Why Bake Off reminds me of design pitch processes: Emma Nicol

Watching the reruns of panicked-filled The Great British Bake Off episodes recently reminded me of how badly thought out some pitch situations are – and how they could be much improved.

Asking an agency or designer to creatively and speculatively pitch is like asking them to take part in the technical challenge on Bake Off. It’s akin to providing them with a set of ingredients and a very vague set of instructions, sometimes with key information missing, in a kitchen set up very differently, that may, or may not, have the right utensils.

A recent surreal lunch trip reminded me of how very important it is to make sure that your brand and environment need to make sure your audience know who ‘they’ are and who ‘you’ are.

Youth Marketing – 5 Key Themes & Trends: Emma Nicol

In March this year (2018), there was a 2-day conference on Youth Marketing in London. The conference is part of a series of events organised around the world by an inspiring company called Voxburner. Voxburner is the go-to youth insights consultancy informing marketing professionals of 16-24’s trends, habits and attitudes that are about to impact business now and in the future. They uncover insights into trends that are shaping youth behaviour of what is commonly being termed as Generation Z (Gen Z).

The themes and trends discussed at the event were incredibly interesting and insightful and I have collated a few of them that I thought were very relevant for the healthcare and charity sectors. The top 5 themes that particularly caught my attention were as follows:

How to Create a Cost-effective Charity Photo Library: Emma Nicol

Photo collections and libraries are an important asset to any organisation and can range up to 100s of thousands of £s. For some charities, they can seem out of reach, but with the right planning, permissions and creative strategy they can be achieved very cost-effectively.

Stock photos have their place but it’s a great asset to have a collection of photos unique to your charity or organisation. With your own photo library, you can create this with real supporters, a consistent environment with your own unique message. This can achieve a set of authentic images you can use from everything across your communications suite, from awareness posters, information booklets, annual reviews and reports, exhibition stands and social media.

When it comes to problem solving, we’ve all heard the saying ‘slowing down to speed up’. It’s very true and something that we should all be encouraged to do a little more. In our day to day life, we are all too often solution focused. Continually solution-ising, when we should be staying in the enquiry space for longer.