Ross Middleham: How the Met Office’s Giphy Strategy Hit 1B+ Views

2025
Written By SocialDay Marketing

At SocialDay's Social Media Marketing Festival 2025, we’re diving into what it takes to build bold, creative strategies that deliver real results. Ross Middleham, Creative Lead at the Met Office, is here to show exactly how their GIPHY strategy reached over 1 billion views — and why creativity, experimentation, and purpose are key to getting your content seen and remembered.

About Ross

With nearly two decades of experience across design, branding, and content creation, Ross Middleham is a powerhouse of creative thinking. As Creative Lead at the Met Office, he’s been at the forefront of shaping the brand’s digital presence — helping it not only inform but inspire.

Ross has been instrumental in transforming the Met Office’s approach to social: launching a TikTok channel that’s now nearing half a million followers, evolving its YouTube presence to over 300,000 subscribers, and developing a GIPHY channel that’s surpassed one billion views. Beyond that, Ross is championing a collaborative spirit through his work on a cross-government creators network, encouraging designers and content makers to innovate and share ideas.

What to Expect from How the Met Office’s Giphy Strategy Hit 1B+ Views

In this session, Ross will walk us through how the Met Office built a successful branded GIPHY channel from the ground up. It’s a story of trial and error, creative culture, and making meaningful connections — with lessons that apply far beyond stickers and GIFs.

Whether you’re a brand, agency, or solo creator, this is a behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to deliver standout content on emerging platforms.

Key Areas of Focus

  • Why the Met Office chose to invest in GIPHY as a content platform

  • The creative process behind high-performing, branded GIFs

  • How nurturing a creative culture can supercharge your content production

  • The power of collaboration and connection in digital strategy

  • Why it pays to be curious, experimental — and sometimes a bit playful

Key Takeaways

Attendees will leave with the knowledge to:

  • Embrace a test-and-learn mindset when building social strategies

  • Think creatively about how and where content can live

  • Use visual storytelling to extend your brand reach

  • Stay focused on purpose, not just platforms

Ross’s Perspective on Social Media Trends

Ross is energised by the disruption happening across social media right now. New formats, shifting algorithms, and evolving expectations have created space for bold, new approaches — and Ross believes this is the time to challenge how we’ve “always done things.”

A Social Media Moment That Mattered

There have been plenty of wins — from early recognition for creative Instagram Stories to landing a feature on Lorraine for TikTok content. But Ross is equally proud of the quieter success stories: WhatsApp updates that landed just right, or a GIF that became unexpectedly viral. It’s these layered wins, across platforms, that make the strategy so strong.

What Ross Hopes for the Future of Social

Ross wants to see more collaboration just for the fun of it. Think Met Office x Innocent — the kind of cross-brand creativity that’s powered by personality, not just KPIs. More play. More personality. More unfiltered energy.

Connect with Ross

Want to follow Ross’s creative journey and get inspired by his work?

Ross joins a lineup of leading industry professionals at SocialDay's Social Media Marketing Festival 2025, where top minds in social media marketing will share their insights and expertise.

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