Happy Hour Productions celebrates 20 years with new hires and services

Bristol-based TV and video advertising agency Happy Hour Productions has appointed an MD, recruited four new team members, launched two new services and given its home on Lower Park Row a facelift in its 20th year.

Happy Hour has a national remit, creating TV ads, all types of video, animation, radio, podcasts, digital ads, social content and corporate films for clients across the UK.

Nicola Tyler, who has been with Happy Hour for 11 years, has been promoted to managing director.

Film and TV production was worth £20.1 million to Bristol economy last year – Bristol Film Office

As part of a renewed focus on driving growth, Holly Reoch has joined as head of marketing and Kayleigh Cooper has joined as head of business development.

To support increasing client demand Grace Simmons has joined as junior video editor and Zoe Bulbeck has joined the production team as their fourth producer.

Happy Hour has launched two new services this year. TV Essentials has been developed to help first-time advertisers create and launch a quality TV advert, at a cost-effective price.

And Happy Hour’s in-house studio has been adapted to create a new podcast studio – broadening their radio and podcast advertising services to enable clients to create their own podcasts too.

Gaining eight new clients, including Staysure, Crohn’s & Colitis UK, LifeSearch, National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) and Novia Financial, Happy Hour also rose to number 35 in Campaign's Top 100 UK Creative Agencies 2023 list, and is in the top two of Campaign’s Top Regional Agencies outside London.

Nicola said; “We’re taking important steps to strengthen our position in the advertising industry. We’re investing in outstanding new talent, as well as nurturing our in-house talent.

"We’ve launched new services and we’re adopting cutting edge production techniques and technology, demonstrating our commitment to stay one step ahead and fuel future growth for our business, our clients and Bristol.”

Tom George, Happy Hour Founder and CEO, said “20 years ago, I was a fledging producer with a fairly simple idea: I wanted to take some of that TV advertising work from London and bring it to Bristol.

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"In those days, if you wanted to make a TV ad, you had to use a London company. I didn’t understand why, when we had all these talented people in Bristol.

"Within 10 years, we’d evolved from a commercials production company into a creative agency too, with some big advertisers relying on our creative expertise.”

Happy Hour has grown over the last 20 years from a production house to a full end-to-end specialist TV and Video advertising agency, with strategy, creative and production all under one roof – offering a rare and solid blend of both advertising and production expertise.