The Wirehive 100 Awards, well awards generally, are new to Studio Republic. There’s something a little uncomfortable for us about blowing our own trumpet. You’re far more likely to find us shouting about the good work of our clients, especially the charity ones. We’ve been hiding our light under a bushel for a number of years but, following our recent rebranding and repositioning, we’ve decided the time is right to come out of our shell a little.
The New Studio Republic
At our 14th birthday celebration in December, we re-launched Studio Republic as ‘Creative for good’. We committed to working with ethical businesses, not-for-profit organisations, and charities. We made a commitment to reduce our carbon footprint (we’re now carbon neutral), and we’ve been working ever since to ensure that everything we do is in line with our values.
Which Category?
Entering the Wirehive 100 Awards was a big deal for us. We looked at the categories, giving careful consideration to the project or person we’d focus our nominations on. Should we go for Fastest Growth? Perhaps nominate a charity web project in the Not for Profit Site of the Year category? Or put forward one of our team (or more than one) for the Rising Star award? Should we underline our own rebrand and push for the Rebrand of the Year? We could have entered all or any of those categories, but the addition of the Agency for Good category to this year’s line up forced our hand somewhat. We could hardly have embraced our tagline, “Creative for good” more appropriately than to craft an entry that encapsulated the outworking of our ethos in around 500 words.
Agency for Good
We’re a creative agency, but it’s the ‘for good’ aspect that sets us apart. It’s our aim to make a difference or add value in everything we do, whether that’s in how we’re working with a client, or the purchasing decisions we make for the studio. Creative for good means different things to each member of the team, and we each have different ethical priorities.
Our Wirehive100 Awards entry started with the outcomes of our sustainability audit, our immediate actions, and the achievement of our Carbon Neutral status. We decided to go a step further than carbon neutral, offsetting more than we use and entering carbon positivity.
Looking after our team ...
Following our carbon offsetting, we shared our local environmental activity. A priority for our client director, Jack, is to treat the team well. We spend at least 42.5 of our waking hours each week together which means it’s important that we love what we do. It was this priority that led us off on a team afternoon out at a local farm.
Broughton Water Buffalo takes a unique approach to farming and land management. Supporting biodiversity, they’re re-establishing hedgerows, planting trees, reinstating rivers and planting reeds, and much more. Our team-building afternoon consisted of a tour of the farm with a talk from Dagan (the owner) on his biodiversity projects and plans, a little light labour (removing tree casings from trees that didn’t quite make it), before getting to the serious business of playing, eating, and drinking.
It was during that serious business that one of the team spotted the Twitter notification, alerting us to the fact that we’d made the finalist list in the Agency for Good award. There were high-fives all round as we celebrated all we’ve achieved over the last twelve months. In truth, while winning an award would be the icing on a magnificent cake, the progress we’ve made and the journey we’ve taken since that birthday celebration is enough of an achievement to warrant the party.
Roll on awards night – and best of luck to all of the finalists.
