Advertising / Marketing Archives | Page 16 of 44

saintnicks have promoted Finance Director Chris Price to company co-director, alongside Fraser Bradshaw and Steve Davies, as the company approaches its 10-year anniversary.

CEO, Fraser Bradshaw, said that “Chris will continue to oversee all company finance but also moves into a broader commercial role, including corporate governance and partnerships, as we expand the business.”

The move comes following a successful period for the company; with new business wins including Admiral, Akkodis and Ascot, and 9 new hires across all areas of the business.

Bradshaw added “Chris has been integral to our success over the last 4 years, always acting in the best interest of the agency, and joining us in making some of the more progressive decisions along the way. His experience and desire to grow the commercial side of the business will be invaluable moving forward”.

saintnicks is a brand agency with a strong reputation for its integrated strategy and creative campaigns, with offices in Bristol and London. The agency prides itself on being as commercial as they are creative, for their client partners. With a leadership team from client side and network agencies, the agency delivers huge expertise from an expert team. Recognised as a UK Great Place to Work this year and with B-Corp pending, the business believes in being a force for good.

Price, who has been at the agency for 4 years, has previously held the position of Group Financial Controller at Jones Knowles Ritchie, as well as spending 5 years across the WPP group finances with MEC and Grey.

Speaking about the new role, Price said “I’m delighted to join Steve and Fraser as a co-director of saintnicks. I‘ve felt a close connection to the guys since joining in 2018, and have seen a lot of changes in that time. We’ve got an incredibly strong team and brilliant clients; I’m very excited to continue working alongside them to help us go further”.

Natalie Howells, Armadillo’s Senior Conceptual Copywriter, recently spoke to Little Black Book about being creative within constraints, opportunities to make customers feel loved and why they don’t mind helpful use of their data.

LBB: What’s the number one question that clients are coming to you with when it comes to how they can better use data to enhance the creativity of their content and experiences?

Natalie: How to use data to enable connected, relevant customer experiences across channels and throughout the funnel. And how to use that data in a creative and compelling way to enhance the brand experience.

LBB: How can you make sure that data is elevating creative rather than forming a windtunnel effect and knocking all the interesting or unique edges off that make something distinctive?

Natalie: This is one of the areas I’m especially passionate about. I know some creatives worry that the data will create homogeneity and pull us away from the more interesting and unique parts of creativity. I disagree.

Data will absolutely give us a direction, but so will plenty of other things – clients will have a direction they want to follow, and laws and regulations impose barriers to what we can and can’t do. So, we should all be used to being creative within some constraints. But, more importantly, data doesn’t actually constrain us – if we’re clever in how we use it, it can spark new ideas, breathe life into old ones, and validate approaches we may not have been able to try before. It’s up to us as creatives to let the data inspire us rather than discourage us.

LBB: Can you share with us any examples of projects you’ve worked on where the data really helped boost the creative output in a really exciting way?

Natalie: We created an anniversary campaign for McDonald’s, where app-users would receive a personalised email celebrating their use of the app for the prior 12 months. We used data to identify the times of day that people preferred to order, the channels they used the most, and their most popular menu item.

Then we presented this is an interactive email where the user could expand content panels to find out how their results compared to the rest of the UK. An individual might receive an email dubbing them a ‘Night owl orderer’ and a ‘Drive-thru and thru-er’, along with an offer and personalised menu suggestions.

LBB: More brands are working to create their own first party data practice – how can a brand figure out whether that’s something that is relevant or important for their business?

Natalie: I think the question is ‘what brand wouldn’t want a first party data practice’? It’s relevant to everyone. Think about it – if you could create an audience of your most engaged and most valuable customers, what could you do with it?

First party data gives us an audience that have explicitly indicated their interest in a brand. The data gives us opportunities to make those customers feel loved and appreciated. It enables us to make media, across all areas, more focused and efficient. And it helps us develop relationships by giving real value to our customers.

LBB: We talk about data driving creativity, but what are your thoughts about approaching the use of data in a creative way?

Natalie: I think the possibilities are endless. One of my favourite books is Information is Beautiful, which presents data in visually stunning ways. It takes raw data and presents it in a way that is not only easy to understand, but is designed with a clever nod to what the data represents. Spotify uses its listener data in really fun ways – some of its billboard campaigns over the years have taken data and used it not only to create entertaining copy, but also create some personalisation even in a broad public setting. It’s not just about graphs and charts – data can create incredibly compelling stories.

LBB: “Lies, damned lies, and statistics” – how can brands and creative make sure that they’re really seeing what they think they’re seeing (or want to see) in the data, or that they’re not misusing data?

Natalie: One way to have faith in the data is to continually test it. In fact, it’s one of the things that we at Armadillo have a whole workstream covering. We test our assumptions constantly, and often find the data comes out differently than we predicted. The more you experience that, the less likely you are to see what you’re looking for rather than what’s there. Plus, it adds the fun of trying to figure out what’s really going on and why your assumptions were wrong. Another key thing is to start with the data or at least start with a question, rather than trying to find data that supports an idea you want to pursue. That way, you’re looking for an answer that will tell you whether that idea works or not, or using data to spark an idea, rather than misusing the data to your own ends.

LBB: What are your thoughts about trust in data – to what extent is uncertainty and a lack of trust in data (or data sources) an issue and what are your thoughts on that?

Natalie: One of the great things for us about working in CRM is that our audience is made up of people who have opted to give us their data. The important thing after that is treating their data with security and respect. If data is misused or used in ways not agreed, then of course consumers will lose trust (as they should).

Appropriate data governance is vital – as is delivering on the promise you gave when you were granted access to that data in the first place. There’s a value exchange at play, and it’s absolutely imperative that any brands meets the expectations of that exchange to ensure consumers don’t lose trust.

LBB: With so many different regulatory systems in different markets regarding data and privacy around the world – as well as different cultural views about privacy – what’s the key to creating a joined up data strategy at a global level that’s also adaptable to local nuances?

Natalie: The key here is doing nothing in isolation. Most companies need an infrastructure that is joined up, but we have to always keep in mind that one size fits one, not all. Starting with a minimum viable product that works broadly, allows you to then use local experts indifferent markets to adapt that starting point to the needs of each activation market. Localisation is essential and working with local experts is key to getting it right. Never assume anything.

LBB: What does a responsible data practice look like?

Natalie: Secure, transparent, fair, ethical. The core of any data practice is security – best in class security systems from a technological point of view, and excellent data management from a personnel perspective. People should only have access to the data they need and nothing extra. Transparency is crucial, especially when consumers are rightly concerned about what is being done with their data. An easy to find and easy to read data or privacy policy is really important part of this.

LBB: In your view, what’s the biggest misconception people have around the use of data in marketing?

Natalie: That people hate their data being used at all.

There’s a line between being helpful and being intrusive, and when marketing uses data well, consumers aren’t against it as many think. If a consumer is interested in something on an ecommerce website and gets a discount code for that item, that’s using their data in a way that benefits them. People don’t hate that. What they hate is their data being sold to other companies, being spammed with irrelevant communications, and feeling like a commodity. The trick is in finding that balance. As I’ve mentioned, it’s about a value exchange. If someone gives you valuable data – like their email address or buying habits – they expect something equally valuable in return.

LBB: In terms of live issues in the field, what are the debates or developments that we should be paying attention to right now?

Natalie: The ongoing developments in regulations, particularly around privacy. Given that they’re continually changing, understanding what consent means at any given time is a development that needs to be monitored constantly. We know that passive opt in and implied consent are no longer enough, and that ‘legitimate interest’ is constantly being tested. Keeping up with these developments is vital, and each change to the regulations makes it clear that it’s becoming more and more important to have first party data.

Article first published on 21/10/22 by Little Black Book.

Henderson’s Relish is a Sheffield institution. A spicy table sauce made to a secret family recipe that adds spice and savour to any dish.

The brand wanted more people to discover their fantastic taste and try Henderson’s instead of perhaps another ‘well-known’ table sauce.

To do this, we set out to de-risk the purchase with on pack ‘Love It, or your money back’ activation. This presents shoppers with an additional, motivating reason to consider trying Henderson’s Relish by removing barriers to purchase. If they don’t love the product then they have the option to claim their money back by visiting loveithendersonsrelish.com and uploading their receipt as proof of purchase.

The attention-grabbing collar design is bright and vibrant with simple but impactful messaging of ‘Love it or your money back’’ to catch the eye of the shoppers.

The ‘Love it or your money back’ promotion is across their Original Henderson’s Relish product and is live in stores until 31st March 2024 so keep your eyes peeled and give this spicy table sauce a chance!

Your brand – you’ve spent years getting it to the exact place you want it to be in and now it’s there, in that perfect position in your market. Your audience can now make an informed, rational decision on your brand. Everything’s perfect.

Let’s take a step back for a minute. It has become increasingly accepted that your brand is no longer simply your logo, or visual identity, but is more about the experience or environment linked to your business, product or service. Your brand can no longer be considered a vehicle through which to facilitate a desired transaction, from business to consumer. It shouldn’t even be considered the sole property of the business it is associated with.

Your brand is shaped by the relationships formed in that space in-between business and people, and importantly between people themselves. It is in this acknowledgement of brand being about relationships that we must appreciate two key points:

no relationship remains the same – relationships always evolve
no-one wants to be in a relationship with someone perfect
In order to have healthy relationships you need to appreciate that people will not seek to understand your brand intellectually. Decisions are very often not made intellectually but intuitively. What is important isn’t what people know about a brand, but what they feel about a brand.

Consider a personal relationship that may well be close to your heart – you and your mum. In one way your relationship with your mum will always remain the same, she is your mum and you are her child. That will never change. However, is that really your relationship, or is that simply a label?

Let’s consider the actual relationship you have with your mum over a lifetime. If we think about the relationship rather than the label we can see how our roles and expectations are constantly evolving. At birth we are totally dependent on our mum, without her we would die. As we grow into childhood we are nurtured by mum, but we are becoming less dependent. As older children / young adults we challenge mum, pushing for independence. Entering adulthood we become friends and equals with mum, still getting support and guidance but being able to share some of our own guidance. As mum ages we find that the dependency role switches, with mum becoming reliant on us and relying on our support. Throughout our life we remain mum and child, but the relationship is constantly evolving.

When considering your brand be aware that your relationship with people will evolve. Be open to changing roles and expectations.

So what about perfection? Well, how would you like to be in a relationship with someone who is perfect? Someone who never does anything wrong, is always right, always the best, infallible. Sounds pretty awful right? Of course it does because we know that no-one is perfect, we all make mistakes and bad decisions. That’s not a bad thing though, it is what makes us likeable. It’s what builds relationships as everyone is fallible, we are all prone to mistakes. ‘To err is human’.

So if you are hoping to build a relationship with people through brand then forget about trying to seem perfect. We are all fallible and prone to mistakes, but what that gives is the opportunity to show growth, improvement, self-awareness. Perfection leaves no room for improvement – it is a dead state. Forget perfection.

When considering your brand, consider it the ‘space in-between’. Your brand is the space in-between numerous contributing factors, such as your business, staff, product, visual identity, customers, detractors, the current environment.

This ‘space in-between’ must be a space of vitality, of evolution, of imperfection, if you want people to relate to the brand and the brand to remain relevant. This ‘space in-between’ is not static or stagnant, it is always in-process. It should be considered temporally rather than spacially. It will most often be appreciated and experienced intuitively not intellectually. When considering your brand – the ‘space in-between’ – it’s not rational, it’s emotional.

For over 20 years, I’ve been working in or running my own branding agency. First design side, and then moving strategy side, I’ve learned a thing or two in my time. However, there is one thing which I seem to learn but then need to relearn again and again, and that is the need for and the role of transparency.

Now, what has led me to relearning the need for transparency you might ask? Well, in my current role I am Brand Strategy Director. This means I’m not only responsible for the brand strategy work with clients, nor does it mean I’m only responsible for the rest of our strategy team. No, what I take this role to mean is that I am responsible for the understanding and application of brand strategy from the whole of the agency.

As a full-service agency, we have people doing all sorts of roles, from design, to development, to client partnerships. Everyone will, at some point, work with the strategy team on projects, and so I believe that the more they can understand strategy the better and more effective our agency’s work will be. Now, of course, in meetings people get a little window into what we do in strategy, but I realized that in order to really make the strategy teams work transparent I needed to find ways to open up our working. So, I decided that I would decorate the walls with some of the models and frameworks that we might use in a project. (See above)

The thing about them is, they’re not intended to give you an answer. In fact, even the best use of the smartest model only ever gives you an approximation of the answer. But for me, that is fine, because in strategy there is never really an answer, there’s just one of a number of answers.

So, I looked through the models I’ve used over the years, printed out some of the best and most used ones, and stuck them on the wall. This immediately led to some great feedback and some very interested people passing our strategy area. Conversations about models, their uses and application, and what they would be useful for, flowed freely. You see, once you put your ways of working out there, people are invested and interested.

In a project, models should be used as your hidden secret. We use them to create focus from a wide range of inputs, but we rarely show them to clients. They’re not really the best way to present work, so we use them as a tool for focusing our work, not presenting it. Good models should be used to cut, to hone, to give you less and not more.

Now there are many models I no longer use, they no longer meet my standards and have been dropped. As I said previously, I’ve spent over 20 years doing this, and one of the things I have learned is what models work, and which ones don’t. So, here’s a short list of a few of the models I still use, and what I use them for.

This model is old, and many people knock it, but I still use it. Why I use it is I find it a simple and helpful structure to work through one of the aspects of the context within which our brand exists – market forces. The six areas the PESTLE name stands for (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, Environmental) are still a good way to break down the market forces at play on a business and its associated brand. I find that they help me focus, but also they give an indication as to the areas in which a business has more to think about.

Yet again, another old model that doesn’t get much love these days. Well, I still love it. When we are researching a brand project there are two key areas we need to find out about – the context (market forces, audience, competition) but also the business itself. The SWOT gives us a very simple model to learn something of what the business is good and bad at, and where they see opportunities and threats. Now, the slight variation in my model is that I use a grid which sets out the strengths and weaknesses, and the opportunities and threats on the outer edges, but on the inside where they cross over there are four panels where you can start to set out strategies for improvement (S-O, S-T, W-O, W-T).

There are many models like this, but this is the one I use. It is a simple breakdown of a never ending process of evolution which every brand should constantly go through. Because, although we’ve just written a distillation of the brand, in reality the brand is always changing and shifting to a point. A brand is a dynamic entity which evolves over time. So, this model has four stages; Understanding, Clarifying, Communication, and Evolution. Understanding is your research phase. Clarifying is your distillation phase. Communication is your communicating phase. And Evolution is your listening phase. Keep doing these phases, over time, and your brand can shift and move at the right place and the right times.

The Marketing sales funnel is yet another old and supposedly broken model. Not as far as I am concerned it isn’t. Now, my approach to the marketing sales funnel is quite loose, and we don’t put strict rules on how we use it. What we do find it useful for is assessing what marketing touchpoint should be used for which part of the journey through the funnel. At the top of the funnel we are looking at Awareness, and so touchpoints such as OOH and TVC will feature heavily. At the bottom of our funnel we have Advocacy, so Google Reviews or user reviews may feature here. Really, we find the funnel a helpful tool to give our touchpoints a role and responsibility.

Finally, we move into the Experience ecosystem. What is this you might ask? Well, it is something that we do to give a function to every ‘moment’ a person comes into contact with our brand. A ‘moment’ is an audience-centered view of a touchpoint. Brands are shaped through ‘Associated Memorable Moments’, and every one of these moments in time should be used to encourage a desired action or reaction. Whether that action or reaction is just awareness of your brand, or is a driver to purchase, if you attribute a behavior you would like to encourage from that ‘moment’ you are creating a focus for everything you do. Make sure every moment is clearly identifiable as you, and is remembered for something you would like.

So, there are six models I use pretty often. Of course, there are many more worth using. From Kapferer’s Brand Identity Prism to Keller’s Brand pyramid, Stephen King’s Planning Cycle to Kotler & Armstrong’s 3 Product Levels. But remember, a model is only there to help you cut and refine. It will never give you the answer, and what you get out is only ever as good as the quality of research you put into it. As I said at the beginning, there is a value in and a need for structure.

Bristol-based direct marketing agency Flourish has been recognised for its email marketing achievements at this year’s national Performance Marketing World Awards.

The awards were held at The Grosvenor Hotel on Park Lane in London and Flourish scooped the Email Marketing award for their work with well-known consumer electronics brand, Samsung. They were one of 22 winners out of more than 90 shortlisted finalists, alongside other award-winning entries including the likes of Asda, Specsavers, Boots, Primark and M&S.

Robin Langford from PMW wrote: “The victors reflect outstanding work across a number of product sectors, alongside awards for the best people, agencies, innovations and teams.”

Flourish also has an office in Dubai and a long-standing relationship with the Samsung Gulf team. They were asked to work on the launch of the Galaxy S22 Series across several regions and in multiple languages. The team assisted with the planning and implementation of a communications strategy that helped Samsung to achieve a high number of pre-orders, and exceeded results from their previous launches of similar devices.

Ian Reeves, Managing Director at Flourish, said: “2022 has been a fantastic year for Flourish, and we are extremely proud to top it off by winning an award that celebrates the game-changing results possible when data, technology and people come together to create customer orientated journeys. This award is credit to the whole team at Flourish and their dedication to pushing boundaries in CRM.”

The campaign has also received recognition by industry body reallygoodemails.com and an internal Samsung marketing award for the campaign with the best use of segmentation.

McCann has bolstered its strategy team in Bristol with the appointment of Sarah Warewinter. Sarah joins as Associate Director for Strategy having headed up IMA HOME’s insight and strategy team in Leeds for 11 years.

Prior to her time at IMA HOME, Sarah worked across a diverse range of sectors, with her portfolio including major brands such as Argos, Dr Oetker, Interflora, Jet2 and the NHS.

In her new role, Sarah will build on the strength of the existing team to deliver meaningful work for the agency and its clients. Talking about her appointment, managing director Andy Reid said: “Across the globe, McCann is known for providing our marketers with best-in-class strategic and creative services to help brands play a meaningful role in people’s lives.

“For us at McCann Bristol, Sarah’s appointment is central to delivering this core function, as we continue to proudly create award-winning work for our clients. Sarah comes with an impressive track record, along with a wealth of expertise across a range of sectors and I’m pleased to welcome her to our senior leadership team as we head towards 2023.”

Sarah added: “I’m really excited to join the McCann family. The ambition and direction of the business is really exciting, and I can’t wait to be involved in the next stage of growth for McCann Bristol.”

JonesMillbank, Bristol-based video production company, were commissioned by leading engineering consultancy firm Hoare Lea to celebrate the arrival of the National Satellite Test Facility (NSTF).

As unseen stewards of communication, man-made satellites keep us safe, informed and entertained, and their voyage into space demands phenomenal technical skill at every stage.

World-class science research, expertise and innovative testing transports them from concept to lift-off, and the unique design of the NSTF’s ‘cathedral-like’ facility means the chaos and challenges of space can be recreated here on earth.

Specialist equipment shakes, bakes and blasts satellites in the final phase of their ground development, testing them to their limits and arming them with the best preparation possible before their final journey into the unknowns of the cosmos.

JonesMillbank worked with Dr Jackie Bell, PhD, an aspiring astronaut and theoretical physicist who featured on BBC’s Astronauts: Do You Have What It Takes?, whose own journey through the space industry has tested her in every way imaginable.

The film was shot on location at the facility in Oxfordshire with support from RAL Space.

They work in-house with a talented team of multi-disciplined creatives, all the while telling authentic stories long before it was cool for a range of clients such as University of Bristol, IDLES, NHS England, The Royal Mint and Battersea.

Bopgun, a brand, strategy and digital agency, has been selected from a number of agencies to support Puzzler Media with the UX, design and development for a new lead generating B2B website.

Puzzler Media is the UK’s largest supplier of printed and digital puzzle-based content, backed up by end-to-end content management and support. With over 50 years’ experience, Puzzler Media is the go-to name in puzzles, working with business worldwide from national and regional newspapers to magazines, membership organisations and individual brands.

With only a consumer-facing website, Puzzler Media identified the need for a new B2B website to improve their online presence, increase brand awareness and ultimately generate leads. The website will showcase the huge range of puzzles on offer, alongside solutions to deliver content and client case studies that demonstrate their experience and capability – all delivered in a clean and user-friendly design.

“B2B is an exciting and growing part of our business. We help a multitude of clients in supplying print and digital puzzle content and tech solutions. We didn’t have a site that reflected the breadth of content and the quality of our client base. We chose Bopgun because, based on the good work we have seen them deliver for other clients, we believed they were the best agency to deliver our Puzzler Business Partnerships ‘shop-window’. We’re really excited to be partnering with them on this project.” Lynda Newland, Deputy MD, Puzzler Media.

Launched in 2008, Bopgun is a multi-disciplined creative agency with an unrivalled background across the publishing industry. With both the founders having worked in various roles at Future Publishing for over 14 years between them, Bopgun has grown into a substantial and distinguished company working with some of the world’s leading industry players including Elsevier, Story House Egmont, Anthem Media, Hachette Partworks and Kelsey Media to name a few.

From engaging websites for the likes of Marvel and Disney, to e-commerce subscription sites, promotional campaigns, animations and illustrations, Bopgun prides itself on delivering real value to the publishing industry.

“We were thrilled when we heard we’d won this project with such a prestigious brand as Puzzler, known by their existing clients as the UK’s largest puzzle supplier. Knowing how important it is for their business to convey their detailed and wide range of puzzles is the sort of challenge we love!” David Mathews, Managing Director at Bopgun.

Eight new recruits, including Business Development Director, Marketing Manager and Medical Writer join Create Health.

Bristol-based healthcare marketing agency Create Health is strengthening its team across the board with new appointments across departments, welcoming eight new team members in total.

Carys Richards brings a wealth of experience from the Pharma sector to the Create Health team as Business Development Director.

Meanwhile, Sean Quay joins the team as a Medical Writer. He comes from a clinical background, with time spent in pharmacy and primary care working on regional level pharmacy projects like driving medicine optimisation and public health campaigns.

Junior Graphic Designer Amelia Horner initially joined the agency as an intern, taking advantage of Create Health’s apprenticeship scheme to secure a full-time role.

In addition, the agency welcomes, Charlie Culverhouse as Senior Account Manager, Kate Wells as Junior Art Director, Jasmine Freeman as Marketing Manager, Joe Wilson as Motion Graphics Designer and Rhi Wheeler as Account Executive.

Managing Partner Ed Hudson said “The Create Health team growing at such a rate signals the exciting times ahead not just for the agency but for the healthcare communications industry. We’re thrilled to have brought on board a roster of talented individuals who will help us to push the boundaries of creativity and make a positive difference to healthcare professionals and patients alike.”

Medical Writer Sean Quay, added “Healthcare communications is booming and being part of Create Health feels like I’m aboard a rocket about to launch.”