Journal

Monthly Insight - Keeping it real: Why we need people’s stories now more than ever

In our latest Monthly Insight series, our Senior Copywriter Rebecca Nicholl guides us through her take on keeping it real.

Fake news. Deep fakes. Misinformation. AI-generated everything. What’s real? And what’s not?

Now, we’re not here to attack AI. Hey, it can be useful for research, planning, summarising… but it’s not the answer to everything. In a world where people are starting to question the authenticity of what they see, brands and organisations are increasingly having to prove what’s real. And that’s where case studies come in – whether written or filmed, they’re about real people, real experiences, real impacts.

Case studies. They’ve always worked, they always will.

People love stories. We’re hardwired to connect with other people’s stories and experiences. The challenges, setbacks, twists and turns, the benefits, excitement and impact. You did what? You saved how much? What happened next?!

Stories are how we understand the world – and each other. Good case studies show what people do, how they do it and – critically – why it matters.

Good case studies build trust. Hearing and reading a story in someone’s own words is incredibly powerful. The way people tell their stories, the turn of phrase is relatable and understandable.

People have evolved to rely on others – we like (on the most part) to be social and work in groups. Making something social is an evidence-based behaviour change technique – people are more likely to do an action if they see people like them doing that action. It normalises the thing you want people to do (or even can make people feel left out if they don't do it), can help people feel like the goal is realistic and achievable (if they did it, I can do it too!), and makes people trust the process and outcome.

It’s all about showing, not telling. Yes, we can tell you all about the impact of planting trees, of installing renewable energy, of visiting an exhibition, but case studies show that impact, the effect that it has on people and communities.

People trust people

In this age of AI, everything can feel a bit too perfect, too polished, too automated. That’s where case studies can cut through. Real, authentic stories, with the good and the bad included. Because come on, we do kind of like hearing about what went wrong… and how it was fixed!

This need for authenticity is particularly important in the sustainability, education, charity, and health sectors. Sectors where trust is key. In short, the more human your stories are, the more believable they become.

Read – or watch – all about it

When it comes to the written case study, these are great for when you want to go into depth, explain backgrounds, situations, opportunities, challenges, impacts, facts and figures. You really do get the full story.

But it’s not always about reading reams of copy. (How many times have we heard that people don’t read anymore? Fun fact – they do, but what they’re reading has changed.) Written case studies are skimmable too, with pull quotes, infographics and bulleted highlights. And a well-written case study is an absolute goldmine for content. They’re brilliant source material for all your other outputs – social media posts, newsletters, presentations, podcasts, PR, fundraising , the list goes on…

Over to filmed case studies. Who doesn’t love a good film? These bring case studies to life in a completely different way. You can see and hear the person, their expressions, tone, emotions. You can really connect with who you see. And it doesn’t have to be an all-singing, all-dancing production (although you’ll always get something professional from us!), as people respond well to authenticity. We can even help you to create your own filmed case studies – giving you the skills and confidence to film your own stories.

As with the written versions, these films can be used – in their entirety or edited to short snippets – for social media, events, websites and so on.

When it comes to choosing what you need, it’s often best to do both. Write it up and capture it on film. Each format supports different stages and objectives of your marketing and communications.

Real stories for real outcomes

Trying to inspire behaviour change or action? Show what others have done and the benefits they’ve experienced. Looking to grow your reputation? Share stories that demonstrate your values and successes. Need to attract new business or new funding? Show what you’ve already achieved and the impact you’ve already had. Running an internal comms campaign? Celebrate successes and highlight what’s going on across your organisation.

In short, whether you’re trying to win hearts, change minds, or inspire action, case studies give people the proof they need to believe in you.

As for us?

We’ve worked on case studies for over twenty years. From tree planting, placemaking and sustainability, to fostering children, dealing with grief and sharing stories of hospice care. We approach every person and every story with curiosity, respect and compassion.

We love hearing stories. We love telling stories.

Bringing your work to life

It’s a noisy old world we live in. Brands, causes, organisations, businesses are all competing for our attention, our time, our trust. Real people with real stories make us sit up and take notice. They show who you are, what you do, and what it all means to the people you work with.

And it doesn’t have to be complicated. We’re here to help gather the stories, write them up, film them… and then we help you plan where and when to use all of that lovely new content.

If you’ve got stories to share, and need some extra support with them get in touch with Rebecca to arrange a call rebecca@creativeconcern.com

Monthly Insight Series - Focus on Film

Lights, camera, action in 2025

2025 is going to be a big year for film content. We’ve seen many of our clients using film in ever more creative ways to tell stories, engage with their audiences, support fundraising and share their impact. Here are a few film trends we are seeing and some examples of recent projects to get your creative brains whirring.

Keep reading to the end to be the first to find out about our latest product launch - Story Stream, bringing people and stories to life in a creative and cost effective way.

One shoot, ten edits

Increasingly we’ve been asked to shoot once and then create multiple films for use across multiple channels. This is a great way of getting the maximum impact from your film budget by using filmed content across social media, online, events, presentations and digital marketing.

Take a look at our campaign for The University of Salford which used projection and dynamic lighting to create a series of films and still imagery to promote a range of Diploma of Higher Education courses. One shoot day was used to create multiple films and edit variations.

Combining film and animation

Another trend we are seeing is the convergence of film and animation, as clients are seeing motion as one creative option that can utilise video, animation and motion graphics. This approach can create a really strong visual dynamic and can be a great way to build your brand identity through film.

We worked with The Tree Council to create a film to promote their Tree Partners programme. This film is being used to support fundraising activities and to inspire companies to join as corporate partners.

Up, up and away

The use of drones has really taken off (ha!) in the Creative Concern film department. Taking to the sky offers some fascinating new possibilities to capture amazing urban and more natural environments from fresh perspectives. Our team have lots of experience to share on making the best creative use of drone videography as part of your project. If you’d like to explore how drones can add an extra dimension to your video projects, drop us a line.

We worked with The University of Manchester to highlight their transformative IT journey. A connected campus to facilitate research and collaboration across the city and the world.

Personal stories

We have been using video recently to tell some really powerful and personal stories. These films are often being used for internal comms or as part of training courses to really get the message across from a personal and emotive point of view. The world of video is constantly changing but people are still fascinated by other people and their stories.

We worked with Marie Curie UK on this film to explore what grief feels like and how we can help others coping with grief.

Accessible video

A common question we get asked is, how can we make our video content more accessible? Accessibility is super important to us as an agency and we are constantly striving to increase our knowledge and practice when it comes to accessible communications. Adding captions has now become the standard but beyond this we can offer British Sign Language video overlays and more to increase the accessibility of your film content. We can also provide guidance and share best practice from across the sector.

We created this film to communicate the culture through Colleague stories at Trafford & Stockport College Group using both sub-titles and British sign language.

New storytelling film product launching this month!

We are super excited to tell you about Story Stream, our new approach to tell your brand or campaign story through inspiring films, uplifting audio, impactful photography and powerful words. We know how difficult it is to find the time to capture and communicate your positive stories. That’s why we’ve developed Story Stream - a new way to capture the stories and content you need in a creative and cost effective way designed for our multi-channel, multi-format world. The Creative Concern Stream Team is a 3-person story telling team, who spend a day with you onsite capturing content designed to re-energise your marketing and communications. The approach is to generate a whole lot of content for film, photography and written case studies from one intensive day of content gathering. We start each project with a workshop where we explain our approach to storytelling and explore how to bring your brand, campaign or organisational story to life. For a free consultation to explore how Story Stream can support your brand storytelling just drop us a line and we can fix up a call.

Whatever your video plans are for 2025 if your looking for advice, new creative ideas or if you have a brief to share please get in touch!

Monthly Insight Series - Sustainable Transport

It's the second edition of our Monthly Insight Series, and with a number of our team recently returning from delivering the Department for Transport (DfT), United Kingdom Integrated National Transport Strategy roadshow, we feel we're well placed to offer our insights on all things transport related.

Talk Transport
Humans. We’re hardwired to move – not just to get from A to B, but to explore, get around, and meet others along the way. We move to connect. To discover. To feel free.

From trams to bikes to walking festivals, transport has been a focus of our work at Creative Concern since day one. The well-punched Tripper ticket of our transport project roster has included:

Cycling and walking strategies;
Public awareness campaigns on clean air;
Health and safety on high speed rail;
EV charging networks;
Behaviour change campaigns;
Political campaigning on safer school streets; and
Large-scale engagement projects and transport visions.

We’ve had the chance to work with transport authorities, bike hire companies, operating companies, academics and campaigning charities like Sustrans. We’ve made brands, visions and events, and at one point had the very great fortune to design the bee that can now be found on the side of Greater Manchester’s yellow buses.

Most recently we’ve been working directly with the Department for Transport (DfT), United Kingdom on the engagement roadshow for the Integrated National Transport Strategy (INTS). We’ve helped the Department deliver eleven co-design events across England, from the North East to the South West, with hundreds of people taking part and feeding into the strategy.

So what’s at the heart of the conversation on transport? What we’ve learnt, through thousands of conversations and many, many campaign events are a few, standout points that people always come back to:

Yes it’s the journey, but it’s also the destination. A lot of people want transport to be so easy and seamless that it very practically gets you to school, work or local services without you even thinking about it. Just another part of your day.
Experience matters above all. People will talk to you, above all, about feeling safe on an integrated network that’s reliable, accessible and affordable. Whether you’re walking, wheeling, cycling or on the bus, train or tram, these key elements really matter.
Language – make it simple. This is a sector where acronyms run rampant, jargon is impenetrable and where people are quite happy to talk about modes and routes and business cases without referring back to the everyday reasons we choose to move in the first place. Transport needs to relate to our lives otherwise, well, we don’t connect.

We’ve learnt a good deal from our European partners across our DoNotSmile Network too, as many of them are in-country experts on how to change the way people move.

Whatever project we’re focused on delivering, the imperative will always come back to shifts in behaviour and how we can’t cut carbon, clean the air and have healthier and more productive lives if we continue to see the majority of our journeys made by car. Encouraging people out of the driving habit and into something more sustainable is central. Again, we’ve learnt a thing or two along the way:

Make it safe and easy, first.
Don’t attempt behaviour change campaigns if the alternative simply isn’t good enough yet. You’ll create more problems than you solve that way.
Don’t shout, don’t shame – use humour.
The tone of communications on all of this is vital. Nobody is going to engage with you if you’re calling them evil. We need to positively convince, corral and motivate.
Engage, co-design and listen.

We always underpin our projects with a ‘listen and learn’ phase that can be anything from a quick 12-person workshop to a process bringing in thousands. Unless you take people with you, you’ll be on a journey to nowhere.

There are very few topics more likely to fire up a heated debate than transport. Everyone has a view and almost everyone is happy to share that view. That’s why communications and transport are the most natural of companions. When we supported Newcastle and Gateshead on their Clean Air Zone engagement it was a great example of this. A staged and long-running programme of communications was key to ensure that the CAZ was delivered well. One without the other, simply wouldn’t work.

The next stop on the journey? The communications challenge will get all the more critical in the years ahead. As our single largest source of carbon emissions, transport has to change dramatically in the next few years. As the underpinning infrastructure for our homes, our cities, our growth zones and our wider regions, there is very little that isn’t transport-reliant. Sharing the vision of a different kind of transport, understanding how people feel about their everyday journeys, prompting and inspiring change will all be as or more important.

At Creative Concern our transport offer will continue to flourish across three relatively simple areas of work about which we remain passionate and committed:

Engagement and co-design. We love to listen and creatively facilitate a conversation. It builds insight, understanding and a shared sense of destination. Start here.
Strategy, vision and brand. Whether it's a plan for walking or a plea for more cycle lanes, getting a clear narrative and strong story to tell will continue to be vital.
Great campaigns. Transport is funny, emotive and highly visual. There are always great characters involved. It is the very best of creative inspiration for strong, campaigning work.

So if you have a transport challenge you need to tackle, and compelling communications and behaviour change will be key to ensuring your success, then get in touch!

New Monthly Insight Series - Beyond Brand Guidelines

Creative Concern is a creative marketing and communications agency, passionate about using our skills to activate change.

For 22 years we’ve been privileged to work with some incredible organisations. From charities to organisations across the public and private sectors, all our clients are united in their mission to make a difference, effect positive change and make the world a better place through the work they do.

With over two decades of experience, we’ve learned a huge amount. And because we’re passionate about sharing that knowledge, we’re going to be sharing here on our Blog and through our LinkedIn newsletter, addressing a different topic, sector or challenge that our clients’ are facing. Our team will share their insights in the hope it inspires or helps others.

For our first article, meet our Head of Design Liz Newell. Liz draws on her many years of experience working with further and higher education institutions, helping them to realise creative and impactful campaigns, marketing assets and identities, even when they have to stick within the institutions’ tight brand guidelines.

Beyond brand guidelines: Unlocking creativity in education communications

Having a solid established education brand can sometimes feel limiting when it comes to creativity. It’s great to have a brand that is so easily recognised, but there’s a risk that all communications blend together and end up in a ‘safe space’.

Let’s look at it differently.

Having your core brand locked down can be helpful; it means you have the weight of a trusted organisation behind you. But you also have the freedom to use your budget to explore alternative creative solutions. Just remember – it’s about amplifying, not clashing or competing with your brand.

We understand that there are (rightly) some non-negotiables like logo, colours and typefaces, but that’s only part of the picture. There’s always some flexibility when it comes to what makes up your communications.

Here are some ways to keep things creative (all within the parameters of your brand, of course).

The power of an image

The right imagery can really elevate the entire brand – injecting new energy and relevance. There’s potential for a lot of creative flexibility here, so think carefully about the story you want to tell and who you’re telling it to and this will inform the right direction for the imagery. Is it about people or place or both?
With photography, do you want to show yourselves authentically or would it be more effective to take a more experimental and heavily art-directed approach? It may be that a signature illustration is just the thing you need in order to communicate effectively. Imagery can take many forms, so it’s often helpful when you’re trying to visualise topics that are otherwise hard to capture. We’ve illustrated everything from carbon emissions to jacket potatoes. Hit us with your next challenge ;)

Use words as your playground
Creative copywriting can be one of the simplest ways to stand out and distinguish your communications. Whether it’s an injection of humour (everyone loves a good pun, right?) through a series of short snappy key lines or crafting longer form stories or scripts that give people a voice; words matter. Messages that grab – and hold – attention, inspire, amuse and inform. It’s worth spending some time getting these right.

Choose the right output
Just as important as what you say is where you say it. Choosing the right output for your message is critical. Think – who’s your audience and what’s the best way of reaching them. If you know your audience are time-precious academics then a wordy 200-page report is probably not the right approach. It can also be worth getting the intended audience involved in ideas and testing – that way you’ll get a definite steer on what works and where they’re consuming information. Small shifts can have a BIG impact The key to creating fresh, dynamic design solutions is to focus on the areas where flexibility and differentiation are allowed within the brand. This might be elevating the use of a secondary colour palette; how the typography interacts with your imagery; or it might be a surprising design layout that differentiates your brand and connects with your audience. We’re really quick at getting to understand where that flexibility lies and we love bringing a new perspective to existing brands. One of our favourite tactics is exploring how a design aesthetic from a different sector can bring more impactful design solutions to our work with Educational Institutions.

Accessibility
We’ve been working to make our design solutions more accessible for our clients for many years. It’s super important that accessibility is core to the approach from the start. For us, more accessible and more creative communications can go hand in hand. It’s all about being audience aware and agreeing the approach early on in the design process.

Get in touch!
As you can see, we love working with educational institutions, so if you're from a college or university and have got plans afoot, drop us an email at info@creativeconcern.com and we'll happily jump on a call for a (free) 30 minute surgery to help you plan.

Tips from our team... keeping remote working creative

More from Faith this week on keeping creative when your team are all working remotely...

"We've learned that remote, or even blended working patterns don't have to mean the loss of co-creation, team collaborations or creative projects. In fact, there's opportunities to do even more to keep your communications creative, relevant and impactful.

Think sprint not marathon; find new platforms; bust the brief…

These are just three of the top tips for keeping teams creative during the pandemic restrictions that we shared at a Charity Comms conference a few months ago. If you're interested in hearing what other charities told us about their biggest challenges, join the recording of our presentation. If join the recording to dive straight into top tips to run great remote creative ideas sessions.

Inject some new thinking

We've set up a (slightly silly, definitely useful) new idea prompt generator on our website. If you're stuck and need a quick injection of something fresh, take a look and scroll to the bottom where you'll find our 'New thing please' prompt generator right there!

Don't rule anything out

In spite of current restrictions, we've been helping clients to run incredibly sucessful, engaging events, running focus groups and continuing with audience testing for our digital and campaign work, making new films for clients and running Covid-safe photo shoots. There really is no need to feel that you have to put any of your charity's plan on hold - now more than ever is the time to increase your presence, engage your supporters and wider audiences and express exactly who you are as an organisation.

We're running Zoom sessions right now to help clients navigate all of these issues and many more – so if you think we can help (even if its just to assess your current site, without firm plans to make radical changes) get in touch.

Libraries Connected

In June 2018, Society of Chief Librarians (SCL) announced it would now be known as Libraries Connected, and unveiled an exciting new visual identity.

We worked with SCL on this branding project since Autumn 2017, following a competitive pitch, and were excited to see our new brand launched at the organisation’s two-day conference in June.

SCL is a membership organisation made up of every library service in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, that seeks to advocate for public library services and share best practice. After a successful bid to Arts Council England, SCL entered into a new chapter in its history: to become a sector support organisation for public libraries, strengthening the sector by providing best practice, training and events, promoting the value of libraries and brokering beneficial partnerships with third parties.

Getting the name right for this organisation was critical, especially given the number of different stakeholders involved. The organisation wanted to be ambitious with its naming choices, but also wanted a name that would be easily understood at-a-glance – something that SCL no longer achieved.

We began with a period of extensive research to better understand the crowded private and public library brandscape in the UK and consultation to interrogate motivations and barriers with diverse stakeholders: the transformation steering group, regional chairs and members, former presidents, and key influencers and partners.

Once a shortlist of names was created, we embarked on a further period of testing and consultation to decide on the correct route. Libraries Connected proved a clear winner and once this was confirmed, the visual identity development began.

We needed an identity to invoke the heritage of the organisation and its solid, well respected reputation, but also one that speaks loud and clear in a contemporary context.

Since the brand has been approved, we have been working on a suite of marketing and communications collateral, stationery and the design and build of the organisation’s website: www.librariesconnected.org.uk

Student mentoring

In 2017 we started delivering our inaugural mentorship scheme with graphic design students from Manchester Met. Working with six third year students, we have been helping them develop their design skills ready for when they graduate.

Each student has been paired up with a designer at Creative Concern who – through one-to-one sessions – has critiqued their work, providing advice on how to develop it.

The scheme aims to help these students get a more realistic and practical idea of what a career in graphic design will be like and what will be expected of them when they start applying for roles after graduating.

We’ll be working with this group of students until May 2018 and we’re looking forward to developing the scheme further for a new set of students in September.

Lakes Ignite

We are really excited to be working once again on the Lake Culture programme to promote Lakes Ignite 2018. We're supporting the festival with digital, social media, PR, content and creative to showcase this unique collection of contemporary art in Cumbria.

Lakes Ignite launched in January and runs through to July, with six specially commissioned artworks. Each installation celebrates the Lake District’s UNESCO World Heritage status, providing a different perspective on the cultural landscape of the Lakes.

Presenting a broad spectrum of media including metal, wood, mirrors, inflatables, performance and virtual reality, the artworks are free to visit and explore at six venues.

Inspiring stories

You Can Foster is a major project that’s been very close to our hearts for the last year, and one that’s involved almost every aspect of Creative Concern’s multi-disciplinary team from PR and social through to design and digital.

The 2017/18 campaign has also seen us working right across the North of England hosting events, working with media (TV, online, radio and good old print), working with foster carers and young people in their care, heads of City Councils, even the good people of Knowlsey Safari Park, culminating in a fantastic high-profile competition – Inspiring Stories – that reached out to young people in foster care to write personal short stories that were judged by our all-star panel of writers.

We’ve worked with our friends – the performance poet Tony Walsh and Frank Cottrell-Boyce – and some of the UK’s most gifted children’s authors to encourage even more foster carers to come forward and sign up to their local authority to change a young person’s life by fostering. The project has involved working with councils across Yorkshire, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Cheshire East and Merseyside.

As a unique one-off prize each category’s winning story has been recreated by the Creative Concern design team to have its own imaginary book cover.

Find out more at www.youcanfoster.org

Arriving happy in Merseyside

In January 2018, we helped Liverpool City Region transport chiefs launch a powerful new campaign to promote the health and wellbeing benefits of walking and cycling to work on so-called ‘Blue Monday’, the UK’s ‘saddest day’ of the year.

The launch of the first ‘Arrive Happy’ campaign took place at the vibrant Avenue HQ in Liverpool. Walkers, cycling groups, mental health campaigners, health experts and local businesses were on hand to explain how walking or cycling for just 10 minutes a day as part of your commute to work, can help to lift your mood, give you more energy, reduce your stress levels and help you sleep better, too.

Many of the campaign's ambassadors – who can seen in the advertising campaign across the region for months to come – were on hand to talk to fellow commuters about the small changes they have made to their daily commutes to improve their health and wellbeing and share their top tips for getting started.

Arrive Happy, backed by Merseytravel, runs through to July 2018.

Getting Greater Manchester moving

Successful cities have something in common: a happy, healthy population that makes short trips on foot or by bike. When Chris Boardman MBE was made Greater Manchester’s first Cycling and Walking Commissioner, he made this his priority: to double and then double again our region’s cycling rates and make walking the natural choice for as many short trips as possible. Made to Move is Chris Boardman’s report to the Mayor, Andy Burnham, setting out exactly how he intends to achieve this and calls for £1.5 billion investment over a decade to make it possible.

We worked closely with Chris and his team to write, edit and design the report. We also commissioned photographer Jonathan Keenan to capture perfect shots that reflect the report’s ambitions and aspirations.

Photo credit: @mayorofGM