Crafting powerful stories that drive change

Meet Abi Mellor, Co-Founder and Managing Director of award-winning creative agency MOREVER which supports charities and purpose-led brands.

It’s 2024, yet still very few creative agencies are led by women. Abi Mellor is one of them. Having earned her stripes at charity heavyweights like The British Heart Foundation and digital agencies where she looked after high profile clients like GlaxoSmithKline and the Department of Health, she co-founded MOREVER with her husband, Creative Director Dan, just a few weeks before the birth of their second child in 2014.

The agency delivers creative campaigns including advertising films, animations and photography to some of the UK’s best loved purpose-led brands and charities, such as The British Red Cross, The Stroke Association and Greenpeace. Its mission is to uncover powerful stories, in any purpose-led sector, and turn them into emotive marketing campaigns that educate, inspire and drive change. 

What does International Women’s Day mean to you?

Very few agencies are founded by women, but they’re staffed by a workforce that’s around 55% female. They can be gritty, highly-stressful places to work. Burn-out is common. There’s an opportunity for change, to create a more equitable workplace, where there’s more understanding of the previously taboo subjects that affect women whilst they’re working, and support for dealing with them. We want to see organisations where women are valued as an asset because of the qualities, such as communication, emotional intelligence and collaboration, that women often bring to the workplace.

International Women’s Day is a small window in which to focus on championing women and our own needs. Every year there’s an opportunity to peel back another layer of the onion, to take that next step towards supporting women properly. That’s definitely something to be celebrated.

Why did you choose to support charities and purpose-led brands?

My mum is of Armenian descent; she was born and grew up in Iraq. She came to England in her mid 20s. Her story and courage have been a source of inspiration to me. I’m eternally thankful for the opportunities that growing up here has given me and feel compelled to use them for good.

Additionally, when I had my children I knew I’d have, and want, to be working alongside raising them. If a job was going to take me away from them, it needed to be meaningful and worthwhile; something to be proud of, that they could be proud of in the future too. Work that drives change for good and has a positive social impact.

What’s the secret to creating advertising campaigns that have impact?

Campaigns have more impact when you draw from the lived experiences of the people the organisation supports. For example, our client, Ben, the automotive charity, needed a film to launch a fundraising campaign at its annual gala dinner, the Ben Ball. Using insights generated from research allowed us to create a film that highlighted the number one source of stress and anxiety for its community. It had a huge impact.

In a sector where getting to the heart of the matter is critical, having strong empathy skills is a superpower. When we worked with Tommy’s, the pregnancy and baby loss charity, I drew on my own experiences of recurrent miscarriage to host a focus group for the project. That helped us unlock previously unspoken thoughts and feelings; it made the campaign infinitely more powerful.

How is MOREVER different from other agencies?

We’re fierce believers in empowering and inspiring women to reach their fullest potential, and are in-tune with the issues and challenges women may encounter. For example, once a quarter we host a MOREVER Meetup, our fun and supportive event for women working as charity communicators. We get together in person, to share insights into life as a creative in the sector and connect with others in similar roles.The Meetups have been attended by female employees from charities like WaterAid, Bowel Cancer UK and the British Red Cross.

What advice would you give to someone starting their own agency today?

Do it. Don’t just dream it. Take action, break it into steps and make a start.

When we started up, the obvious route was to target smaller projects that we could win more easily. Instead we listed our dream clients and spent months knocking on doors to reach those specific organisations. It was a bold but successful approach; our first few clients included the GHIT Fund, Diabetes UK and Crohns and Colitis UK.

Whilst it’s helpful to listen and learn from others – by reading, listening to podcasts, or talking to successful business owners – it’s also important to trust your own instincts. Make sure you can hear your own voice above all the noise, and trust your judgement.

What’s next for your business?

There’s a huge party incoming, we’re approaching our 10th anniversary!

To continue to grow. We’ve created a strong blueprint for delivering great work in the charity sector. Recently we’ve seen how relevant this experience is for the ecology sector; where there are so many planet-saving stories to tell. We’re looking forward to adapting our blueprint for new sectors and using it craft campaigns that drive change wherever we can.

To be more. To have more impact.

To watch MOREVER’s award winning films visit: www.morever.co.uk

Abi would love to connect with you on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abimellor/ or via email:

abi@morever.co.uk