distillery shortlisted for Campaign Best Places to Work 2023

Shortlisted

Shortlisted

🎉 We're chuffed to announce that we have been shortlisted for Campaign Magazine UK Best Places to Work 2023! 🎉

At distillery we enable our distillers globally to make their mark. We're very proud of our culture, something we have worked incredibly hard to build and grow over the years. Some of the initiatives we have undertaken to build our culture include:


👯 All distillers receive 121 coaching with our partners at Common Good Company supporting them to make their mark
🫶 Putting DEI at the heart of the organisation with initiatives such as studio d.
💗 Regular pulse survey’s to understand the changing needs of our team
📚 A training budget for every distiller so they can attend courses and events to continue their learning
🧘‍♂️ Wellness budgets plus events such yoga with Cher Brighton and mindfulness sessions with Nina Stephenson-Camps
🫴 Giving back each year to charities and organisations we care about such as Back Up, The Diversity Org, Make-A-Wish® UK & UN Women
💻 Continuing to work in a hybrid and flexible way
🥂 And of course plenty of social events, lunches, travel & more

See what Beki Gard, our Managing Directer had to say about the exciting news:

I am so chuffed to bits to have received this recognition. distillery is nothing without its people. I’m just so incredibly proud of the team and the impact they make daily… Their underlying curiosity, care and craft never lets up. Without our team, distillery wouldn’t be working with the amazing clients we have and producing the great content we make. So to all distillers, thank you and continue being you!

If you’d like to see how we can make a positive impact for your brand, get in touch.

#RamadanFastingArchives

Our Instagram page has recently undergone an initiative to remove some of our most scrumptious and bite-sized posts. studio d. conceived this idea as a means of exhibiting solidarity with individuals who are fasting during the sacred month of Ramadan. 🌙

Our aim is to contribute to the nourishment of those less fortunate who may not have the means to break their fasts. We hope to play our part during this period of prayer.

1. To participate in the #RamadanFastingArchive challenge, head over to our Instagram @wearedistillery and archive 1 one of your posts displaying food or drink from 2022 onwards.

2. Share the post on your story and tag us @wearedistillery! Your account has to be publicly visible.

3. With every repost, we would be donating £1 to the World Food Programme.

If you’d like to see how we can make a positive impact for your brand, get in touch.

How we helped the DEC with the #TurkeySyriaAppeal

We’ve been working around the clock to help the DEC launch the #TurkeySyriaAppeal. An incredible £100 million has been raised in 2 weeks for this heartbreaking campaign.

We wanted to give a massive shoutout to our producers Alexia, Katerina and Hannah, who worked tirelessly to deliver this campaign.

You can see the assets in action here on Tottenham Court Road, on The Trending screens and on The Arcade screens:

In less than 12 hours we created a 33 seconds video and a parallax loop of the hero image, to tell the story of the affected people in Turkey and Syria and explain how the public's donations are helping DEC to provide food, shelter, blankets and medical assistance to the affected population.
Lex, Producer, distillery

Well done to everyone involved:
Executive producer: Alexia Merrington
Lead Producer: Katerina Sfaellou
Producer: Hannah Burns
Designer:  Geoff Li
Motion Designer: Phoebe King

It’s been a pleasure to help on this campaign and contribute to helping those affected by the devastating earthquakes. There is still time to donate and show your support by clicking the button below.

If you’d like to find out how we can make a positive impact for your brand, get in touch.

We created an AI-powered children's storybook about Chinese New Year 2023

We are excited to announce the launch of our new AI-powered storybook, designed to celebrate the Year of the Rabbit. This beautiful story has been written, illustrated, and narrated through the use of cutting-edge AI platforms, making it an unforgettable journey.

• We used ChatCPT AI: To create the script

• We used MidJourney AI : To create the visuals

• We used Murbert AI: To compose the music

• We used Narakeet AI: To narrate the story

• We used Voundry AI: To distribute the content to our clients

Our storybook is a unique blend of technology and tradition, bringing the magic of the Chinese New Year to life like never before. The illustrations are stunning and the narration is captivating, taking you on an immersive journey through the customs and celebrations of the Chinese New Year.

Whilst this may officially be the year of the rabbit, we believe it will also be the year of AI - with so much conversation around ChatGPT, we wanted to leverage the hype, and blend it together with other AI platforms on the rise. This is innovative approach to something we’ll be seeing plenty of adoption on this year. 

The Year of the Rabbit is believed to bring good luck, prosperity, and peace, and our storybook is the perfect way to start the new year off on the right foot.

Giving Back: The impact of your vote

Happy New Year! 🎉

Before the holidays, we asked you to vote from our 5 shortlisted charities.

Here’s how your choice is making a difference.

Thank you so much to everyone who voted.

We can’t wait to continue creating a positive impact on the world and for all of our clients in 2023. We’d love to connect with you and grab a coffee!

Steve & the distillery team.

Giving back this holiday season

This holiday season, we're giving the money we'd usually spend on gifts to support five charities close to our hearts.

We’d love it if you’d select one of these five for us to donate to on your behalf.

🎄❄️🎄❄️

Wishing you a peaceful holiday season and a happy new year!

Steve & the distillery team

Our top picks of this year’s Christmas ads

Asda 

Agency: Havas London

This year, Asda did something new and used footage of Will Ferrell from the much-loved Christmas film Elf - adding ‘Buddy the elf’ as Asda’s newest festive employee. This ad is a favourite because of its humour and the use of a globally recognised and loved character. The creativity of incorporating existing elf footage into a script that worked for Asda is particularly impressive, too.

You can see how the ad was created here:

Aldi

Agency: McCann UK

Aldi also referenced a well-known Christmas movie, Home Alone, with Kevin the carrot playing Kevin McCallister, the child who was left behind at Christmas. Just like in the movie, Kevin the carrot has intruders at home that he has to stop and his family make it back to him just before Christmas Day. It’s filled with puns, including a “Peasy Jet” plane. The teaser for the ad also contained some amusing references to the World Cup - with food characters like “Marrowdona” and “Macarooney” passing the ball to each other.

John Lewis

Agency: adam&eveDDB

This heartfelt ad shows a man trying to learn skateboarding, but constantly getting injured. What we don’t learn until the end is that the reason for all this hard work is that he’s picking up the skill to have something in common with the child he is about to adopt from foster care. This ad highlights those who will be spending Christmas in care. John Lewis is donating 25% of profits from sales of its Lewis Bear Collection to their Building Happier Futures fund, which supports young people in care.

Disney

Disney released “The Gift” - the final part of its  #Fromourfamilytoyours series, which shows perspectives from a different generation each time. This final part features a new addition to the family. The story is heartwarming and Disney are particularly strong at portraying and conveying emotion in their characters. By the end of the series, Disney will have donated $4 million to their partner, Make-A-Wish.

McDonald’s

Agency: Leo Burnett

The story is about a young boy who writes an extensive Christmas list. He takes it to town with him, but when it blows out of his hands, he is only able to save one square of the list. He is visibly upset, so his parents take him to McDonald’s to cheer him up. It is later revealed that the square he saved contained a drawing of him and his parents - highlighting the importance of family and memories at Christmas, over material things.

What all of these demonstrate is the value of playing on humour and nostalgia, as well as introducing great storytelling to a universally relatable message: at Christmas, love is what matters most. 

If you’d like to find out how we can make a positive impact for your brand, get in touch.

4 thoughts from Oktane22

Last week, our US team members attended Okta’s identity conference, Oktane22, to learn more about Okta’s Identity First strategy, upcoming trends in the identity security space, and the importance of customer connections. We were excited to be able to attend IRL for Oktane’s 10th anniversary event.


From hearing about Serena Williams’s goals to drive more diversity in venture capital funding to live demos showcasing groundbreaking identity and security features, the three days were filled with memorable moments and learnings. We’ve summarized four key takeaways that we plan to bring back into our day-to-day work at distillery.

Tackling the "boundaryless world" 

It’s been shown that people are the weakest link in security, but this shouldn't mean we need to slow business down with hurdles such as endless passwords that need updating every two weeks. The time spent logging in or tracking passwords could instead be focused on core business needs, providing value to customers. Oktane showcased the potential unleashed by creating a seamless yet secure experience that allows employees to reach all their work, on all devices, and from all places.


At distillery, we promote employee flexibility, with remote working and teams spread across cities, countries, and continents. As we continue to grow, we welcome these insights on how to empower our teams to work more efficiently and securely.

Customer first, always

We understand the importance of our customers, as well as our clients’ customers. As legendary basketball player Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson said during the closing keynote, “You need to know your customer and over-deliver. That will help get brand ambassadors and repeat customers.” 

We are proud to help support our clients’ growth through the creation of impactful customer content, centered around engaging storytelling that celebrates the people driving change. We are honored that our clients continue to trust us with their most valuable asset: their customers. And we look forward to continuing to build on that trust by delivering outcome driven-work. 

Businesses can create positive impact

From the Plinko board in the expo hall, where attendees were invited to donate to a charity of their choice (we landed on $20 for Girls in Tech), to the Marine Toys for Tots Fundraiser held in honor of Veterans Day, the importance Okta places on giving back was clear throughout the event. 

"You can do well and do good at the same time.” This statement by Johnson truly highlights what many businesses are striving for, and underscores a key goal for us here at distillery, where we believe content can change the world.

By way of example, Johnson pointed to his movie theater venture, which gave an entertainment outlet to families living in impoverished neighborhoods. This initiative was a financial success that changed people’s lives by providing jobs, as well as being a place where families could feel safe. 

Diversity pays dividends

Investing in people of color and women is just good business sense. 

Williams noted that only 2% of VC funding goes to companies that were founded by women, a startling statistic that led her to create her VC firm, Serena Ventures. 

Johnson also spoke about how when he partnered with Starbucks to bring the coffee chain to black neighborhoods, the per capita spend was higher compared to other suburban markets. Part of the reason for this success? Focusing on the customer and adjusting the chain’s offering to better match the consumers’ wants and needs. Instead of scones, he suggested swapping in sweet potato pies. 

With studio d, our global curated network of top diverse creatives, we want to make it easier for brands to harness the under-represented in narratives for better creative, connection, and impact. Get in touch to find out more.

What did you take away from Oktane22? We hope to meet you there next year!

Boo! Our top picks from this year’s Halloween campaigns and ads

Fanta’s Piccadilly Lights jump scare experience

Fanta had a Spook Booth below their Halloween ad on Piccadilly Circus. If you entered, you had the chance to feature on the iconic big screen. Inside the booth was a scary path with surprises to make people jump in fright. Their reactions were shown on the screen outside. This was a great interactive experience for consumers, and best of all, it was free. Consumers shared their reaction on the big screen on their social media, giving this campaign a lot more reach than a standalone ad.

Heinz’s fun limited edition products

Heinz created a fun limited edition black garlic mayonnaise in three designs, claiming the mayonnaise is “so good, even vampires can’t resist it.” The exclusive spread was limited in stock, making it a hot topic on social channels. To give those who missed out another chance at getting their hands on a bottle, Heinz launched an eye-level 3D anamorphic augmented reality (AR) advert in Kings Cross Station. Anamorphic ads give the illusion of 3D imagery on a flat surface. This new technology showed a life-like vampire that reached out of the screen. Consumers could interact with it via an app for the chance to win a bottle. Heinz is one of the first brands in the world to use this new 4K anamorphic AR billboard in their advertising.

They also released a witty video advert inviting additional sales.

Another Heinz Halloween campaign we loved was the return of ‘tomato blood’. Since Heinz ketchup is often used as a substitute for blood or stage make-up at this time of year, the company released a costume kit that included a packet of Heinz tomato blood, a make-up palette, brushes, tattoos, fangs and eyelashes to complete your Halloween look.

Heineken’s fun Halloween ads that align with their values

Heineken released Halloween ads that promote their values of togetherness and friendship. The ads show how beer can bring people together to create the most unlikely of friendships. They also released some simple, yet spooky ads with creative wordplay - including one to encourage responsible drinking.

Simple and effective ads from recognised food brands 

Oreo, McDonalds and Mr Kipling were among the popular brands that released some very simple yet very creative Halloween ads adapting their recognisable products, where minimal wording is needed.

Cheetos in the metaverse

Cheetos took their Halloween campaign into the metaverse! In this collaboration with VaynerMedia and Vayner3, they created ‘Chesterville’, a suburban neighbourhood game where players have to complete Halloween-themed, mischief-making tasks around the neighbourhood.

Beavertown short story animation

Beavertown created an animation based on Samuel Coleridge’s famous poem, ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ using the same skeletons and unique characters from their logo and brand identity. The video uses creative illustrations and smooth transitions that correlate to a poem that is being read. While the product itself is never shown, the film is completely on brand.

Recyclable trick or treat bags from Mars

Mars partnered with Rubicon Technologies, a digital waste and recycling solutions provider, to provide recyclable bags called Trick or Trash bags as part of their ongoing Trick or Trash campaign. Trick-or-treaters can return the bag with the wrappers for free, for them to be recycled and used again. It’s a smart solution for a night otherwise populated by plastic.

If you’d like to find out how we can make a positive impact for your brand, get in touch.

Female Change Makers: Part 3

Welcome back to our Female Change Maker blog series. At distillery, we create and share content that has a positive impact. So we wanted to share this series to inspire more positive change in the world and recognise the amazing women who’ve achieved this. 

This time, Gracie and Becky are celebrating the female change makers that have had a positive impact on them and the world.

Gracie Ford
Project Manager

Chosen female change maker(s):

Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Dorothy Vaughan

What have they done to create change?

Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson and Dorothy Vaughan were three university-educated African-American women recruited to NASA’s West Area Computers section at Langley laboratory in Virginia at a time when black female mathematicians were completely segregated from their white counterparts, and forced to use separate workspaces, canteens, and toilets.

By 1949, Dorothy Vaughan had become leader of the West Area Computing section and NASA’s first-ever black supervisor. Mary Jackson eventually became NASA’s first black, female aeronautical engineer. Moving into NASA's early Space Task Group, Katherine Johnson completed a trajectory analysis for the first human spaceflight in 1961 and became the first woman to receive a credit as the author of a report for NASA’s Flight Research Division.

Why do you admire them?

They were three women who had to fight against systemic racism and the glass ceiling. Their efforts paved the way for younger generations to fight for better work and more recognition.

Is there something they have done that has inspired you in your work? How have they affected your attitude/actions?

Their work has impacted our understanding of space and computing. I’m always  inspired by their bravery in standing up for their right to work, becoming experts in their field, and tirelessly working to help hire and promote the next generation of women scientists, mathematicians, and engineers.

Becky Peterhansen
Global Group Account Director

Chosen female change maker(s):

Julissa Calderon

What has she done to create change?

She runs workshops empowering young women and created a business that focuses on the power of journaling to actualize change. 

Why do you admire her?

There is very little representation of Latinas in the media and even less so when it comes to Afro-Latinas. Julissa is an extremely talented and vocal woman who shares the importance of recognizing the diverse backgrounds that make up not just the Hispanic community, but the United States at large. 

Her dedication to paying it forward by hosting workshops that give entrepreneurial skills to young women shows her commitment to uplifting others in the community through her own success.

Why did it resonate with you?

It is easy to typecast a whole group of people or define “Hispanic” in a homogeneous way. I think people like Julissa bring a needed awareness to the beautiful diversity within our communities. 

Is there something they have done that has inspired you in your work/how have they affected your attitude/actions?

Julissa shows how you can have a massive impact by sharing your skills and your time. She inspires me to try and provide mentorship opportunities and give back to young women in my community. 

If you’d like to see how we can make content that has a positive impact for your brand, or you would just like to have a chat, get in touch.

4 Key Takeaways from Word on the Street podcast

Written by Gracie Ford, Project Manager.

Last week, I had the pleasure of attending an in-person live recording of Katie Street’s podcast Word on the Street with guest speakers Grace Andrews, Kate Munday and Mike Lander to Discover the Secrets to Winning More Clients, and here are my 4 key takeaways.

Know your audience and know where they are

Grace Andrews gave us some great tips on how to build your brand (personal or business) across social media channels: know your audience. 

For long-form content, it is harder to get recognised without your audience already being established. Build your engagement using short form content on the channels your audience are already interacting on. Consistent posts, building that brand recognition, will allow you to move across to longer form content, bringing your audience with you. When building your brand, focus on 2-3 platforms. 

Growing from other pre-existing audiences is a brilliant way to build your brand when starting out. Guesting on the podcasts or YouTube channels of people who have similar audiences is a great way to expose your business to those who are more likely to interact and connect with your brand.

Communication is key

Kate Munday said it herself - tweaking and building your speaking techniques builds effective communication and helps tell your story better. 

Position yourself with service in mind with your clients - what can you add? How can you help them? Kate made a great point: clients can tell the difference between receiving and taking. 

Another great tip from Kate: film yourself presenting from both the audience POV and your own POV. The audience POV will allow you to analyse how you present yourself and your brand. As Katie said, avoiding clunky jewellery if you’re doing a pitch is always a good shout if you know you tend to talk with your hands! Filming your POV will allow you to see how your points are being received - was that joke landing? Did any sections of the presentation run on slightly too long? This will give you an insight into what needs to be nutted out, and what is really working.

Perfect your relationship with procurement

Mike Lander’s background in procurement means he knows exactly what to do, and what not to do, to ensure you win that big deal with your new client.

If a deal is over £50k, bring in procurement from the beginning! This will avoid the last-minute hurdle after everyone has already signed off. Building that relationship and getting on the preferred sellers’ list from the start means your brand’s recognition reaches the teams who make the final call. 

So how do you build that relationship?

Most importantly, your relationship with procurement will be different to your relationship with your client contacts. Stop selling and start negotiating and come prepared! 80% of the value in negotiations is in the preparation. Start with your objectives, build out your timeline, know your variables and have a process. Once you have your relationship with procurement, you will have your relationship with your client!

Consistency and authenticity go hand in hand

Consistency is key to building your business, building your brand and gaining a loyal audience.

Don’t be afraid to experiment as long as it stays within your brand’s identity - traditional TV ads are around 30 seconds, even though studies prove that the biggest driver of ROI are videos 60s+. Evolving and investing in your business consistently will pay off in the long run.

Authenticity is the buzz-word for brands at the moment, but it’s proving to be less of a fad, and a real variable of whether a client will invest or not. Consistently building brand recognition will allow your clients to recognise you from the tone of voice on your posts, even without seeing a name or picture. So how do you engage effectively to build that recognition? Personalisation allows for connection: just look at how brands like Innocent Drinks, RyanAir and Duolingo have grown their brands by personalising and connecting with their audiences. Authenticity is an extension of your brand’s identity online. Engage with your audience as people by showing your people! 

Thank you again to Katie Street for hosting such a great podcast, if you would like to listen to the full episode, you can listen here.

If you’d like to find out more about who we are and what we do, check out The Diversity type project, our brand purpose, listen to our podcast and get a coffee on us here.

All That Matters

All That Matters 2022: IRL conferences are back in Singapore and we’re loving it

By Simon Hearn, MD for APAC

It’s arguably the biggest week of the year in Singapore, as Formula 1 rolls into town, and the circus-like entourage surrounding it takes over the island. And having been on hiatus for the past two years, the excitement levels for this year's Singapore Grand Prix are in overdrive as people are hungry to visit events in real life once again. 

With so many people travelling to Singapore from overseas, it’s no surprise that the week leading up to the Grand Prix is full of events and conferences, as people get the opportunity to reconnect with one another face to face after so long apart. 

One of the biggest events is All That Matters - a three-day event that picks apart everything that matters in the business of sport, music, gaming, and marketing. In line with current digital trends, this year's event was renamed All That METAs, with many of the discussions exploring the impact of Web3 and the metaverse. 

Here are five things our Singapore team learned from this year’s event.

1. Web3 will change fandom for the better

Many discussions talked about the impact of Web3 and how it will change the way we experience sport, music, gaming, and other passion points. Web3 will bring fans closer to the things they love, whether it be the way they watch live concerts or games in all corners of the globe, having an opportunity to meet their heroes via virtual experiences, or how they interact with other passionate fans in unique fan communities. We’re already seeing the impact of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on owning memorabilia and unlocking experiences, and this is only the beginning. 

2. Organisations have to change to attract the next generation

It’s no secret that the younger generation wants more from the brands they love. There was a common theme in so many sessions about the importance of sustainability, promoting the women’s game, and being generally more inclusive. And doing this in an authentic way is critical, as Generation Alpha can tell when a brand is faking it.

3. Mastercard is doing some great work in their Priceless Causes pillar

Mastercard is no stranger to impactful and authentic marketing, and its Senior Vice President of Marketing for APAC, Julie Nestor, led an interesting keynote that talked about their Priceless strategy. Mastercard is reinventing multi-sensory marketing with sonic branding, creating a branded smell and taste, and so much more. But what stood out was their commitment to equality, Nestor shared two fantastic product developments that really showcased its mission of inclusivity.

The first is all about gender neutrality, allowing non-binary or transgender people to put the name on their card that represents who they really are. 

The second is a revolutionary development in their core product. By adding unique notches on the Touch Card’s short side, a visually impaired person can distinguish between a credit, debit or prepaid card. Check out this awesome ad created with this target audience in mind:

4. Rewarding charitable people with Soulbound Tokens

One of the coolest ideas we saw in the Web3 space was SoulBound Tokens (SBTs). SBTs are non-transferable tokens representing a person's identity using blockchain technology. This could include medical records, work history, and any type of information that makes up a person or entity. The wallets that hold or issue these records are called Souls. What we liked about these was how they rewarded charitable people. Whether it be volunteering, donating money, or being a heavyweight philanthropist, this token can be a badge of honor or an addition to your identity as proof that you are awesome.

5. “Stop calling them Gamers, we’re all gamers”

“You wouldn’t call someone who watches TV a ‘watcher’, so why call someone who plays games a ‘gamer.’” 

This statement by Fernando Machado from Blizzard caught our attention. Billions of people play games, just like billions watch TV. So when brands say ‘I want to target gamers’, they are basically talking about the majority. Whether it be at a professional level, or just playing games like “Candy Crush” on the bus, gaming is a part of everyday life for most (1.5 billion in APAC). Gamers, as a market segment, really doesn’t mean anything anymore. But why do we all love gaming? Here were Fernando’s six reasons:

• Winning - It’s human nature to want to win, and in gaming, there are limitless opportunities to win.

• Identity - Whether you play “League of Legends”, “Fortnite”, “FIFA” or “Wordle”, gaming gives a sense of belonging and identity that others can relate to.

• Collaboration - Gaming is becoming more and more connected and interactive, and it's easier than ever to talk or chat with others and work as a team.

• Progression - Levelling up and achieving goes hand in hand with winning, and we love earning rewards for hitting milestones.

• Exploration - people crave the ability to find new places and experience new things.

• Blurring the lines - thanks to technology, the gap between the real and virtual world is closing, and games are now so lifelike it’s hard to tell what’s real and what’s not.

There were so many more fascinating takeaways and discussions to spark ideas and thinking for our distillers and our clients. One thing’s for sure, Web3 and the Metaverse will have a huge impact on how we engage with our passions in the future. Get in touch with us if you’re looking to learn more about Web3, the Metaverse, or how your brand can ride the wave of this digital revolution. 

See you at All That Matters 2023.

Female Change Makers: Part 2

In our last blog post for Women’s Equality Day, we shared two inspiring female change makers, Vibha Bakshi and Jane Fonda, who have both created a positive impact - on our distillers Esther and Lucy, and on the wider world. 

This week, we are continuing the celebrations by celebrating more groundbreaking heroines. In this second post, Sheyenne and Emily will be talking about women who have inspired them.

Sheyenne Rowel
Editorial Data Manager

Chosen female change maker: 

Issa Rae

What they've done to create change

Issa started her own media company to create content that focuses on diversity, giving a platform to underrepresented communities in TV and film. She has since been nominated for many awards and wrapped up her first show Insecure on HBO.

Why do you admire them?

I admire Issa because she is truly self made. She always seems to be looking for ways to uplift others.

Is there something they have done that has inspired you in your work/how have they affected your attitude/actions?

Through her career, she has shown me the importance of embracing obstacles and finding creative ways to overcome them.

Emily Goodson
Marketing Assistant

Chosen female change maker:

Whitney Wolfe-Herd

Background: Whitney originally co-founded Tinder, but after she was ousted by her other co-founders, she sued the company for sexual assault and discrimination. Following the lawsuit settlement, she set up another dating app called Bumble.

What they've done to create change:

Whitney turned this negative situation into an opportunity by launching Bumble, where only women can send the first message after a match - the first app of its kind which completely broke dating norms. She did this to protect women’s safety, giving them more control and hopefully protecting them from abusive relationships. By giving women the control you’re protecting them from potential bullying and harassment, which Whitney found to be more common than you think on online dating apps, especially for women of color.

Why do you admire them?

I love that she advocates for women’s safety. She has recently taken Bumble to India after research showed it was the most dangerous country in the world for women. Bumble may help women in India take back some control and help change sexist attitudes, which would be a massive win.

Why did it resonate with you?

I love that she is a woman in the male-dominated tech space bringing a different perspective and providing representation for younger girls that might want to get into tech. She is also massively successful: she took Bumble public in 2021, making her the youngest self-made billionaire. Seeing successful women like this is so inspiring to me and so important for young girls' attitudes about themselves.

Is there something they have done that has inspired you in your work/how have they affected your attitude/actions?

I found it inspiring that when one massive door closed for her due to terrible circumstances, Whitney opened an even bigger door for herself in the male-dominated work space. She has done so much for women in tech and future girls joining tech, as well as challenging gender power dynamics in the dating space. It has made me even more of an advocate for women supporting women and made me re-evaluate my own biases.

If you’d like to see how we can make content that makes a positive impact for your brand, or would just like to have a chat, get in touch.

International Charity Day

Having a positive impact on society is one of distillery’s core principles. 

Each year, we support small charities with pro bono work, as well as raising funds for good causes and championing the work of diverse designers and creatives across the globe. 

We also create work for clients in the charity space, helping them to raise awareness of their efforts to improve the world in whatever way they can. 

This year, to celebrate the UN’s International Day of Charity, we’re highlighting three such organisations and the work we’ve undertaken to support them.

DEC Ukraine Appeal

In March 2022, we supported the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal by the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), bringing the campaign to the big screen and taking over the iconic Piccadilly Lights in central London. 

Our looping film was a carefully crafted amalgamation of the messaging, activities and ongoing work of the DEC and included powerful imagery from the conflict  - telling the story of the Ukrainian people at this historic moment in time. 

We were delighted to win the Freedom Award for outstanding agility at the Independent Agency of the Year Awards 2022 as the result of our efforts. 

We are currently working with The DEC on the Pakistan Floods Appeal, if you would like to donate to this urgent cause please click here.

UN World Food Programme 

The UN World Food Programme asked distillery to create a piece of online content that would drive donations to its food poverty campaign (via paid social media posts on Facebook and YouTube) in May 2021. 

We devised and produced a campaign that explored the symbolism of fasting while highlighting the charitable spirit of Iftar, the meal with which Muslims break their daily fast during Ramadan.

Our campaign picked up the Crystal Winners award at the Adstars 2021 ceremony. 

WaterAid

The WaterAid challenge asks participants to drink only water for a whole month, and helps to raise funds for 785 million people worldwide with no access to clean water. 

We partnered with WaterAid in January 2021 to bring this challenge to life, by using our personalisation engine, voundry, to deliver 2,000 videos uniquely tailored to each recipient.

This campaign picked up the Gold Winners award at the AVA Digital 2021 Awards ceremony. 

If you’d like to see how we can make content that shines a light on the important work your organisation is undertaking, get in touch.

Female Change Makers

Here at distillery, we believe that content changes the world. We (only) make content to create a positive impact. To celebrate this Women’s Equality Day, we spoke to some of the women at distillery, who’ve they shared inspiring female change makers that have created a positive impact, either for themselves personally or on the wider world.

We believe it is so important to have equal representation of inspiring women. Afterall, change makers create change makers and you can’t be what you can’t see! 

We’ll be sharing a few of their choices in our upcoming series of blogs, starting this week Esther and Lucy…

Esther Yue

Head of Operations

Chosen female change maker

Ms Vibha Bakshi- award winning Director and Producer.

What has she done to create change?

Vibha Bakshi has created films that spotlight the gender violence issues in the hinterlands of India.

Why do you admire her?

I admire her for her courage to stand up to fight against gender violence in a male dominated country. This type of despicable violence and attitudes against women does not only happen in India, it can happen across the globe. In one of her films, Daughter of Mother India, Vibha Bakshi successfully instilled hope for abused victims, empowering them to look beyond their experiences and live their lives to the fullest again.

Why did it resonate with you?

I’ve interacted with victims of such violence in Asia in the past and strongly feel for them, for not having the courage to speak up and not having the appropriate resources to fight their cases.

Is there something they have done that has inspired you in your work/how have they affected your attitude/actions?

Through her work, she has created awareness that such gender violence is COMPLETELY unacceptable. I want to become more sensitive towards anyone who is in distress and be able to offer any help I can, where appropriate.

Lucy Rennie

Director of Strategy

Chosen female change maker: 

Jane Fonda - actor & activist

What they've done to create change?

Jane Fonda has done a lot, she is always advocating equal rights across various intersectionalities. In response to a best friend’s account of the prolific sexism against secretaries in big institutions of the 1980s, she proactively pitched, produced, and appeared in the disarmingly funny but punchy ‘9 to 5’ highlighting the ridiculous reality. She is resiliently active in the women’s rights movement, she also co-founded the Women’s Media Centre in 2005 - a non-profit to raise visibility, viability and decision-making power of women and girls in media.

Why you admire them?

She’s someone who practises what they preach as an active ally to many marginalised groups & issues (clocking up 5 arrests for peaceful protests as recently as 3 years ago, aged 81!). She also savvily produced the top-selling 80s ‘Jane Fonda’s Workout’, which opened up the male dominated fitness industry to women (AND produced such legendary lines as “no pain, no gain”!). AND she used it all to fund her political activism for economic democracy! She’s also brilliantly articulate, funny, smart & honest in her delivery of both her acting and activism.

Why did it resonate with you?

I remember seeing her infamous but dated workout VHS covered in dust on a shelf, not realising that it was such powerful content in its time. The more I consume her content, the more she rises as a role model, particularly for women’s voices & rights.

Is there something they have done that has inspired you in your work/how have they affected your attitude/actions?

Her resilient commitment to making a positive impact wherever she can, from creating impactful content to sharing an emphatic, genuine smile. And throughout her life, she always values the great people to work/play with along the way. All good things to channel!

If you’d like to see how we can make content that makes a positive impact for your brand, or would just like to have a chat, get in touch.

How to reduce carbon in advertising production

We need to do more as an industry if we are to achieve the industry target of reaching Net Zero by 2030. We recently attended AdGreen’s masterclass on sustainable production and here are our learnings from the session.

Why we need to do more

Carbon dioxide is the highest it’s been in the last 2 million years and the Arctic sea ice area is at its lowest. We are also close to exceeding 1.5°C global warming (currently at 1.1°C), anything higher than 1.5°C has the potential to cause irreversible damage to the world’s ecosystems. This has increased by 25% in the last 10 years.

Credit: NOAA

Where we can start to reduce our carbon footprint in production

Firstly, you can calculate your carbon footprint for the advertising production here

1. Start on the areas that you can directly control such as the script, location, travel, catering etc.

2. Then focus on your team, are your team involved and willing to help reduce the carbon footprint of the project? Try to also work with sustainable suppliers, for example, catering companies that use real cutlery to minimise waste.

3. Finally, the emissions that you absolutely cannot avoid can be offset through natural capital partnerships or investing in global carbon reducing projects. This can be done through organisations like Cool Effects, or through AdGreen’s Creative Offsets scheme.

Tips

A lot of changes depend on what is feasible for your project. But these tips will most likely save you money as well. Here are a few places to start:

• Avoid meat on set as much as possible, this could be achieved by having an opt-in option for meat so that veggie options are the default.

• Go paperless on set.

• Use LED lighting on set.

• Potentially using CGI instead of a set build or travelling abroad, however this depends on the length of the post house, a longer time in post house will create more emissions from the energy used from computers.

• If a studio is needed, use ones powered by renewable energy, Albert have a list of studios that provide this as well as other sustainable suppliers.

• Use local crew and make sure only people that need to be there are there.

• Anything that can be done on video call should be.

• Use public transport when travelling to and from shoots.

• Shoot locations should be as close as possible, if flights are needed then economy class should be used instead of business class flights as this spreads the amount of carbon emissions across more people, economy class also uses less food and materials on flights such as disposable food and drink containers.

• Working with companies to recycle waste after shoots such as Quantum Waste. AdGreen also have a list of companies that will help rehome your leftover waste from shoots.

• Do you have any old sets you can repurpose?

We look forward to using these learnings and tips on our future shoots! Thank you AdGreen for the informative and interactive training session.

If you would like to learn more about how you can reduce the carbon footprint in your advertising production, look at AdGreen’s extensive resource guide on the AdGreen website. And speak to us at distillery!

Who says women can’t?

International Women’s Day is awash with brands, influencers and individuals supporting women (and rightly so) in a variety of creative ways. This year was no different, as everyone joined the conversation around #breakthebias.

Cloud consultancy Blazeclan briefed us on a video campaign to celebrate the women within their business, and their key clients.

We created a campaign called ‘who says women can’t’, breaking the bias around stereotypes of women in the tech industry. With the challenge of their employees and clients working from home, and based in different countries, we got creative through virtual video. And we literally broke some of the bias women face.

If you want your brand to be part of the #breakthebias conversation and are looking to create a fab piece of content, we’d love to help. Drop us a line at Hello@wearedistillery.co for a chat.