Space Dogs on an expedition in Belfast

In the last week of April, Leo, Michaela and I (Lisa), were in Belfast to visit our partner agency Clearbox, exchange some knowledge with them, and deepen our collaboration. I kept a travel log to share my experience with you and some things I learned. In this trip report, find out about Clearbox’s tips and tricks for social media and how PR works in Northern Ireland, as well as restaurant suggestions and tips on how to correctly tap a Guinness.

Day 1 – Pitfalls and pies

Hey there,
Welcome to my logbook. I’m Lisa. I started off as an intern on the Laika spaceship last September and continued my journey as a working student. Today is the first day of our trip to Belfast. I can’t believe this is actually happening. I still remember how I gathered all my courage in September—after I just started my internship—to ask Ela if I could also accompany her to Belfast and how she just answered “Yes, of course.” 

Then everything that could possibly go wrong went wrong.  First, we needed to move our journey from January to April because COVID hit again, and then our hotel burned down. But of course, none of that stopped us, and we just landed safely in Belfast. Looking forward to strolling around the city and getting some Northern Irish food before meeting the Clearbox team tomorrow.

Day 2 – Sightseeing and social media tips

First full day in Belfast, and it was such an exciting one! We went to Clearbox’s office and were welcomed by the whole lovely team. Our desks were full of Northern Irish food they wanted us to try. First thing we learned: You need to put most of it in a toaster first, from bread to pancakes (without toasting, the taste experience is severely limited—as we learned by accident).

Leo at his desk in the Clearbox office, loving his new food.

Later, Leo and I joined a meeting of the Clearbox social media team and learned about the secrets of their Instagram channel. It looks really neat, so feel free to check it out! 

My favorite part was the one about the Instagram guides. Clearbox prepared two for us about what to do  and where to eat in Belfast. Those did not only equip us with many great tips about Belfast, but they also increased Clearbox’s social media reach and traffic. Clearbox tagged local users and restaurants, and Instagram notified them—resulting in a higher than average interaction rate and lots of positive messages. I mean, who wouldn't want to be a local attraction for a few Berliners….  Stay tuned for some guides on our profile as well. 

If you want another restaurant recommendation for Belfast that is not in the guides, the Little Wing pizzeria in Holywood was excellent (yes, it’s the Northern Irish Holywood with one “l”). We enjoyed a wonderful lunch break there. 

Day 3 – Plans and pints

Lunch break with the Clearbox team at Little Wing pizza.

Today we spent another day at the Clearbox office, which meant lots of coffee, great discussions, and, of course, work. Lesson of the day: You will hear “What would you do?” quite a lot at Clearbox. By approaching problems this way, instead of directly suggesting a solution, different perspectives and more creative solutions arise. Definitely something we will implement in our office as well.

In the evening, Leo, Michaela and I went to one of the famous Northern Irish pubs with John, the CEO of Clearbox. Did you know that the way you tap a Guinness makes a difference? You really shouldn’t rush it.

We also came up with some great plans for the future, like a joint summer party in Berlin. Really looking forward to it! Oh, and there are plans for a boss swap. Let’s see how John handles our pack. 😉 Once this happens, we will, of course, let you in on all the fun via our social media channels. 

Day 4 – Collaboration and cocktails

Working from The Merchant Hotel in Belfast.

It’s presentation day! We prepared a presentation about Laika, our ways of working and the DACH media landscape. In return, Clearbox shared insights with us about their agency, how they use social media and how their creative process works. 

Clearbox, for example, has a procedure called “Daily Headlines” where one team member collects the most important news headlines of the day and shares them with the team. Another thing I really liked was Open Peeps. This is a website they shared with us for animating people. We also learned a lot about Instagram Insights and how to use them effectively. 

Something we also want to adopt from Clearbox are their “Fake Pitches.” In this training, the agency team members are split into smaller teams, who need to pitch in front of John and some others representing a specific client. This way, Clearbox is always skilled at pitching and there are plenty of opportunities to try out new ideas. In the last round, Michaela was part of the jury—she was amazed by the great pitches. 

Generally, we learned that we want to work together even closer in the future. There is already a collaboration for two clients, Neptune Software and ROOM, and we would love to do this more often. Additionally, Clearbox can be a big help in terms of our own social media, and that of our clients. Furthermore, our brainstorming sessions might be even more creative if we get input from both teams. Therefore, we did not only plan joint Slack channels and meetings, but already the next trip to Belfast from the Laika Space Dogs later this year.

Apart from this very interesting professional exchange, I was just amazed by the hotel that was our office for the day. I think, I have never felt so fancy,  and the cocktails were fabulous. 

Day 5 – Floating and farewell

Time flies, it’s the last day… Michaela is already on her way back to Germany. Leo and I are traveling back tomorrow. Until then, there is still some sightseeing to do on our list, like visiting St. George’s market and the Titanic museum. For now, we are off to the coast because it’s a beautiful day (for us at least—the rumor that it only rains in Northern Ireland turned out to be untrue).  Time to end my logbook. Thanks for joining me on this trip. The next Laika expeditions probably coming up soon. Who knows where our space shuttle will land next…