Red Setter Year in Review – Our Top 10 Highlights

After another busy and exciting year at Red Setter with lots of high points, we’ve managed to condense and capture 10 highlights that mean the most to us. Here’s to 2022…

1. Great Place to Work

This year we took part in the official Great Place to Work survey and launched our own internal programme looking at every aspect of Red Setter life. Taking themes including caring and support; health and wellbeing; community; recognition; learning and ethics, we are now on a continuous mission to improve. We want to do better, be better, look after our team and have a lot of fun along the way.

2. Porto

One major fun experience is our annual trip away. After a two-year pandemic enforced hiatus, our trip was back in May 2022 with a weekend in Porto. A storytelling treasure hunt, port cave tour and tasting and general merriment followed. For many of us, it was our first travel abroad in over two years, so it was quite a big deal and gave us all a taste for travel again.

3. Clients

Being able to travel meant we could shelve Zoom for a few weeks and set up some in-person client meet ups. This year we travelled to Manchester, Leeds, San Diego, San Francisco, LA, Eindhoven and Amsterdam, among others. Whilst Zoom and Teams have changed the way we work for the better, there is nothing like in real life meetings (and the ‘get to know you better’ drink or two…)

4. My Life in Design podcast

One of our most exciting news stories this year has been our managing partner Claire launching her podcast series. The ‘My Life in Design’ podcast kicked off in April with 10 design industry leaders sharing their design journeys. Watch out for series two coming in January 2023!

5. RS Sessions

Continuing our focus on education and skill building, we’ve been enjoying our weekly Red Setter Sessions. This year we had a mix of internal and external trainers and speakers, including a session on the history of brand from branding expert Bill Wallsgrove and advice on financial wellbeing and the cost of living with Stacy from Claro. Our media strategist Sarah kicked off a series of pitching workshops, and we continued to hone our storytelling skills with rolling workshops over the year.

6. Breakfast Club and pizzas

Our Mondays and Wednesdays were made just a little bit better this year, firstly with the launch of the Red Setter breakfast club! On Mondays we set the team up for the week with pastries, crumpets, and piles of fruit before our whole company meeting, then on Wednesdays we have a full team lunch. We’ve had pizzas, tortillas, sushi, and good old M&S. Who knew that our passion for Connie the Caterpillar chocolate rolls was so fierce?!

7. New Red Setters!

This year we welcomed a dazzling group of PR and editorial experts to our team. This includes editorial consultants Anna McKie and Hayley Hayes, who bring a wealth of writing and editorial experience, alongside account manager Jack Terry, and account executives Josh Johnson and Lily Clamp (with Lily originally joining us an PR intern and starting full-time on graduation). And finally our fabulous PR admin Ellie Harbinson, who is currently in her final year of studying for her journalism degree, is now working with us two days a week.

8. Brighton Design Meet Up

Back in sunny May, Claire and Dom Bailey, co-founder and strategic director at Baxter & Bailey, decided it was about time the burgeoning and brilliant Brighton design scene had an official reason to get together. The ‘Brighton Design Meet Up’ was formed and the first event saw over 30 designers – and those working across the design industry – come together for a few drinks, a chat, and some networking. The second event happened last month and looks set to build as more designers join the meet up with the next one in the diary for May 2023.

9. Health insurance

We’ve had Heka as a bonus benefit supporting our health and wellbeing for a few years, but this year we launched our company health insurance. For all of us, this is big news and a reassurance. Thank you, Red Setter!

10. Community

We might be a global agency but giving back to our local community means a lot to us. This year, as well as our team sharing their time to go in and support local charities, we’ve helped spread PR goodness by hosting two internships and welcoming three year 10 work experience students to the workplace. Alongside our friends at Baxter & Bailey, Claire also went into local secondary schools to talk to students about the potential for a career in design, in a bid to improve inclusivity in the industry. Next year we plan to build on this and forge more connections with the University of Sussex and Brighton University and local schools.

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A big thank you to our team for continuing to set the bar high and being a joy to work with, and to our clients for making it mean so much to us. Working in brand and design PR is our purpose and passion. And thank you to the many brilliant journalists and media outlets we’ve had the pleasure of working with. What a fantastic industry we work in! 2023 here we come 😁