Poached Creative - celebrating five years

It’s Monday. Deputy director Angela is putting the finishing touches on a quote for a client and our designer Khaleeda is advising a young illustrator about a job application. Our writer, Catriona, is interviewing someone from an NHS trust while our writing mentor, Grant, is penning a letter on behalf of someone at his hostel. Press office volunteer Billy is tweeting about our upcoming party. All this sounds like a normal, productive office.

Looking back five years, I’m amazed that we have an office at all. Then, we were squatting in someone else’s building with a couple of computers and a dictionary. I was the only person you could call ‘staff’ and I was unpaid. We had two trainees, one of whom was Angela.

Poached Creative was born out of my desire to put communications jobs within reach for long-term unemployed and disadvantaged people. As Editor at Shelter and the NHS Confederation I had hired many people into our editorial team but none of them had experienced homelessness or serious health conditions. This was what I wanted to change.

In five years we’ve built a solid client base of about 30 clients, more than 75 per cent of whom have come back to work with us again. We’ve settled into a permanent office in Hackney and opened a satellite office in the South West. We employ eight staff.

We’ve created an international campaign for Social Enteprise UK and partnered with The Big Issue and BBC Learning to deliver journalism training. Charity clients include Peabody and Plan UK and we continue to work with a range of smaller charities and social enterprises at discounted rates.

The RBS SE100 ranks us as No 1 marketing and communications social enterprise and among the top 10 in London. This year we’ve also become an accredited London Living Wage employer.

Many of our past trainees and volunteers still work with us and it’s this two-way street, of both learning with and contributing to Poached Creative, that I’m most proud of.

The people we’ve worked with over the last five years have not only benefitted from our work but shaped our future. Take a look at their case studies.

Surviving the first five years

If there's one thing we've learnt about surviving the first five years of social enterprise it's that we wouldn't be here without our friends.

Our partnership with Lucy Ferguson from Mediorite (formerly YH World) has been the difference between success and failure for Poached. Without our shared office space, staff, clients, ideas and plans, Poached Creative would not be here today.

Thanks to:

• All our dedicated staff, freelancers, trainees and volunteers who've contributed so much to our development.
• Our brilliant clients, who've supported us and with their business, enthusiasm and feedback.
• Funders/in-kind supporters: Careers Development Group (CDG), UnLtd, arc/BITC, Future Jobs Fund, Social Enterprise UK, Cranfield Trust, Mediabox, Hackney Council, Hackney Libraries, Lighthouse (Poole).
• Partners: Mediorite, MCR Print, Agile Collective, Pixel Parlour, Hackney Citizen, The Big Issue, St Giles Trust, Art Against Knives, Off Centre.

We’ve come a long way in five years and we couldn’t have done it without your support.

Special thanks to Dominic Rose and Michael Quinn for their unfailing support and superb catering skills.

The atmosphere at Poached Creative

Emma, our Proofreader and Quality Officer, shares her thoughts on the welcoming atmosphere of the Poached Creative office

There is something in the air that says “you’re welcome.” This might sound like a cheesy ad slogan but it’s definitely true at Poached Creative. Since day one, I felt the warm welcome and now, months along, I feel like a valued member of the team. Warmth and hospitality permeate the air. This is really tangible.

There are multiple reasons why I enjoy working at Poached Creative. It’s not just appreciating its ‘uniqueness’ (Doesn’t every organisation think they are ‘unique’, ‘special’ and ‘original’!?).

Well, here at Poached, I think the gentle, inclusive atmosphere is truly unique.  It feels relaxed and friendly in this office even though it’s a busy environment. There’s always something going on. Sometimes all I hear is the tapping of keys on multiple keyboards when people are absorbed by their projects, in their own worlds. The silence is gentle. I think it’s a productive climate and the energy is upbeat  whether anyone is talking or not.

My colleagues, I call them comrades, are hard-working, down-to-earth people.  They look you in the eye, acknowledge your presence and engage in eclectic chit chat on a variety of different topics. This happens periodically when we have time.

Trust me, knowing that you ‘belong’ to a team, that you are ‘one of the guys’ and ‘there is a place for you’ in the office, is a great feeling.

You’re welcome.

I’m welcome.

Everyone is welcome.

Feeling welcome is not about someone telling someone.  It’s all about showing: I think it’s a look, an acknowledgement of your presence, eye contact, a nod, a smile and a gentle tone.  Even a simple hand gesture, in my case a beckoning hand gesture, can convey that message.

When I first arrived, I was invited to sit down, check my email or have a banana! 

“Just take one from that bowl on the kitchen table.”  

I appreciated those words.

I know that visitors and volunteers feel the same way.  They feel that warm welcome.

How do I know?  Because they have told me. 

You will always be invited to sit down, have a cup of tea and wait (if whoever you’re seeing is engaged on a call.) Unlike many London offices, you will not be ignored.

There are an interesting variety of projects, groups, clients and individuals who come through the office door. I get to observe the comings and goings from my seat by one of the big windows.  This dynamism is one of Poached Creative’s key strengths. 

Just today, nine people have come into the office to work on completely different projects. ‘Film Club’ leave uneaten chocolates or crisps in the office after their Wednesday night meeting. These leftovers can be gobbled up by the team on Thursday.

Pomposity is conspicuous by its absence. We operate in integrity, follow our briefs and meet deadlines.  Yet, there is always time to celebrate a birthday, drink a cup of tea, (if unlike me you’re a tea drinker) or eat a slice of cake.

Sometimes, music is played on the large Mac. Selections may not be to everyone’s taste, but I enjoy hearing melodies in the background. Even a surly teenager (who was on reparations) cracked a smile at the prospect of having to listen to Justin Bieber’s latest album.

Poached Creative is a welcoming organisation.  Yes, indeed.

Guardian visit for The Big Issue journalism trainees

Journalism trainees at Poached Creative learned how to pitch stories and got the chance to see how a major news organisation operates at a visit to the Guardian's London headquarters last week. 

The visit was part of Poached's training programme for The Big Issue, which aims to teach online journalism skills, including writing and photography, to people of diverse backgrounds, including the long term unemployed, in order to get them real world skills and job experience that can be used as a stepping stone into paid work. 

The Guardian visit was an opportunity for the trainees to see how the news industry operates on a large scale and to receive advice from experienced journalists. I was glad to see that the skills we are learning will translate to a high level work environment. 

I was especially impressed by the Guardian’s online strategy and I think it’s something we can learn from. They are a digital-first company and devote significant time and effort towards their website and interactive media, which is reflected in their readership, which hovers around 200,000 in print and over 5 million daily visitors online. 

The ease of editing articles online compared to in print means that Guardian articles on the website, especially breaking news, often receive updates as developments occur. 

Even the titles of news articles are changing as newspapers move online. It’s no longer enough to include a catchy pun or phrase; instead the headline must have terms that will easily be recognized by search engines, something to remember as we write our own stories. 

After a short history of the Guardian and a Q&A session with our guide, we had the opportunity to ask questions of Guardian journalist Maya Wolfe-Robinson, a commissioning editor for Guardian law and Comment is Free. 

She explained how to pitch opinion pieces and said it is important to be clear about what issue you want to debate and what your angle is. And she stressed that journalists do not have to come from traditional backgrounds and that having a unique perspective on an issue can make for a powerful story. 

The visit encouraged me to try pitching stories to a variety of news outlets and emphasized the most important trait for journalists: persistence. In order for anyone to succeed it is essential to keep building a strong portfolio.

Social Enterprise Day 2013

The contribution of social enterprises was recognised in Parliament today with a special event held in the Commons by the APPG on Social Enterprise to mark Social Enterprise Day 2013. 

Highlights of the day included: a new supply chain guide for businesses by Social Enterprise UK, a new Buy Social animation narrated by John Bird, founder of The Big Issue, and Social Enterprise Belu Water won a contract with the Houses of Parliament.

MPs and business leaders attended the event at the House of Commons, hosted by the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Social Enterprise, to learn more about including Social Enterprises in their supply chains. They heard from speakers including Karen Lynch, CEO of Social Enterprise Belu water, Hazel Blears MP, and Jo Swinson, Minister for Employment Relations and Consumer Affairs.

Poached Creative's work was a key part of Social Enterprise Day 2013. We designed and produced the new materials to support the second phase of the Buy Social campaign - encouraging corporate businesses to buy from social enterprises. This included new display boards featuring Edwin from Give Me Tap, a We Buy Social badge for commercial organisations to show their commitment to social enterprise and Buy Social postcards to promote social enterprise to the public.

A new supply chain guide to help businesses learn about including social enterprises in their supply chains was designed by Poached Creative and we featured alongside several case studies for our work designing the first Social Impact Report for Landmarc, the UK’s 3rd biggest Land Manager.

Jo Swinson encouraged the businesses in attendance to 'buy social':

“Customers and investors are increasingly thinking beyond simply the prices they are paying and the returns they are seeing. They rightly want to know what steps a business is taking which will have a positive effect on the environment, society, their local community and the employees, before making their decision. In order to build a stronger economy and fairer society we need more diverse businesses - social enterprises very much fit the bill.”

Social Enterprise Day marks the one year anniversary since the Buy Social campaign, conceived and created by Poached for Social Enterprise UK, was first launched. Peter Holbrook, Chief Executive of Social Enterprise UK, said:

“Just like having a carbon footprint, every business has a social footprint and this can be strengthened by the purchasing of goods and services from social enterprises. Lots of social enterprises are small to medium sized businesses that operate locally and so what might be a relatively modest spend for a corporate can make a very big difference to a social enterprise and their impact on a local community.”

Find out more on Social Enterprise UK's  Buy Social page  and join the conversation on Twitter using #buysocial

What is beauty?

What is beauty? A great piece of art?  A winning personality? An attractive woman? That part of Boots with all the make-up?

According to the dictionary, beauty is all of the above.

That’s a lot of complex variation for one little word.

Let’s try to break it down. Beauty can be found in an object’s appearance or qualities, in how people look, and how people are.

Commercially and in the media, the meaning of beauty tends to focus heavily on how people look – how attractive a celebrity is and what you can do to look just like her.

I use ‘her’ as this focus is also mainly aimed at woman – see the dictionary’s third definition is ‘a beautiful woman’ – no men are mentioned. Using this definition, the phrase ‘what a beauty’ can be used interchangeably for both women and objects.

Attractive women are still objectified routinely in advertising to sell various products and services, everything from sandwiches to clothes to car insurance. Their beauty is packaged and sold, their inner beauty irrelevant.

Additionally beauty and attractiveness of women in the media have strict ideals – like being youthful and petite - which many women don’t or can’t meet. So we come to beauty’s second definition – beauty treatment, all the products and services sold to make you look like the woman on the poster selling it to you.

But the woman on the poster isn't the person selling it to you – it’s a whole industry that are selling a single, difficult-to-attain and maintain image.

If the media and beauty industry were to embrace beauty with respect to the complexities and variations found in the word’s definition, encapsulating everything that can be considered beautiful, from watercolours to kindness, then we might see a much wider and more inclusive definition of female beauty in the media.

But it’s not all hopeless. There have been attempts to break free of this singular idea of beauty for woman, such as the Dove's Real Beauty campaign, launched in 2004, featuring women in a range of shapes and sizes in Dove adverts. In June this year, alongside the regular fashion week New York held a ‘Full Figured Fashion Week’, showcasing new designs modelled by larger women, with London holding a sister event earlier this year. In April H&M featured a plus-sized model for their general (not plus-sized) beachwear range.

Although still in the minority, these examples are encouraging that in the future the media will be more inclusive of different ideals of female beauty.  

What does beauty mean to you?

An art exhibition coming soon to London is seeking creative responses to the question What is beauty? - submit your photo, artwork, film or poetry via Twitter @whatisbeauty for a chance to be featured in the exhibition!

Photo by Vinoth Chandar

It's Mental Health Month at Poached Creative!

This month we’re focusing on creating a mentally healthy workplace in the office. 

We were inspired to look at mental health due to our recent work on Free Minds, a youth-led campaign to raise awareness of how mental illness affects young people. We've also been inspired by our work on Off Centre’s Tackling Gang Violence report, which looks at the psychosocial issues behind gang violence, and our Oii My Size project – a youth-led website that tackles healthy relationships for teenagers.

It’s an important and common issue, with 1 in 6 people working with a mental illness at any given time, and absenteeism due to mental illness costing £8.4 billion annually to UK employers .

Our experience training unemployed and disadvantaged people in communications, many of whom experience mental health problems, have shown us the positive difference that meaningful work can have in people’s lives. Many of our trainees go on to volunteer or work in our office, becoming a valuable part of the team. 

So we’re confident that our office can support people with mental illness – but we want to be the best we can be! So we asked Twitter how to create a mentally healthy workplace.

We had a great response, with people advocating:

* flexibility,

* looking out for and respecting one another, and

* confidential support.

Here are our favourites answers from Twitter:

@poachedcreative ...Promote an open and honest culture in which you engage and support your staff
— NHS Employers (@nhsemployers) June 20, 2013 

@poachedcreative Mentally healthy workplace? Flexibility, giving a sh*t about each other not just outputs, solving problems, caring...
— Markoneinfour (@MarkOneinFour) June 18, 2013

Hi @poachedcreative ooh, it would be difficult to pick just one! Have a look at our top tips for healthy workplaces: http://t.co/weRJUd1Ziu
— Mind (@MindCharity) June 18, 2013

What’s your top tip for creating a mentally healthy workplace? Tweet us @poachedcreative

The People's Business is our business

The People’s Business Social Enterprise UK’s State of Social Enterprise Survey published this week reveals a thriving sector full of promise, optimism and innovative ideas. In short: the social enterprise sector is thriving. 

It’s important to us here at Poached Creative for two reasons. 

1. It shows the sector in action

We designed and proofread the report, commissioned the photography and worked with Social Enterprise UK to ensure it stood out from the crowd. 

The project enabled us to provide work experience opportunities for two young photographers. It also provided paid work for our former trainees, proofreader Emma, and project assistant Tobias, who co-ordinated the photoshoot with five featured social enterprises.  

Cardine Martin and Joel Witter gained valuable experience assisting the photographer, Agenda from Visual Marvelry, on the professional photoshoots.

Behind the scenes with Agenda at the Jamie's
Italian photoshoot.  Photo by Cardine Martin

Cardine describes her role on the shoots for Belu Water at Jamie's Italian and Elvis and Kresse:

“I was a photographer’s assistant. I prepared the equipment by setting up the tripod and checking the lighting and memory card. I also helped to choose the location and I put the clients at ease.”

She says she now understands what's involved in ‘doing a photoshoot’ and has gained confidence in her own work through the process. 

2. We're leading a global movement

The second reason is to do with being part of an exciting, global social enterprise movement, with social enterprises in the UK leading the way.
 

Social enterprises represent a new and effective blueprint for doing business. In the UK the sector is growing rapidly, with an annual contribution to the economy valued at over £24 billion. In our current ‘doom and gloom filled’ economic climate, this is encouraging news.

Social enterprises are flourishing precisely because they are creative, innovative, confident and diverse. You are just as likely to see women and people from different ethnic backgrounds in the boardroom as you are unlikely to see them in more traditional set ups. It is also common to find dynamic groups of passionate young people who are creating solutions to self-identified problems - the award-winning Oii My Size project is a good example.

 

Social enterprise could just be the answer that the nation needs. Instead of demonising people who are unemployed, marginalised and overlooked, the sector sees people as part of the solution. 

Take a look at the innovative work from featured organisations Elvis and Kresse, Connection Crew, Belu Water and Bounce Back. 
 

Download the full report from the Social Enterprise UK website and join the conversation at #peoplesbusiness