Germany
www.philipcowell.co.uk
Through theatre and art, Good Chance creates new kinds of communities, empowering artists from across the world and connecting people, stories and cultures. I'm bringing ten years of development and partnership working in the arts with skills gained in corporates to the task of growing Good Chance at this incredible moment. Founded by British playwrights Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson, Good Chance established its first temporary theatre of hope, an 11m geodesic dome, in the heart of the refugee and migrant camp in Calais in September 2015, promoting freedom of expression, creativity and dignity for everyone. It has since travelled to London’s Southbank for a nine-day festival led by refugees in July 2016, and opened its doors to refugees, artists and local Parisians in the French capital throughout 2017 and 2018 with the support of the Mayor of Paris and culminating with a residency at the National Museum for the History of Immigration.
A member of the creative team, I worked on communications and branding projects for such diverse and purposeful brands and organisations as Danone, Mars, Kao, UCL and C&A. Successes include: Leading on verbal identity for the major Rainforest Alliance rebrand project, including developing the new tone of voice, writing key messages for different audiences and preparing copy for various different outputs including new campaign. Researching and writing the Annual Report 2018 for the C&A Foundation, focusing on strategic philanthropy to make fashion better, undertaking research, interviewing key personnel, fully understanding complex issues and writing and editing long-form copy in a clear and accessible way. Developing and writing the tone of voice for Porticus, the international organisation that manages and develops the philanthropic programmes of charitable entities established by Brenninkmeijer family entrepreneurs.
I set up the writing department at the award-winning food and drink, restaurant and cookbook design agency, Here Design. I made the agency’s mission – to create beautiful and useful things – the beating heart of the word offer, ensuring all copy from Here was as beautiful and useful as the design work and using customer insight and editorial and copy trends to help me do this. I developed new tones of voice and wrote copy for different food and drink brands in existing tones of voice, collaborating with strategists and designers to create all kinds of insight-driven brand content for internal and external comms, brand strategy, packaging and online. I wrote for a broad range of clients: spirits (Glenfiddich, Grant's, Balvenie, Kininvie, Bacardi, Drambuie, Hendrick's, Sailor Jerry and Monkey Shoulder), coffee (Redemption Roasters, Electric Coffee Company, Jacob the Angel), restaurants (from Gourmet Burger Kitchen to the award-winning new The Barbary), new trends like kombucha (L.A. Brewery), bakers (Bread Ahead), and more including the food industry charity event, A Good Dinner.
I led a team of writers and oversaw the whole company's copy output, managing a busy weekly schedule, and creating quality copy to tight deadlines using customer insight from business analysis, retention and merchandising teams. I immersed myself in, and fully understood and learnt, the craft of writing in the Abel & Cole tone of voice, coaching others to do the same and developing the tone of voice into new directions that met customer need. I wrote strong, brand-enhancing, well-researched copy for weekly entertaining and informative stories for veg box newsletters, inspirational blog posts filled with hints and tips, journalistic-style product descriptions, interactive social media posts, compelling direct mail headlines, and sales-led copy for the annual Christmas food and drink brochure. I became an authority on our supply chain, interviewing our farmers in fields and fishmongers at the seaside to make sure I had a hands-on understanding of the stories we were telling our customers. I also got to know our supplier team extremely well to ensure I was finding the right stories to tell – the kind of knowledge only possible from immersion in the team. I ensured our team listened to stakeholder feedback and developed copy accordingly.
I headed up the creative writing and education programme for the leading human rights charity, English PEN, managing a team of three, fundraising £400k+, and programming 70 writers to run 500 workshops in refugee centres, prisons and schools and promote over 50 translated books. I fundraised £400k through trusts and foundations, helped build network of high net worth individuals, supported events and developed membership scheme. I managed a team of four, working closely with each team member to enhance their strengths and help coach them through challenges. I commissioned/oversaw the commissioning of 70 writers to lead 500 creative writing workshops in community settings, developing new work with older people with dementia and returning soldiers.