Monitor Creative: 2025 Highlights & Insights

As we’re in the last month of the year and ’tis the season for reflecting, we thought as a team we’d wrap up on the last year at Monitor. We’ll explore our highlights, favourite projects, and the team behind it all! We’re always looking forward and can’t wait to see what 2026 brings, but here’s a great look back…

Agency Insights

What have we learnt as an agency this year?

• LinkedIn is the most used social platform by B2B marketers due to it’s professional networking, lead generation and brand building. 57% of marketers are planning to increase their organic marketing efforts on LinkedIn. Check out our’s here.
• Animation is on the rise. Having completed numerous animation projects this year (watch here) not just us, but the whole industry has seen the increase for animated content for storytelling and complex messages. Our latest blog goes into more detail on this.  
• Printed publications still have their place. Throughout digital change it’s important to note that printed publications still serve a fantastic purpose. In particular for engaging customers and members. We’ve worked with Unitas, Pure Offices and Naunton Downs Golf Club to do just that.
• AI is a necessity, not a trend. It has become deeply integrated into the fundamental infrastructure of daily life and business operations, offering tangible, structural benefits like enhanced efficiency, data-driven decision making, and problem-solving capabilities that are now essential for competitiveness and progress.

Creative Wins

One of our most exciting projects this year has to be our work with the University of Salford earlier in the year on a triple threat project: Brand, Web & Animation.

Brand: When the University of Salford launched its AI Cyber Nexus programme to educate Greater Manchester SMEs on the intersection of AI and cybersecurity, Monitor Creative stepped in to build a strong, independent identity. We crafted a bold colour palette centred on blue, drawing on its psychological associations with trust and stability and designed a distinctive logo featuring a padlock. This visual identity helped AI Cyber Nexus stand apart from the university’s main brand and gave it a strong, recognisable presence across all touchpoints.

Website: With the visual identity defined, our team designed and built a user-focused, accessible website to serve as the hub for all programme materials. The site is fully responsive across desktop, tablet, and mobile, and was developed according to WCAG 2.2 accessibility standards to ensure inclusivity. It provides permanent access to critical resources such as workshops, e-learning modules, and podcasts, extending the impact of the three-month programme well into the future.

Animation: To bring the more technical content to life, we produced a set of five e-learning animations that reinterpret dense academic research into clear, engaging educational narratives. Our copywriters distilled complex subject matter into concise scripts, while our design team storyboarded visuals in line with the brand’s style. The final animation videos feature high-quality voiceovers and smooth transitions, making them not only informative but also enjoyable, providing lasting value long after the programme ends.

However, here are some other of our favourite projects

1.Client Name: wienerberger 

Project: Internal Comms animation 

The Brief: Wienerberger asked Monitor’s animation team to create six short, engaging videos to help onboard and connect with new employees across offices, factories, and sites. Friendly and inclusive in tone, the animations share essential information from company heritage to safety policies and expenses.

Results: “The launch has been successful so far, we’ve had very good feedback from colleagues about the video style and content, and how they are pitched perfectly to introduce the serious topics we covered. We are super happy with our collaboration and loved working with you all. Thanks so much for being so accommodating and lovely throughout!”

2.Client Name: Unitas 

Project: Revamping Unitas Wholesale’s key retailer publications

The Brief: The UK’s largest wholesale buying group, Unitas Wholesale, asked Monitor’s commercially-focused creative experts to redesign its ‘Core Range’ and ‘Focus On’ guides. Aimed directly at retailers, both are distributed within Unitas member wholesalers and shared digitally via the Plan for Profit website.

Results: “Monitor has truly transformed our Core Range and Focus On category guides, turning them into visually captivating and highly engaging resources for independent retailers. Their design expertise elevated the content, making it modern and easy to digest. From the beginning, their team understood our vision and delivered a layout we loved immediately. The Monitor team is professional, friendly, and always committed to exceeding expectations, ensuring exceptional work and service every time.” – Category Controller 

Behind the Scenes: The Monitor Team

As a small agency, our team are really important, and building relationships with our clients is so integral to being an extension of your team, which is what we promise. 

Our LinkedIn is the perfect place to get to know some of the faces you’ll be working with on a daily basis and what we get up to when we’re not project managing or designing. 

Personal highlights this year include:

• Our team lunches (shout out Wagamamas)
• Office activities: Bake-off is always a huge hit!
• And most recently, our Creative Director celebrated 19 years at Monitor! Congratulations Cheryl.

What a brilliant year! We can’t wait to see what 2026 brings and keep your eyes peeled on our case studies page to keep up with our latest projects. Thank you to all our clients – we love working with you.