Just who is Brave Spark? In the vibrant realm of the creative industry, two key players often dance in their separate spheres, leaving us to wonder: what if they united their forces? Enter a duo of adventure travel TV specialists who dared to bridge this gap. Can you imagine the magic that unfolds when thrilling escapades meet creative storytelling? With their unique vision, they’re on a mission to reshape our understanding of adventure and collaboration, so why confine creativity to just one world?
Getting to know Brave Spark
It’s sometimes a good idea to create something out of frustration: to solve a problem nobody else seems willing to address. That happened with Brave Spark, founded by Rob Drake and Robin Shek in 2010. They felt that production and creativity were working too far apart, so they created a creative studio that fused them.
But let’s rewind a bit. The pair met at a company called Big Earth Productions, where they were working on adventure travel TV shows for the BBC. Some of these featured a fairly well-known chap called Ewan McGregor. (A fellow Scot, co-founder Robin recalls that their accents would thicken like porridge when he and the actor got together.) Robin and Rob forged a friendship while honing their content creation skills, not just for the TV screen.
At the travel marketing awards. Up for best campaign and video with @CosmosHolidays pic.twitter.com/huqXMBpFau
— Brave Spark (@BraveSpark) March 19, 2015
“We had the idea of making a web series for the production company’s website,” relates Robin. “We contacted a bunch of adventure travelers who’d written books or were semi-famous and interviewed them for the series. It quickly became one of the most visited areas of the site.”
But there was more to Brave Spark
Rob Drake elaborates: “Although the TV shows were for the [non-commercial] BBC, they attracted sponsorship from the likes of Nissan, Nokia, Garmin and Michelin. They’d been offered exclusive content online as part of the sponsorship package. At that point, in 2006, very few people knew how to make branded online content…”
“Or if they did,” Robin adds, “they were big agencies charging a lot of money for it. We were just two guys.” Rob continues: “We put our hands up and offered to do it. And over time, we got pretty good at it.” That was the basis for Brave Spark. Rob went off to work for traditional agencies for a while but was exasperated by the sluggishness and expense of combining creative and production from two companies.
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“The inefficiency made it impossible to do the kind of work I knew possible. So, with Robin, we created an agency that merged writing and making ideas and craft right from the start. Nobody had done that before. The ‘branded content’ wave was beginning, and we rode it.”
The economy of speed
Rob believes that keeping craft and creativity separate disserves both. “We have editors and producers who love writing. We have creatives who love to design and mock things up. There’s a big value in bringing them together. As they’re all passionate about what they do, the work is better as a result.”
Like most start-ups, they struggled initially to gain traction, but then clients caught on. Robin says, “They realized that by smashing creative and production together from day one, we’d saved them a lot of time and money. When we propose an idea, we know where we’ll shoot and which crew will be involved to get to the set much quicker.”
Robin gets a new toy pic.twitter.com/Lk48vUwd
— Brave Spark (@BraveSpark) April 16, 2012
This is vital because there’s more content than ever, attention spans are shrinking, and trends come and go in the blink of an eye. Content that reaches audiences quickly remains relevant and compelling. Clients now demand assets for various platforms as rapidly and inexpensively as possible.
Robin and Rob built the agency by “bringing in people who are better than ourselves” and now run a 50-strong team. In 2021, they became part of the MSQ network (which puts them under the same umbrella as The Gate).
The decision was easy because the founders felt they’d gone as far as they could as an independent entity. “We wanted to do more for our clients. MSQ helped us bring in the additional people we needed and helped those who worked with us realize their ambitions. They all want to create amazing things. By investing in us, MSQ allowed us to invest in our people.”
Clients – not ego
Due to the MSQ deal, Brave Spark has doubled in size in the past 18 months. Rob says: “As a small company, even something as seemingly trivial as a broken window requires you to find a solution for its repair. Being part of a larger group takes all those admin headaches away. You can focus on the work, you can focus on pitching, and you can focus on serving the clients you have already.”
For example, when clients asked if they handled design, they could build a design studio from scratch. They were also able to open Brave Spark New York exactly a year ago. With a staff of only five, it’s already generated revenue of over a million dollars.
Robin says, “The fact that the MSQ has offices on Fifth Avenue helped, so we weren’t going in cold. We work with the MSQ agencies there but have broader ambitions to win our clients.”
Start of another busy week at Brave Spark. #filming pic.twitter.com/cPxbUBurl8
— Brave Spark (@BraveSpark) April 27, 2015
Rob underlines: “It wasn’t an ego thing. We have some global clients and felt we could better serve them if we had a footprint there. We’ve also somewhat turned our model on its head. While the creative is done over there, based on local insights, we can bring the master back to the UK and generate the additional assets at a fraction of the cost.”
Brave Spark? The best place to work?
Both founders speak with an almost avuncular fondness for their staff, so it’s unsurprising that Campaign magazine named Brave Spark one of the Best Places to Work. They strive to ensure a workplace that’s kind to mental health. For example, there’s no cap on vacation time: people can take the necessary time, assuming they’ll be grown up about it.
Rob says: “I’ve always felt that it’s a privilege to do what I do. I know the others feel the same, and they’ve fought hard to find their place in this competitive industry. The least I can do is create an environment where they have the space to make the best work of their careers.” Three pieces of work that define Brave Spark – as chosen by Rob and Robin
Which?
“Complementing our above-the-line campaign, we helped “Which?” call out mobile and broadband providers’ sneaky mid-contract price rises by taking over the biggest phone we knew – London’s Walkie Talkie building. Our social post got more than 2m Instagram views in the first 48 hours, generated more than 100k petition signatures, and Ofcom pledged to ban the practice the following month.”
Virgin Experience Days
“We took Virgin Experience Days’ Christmas campaign from brief to screen in less than two months. Two! Our creative team developed a new “Gift Anything, Change Everything” platform, and our in-house production and VFX teams made the magic happen (it was also the first ad in our 14-year history that started up an actor’s nose). The ability to do work like this is why we started the agency; we knew that bringing everything under one roof from day one could get to a better place in double-quick time.”
The Unheard Third
“Supporting our teams in creating work that’s important to them is a truly crucial part of the Brave Spark makeup. When one of our creatives came to us with an idea for The Unheard Third, a new fake political party highlighting the shocking number of registered voters who choose not to vote, we got the whole team on board, recruited new partners, and produced these delightful ads.”
YouTube: BRAVE SPARK 2014 REEL (promotional clip)
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Photo credit: Images owned by Rob Drake and Robin Shek (Brave Spark).
Editorial notice: Some parts of the interview were edited for readability and style. The meaning of what was spoken was not changed.
