âWhen you own your breath, nobody can steal your peaceâ Anon
Working in a fast paced communications agency has its challenges and requires energy, dedication and resilience, which is why we take the mental health* and wellbeing of our team very seriously at jellybean. We regularly carry out internal surveys to check-in and see how our team are feeling and identify where the professional pinch points are.
As the founder of jellybean 37 years ago I am proud to announce that as of September 2024 we are an employee-owned business through an EOT (Employee Ownership Trust).
This year I have chosen White Lodge as my nominated charity as it is very close to home for me both geographically and personally. Very dear friends of mine had a daughter Olivia who used a wide range of their services over the years and it became a real lifeline for the family. She went on to become the most amazingly confident young lady and a wheelchair athlete which is testament not only to her determination, resilience and courage but also to all the support she got from this essential hub of facilities and of course her parents. White Lodge is a wonderful purpose built 2-acre site in Chertsey which needs urgent help to refurbish the premises and their hydrotherapy pool.
I have many passions in life but top 3 on my list must be 1) my business jellybean, 2) my sport golf and 3) doing good whilst having fun. No offence to my partner Ian or my dog Kenzo they of course are right up there too. Last Friday I had the opportunity to combine all three of these passions by sponsoring and organising a ladies charity golf day at Sunningdale Heath where we raised much needed funds for the Ukraine Crisis Childrenâs Appeal via Plan International.
As we celebrate our 35th year in business I take time to think about jellybean and reflect on what we stand for and what may be at the core of our success as a long-standing integrated food and drink agency. And as coral is the gift for a 35th anniversary it seems appropriate to use that as a start point.
Charities have been one of the hardest hit sectors throughout the past 18 months both globally and much closer to home. Over its 35 year history, jellybean has sponsored literally hundreds of children and supported education projects in Africa through Plan International but in 2021, as we emerge from the effects of the pandemic, we wanted to keep things local and thus donated £10,000 to White Lodge in Chertsey to help save their Hydrotherapy pool and a further £10,000 to CWSNF, a Surrey based charity that I have been a patron of for many years. All funds raised through the foundation go straight to the point of need (all staff donate their time and expertise) and as a result CWSNF has a wide range of worthy applications to consider and allocate much needed funds to across the year. I was particularly delighted when the money was granted to an application from Woodlands School in Leatherhead (just a driver and 5 iron from jellybean HQ) to install Audio and Visual equipment in their Upper School Hall. What could be more worthy and more local than that!
Jellybean has always been active in supporting a wide range of charities in its 34-year history and this year is no exception. In 2019 we helped build classrooms in the Gambella region of Ethiopia and in 2020 we supported a programme to continue education for girls in Zimbabwe as they struggled through the impacts of the global pandemic.
It never ceases to amaze me that the guys at jellybean are always up for a new challenge. No matter how busy they are juggling workload with a hectic home life, even if it eats into their personal time and requires them to go outside their comfort zone. Whether itâs a 100-mile bike ride, running a marathon, completing the moonwalk, taking on the 3 peaks challenge, or devoting time or expertise to a charity initiative – the beans will rise to the occasion with enthusiasm, commitment and determination. All whilst having fun as a team and enjoying the banter and camaraderie along the way.
I am absolutely thrilled that Jellybean is a Top 60 B2B agency (59) and a Top 40 Integrated B2B agency (38) according to the recently released 2021 UK B2B Marketing Agencies Benchmarking Report.
The Children with Special Needs Foundation is my choice for the Jellybean 12 days of giving initiative 2020. I have been a supporter and patron for over 15 years of this wonderful local charity that was all set to celebrate its 25th year in 2020 and ramp up fundraising in this momentous year. Sadly, due to Covid, virtually all activity has had to be shelved and as a result essential funds have seriously depleted. CWSNF was inspired by Nick Ivil (who has Downs Syndrome and is still very involved to this day) and started by the inimitable and tireless Gordon and Ann Parris MBE. What sets this charity apart from so many others is that all the money raised goes to the point of need (all the hard working and enthusiastic team involved volunteer their time and expertise), every request for help is personally considered on its merits no matter how large or small the requirement and it is all about providing life-changing equipment and experiences to children with a wide range of special needs.
As we continue to struggle as a nation to cope with the impact of Covid-19 on a local, national and international level, and adapt our lives to a new normal in order to keep the R number below 1 and implement strategic lockdowns in specific communities, I stop to reflect on the impact this pandemic is having on our 2020 project helping girls in Zimbabwe continue their education. Whilst we complain about compulsory quarantine after a 2 week holiday in Spain, rally against wearing face masks in busy public places, miss having mass social gatherings with our friends and family and struggle with continuing to work from home in an ever changing landscape, spare a thought for a country that is suffering from a poor harvest, rampant inflation and a growing Coronavirus problem.
As Jellybean celebrates its 33rd year in business and manages its way through the Covid 19 lockdown I take a rather irreverent look back and reflect on what was happening in the UK in 1987 – the year that it all started and our business was established. I am sure it will jog some memories and I hope it brings a smile to a few old faces who remember those days as fondly as I do.
Dealing with a situation like Covid19 on a local, national and global scale is unprecedented and uncharted and it touches every single one of us on a macro and micro scale. Never before have we felt so vulnerable, fighting an invisible enemy, afraid for our health, our friendsâ and familiesâ health, our future jobs and the damage to us financially and emotionally, as we lock down to flatten the curve and take pressure off essential services.
Hot on the heels of our Gambella refugee project of 2019 I am delighted to announce that in 2020 Jellybean is supporting a new initiative for educating adolescent girls in Zimbabwe. Plan Internationalâs project aims to give 21,780 of the most marginalised girls, in one of the worldâs poorest countries, the chance to advance their education and go on to earn a fair wage and make a safe living.
For my Jellybean 12 days of giving I spent the day with the Comms (awareness and influence of prospect donors) and IGU Individual Giving Unit (Recruitment and commitment) teams at the Plan International UK offices in London. My purpose was to learn more about how they market their sponsorship programme and to share my own experiences â Jellybean has sponsored a child for every employee for over 32 years â and to host a workshop on what Plan International UK could do better in the future by leveraging their sponsorship database, maximising media opportunities and improving future communications to increase recruitment of sponsors.
âGive what you have. To someone it may be better than you dare to think.â Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
After the success of last year, I am delighted to kick off our â12 Days of Givingâ Christmas charity initiative, when the Jellybean team donates 12 days of our time to various charities that are closest to our hearts. This is on top of the 150+ hours we have already committed throughout the year to help local and industry charities. It is fitting that we launch this annual initiative on the 3rd December to coincide with Giving Tuesday – a global generosity movement unleashing the power of people and organizations to transform their communities and the world.
The recent Extinction Rebellion protests have focused our minds on a global problem and if I have learnt one thing from them it is that âWe can choose to be affected by the world or we can choose to affect the world.â Heidi Wills. The XR cause is undoubtedly a worthy one and critical to the future of our planet and I am not here to challenge the essence of their goal or to speculate on their questionable (and sometimes hypocritical) methods, but rather to reflect on another critical world problem that is deserving of the same level of attention – child poverty.
As reported in previous blogs there are more refugees in the world than ever before, numbering some 65million and over half of them are children. The civil war in South Sudan is one of the most severe humanitarian crises in the world and Ethiopia has opened its borders to 375,000 refugees living in camps and host communities in the Gambella region.
I am delighted to report that Jellybeanâs School initiative with Plan International progresses apace. The construction materials and contractors have been secured, and construction was scheduled to begin this month â we look forward to a further update soon.But letâs be honest no one wants to look at photos of a building site, so I thought I would share with you some inspiring images from a neighbouring project in the Gambella region in Ethiopa so you can see the vision rather than the current reality.
