Impressed!
I attach the daily release, three mentions yesterday. I spoke to the Law Society CEO in passing, even he was impressed!
Jonathan Smithers, Partner, CooperBurnett
Time to be creative
Orpington-based Ecce Media is reaping the benefits of its innovative scheme to keep its team fresh and creative. Called ‘5% Friday' the initiative gives team members the opportunity one day a month (or 5% of their time) to focus on projects which are purely creative - not necessarily in their job description, not client driven, something different from the norm and a chance to test new ideas.
"People working in creative and technical industries very often end up spending a fair proportion of their time focused on projects which don't necessarily tap into their creative juices," says Brant McNaughton, Managing Director of Ecce Media. "We didn't want to lose sight of how talented and creative our team is and ‘5% Friday' is a great way of letting them develop their new ideas."
Brant says that clients still take priority.
"Client work is not abandoned during ‘5% Friday' and it often interrupts the process, which is fine," he explains. "Of course, clients also stand to benefit from ‘5% Friday', because as we grow and develop ideas, we think how they would work for our customers."
‘5% Friday' is not a unique idea and is based on Google's ‘20% time' - from where Gmail and Adsense, for instance, originated. But, Google wasn't the first company to encourage its team to be creative. Back in 1948, 3M, the adhesives company, introduced ‘15% time' to give employees the opportunity to ‘chase rainbows' and develop their own ideas. Out of one of these sessions came Post-It Notes.
"The format of ‘5% Friday' is that the guys work on their projects - either as teams or individuals - and, at the end of the day, present their results," Brant explains. "They can then revisit these projects during the next ring-fenced ‘5% Friday'."
Ecce Media is a Kent-based web development agency with a proven track record in designing, developing and delivering highly functional websites.
"We all really look forward to ‘5% Friday'," says Marc Prior, a member of the Ecce Media team. "It's a real opportunity to brainstorm ideas and also work together as a team - sharing and developing the ideas we've had."
Ideas which have come out of ‘5% Friday' include a website customer demographic tool, enhanced search analytics, a new URL shortening facility, a plane spotting app, and GPS property measurement apps.
"Ideally, we'd like to increase our creative time to ‘10%' but we are lucky enough to be very busy with client-related projects currently," adds Brant. "And ‘10% Friday' doesn't have quite the same ring; we might have to move it to a Tuesday!"
Notes to editors:
•· Ecce Media is a Kent-based web development agency with a proven track record in designing, developing and delivering highly functional websites. The company prides itself on being approachable, friendly, professional and jargon-free.
•· Ecce Media is built on an exceptionally strong technical foundation, augmented by a talented team of committed professionals, specialising in system architecture development, marketing, search engine optimisation and social media. Its in-house software development team is continually evolving and improving the most current technologies and services.
•· Based in Orpington and established in 1999, Ecce Media is a team of five, headed up by Brant McNaughton, who has 12 years of experience and brings the experiences learnt from 15 years previously in the financial markets around the world.
•· The company works with a wide range of clients - including small and medium-sized businesses, charities and government institutions.
•· Ecce Media prides itself on working closely with the local community. The company is a member of the Federation of Small Businesses, Bromley Creative Community and Liz McNaughton is on the Local Economic Partnership of the London Borough of Bromley.
