Velvet Taco’s Post

Watch the highlights video from our recent event and relive the best moments. #EventHighlights #ArtInBusiness #CorporateArt #Creativity2024 #sing #BrandingWithArt #CorporateExcellence

Our values aren't just words; they're the guiding principles that drive us. 🚀 Passion fuels our work. Creativity defines our projects. Transparency builds trust. #TheRockAdvertising #AgencyValues #PassionInAction #CreativeProjects #TrustInTransparency #DubaiCreativity

We've had so much positive feedback following our #sustainabilitystrategy launch event, it's been amazing. Yesterday I received the email below from a client I haven't heard from for a while, a person whose fantastic business has very impressive sustainability credentials. 'I just wanted to say how impressed I am with your latest sustainability report.  I’ve been reading a lot of these recently (less of my time is now being spent at **** and more time supporting SMEs to get started with sustainability, such as writing their first carbon reduction reports…..not as advanced as your report by a long way).   It’s great to see so much ambition in lots of areas of Active Workplace Solutions. I liked your detailed materiality assessment and the inclusion of UN SDGs. I might bookmark it as a case study for my clients if I may?!' #soproud #sustainability #sustainableworkplace #sustainablebusiness #facilitiesmanagement #sustainablebuilding

Clear requests are tasty. But hold that thought will get back to it. Yesterday, I was invited to one of the best events I have gone to in Soho, NYC to celebrate 25 years of team coaching with Corentus, Inc. Shoutout to Janice Caillet and her team for putting this event together! The place they hosted it at was super unique - a beautiful artist's apartment that even had a scene from "The Devil Wears Prada" filmed there. Talk about a stylish venue! It had all the makings of an amazing evening: ✅ Awesome space with art everywhere ✅ Inspiring, like-minded people ✅ Delicious food I met two women there who had backgrounds kind of similar to mine. We had all transitioned from fashion to people leadership roles before ending up in tech. But the real highlight was learning about Corentus's model for making clear requests. They call it the "TASTY" method: Targeted - Requests should focus on specific goals Actionable - Requests must be practical to actually do Specific - Requests need to be clear and precise Time-bound - Give requests a deadline Yes/No Inquiry - Frame requests to get a clear yes or no answer. It's a simple but powerful way to communicate better and get stuff done efficiently. Clear requests really are tasty! The whole night was a blast. Great people, awesome venue, valuable insights - it had it all. Definitely one of the coolest events I've been to in a while.

Watch the highlights video from our recent event and relive the best moments. #EventHighlights #ArtInBusiness #CorporateArt #Creativity2024 #sing #BrandingWithArt #CorporateExcellence

I attended the D&AD festival last week with TwentyFirstCenturyBrand and I initially came away a little nervous about the state of commercial creativity. Some of the judges shared that the creative was lacking this year. One judge noted ‘I rarely saw something that felt new and disruptive’, another talked about how contrived brand and artist collaborations had become. A few of the talks themselves were so shameless in their self/brand-promotion, I’m pretty sure A.I. had written them. Overall, it felt like the festival was not just a reflection of our uncertain times, but of our paralysing anxiety and fear of the uncertainty. I understand the feeling. I’m scared too. And I know it can be hard to go up on stage and offer a truly new perspective when all the balls are up in the air. The talks that stood out to me though were the ones that highlighted how to take advantage of moments like this. The people and brands who saw the swirl, conflict, and chaos as invitations to imagine something better. Like Lisa Smith from JKR and Leslie Sims from Impossible Foods, who repositioned plant based meat to ‘meat from plants’ and demonstrated how challenging dominant narratives in culture can unlock limitless innovation. Or Sinéad Burke from Tilting The Lens who questioned why ‘accessibility’ is even the end goal for brands attempting to be more inclusive. Why can’t products for people with disabilities function and deliver on craft, beauty, joy? Or the great Peter Saville who acknowledged the everlasting tension between commercial and creative, but urged us all to follow the brief, not the rules. We are undergoing a heightened amount of stress and trauma at the moment. These speakers (and many others) sought to remind us that we are all capable of creating awesome things in times of crisis. They instilled in me a renewed hope for the future of commercial and creative excellence, and I’m very excited to see where we go from here. #twentfirstcenturybrand #brandstrategy #creativeexcellence #marketing #commercialcreativity

😎 How Do You Generate #CultStatus For Your Brand? 🏆 Through Creative Culture! Creating cult status is a utopian world for a brand, as it offers all sorts of upsides. Securing this title takes trust, focus, and company-wide creativity, but how? THE SHORT ANSWER…ENTERTAIN AND ADD TO CREATIVE CULTURE. 1) The Wrong Way: A single campaign in creative culture is like a one-hit wonder, you might get lucky but people forget about you.  2) The Right Way: Investing in creative culture long-term is like starting The Beatles where everybody knows your name. #culture #creative #passions #brand

THINKHOUSE ON LINKED IN ↗ Thanks for following me. But do you follow THINKHOUSE on Linked In? That's where all the action is. Give us a follow if you don't already. Less 'Books I've never Written' more Work we've Done, Jobs up for grabs, Agency news etc... THINKHOUSE WORK ↗ I don't share all of THINKHOUSE's client work here on my Linked In. But this (https://lnkd.in/etZrYW2u) is where we share a lot of our FAME and PLANET work. Our TRANSFORMATION projects tend to be confidential projects that we undertake with business leaders to transform their organisatons, communications or culture (by looking at the world through the lens of the next generation - a unique way to future-proof). #transformation #planet #fame

ATTN all smart, amazing people in my network who want to shake things up and bring a diversity of perspective to the table (and remind audiences that women over 40 aren't #invisible #ireelevant). The Stella Collective is a new initiative from the passionate Lot Hawkins and Sasha Radford who are championing a new way. One that is a personal passion of mine in advocating against #genderedageism and speaking up rather than keeping silent... They're hosting a launch event and its NEARLY SOLD OUT so get in quick. Juanita Neville-Te Rito is a guest speaker and know she'll be a 'must listen'. - - - - - A brief blurb >>> The Stella Collective was founded on belief that we could do better for people over 40 in general and women over 40 in particular. Our life and work experience showed us time and time again that people over 40 or often overlooked, even though the opportunity that we bring is so big. We founded The Stella Collective with a view that rather than accepting the status quo, we can actively change it by creating opportunities for brands to hear our collective voice. We are a collective of women 40+ who seek to champion the voice, vision, and needs of women 40+ for better representation in media and brand and product innovation. An individual voice has little power, but as a collective we can amplify who we are and what we want and enable you direct access to the brands to change this. martigne gloster Anna Henwood Anna Subritzky Melinda McKenzie Mel Cummings Melanie Spencer

🎙️ Had a lovely chinwag on #CreativitySucks talking 'Diversity in the Creative Industries – Is it Working?' Spoiler alert: There is still work to do. What’s not working is agency and brands’ understanding of the difference between DE&I and Social Impact. When diversity is boxed in as an HR issue and headcount is limiting, we need to treat it as a creative opportunity, not a tick-box exercise. It's about baking these values into your agency’s DNA from pitch to production. When every department—creative, accounts, or production—champions social impact, it becomes more than a policy; it turns into a narrative we all live and tell. My key takeaways: 1️⃣ Quit short-term gestures and really commit to a long-term vision. And stick to it.  2️⃣ Is your approach embedded across your people, your culture and the work?   3️⃣ Is your work leading towards a more equitable and inclusive world? 4️⃣ Can you substantiate and measure your impact? Basically, do you have your receipts? Thank you for having me Creative Review 🙏🏾   Eliza Williams Anoushka Khandwala Ravi Amaratunga Hitchcock https://lnkd.in/ehZKukh2 #DiversityInCreativity #InclusionMatters #CreativeIndustries