We are taking a look at some of the significant moments within Istoria Group over the last 12 months. The following Top 10 encapsulates the most noteworthy and impactful highlights that have shaped our collective year:

Ten-Striving to lead by example

As well as our success in balancing strong shows of corporate and project stories overall, the stand-out PR success of the year has been in thought leadership.

We had 136 quotes, profile interviews and full-length pieces for all agencies spread throughout the year on a great variety of subjects, and meaningful, industry-specific commentary, across sustainability, from accreditations and sustainability reporting to project demolition, our sustainable actions to opinions on eco design cliches.

Our opinion pieces ranged from mentoring, retail, AI, student advice and the menopause, to what it means being a B Corp and working in the USA.

nine - Our staff spend 970 hours volunteering

Our collective volunteering hours totals 970.5 which equates to 40.44 days - from beach cleans for Surfers Against Sewage to staff members becoming Equal Opportunities Ambassadors for Babbasa.

eight - Significant new client wins

Group-wide, we won 11 significant new clients across different sectors – through pitching and word-of-mouth referrals.

1 x pharmaceutical client
2 x aesthetic beauty clients
2 x renewable energy clients
3 x hospitality clients
1 x retail client
1 x technology client
1 x aerospace client

We look forward to partnering with both our new and existing clients during 2024 to continue creating excellent work!

seven - Supporting the UN’s SDG’s

As a women owned business, we’re supporting girls’ education in Africa through CAMFED. We help with school fees for their secondary education, and buy their sanitary wear and uniforms.

We’re also supporting The Cordillera Azul National Park project, located in Peru’s high forest between the Andes and the Amazon Basin. It supports 26 community based businesses, with 40% of jobs held by women.

This project is working in a huge landscape of 37 million hectares (nearly the size of the Netherlands) to protect 16 million hectares of threatened forest.

In addition, a wide community driven programme is helping tens of thousands of local people gain access to basic services such as sanitation, healthcare and education.

Through Ecologi we’re supporting the protection of the Matavén forest in eastern Colombia and avoiding methane emissions from landfill in Brazil.

This means the only SDGs we are not yet contributing to are 2 – Zero hunger and 11 – Sustainable cities and communities.

By 2030, Istoria Group aims to support all of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.

six - International Women’s Day/B Corp Month

As part of International Women’s Day and B Corp Month, we featured on Coutts’ window in the Strand as both a fellow B Corp and a Certified Women-Owned Business Enterprise.

five - Investing in our people

Our teams are growing. This year we welcomed 14 new starters, from designers to project managers, office manager to finance and new business.

We invested 138 hours in a new Manager Development programme, as we would like to have the best managers in the agency world.

As part of our commitment to Employee Wellbeing, we sharpened our People Policy and launched ‘Happy Hour’, a bi-monthly wellbeing session for staff during work hours with lunch being provided. Sessions ranged from chair yoga to art classes and include wellbeing tips for staff in our Monthly Bulletin too.

Four - we reduced our carbon emissions and became a climate positive workforce

We became a Climate Positive Workforce and have reduced our Carbon Emissions by 56% since our 2019 base year.

THREE - supporting local good causes

Each team member with a corporate credit card joined Easyfundraising where a % of each transaction is donated to our chosen charity, The Julian Trust, which helps homeless people in Bristol. We’ve raised £1,246.93 so far this year.

We also donated £300 to social enterprise Babbasa to help them prepare young people for the emerging OurCity2030 employment opportunities. OurCity2030 is a bold and positive ambition to support at least one person from each low-income household in Bristol to secure a median salary by 2030. Our donation allows Babbasa to onboard and provide 1 x young person with intensive employability support for 12 weeks.

TWO - We published our first b impact report

As part of our commitment as a B Corp, we have to publish regular Impact Reports to keep track of how well we're doing. It's not just a requirement; it's simply the right thing to do.

This report is all about sharing what we've achieved, celebrating our successes, and pushing ourselves to do even better. We want everyone who's interested in our company, from our clients and internal teams to the wider community, to use this report to make sure we're doing what we say we will.

We strongly believe that every company should be a force for good and make a positive difference to their clients, employees, communities, and the environment.

One - incubator hub competition

As a women-owned business, on International Women’s Day, and as part of #BCorpMonth, we launched a competition to find a regional, women-led Micro Business to support as part of our Incubator Hub programme, whereby Istoria Group houses and helps guide fledgling businesses during their initial period of development.

We teamed up with two local social enterprises - Babbasa and Black South West Network - to help spread the word and ensure news of the competition would reach groups who have traditionally been under-represented in business, whether because of class, gender, ethnicity, age or a participation-limiting condition.

Self Agency, who’s vision it is to help make Bristol the neurodivergent capital of the UK, was the winner. Self Agency received free office space over a six-month period at Istoria Group’s Paintworks offices; mentoring from the creative business group’s leadership team in business, financial management, PR and marketing, along with a raft of creative services, including a brand critique and refresh by the group’s design agency Phoenix Wharf and a website build by its digital transformation experts Tiny Spark.

From left to right: Sam Rowe - CEO Ignition & Istoria Group, Devon Lowndes – Founder at Self Agency, Lindie Kramers – CMO Istoria Group

The Istoria Group agencies are:

Ignition | Exhibitions, Events & Experiences

Tiny Spark | Purposeful Digital Experiences

Phoenix Wharf | Interior Design & Branding

Thank you for reading.

From everyone across the Istoria Group, thank you for your continued support and we look forward to sharing more highlights with you next year!

Top 10 Highlights of 2023

Our top 10 highlights of

2023