Sophie Harflett (00:00):
Hi, welcome to the video. I'm Sophie from the GEL Studios team and you're watching What Makes It GEL.
(00:09):
Yeah, so today is our first video in the What Makes it GEL series. If you already know who we are, then thank you so much for joining us. If you are new, then welcome in. It's great to see you. Today I've got Carly, who is our creative director, the driving force behind many of our creative projects and the longest standing member of the team.
Carly Smith (00:32):
Thanks, Soph.
Sophie Harflett (00:33):
Thank you for joining us today.
Carly Smith (00:34):
Very welcome.
Sophie Harflett (00:35):
To start off, I think just a question to you, what makes it GEL?
Carly Smith (00:41):
That's a very big question. And when I really think about it, I honestly don't think it's one thing. I think it's lots of little things that we do and that we've learned over the years. When you look at our mission that combines creativity, strategy, collaboration, driving lasting results, all of that is underpinned by our vision to inspire change through creativity. There's so much that goes into that and there's a lot to unpack. And it took us several years to get to the bottom of that and find what was really unique to us, and it is a combination of so many things. I think a big thing for us is what we stand for. So not just how we go about our day-to-day and the values and how we conduct ourselves, I think we genuinely do have a very strong culture, which I think clients really benefit from 100%.
(01:43):
But there's also what we stand for in terms of wanting to make sure that everything we deliver is impactful for our clients, meeting their goals, but also in the local community. But then there's also things like our processes and the workshops that we have in place so that we can really understand the why behind a client and everything that goes into making them unique before we start any work. The fact that we've built specifically a team of experts in all these different areas for branding, design, websites, marketing, and we put a lot of effort into culture wellbeing so that we can attract and maintain top talent, and that makes for a very well-rounded kind of team so that we can support clients from start to finish. We're all working under one roof, but without being the jack of all trades.
Sophie Harflett (02:46):
Yeah. It feels like as a team, we can do a bit of everything, but there is specialism within that.
Carly Smith (02:52):
For sure, yeah.
Sophie Harflett (02:54):
And I think that's what makes it so special.
Carly Smith (02:55):
Absolutely it is. And having those experts in each area, there's still a huge amount of collaboration that goes on in between team members, but also just sharing knowledge from what we've learned in one industry, can that be applied to another? It's very much a team effort. But also what goes into it is even things like the space that we've built, like this office, again, it's a huge kind of tick in the box for the team. We all love being here, makes us more productive, but it's also an amazing space to welcome clients into. And we get so much positive feedback from clients, when they walk in there is an element of wow factor, which makes us really proud, but it has been built in a way that we can get the most out of the team and the clients. When a client walks through the door, it's kind of a distraction from their day-to-day environment. They can come in and focus on whatever it is we're doing, meeting, workshop, whatever it might be. And it's all of those little things I think that contribute to what makes it GEL.
Sophie Harflett (03:58):
Yeah. It's not just one thing, it's many parts of a whole.
Carly Smith (04:01):
Absolutely it is for sure.
Sophie Harflett (04:02):
Yeah. And I think not just the team, it is this incredible space that we work from. Like you said, when people walk in that door, they go, "Oh wow." It makes you feel proud-
Carly Smith (04:15):
So proud.
Sophie Harflett (04:16):
To be in such a wonderful space with such a wonderful team.
Carly Smith (04:19):
Absolutely it does. And it's a lot of time, effort, tears at some point I'm sure went into building the space and it's an evolving space. It's kind of changed since we first moved in and put our stamp on it. But rest assured, the green walls have been there from day one. They're not going anywhere.
Sophie Harflett (04:36):
And they're staying.
Carly Smith (04:36):
They will stay.
Sophie Harflett (04:36):
13 years of history. Green will always be there.
Carly Smith (04:36):
Same shade of green as well. It follows us around. But yeah, on a serious note, it is a really important part of what we offer and how we offer it so that clients can come in and feel welcomed and part of our team and helping with that focus that we need at any point of whatever we're doing for them.
Sophie Harflett (05:02):
Yeah, amazing.
(05:03):
So going off of that, GEL Studios is celebrating 13 years of history, which is a triumph for many companies, especially in this industry because it's getting tougher and tougher out there for our kind of people.
Carly Smith (05:17):
It really is, yep.
Sophie Harflett (05:17):
Within those 13 years, obviously you've been with GEL essentially that whole time. How much have you seen things change and evolve throughout that timeline?
Carly Smith (05:31):
Yeah, yeah. So much has changed, obviously in a great way. And when I think back to when I first started, obviously Graeme was on his own website development, made the call to bring myself in, which brought the design arm to the business. And obviously naturally that then gives you the ability to branch into obviously website design, but also branding and graphic design so we could offer clients a lot more. And that was a very natural progression and the services and the team were built around that. And as the years went on, there was, I wouldn't say a growing pressure at all, but there was certainly talks about us offering ongoing marketing. So things like social media, SEO, and we purposefully didn't go into it too soon because we knew that it was a natural extension of what we wanted to do, to be able to deliver that ongoing support, make that longer term impact. But we were so sure that we didn't want to offer it until we could do it in the right way and build the right type of service with the right team members, the right expertise.
Sophie Harflett (06:45):
Something that sort of carried through is doing the right thing in the right way.
Carly Smith (06:48):
Yeah, absolutely. And we could have gone into the ongoing marketing support earlier than what we did, but it wouldn't have been the right thing for us or our clients. We wanted to make sure that we did it in the right way. And the marketing side of things has grown so much over the last few years particularly. But when I think back to even the days, like I said, with myself and Graeme as the design team were building and then into marketing, at the heart of it all has always been the doing good. And I don't think that will ever change no matter how big we become, what services we offer, what team members are here, that's going to be at the heart of everything. So when I think it's quite easy for a company, I think, as they grow to potentially lose a little bit of original identity because things change, you need to keep up with the times. But I think that's something we're all really proud of is that's never wavered.
Sophie Harflett (07:46):
Yeah. And that's why we have inspiring change through creativity.
Carly Smith (07:49):
It is, yeah.
Sophie Harflett (07:50):
As a statement, where did that come from? When did that start?
Carly Smith (07:54):
Four very important words. And Graeme has said several times that took him a long time to come up with. And even though it was part of our DNA, it was almost part of our DNA without us necessarily even realizing it. So it was a lot of searching and understanding what is it that makes us different and what is at the heart of every decision? But ultimately inspiring change through creativity is our north star. I've said it before, I'll say it again, guides every decision that we make. And ultimately it means that everything we do has a positive lasting impact. And like I said, that applies to our clients in terms of helping them reach their goals, but it also applies to working in the local community. And it's kind of our commitment back, I guess. And we've always said the bigger that GEL gets, the more we grow, the more that commitment grows and the bigger we become, the more good we can do. And inspiring change through creativity will be at the heart of that.
Sophie Harflett (09:00):
Yeah. I mean, it's definitely, from what I've seen, I'm one of the newer members of the team to be fair, but seeing inspiring change through creativity from the history of GEL, but then going into the future as well, because we've got this really amazing future growth plan that looks like we're just going to keep growing and growing and growing. In terms of your thoughts on the growth plan, what are you looking forward to for the future?
Carly Smith (09:29):
I think when you look over the last few years, there's lots of work that we've done on ourselves internally in terms of the processes that we have, the team members, the services we offer. And alongside all of that has always been the doing good. That's never changed. But along that journey, there's been some tough moments, some tough decisions that have had to have been made, but there's also been some really great and exciting moments. Most recently acquiring with Infinity Nation, that's a really huge thing for us. But all of these things that have happened over the last few years, all the decisions that have been made have been to get us to a strong position so that we can then accelerate that growth over the next three, four, five years.
(10:18):
And that growth is going to be a combination of growing the team and our expertise, growing the clients that we work with, what we can deliver for the clients, how we deliver it in terms of the quality. And I think, as I said, the more that that grows, the more good we can do, and that's never going to change. And I think so even though we've got this growth plan, doing good has always been and will always be at the heart of GEL. That's never going to change.
Sophie Harflett (10:49):
I feel like there aren't many places out there where doing good is the north star and the marketing, the design, the projects we do is sort of the force behind it.
Carly Smith (11:00):
It is, yeah. But I think, again, it's a combination of things. It's instilled in Graeme, just naturally as a person, he's so generous with his time and just wanting to give back, and that's obviously kind of rippled through GEL. And it could have easily become perhaps a top-down thing or Graeme saying, "We have to do good, therefore we should be doing good."
(11:25):
But it's genuinely not like that. I think that the whole team are on board with the mission and the vision and that's a huge part of building a team that can work together towards the same thing and having the right kind of players on the pitch as it were. But it is very much instilled throughout. But like I said, I think that that probably is quite a rare because I think everyone tries to do their bit and give back, but to build an ethos around it and commit, it's the commitment I think for us that's the big thing in terms of, like I say, to our clients and the local community. I think partly as a local business, we feel like there's a responsibility for it as well.
Sophie Harflett (12:10):
So we do good now and we keep doing good into the future.
Carly Smith (12:12):
We will always be doing good. Yeah, for sure.
Sophie Harflett (12:15):
Sounds like an amazing plan. I look forward to being a part of it.
Carly Smith (12:18):
You will be. You will be.
Sophie Harflett (12:20):
Amazing. Well, thank you so much for joining me today.
Carly Smith (12:23):
Very welcome.
Sophie Harflett (12:24):
Especially in our sort of premier episode.
Carly Smith (12:25):
Yes, very exciting. I feel privileged.
Sophie Harflett (12:28):
Well, yeah, that's it. Thank you so much.
Carly Smith (12:30):
Very welcome.
Sophie Harflett (12:31):
Had a great time speaking with you today.
Carly Smith (12:32):
Thank you very much.
Sophie Harflett (12:34):
Yeah, more to come.
Carly Smith (12:35):
More to come. Thank you.
Sophie Harflett (12:39):
Thanks.
(12:39):
Thank you so much for watching the video. I hope you enjoyed mine and Carly's conversation today. Be sure to stay tuned because we've got plenty more coming up in the future.
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