Distinctive 2024 wrapped
It’s been an eventful, memorable year for the Distinctive crew.
Home moves, new experiences, momentous moments and personal growth happened alongside delivering truly fantastic results for clients.
With so much to go at, we asked colleagues to pick the tune that best defined the year for them.
Team Distinctive’s songs of 2024
Arianne Smart
My tune of 2024 is Can’t Stop by Red Hot Chilli Peppers. When you dig deeper into the lyrics, this is a song about creative drive, growth, embracing opportunities, and learning from mistakes: “The world I love, the trains I hop, to be part of the wave, can’t stop.”
This has been a year of personal growth for me, after joining Distinctive in December 2023. I finally did my Chartership assessment with the CIPR, meaning I join a select group of around 700 professionals with the accreditation, something I’m extremely proud of.
I led on some hugely rewarding communications work for our clients, tackled tricky topics with them, and had the pleasure of supporting our fantastic communications intern Harrison during his time with us, developing my leadership skills.
Outside work, I feel like I found my stride (some days!) as mum to my two-year-old whilst working full-time, thanks in no small part to the flexible approach to working we have at Distinctive. I learnt to embrace my productivity peaks and troughs and find a work-life blend that works.
Harrison Costar
The tune to best describe my 2024 is On & on by Erykah Badu; a song about learning, growing, and remaining humble: “That man that knows something knows he knows nothing at all.”
Having started in comms and PR in the latter stages of 2023, this year I consolidated my understanding of the industry and applied this to an array of exciting projects. Being a relative newbie to the sector means the more I learn, the more I realise I don’t know.
From delivering my first and second full community engagement projects – the area I’m most comfortable in – to stepping into managing client social channels, my communications arsenal broadened thanks to the guidance and trust I received from Distinctive since joining in September.
In my personal life, I learned about my limitations. Balancing university with two internships and my other time-intensive interests taught me the importance of prioritising the things most important to me. Trying to get the right balance of maintaining my youthful invincibility that I can do it all with the humility to know life gets in the way is a lesson I’ll still be learning at the end of 2025.
Katie Witcombe
My song of 2024 is Pink Pony Club by Chappell Roan. This ode to big city dreaming, parental disappointment and the hedonistic joy of cabaret is a masterclass in storytelling. I often find myself humming it when I’m writing a press release, article or piece of thought leadership.
Roan’s songwriting has inspired my own approach to client comms since joining Distinctive in the summer. Finding compelling hooks and crafting narratives that grab a reader’s attention and bring them along for the journey is a real privilege.
The catchiest songs often have the simplest melodies, and clear, jargon-free content nearly always has the biggest impact. I’ve loved teasing out the stories our clients have to tell and can’t wait to do the same in 2025!
It’s been brilliant to put down personal and professional roots in Bristol this year. Chapell sings of “a special place/where boys and girls can all be queens every single day.” She might not be talking about Bedminster, Clifton or Totterdown, but I still relate to that sense of freedom.
As someone who grew up in rural Lincolnshire, living in such a vibrant and inclusive city is a bit of a dream.
Ben Lowndes
Amidst the challenges and some truly momentous moments, thinking positively when events can frazzle the mind massively helped me this year.
We live in noisy times. Donald Trump’s re-election bestrides a divisive atmosphere and volatile events, locally, nationally and across the world. Running a small business is a rollercoaster against this backdrop.
So, watching Ezra Collective at Bristol Beacon with my better half and teenage kids was a timely reminder of the power of positivity in troubling times.
Upbeat and effervescent, the band’s midweek performance had Bristolian devotees bouncing at the Beacon.
Coming a week after the US elections, band member Femi Koleoso encouraged gig-goers to strike a conversation with others in the hall between tunes. A strikingly easy icebreaker, which I used to regularly do when living up in Pembrokeshire but hardly ever do now. And a gentle segue to his call to everyone to dance like no one was watching.
Their signature tune Shaking Body lighting up the hall was just the tonic.
Stacey Broadbear
My song for 2024 is Bonobo’s ‘Stay the Same’, which is about accepting change and adapting to the ups and downs of life, while staying true to yourself. Like any year, 2024 had its unpredictable moments.
I always try to stay open minded – tackling challenges when they appear and often problem solving in my work.
Also, the powerful collaboration between Bonobo and Andreya Triana (who sings the vocals) is an example of how talented individuals working together can produce something special.
This is what we strive for in our small but strong team at Distinctive.
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