Hello! Thanks for checking out the website and our new blog.
This is the very first blog post and I hope the first of many. No hard selling here, no marketing speak, no shameless promotion of our client’s products (even though they are ALL truly fantastic). This blog will be about what we do, the things and people we love and the stuff in life we like and find interesting.
Being the first one, this is a post about Bang Boom Creative, the who we are and what we do so that you can know us a little better.
So, I'm Luke and Bang Boom Creative is my baby. Started back in 2010 from my loft, we are a truly independent business that's passionate about working alongside our clients to tell great stories.
I say working alongside our clients because everything we do is a collaboration. We take time to understand our clients, their values and aims and we work to create content that makes a real connection to the audience or customer.
This is starting to sound a bit like a pitch isn't it.... ok, so let me tell you a little story of how we came to be and where our values come from.
Taking it all the way back, I started my career working in PR and was lucky enough to work for the Government of Dubai. Whilst being based in the UK I was part of a team with the remit of putting Dubai on the map as a destination for tourism and trade. This was back when Dubai was still considered something of a mystery to most.
My boss and mentor then was a true original, Ian Raitt. When I met Ian we were at opposite ends of our careers, I was just starting out at 18 years old and Ian was heading towards retirement. Ian was doing PR before it was called PR. He'd be flinging members of the British press (only some of them willingly) across parts of Africa, the Middle and Far East, up mountains, down rivers, crossing jungles and kinds of untamed territories in a whirlwind of wide eyed enthusiasm and warmth.
This guy lit up a room in any circumstance, he loved life and everyone and everything in it.
Ian had gone from being the man pioneering the 4x4 up the mountain to years later being the owner of a wildly successful PR and Government relations business, a fantastic guy to learn from.
Despite being in his mid-sixties and having been and seen it all Ian was far from finished, never bored, never boring, always looking for the good in every situation. There was no problem that couldn't be solved. He was always encouraging to those around him and always just totally decent and considerate to anyone and everyone.
Proof positive that you also don't have to be an asshole to be successful in business or in life.
So, you can probably tell by now that those early years of working life made quite an impression on me. Over 20 years later I have yet to meet anyone in working life who could match the enthusiasm that the man had.
Not a moment of life wasted.
I like to think our clients and customers find that same kind of warmth and energy in Bang Boom today.
I left behind the champagne and sunshine of Dubai to pursue a romantic idea of working in the charity sector. Nice idea, really naive in practice. I went from a swanky office on Pall Mall to a tiny, tatty desk behind a photocopier.
The first 6 months were awful and I think I probably was too. I was working for a very well-known health charity and the culture shock was real. "Why isn't everyone nice?!"
Sadly, the dream of changing the world in a cosy charity was shattered by some awful abuse of power and of budgets. There were people swaggering around like mini versions of Donald Trump in that place and I resigned without a job to go to, utterly deflated.
I took a job on a three month contract with Action for Children. Putting the first step into charity life down to bad luck I was gonna give it one more go. I stayed for 12 years.
Working for Action for Children was everything I hoped it would be. It was a job with real purpose, creative freedom, teamwork, trust and, for me, there was nothing better than knowing that what we did helped vulnerable kids and their families.
It was here that I re-trained, getting behind a camera and into an edit suite. Without trying to sound to worthy, it was a real privilege to work with and for those young people and to be trusted to treat their stories with the dignity they deserved.
Being in that job exposed me to the very worst and very best parts of human behaviour.
Hearing horror stories of how children had been abused, made homeless, suffered extreme poverty and seeing families struggling to care for those who were profoundly disabled was rough.
BUT it was truly inspiring to see the amazing help, care and love given by those who worked tirelessly every single day to make their lives better.
Working in that environment teaches you many things, not least how lucky you are to just be walking on two legs and going home to a roof over your head. For me, it really showed the impact of how even the smallest act of kindness can be a life changing for someone. It demonstrated the importance of looking beyond first impressions and how providing opportunities for children and young people is vital.
I do hope this doesn't sound preachy.... forgive me, it's the first blog, I'm sure they won't all be this long!
So of course those experiences form a big part of my values as a person, as a dad to my daughter and to those of my business.
You won't find us doing things just for a dirty dollar, working for the likes of The Sun newspaper or those that put profit before people.
Still here? Fist bump.
During my time at Action for Children I continued to develop my skills on a range of projects in my spare time. I worked with DJ Semtex on some amazing promos including those with Public Enemy, Kanye, Busta Rhymes, Lil Wayne, Dizzee Rascal..... I was part of the production team at The Jump Off, the UK's biggest and best Hip Hop battle night.
I shivered behind a night vision camera looking for evidence of the afterlife with Ghost Search UK and shot music videos with artists like Sway, Klashnekoff and Donaeo.
2010 arrived and I decided the time was right to jump into the ether and start Bang Boom Creative. A few sleepless nights followed and we've had some challenges to overcome along the way (including a theft of ALL of our kit in the first year of business) but it's been a wonderfully wild ride and the best thing I ever did.
Screeching up to date with a hand brake turn.... Bang Boom Creative has a really diverse client base today and we work with brands of all shapes and sizes. We produce broadcast work with the BBC, dynamic commercial content, sensitive stories with charity partners, killer hidden camera stunts and disruptive (ok, one little bit of marketing speak) visuals for online campaigns.
What I hope we offer as a business is a both wealth of experience and the desire to always try something new.
We are passionate about what we do.
We care about the success of each and every project.
We're diverse, innovative and bold.
We work with sensitivity and care.
We'll make you smile.
We are Bang Boom Creative.
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