Blog | Flying Object | a creative agency

What can a raspberry beret reveal about branding?

At sixth form college, I bought a dark pink beret in a charity shop. Inspired by that Prince song, I decided it would be my signature item. I would wear it every day, communicating to the world that a...

Jess

Published on 13 November 2024

We Are Flying Objects: Anthony Odu, Designer

I started off drawing Pokemon, copying the cards. There were some really complex ones that I wasn't skilled enough to draw back then, but I was pretty good at Pikachu and Charmander. You know, the...

Jess

Published on 14 October 2024

Audiences (or, an ode to Reddit deep dives?)

I have been obsessed with audiences for a long time. By that, I mean since I was staging dance shows for soft toys, or imagining I was the host of Ready Steady Cook every time I made a peanut butter...

Jess

Published on 5 July 2024

We Are Flying Objects: Jade Harrison, Producer

If there was a Pinterest board made to represent me, I think I could make a pretty accurate guess as to what would be on it. Maybe like, Bella Hadid-esque, slightly ugly-weird fashion (which I like to...

Zoe

Published on 14 June 2024

Capturing subatomic oddity through an optical illusion in logo design

Quantum physics - and I’m going to make a big understatement here - is quite weird. If you’ve ever tried to engage with it as a topic, you’ll have discovered that it contradicts what you thought you...

Published on 7 June 2024

Everything is copy. But not all of it is this good.

“If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it,” Elmore Leonard, the great American crime novelist once said. It’s a sentiment repeated in various ways when it comes to copy – “kill your darlings” said...

Zoe

Published on 31 May 2024

We Are Flying Objects: Charles Rickleton, Art Director

I’m addicted to Wikipedia. That’s probably a good starting point for explaining how I became an Art Director. Which is to say, I’ve never really been the sort of artist that honed one skill set, or...

Zoe

Published on 20 May 2024

Sausage roll socks, anyone? Why brand collaborations work

There’s nothing quite like a brand collaboration. Last week, Morley’s Chicken shop – South London’s beloved post-pub scran saviour – announced their latest partnership with Heinz. The pair have...

Published on 10 May 2024

We are Flying Objects: Adele Hambly, Senior Studio & Operations Manager

One thing about me is that I’ve always stayed true to my core values. A few months ago I was helping my mum clear stuff from her house and came across my first ever report card from school – I must...

Published on 26 April 2024

How working with science brands made us into temporary experts

Last summer, I got an education. I’d been working on a particularly unique brief, working with the team at Wellcome Trust to devise a way to communicate their often complex areas of work in climate...

Zoe

Published on 19 April 2024

How to write a content strategy in 5 steps

The success of your content lies in a well thought out strategy. When done right, strategic content will attract and engage your audience, create brand trust and support your business needs. Even if...

Precious McCarthy

Published on 15 March 2024

Who TF is Reesa Teesa and how is she transforming marketing on TikTok?

Teesa's success is a lesson in how to strategise TikTok's imminent move towards long-form content as the platform battles with rivals YouTube and Netflix Her online odyssey detailing an ill-fated love...

Published on 1 March 2024

We are Flying Objects: Jessica Jordan-Wrench, Producer

There’s one moment in my career so far that really stands out. I was playing a suicidal mermaid in a shell bra in a five week production of an experimental Christmas art show in Margate. The first few...

Published on 23 February 2024

How we tried to keep it real when marketing to scientists

“Authentic” and “relatable” - the terrible twins of advertising buzzwords. Come on, does anyone want their marketing to be inauthentic, or unrelatable? But what do we really mean when we reach for...

Tim Partridge

Published on 16 February 2024

We are Flying Objects: Iya Mistry, Junior Designer

One of my first ever projects was an in-depth booklet. Inside was a somewhat complex series of drawings and stories about dogs going to the beach, going on walks, doing all sorts of things. It was...

Published on 2 February 2024

Who do you think you’re talking to? How editorial guidelines impact brand campaigns

In publishing, there’s a well-worn saying that editors often abide by: “Are we spying on our readers’ lives?” It’s not another smart home device scandal (though it is, admittedly, sinister sounding)...

Published on 26 January 2024

TikTok Strategy Tips for 2024

It was once an app reserved for teens, with a questionable reputation and an interface that adults would never fully understand. But, perhaps this year more than ever before, TikTok is the most talked...

Published on 12 January 2024

What does the end of third party cookies mean for audience targeting?

As we begin the new year, 2023 won’t be the only thing we bid adieu. For 30 years third party cookies have been a staple of the internet. Using crumbs of data to lead advertisers and marketers toward...

Precious McCarthy

Published on 5 January 2024

AI & Marketing in 2024: a quick reality check

2023 has been AI's poster year. Read enough blogs, LinkedIn posts and what we once called "tweets" promoting 27 AI tools you simply must be using and you’ll think it’s changing everything. It's at the...

Tom Pursey

Published on 6 December 2023

A-Z of Flying Object: A history of the last ten years

This month marks ten whole years of our creative agency, Flying Object. Can we wrap up a decade of campaigns, content and experiences in less than 90 seconds? Erm no… but watch us give it a shot in...

Tim Partridge & Tom Pursey

Published on 10 November 2023

Flying Object... or is it 'Unfamiliar Horse'?

"Why are you called Flying Object", and other frequently asked questions, answered

After ten years of running a creative agency called Flying Object, some questions just keep coming up. Tom, one of our co-founders, has a stab at answering them. Why are you called Flying Object...

Tom Pursey

Published on 20 October 2023

Flying Object - Mental Health Communication - Brain

Embracing tensions, resisting cliches and building platforms: a creative agency's approach to communication around mental health research

Earlier this year, we helped launch the callout campaign for I Hope This Helps, a new crowdsourced film about mental health, from the makers of Life in a Day, and commissioned by Wellcome, one of the...

Tim Partridge

Published on 28 July 2023

Barbenheimer - Barbie vs Oppenheimer - Flying Object

The Barbenheimer Effect: Why Did It Work So Well?

Our designer Iya Mistry has been left fascinated by this week’s release of both Barbie & Oppenheimer and their promo campaigns - was it seeded or not!? - I didn’t think much of it when Barbie and...

Iya Mistry

Published on 21 July 2023

Flying Object - Unfolded Campaign - Origami Illustration

How to turn a complex topic into a clear, emotionally compelling story: inside Unfolded

If you know anything about experimental protein structure determination using techniques like X-ray crystallography, you know how time consuming it is and why DeepMind’s ground-breaking AI system...

Annie Flynn

Published on 14 July 2023

Trust the process

Client or agency, you’ve been in this meeting: it was all going very well, and everyone had spent weeks nodding in agreement, ‘loving’ the direction of the initial design work. But now the tone’s...

Tom Pursey

Published on 2 May 2023

Creating multisensory imagery

Images that describe common sensory experiences are hard to find. Our research with Unsplash found that words like echoing, resonant and wobbly have been searched for many times by visitors to the...

Anthony Ody & Iya Mistry

Published on 8 March 2023

B2B interview special: Narratives, channels, and avoiding the formalism trap

So much more than sales support: we talk to CMO Jalin Somaiya about how B2B marketing can tell powerful stories and drive effective brand growth - all without getting stuck in the jargon. As part of...

Tom Pursey

Published on 7 February 2023

white and red illustration of a chef on a green background

The best case study video ever made (and 4 techniques you can use to better it)

There are good reasons B2B marketers use client case studies as a key part of their arsenal: as well as offering a reassuring testimonial, they help potential customers to see how their own problems...

Tim

Published on 27 January 2023

Un-Boring Your B2B Marketing

Overly technical. Impenetrable lingo. A bit dry. If you're honest, are these the adjectives that come to mind when you think about B2B marketing? Why is it that B2B is often so uninspiring? That...

Annie Flynn

Published on 25 January 2023

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: A NEW VISUAL LANGUAGE

Within popular culture, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is often associated with dystopia, especially through the visual tropes used to illustrate it. As the technology becomes increasingly part of our...

Jessica Jordan-Wrench

Published on 9 August 2022

Don’t work with influencers - work with experts

We’re being a little tongue in cheek with the title there. There are tons of benefits to collaborating with influencers, and it’s something we love to do. We’ve even written about it, more than once...

Annie

Published on 15 February 2022

Tongue in cheek, not kitchen sink

It’s like raaaayyaaaaaiiiiiiiiin on your wedding day! Like a free riiiiiiiiide, when you’ve already paid! Like getting someone else’s client to trend on Twitter! Who would have thought, it figures...

Tom

Published on 14 January 2022

Illustration of generative visuals being creatd

Turning Sound Into Graphic Design

Recently we had the opportunity to work with KEF, renowned makers of luxury speakers and sound systems, on a content series for their online platforms Sound of Life and Sound Lab. Working on the...

Anthony

Published on 23 November 2021

An illustration showing a child running out of shot, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake.

Mulling on the John Lewis Home Insurance Ad

This week’s social media talking point has been the new John Lewis Home Insurance ad. The 60 second TV spot sees a child dancing around their home, exploring a world of gender fluid performance art...

Catherine

Published on 22 October 2021

Illustration of salt bae's knife raising a steak to the sky

Salt Bae's steakhouse and the rise of the commercialised meme

What can memes teach brands about the power of social media? Social media has been up in arms this week. The issue? Eye-watering prices at the new Nusr-Et Steakhouse in Knightsbridge, the latest...

Annie

Published on 8 October 2021

Teacher standing at a board, pointing at what's written there.

What I didn't learn in ad school #2

Creative teams or collaborative teams? The second instalment in our "what I didn't learn in ad school" series. Check out the first here. Loving Creative Teams Teaming up is a big deal to Creatives...

Catherine

Published on 23 September 2021

Illustration showing a video shoot with a stop timer

How to shoot 10 videos in half an hour

Little Mix are commemorating their 10 year anniversary in the music industry with a new album, announced yesterday. To help them celebrate, Twitter invited the band to look back on a decade’s worth of...

Published on 19 August 2021

an illustration of a phone looking at tiktok

What we learnt about the Olympics without watching the Olympics

Here at Flying Object, not all of us have been watching this year’s Olympics. At least, not directly. Instead, we’ve seen the games through platforms like TikTok and Twitter. So we wondered how this...

Priya and Annie

Published on 2 August 2021

An illustration showing three plinths topped with symbols, representing entertainment, education and inspiration respectively.

Be interested, be interesting

Dale Carnegie, author of the 1930s self-help bestseller How To Win Friends and Influence People, wrote: “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in...

Annie

Published on 23 July 2021

Nature vs Eco Sustainability in Experiential

Nature is in vogue right now. Perhaps it’s the threat of its loss that's ironically exulting it as a commodity that we can consume in a bid to save it? (I feel like Bill and Ted might have to help us...

Catherine

Published on 9 July 2021

An illustration of someone painting onto an easel

Who to follow on TikTok right now

A couple of weeks back, we shared some thoughts on how brands and online creators can benefit each other. We even included a few of our current favourite follows, from design accounts to comedy...

Annie

Published on 29 June 2021

A still from our CGI mash up of Scott Parker and Mike Skinner

Brands and Memes: How to get it right

We’ve been thinking a lot recently about online conversations, and the potential for brands to connect with their audiences on social media. We’ve looked at Paddy Power’s recent super league skit as a...

Annie

Published on 17 June 2021

Illustration showing someone working behind a screen with a lighting set up

How to work with online creators to reach their audiences & beyond

There are tons of benefits to working with online creators. Their dedicated audience means guaranteed eyes on your campaign. The intimacy they have with that audience lends your content extra...

Annie

Published on 11 June 2021

Illustratiom showing multiple phones hooked up to different social media sites

The Plural Social Media Strategy

There's some great stuff happening on social media these days. Big. Epic. Life changing in fact. From the surreal to the sublime, to the silly, to the serious. What does that mean for brands...

Catherine

Published on 3 June 2021

Illustration showing a comedy mask lying on a stage floor

How to use humour to connect with your audience

We know consumers make decisions based on their personal feelings and experiences far more than facts and figures. When forming impressions of your brand, their emotional response to your ad is going...

Annie

Published on 28 May 2021

Brand vs Performance Marketing - and the great measuring quandary

The Flying Object Brand Marketing 101: Part 3 - Brand vs Performance The key concepts in brand marketing, from a Flying Object point of view A few months back, Airbnb caused a wave of controversy in...

Tom

Published on 20 May 2021

An illustration of a figure interacting with a digital world

Building integrated campaigns on experiential: why it works

With - hopefully - social distancing regulations finally beginning to be lifted, many brands are feeling like they can start thinking about experiential again. We certainly are. It feels like a good...

Tom

Published on 14 May 2021

illustration of a typewriter set up, including an unfinished document with the title "Creative Brief"

How to write a creative brief

The Flying Object Brand Marketing 101: Part 2 - Briefs The key concepts in brand marketing, from a Flying Object point of view A creative brief is one of the most important elements in any commercial...

Catherine and Tom

Published on 6 May 2021

Illustration showing several smartphones live streaming the same image of a cat

Livestream Memes

A couple of months ago, I found myself unable to stop watching RedLightRacingUK - a livestream on TikTok. When I first joined the stream, I was lost. But it quickly became clear what was happening...

Priya

Published on 30 April 2021

A human hand reaching out to touch a robotic one

How to market tech without losing the personal touch

When it comes to marketing digital products, there’s one major pitfall most brands are keen to avoid. Messaging that leans into the tech and away from the human heart of the product risks coming...

Annie

Published on 22 April 2021

Illustration of two adverts for vodka - one luxury, one cheaper

What is a brand?

The Flying Object Brand Marketing 101: Part 1 - Brands The key concepts in brand marketing, from a Flying Object point of view What makes a vodka good? Take Grey Goose: £39 for 70cl in Tesco, made...

Tom

Published on 16 April 2021

Illustration showing the Flying Object crystal ball of marketing themes

Five themes for the year ahead

Now we have an idea what the year looks like - what should we all be thinking about? Kinda late to write a 2021 blog post, isn’t it? Sure - but there’s never a bad time to reflect on how you approach...

Tom

Published on 31 March 2021

"SELF MADE" tattoo across a woman's knuckles

What I didn't learn in ad school #1

So what didn't I learn in ad school? Compassion. What did I learn in ad school? Strategy. Ideas. Tone of voice. 'Yes and…'. Focus. Courage. Competitive edge. But I didn't notice compassion on anyone's...

Catherine

Published on 25 March 2021

Invisible Copy

What's been my biggest goal as a copywriter? To write a novel longer than War And Peace? Of course. To develop a TV script that turns into a Netflix five season sensation? Naturally. Create an ad...

Catherine

Published on 18 March 2021

What Life in a Day (re-)taught me about community and collaboration online

It has been a month since Life in a Day 2020 launched to the world, first premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, and then on YouTube. The response has been extremely gratifying - approaching 14...

Tim

Published on 10 March 2021

5 Thoughts on this week's Airbnb announcement

Reflections on brand and performance marketing This week, Airbnb founder & chief exec Brian Chesky ruffled feathers by declaring that the brand will massively decrease performance marketing and...

Tom

Published on 4 March 2021

What I learnt in ad school

Flying Object senior creative Cat Howarth studied Advertising at Falmouth, and went on to work for some of the largest agencies in London, including Mother, before joining our team. She explains how...

Catherine

Published on 25 February 2021

Going Live

It’s easier than ever to broadcast live to an audience. Producer George Bergel talks through the things to know. A live broadcast used to mean a hugely complex and technically demanding undertaking -...

George

Published on 19 February 2021

How Much and How Long?

We get asked this a lot, so here’s a rough guide to timelines and budgets for video productions.

Tom

Published on 11 February 2021

Something New

How we brought art and research together to communicate Wellcome’s complex message about mental health.

Annie

Published on 4 February 2021

How we helped capture a single day in the weirdest year ever

After a year’s work, Life in a Day 2020, the feature film produced by RSA Films in association with Flying Object, is premiering at the Sundance Film Festival this Monday. Annie chatted to Tim about...

Annie

Published on 28 January 2021

#ShantyTok

A return to the great era of internet collaboration? TikTok, the unlikely hero of last year, has once again stepped in just as 2021 was starting to look really dicey. Out of nowhere, a nineteenth...

Tom and Annie

Published on 21 January 2021

work tools (wrench, spanner, screwdriver) on plain background

Three January Resolutions for Brands

So 2021 might not be the fresh start we all hoped for - but there's important work to be getting on with. Here's our top three resolutions for marketing managers Fix the plumbing and articulate your...

Annie

Published on 14 January 2021

2020, as told by Flying Object Freelancers

2020 hasn’t been your run of the mill twelve months and, in a year of bleak headlines, one in particular has stuck out to us. The freelance industry have had to deal with the double hammer-blow of...

Annie and George

Published on 18 December 2020

2020: achievements, learnings, memes

Grand historical narratives aside, what will we remember from this year? Small at scale is a theme for Flying Object: a feature film knitted together from phone videos of daily life, Tweets taking...

Tom

Published on 3 December 2020

job application sitting unfinished on a desk

Applying for creative jobs: advice we’d give after reviewing 350 applications

If you’re applying for creative jobs at the moment, especially at a junior level, you’re probably going to be up against a lot of other people. We found this when we recently posted a hire for a...

Tom, Cat and Charles

Published on 26 November 2020

A Critique of Pure Rishi

Remember, remember, the fifth of November 2020 - a key date in both economic policy and personal branding, two things that operate in a Venn diagram populated by a man whose year cannot have gone as...

Tom

Published on 23 November 2020

Brand love in the age of lockdown

2020 has made us reflect on what really matters. So what have supermarket deliveries taught us about our relationship with brands? Supermarket deliveries have never been so vital. They were always...

Catherine

Published on 18 November 2020

How do we make animations?

Making original, high quality animations for our clients is one of our favourite things to do at Flying Object. If it’s your first time working with us, or you’re thinking about dipping a toe into the...

Annie Flynn

Published on 10 November 2020

Not Spooked by Covid-19 Halloween

Covid-19 hasn’t stopped us doing our FLO thing. In fact, it’s made us hone our skills. Our Halloween campaign for Twitter going live today is a great example. In our third partnership with Twitter...

Annie

Published on 30 October 2020

In 2018 we were asked to envisage what a Spanish Flu outbreak would look like today. Little did we know that 2020 would show us how right (or wrong) we were.

In early 2020, as reports of a novel coronavirus spread, the eerie headlines and growing sense of collective unease began to feel strangely familiar to our team at Flying Object, thanks to Spanish Flu...

Annie, George and Tim

Published on 21 October 2020

Animation: Is it the right fit for your brief?

Animations offer a lot to the right audience, and can be an amazing part of your marketing strategy. From simple motion graphics pieces through stop-motion, hand-rendered work to realistic 3D, there’s...

Annie

Published on 15 October 2020

Got a great idea for an experience? Here’s 3 ways integrating with video can make it work harder for your brand post-Covid.

It’s no secret that the continuing Covid-19 situation has created a difficult atmosphere for experiential marketing. If you’ve had to postpone the genius pop-up or amazing event you’ve had in the...

George

Published on 1 October 2020

On creative adventures (and 7 years of Flying Object)

In 2013, when Tom and I were contemplating leaving our cushty stable jobs and thinking about what came next, a friend suggested that what I needed was an adventure: a step outside of my comfort zone...

Published on 18 September 2020

girl in mask proffering red rose to camera

We asked young people how they coped with life in lockdown and this is what we learnt.

During Covid-19, Wellcome wanted to hear from young people first hand about the steps they were taking to stay positive and manage their mental health. The idea was to capture real life coping...

Annie

Published on 4 August 2020

On 25th July we’re making a film with Ridley Scott… and you can too.

We’re very excited to share the launch of Life in a Day 2020, a new documentary feature film produced by Ridley Scott’s RSA Films in association with Flying Object. Ten years ago, on 24 July 2010...

Published on 15 July 2020

Beyond the pandemic: 5 tips for content that works now and tomorrow

As the uncertainty of the last few months seems set to extend into the foreseeable future, brands face a challenge. How do we shape communications that are sensitive to the current situation but also...

Published on 7 July 2020

Planning a safe shoot during Covid-19: a checklist

Whether you’re planning a shoot yourself or just interested to know how things are changing, we’ve pulled together a handy checklist for planning a safe shoot during Covid-19. Of course this can’t...

Published on 30 June 2020

Video during Covid-19: what are your options?

Video during Covid-19: what are your options? With lockdown easing, but the threat of Covid-19 on our minds, what's the latest thinking on film shoots and what video options are currently available...

Published on 30 June 2020

Work from Home desk with cat's paw and child's hand

Best "Work From Home" Tips: What We've Learned

Lockdown restrictions are beginning to ease but, for many of us, Work from Home looks set to continue indefinitely. With 3 months experience behind us and a way to go yet, the Flying Objects review the internet's Work from Home tips.

Annie

Published on 23 June 2020

Black writers on brands and Black Lives Matter

This week, we have been reading and listening. We feel grateful that there is a wealth of educational resources available online, created through the generous labour of black writers and activists...

Published on 10 June 2020

Global Village Coffeehouse facebook group

So Facebook groups are where design history happens now…

This is what I thought when a friend invited me to join Global Village Coffeehouse, a Facebook group dedicated to a specific 90s aesthetic trope. It was instantly familiar, yet something I hadn’t seen...

Charles Rickleton

Published on 15 May 2019

Working with YouTube creators? Here’s our top 5 learnings

If I say “YouTuber creator”, what do you think? The archetypal image is probably someone who looks like Zoella — a young, chirpy person vlogging away from the privacy of their bedroom, chatting to a...

Published on 8 May 2019

3…2…1… Why going live can be the right choice for your brand

A livestream broadcast used to mean a hugely complex and technically demanding undertaking — but nowadays it can be far simpler to engage with your audience via live video. Products such as Facebook...

Published on 9 April 2019

Memories of cyberspace

Happy 30th birthday to the web. We’ve come a long way from AOL discs, embarrassing Hotmail addresses and dancing hamsters, to a world in which virtually all our time, money and attention seems to be...

Published on 13 March 2019

How to win battles and influence people

This month saw some big news in the gaming world — but before you tune out this isn’t yet another article about the dominance of Fortnite. OK, yes, Fortnite is involved. But I’m more interested in the...

Published on 25 February 2019

Well that was that. Now what?

Goodbye, 2018, the year we built an island in a car, went filming in Iraq, imagined a flu pandemic on Instagram, stood up to cancer with 75 YouTubers, launched a music app in Afghanistan, learnt how...

Tom

Published on 8 January 2019

Millennials :/

I’ll say some words, you tell me what I’m describing. Gym selfies. Instagram stories. Flat shares (rented, obvs). Gluten free. “Personal brand”. Activated charcoal. Social media-induced anxiety. Bingo...

Published on 3 January 2019

Four ways internet-first companies build their brands

We call them “new world” companies: businesses designed for the world we live in now. Internet-first brands like Monzo, Asos and Warby Parker, who use the technology we have in our hands, the rapid...

Published on 15 August 2018

B2B marketing with Google's Harry Davies

As Google EMEA’s Head of Performance Ads Marketing, and now leading efforts on marketing measurement and attribution, Harry Davies has spent years thinking about how one of the world’s biggest brands...

Published on 20 July 2018

IGTV — Why you should care about Instagram’s newest feature

What is IGTV? IGTV is non-expiring long form, vertical video within the Instagram ecosystem. Users will be able to post video content to IGTV up to an hour in length. It appears in a new, discrete...

Taha Khan

Published on 7 August 2017

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