The launch of the Drum publication’s first creative city review in Bristol, entitled Blackwell’s Britain, last week was well attended by the city’s great and good from agency land, the freelance community and supporting organisations.
A number of key issues came to the fore in the course of the evening’s discussion namely:

• whether Bristol and Bath join forces to promote a united ‘brand’ to the outside world in the marketing communications and creative sectors
• the need to expand the diversity of talent into the creative sector

The discussion around whether Bristol has its own city ‘brand’ was interesting, Bath is undoubtedly better known worldwide for its heritage as a tourist and shopping centre and it’s home to some great agencies. However, as far as the creative sector is concerned Bristol is definitely where it’s at. Of course there are pros and cons to both arguments about whether Bristol and Bath take the Newcastle Gateshead approach or whether both cities go it alone but either way, both cities have much to offer in terms of quality of life, growing economies and opportunities for start-ups.

The issue that cropped up a few times and one that is of particular interest to us at purplefish is the subject of diversity, or the distinct lack of it, in our sector. Indeed the event to launch this feature was attended by people that all looked and sounded the same, like us. There is some interesting research and new talent sourcing projects from organisations that represent the creative sector such as Creative Pioneers but much more proactive work needs to be done and it’s going to come down to the very agencies that attended the launch to make a concerted effort to really make some tangible business changes to increase diversity in the creative sector.

We’re working on some key diversity initiatives to encourage interest in our sector and are looking for likeminded agencies and organisations linked to the creative industries to work with. If you would like more information please contact us: hello@www.purplefish.agency / 0117 315 5260