Savvy and Victor - Branding, Design and Creative Communications. Uckfield, Sussex.

When brands and a band collaborate

noreply@blogger.com (Savvy and Victor) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:49:00 +0000

By Adam Claxton
Twitter: Savvy_Adam

This morning I discovered the new music video from the band OK Go, which was made in partnership with Chevrolet. It is not OK Go’s first collaboration with a major brand, having partnered with Google to create a video that promoted HTML5 web technology. OK Go have a burgeoning reputation for creating ingenious videos, that has helped them earn a cult following. This new video is certainly among the best and they certainly deserve all the plaudits they get.

OK Go set up the shoot with over 1000 instruments over 2 miles of desert outside Los Angeles. A Chevy Sonic was outfitted with retractable pneumatic arms designed to play the instruments, and the band recorded a version of Needing/Getting, singing as they played the instrument array with the car. The planning for the video took four months of preparation and four days of shooting and recording.

There are no ringers or stand-ins; Damian (Singer) took stunt driving lessons. Each piano had the lowest octaves tuned to the same note so that they'd play the right note no matter where they were struck. Being a music video fan I find OK Go are at the top of their game, so innovative, original and clever you sometimes have to watch it a few times to work out what is actually going on... OK Go make videos you would definitely show your friends, share on Facebook and post on Twitter (OK Go was trending on twitter this morning), and I'm sure you will to once you have seen the video.

Important to this video, and the success of previous OK Go videos, is the fact that they are obviously picky with the brands they work with; bands who have received corporate sponsorship in the past have often been accused of ‘selling out’ and damaging their credibility. In the case of OK Go it appears that they have not suffered this fate because they have partnered with brands that stand for innovation and that is something that they try to represent in their videos.

Here are my top four favourite OK Go videos including the new Needing/Getting and the one that started it all A million ways, Enjoy:

The Savvy team captured on camera

noreply@blogger.com (Savvy and Victor) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:20:00 +0000

By Savvy HQ
Twitter: Savvy_Victor

Last October the Savvy team embarked on a team building exercise, at the studio of professional photographer Andy Sutton of Captured Imaged Photography. It was an important time in the development of Savvy & Victor as we welcomed Kate Emmerson to the team and we were in the final stages of moving into our new and larger HQ in Uckfield. It was our intention that the day out in the studio would help us get to know each other even better and create even more of a buzz about our fresh new set up.

The photography involved each member of the team bringing in items that represented their interests. Each portrait was carefully set up by our Head of Design Adam Claxton, who directed the shoot so that each photograph would be of the highest quality. Speaking about the shoot Adam said "I really enjoyed directing the shoot and dressing the sets. Seeing everyone’s important items gave us a real insight into each other’s lives.The pictures are professional in their approach but allow our individual personalities to shine through."

How many items can you spot in each photo?

The Savvy team from left to right Edmund, Kate and Badger, Jolene, Adam, Jo and Jasper

Jo Allen - Creative Director

Adam Claxton - Head of Design

Jolene Fairs - Design and production

Kate Emmerson - Marketing Executive

Edmund Chartier - Brand Executive and Social Media

Jasper Wallace - Copywriting

A Christmas celebration at our new HQ

noreply@blogger.com (Savvy and Victor) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 15:56:00 +0000

By Savvy HQ
Twitter: Savvy_Victor

It has been a huge year in the history of Savvy & Victor as we’ve welcomed new members into the team and have moved into new and larger premises. Undoubtedly everyone is excited for the future and raring to go for next year and the start of the next stage of development for Savvy & Victor.

Keen to end 2011 with a bash we were delighted to be invited by Peter Taylor of Peter Taylor Associates, our landlord at the Old Mill, to join him and our neighbouring businesses for a special Christmas celebration.

The festivity started with Peter Taylor welcoming everyone to the party and providing a fantastically detailed history of the building Savvy & Victor now call home. Among the snippets we heard were that the foundations of the Old Mill were originally built upon oil drums meaning the building would sway during a storm. Thankfully this was one of the first renovations he made to the building when he purchased it in 1988. Peter finished his speech by presenting every business in the building a beautiful print of the Old and Roller Mills. We instantly fell in love with our copy and we’ve already given it pride of place in our client room.

Following Peter’s speech all the businesses in the building spent 5 minutes introducing themselves, after which we then spent an enjoyable time talking to our new neighbours over drinks and a festive feast. Being the newest business in the building everyone at Savvy & Victor enjoyed meeting with staff from Peter Taylor Associates, Micro APL, Phormium IT Solutions and Efficient Air Ltd, whom we straight away established a rapport with. Unsurprisingly, the festive celebration continued in Savvy & Victor HQ,

A highlight of the afternoon was the Savvy & Victor novelty gifts exchange, which led to a lot fun games that included table tennis, a bubble machine and a make your own boyfriend that was amusingly picked by Ed! Perhaps, the most popular gift for some were the silly fake moustaches, see below for the incriminating photos.

After the fun and games the day was capped off with a delicious dinner. It was sincerely a very enjoyable day for the Savvy & Victor team and we’d all like to express our gratitude to Peter Taylor for arranging the party and for the generous gift. We’re all looking forward to future events with our new neighbours.

The value of a good office party

noreply@blogger.com (Savvy and Victor) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:23:00 +0000

By Savvy HQ
Twitter: Savvy_Victor

We have been asked by our clients to devise and implement an eclectic range of projects over the years. From creative communications and graphic design to customer and employee events, and it has to be said, we’ve achieved some great results. Right up there with the best was a recent request from itmsoil to plan and organise their 2012 Christmas Knees Up.

After spending several weeks of planning to deliver something fun, engaging and surprising the company’s boardroom was transformed into the ‘The Uncivil Engineer’. Replete with oak barrels, a stag’s head mounted on the wall – above an inviting fireplace, which itself has only just appeared - and a well-stocked bar set up in a corner. The centrepiece was a candlelit table, laden with a feast worthy of Dickens. In an adjacent room a mulled cider and champagne bar kept the more tranquil party goers happy.

We’re pleased to report that feedback suggests our efforts were an unqualified success.

The Savvy team inside the 'The Uncivil Engineer'

Some of the comments that we particularly enjoyed were from staff recalling their anticipation on the day of the party. One employee Emily Clarke, group health and safety manager from London admitted she couldn’t resist a sneaky peep around the boardroom door: “I have spent the last two days training in this room and it is transformed. It’s really nice that this effort has been put in. It’s been exciting all day. I had a sneaky peep through the door earlier.”

A view that was shared by Sheridan Elliot, monitor and technical services engineer: “It’s really good, very quirky, an amazing transformation of a boardroom.

Joanna Allen from Savvy & Victor, commented, “It was great fun organising the party. Our brief was to pull the stops out to make this a special occasion for itmsoil staff and I think we achieved that. People were amazed by the transformation of their workplace and very much enjoyed visiting The Uncivil Engineer and tucking into a Dickensian-style feast.”

With a successful end to 2011 for the staff at itmsoil, roll on 2012 where we might see ‘The Uncivil Engineer’ again.

How to optimise your website with the perfect formula

noreply@blogger.com (Savvy and Victor) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:30:00 +0000

By Edmund Chartier
Twitter: Savvy_Edmund

A key objective for any business with an online presence is to optimise their website to encourage more traffic and achieve higher rankings on search engines. It is often a daunting task and even the most committed and enthusiastic individual can be confused by blogs and websites recommending different approaches.

There are many factors that you have to consider, for me the most important one is focusing on writing good content that will not only rank high with search engines, but also interest the reader.

For the budding SEO specialist a good read is the easy to understand and well laid out Periodic Table of SEO Ranking Factors created by Search Engine Land.

As they have stated:

“SEO — may seem like alchemy to the uninitiated. But there is a science to it. Search engines reward pages with the right combination of ranking factors”

Enjoy!

Is the email dead, I don’t think so!

noreply@blogger.com (Savvy and Victor) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 15:36:00 +0000

By Edmund Chartier
Twitter: Savvy_Edmund

With a reputed wealth of $17.5 million by the age of 27 and having created the most popular social networking site in the world, you should really forgive Mark Zuckerberg for any hyperbole he might spout. There have been far less talented individuals, who have become unbearable egotists after even a momentary brush with fame (my current anti celebrity list would include the majority of the X Factor no hopers, Mark Wright from TOWIE and Dappy).

Now, of course Mark Zuckerberg cannot be compared to those people, but this week he has certainly got a little ahead of himself when he announced the demise of the email at the launch of Facebook’s new messaging platform. It is certainly true that with different platforms now available
Facebook, Google + and Twitter that there is now a greater variety of ways people can send information across the net.

With the email being the elder statesman, it was always going to be the case that newer rivals would want to win over that market share. However, how confident can Zuckerberg be that they’ve finally struck a fatal blow to the email or is this the case of Zuckerberg's wishful thinking.

Are we witnessing the death of the email?

A recent research report by the Radicati Group indicates that email accounts are expected to grow by 7% per annum and will number 4.1 billion by 2015. Social Networking is also expected to grow from 2.4billion to 3.9 billion growing at a pace of 11% per annum. This shows that while social networking is growing quickly, it is not growing at the expense of the email with both platforms splitting the market with a near equal market share.

The detail in the report that interested me the most was how email use is increasing, according to the report, it is mostly through business email accounts. This is significant of course because it supports the view that the greater the number of messaging platforms, the greater our choice in how we communicate.

For instance I love twitter! It’s easy to use, instantaneous and is great way to get a short impactful message out to a large audience. Similarly Facebook is a great medium in which you can share photos, music and stories with a close (if you so choose) network of people. For that reason the amount of emails I send to friends have now decreased majorly from 8 to 9 years ago. However, despite the fact I send less emails to friends now, I haven't become less reliant on them. For work I couldn’t function without them, they’re absolutely vital to send information, reports and other files to clients. You can also certainly hold a more detailed discussion via email than you can do on Twitter and Facebook.

In an article on the BBC Head of Microsoft’s Envisioneers team stated “Everything has its place and it’s really understanding which is the right tool for the job”. I couldn’t agree more, what we’ll see over the years is not a situation where one platform dominates over other, but a market where there is genuine consumer choice. One of the most exciting aspects of the rise of social networking is the increasing number of innovative sites that are being created to provide an even greater user experience.
Currently we have Facebook, Twitter, Google +, Linkedin and Diaspora all offering us something a little different. Emails may become a more niche mode of communication but they will remain important and be one of many platforms with which we’ll be able to communicate in our own way. The fat lady has certainly not started to sing yet!

Our favourite Google logos

noreply@blogger.com (Savvy and Victor) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 15:16:00 +0000

By Savvy Savvy HQ
Twitter: Savvy_Victor

We all loved today’s Google logo, which celebrated the 60th anniversary of the first book publication by Stanislaw Lem, a Polish science fiction writer. Google have become increasingly renowned for highly imaginative, entertaining and informative logos and today’s effort is certainly one of the best.

As a brand development and creative agency we really admire the constant evolution of the Google logo and as a salute to them, we have listed here some of our favourites.

The Lem inspired logo features a character confronting a giant robot, which you're able to interact with.

For guitarist Les Paul's 96th birthday Google created an online guitar, so people would be able to play some of their favourite compositions.

This reimagining of Edvard Munch's The Scream with the Google logo is one of our favourites.

In 2006 Google celebrated Louis Braille's birthday with this tribute.

Today's logo was not the first playable game Google has created for their homepage. In 2010 they celebrated the 30th anniversary of Pac-Man with this effort.

Google always has great logos for Halloween, but this logo designed by legendary horror director Wes Craven was the most notable

We hope that you have enjoyed these logos as much as we have and please share with us some of your favourite Google logos.

Savvy & Victor have moved

noreply@blogger.com (Savvy and Victor) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 15:36:00 +0000

By Savvy HQ
Twitter: Savvy_Victor

As our followers will already be aware Savvy & Victor have moved to a brand new Savvy HQ in Uckfield. We began moving people, computers and equipment over from last Monday and completed the move on Friday. The much larger premises look absolutely brilliant and we’ve already enjoyed showing clients the new building. With a few final touches to be made, such as the arrival of our downstairs sofas, we’ll soon be hosting images online for everyone to see.

In the meantime if you’d like to meet us at our new HQ to talk about your marketing, creative and brand development needs we would be delighted to arrange a meeting.

Please contact us at:

Savvy & Victor HQ

The Old Mill

Mill Lane

Uckfield

TN22 5AA

(0)1825 763310

Fantastic use of QR codes by Sussex brewery

noreply@blogger.com (Savvy and Victor) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 17:02:00 +0000

By Edmund Chartier
twitter Savvy_Edmund

I feel compelled to write a short blog today on the excellent use of QR codes by the Sussex microbrewery WJ King.

For those people who are unfamiliar with them, QR Codes (see below) are a form of unique barcode that allow people to download digital content via their smartphones. QR Codes are increasing in popularity as
marketers begin to utilise them for billboards, posters etc. Certainly, if you’re not already familiar with them, you are likely to be over the next 12 months.

When new technologies and social networking platforms become available, it is to be expected that there will be some early adopters, notably brand giants who have time and money invest in creative marketing. That’s why it is great to read that WJ King, a small microbrewery in Horsham, West Sussex, have made innovative use of the technology and showed some larger brands a thing or two.

W J King has exploited the technology by adding a unique QR code to the pump clip and bottle label of each of its beers. If you scan the code with a smartphone, then you’ll link to a video of head
brewer Ian Burgess, who talks about the beer you’re drinking and the ingredients from which it’s made.

Now I know personally as a real ale drinker that I would be interested in the different brewing processes involved with the various beers. In addition, having been on a tour of the Harvey’s brewery in Lewes, I would be interested to see a QR Code link to a video tour, highlighting the potential scope of the promotion.

The QR codes have a further bonus for WJ King compared to some of their larger competitors. As a bit of a foodie and real ale fan I’d like to know where my food and drink come from and the narrative
behind how it has been produced. In contrast to larger breweries such as WJ King Greene King, small independent producers like WJ King have uniquely personal stories to tell. Videos of Ian Burgess help promote this story.

The use of QR Codes by WJ King is not just a great story about the innovative use of new technology, it's about how small independent companies can utilise it to give them a competitive edge and provide great service to their customers. I'm sure more retail and service businesses will be following suit... I least I hope they will be!

Worst Cadbury's advert ever

noreply@blogger.com (Savvy and Victor) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 08:52:00 +0000

By Edmund Chartier
Twitter: Savvy_Edmund

At Savvy & Victor we’ve have long been fans of a number of Cadbury’s adverts, from the iconic Gorilla advert to more recent editions such as the Cadburys Fingers World Party by Adam + Eve. During the past twelve months we’ve written regularly and offered our opinions on their often brilliant campaigns.

Yet, despite a great history in advertising the most recent Cadbury’s offerings have left the team very disappointed. Particularly their latest ad that features British athlete Chris Tomlinson running to Europe’s ‘The Final Countdown’ is utterly abysmal.

Cadbury’s are a Tier Two London 2012 sponsor and are naturally rolling out a series of campaigns to cash in on the Games next year. Last year saw the launch with much fanfare the Cadbury’s Spots vs Stripes campaign that was supposed to gain nationwide attention as they ambitiously set out to create the ‘largest game the UK has ever seen’ by dividing the nation into teams of Spots and Stripes. As the campaign faltered the Fallon Agency created this new campaign (see below), which features various British athletes.

Being fair to the Fallon Agency, creating original, witty and/or inspiring adverts is not easy, but this campaign has all the hallmarks of a rushed creative piece. For an award winning agency that is (currently) widely respected by their peers, how did they come to the conclusion that a badly shot advert featuring an athlete running to a sing-along track being sung excruciatingly badly was the way to go!!!?

To examine how poor this advert actually is let’s briefly note what we would expect a positive advertising campaign aiming to unify the country to feature. We would certainly expect to see lots of smiling and happy faces and people singing in tune, such as in this Halifax Advert. You would also expect to set the advert during the day when the majority of the nation is in school or going to work, such as in this Capital FM advert.

Fallon and Cadburys, however, have bypassed these obvious rules of positive advertising by setting the advert in a dystopian future, where our athletes have to train at night with manic faces chanting the final countdown at them. Maybe in the modern world of targets and league tables, this new-look future would be conductive in ensuring that Team GB attain their medal targets. But, how it represents bringing the nation together in supporting our athletes I do not know and I would really like to hear an explanation from the Fallon Agency.

What is your opinion? Is this among the worst adverts ever and how damaging do you think it is to the Fallon Agency?

Diet Coke gets a limited edition re-design

noreply@blogger.com (Savvy and Victor) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 13:20:00 +0000

By Savvy HQ

Twitter: Savvy_Victor

The World’s most popular diet fizzy drink Diet Coca Cola has undergone a redesign with a new limited edition can to be on the shelves this autumn. The new design comes in time for Coca Cola’s 125th anniversary and it has been one of many recent rebrands that have been initiated within the last year – most notably Starbucks and Gap, both of which we commented on at the Savvy blog.

The design was created by San Francisco-based design agency Turner Duckworth, who had previously worked for Coca Cola designing several lines and creating the Diet Coke brand image. The new look image features a section of the Diet Coke logo, cropped to feature the letters “D” and “K” set to the brand’s recognisable silver backdrop.

Are you a fan of the new re-design? It certainly is striking, while maintaining a gentle evolution of the Diet Coke brand Image. Though it's not an irreversible evolution, as it is just a new look for 'fall' - which suggests the tough job of coming up with a 'spring' look is just round the corner."

A new website for itmsoil

noreply@blogger.com (Savvy and Victor) — Mon, 16 May 2011 12:48:00 +0000

By Savvy HQ
Twitter: Savvy_Victor

Savvy & Victor are proud to announce the launch of itmsoil's new website. After three months of hard work and dedication from all teams involved, here it is: http://www.itmsoil.com/

Last October Savvy & Victor were commissioned by itmsoil to undertake a complete rebrand that brings the corporate identity inline with a newly developed company structure. Following the rebrand a new website was developed to support itmsoil's positioning as a world leader in the design, manufacture, installation and monitoring of premium quality geotechnical and structural instrumentation.

The new website has increased levels of functionality including live news feeds, social media integration, case studies and comprehensive information about itmsoil, it's employees, products and services.

Our social media planning seems to be working too... From Group CEO Mark Kirkbride's early tweets we can see that he is already pleased with the new website.

“I'm like the proud owner of a new car....our new website is up and running; lots more to come soon too http://www.itmsoil.com/”

The Picture House presents The Laughter Lounge

noreply@blogger.com (Savvy and Victor) — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 16:44:00 +0000

By Savvy HQ
twitter: Savvy_Victor

We are delighted to announce that our client, The Picture House Uckfield, has launched its first ever 'Live and in person' Stand Up Comedy night featuring many of the country's favourite comedians.

The Laughter Lounge will open its doors for the first time on Monday 4th April and then continue on the first Monday of every month.

The line up for Monday 4th April is Joanna Neary as compere, Dan Antopolski, Dyball and Kerr and Robin Ince headling. Tickets are just £12.50, which is a steal!

Doors 7.00 Show 7.30 Book now to avoid disappointment.

Brand Advertising - Volkswagen has the force

noreply@blogger.com (Savvy and Victor) — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 15:12:00 +0000

By Savvy HQ
Twitter: Savvy_Victor

The Green Bay Packers may have won on the field, but winning off it is Volkswagen with this brilliant advertisement that was screened during the Superbowl final. In the 60 second Ad a mini Darth Vader attempts to use the force around the house to no avail, but finally succeeds when his dad arrives in his new Volkswagen 2012 Passat.

With last Sundays Superbowl capturing a record audience for a US TV show, we can imagine that the bosses at Volkswagen are already gleefully rubbing their hands. Yet, due to the ad being pre launched on Youtube, the advert has also become a viral hit with over 5 million views and became a trending topic on twitter. Creative and well delivered advertising is so important for adverts to stand out, and is also very important for taking those campaigns online. Social media conversations can begin to perpetuate campaign spread online, but to go viral it really needs to be inspired, and this one certainly is!

Digital communication - Getting the most out of your bird

noreply@blogger.com (Savvy and Victor) — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 14:39:00 +0000

By Edmund Chartier
Digital Marketing Executive
Twitter: Savvy_Edmund

Twitter has become vastly popular in the last 12 Months; it seems to be used by everyone from teenage children to celebrities and politicians. As a way to communicate it has great benefits like the 140 word character limit, which means that people keep to the point and do not go off on a tangent.

Many companies are now in on the act and use twitter to promote their brand and increase sales. At Savvy & Victor we have found that twitter is an invaluable medium in which to increase our own brand awareness and to communicate with a wider audience.

If you were to invest time using twitter there are several do and don’ts that you should be aware of…

Do's

You want to achieve positive word of mouth advertising for your company, then don’t be afraid to talk to other tweeters. Gaining a following doesn’t happen overnight and you have to build a rapport with other people first.

Choose what keywords you want your company to be associated with. At Savvy & Victor we often use the word branding in our messages so as to allow people to associate us with this.

Do create an informative profile that explains your company using your keywords (and provide a link to your company’s website). Understand that there are two types of keywords that you can use for your twitter messages the normal keyword message such as “Savvy & Victor branding development agency” and the hashtag variety “Savvy & Victor #branding development agency”.

In practice the different keywords work like this; If I was to search the word ‘branding’ in the twitter search engine, then every tweet that uses the word branding will be shown. Therefore it would not just include industry specific tweets about branding, but also tweets about branding used entirely in a different context.

By using the hashtag you are specifying that your tweet is about a particular topic. If other users also use the same hashtag then you will be able to create your own twitter community around a specific topic. This is a great way to find people with similar interests and to build your twitter following.

If you are pasting a url which has a long address first shorten it via sites such as tinyurl.com or bit.ly. If you fail to do this then your 140 word character limit could be entirely used up by linking to another website.

Be aware of the hottest topics on twitter by seeing what stories are currently trending in the United Kingdom and Worldwide. You can see what stories are trending on the right hand panel of your screen.

Do shout out and thank other users who mention you or your company by name.

Retweet content from other users you like.

Use the Direct Message feature on twitter, It is a great way to build rapport with other tweeters.

Don’ts

Don't over use the hashtag keywords, it makes your twitter stream look very ugly.

Don't use poor grammar or spelling – When we type quickly typos do become more prevalent, however checking before you tweet is advisable.

You should always remember the tone of voice of your company. Swear words and even emotions can look out of place.

Don't follow too many people and don’t follow everyone that follows you. You will inevitably be followed by spammers and it doesn’t make twitter an enjoyable experience if you have dozens of tweets in your stream about plastic surgery in Florida. As a general rule I would suggest that you follow no more people that actually follow you.

Don’t worry if people unfollow you, worry about the twitter community you want to create.

Don't forget to add your profile picture to your twitter account and you should use your own picture, unless it is the company account.

Don’t become a spammer. Twitter is very addictive, however if you tweet to much you will start to detract from other tweeters and you will lose followers who dislike their stream being filled with only your tweets.

These do's and don’ts should help you get started when you create a new twitter account. In the meantime you can follow the savvy team Savvy_Victor, Edmund, Jo and Adam for the latest updates.

Advertising installation inspiration

noreply@blogger.com (Savvy and Victor) — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 10:23:00 +0000

By Savvy HQ
Twitter: Savvy_Victor

If you want to make a big statement about your company in an environment that will seriously engage your audience consider an installation advertising campaign. At Savvy & Victor we enjoy creating imaginative and effective brand building campaigns for our clients and here are the reasons why....

Public space is already saturated with traditional forms of advertising; be it posters, newspaper and magazine advertisements or traditional PR. With such vibrant engagement tools such as video, social media and smart phone media in use, it is no wonder people can tire easily of the traditional approach to consumer engagement. That is why installation advertising can be extremely effective if implemented well. Installation advertising engages people at a deeper level because it puts the brand in context and catches people at a time when an association can be made. For example, this simple but effective installation by KitKat engages the consumer at a time when they are thinking about resting, which means it both reinforces the KitKat ‘Take a break’ proposition and hooks into the consumer emotional state of mind.

Ad installations are great at capturing the imagination of your audience, but you still need to support it further by integrating it as part of a wider marketing campaign. It is important to use channels out such as PR, direct mail and social media to support the effort so that engagement can convert into customer relationships.

Integrated marketing campaigns - Pop goes the Meerkat

noreply@blogger.com (Savvy and Victor) — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 15:50:00 +0000

By Edmund Chartier
Brand Executive
Twitter: Savvy_Edmund

With traditional television advertising failing to lure what is described as the "fast forward generation", brands have now started to realise that to connect to their chosen target demographic they will have to start communicating through the same mediums and be far more creative as they do it.

One notable campaign was during the last Christmas period when Coca Cola used twitter to create an account called @cokezone that allowed followers to tweet their Christmas messages to. Once they had done that their messages would be displayed on the Piccadilly Circus advertising display. This was a fantastic idea as many people would like to see their messages on a big screen and it really gets consumer to engage with the brand.

Even among the brands that are leading with traditional television advertising they are discovering that for their campaigns to be really successful they will need to have an integrated social media plan. The financial comparisons website comparethemarket.com is involved in the most successful integrated campaign with “compare the meerkat”, a campaign based around the Russian Meerkat Aleksandr Orlov.

The marketing campaign involved a dedicated Facebook page, which currently has over 750,000 fans, a twitter account with over 43,000 followers, a fake website and strong additional presence on Delicious and Flickr. By creating a social media campaign that engages extremely well with the general public it has overwhelmingly helped comparethemarket.com build a stronger brand for them. It has also proven to be extremely lucrative as the meerkat Aleksandr Orlov has created millions in additional merchandise, which has notably included a bestselling book.

With the major benefits that can be gained with a well executed social media campaign it is unsurprising that a growing number of brands want to utilise the medium. I would strongly advise any company looking to invest time in a social media campaign that they should not just be ‘reacting’ to this current trend. Many companies are dabbling Twitter and Facebook, without fully understanding how they could be used to leverage their brand.

This is why I would suggest the following to any company looking to set up their own integrated social media campaign:

Firstly, you will need to be aware that you have to put a significant amount of time planning and preparing your social media campaign; and secondly you will need to set clear objectives, the social media campaign should not be stand alone and it should be integrated with your overall marketing campaign.

Inspiration for life and business

noreply@blogger.com (Savvy and Victor) — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 16:09:00 +0000

By Savvy HQ
Twitter: Savvy_Victor

If you haven't come across TED yet you're seriously missing out on some intelligent inspiration. TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) is a set of conferences organised by a nonprofit trust who lead on the line "Ideas Worth Spreading". They focus on bringing together brilliant minds to speak at two annual conferences, one in Long Beach California and the other in Oxford, UK; there they challenge the presenters to "Give the speech of their lives" in just 18mins.

You can see all the speeches, along with other goodies, on their website at http://www.ted.com/

Brand Bashing - GAP to Gap and back again

noreply@blogger.com (Savvy and Victor) — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 11:59:00 +0000

By Savvy HQ
Twitter: Savvy_Victor

Following a backlash from loyal customers and industry professionals in October 2010 GAP pulled the plug on the launch of their new logo which was designed by Laird and Partners, a very well regarded New York based agency. Public outcry wasn't a surprise given the distinctive look and feel of the original logo compared to the generic nature of the new articulation. No doubt expertise and skill were applied to the project though it is difficult to work out quite where and how.

GAP tried to cover up their error of judgement by suggesting they had created and published the logo as a crowd sourcing exercise, if this is the case, though doubtful, the execution of the stunt, seems to be as equally badly managed as the logo was designed.

Fantastic opportunity to join the savvy team

noreply@blogger.com (Savvy and Victor) — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 12:48:00 +0000

By Savvy HQ
Twitter: Savvy_Victor

Great news!

We have a fantastic opportunity for a creative, hardworking and focused individual to join us at Savvy & Victor. The position is for a Communications Executive who would preferably be a recent marketing graduate or an individual with one or two years relevant experience within the brand and communications sector. As a Communications Executive, we would expect you to play a key role in the implementation of projects and campaigns and in planning long-term brand led strategies for our clients.

We are a big mentality agency so we're also keen for anyone joining us to have the drive and passion to move our agency forward.

If this position is of interest to you or you know someone who would be a perfect fit for the savvy team you can apply for the position by sending your CV to youneedme@savvyandvictor.com

The new Starbucks logo - Is there a problem?

noreply@blogger.com (Savvy and Victor) — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 16:35:00 +0000

By Savvy HQ
Twitter: Savvy_Victor

Today Starbucks launched a new logo evolution that has the words Starbucks and coffee removed but that retains their famous green siren logo. Re-brands are notoriously controversial and they can often cause significant damage to a brand if there is overwhelming criticism. So, did Starbucks make the right decision to undertake such a development? Certainly they have been criticised today by commentators such as branding consultant James Gregory who stated "I think it's nuts. What's it going to be - the coffee formely known as Starbucks".

Starbucks are not the only major brand to have recently launched a new logo development. Last October Gap had to scrap their new logo after just one week following extremely severe criticism. The backlash was unsurprising as Gap has used the original logo for over twenty years and many of their customers have a strong attachment to it. With Starbucks this is not the case as the logo has successfully evolved through the years as you can see from the picture below.

It is logical that the increasing popularity of social media means consumers are now more vocal with their disaproval of any brand changes. There has been a change of relationship between the brand and the consumer as companies are looking to cultivate a brand community where customers interact with the brand through sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare.

Companies now need to be aware that greater engagement with a brand through social media has many benefits, but it also means that the consumer have a very public channel in which to voice any disagreements they may have. It is likely that the reason why Starbucks has not been critiscised in the past for their logo changes was that consumers were unable to mass respond their disaproval. Now they can brands have to proactively manage their online reputation.

The criticism in our opinion is linked with the new direction that Starbucks has taken in relation to their brand extensions. In the last few years Starbucks has launched a number of weak products that has included a coffee liqueur and tacky cuddly toy merchandise. By removing the words Starbucks and coffee it is clear that Starbucks wants to reposition their brand beyond the original core proposition.

And, for Starbucks fans, is dislike of the new logo development more about their unhappiness that the brand is moving away from its barista roots? We believe so... the values attached to a brand are always more influential than aesthetics.

The digital nativity

noreply@blogger.com (Savvy and Victor) — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 13:31:00 +0000

By Edmund Chartier
Copywriter
Twitter: Savvy_Edmund

Because I am sucker for nostalgia, I've decided to share with you this social media viral hit that has already got over 3 million hits on Youtube. Created by a marketing agency the video features the nativity story as told through social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare.

The video is really great fun and the tag line to the video "times change feelings remain the same" will really resonate with many people during the Christmas period.

Japan celebrates Christmas with the Colonel

noreply@blogger.com (Savvy and Victor) — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 12:02:00 +0000

By Savvy HQ
Twitter: Savvy_Victor

Christmas is very different in Japan than it is in the United Kingdom and many other Western Countries. A country where less than 1% of the population is Christian and where there is no major holiday to mark the event it is surprising that Christmas is significant at all. However, with increased commercialism and savvy advertising campaigns many Japanese families now celebrate Christmas by purchasing consumer brands.

The most successful brand that has entered the growing Japanese Christmas market is KFC, who in the 1970s proclaimed "Kentucky for Christmas". Ever since, the KFC "Christmas Chicken dinner' has become very popular. In fact it has become so popular that many Japanese people now believe that Westerners celebrate Christmas by sitting down to a festive dinner of Kentucky Fried Chicken.

This growing trend doesn't seem to show any sign of abating with McDonalds keen to topple KFC as the Christmas meal of choice for Japanese families, by releasing a festive Chicken McNugget meal. The battle between the fast food brands to establish a strong market presence within Japan for Christmas may sound humorous to many people in the UK. Yet, are many Japanese families so wrong with their perception of Christmas in Western countries. As our Head of Design Adam Claxton wrote in a blog last Christmas our own perceptions of Father Christmas were strongly defined through the marketing campaigns of Coca Cola.

Perhaps we're not so different after all!

Is there any hope for Bebo?

noreply@blogger.com (Savvy and Victor) — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 12:28:00 +0000

By Edmund Chartier
Copywriter
Twitter: Savvy_Edmund

There was an interesting article recently in the Telegraph on the ailing social networking site Bebo. The article includes direct quotes from Bebos new chief executive Adam Levin, who provides an optimistic outlook on the sites future after it was bought by Criterion Capital Partners from AOL for $10 million. What I am keen to know is can Levin be bullish over the future of Bebo or is it already a lost cause.

Bebo was created in 2005 by married couple Michael and Xochi Birch after setting up several previous start up companies. Bebo wasn't immediately successful as it failed to connect to web savvy teenagers, who had already been attracted to social networking sites such as Myspace. After tweaking the tools available on the site, it quickly became popular among the 13 - 24 year olds due to features such as a customisable homepage, whiteboard for drawing pictures and the creation of personal quizzes for friends.

After two years of strong growth Bebo became the most popular social networking website within Britain, even more popular than Facebook. With Bebo proving immensely popular, AOL decided to purchase the site for $850 million hoping that the website would replicate its success in the USA. The move quickly turned sour for AOL as Bebos members were migrating towards Facebook, who were in part attracted by online games such as Farmville. Simply, Bebo couldn't keep up with the pace of development of the social networking arena and was left behind. In what was their strong UK arena the site went from 10.5 million unique users to 3.8 million and worldwide the website had shed 10 million unique users.

With the current situation being that bebo is much diminished from its previous heights we can now address whether Levin can be bullish in his prediction of a bright future for bebo. The most important factor for me is that Levin is not alone in thinking that other social networking sites can co exist and even profit in a market that is dominated by Facebook. Recently, we have seen the emergence of two new social networking sites Path and Diaspora who have decided to market themselves as niche sites. Path works by limiting users to only 50 friends, with the idea being that it will allow for more personal communication. Bebo, whilst not going down that route will also be marketing itself as a niche website. Levin, wants bebo to go back to its roots by focusing on the youth market.

I am not convinced that bebo will be as successful as Levin hopes. Many of the new innovations that bebo are offering are services that bebo should of been aware of and implemented back in 2007. They failed to do that and I am unconvinced that they will reverse there fortunes now. That doesn't mean that no new social networking sites can be successful, there will always be room for genuine and unique innovation and maybe that will be Path or Diaspora.

This is how to use Social Media Part 2 - Thanks W.E. Clark & Son!

noreply@blogger.com (Savvy and Victor) — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 14:06:00 +0000

By Edmund Chartier
Copywriter
Twitter: Savvy_Edmund

At Savvy HQ we always like positive and engaging social media campaigns, especially when it really connects with the audience. Previously our head of design @savvy_adam was offered a Cravendale milk voucher after he tweeted positively about the milk brand.

This week I can thank W.E Clark and Son for their prize of a Swatch watch after I started following them on twitter and tweeted this:

"An early #ff or should it be #ft to @weclarkandson - Excellent family jewellers based in #Lewes and established since early 19thC. "

I tweeted out my #ff with genuine enthusiasm for W.E Clark and Son , I certainly didn't expect a prize for doing so! W.E Clark and Son are a respected jewellers in my home town of Lewes, who have been running in their Cliffe high street show room since 1819. This response to my tweet proves they are taking the great service they offer in store and doing it online too... Well done to them!

To W.E Clark and Son, thank you, the gesture is most appreciated! I shall be picking up my watch at their shop this Sunday when they will also handing out champagne and mince pies... Can it get any better?

If there is anything more to learn from this it's that businesses are very keen to impress and to build up a following on Twitter. For that reason I'm still keen for that Thomsons Luxury holiday I mentioned in the Cravendale blog, so be aware of some targeted tweets by me very soon.