EllisJames Creative

"SLEIGH MY NAME, SLEIGH MY NAME!" 🍾✨ The best caption to accompany the picture of 🎅 Santa in front of his computer wins a bottle of bubbly to bring on the festive cheer! 🥂🍾 To enter: 1. Follow EllisJames Creative 2. See the image of Santa on slide 3 below 3. Comment with your best caption 4. Share this post - 'tis the season of giving after all   Terms and conditions: The competition is open to individuals aged 18 years and over. Entry closes midnight Wednesday 18th December and the winner will be announced on our feed. The prize will be delivered to the winner’s provided address. Delivery is only available to residents in the UK. This giveaway is not sponsored, endorsed, administered by or associated with Linkedin. Entrants release EllisJames of all responsibility and agree to Linkedin’s terms of use.

Your brand is the realisation and expression of inherent truths about you and your organisation. The realisation is not ‘made up’ or invented, but the expression of it does require orchestration and curation in order for audiences to see your brand through the fog of other brands competing for their attention. People buy into ‘brand’ before they buy from a ‘business’. Brand is your vehicle to deliver your business right to the hearts and minds of your target audience. If you have growth in mind, brand is your accelerator. #Brand #Growth #Founders

Si Ellis reports on a morning well-spent at Future Space - Bristol...

Congratulations to Si Ellis on his Panto win yesterday! https://lnkd.in/exwjp8xB

You might be unique but are you relevant? 🎯 Si Ellis writes: “We bought a new tent earlier this year. It’s better made and better designed than the last tent we had. It’s got ‘air beams’ - you pump it up. I like it. But if it came with instructions for how to get the damn thing back in the bag, I’d love it.” It’s easy to throw resources at trying to create ‘unique’ while overlooking the fact that most of us will happily take a version of what we’ve got that’s simply easier to live with. If you’re looking for ways to make your value proposition more relevant than unique, #DesignThinking is a brilliant place to start. It’s inherently human-centred, deriving powerful insights on customer expectations and behaviour by working with human nature, rather than despite it. Don’t understand Design Thinking? No problem, because we do! Drop Si Ellis a line today to discuss how EllisJames Creative can transform your customer engagement with a more relevant value proposition. And tap ‘Follow’ for more brand insights 💎 #HumanCenteredDesign #CustomerEngagement #BrandStrategy

Businesses feel more confident in engaging 'professional' services than 'creative', despite the statistics that bear out the enormous ROI possible through the integration of design methodologies and skills into your organisation. Why?

Automation may streamline your business, but is it eroding your brand? 🤖 Automate your business, not your brand: In the right place, automation can definitely enhance your customers’ experience of your brand. In other instances, though, it can sterilise it – turning into a functional exchange. At that point, you’ve lost a key point of differentiation and with it a reason for customers to stay with you. Has a brand’s automation ever made you feel like just another number? #HumanTouch #BrandExperience #AutomationVsAuthenticity

Brand owners can’t always see their own brands for what they really are. 🔍 Si Ellis writes “Whenever I see a photo of myself, I say to my wife: “Please, tell me I don’t actually look like that.” In truth, I do and I don’t. It’s what I look like but it’s not how the world sees me. Where I see a crooked nose and uneven eyes I am reassured (bless her) that others see a more holistic version. Without that grounded, more pragmatic perspective I could end up fixating on inconsequential characteristics and missing the things about me that people really like.” This is absolutely true for brands, too. Our Discovery Workshops consistently uncover hidden gems about a business that brand owners take for granted or simply don’t recognise as being part of a compelling and differentiated proposition. While they’re apologising for a wonky nose, we’re celebrating their customer care. You may not be able to see your brand’s ‘best side’ - but we certainly can. If you’re not investing in your brand, you’re choking your business. Drop Si Ellis a line today to discuss how a Discovery Workshop with EllisJames Creative can transform your B2B brand development, and tap ‘Follow’ for more brand insights.

Five facts about Halloween.... 🎃 Halloween's origins are with the Celt festival of Samhain (or Oidhche Shamhna (Vigil of Saman)) in ancient Britain and Ireland, and was essentially a Druidic New Year's Eve celebration. Their equivalent of 1 November was seen as the first day of Winter, when their herds were returned from pasture. During the festival, it was believed the souls of the dead would return to visit their homes, and those that had died during the year would 'cross over' into the otherworld. People lit bonfires to ward off evil spirits, and would sometimes wear masks to avoid being recognised by the ghosts or returned souls. 🎃 In the 8th century, All Saints' Day was moved from its original date of 13 May to 1 November - a tactic by the church to replace the pagan holiday with a christian alternative. The night before All Saint's Day became a holy - or hallowed - eve, or 'Hallow E'en'. 🎃 Some Halloween traditions such as roasting nuts and apple-bobbing (or apple-ducking) are thought to actually be derived from the Roman festival giving thanks to the god of the harvest, Pomona, which were also celebrated around the same period in the Roman calendar and brought to Britain and Ireland as the Roman empire expanded. 🎃 Jack-o'-lanterns were originally carried by 'guisers' - people disguising themselves from evil spirits - to add to their protection. With their gargoyle-like faces, Jack-o'-lanterns represented souls who have been denied entry into either heaven or hell. Jack-o'-lanterns were originally made from turnips in Britain and and Ireland. Early immigrants to North American chose instead to use the native pumpkin - which was both larger and easier to carve. Pumpkin carving was more generally associated with the wider harvest period though, and didn't really become directly connected with Halloween until well into the 19th century. 🎃 Trick-or-treating has its roots in the medieval Christian practice of 'mumming'. 'Soulers' would go from door-to-door, begging the rich for 'soul cakes' - offerings such as cake, fruit and money - in exchange for prayers for their souls. In summary, Halloween is a car crash of a festival that remembers the dead while hiding from evil spirits; marks the start of winter while also giving thanks for the harvest; and facilitates an accelerated version of trickle-down economics by threatening the properties of the rich with eggs and toilet paper. #Halloween

Are you walking the walk, or just talking the talk? 💬 People won’t remember what you say you are, but they’ll never forget how you make them feel. Your actions, not your words, shape the way people perceive your brand, and that includes your team—the ones who bring your brand to life every day. If you’re not prepared to exemplify your brand, why should they? Your brand isn’t something you can switch on and off. It lives in the minds of those it impacts, not just those who created it. What are you doing to ensure your brand’s actions speak louder than its words? #BrandLeadership #AuthenticBranding #LeadByExample