December Talk with Zara Weston

It's the last week of December and a week of restrictions for the second Christmas in a row. Let's take comfort from the words and experiences of some dynamic business owners and managers across the UK. Today we're talking to Zara Weston who is head of Hamilton-Brown Bristol which is part of Hamilton-Brown, a creative design agency based in London and Bristol.

It’s December – is this a busy time?
December is often a little quieter for us, however this year is different as I recently discussed with Kate Johnson, our account director who said:  "December has proved to be yet another busy month for the Hamilton-Brown teams with little in the way of the anticipated slowdown as we head towards the tail end of 2021. The teams will be finishing on a high with a number of large projects including brand roll outs and proposal submissions across a number of sectors closing off the year before the team head off for a well-deserved break and some relaxing time before starting the new year fresh. 

We will inevitably be working at pace up until our break but look forward to opening 2022 with new campaigns and projects lined up, fresh faced designers and new joiners to the account management team."

Christmas is coming – what does Christmas mean for you? 
Christmas is extra special this year as for the first time I am able to host Christmas at my house for my Mum – I have spent most of my adult life in London, so always seemed to be the other way round. 

My Mum works long shifts and usually only has Christmas Day off, so it will be nice to see her relax and put her feet up. Last year I had just got married before the national lockdown, so it will be nice to spend time at home and enjoy family time. We also have our first Christmas with our black lab puppy Finley, he already has a pile of presents growing under the tree – spoilt pup!

What’s on Santa’s List professionally for 2022? 
If we could put three things on the Hamilton-Brown Christmas list, they would be: more designers to work with us, the launch of our new brand, and delivering our new-look website.

People
As you’ll read below, we’re actively recruiting so a top gift from Santa would be some more fantastic designers to add to our amazing creative team to help us deliver even more of what our clients want from us.

Brand
Our vision at Hamilton-Brown is to be the go-to creative agency for all our clients’ communication and reporting activities. Our Creative Leads, Ben Gallagher and George Sexton, have been working on the launch of our new brand to truly cement this and be a showcase of the great work we achieve together with our partners.

As George said: "Our vision is to inspire and creatively challenge both externally and internally within the agency to further champion the benefits of considered design and in doing this share more of what we produce, discuss the reasons behind our visual choices and promote what it is that inspires us as designers."

Website
Along with our new brand, our new website will be constantly evolving, allowing us to share more work, new ideas and grow as we grow as an agency. All with maintaining and focusing on our goals to build relationships, do great work and be the go-to creative agency.

And what’s on your list personally? 
Personally, 2022 is all about health for me and balance. My husband and I have spent a great deal of time investing into developing our house this year so it will be nice to kick back and enjoy it.

We've done a lot and it’s meant the house has been upside down constantly so really looking forward to having people over and entertaining.  

What has been your greatest business lesson this year? 
My biggest business lesson has been more of a personal one this year, to trust my gut, to have belief in myself and to have confidence that things will work out. I am certainly guilty of trying to solve and complete everything in one day and my biggest roadblocks have always been my own self-doubt. As a leader it is important to 100% have trust in yourself and the daily decisions you make.

What have been your business highlights in 2021?  
For me the top highlight of 2021 has been the return to the office after the winter lockdown and seeing my colleagues, some for the first time in 18 months. 

To get a rounded picture of the highlights at Hamilton-Brown in 2021, I asked some colleagues to add their highlights to my own.

Kate Johnson, said: "I’m beyond proud of all the new accounts and business that we as an agency have won throughout 2021 off the back of the great work that the teams have delivered. We have a number of new clients onboard that we are looking to impress, grow and continue to develop into long lasting partnerships."

Ben Gallagher, creative lead, said: "A highlight for this year is working closely with 64 Million Artists to produce the new visual identity for their showpiece event, The January Challenge. Our relationship with 64MA began in 2020 when we as an agency took part in the January Challenge ourselves.

This year myself and George have worked to deepen our relationship and Hamilton-Brown has developed a new visual system for The January Challenge along the themes of togetherness and community. This led to the design style being based on ‘the marks we make’ and that anyone leaves a mark when engaging with another person or community. In-keeping with those topics we factored in accessibility for people with a variety of potential handicaps, physical or otherwise, but using a colour palette friendly to those with colour-blindness and variable typefaces to aid with reading.

We really enjoyed the process of both problem solving the issues raised by 64MA from the start, as well as producing the delivered assets. The work has been very well received by the team at 64MA as well as having positive feedback from their partners and those taking part in the 2022 January Challenge."

What have been your personal highlights in 2021? 
Finally getting our house in order, my husband and I have worked so hard to renovate our house – we still have some way to go but we are really starting to see the results. 

Running two half marathons in lockdown and being able to hug my Mum for the first time in over 18 months. Additional one would of course be our pup Finley. 

What will you do differently in 2022? 
There is nothing that I would dramatically do differently however, personally: make more time out to spend with my family and to focus on my health and wellbeing. In business, more of the same – continue to work hard to achieve goals and certainly increased time with my colleagues. 

Is giving back important for you?
‘Giving back’ is so important to me as an individual, I have raised thousands for The Mental Health Foundation and The Alzheimer’s Society – two charities close to my heart. I have also spent over ten years supporting young people in my previous college in Somerset, giving back to the wider community is so rewarding – I wish I could do more to make a difference in our world.

Giving back is also important to Hamilton-Brown; it’s why we are happy to give work experience opportunities to a few students each year, who are looking to start their design careers, and why we were delighted to launch our charity Christmas card, with our partners at 64 Million Artists and Hobs Repro, to raise funds for YoungMinds.

Will you have a nominated charity for 2022? 
We support a variety of charities each year. At the moment, we are supporting YoungMinds, and LoveWell. 

If you are planning to recruit in 2022 – share a little of your hopes around the growth of your team. 
We have welcomed a number of new recruits to the Hamilton-Brown team in recent weeks and have more new joiners already lined up for the New Year. 

Charlotte Hird, our HR director, said: "We have great aspirations to grow our creative team at all levels in 2022, from junior to senior designers. Our team works across different clients, platforms and delivery media, and has embraced hybrid working. We want more talented and collaborative creatives to join us.

"We are excited to be concluding the initial phase of our most recent graduate training programme, with the Class of 2021 now finishing their first training period and preparing to take the first steps in their creative career with Hamilton-Brown by joining the main design team. We will be looking for a new graduate intake early in 2022.

"Our talented designers are supported by an equally talented support team, and we are actively recruiting into our support functions too. So, it really is a busy time for recruitment and an exciting time as we get to know our new team members.’

What would be your best piece of advice for anyone in business for 2022? 
That it’s more important to show how much you care than how much you know, to embrace change whatever it looks like and to do what you love. 

For more information visit https://hamilton-brown.com/