September Talk with Zara Weston from Hamilton-Brown Bristol

September is here. It's the month when autumn officially arrives - the autumn equinox is on September 22. What does this month hold for you and your business? What are you looking forward to for the rest of this year? What events are pending for you? What advice would you give to others? What are you grateful for in September?

Today we're talking to Zara Weston who is head of Hamilton-Brown Bristol. Hamilton-Brown is a creative design agency based in London and Bristol which helps larger companies develop their brand, brand message, brand bible and all of their collateral assets to support their business, ethics and purpose. 

What’s coming up for the business this month?

September is typically a busy time of year for our clients – with many returning from summer holidays, and kids back at school means there is a real focus on kick-starting business for the autumn. I am really looking forward to this quarter of the year as we have some great projects in motion. 

While our whole team have continued to deliver amazing results for our clients from home, we are looking forward to getting more of our people back together face-to-face to allow the collaboration to flow more easily and to help us all reconnect on a more personal level outside of a screen. 

We are currently organising in-person social events as well as opportunities to work together in the same physical studio space. The summer has allowed us to begin discussions with our team about how and where they want to work in the future and we have recently completed our hybrid working policy, based on our employees' views, for implementation when more people are ready to come back to our studios. 

September is also about taking the next steps in our own brand refresh and we are excited about sharing our new look with the wider Hamilton-Brown team and then the outside world. 

What are your personal plans for this month?

My diary for the last quarter of the year seems to be filling up fast – most people I know have now had their second jab which has made a real difference in people’s confidence around socialising. 

I have plans to visit friends in different locations along with a camping trip to Wales at the end of the month which will be my first proper holiday away in two years. My husband and I are also busy renovating our house along with fixing my car so it’s a busy month!

September is also known as ‘organic’ month – do you shop, dress, or behave with green ethics in mind? 

I think that every household can play their part in making small lifestyle changes to limit their impact on the environment. I definitely do my best to play my part, mainly due to my background and upbringing – we couldn’t afford to waste! 

Taking public transport or riding a bike to work, recycling and re-using where possible are important, most of my family have gone one step further and avoid plastic altogether – along with growing their own fruit and vegetables. 

World Gratitude Day takes place this month – what are you grateful for at the moment?

The pandemic has made me appreciate so much in my life, business and personal. For a lot of individuals and businesses the last 18 months has marked a great deal of change and I am proud of where we are as a business. 

I am grateful for my health, my family’s health, to still be working in an industry I am passionate about and to feel positive for the future. 

Who are you grateful for at the moment? 

It would be difficult to mention just a few people as there are so many, I am grateful for both professionally and personally. 

Put on the spot though I would have to say my husband, my mum, and my mum-in-law – I am forever grateful to have them in my life.  

What are your hopes for business in general this year? 

I am looking forward to re-connecting with colleagues in person and it’s great to have plans to see many that I haven’t seen since January 2020! 

People are positive at the moment and there is a real sense of ‘things happening’ in business. I am hopeful for future growth and opportunities. 

Have you got any events planned you’d like to shout about?

I have started to see more ‘in person’ events pop up which is exciting – we don’t have any events planned yet however we have started to recruit and expand our team – we have openings in both the Bristol and London offices: https://hamilton-brown.com/careers/

Have you got any services or special offers you’d like to mention? 

As we start to navigate out of the pandemic, a trend we have seen gain traction in recent months is clients looking to work with creative agencies such as ours to breathe life into and refresh their branding and visual identities. 

We feel clients are after new outlooks for their brand to stand out from the competition. A lot of businesses have since adapted their ethos to reflect new ways of working and looking to reflect this within their brand.

And finally, as a bit of fun, September marks Teddy Bear Day? Do you have your childhood teddy bear – or are you a bit of a kid with ‘grown up’ teddy bears? 

I am definitely a big child, not something I would readily admit but I am fond of teddies! My brother bought me a silly teddy for Christmas one year when I was in my early twenties and still have it – I also have a little elephant teddy that sits on my desk at home. 

Our puppy Finley has a polar bear teddy that he loves, he always sleeps with it at night – even though he is getting to be a big dog now! Silly things like that make me smile. 

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