With members drawn from across each UK nation and region, as well as the full spectrum of creative sub-sectors, the UK Council plays a vital role in determining and shaping the Creative UK Group’s impact priorities, steering policy positions and sharing crucial insights from across industry and the UK.

Caroline Norbury MBE, CEO, Creative UK Group, said: “We are very excited to announce the newly appointed members of our UK Council, whose breadth of experience and expertise will be enormously valuable in driving our mission to ensure the best possible conditions for the growth and success of the creative industries. Representing freelancers, practitioners and businesses both big and small, they reflect the diversity and creativity that is central to what makes our sector thrive.” 

Deborah Dawton, Chief Executive, Design Business Association says: “I’m delighted to be joining the UK Council of the Creative UK Group, and to be working with like-minded organisations and individuals to further the interests of our amazing creative industries which deliver so much to the UK economy and society at large.

If we want to remain a nation that continues to lead the world in creativity, then we need to champion the sector and attract the very best talent into it. Creativity isn’t only about encouraging talented individuals to become the world’s best product designers, musicians, artists, games designers, fashion designers, architects, film makers, interior designers, app designers, advertisers, theatre set designers, photographers, and many more; it’s also about attracting passionate individuals into the support roles which enable designers and creators to flourish.

Awakening a desire in all of us to consume creativity is also fundamental. Switching off has perhaps never been more important to everyone than it is now. Imagine that moment without music, without theatre, without paintings, without making, without bars and restaurants, without apps, without websites, without all your favourite products, without all the things which have been created to fill that space – depressing isn’t it!

We’re at a crossroads in the UK. And it’s imperative we take the right path to ensure the best possible conditions for the growth and successes of the creative industries. That’s the mission for Creative UK Group and I look forward to working with all the UK Council members to help drive positive change through action to awaken creativity for all.”

Browse all the UK Council Members here. 

Creative England and the Creative Industries Federation have come together to form the Creative UK Group. The two companies merged in 2020, making a greater difference together than would be possible alone. They work to connect, support, champion and invest in the UK’s world-leading Creative Industries. 

The DBA’s Twenty/Twenty mentoring programme pairs rising industry leaders with established design pioneers for a 12-month one-to-one mentoring relationship.

Here, two previous mentees – 2LK’s Head of People Rob Short and Sail Creative’s Founder Mandy Barker – discuss their experiences of the programme.

Deciding to participate:

Rob: “I was moving into a new role at 2LK, quite different from what I’d done there in the past. I felt that Twenty/Twenty would provide much-needed guidance on how to build my knowledge, expertise and confidence to deliver on my own expectations, as well as those of my colleagues.”

Growing confidence:

Rob: “After quickly establishing trust, my mentor and I immediately had honest and open conversations. My mentor listened (and understood) my challenges, and together we worked on new skills and techniques to help me develop confidence in those areas where I’d previously lacked knowledge or experience. This process immediately benefitted my new position – I was able to have challenging conversations that I might have previously shied away from.” 

Mandy: “Twenty/Twenty mentoring helped grow my confidence tenfold. I received robust, solid advice from my mentor and found it invaluable how he shared his experiences. He didn’t tell me ‘what to do’ but provided an open forum to discuss potential scenarios and solutions. I have now got better boundaries around valuing what we deliver with confidence, and I am stronger at negotiating and saying no.”

The right match:

Mandy: “DBA Twenty/Twenty matched me with a mentor who complimented my skills and expertise. His experience, knowledge and openness helped me to laser focus in on decisions with the team, workload and future visioning. We talked through bigger picture thinking, down to the detail around numbers, profit and turnover and I shadowed his Glasgow studio for a day, meeting the strategy team to see how they did things. It was reassuring to see the quality of work for an established studio was similar to that of Sail, and that confirmed we were on the right track.”

Positive influence:

Rob: “The way that I work has definitely been positively influenced. I feel more personally invested in and informed about those areas that affect the day-to-day running of an agency. This has over time led to other team members, at all levels of the business, relying on me to have a more informed point of view.”

Mandy: “My mentor was a strong cheerleader and advocate of what I had already achieved and where Sail was going – something I often forget to celebrate – and his encouragement led to us entering (and winning in) the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards.

I would whole heartedly recommend the experience not only from a personal development standpoint, but also in terms of return on investment to the business. Sail’s turnover increased 31% during the Covid-19 pandemic and my growth in confidence through the mentoring was definitely a factor towards this.”

Getting the most out of the process:

Rob: “Participating in Twenty/Twenty was probably the most important year in my career to date. This is a two-way commitment, but I think that the more mentees put in to the process, the more they will get out of it. Despite geographical challenges, my mentor and I met every six weeks with a clear agenda, in part laid out by the DBA, but also dictated by my own needs and desires.

My mentor improved my thinking and provided me clear pathways to pursue my strengths and to embrace (and then develop) my weaknesses. Our relationship grew to such an extent that it still exists to this day, well beyond the ‘official’ year-long programme. 

My mentor’s impartial help continues to be invaluable – whether it’s to bounce ideas, seek advice or just have someone see the bigger picture without any emotional attachment.”

The DBA’s Board of Directors is fundamental to the work we do. Elected from the membership, our Directors possess diverse experience of bringing design to the strategy-setting c-suite of business. They work closely with the DBA’s management team to develop the strategy and frameworks by which we support the sector to drive design ever further up the agenda in business and government, and together as an industry can build universal confidence in design investment.

Francesca Bayliss, Head of Commercial and HR, Bulletproof

Pernilla Johansson, Chief Design Officer, Electrolux

The DBA Board of Directors is Chaired by Jeremy Lindley, Global Design Director at Diageo.  

After many years of service, the Board Directors stepping down this year are Royal Philips’ Sean Carney, 999 Design’s Aileen Geraghty, Kinneir Dufort’s Merle Hall and BrandOpus’ Nir Wegrzyn. The DBA would like to offer our heartfelt thanks and appreciation to Sean, Aileen, Merle and Nir for their commitment to, and support of the DBA over the years.

Further details about DBA Directors, other members of the Board and its role, can be found here.

The entry pack

If you’re thinking of entering the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards, the first thing you’ll need to do is thoroughly read the 2022 Entry Pack. It contains all the information you’ll need to write your entry, including clear guidance on what the judges are looking for, suggested metrics for proving design effectiveness, how to isolate and prove the impact of your work and how to structure your case.

It also details the crucial rules for entry and details all the practical steps you need to take to enter.

Read the entry pack.

Allow time

Allow time to research, compile and evaluate data for your entry prior to writing, and then time to draft your case study, review it, and then tighten it up before submitting.

The DBA team is here to support you through the entry process, from thinking through what might make a good case to submit, to discussing working drafts. We run draft entry consultations until a week before the final deadline, however to encourage you to take advantage of the support we offer and begin writing your cases in good time, there are discounts available on your entry fee if you complete a draft entry consultation* before 1 or 15 October 2021.

Early entry scoping

If you’d like to chat about a case that you think might make a good entry before you embark on writing it up, or you would like to talk more generally about which of your projects to enter, you can book a meeting or call with one of the DBA team.

Scoping meetings are free for DBA members, £125+VAT for non-members.

*Draft entry consultations

If you’d like to talk about your entry in detail and have a draft reviewed, you can book a 30-minute consultation with one of the team. Consultations can be booked once you pay for your entry online.

A consultation with one of the team can help with the following elements of your entry:

• Ensuring your project is suitable.
• Ensuring your entry is on the right track and that you have structured the case well.
• Flagging any areas that are missing or weak and ensuring that you have given enough attention to all the required areas.
• Suggestions around contextual information, how to measure results and other influencing factors to explore. (Please note that we will not be able to do more than provide helpful tips, suggestions and where possible, examples. The onus is on the entrant to have already ensured that they have the most relevant and convincing evidence in their case.)
• Answering any questions about the entry process.

What we can’t help with:

• Feedback on previous entries.
• How the judges might award your case / the likely outcomes of judging.

In order for us to review a draft entry, it must contain substantial information within each of the required sections as described on pages 15 and 16 of the entry pack, otherwise we will be unable to provide you with feedback and you will be unable to claim your discount.

To book a call please email awards@dba.org.uk and we will accommodate you on a first come first served basis.

The second virtual DBA Design Effectiveness Awards’ winners announcement was held live online, on Tuesday 15 June. Spanning work for global brands and high street banks to family businesses, sports clubs, start-ups and charities, 28 agency and client partnerships discovered if they’d won Gold, Silver or Bronze awards.

“From digital platforms to consumer products, transformative branding to customer service, the depth of impact and scale of reward achieved by the DBA Design Effectiveness Award winners demonstrate the relevance of design to every aspect of business. In the current context there are more opportunities than ever for business and government to capitalise upon design’s capabilities to drive change, and this year’s winners resoundingly prove who dares, wins.” Deborah Dawton, DBA Chief Executive

While all of the winning projects prove the powerful impact of design on business success, the judges found ten particularly outstanding, awarding them coveted Gold awards. The Gold winners are:

Sodexo with Without for Modern Recipe - Gold and Grand Prix

Cafédirect with Family (and friends) for Cafédirect Branding & Packaging - Gold

Potts’ Partnership with This Way Up for Potts’ Packaging - Gold

Fourth Wave Wine with Denomination for Tread Softly - Gold

BrewDog Distilling Company with LOVE. for LoneWolf Gin Re-brand - Gold

Lloyds Banking Group with M Worldwide for The Bank of Scotland Flagship Branch - Gold

Soapsmith with Bulletproof for Soapsmith Repositioning & Rebrand - Gold

Princes with BrandOpus for Princes Branding - Gold

Whitby Seafoods with BrandOpus for Whitby Seafoods Branding - Gold

Lakrids by Bülow with Pearlfisher for Lakrids by Bülow Rebrand - Gold

As well as the Golds, all of the Silver and Bronze award winners also demonstrate the integral role design plays in transforming businesses, improving societies and enhancing people’s lives. Among them Modern Human’s redesign of Tesco Bank’s customer services operation, Thursday’s new customer-focused website for Castle Fine Art, DCA’s product design for Reckitt’s Air Wick Essential Mist vaporiser and HMA’s digital web platform and app for DigiBete which saw it become the primary paediatric diabetes resource signposted on NHS.uk and has led to it saving the NHS £442,370 per annum by reducing the need for clinical contact.

Established in 1989, the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards recognise and celebrate the compelling influence of design on the success of a project or business. Crucially, the awards are evidence-based, the impact of design measured and verified.

The Awards are entered jointly by client and designer and winning projects have been rigorously judged by business leaders from organisations such as Costa Coffee, Electrolux, eve sleep, FT, Harley Davidson, Puma, TfL and Virgin Atlantic in three rounds of judging. The Grand Prix award was selected by a special judging panel which included Diageo’s CEO Ivan Menezes and businesswoman and entrepreneur Deborah Meaden.

DBA Design Effectiveness Awards 2021 winners:

DBA Design Effectiveness Awards 2022

Modern Recipe | Sodexo and Without | Grand Prix and Gold

Castle Fine Art Website | Castle Fine Art and Thursday | Bronze

DigiBete Digital Platform | DigiBete and HMA | Silver

We Care Too Campaign | Newcastle Carers and Sail Creative | Bronze

Oxfam Superstore | Oxfam and One Fine Day Design | Bronze

DBA Design Effectiveness Awards 2022

Everyone has their favourite quote about the irrefutable impact of PR & communications on growth and reputation, but if ever there was a moment to capitalise on sharing with your target audiences who you are as a business, what you do and why it matters, now is the time.

Since 2013, TDC has had the privilege of representing a diverse range of clients sitting at the confluence of technology, design and creative across a rich array of innovative and category-leading projects and campaigns. While every business is different and has its own unique set of communications needs, we’ve come across some common challenges that our clients and their peers often face when seeking to raise their profile – whether embarking on PR and communications for the very first time or ramping it up as a fundamental component of the business development process.

These eight pointers are designed to help steer businesses who are thinking about engaging in PR services or who want to inject new life and targeted rigour into their existing communications activity:

1) Secure leadership alignment

Your chosen PR partner will have in their armoury a wide mix of communications tools and tactics to potentially employ in order to best support your particular needs. The primary objective of your PR team will be to serve these needs in the best possible way and to demonstrate ongoing value.

However, before the blend of tactics and activity is confirmed as part of a targeted communications strategy, it is first mission critical to have internal buy in and alignment across your senior team as to the purpose, value, focus and desired outcome of any external communications outreach. If appropriate, your PR partner will be able to facilitate these discussions so a consensus can be reached.

Achieving this internal alignment right from the outset ensures the efficient use of your investment in external communications with 100% of activity from this point on focused primarily on delivery and results.

2) Set KPIs from the get-go

Another critical part of ‘set up’ is agreeing KPIs by which to track agreed activity on an ongoing basis – without them, you’re flying blind and not fully optimising your investment in PR support. Ideally these will be for the duration of any engagement or project but at the very least on a month-by-month basis.

Solid KPIs give all parties a clear and measurable framework which allows for ongoing calibration of strategy and activity.

Depending on need, common activities captured by KPIs would include a mix of press releases, thought leadership pieces, LinkedIn content, press comment inclusions, media briefings and speaking opportunities.

3) Get positioning clear from the start

One of the most common challenges is nailing down positioning. This is understandable as often the main visionaries or creative leaders of companies are so heavily involved in driving the business they don’t have the time, or headspace, to take a step back and work out how best to position what they do. The crucial challenge is underpinning a PR strategy with a clear and succinct positioning that truly reflects you and what you do.

As outsiders to your business, but astute communicators, PR professionals can be the missing part of the puzzle for companies struggling to figure out how best to talk about themselves. Often, one of the first pieces of work we often do with clients is to help them clarify what makes them unique and ensure that is communicated on their website and social media, before building a PR strategy around that. As ever, the simpler, more concise and jargon-free your positioning is, the better. 

4) Connect communications and business development

Not surprisingly, the majority of businesses making smart use of communications are doing so to grow their influence and attract new business. We’ve seen time and again with our clients, how an approach to a new prospect supported by a new, relevant piece of media coverage on your company, can be a very powerful sell. 

Especially in times like these, when budgets are likely under more scrutiny as a consequence of the covid pandemic, it’s absolutely essential PR and business development strategies work hand-in-hand and the respective teams support each other with leads and content. The list of target sectors, the types of clients/projects you want to win, and your positioning to new clients should mirror the messages that your PR partners are using when they talk about you to the media.

5) Let ALL your team shine and unlock the ‘shared brain’

You’ve hired your team members for a reason (if not, ask yourself why?) – let people know and celebrate it. One of the things that makes your company truly unique is the team you’ve built and the individual viewpoints and specialities they all bring to the table. Whether it’s creative, strategic, business, marketing or design acumen, insights from the whole team can play an important part in the company’s outward profile. Any company unconsciously (or consciously!) stunting the voices, profile and autonomy of key team members risks coming across as tone deaf to current times, which results in only limited successes at best.

It’s our job to get to know the key players – to help unlock great thoughts from great minds – and turn them into engaging content. Working out your team’s different areas of expertise and specialisms also allows your PR partner to be more proactive about seeking out a wide range of relevant media comment opportunities for your company. This approach helps to create a 360-degree impression of your company and helps position your core team as experts and thought leaders in their field.

6) Acquaint yourself with today's media landscape

When we first start working with new clients, their minds are often set on securing a big feature about themselves in a world-leading media title as soon as possible. We love being challenged and placing features in national/international media is an important part of our work. But, with today’s rapidly changing media landscape, there are so many other platforms and methods available for companies to tell their stories. And sometimes, depending on the story, it can be the smaller-scale media titles or the individual bloggers that end up having the most reach. Ideally, media coverage for your company should be spread across a range of platforms and publications. Asking your PR partner to help get you acquainted with the full range of opportunities and platforms is an excellent way to ensure you’re not missing any opportunities. 

7) Make the right connections

A successful communications strategy is not only about carving out a niche to allow your company to stand apart from competitors. It’s also about making the right connections with third parties to build your positioning, audience, reach and authority in your sector. This could be collaborating with a non-competitive company on a self-directed project for mutual benefit; partnering with an industry event to host or participate in a panel discussion; working with an educational institution to set a student brief; hosting your own event with the support of a media partner or relevant brand; seeking opportunities to judge industry awards. The list is infinite and a crucial part of your PR partner’s work should be exploring the most relevant connections they can make in order for you to boost your business. 

8) Lean on your partnership for optimum results

Finally, an important reminder to always consider your engagement with any PR & communications service as a key strategic partnership. The best way to make the most of it is to plug your chosen PR partners in as an extension of your team.

You will have chosen your PR partner for their expertise, insight, connections and perspectives so make the most of this by keeping them regularly updated on ‘big picture’ company strategy, news and any unexpected internal challenges that may arise from time to time. Beyond business-as-usual activity, an external objective perspective from a team familiar with your type of business can often prove invaluable for planning best next steps.

If the foundations of the partnership are laid down well, then there is no end to the possibilities of what strategic communications can help you achieve for your business. 

About Tim Duncan