humanworks

At humanworks, we do b2b marketing differently. Bland, boring and blah blah blah B2B isn’t for us. We’re storytelling specialists, working with forward-thinking, growth-minded businesses to put the human connection at the heart of B2B marketing.

What we offer:

Content strategy
• Editorial
• Value proposition development
• Content audits

Brand awareness
• Thought leadership campaigns
• Industry reports
• SEO Blog articles

Lead generation
• E-books
• Whitepapers
• Email communications
• Paid ads

Social media
• Social media strategy
• Content creation and ghostwriting
• LinkedIn content
• Company page management

Communications & copy
• PR
• Website content & SEO
• Landing pages
• Case studies
• Employee engagement

Video & design
• Brand design
• Website design
• Video content
• Infographics

Founder

Cosmo Creative Content

If you're a b2b marketing director in financial services, insurance, SaaS and sustainability - we work with you to deliver the thought leadership strategy and content your in-house teams can't.

Content Director

BBC Radio 5 Live

-	Senior leader of the 5 live Breakfast programme and the wider 5 live network leadership team.
-	Leading a team of 20 producers creating a network breakfast radio programme 7 days a week. Responsibility for team performance and welfare.
-	Overseeing the on-air team, managing key talent and setting the editorial direction of the programme. 
-	Leading the commissioning of the programme’s digital and social content   

INNOVATION & LEADERSHIP

-	Leading the recent re-development of the 5 live Breakfast programme: creating a modern radio programme with the audience at its heart. Developing new formats and a programme clock to better showcase presenter talent – driving increased engagement and audience appreciation.
-	Leading 5 live Breakfast’s acclaimed Brexit coverage: developing formats like #BrexitBarometer (a simultaneous discussion format, on-air and online). Driving significant social media traffic.
-	Leading 5 Live Breakfast’s 2019 Election coverage, including creating record levels of engagement with the 5 Live Leader Your Calls, broadcast simultaneously on the BBC News Channel (the leaders of the main political parties taking listeners’ questions). Demonstrating an ability to lead high-profile projects with multiple stakeholders.

STRATEGIC HIGHLIGHTS:
-	Leading a 5 live strategy to improve our reach to younger audiences. Collaborating with multiple stake-holders and creating a blueprint that has had a real impact: 25-44 measure up on Rajars Q4 2019, significantly more live listening through BBC Sounds for U35s (Q3 vs Q4 2019)
-	Leading the BBC's 50:50 project to encourage greater diversity of voices on-air.
-	Currently leading on a project to develop a unique strategy to increase live listening through BBC Sounds (Q1 2020). Working across the BBC Radio division, engaging and managing multiple stakeholders. Demonstrating an ability to identify problems across the division and bring a team together to tackle them.

Assistant Editor

Senior Broadcast Journalist

Broadcast Journalist

THEN → BBC Journalist For 17 Years NOW → Building a B2B Content Agency HOW → Transforming Your Business Into a Thought Leader

At humanworks, we do b2b marketing differently. Bland, boring and blah blah blah B2B isn’t for us. We’re storytelling specialists, working with forward-thinking, growth-minded businesses to put the human connection at the heart of B2B marketing.

What we offer:

Content strategy
• Editorial
• Value proposition development
• Content audits

Brand awareness
• Thought leadership campaigns
• Industry reports
• SEO Blog articles

Lead generation
• E-books
• Whitepapers
• Email communications
• Paid ads

Social media
• Social media strategy
• Content creation and ghostwriting
• LinkedIn content
• Company page management

Communications & copy
• PR
• Website content & SEO
• Landing pages
• Case studies
• Employee engagement

Video & design
• Brand design
• Website design
• Video content
• Infographics

_________________________________

Why choose humanworks?

We don’t think business to business; we think human to human.

That means crafting content and communications that create genuine, personal, and authentic connections between your business and your customers.

We’re a new type of marketing agency. We help you cut through the blah, blah, blah and give your business a compelling story that will help you stand out from the crowd, build your brand, and grow your bottom line.

• We’re storytellers
• We’re thinkers & doers
• We’re humans, not robots

Our content doesn’t just click with your audience; it connects your business to new leads and converts them into customers.

That’s the power of human-to-human marketing. It just works.

__________________________

Our founder:

I’m Cosmo Shield, founder of humanworks. Before you ask, yes, that’s my real name! I was a BBC journalist for almost two decades before I realised I was sick of telling people bad news every day and wanted to help a generation of businesses tell their stories in a more compelling way.

That’s the passion the humanworks team brings to every client and project. I’d love to hear more about your business.

Email
cosmo@human-works.co.uk

Website:
www.human-works.co.uk

Cosmo Shield ♾

I create the video content in-house teams can't 🎥 🎵 | Practical freelancing tips to grow a freelance business you love | Prince's Trust Mentor

When was the last time you had fun doing marketing? Honestly.

I want to remind businesses that marketing can be fun.

No one talks about fun.

Everyone talks about optimisation, ROI, performance, conversion, AI, frameworks.

But what if we focused on making it fun... again?

The problem is marketing has lost its joy.

It's become a 'should factory'. 

Content calendars. 
Approval chains. 
Best practices.

A lot of 'that'll do'.

Everyone's so busy optimising, they forgot to ask: Is this actually fun to make? Would I be excited to share this?

And when the fun dies, so does the work. 

You go through the motions. 
Your marketing looks like everyone else's marketing. 
Nobody remembers it.

Bring back the fun, and everything else follows.

That's what I help you do.

Why me?

I'm not a marketer by trade. I'm a journalist, TV producer, and comedian.

I didn't learn marketing from a textbook or an agency. 

I learned storytelling from newsrooms, TV studios, and comedy stages - places where you live or die by one question: Will anyone actually care about this?

I never learned the marketing rulebook. Which is exactly why I can help you break it.

I work with you in three ways:

1. Done-for-you Creative 

- Campaign development, video content, brand storytelling - where I bring the fun directly to your marketing.

2. Done-with-you Collaboration

- Workshops, team training, brand partnerships - where we work together to help you and your team find the fun themselves.

3. Delivered-to-you Inspiration

Speaking, comedy, event host/MC - where I evangelise the philosophy to bigger audiences.

Let's have a chat (and some fun)

Let's make marketing fun AF.

Adam Faulkner

I bought my first home and moved into it today.

I am delighted, excited, thrilled and humbled to announce.

(I sound sarcastic but I actually am all of the above)

Thank you to:

1. My gf for being such an incredible saver of money
2. My family for giving some support
3. Myself for putting my business profits to good use

Right now I feel like I'm embarking on lots of big life milestones at the same time.

Baby.
Buying first home.
On the path to comedic stardom (pending)

Who knows what's next?

Might just ask my gf if she fancies getting engaged to throw into the mix.

(That wasn't a proposal by the way)
(She doesn't use LinkedIn anyway)
(So wouldn't see it)

Who fancies a game of Where's Wally?

My business just turned 6-years-old.

I can't think of a better way to celebrate than this.

Chowing down on a 6 pack of Warburtons crumpets.

It's a lot of crumpets but it's a special celebration and there's 6 in a pack.

I thought starting a business would be an excellent move for me.

It has proven so.

I'm a freedom and autonomy lover.

I love being able to shape a business into what works for me like a piece of plasticine.

There's been some weird shapes with more weird shapes to come.

I never shape it into a box. 
(Not my favourite shape at all)

6 years feels like a long time.

In the lifespan of running my business I've also:

• Become a father
• Bought my first home
• Moved house 4 times
• Lived in 3 different cities

But that's supporting cast for the business today.

Running a business solo (and in profit 6 years in a row) is genuinely one of my favourite achievements.

It's not easy but then life ain't either.

Off to start on the crumpets to lather on salted butter.

Time to get down to business.

𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘕𝘖𝘛 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘞𝘢𝘳𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘴. 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘵

Over a year ago I posted a video that changed my life.

My first proper comedy sketch on LinkedIn.

About LinkedIn.

The numbers were something.

• 1,274 likes
• 164,361 impressions

Numbers don't mean everything but they mean something.

But more importantly it lit a fuse in me.

That there was more of my creative self I wasn't sharing with people.

Not long after I signed up to a stand up comedy course.
I did my first performance.
More followed.

More sketches followed.
More fun followed.

A year later.

1. I've been signed by a talent agent
2. I'm building my business around the core principle of 'fun'
3. I'm creating (and laughing) more than ever

I've gone down this path with full force.

Well apart from when I'm spending time with my baby daughter.

It feels great chasing a dream.

Thank you for supporting me over this past year with my odd creations.

Some have worked brilliantly.
Some spectacularly haven't.

But this video was the best piece of content marketing I've ever done.

Things do happen when you're having fun.

===

I'm AF.

I make fun content.

For me.
For you.
And the entire human race
(Last bit was a lie)

If you want to hire me, work with me, pay me to make content, give me a microphone and a stage.

That's very desirable to me.

I'm fun.

In March 2018 I quit the last job I ever had & cycled to Japan from London.

Turned out to be a 17,000 miles, 15 month, 26 country mega adventure.

I was 31 at the time.

My boss was surprised but not that surprised.

My parents didn't want me to go.

• Career suicide
• Safety concerns
• Not settling down
  
Were all cited.

But I was past the point of no return in my head.

You only get one life.

And I felt I had to go go.

I was shitting myself at first. Sometimes shitting yourself is a good thing because it means you're both nervous and excited at the same time.

It was such a bloody long way and god knows what we would encounter along the way.

A smattering included:

Hospital visits
Several illnesses
Many angry dogs
A rampaging cow
Sleeping outside a lot
Extreme weather conditions
Broken and battered bicycles
Incredible kindness of strangers
Playing music at festivals and super clubs
Meeting Richard Ayoade and Eddie Izzard in Slovenia

That's just a short list off the top of my head.

It's (probably) my best story I have to share about my life.

It changed me as a person.

I put my comfort zone on a bicycle with me and stretched it as far as I could.

It's a story and memory sure.

But more than that it's a reminder to myself when I feel like I'm playing it small to get outside of myself and make the most of life. 

Not every adventure has to be cycling to Japan.

But there has to be an adventure on the menu.

What adventure are you on at the moment? Let's hear it.

Currently I'm on a parenting adventure as a new dad, pursuing my comedy career and running a business that puts fun at the heart of it.

(PS That's Afghanistan in the background by the way)

I'm looking for experts in the following areas for a cool project I'm working on.

I would like to speak to:

• AI Engineer
• AI Researcher
• Game Designer
• Content Creator
• Startup Founder
• Product Manager
• Product Designer
• Tech Entrepreneur
• Digital Policy Advisor
• Investigative Journalist
• Platform Policy Advisor
• Cybersecurity Specialist
• Journalist / Fact Checker
• Digital Marketing Strategist
• Cloud Infrastructure Engineer

I know it's a long list but...

If you are yourself one of these do let me know.

If you know one of these please let them know (or tag them in the comments)

For context it's around a new Digital Intelligence learning platform for school kids.

I'm not offering jobs.

Please do your thing LinkedIn.

Customer review of a 6-month-old baby.

"Still can't find instruction manual.

Alarm system activates randomly in the middle of the night - often at full volume. Snores louder than my grandad. 

However, the bespoke design is extremely cute, eye-catching and attention grabbing. Continues to be excellent at boosting morale.

Built in smile function has upgraded to full laugh mode. Has developed a feedback loop where it laughs at you laughing at it - unexpectedly addictive feature.

Software update introduced solid foods, though interface is messy and output is unpredictable.

Would recommend. 4.5 stars."

I wrote a letter to my 6-month-old daughter.

She can't read yet but it's ready.

It comes from the heart and in one flow.

Letter starts now.

......

Dear AF,

I want you to have the best life you possibly can. I won't tell you what to do (too much) and I'm not expecting you to be exactly like like me.

All I can do is show you the best version of myself and the values I hold dear. They are exploring, adventuring and enjoying your life as much as possible with as much courage as possible.

Things don't always go the way you want them to or expect them to but that's okay.

Keep trying things.

That's where the magic is.

I love you.

PS Your smile melts my heart every time and cuts through the BS (sorry for swearing)

AF

.....

Letter ends.

Fingers crossed her first word is 'Dadam'.

Or discombobulated.

My favourite word.

I was seconds from death once.

I don't mean death like embarrassed to death.

I mean death death.

And not like a cool death.

Like being eaten by a shark, crocodile or a T-rex.

No none of those.

It was a piece of lamb.

I know what you're thinking.

How could something so cute be so deadly? 

That went through my head too.

For context... I was at a gathering at a friend's house.
(If you're French you'd say soireé)

The lamb comes out of the kitchen.

I don't mean alive.

It's on the table in chunks and ready to be eaten.

I put it in a wrap and take a bite.

It slips straight down my throat.

And it's lodged.

It's like in the film 127 Hours when the climber's arm is trapped by the boulder.

So a boulder of lamb if you will.

I couldn't breathe or make a noise.

It wouldn't go down.

It wouldn't come out.

I'm thinking no way, I can't bow out like this.

My mate Jack smashed me on the back.

Nothing.

How could this be my instrument of death.

Like a game of Cluedo.

Revolver
Lead pipe
Lamb boulder

Then Jack tried the Heimlich Maneuver.

It didn't work.

Then 3 things came to mind.

1. I'm in a spot of bother here
2. I don't like sheep anymore
3. What will they put on my death certificate?

Then it came to me.

Adam Faulkner. 

Lamb-inated.

May he rest in fleece.

===

To bring you to the end of the story here.

Jack got the Heimlich to work eventually.

But it was a close call.

He saved my life.

What a legend.

I simply want to enjoy my life, have some fun and make some money along the way.

Turns out that's the mission for my business and work.

It feels great to say that (or write that) out loud.

It's taken me years to realise it. I drove myself a bit mad searching for a purpose.

It's like trying on clothes that either don't fit or fit a bit but not really fit. My favourite clothes in my wardrobe are my fun shirts. Maybe the answer was in my wardrobe all along.

I've been somewhat reflective since becoming a father 6 months ago but this fun mission started before that when I started doing comedy.

It's brought more fun, humour and lightness to my life.

I see and hear 'the funny' in so many more things now than I used to.

It's allowing me to find and have more fun in my own life.

It's wonderful.

And it's reignited my love of being an artist and a creative.

I love spending hours every week ideating, writing and making comedy.
I also love sharing and performing it for people.

In a nutshell (it's an oak tree), it makes me very happy because it's fun.

But it's very much for me.

It could also be employed in a mission to help other people find fun in their own marketing efforts, business and lives.

This is my way of being useful to others.

So to get to the point and stop arguing with a decimal.

That's what I'm selling.

Fun.

Specifically around your marketing and content efforts.

1. We diagnose the joy drain
2. Find the fun
3. Make it fun AF

I appreciate this won't be for everyone.

That's cool.

But if you do want the fun option.

I'm the fun guy (not funghi) that you need.

If you're looking to supercharge your LinkedIn growth look no further than 'LinkedIn Secret Sauce'.

It's made from the tears of a thousand thought leaders.

You just need one drop a day.

If Batman and Ironman went on The Apprentice

The last 6 months have been my hardest in business to date.

Becoming a parent for the first time turned it upside down.

(Don't worry I'm not about to start singing Diana Ross)

Suddenly there was something that needed me more.

And I pushed my business down the priority list.

At first I felt guilty and kept trying to go back to it fully.
But then I felt guilty not being with my daughter and partner.

So I accepted that I would do what I could business wise for 6 months and spend as much time as I could with my new family.

I don't regret it one bit.

We bought, renovated and moved into our first home.
We spent our first Christmas together without me worrying about work.
We went on our first big adventure together to Japan.

On a practical note, there was money backed up to do this.

It was my choice to go into the reserves and basically take a business and work 'time-out'.

It also allowed me to zoom out.

And think about what lit me up and what I was going back to.

I've changed as a person.

(We're going through changes... thank you David Bowie)

Before I think I was dreaming other people's dreams.

Setting amounts of money I had to earn like it was a status symbol
Getting wrapped up in other people's definition of success

But taking a pause and creating space for myself has allowed me to dream.

And dreaming makes me excited.

Dreaming of:

1. My own artistic ambitions (and having a bloody good time doing it)
2. Injecting fun and creativity into others

It's simple really.

The fun era is in full swing.

(And yes that is me dressed as Claudia Winkleman)

taplio

The Battle

Cosmo Shield ♾

Adam Faulkner

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taplio

The Battle

Cosmo Shield ♾

Adam Faulkner

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Adam Faulkner's LinkedIn Performance

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