Everything Different, and chair of IPA member activities around the UKConfidence is very high. Election

uncertainty is over and with wages moving ahead of inflation for the first time in years, consumers are spending on bigger ticket items again. Creative industries in the north-east are benefitting from this increased consumer confidence and higher levels of investment are driving sustainable growth. As a city region we’ve been ‘hunter gathering’ contracts nationally and internationally as part of our DNA in the last 10 years and servicing brands from HQs here with a passionate, can-do attitude that clients love. This is a region that ‘walks the talk’ and clients like to do business with friendly, down to earth Geordies. Ambition and confidence are growing…

Danae Abadom, director, Independent EventsThe mood is really buoyant, you can feel the optimism returning. We noticed a

real difference in late 2014 which has continued into this year. We are seeing clients wanting to try new things and not be as cautious as they have been, with standout events such as the Rugby World Cup and the Tall Ships Race coming to the region there are some exciting creative projects ahead and certainly some great opportunities for the industry in 2015 and 2016.

Phil Lowery, managing director, Projector Brand Communications I think the mood is positive in general. There seems to be a lot of busy

agencies across a wide range of disciplines. We’re lucky that in terms of clients there’s some really good businesses based here that understand the value of design and want to build their brand – so for agencies like us there are lots of possibilities.

Traditional sectors are busy reinventing themselves, the technology sector is booming and part of this success is due to these clients putting design at the heart of their business. We’re also seeing a fair bit of interest from outside the region from firms further south and overseas – the smart clients that are taking advantage of the cost-savings we can offer while still providing high levels of creativity and great service. We’re also lucky to have regional initiatives like Creative North and national bodies like Design Council that help build the awareness of our sector and there’s a definite pride in the region that work we’re doing can compete with anywhere else, and that’s great to see.

SUP_NEWCASTLE_10_JUN _Q&A.indd 12 03/06/2015 13:22


Voices from Newcastle’s creative sector give us the inside track on the health of the industry in the north-east, the talent produced there, and the general mood among agencies in the city.

TALK OF THE TOON

What’s the mood like among the industry in the city at present?

Ben Quigley, group chief executive, Everything Different, and chair of IPA member activities around the UKConfidence is very high. Election

uncertainty is over and with wages moving ahead of inflation for the first time in years, consumers are spending on bigger ticket items again. Creative industries in the north-east are benefitting from this increased consumer confidence and higher levels of investment are driving sustainable growth. As a city region we’ve been ‘hunter gathering’ contracts nationally and internationally as part of our DNA in the last 10 years and servicing brands from HQs here with a passionate, can-do attitude that clients love. This is a region that ‘walks the talk’ and clients like to do business with friendly, down to earth Geordies. Ambition and confidence are growing…

Danae Abadom, director, Independent EventsThe mood is really buoyant, you can feel the optimism returning. We noticed a

real difference in late 2014 which has continued into this year. We are seeing clients wanting to try new things and not be as cautious as they have been, with standout events such as the Rugby World Cup and the Tall Ships Race coming to the region there are some exciting creative projects ahead and certainly some great opportunities for the industry in 2015 and 2016.

Phil Lowery, managing director, Projector Brand Communications I think the mood is positive in general. There seems to be a lot of busy

agencies across a wide range of disciplines. We’re lucky that in terms of clients there’s some really good businesses based here that understand the value of design and want to build their brand – so for agencies like us there are lots of possibilities.

Traditional sectors are busy reinventing themselves, the technology sector is booming and part of this success is due to these clients putting design at the heart of their business. We’re also seeing a fair bit of interest from outside the region from firms further south and overseas – the smart clients that are taking advantage of the cost-savings we can offer while still providing high levels of creativity and great service. We’re also lucky to have regional initiatives like Creative North and national bodies like Design Council that help build the awareness of our sector and there’s a definite pride in the region that work we’re doing can compete with anywhere else, and that’s great to see.



cited as one of the best locations for digital startups. Gaming and animation are thriving as specialisms, linked to the universities’ talent output nearby at Northumbria, Sunderland and Teesside.

Does the city enjoy a strong talent pool to draw from?

Danae Abadom, director, Independent EventsWe have some of the strongest universities in the country across the creative

sections and a wealth of talent. I think in the past we have been guilty of letting too much of that talent slip thorough the net but now I see a real trend for graduates looking to start their careers outside of London alongside those moving onto the next stage feeling they can develop without heading down south, with the quantity of life and vibrancy of the city has to offer being is a major attraction.

Julie Drummond, managing director, Drummond CentralAbsolutely. There’s a lot of talented people emerging who are at the cutting edge of

trends and technologies. Newcastle is fortunate to have five major universities on its doorstep. One of which Jonathan Ive went to. It’s a wonderfully vibrant and exciting city to live in, learn in and work in. We’re spoilt really.

Is it doing enough to nurture and attract talent?

Ben Quigley, group chief executive, Everything Different, and chair of IPA member activities around the UKThe city’s creative cluster needs to get

better at articulating what is already there and creating stronger educational links with talent and their influencers (lecturers and course leaders) earlier and more proactively. For instance, journalism graduates are the new content producers, not reporters. Animators are as likely to work in commercial film and motion graphics environments as feature film and TV making.

Academics are increasingly open to forging direct links with the creative sector as commercialisation revolutionises educational funding. Initiatives such as Creative Pioneers and Creative North Youth Academy are creating opportunities for young people and creative companies are proactively working with first class academia to raise awareness of local opportunity and provide in-study internships and work experience on real world projects, as well as shaping course content to ensure a fit for purpose workforce.

Brett Jacobsen, managing director, MediaworksThe north-east is lucky to be supplied with talent from five world-class

universities with a strong talent-base wanting to stay in the region. I think there is definitely room for closer collaboration between the educational and professional sectors to ensure that graduates and apprentices are coming into the workplace with the right skills.

Which sectors are healthiest and experiencing the most growth?

Julie Drummond, managing director, Drummond CentralCreative industries, property companies, tech-based businesses, I can honestly

say that all sectors are very positive right now. We’re very lucky. Not only do we have more than our fair share of innovators and startups, most are operating with a spirit of collaboration and collectively we’re helping the region prosper. It’s all good.

Ben Quigley, group chief executive, Everything Different, and chair of IPA member activities around the UKFilm and video is really booming – the

region has long been a retail commercial production hotbed with incredible talent and superb facilities at affordable prices. The north-east also is increasingly a location for major film and network TV productions. The mobile tech sector is really strong too, especially in education and health categories and with a strong, established infrastructure of support, the area is

supported by


www.thedrum.com 10.JUN.15 THE DRUM14INDUSTRY INSIGHTSADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

It’s a pivotal time for the UK creative industries. Not only are they one of the most exciting and sought after career paths for young people; they are also one of the most significant to the future growth of the UK economy, and to the reputation of the UK globally.

On 9th March the Creative Industries Council (CIC) published a progress report on its new industrial strategy for the UK Creative Industries, to reinforce the UK’s position as a world leader, with ambitious plans for growth to 2020. View the strategy update document on www.thecreativeindustries.co.uk.

Programmes are being put in place in the areas of• access to finance• education and skills• infrastructure• intellectual property• international

The IPA and Creative England are playing their part.

IPA The IPA is leading a cross-sector partnership between government and industry to deliver a marketing portal for the creative industries, www.thecreativeindustries.co.uk. Representative organisations from fashion, music, games, film, television, design, craft, culture, advertising and technology are working with us to present a cohesive picture of the UK creative sector, and to promote collaboration, export and inward investment. We are always on the look-out for case studies and news stories of business success.

The IPA is also taking an active role on behalf of its membership and the wider creative and digital community to strengthen industry links to schools and universities, with a particular focus on technology and digital. The Future of Talent is a core strand of the IPA agenda, actively marketing new job opportunities to a wider range of degree pathways and a broader cross section of the diverse undergraduate student community.

The IPA Creative Pioneers Challenge www.creativepioneers.co.uk is a flagship recruitment programme, run in partnership with Metro, to provide open access to new apprenticeship opportunities for school leavers. Already, in 2015, more than 100 businesses have signed up to offer 200 apprenticeship places in creative and digital media, digital marketing, advertising and marketing communications, and public relations. In our first year in Newcastle, in partnership with training provider Creative North, we have already starting advertising over 20 apprenticeship job opportunities at IPA member agencies and allies, with more in the pipeline.

Creative EnglandCreative England is dedicated to the growth of the creative industries. So far we’ve invested around £14.5m in talented people and their creative ideas, nurturing our richly diverse games, TV, film and digital media industries. We fund, connect, mentor, advocate and collaborate at all levels of the industry, from individuals and small independents to large internationals, creating the right conditions for more success.

England’s creatives, innovators and originators make this country’s creative economy one of the strongest in the world. Despite the whopping £76.4bn they add to the UK’s economy, worth £8.8m an hour, the creative industries are often undercapitalised, under-skilled and have unequal access to the infrastructure they need to reach their full creative and commercial potential. Creative England works to address these challenges; supporting the creative industries in England, creating the right conditions for creative people and companies to thrive and raising the profile of the contribution they make to the growth of the economy.

Over the last few years we have provided talented individuals and creative businesses with much needed access to finance, markets; mentoring and business support. And working closely with talent outside London and our regional partners, we have supported the growth and development of key creative clusters to provide a more fertile environment for culture, talent and enterprise to thrive.

Earlier this year, Creative England was awarded £8m from the Regional Growth Fund to further invest in, support and develop businesses across the games, TV, film and digital media industries. New funds and programmes will be announced later in the year, and will be open to all of the English regions.

Create UK: reshaping the UK economy

IPA & CREATIVE ENGLAND

Janet Hull OBEIPA

Caroline Norbury MBECreative England

Tel: +44 (0)207 201 8253Email: [email protected]: www.ipa.co.ukTwitter: @IPA_Updates

Tel: 0844 824 6042Email: [email protected]: www.creativeengland.co.ukTwitter: @creativeengland

ABOUT THE IPA • The IPA is the UK’s leading professional

institute and trade association• Close to 300 agencies in creative content,

digital marketing, customer service, branding and brand technology, media and media technology, are in membership

• It operates in the city clusters of Belfast, Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Manchester and Newcastle

• IPA agencies create UK jobs for over 1,000 graduates and school leavers each year

• 62% of IPA member agencies have international offices

Source: IPA Census

CREATIVE ENGLAND INVESTS IN AND SUPPORTS:Games: Connecting you and your games business to the funds, mentors, collaborators and partners that are fuelling the future of this booming industry.Film: Delivering tailored mentoring, support and funding to established and emerging filmmakers to feed the future of film talent.Production Services: From sourcing locations to negotiating permissions, we connect filmmakers to the people, places and facilities that make England an amazing place to film.Digital: Our creative industry experts are helping businesses bloom, with investments and support designed to make our creative industries world-leading.

IndustryInsights-SP.indd 14 03/06/2015 14:38

www.thedrum.com 10.JUN.15 THE DRUM14INDUSTRY INSIGHTSADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

It’s a pivotal time for the UK creative industries. Not only are they one of the most exciting and sought after career paths for young people; they are also one of the most significant to the future growth of the UK economy, and to the reputation of the UK globally.

On 9th March the Creative Industries Council (CIC) published a progress report on its new industrial strategy for the UK Creative Industries, to reinforce the UK’s position as a world leader, with ambitious plans for growth to 2020. View the strategy update document on www.thecreativeindustries.co.uk.

Programmes are being put in place in the areas of• access to finance• education and skills• infrastructure• intellectual property• international

The IPA and Creative England are playing their part.

IPA The IPA is leading a cross-sector partnership between government and industry to deliver a marketing portal for the creative industries, www.thecreativeindustries.co.uk. Representative organisations from fashion, music, games, film, television, design, craft, culture, advertising and technology are working with us to present a cohesive picture of the UK creative sector, and to promote collaboration, export and inward investment. We are always on the look-out for case studies and news stories of business success.

The IPA is also taking an active role on behalf of its membership and the wider creative and digital community to strengthen industry links to schools and universities, with a particular focus on technology and digital. The Future of Talent is a core strand of the IPA agenda, actively marketing new job opportunities to a wider range of degree pathways and a broader cross section of the diverse undergraduate student community.

The IPA Creative Pioneers Challenge www.creativepioneers.co.uk is a flagship recruitment programme, run in partnership with Metro, to provide open access to new apprenticeship opportunities for school leavers. Already, in 2015, more than 100 businesses have signed up to offer 200 apprenticeship places in creative and digital media, digital marketing, advertising and marketing communications, and public relations. In our first year in Newcastle, in partnership with training provider Creative North, we have already starting advertising over 20 apprenticeship job opportunities at IPA member agencies and allies, with more in the pipeline.

Creative EnglandCreative England is dedicated to the growth of the creative industries. So far we’ve invested around £14.5m in talented people and their creative ideas, nurturing our richly diverse games, TV, film and digital media industries. We fund, connect, mentor, advocate and collaborate at all levels of the industry, from individuals and small independents to large internationals, creating the right conditions for more success.

England’s creatives, innovators and originators make this country’s creative economy one of the strongest in the world. Despite the whopping £76.4bn they add to the UK’s economy, worth £8.8m an hour, the creative industries are often undercapitalised, under-skilled and have unequal access to the infrastructure they need to reach their full creative and commercial potential. Creative England works to address these challenges; supporting the creative industries in England, creating the right conditions for creative people and companies to thrive and raising the profile of the contribution they make to the growth of the economy.

Over the last few years we have provided talented individuals and creative businesses with much needed access to finance, markets; mentoring and business support. And working closely with talent outside London and our regional partners, we have supported the growth and development of key creative clusters to provide a more fertile environment for culture, talent and enterprise to thrive.

Earlier this year, Creative England was awarded £8m from the Regional Growth Fund to further invest in, support and develop businesses across the games, TV, film and digital media industries. New funds and programmes will be announced later in the year, and will be open to all of the English regions.

Create UK: reshaping the UK economy

IPA & CREATIVE ENGLAND

Janet Hull OBEIPA


Tel: +44 (0)207 201 8253Email: [email protected]: www.ipa.co.ukTwitter: @IPA_Updates

Tel: 0844 824 6042Email: [email protected]: www.creativeengland.co.ukTwitter: @creativeengland

ABOUT THE IPA • The IPA is the UK’s leading professional

institute and trade association• Close to 300 agencies in creative content,

digital marketing, customer service, branding and brand technology, media and media technology, are in membership

• It operates in the city clusters of Belfast, Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Manchester and Newcastle

• IPA agencies create UK jobs for over 1,000 graduates and school leavers each year

• 62% of IPA member agencies have international offices

Source: IPA Census

CREATIVE ENGLAND INVESTS IN AND SUPPORTS:Games: Connecting you and your games business to the funds, mentors, collaborators and partners that are fuelling the future of this booming industry.Film: Delivering tailored mentoring, support and funding to established and emerging filmmakers to feed the future of film talent.Production Services: From sourcing locations to negotiating permissions, we connect filmmakers to the people, places and facilities that make England an amazing place to film.Digital: Our creative industry experts are helping businesses bloom, with investments and support designed to make our creative industries world-leading.


THE DRUM 10.JUN.15 www.thedrum.com INDUSTRY INSIGHTS15 ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE


MEDIAWORKS

Why would ‘Black and White’, ‘Deep Blue’ and ‘Last stand’ have relevance in an article about the north-east and its leading digital marketing agency?

You might be forgiven for thinking of the (not so) mighty Newcastle United, the Northumberland coast line and the Roman wall, but we have something else in mind when it comes to the digital marketing landscape.

Let’s begin with the simplicity of a black and white chess board. Within the world of chess, there has long been a fascination around whether humans or computers were better at the game… stay with us on this…

Human chess players spend years studying the game from a very early age; building up an encyclopaedic knowledge of the best and worst moves and the strengths and weaknesses of their opponents. They use this knowledge intuitively during a game to try and spot the best possible move.

A computer analyses and recall the moves, countermoves and results of millions of chess games in a matter of seconds; filtering out all the moves that would lead to a losing position and then repeating the process until it arrives at the perfect combination of moves that would result in victory.

The odds are firmly stacked against the humans.Indeed, in 1997, when IBM’s much touted Deep Blue

computer triumphed against world chess champion Garry Kasparov, Newsweek opted for the dystopian headline of ‘The Brain’s Last Stand’, believing that this

was the catalyst for the human mind being substituted for machinery. Furthermore, imagine how much technology has improved since 1997.

However, something interesting happened. Instead of man and machine competing against each other, they collaborated. Centaurs were born: a hybrid player blessed with the unique abilities of each.

Centaur chess is all about amplifying human performance. You’re augmenting a computer with your own innate abilities. The same is true for the world of digital marketing. At Mediaworks, our collaboration with clients is not about competing with Google, nor do we rely solely on what Google tell us, it’s about getting the very best from both – let the machines do the ”heavy lifting”, whilst our highly trained digital experts can get on with doing the more creative, thoughtful and engaging parts of the job.

It is too easy for agencies to be captivated by the appeal of automated programs and software because they carry out work in a “black box.” They put questions in and get answers out. However, this approach misses the essential ingredients of commercial understanding and creativity that we at Mediaworks believe is vital to meet and exceed client expectations, and deliver real business results.

Our campaigns with companies such as House of Fraser benefit from a combination of Google’s lightning-fast ability to monitor and analyse 40,000 searches per second, as well as the meta-data and search intent behind

The rise of the centaurs

Craig BradshawHead of Creative Mediaworks

Tel: 0191 4040100Email: [email protected]: www.mediaworks.co.ukTwitter: @mediaworksuk

them, while the blend of agency and in house teams bring the intuition, creativity, insight and commerciality – the ability to turn useful data into insight into trends and opportunities, and then action these to generate tangible business benefits for clients.

As marketers, we learn and improve by measuring the success of the strategies we implement. However, using the vast amount of data available to us, we can push ourselves towards perfection by knowing who our audiences are and what they want before we actually begin the work.

The same analogy can be applied to the end user, they enter a query into the Google machine and are returned a wealth of data. They then use their knowledge and preferences to make best use of that data, or start a new more defined search in an attempt to find what they are after.

In the same way that Centaur Chess illustrates the perfect interplay between man and machines; Mediaworks is another example of how technology can amplify human performance, by marrying the expert intuition, creativity and commerciality of our digital marketing team with Google’s ability to collect, calculate and display a staggering amount of data in an extremely small amount of time.

Back to the original question: Which is better – humans or computers?

Neither. It’s the two together, working side by side.


blackwell’s britain - the creative industries · an astounding success story that i hadn’t...

Documents