March might not be over, but we’ve already been spoilt for choice this year when it comes to creative campaigns. While some have hit the spot, others have generated controversy and sparked heated debates on social media. Whatever the reaction, we think the following campaigns nailed it when it comes to brand awareness. The best a man can get? We take a trip across the pond for our first memorable campaign. In January, Gillette showcased its new take on the established ‘The Best a Man Can Get’ slogan in a campaign from Grey. It took a bold stance against bullying and sexism, looking to men to take responsibility to be better. The video, which went viral on social media, amended the slogan to ‘The Best a Man Can Be’ and caused quite a stir. While traditional audiences recoiled from the message, it generated a positive reaction from mainly women and young men who praised the brand for its bold stance. A quarter of a century of Predator We’re a sucker for a nostalgia trip, and although watching David Beckham and Zinedine Zidane sit on a sofa watching football clips doesn’t tug at the heartstrings, we still harbour a soft spot for it. Created by Iris, the footballing pair wear the gold and white Adidas Predator boots they donned back in the early 2000s when they played for Real Madrid. A much-needed shot of British pride This advert arguably dropped at a time when the British public needed it the most! ‘Made by Britain’ created by Ogilvy shows the people, ideas and values that British Airways believe sum up our nation. Featuring a host of famous personalities including Oscar-winner Olivia Colman and champion boxer Anthony Joshua, the advert captures everything people love about Britain from our penchant for tea to the grit we display when things get tough. And finally...THAT vegan sausage roll Greggs is a British high street staple and has never been afraid to poke fun at itself when it comes to marketing. However, everything stepped up a gear in January when the baker revealed the launch of its first vegan sausage roll and was propelled into the headlines within hours. The video that the company created for the roll received more than 5 million views, with related posts receiving 100,000s of interactions across social media, including an infamous exchange with morning TV antagonist Piers Morgan. Well done, Greggs! What campaigns stood out for you? Stay tuned to the Henry Nicholas blog for more opinions and insights into all things creative.

It’s not every day that your business turns 10 years old, and we want to mark the occasion by looking back at our fantastic decade in recruitment... 2009 What better time to start a business than amid a global recession? I’ve always enjoyed a challenge, so with a decade of recruitment experience under my belt and The Fear by Lily Allen blasting from the radio (it was number one, I couldn’t avoid it), I fired up my laptop, and Henry Nicholas was born. To cement my place as a real business owner, I made a stationary order that included 1,000 envelopes. #Winning Learning curve While Trump was learning how to bully lead on The Apprentice in preparation for becoming the leader of the free world, I was growing the Henry Nicholas team to meet with client and candidate demand. From day one, the world of marketing & PR, data & insight, digital, technology and creative refused to stand still thanks to the emergence of programmatic advertising and new social platforms which changed the game beyond recognition. One of the most important lessons we’ve learned is to keep adapting our approach to recruitment. Traditional recruitment practices are dead, with social media and digital marketing now key to ensuring a seamless experience for both of our clients and candidates. Also, our team concluded that suits are well and truly out, and personal expression is in. 2019 Fast forward 10 years and our client numbers have doubled, which is no mean feat in a time that sees increased competition in our space. What we’re most proud of is that we continue to work with the clients who were with us from day one. We’ve also welcomed lots of new faces to the Henry Nicholas team along the way and celebrated our company successes together on trips to New York, Las Vegas, Dublin, Prague, Barcelona, Croatia, Portugal, Palma, and most recently skiing in Bulgaria! Being based in Bristol has always been a massive advantage for us too. The city has become a real hot spot for technology and creative industries to supplement an already booming financial sector, with further growth expected here in the future. And as for those 1,000 envelopes, I’ve only just got through them. 10 Years at Henry Nicholas Four weddings Three babies (one more on the way!) Eight tattoos Cost of lunch in Bristol has doubled Beards are now trendy We’ve killed five coffee machines ​ Be part of the next 10! As Henry Nicholas continues to grow, we’re looking for talented and driven recruitment professionals and trainees to join our team in Bristol. If you’re interested in making waves in recruitment, then you can apply to join us here.

A decade in business is an occasion that must be marked with something special for the entire team. We’ve organised many team trips over the years to destinations like New York, Las Vegas and The Algarve but this time we wanted to forget about targets and do something a bit different. So, in a bid to escape the bitterly cold British winter we thought it was apt to head somewhere...*drumroll, please*...even colder! That’s right, we packed our thermals and set off for Pamporovo in Bulgaria for a week on the slopes. Oh, and did we mention that, aside from John who dabbled 18 years ago, we’re all ski novices? We got off to a dramatic start with Pamporovo receiving three metres of snow on the day we arrived. While the snow was great news for skiing, it did mean that the three-hour trip from the airport to the resort ended up taking an eye-watering nine-hours. Once we were there safe and sound, it was time to learn how to ski! While we’re never going to give Chemmy Alcott a run for her money, we were proud to conquer the intermediate red runs before we left. That being said, all of us spectacularly bailed on the resort’s most severe black run ‘The Wall’. We’re nothing if not ambitious! It wasn’t all high-octane, with après-ski and fine dining in the evenings, followed by us hitting the Irish bar and ‘The Pub’ before an early start back on the slopes to blow away those cobwebs in the morning. As you can see by our photos, we all had a fantastic time and got genuinely bitten by the ski bug! All that’s left to say is that we’re so grateful to the business for taking us all away on this unforgettable trip, as well as all of our clients and candidates who have supported Henry Nicholas over the last 10 years. Will you be joining us on our next trip? Henry Nicholas is on the lookout for passionate and driven recruiters to join our thriving team in Bristol. Head to our Join Us page to find out more about our rewarding career opportunities and apply today. HN10 ski trip from Henry Nicholas on Vimeo. ​

We may be only one month in but good news stories have been few and far between so far this year. That’s why we were pleased to see the Office for National Statistics (ONS) report that the number of people in work in the UK has reached a record high. Other findings from the report, which measured the period from September to November 2018, included: Estimated 32.54 million people in work - 141,000 more than for June to August 2018 and 328,000 more than for a year earlier. Employment rate estimated 75.8%, slightly higher than for a year earlier (75.3%) and the highest since comparable estimates began in 1971. 1.37 million unemployed people, 68,000 fewer than for a year earlier. Unemployment rate estimated at 4.0% and hasn’t been lower since December 1974 to February 1975. Average weekly earnings for employees in nominal terms (not adjusted for price inflation) increased by 3.3% excluding bonuses, and by 3.4% including bonuses, compared with a year earlier. Average weekly earnings for employees in real terms (adjusted for price inflation) increased by 1.1% excluding bonuses, and by 1.2% including bonuses, compared with a year earlier. The number of job vacancies rose by 10,000 to a record high of 853,000. What was the reaction? Employment Minister Alok Sharma said to the BBC: "Our pro-business policies have helped boost private sector employment by 3.8 million since 2010, and as the Resolution Foundation's latest report shows, the 'jobs-boom has helped some of the most disadvantaged groups find employment', providing opportunities across society." Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics also told the BBC: "We doubt that wage growth will be sustained over the next six months at November's strong rate. Pay settlements likely will weaken this year, as the previous year's inflation rate usually is the starting point for negotiations. Nonetheless, the labour market now looks tight enough to ensure that wage growth does not slip below the 3% mark." Tony Wilson, director of the Institute for Employment Studies (IES), commented: “With unemployment so low, vacancies at their highest ever and EU migration slowing, there is very little spare capacity to meet employer demands. In recent years, we’ve seen more people joining the workforce from ‘economic inactivity’ – typically parents, older people and those with health conditions – but this is slowing fast, with fewer economically inactive people saying that they want a job than ever before. This lack of capacity may well be fuelling pay growth, and, in turn, may start to feed through into inflation.” Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) director of policy Tom Hadley said at the time: “However the politics play out over the coming weeks and months, employers will need to continue innovating in how they hire and attract staff to fill vacancies. Recruitment professionals will play a pivotal role in finding new ways of meeting workforce challenges in high-demand sectors, ranging from engineering and healthcare to hospitality, construction and logistics.” As we mentioned, anything positive on the news agenda is most welcome right now; however, Jeremy Thomson-Cook, chief economist at currency dealer WorldFirst, offered some perspective in the Guardian: “Employment in itself is a lagging indicator. It is slow to react to positive or negative changes in the economic cycle so, although these numbers are ostensibly for what happened in November, they are more a representation of what happened in the summer. The summer was a good time for the UK economy, and so wage and jobs numbers reflect a time of strong business confidence, heightened productivity and relative political calm. Remember that?” Time will tell, and 2019 is shaping up to be an interesting year for all. One thing’s for certain; Henry Nicholas will continue to work closely with our clients and candidates to ensure in-demand talent is matched to the right roles. Looking to join a team that’s going places? Check out our latest vacancies and apply today.

Bristol is a unique UK city that really does have everything, from creativity and culture to a rich and fascinating history. However, given that it’s home to the Henry Nicholas head office, we would say that wouldn’t we? That’s why we’ve pulled together some ringing endorsements from external sources that prove it really is one of the best places to live and work in the UK today. New York Times seal of approval Bristol was the only English city to feature in the New York Times’ list of 52 places in the world to go in 2018, with the write-up stating: “Edgy, creative Bristol is aiming for another label in 2018: cultural powerhouse”. The article also gave a shout out to the Bristol Old Vic, Britain’s oldest continuously working theatre, St. George’s Bristol concert hall, and the Great Western Railway (yes, really). It’s the best place to live The Sunday Times voted Bristol as the “best place to live in Britain” in 2017, and although it was dethroned in 2018 (damn you, York!), it was name-checked in as one of the “best places to live in the city” according to the Times. The cities on the list were featured thanks to their cutting-edge culture, finest food, buzzing nightlife, and a short walk home. Food, glorious food! Bristol’s food scene has gone from strength to strength in recent years with a host of brilliant new openings and award recognition for established haunts. In fact, Casamia, run by chef Peter Sanchez-Iglesias, was named the best regional restaurant in the UK by online restaurant guide SquareMeal.co.uk. Voted by readers and food bloggers, Casamia climbed 11 places from 2017 to take the coveted top spot. Ben McCormack, editor of SquareMeal, said: “With its 14-course tasting menu, space for just 35 diners, restricted opening hours and contemporary good looks, Casamia has everything you would expect from an ambitious destination restaurant in one of Britain's most vibrant cities.” Making other cities green with envy For a number of years, Bristol has been associated with the green movement and has gained the status as a Green Capital. Founded in 2007, Bristol Green Capital Partnership brings together over 800 member organisations who are committed to working towards Bristol becoming a sustainable city with a high-quality of life for all. Additionally, Bristol is the UK’s first Cycling City and is also a Fairtrade City meaning it trades fairly with nearly five million workers in 58 developing countries. Not only this, but Bristol is also home to the Soil Association and sustainable transport charity Sustrans, and this week it was reported to be the world’s most vegan city! Top for tech Bristol is one of the top 10 cities in Europe, the Middle East and Africa when it comes to technology, according to investment company CBRE. Beating Vienna, Cambridge and Rotterdam to bag sixth place, it was named a ‘super cluster’ which means there are between 50,000 and 70,000 people in high-tech employment. This is partly due to the presence of telecoms companies such as EE, BT, Nokia and Vodafone, and other large tech employers including Lloyds Banking Group. Tom Morris, managing director at CBRE in Bristol commented: “Our strong universities and vibrant urban environment have made Bristol a magnet for young development talent and the city is attracting tech companies of all sizes.” And finally… It’s home to Henry Nicholas! I know, I know, but we couldn’t resist. Take a peek into life at Henry Nicholas and why it’s such a great place to work in Bristol. Henry Nicholas - Work For Us on Vimeo. Interested in joining our team? You won’t regret it. Find out more about us and what we can do for you and your career, and apply today.

Each month, we’ll be catching up with a member of our team to find out more about who they are and what they do at Henry Nicholas. We’re kicking things off with a chat with our superstar consultant Emma Whitting… Emma, is there such a thing as a typical day at Henry Nicholas? No! Every day is different. You could be working on a client brief, talking through roles with candidates, arranging interviews, and visiting clients all of the way through to managing job offers, which involves dealing with the associated paperwork and arranging start dates. You can try to plan your day but everything can change depending on the needs of our clients and candidates, so you’ve got to be ready to adapt, think on your feet and multitask. What type of roles do you recruit for? A lot of agency roles spanning comms, creative, PR and branding. I recruit a broad range of levels from junior account executives, to creative and development all of the way up to senior management and board level roles. I also recruit for in-house roles for well-known brands in retail, travel, finance and the not-for-profit sector, including everything from marketing managers to data and insight specialists. What makes a successful recruitment consultant? Excellent people skills are essential. You’ve got to be able to get stuck in from day one and start building relationships. At Henry Nicholas, consultants must have a genuine passion for our specialist sectors as we spend a lot of time immersing ourselves in our clients’ brands, culture and values in order to speak credibly about their business and roles to candidates. What are today’s candidates looking for from an employer? Salary remains an important factor, but progression is also key. Candidates are looking for evidence of long-term progression opportunities within ambitious companies that continue to grow. The right cultural fit is critical too; candidates want to know more about the team, their personalities, working style and social scene before they get put forward for a role. How about employers? There are skills shortages in certain sectors and therefore a much smaller candidate pool. As a result, retention of staff is crucial, with employers offering competitive salaries and extra benefits to entice the right talent. How would you sum up the culture at Henry Nicholas? We’re like a big family. We support one another, work hard and have fun. There’s a lot of trust put in each member of staff, so it doesn’t feel like there’s a hierarchy as all senior team members are hands-on and offer us help and support. What advice would you give to someone thinking about a career in recruitment? You’ve got to immerse yourself from day one. Get embedded in a specialist industry or sectors and learn as much as possible, so that you can become an authority for both clients and candidates. Recruiters have to be resilient too as things won’t always go your way, so the ability to overcome challenges and obstacles is essential. If you’re passionate about recruitment and want to join Emma on the Henry Nicholas team, send over your details today!

Whether it’s to increase market presence, fight off competition or simply survive, buy-outs and acquisitions have become the norm over the last decade. Not only do some of the deals impact us as consumers, but it can also significantly affect both the UK and international jobs market. 2018 has been a particularly exciting year for brands, with buyouts, acquisitions and mergers accounting for £1.9tn in the first half of the year alone. Let’s take a look... Supermarket sweep March saw the completion of Tesco’s £4bn takeover of wholesaler Booker, creating a true force to be reckoned with in Britain’s £200bn-a-year food market. A deal that hasn’t been quite as straightforward is the planned mega-merger of Sainsbury’s and Asda. The latest sees a court finding that the Competition and Market Authority’s (CMA) had treated Sainsbury’s and Asda unfairly in not allowing them more time to respond to evidence submitted as part of an investigation into the proposed £12bn merger. A final ruling is expected in March 2019. Sports Direct flashes the cash Sports Direct bought department store chain House of Fraser for £90m and Evans Cycles as part of a pre-pack administration. While the deals have unfortunately resulted in a large number of job losses and store closures, we’re interested to see what the future holds for both of these high street staples in 2019. Caffeine overload It was reported in August that Coca-Cola (a brand that’s recently graced our blog) would be purchasing Costa Coffee in a £4bn deal that will turn the soft drinks giant into the UK’s biggest coffee shop player, giving it a firm foothold in one of the world’s fastest-growing drinks categories. Getting busy with the fizzy August brought news of another major drinks deal, this time from Coca-Cola rival Pepsi which announced it would be buying Isreal-based SodaStream for £2.5bn. The deal is said to provide Pepsi with a new way of reaching customers in their homes and has been struck at a time when its signature sugary drinks are becoming less popular, especially since the introduction of sugar tax. Oodles of noodles October cemented a £559m deal that saw The Restaurant Group (TRG), who owns Frankie & Benny and Garfunkel’s, purchase Wagamama. Stating that the Asian-themed restaurant had “consistently and significantly outperformed its core UK market”, TRG announced plans to expand the chain in a bid to capitalise on the trend for healthier eating. DAN gets GEG Just this week, it was announced that Dentsu Aegis Network had bought Kansas-based digital agency Digital Evolution Group (DEG), which will join Isobar to form DEG, Linked by Isobar. This mega merger looks to leverage DEG’s existing relationships with Salesforce, Adobe and Microsoft cloud platforms to help the newly formed agency strengthen its marketing technology capabilities. As the UK edges closer to leaving the European Union, we’re expecting an interesting start to 2019 for some of our most recognised brands. So, stay tuned to the Henry Nicholas blog for the latest brand news, opinions and commentary.

Who doesn’t love a good end-of-year round-up? You may have seen our top picks for Christmas adverts in a recent blog post, and now we’ve put our heads together to pick our favourite campaigns that pushed the envelope this year. Has yours made the list? Lloyds Bank with‘#GetTheInsideOut’ This award-winning campaign created by adam&eveDDB, featured a mix of celebrities, members of the public and Lloyds staff taking part in a guessing game with sticky notes that depicted mental health conditions. The adverts aimed to remove the stigma of mental illness and encourage people to talk to one another about it. Nike featuring Colin Kaepernick We love it when brands take a risk, and Nike certainly did that this year. Created by Widen+Kennedy, the ad featured American footballer Colin Kaepernick who at the time was a controversial figure in the US due to his decision to kneel during the national anthem to protest racial injustice. His actions split opinions across the states, which made Nike’s decision a bold one, especially with the accompanying strapline of ‘Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything’. KFC says ‘FCK’ We had a sneaking suspicion this print ad might make our end-of-year list. An impeccable (pun?) demonstration of effective crisis comms, KFC released the cheeky ad after it was forced to shut hundreds of its restaurants in February following a chicken shortage. Instead of adopting a serious approach, KFC rearranged its letters to make FCK in a national print ad created by Mother London which apologised to the general public. Luckily, the UK saw the funny side and sales of buckets weren’t affected. SpaceX takes a Tesla into space It didn’t get more random than this. In a move that had ad execs exploring a new galaxy of opportunities, Elon Musk’s enterprises SpaceX and Tesla teamed up to send a Tesla Roadster to space. You have to see it to believe it, but the stunt was a resounding success, drawing millions of viewers and thousands of pieces of press coverage. CALM delivers Project 84 The campaign that had the most significant impact on us came from charity Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) and shaving brand Harry’s to increase awareness of male suicide in the UK. Project 84, saw the sculptures of 84 males placed on top of ITV’s This Morning studio and South Bank building, signifying the number of men who take their own this every week. The installation, created by adam&eveDDB and US street artist Mark Jenkins, formed part of a larger campaign by CALM, which is calling for real government action on suicide. It had an incredible response, with 34% more people reaching out to CALM for help and enough signatures on CALM’s #StandAgainstSuicide petition. It’s been another wonderful year for creative thinking, with the UK making its mark across the world with outstanding and impactful campaigns. Stay tuned to the Henry Nicholas blog for our top marketing picks throughout 2019.

In a previous blog post, we discussed Iceland’s Christmas advert which never made it to our television screens due to it being too political on its stance on the use of palm oil in products. At the time of writing that post, we were still eagerly awaiting the John Lewis advert to drop, and other big retailers were remaining tight-lipped about their seasonal showcases. However, fast-forward to the first week of December and Christmas is in full-swing in ad-land! From human plugs to a near carrot catastrophe, we run down our top Christmas picks for 2018. The boy and the piano Let’s address the most hotly anticipated festive ad of the year: John Lewis’s big-budget Elton John extravaganza which takes a nostalgic look back, Benjamin Button-style, through the singer’s life. While Kantar Millward Brown’s annual survey of the year's biggest Christmas ads revealed that people found it lacked relevance and credibility, we enjoyed this outing from Adam & Eve/DDB and thought it lived up to the hype surrounding its premiere. Kevin the Carrot leaves us hanging The internet collectively lost its cool when Aldi released its Coca-Cola spoof featuring Kevin the Carrot and a (literal) cliffhanger, complete with the hashtag #savekevin. Were they really going to kill off arguably the most popular Christmas character from the last three years? McCann UK certainly knew how to ruffle some feathers, and there have since been some fairy tale follow-ups featuring the lovable vegetable and his family, but our favourite was the one that kicked them all off. Two words: The plug Sainsbury’s was one of the first big brands to debut their Christmas advert this year, and they did it with a bang thanks to their all-singing, all-dancing school production theme. There’s a LOT of festivity in this creative offering from Wieden & Kennedy, from dancing turkeys to a boy dressed as a plug performing an epic jump into a socket. Despite recent controversy surrounding the plug scene and how it might prompt children to play with sockets, this ad performed highly on "enjoyment" and "brand love" in the Kantar survey. We certainly got that fuzzy festive feeling. Have you seen Santa? A surprise hit for us this year came from Specsavers, which was not only impressive due to the fact it was created in-house by Specsavers’ film-makers Lenny Lenfesty and Kristin Rathje, but also because it captured real heart. The series of adverts feature real primary school children describing their experiences of seeing Santa, with the accompanying line 'Never seen Santa? Should've gone to Specsavers'. It might not be the one everyone’s talking about, but we loved the simplicity and the fact that they got it done on a shoestring budget! Love is a Gift Our list wouldn’t be complete without mentioning a certain viral advert that wasn’t actually created for any brand at all. Yes, we’re talking about the emotional short film that was famously created for just £50 by filmmaker Phil Beastall. Shot back in 2014 but only released after John Lewis shared their Christmas outing, Love is a Gift tugs at the heartstrings and serves as a reminder of what Christmas is all about. YouTube viewer rankings* John Lewis & Partners Christmas Ad 2018 - #EltonJohnLewis - 11,616,163 The Big Night | Sainsbury's Ad | Christmas 2018 - 4,271,007 views LOVE IS A GIFT - Christmas Short Film - 1,645,102 views Aldi Kevin the Carrot Christmas Cliff Hanger Advert - 1,529,075 views When I saw Santa, I saw him in real life | Specsavers - 3,656 views *Results taken 4th December from each brand’s official YouTube channel only. Stay tuned to the Henry Nicholas blog for the latest news and insights from our team about all things creative.

The Henry Nicholas team caught up with Jonathan Brook, Head of Software Engineering for the UK’s leading provider of land and property search information Landmark Information Group to find out how software development has evolved and what its future might hold. How have you seen the software development landscape change in recent years? When I started working in software development over 23 years ago, it was a niche sector; no one could anticipate how much things would change. The biggest shift has been in the last five years following the rise of cloud services (AWS, Azure and then Google). Since then, the mindset has switched from being purely focused on technologies to a much more business-outcome approach. The cloud environment helped this significantly because many tasks that we used to do, creating invoice and authentication systems etc., now are off the shelf Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions. It means we’re able to shift our focus from operational tasks to always thinking about competitive advantage. What talent are you looking for right now? At Landmark, we require engineers who not only understand the basics but who are ready to take on any challenge. It’s about much more than Java or .Net developers nowadays, we need professionals who are willing to use multiple languages in multiple cloud environments. Open source components are now prevalent in all software that is produced by software engineering teams and all our engineers should be prepared to embrace and contribute to open source projects. From a Landmark perspective we see real positives from our staff doing this, not only because it gives them professional development but it is a great recruitment tool for us when trying to attracting great candidates. What advice do you have for those considering a career in development? Graduates need to leave university with confidence. Landmark’s graduates are hungry to succeed, nimble and fast learners with many quickly becoming as good as our senior staff in a short space of time. I advise learning multiple languages across multiple environments where you can. Today’s professionals need to have a genuine love for tech and be ready to take on new challenges so they can continue to develop. What are your predictions for the future of development? On top of the continued evolution of agile companies there are two key areas changing at the moment: Artificial Intelligence (AI). If you’re not in cloud environments and using AI technologies, you can’t compete. AI should be in everything that you do and ingrained in all of your products and services. It’s about future-proofing your business, with image processing, language processing and bots playing a considerable part in this. The ethical challenge comes with ensuring these AI tools remove tasks without removing people, so staff are free to focus on gaining a competitive advantage. Security. Organisations need to protect themselves against data breaches and hacking in this post-GDPR world. There are great off-the-shelf tools, with SaaS for security products emerging all of the time, meaning your people don’t need to know how everything works, but rather how to assess risk. This is an especially important area due to an ongoing shift that sees engineers being accountable for the code they bring live and its security. For the latest news and insights from key figures in our specialist industries, stay tuned to the Henry Nicholas blog.