As soon as people walk through the door at Happy HQ, the first thing many say as we greet them is…’wow…you are really happy’. They almost can’t believe why we have such a happy and positive outlook on life and why we are always smiling. But what is it that makes us happy I hear you ask? Well, this is a question that I want to answer so I decided to come up with my own top 5 list of what I feel contributes in a big way!
- GREAT BREWS, BISCUITS & OTHER GOODIES
Now these are a very important part of work at Happy Creative, hence why I’ve mentioned them first! There is nothing like a good brew, no one can argue about that! We love them at Happy and I personally swear by a very strong coffee to get me up and moving first thing in the morning. We all ensure we consume as much caffeine throughout the day as possible to keep our creative juices flowing and client focus in working order. Biscuits are a big winner at Happy and our sales director simply can’t work without them. He is always first in the queue to open every packet on every occasion. Sometimes he even loses track of how many biscuits he has actually had as the rest of the team are left perusing the tin for the left over crumbs. Doughnuts tend to make an appearance in the office every few weeks and don’t last long at all…trust me! It’s safe to say that we all have a very sweet tooth at Happy and always try to put that sweetness into the work we produce.
- HAPPY STORMING A GREAT IDEA
This is such an important part of life at Happy Creative. It’s a chance to really let yourself go with your creative flair and dig deep into a brief. We all go away and work separately initially for a few hours before a session to generate ideas ourselves that we feel answer the brief and then come together on the infamous Happy couch to share thoughts and inspiration. What’s wonderful about these sessions at Happy is that each member of the team has a different process of working and generating ideas and it often leads to a combination of people’s thoughts to create the best idea to take forward. So much comes out of these sessions that we often go well and truly over our scheduled time, which is never a bad thing. Once we pop, we just can’t stop!
- PITCHES & NEW CLIENTS
New clients is what we are always after at Happy HQ, it’s what we ultimately strive for each and every day and when the opportunity for a new brief arises, we all sink our teeth well and truly into it! We always go that little bit further and do that little bit extra to go beyond the brief, as we feel this is very important. It’s always a lovely comforting feeling to know a pitch has gone well and makes all the late nights and hard work worthwhile. When the call comes through that a client would like to work with us, it’s a wonderful and very proud moment for all members of the team. We all contribute and work so hard to get that phone call that, when it happens, it really motivates us and pushes us to work even harder. With every new relationship formed with new clients, we want to always aim to make it a happy one and exceed all client expectations.
- MUSIC
Now I’m the kind of person who needs a bit of background music when I’m working. I really can’t work in silence. Thankfully, we all love our music at Happy and make sure upbeat music that puts you in a positive frame of mind is always on and playing away. We often split our musical tastes throughout the office playing music that each member of the team likes. My personal favourite is The Script, I love their music. Thin White Duke is a winner for our Creative Director. Rihanna is an obsession that our sales director simply won’t let go of, so we often play her tracks to please him. As for the rest of the team, I’m not entirely sure what their personal tastes are but, as the Happy House DJ, I make sure the music on motivates and pleases everyone…I hope! One thing is for sure, though, if I ever hear Bruno Mars ‘Just the way you are’ again, I might just go a little crazy!
- A GREAT TEAM
We pride ourselves on being a great team. We all have a close relationship in the office environment and feel very comfortable with each other. We often share team banter, in a balanced way, obviously, and I think this is essential in the working environment to keep team spirit and team morale high. We often joke around and discuss funny stories amongst ourselves and there’s nothing quite like a good giggle to make you feel that little bit happier…I’m sure you’ll agree. The many important traits we all share as a team though are respect, motivation, ambition and a desire to succeed, this is what I feel helps the team to gel like it does. Many companies will say the same, I’m sure of it, but at Happy HQ, we never lose this and will never lose this.
So I hope that my little blog piece has entertained you and given you a small insight into life at Happy Creative and if you have any briefs you would like to share, pop in for a brew and biscuits, it would be great to see you!
Tom Fearon is a Designer and Guerrilla marketing expert at Happy Creative, a full service marketing agency based in Blackpool, Lancashire. To learn more or contact us please go to www.happy-creative.co.uk
