Richard McHardy

Transform your ideas into a fully funded deal. 🤝 suzanne alizart, Creative Business Affairs Consultant, will host an insightful masterclass tomorrow for our Autumn Cohort on our Create Growth Programme, which examines all aspects of business affairs for the creative industry.  Matching the right money to the right idea is key to success, so knowing what different types of funding mean for your concept is essential to striking the right deal.  Discover more about this session, link in the comments. #Funding #CreativeFunding #FundingSupport #GrowthProgramme #CreativeEast

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At AFFINITY Group, our new Growth Accelerator positioning isn’t just about driving business success — it’s about sparking a broader conversation at the highest levels. By aligning the vision of CEOs and CMOs, we’re empowering leaders to implement changes that deliver measurable impact and sustainable growth. Ready to see the difference this approach can make for your business? Let’s talk. Have a read of our chat with Mediaweek Australia:  https://lnkd.in/g4vT3Up3 #GrowthAccelerator #PotentialRealised #AFFINITY 

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Our approach is simple: listen, create, and deliver. 🎨 We dive deep into your world, ensuring your site reflects your unique style and meets your goals. 🎯 Ready to elevate your online presence? 🚀 Follow us on Twitter for digital insights! #BespokeWebDesign #DigitalMarketing #ClientSatisfaction

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Flying visit* to my wonderful home town of Manchester today, to talk about the art of reframing with Havas Lynx and their highly innovative ViiV Healthcare clients Reframing is defining the problem from a different angle to get to a different solution. The most often quoted example is the Annoying Hotel Elevator: ➡ guests at a new hotel were complaining it ran too slowly. They were paying to stay, not wait. ➡ the obvious answer for management was to speed up the mechanism. Huge engineering challenge. ➡ Instead, reframing the problem from “it’s taking too long” to  “its a waste of my time” resulted in the hotel installing mirrors in the lift lobby; so people could make use of their valuable time with a spot of preening. Complaints over. Reframing is a method. Its equally an attitude; the lemons/make lemonade thing. (Hence the lemony elevator image. Thanks Josh Toogood x Adobe Firefly) Speaking of attitude, I was once again reminded today how Manchester is a city in a state of perpetual reframing; a hot bed of creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship and ingenuity. With a side order of half rice, half chips. Love it. *by train

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Exhibitions and conferences... something we are all accustomed to attending in our roles within the energy sector and most likely do with our eyes closed. But is your company's brand up to scratch and is your messaging aligned with your company objectives and vision? Gastech, OTC, Global Offshore Wind, ONS, ADIPEC, Subsea Expo and Offshore Europe, to name a few. We have orchestrated media opportunities all over the globe for clients and my biggest piece of advice is to not leave it too late. Working with the ThinkPR (Scotland) Ltd team as an extension of your mar/comms team helps embed Think into your business; understanding your goals, helping navigate the world of media, building trust with your team, working with management on personal branding and ultimately alleviating the stress and panic that can come with media interviews. Drop me a message if you want to know more or how ThinkPR can work with your business to elevate your brand. #PR #Marketing #BrandMessaging #PersonalBrand

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BRAND IMPACT MAP: COMMUNITY ♥️   In our tinyBox Brand Dive Workshop, we complete a Brand Impact Map covering staff, clients, community and planet. Here, I want to talk about your brand’s role in the community… As part of our Brand Impact Map, we support St Werburghs Community Centre, a local Bristol charity. To that end, every website we create directly funds half or a full day of 1-1 digital inclusion sessions.  This is called sales-based giving, and is a great way for start-ups and businesses early in their journey to make an impact without committing to lofty periodic financial commitments.   As you grow, your impact on your chosen cause grows. Everyone wins! #CommunityImpact #BrandResponsibility #SalesBasedGiving

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I’m excited to be leading Leopard Co’s "Mastering Brand Growth for Scale-Up Success" workshop this morning at the incredible STEAMhouse Birmingham! Over the next few hours, we’ll be diving deep into Leopard Co’s ROAR Framework, sharing practical strategies to help ambitious scale-ups define, activate, and amplify their brands for sustainable growth. Here’s what we’ll cover: 🛠️ Diagnosing your brand with the 4C Model. 🎯 Prioritising focus areas to maximise impact. 💡 Crafting campaigns that resonate with your audience’s Category Entry Points (CEPs). 🚀 Building marketing funnels to guide your audience from awareness to action. 📈 Setting SMART Objectives to measure and optimise success. It’s going to be an inspiring and action-packed morning! Looking forward to connecting with so many talented scale-up leaders who are ready to take their brands to the next level. If you’re not joining us today but want to learn more - I’ll be sharing insights from the workshop tomorrow. https://lnkd.in/eZrX4r-B #ScaleUpSuccess #BrandGrowth #MarketingStrategy #ROARFramework #LeopardCo #STEAMhouseBirmingham

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October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and this year, it’s a milestone for UK charity Look Good Feel Better as they celebrate 30 years of supporting cancer patients. At Whitewater, we believe that brand alignment can make a real difference - not just for businesses, but also for the communities they serve. In our latest blog post: 'The Power of Brand Alignment: Doing Good While Doing Business', we look into how cosmetic brands can align with important causes like breast cancer awareness and make a meaningful impact. Some companies donate products and others raise awareness through campaigns. How can your brand do something while doing business? Read the full post and find out how to take action👇 #BrandAlignment #BreastCancerAwareness #LookGoodFeelBetter

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At Street Studios, we have curated some of the best provisions on the UK market, they taste great and are great business models. While there isn't a single solution that can address all our challenges, I encourage all businesses to examine their supply chains closely. I'm sharing some of our findings below, and I would love to hear yours ... Karma Drinks - LOVE CORN - Proper Popcorn - Rejuce #circular #bussniessmodel #smallbussnies #planet #growth #circularity.

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There's a new advertising campaign from Barclays UK that has caught my attention. You can watch it here https://lnkd.in/eHTawgnG. It is built on a very simple to understand insight from a report by The Money Advice Service that states "our relationship with money is formed from the age of 7." One of the reasons this resonated with me is that if this is the case when it comes to things like bank accounts and pocket money then it stands to reason that it will apply to charity and philanthropy too. But, at the moment, we don't look to embed these values in children from a young age. As a trustee of First Give it is something that we discuss a lot. What is the best way to ensure that giving to charity is not seen as exceptional or a one-off? How do we make sure that charity is not just "what rich people do" but is accessible to everyone? And how do we get people understanding that the £94bn that charities in the UK spent in the past 12 months isn't just a 'nice-to-have' but is essential in keeping hospitals, the arts, in fact civil society as a whole, afloat. (To give it context, Income Tax raised £277bn over the same period. Make no mistake, the third sector is of huge significance.) And yet, 'giving' is not ingrained in us as children. The First Give programme has impacted on over 200,000 Year 8 pupils in hundreds of schools across the UK. But we know that one intervention is not enough - and Year 8 might also be too late a starting point. Why's this so important? A functioning democracy that is diverse and inclusive cannot be fully funded by the State. The truth is, it never was. Our hospitals, galleries, schools etc have long been funded by philanthropy. Our challenge is to create the next generation of givers. To do that we'll need to start them young... #charity #philanthropy #ad #giving #creative #thirdsector Creative & Commercial

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In the words of Steven Bartlett 🙌 "If you don't care about the tiny details, you'll produce bad work because good work is the culmination of hundreds of tiny details" This theme ran through our 'Brilliant Basics' workshops at Punch Creative. In the workshops, our wonderful Head of Operations Charlotte Holgate and I went through key working practices and processes that ensure our foundations are strong 💪 How did we make the workshops memorable? We embraced our inner children using LEGO to help the team understand how... 👌 We invest effort into building client relationships 👀 We pay attention to detail and ensure the basics are brilliant 💎 We don't compromise on quality 🏋‍♂️ We gain clients' confidence and trust The teams excelled at the task! ✏ The creative team didn't start until they fully understood the brief 💻 The web team optimised user experience and functionality ⌛ Client services ensured the project was delivered on time 🎯 Marketing and comms thought carefully about their target audience. Who's build is the best? comment below 👇 with the emoji of your favourite, best team wins a prize: 🔥 Creative team 🛩️ Web team 🤖 Client services team 🚗 Marketing & comms team #Lego #Workshop #BrilliantBasics #AgencyLife #TeamBuilding

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Join us tomorrow for the "Brand yourself with purpose: Elevate your network and make your Mark" national webinar hosted by the Forum's new East of England region from 12 noon to 1 pm. Kicking off with a case study on opening an office in a new region, presenter Matt Skipper will explore how he and others developed strong personal brands to support the corporate brand, resulting in significant local revenues. Matt will also provide tips on the skills and focus needed to develop a personal brand, both internally to support career growth and externally to build a reputation as a thought leader. These tips include: -Having purpose and personal objectives. -How a positive internal culture can help your journey. -Investing time now to develop networks for your future.  -Building confidence by being more commercial. -Barriers to success and how to overcome them. Don't miss this opportunity to elevate your network and make your mark in the professional services landscape! Book now:

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Great to see Twenty One Twelve Marketing client The Disruption House in the Evening Standard last week. I've always liked The Disruption House's pragmatic belief that any business can be more sustainable, regardless of industry. The Disruption House don't just see sustainability as a way of building a better world, but also as a way to deliver real commercial results. The expert team at TDH offer a clear path for any business to further their ESG credentials, starting with their low-cost, high-impact sustainability self-assessment. To learn more, take their 10 question Starter Quiz (link in comments) to better understand where your business sits on its ESG journey. #ESG #TheDisruptionHouse

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We are incredibly excited to announce Brand Narrative Media! A consultancy-led production service, designed to help you craft a compelling story for your brand. We will help you create a narrative that resonates with your audience and sets you apart in the market. Find out more about Brand Narrative at brandnarrative.uk #brandnarrativemedia #storytelling #brandstorytelling

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When the branding project is over, will your internal team be equipped to take the lead? We run training sessions and create bespoke training workshops for our client's wider teams to help with just this problem. These range from social media, brand strategy, accessible design principles and the nitty gritty of accessible PDF creation. A lot goes into the preparation of one of these workshops. Here's a window into just a snippet of it. #Workshops #Branding #Strategy

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Time, please Government statistics show that on average 50 pubs a month in England and Wales closed their doors for the final time in the first half of 2024. Pubs have a long and storied history in the UK, stretching back over a thousand years. They are a central part of British culture and identity. Their origins can be traced to Roman taverns and Anglo-Saxon alehouses, where locals would gather to drink ale and cider. By the Middle Ages, these establishments had evolved into inns and public houses, where travellers would rest and refresh themselves. Over time, pubs became a cornerstone of community life, serving not just as places to drink but as venues for socialising, exchanging news and conducting business. As Britain industrialised, the number of pubs grew, particularly in urban areas where they became a focal point for working-class social life. Local pubs became part of the fabric of communities, often tied to specific trades, sports clubs or even political movements. The pint is as much a part of British pub culture as the pub itself. A pint has been a legally defined unit of measure since 1698. It is though much more than a unit of measure. There’s something distinctly British about ordering "a pint"—it’s not just about the volume, it’s the ritual of sharing a drink. The glass itself - sturdy yet simple - is there to be held, clinked and refilled. A pint is part of what makes a pub a pub. While many countries serve beer in smaller or varied sizes, the British pint (568 ml) is a symbol of consistency and tradition. Its continued use underscores the enduring appeal of pub culture and the importance of preserving age-old customs in a rapidly changing world. Pubs and pints remain a defining part of British identity. Even in an age of global chains, homogenised high streets and modern bars, the traditional pub—with its wooden interiors, cosy corners, and familiar faces—remains a beloved British institution. And though pubs are closing at an alarming rate, it’s too soon to call last orders.

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We've recently joined the Black Country Chamber of Commerce! There's a little article on their news section now about our joining, the launch of SitePilot and our looming 9th Anniversary! Have a read here, if you fancy: https://lnkd.in/e8iHySCT #BlackCountry #ChamberOfCommerce #Websites #News

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Are you the lead in your team for #Diversity, #Equity & #Inclusion ? Are you a business leader keen to embed these values at the heart of your organisation? If so, start by joining us next week for Pizza 🍕 & learn from Dundee pride about how this all just makes good business sense! Book at the link below 👇

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Good morning today spent with one of our clients at 44 Communications Ltd talking through the results of recent research into one of their core channels. In the past (read: pre-covid) we used to run semi-regular Focus Groups to find out what employees were interested in for the channel. Whilst they were valuable, they took a lot of time to organise and pulled hard-pressed workers off the job for an extended period of time. Not easy to do when there are deadlines and priorities competing for attention. So, this time we worked with the client on a programme of 'Speed focus groups' - fast conversations with employees asking a set of questions and quickly exploring themes. No more than a few minutes of time but some great insights and ideas raised. Added to survey results, these give some flavour and life to the numbers, helping us work with the client to frame an action plan. It's not the first time we've done these. It can be hard getting opinions from front line workers whose priority is service delivery on tight schedules and with limited resources. So, it's important we take time to design measurement approaches that fit their world rather than demand they fit into ours. Just goes to show, research and insight can be done even when operating circumstances may make it seem difficult. It's always worth asking the question "what do you think about...". #internalcommunications #research #engagement #measurement #channels

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