Hi friend,

Nineteen eighty four is in your inbox again to give you some of the best snippets to come out of the first half of August.

If you’ve got kids, you’ve passed the halfway mark of the school holidays and only have 3 more weeks until the pain stops.

We’ve got your back until then.

Don’t worry, we’re not doomed

Things have felt rough for the climate conscious for the past few months. It almost feels like we’re being smothered with headlines full of despair every week. However, the way things currently are don’t have to be the new normal. This article by Katherine Hayhoe is a great look at the good climate action happening across the globe, and why you shouldn’t just give up the fight.

When it comes to the wildfires of Maui, it’s being asked if the blazes have been made worse because of highly flammable invasive vegetation. While the cause of the fire isn’t yet known, it’s suspected that non-native species like conifers have increased fire risks and intensified the effects.

There’s something mysterious going on at solar farms in the UK. Bats don’t like going near them, and scientists don’t know why. This comes after a study into bats that found a 40% decrease in activity at the edge of solar farms, and 86% in their centre. Whether it’s because of lack of insects or the panels reflecting echolocation calls, this could have adverse effects on ecosystem health.

Beavers have just been born in the UK for the first time in 500 years. This isn’t something that happens by chance, however. We owe this miracle, and the successful reintroduction of many other species, to the magnificent Knepp Estate in Sussex. This new write-up is an excellent look into the estate and its efforts.

When a brand becomes pointless

You might’ve already heard about Wilko falling into the depths of the retail graveyard this month, resulting in 400 shops shutting and 12,000 jobs being put at risk. But let’s be honest, does anyone really care about the shop and will anyone actually remember it? Wilko is a good example of what happens when a brand becomes pointless and fails to keep up with a changing shopping culture.

Relationships are crucial in B2B, and marketing does a whole lot of good at fostering these relationships at every stage of the sales process. Though in some businesses, the role of the marketer can be understated, and even misunderstood as simply ‘the cherry on top’ after the sales team seals the deal. So let’s put these misconceptions to rest, here’s what marketing actually does for B2B.

Are you a creative looking to add more value to your business? Creativity itself is a vital skill for any entrepreneur, because at the end of the day, you’re the one developing the ideas driving your business forward. However, it’s not something we can turn on at all times, here are some great ways you can get your creative blood pumping.

Marketing has been seeing a big rise in job title inflation, where candidates are offered what should be a senior role, but with none of the responsibilities. If you’re wondering why, it’s probably down to firms wanting to save money or to look like it has a more ‘established’ hierarchy, but attaching senior titles to junior positions can end up creating a culture of inequality and can actually deter suitable candidates from applying.

Making exhibitions more sustainable

A new report by Urge Collective and the Design Museum has been released that takes a look at minimising the carbon impact of both the design and build of museum exhibitions (temporary and touring). This comes within a first wave of cultural policy fellowships commissioned by Future Observatory, investigating how the UK cultural sector can meet national net zero commitments. You can read the full white paper here.

Some AI tools are a bit naff, but some are also incredibly useful. A new AI tool that’s been gaining traction is Spring, created by sustainable packaging company Sourceful. This tool can create product packaging based on your branding instructions. We’re definitely guilty of playing around with this one too much.

It might not be everyone’s go-to drink, but if you’re a whisky fan, your next dram might be a lot more sustainable. Laphroaig has reduced its carbon emissions by 30% after switching up its packaging design, while also retaining what made the whisky brand unique. Changes include ditching the plastic top for beech wood, and its packing tube for a recyclable carton.

For the Avery & Brown team, we use Slack during the working day for all our instant messaging needs, but it’s about to see a massive overhaul in its design. Opinions are quite divided, and there’s debate as to what design choices either make or break a tool used in a professional environment. What do you think about the new look?

We turned 3!

This month saw a very exciting day for us, our birthday! We’re planning something big to celebrate in the coming months, but until then, we had to settle with an office photoshoot with our plants.

As a birthday gift to ourselves, we’ve just released the new Avery & Brown Branding Guidelines. Yes, it may have taken three years, but our excuse is we've been so busy working on our clients' ones we've only just made time for our own.

Covering everything from our mission, vision, and values to the graphics we use in our day to day, this document provides a comprehensive oversight of our brand identity and what makes us Avery & Brown.

We’re now an Accredited Living Wage Employer too. The Real Living Wage isn't just a number; it's a statement. It's the only UK wage rate that's genuinely based on the cost of living, taking into account the things we all face, like the food shop or unexpected dentist appointments. Russ wrote a short blog about our accreditation and the reasons why more businesses should hop on board.

Each issue of nineteen eighty four, we feature a different Certified B Corporation, to celebrate the brands which are working hard to create a better business world. To learn more about B Corps, click here.

Our featured B Corp this week is…

Pampa

‘We explore art. We preserve heritage. We empower culture.’

Pampa is a new B Corp that works with skilled artisans in remote Argentina, without any middlemen, to ethically produce beautiful handcrafted rugs, textiles, and homewares.

Behind every Pampa product is a long and complex process full of tradition and untouched by modern technology.

(We definitely recommend having a read of their manifesto).