Escher Walcott

☔️ Summer seems to have ended just as quickly as it started! ☔️ But August was a strong month for us with exciting new briefs coming in for us to get our teeth into. Thanks to PRWeek UK for including us in its Top 150 Monthly Trading Tracker. Read the full article for insights from Dan Neale and other PR agency heads: https://lnkd.in/eTn7Eun2 #PR #PRNews #insights #PRagency

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Aya: Do you happen to know anyone in your community who is neurodivergent, Sal, and would like to contribute to an awareness campaign aimed at #rewritingthenarrative when it comes to how our neurological differences are understood and perceived? Salma: OOOO HOW COOL!!!! I think that’s such a beautiful thing you’re doing 😭 I am autistic! Haha. That’s why I’m so cool 😎😂 A sneak peek into the conversation I had with Salma that led to this post - and that also perfectly captures her vibe. Salma’s eccentric profile immediately caught my eye when I first stumbled upon her here (you can probably already tell by the picture in the carousel). Then, at some point during our first conversation, one of her messages read “I LOVE YOUUU”. I instantly thought to myself: “Woah, who on earth, and especially LinkedIn in specific, says this during their first conversation with someone?” The thing is, it did feel genuine coming from her, and it did warm my heart. It was just kind of... unexpected? But also empowering for someone like me who may take longer to express love, even when I really want to and genuinely feel it! Maybe I should have guessed that behind this quirky profile is an equally quirky human, though. Apparently, however, Salma hasn’t always been this social, which I learned more about during our most recent conversation about her struggle with autism. Upon checking out the carousel, feel free to start a conversation with her in the comments. ⬇️ She’s happy to answer more questions about her journey and share any experiences that may help anyone better understand neurodivergence. Neurodiversity Celebration Week #neurodiversitycelebrationweek

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⏳ Just 4 days left to make your voice heard! We're calling on all Black PR and comms professionals to share your experiences. Together with PRWeek UK and Opinium, our One Step Forward Two Steps Black survey aims to uncover the truth about inequities, celebrate successes and set a new standard for our industry. Back in 2020, nearly half of Black communication pros told us they’d never received an internal promotion. We want to know if things have changed. Are you being hired, recognized, and rewarded fairly? Your input is crucial to shaping meaningful recommendations for change. The survey is anonymous and takes just 6 minutes to complete. 🔗 Hit the link below to participate and help us pave the way for a more equitable future in PR and comms. 📅 Remember, the survey closes this Friday, 28th June 2024. Let's make a difference together! ✊🏾 https://lnkd.in/eM--X-Fs

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Back in 2020, nearly half of Black communication professionals reported never having received an internal promotion. That's shockingly dismaying! As a 100% BME-staffed agency, we encourage every Black PR professional to join the survey. Let's see what progress (hopefully) has been made, and most importantly, affect change!

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😍 Employers LOVE creative writing... The amount of people I've spoken to in high-up roles (I'm looking at the wonderful Sophie Cross; JUST BOUGHT HER 'A course, of course,' COURSE and it's amazing). Sophie did a lil masterclass with Word Tonic - the community of 800+ GEN-Z copywriters - a while back and I remember her saying something that REALLY stood out. Something along the lines of 'I don't care TOO much about someone's portfolio if they've got some amazing personal creative projects they're working on too." Something like that. And it stuck. Which is why I'm so proud of Roos Van der Velden for leading the creative writing anthology in our Discord and helping so many members add ANOTHER great thing to their cv/portfolios, and overall - what they offer as a young copywriters 💓 PS. Check out the anthologies here: https://lnkd.in/dZmbFitj 😎 And if you'd like to join Word Tonic (and take part in this anthology BUT also level up your copywriting skills in masterclasses with brands like Google, weekly briefs, challenges, AI workshops + more, grab a discounted membership from the link in the comments!) #WordTonic #CreativeWriting #Anthology #Roos #CopywritersUnite

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One of the perks about content creation is the freedom to work from anywhere. Since changing up our content, we've recently had even more freedom to film from where we are and using what we have available to us. In trying to keep up with the algorithms, our Instagram and TikTok content slowly became fast paced and short, so doing this slow content during our recent trip to the Kenyan Coast was just refreshing. We made a fresh whole taffi fish fished from the Indian Ocean and delivered to us the same day, and made coconut milk from the coconuts growing at the friend's house we stayed at, and the food tasted way better! What's your take on slow and fast content? What do you prefer? #contentcreation #digitalcontent

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We’re finally able to share this exciting news - huge thank you to everyone who has supported us so far - from big organisations, to founders who gave up time to have a coffee with us over the last few years. Marketing Engine helps marketers prove what they do works. Not just the Google search ads at the last click, but the daily actions which drive success at each touchpoint from PR to brand to media buying. If you’ve ever struggled to tell the story of your marketing results despite having all the data and spending hours on the planning, this platform is for you. We’ve been there, and we’re looking for more people out there who feel like this to help us shape the roadmap for Marketing Engine. If you’re interested in testing the platform and being part of the campaign to put the trust back into marketing, DM me or Kieron Goldsborough 🤓 #martech #startup #marketing #teesvalley Business Tees Valley Tees Valley Combined Authority Innovation SuperNetwork Ignite Accelerator The Thinking Digital Conference Innovate UK Thank you Insider Media for the coverage.

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Did you know that today is #NationalFreelancerDay? Cheers to all freelancers like myself, including the likes of Tom Cruise, Taylor Swift, and Romesh Ranganathan who excel in their field! 🏆 Celebrating six years of freelancing next week, it has truly been the best career move I've ever made. Starting from scratch, I reckon I have done quite well. I've been busy throughout, worked with some amazing clients and learnt loads – as much about me as about running my business. Freelancing isn't just a one-person show; for me it is the ultimate team sport (including at home) which provides flexibility for client and contractor. I liken it to bringing in a loan signing, who is able to hit the ground running to help ensure you get Champions League at the end of the season. I take pride in delivering quality work and ensuring client satisfaction - and it's all about building lasting partnerships. 🥇 Despite misconceptions, freelancing isn't a temporary or risky choice for me. I run a legitimate business, complete with strategies and long-term plans (I'm not fluking it) and... I pay tax! Just like any other brand, running Hay Let's Communicate involves various aspects like Finance, Marketing, Logistics, IT, Supply Chains, Stakeholder Management and HR. While bad days and stress are inevitable, the support system within the freelance community is invaluable. 👏 I may not be an action star, a singer, or up for a national comedy award, but I am a dedicated freelancer who is pretty good at #comms and #eventmanagement. Hay Let's connect and discuss how we can collaborate! #Freelancer #BusinessOwner #ClientSatisfaction #Teamwork #SupportSystem

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I wrote a Hallam blog about how PR can help 🤝 build credibility 🤝 for your business. Trust-building within the digital realm has never been more challenging. Research shows that less than 50% of UK consumers trust businesses—a trend that has been declining over the past decade. Here are my main takeaways: 📔 71% of consumers admit trust significantly influences their purchasing decisions, with 63% trusting businesses prioritising transparent communication. ❣ PR lies at the heart of trust-building, requiring active listening, message alignment with audience values, and prioritising authenticity. 📈 Having a good PR strategy can boost your customers' trust in your products 🌟 Benefits of digital PR include raising brand awareness, boosting SEO efforts, and positioning the brand as an industry expert. What do you do to build trust with your potential customers? Keen to hear your thoughts too Jo O'Reilly, Georgia Gadsby March, Tom Bestwick, Rebecca Collins, Iona Jess Townsley just to name a few of the experts I know in this field Please have a read if you want to understand how PR lies at the heart of trust-building and demands a strategic approach for success. https://lnkd.in/efcwnFxf #DigitalPR #PR #OnlineCredibility

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You go to agencies to hire copywriters, graphic designers and web developers. Why not go to an agency to hire your head of content, too? Avoid the rigamarole of hiring your own content department and go straight to Scon. We'll help your business start its very own content marketing pipeline: 👨‍👨‍👧‍👧 Discover your audience 📅 Build your content calendar 🖊️ Create expert content for marketing 📈 Track your success Our end-to-end service helps your business take advantage of everything content marketing has to offer, without committing to permanent hires. In other words… we're your outsourced content marketing department. #content #marketing #copywriting

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"If you stop talking about your book, people will stop buying it." It's something that the rather brilliant Lucy Werner told me on an Instagram Live we did together a couple of years ago - and I'll never forget it. Sounds so simple, but can feel tricky to find different ways of talking about it for months or years after publication. It's why I've popped all the ideas I've had - including what I've learned from working on campaigns for a Sunday Times bestseller - into this week's podcast. Link to listen in comments below. So if you're launching or continuing to market your book, put this on a post-it note somewhere to remind yourself! #bookmarketing #bookselling #businessbooks #writingadvice

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My under-desk apprentice, Hugo, has been promoted. Tilly’s 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥 him to enter the special ‘blue bubble’. For thinking, sleeping and cuddling. His typing output may not have improved or increased, but he’s keeping her warm (which I suspect is the real reason she let him in) I’m rather jealous! --- DM me if you’d like to talk about your content. I can help you fix your copy, scale your content and ghostwrite your stories ✏️ 𝗜'𝗺 𝗗𝗶 𝗠𝗮𝗰𝗲. 𝗔𝗻 𝗔𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗕𝟮𝗕 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿: 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗴𝗵𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿, 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗽𝘆𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿 + 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿. There’s 20+ years’ writing experience packed in my keyboard (+ marketing mgmt before that) and 3 options to work with me.

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One step forward two steps Black? We want to hear your experiences of what it’s like to be Black in PR and comms today. Together with PRWeek UK and Opinium, we are opening our One Step Forward Two Steps Black survey to uncover inequity where it exists, recognise successes in creating a diverse pipeline and retaining talent, and crucially - to provide a benchmark for the industry to make change. The inaugural One Step Forward Two Steps Black survey in 2020 found that almost half of Black communication professionals had never received an internal promotion, with talent having to move to a different agency or company to rise up the ranks.  Has progress been made? Are you having a more equitable experience? Are you being hired, recognised and rewarded for your contributions? We need to know so we can shape recommendations to drive change. The anonymous survey takes just 6 minutes to complete. Complete the survey here: https://lnkd.in/eM--X-Fs Kamiqua Lake (nèe Pearce) Founder of UK Black Comms Network says "As the old adage goes: what gets measured gets improved. The industry's focus continues to be on attracting Black talent into entry level roles. We want to understand what progress our industry is making on this and how organisations are rewarding Black talent within their companies."   You can read more in PR Week here: https://lnkd.in/ewPJbcE4 Special thanks to Eliza Wiredu Rhoneece Patterson Priya Minhas

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🙌 We celebrate diversity in all of its wonderful forms. Not just because it is the right thing to do, but because it’s what has made us the instantly recognisable creative agency we are today. So, just how did we get to this point? By weaving inclusive practices and strategies into every stage of our recruitment process. Check out our e-book (creating a diverse organisation) to find out more. https://lnkd.in/e4PE4jyM #DiversityAndInclusion #Recruitment #ProudToBeDifferent

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Client: Fussy Industry: Cosmetics Agency: 10 Days London A musical campaign that focuses on the battle between Aluminium bodies and Fussy's deodorant (Coconut, Sunflower, etc.) educates and encourages viewers to switch to Fussy's natural deodorant. This 90's inspired rap video, titled "Believe the Fuss" fights against body odour in armpits😂. I like this approach❤️👏. FTK - THB🦡 #marketing #advertising

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Great to see the response to my post yesterday, so here goes... I have led Black Ballad to work with some incredible and global brands that include Google, Just Eat, Garnier and more to produce some incredible campaigns and experiences for black women. Believe it or not, we have NEVER worked with a bank for a partnership. Yet, when we asked black women for their biggest priority in 2024, the most common response was improving their finances. From investing and buying property, nailing financial basics, money management was the NUMBER 1 focus for our audience in 2024 and it is looking to be the number one priority for our audience in 2025. So I would love to know the brands (especially banks and money apps) want to reach, engage and understand black women in 2025 and would see the value in working with Black Ballad to execute this. In 2025, we will have a focus on: Money Careers Health Beauty Motherhood/Parenting Tag or DM the brands, brand managers who SHOULD be working with Black Ballad and I. Cheers!

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Six at Six Series: Talking Brand Momentum at MADFest Vision One’s Director, TonyLewis, stole the show at MADFest earlier this month (2-4 July) with his original, innovative and – dare we say it – revolutionary concept: BRAND MOMENTUM! Talking to a standing-room-only crowd at London’s must-attend marketing event, Tony shared early access to some of the content of his debut, upcoming book: BRAND MOMENTUM due for release in just a couple of months. As thought leaders in brand building and brand development research, our brand tracking is uniquely actionable because it is centred on the Brand Momentum KPI and actionable driver, Velocity, which Tony spoke about at MADFest, and has written about in his upcoming book. Six standouts from Tony Lewis’s MADFest session in London earlier this month: 1. “Some people really like the science (physics) behind it and that it's grounded in theory which is tangible and real. I think it gives people a different perspective on marketing that taps into some universal science - and particularly energy and forces.” 2. “The predictive nature of Brand Momentum excites people because everyone wants a crystal ball, but this is also further evidence of it being a driver of growth rather than a symptom.” 3. “There are many benefits of momentum, which makes it highly attractive; there are 10-12 very strong benefits that make it hard to resist for CMOs, brand managers, and business leaders.” 4. “Our ability to predict Monarch’s demise (and more recently the Body Shop) helps demonstrate the power of the metric.” 5. “Marketers are always in search of the holy grail, and I think most marketers are unsure about which best metrics are the best for brand growth. The feedback from the MADFest presentation was that this has the potential to be the next powerful metric – and of course we agree!” 6. “Overall, I think what we’re talking about – through our work and our upcoming book - challenges many current beliefs and models, and offers something new and different, which is exciting…” If you’d like to receive a free digital ARC (advance reader copy) of Brand Momentum (in return for a review!) please get in touch with our book publicists [email protected] and visit www.tonylewis.me.

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A note on DM etiquette... As a business owner, making connections is incredibly valuable, and one way to do that is through DMs. I'll be the first to say that I'm not the greatest at responding to every message (especially because many of them are freelancers asking me for work. Erm, I'm not the right person for that). But if you choose to contact someone here on LinkedIn, be nice! It seems obvious, but a few weeks ago I received a message from someone pitching their services. When I finally messaged them back asking for more info, they were quite rude & told me that I never answered their question, I wasn't committed to my business, and they "didn't like where this is going." It caught me off guard. I blocked the person and went along with my day. But it reminds me that simply being kind and personable goes a long way in business. Building genuine, helpful connections work best. Have you had any negative encounters with others in your DMs? #businessowner #contentwriter #freelancewriter #LinkedIn

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