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Posts Tagged ‘branding’

Social Media and The Future of Television


October 3rd, 2011 by Stuart McMullen

Recently I stumbled upon a 2010 BBC video which focussed on what features we would likely see in future televisions.  Surprisingly, none of the TVs mentioned were about 3D capabilities, but instead ranged from the environmentally friendly to the socially connected.

One prototype demonstrated the idea of a Wifi connected split screen TV, with one half showing the programme you want to watch, and the other a Twitter feed featuring real time discussions about it.

twittertv

Now this got me thinking.  While the obvious purpose of this is to connect with other viewers with similar interests and share your opinions about the programme, considering that viewers will be constantly connected to each other throughout the episode’s duration, it seems almost inevitable that viewers will also discuss the adverts shown in the breaks.  I could only imagine the amount of Twitter-love Aleksandr would receive during each ComparetheMarket advert.

aleksander

If this idea takes off in the mass market, it could potentially offer brands the opportunity to monitor the reactions of a large amount of viewers’ about their adverts in real time, to see if their adverts are being noticed, how they are influencing brand opinion, and examine how annoying people find them on a ranking scale I like to call the GoCompare-O-Meter.

To me this was an interesting example of how innovations in technology can become innovations in marketing and brand analytics, how social media has the potential to continue to shape promotional efforts, and mostly why this is such a fascinating industry to be involved in.

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Healthy Brand, Healthy Business: Extra Date


May 4th, 2011 by Michael

Due to exceptional feedback and renewed demand, we’ve decided to repeat our first Healthy Brand, Healthy Business breakfast seminar next Wednesday 11 May 2011 8am – 9.30am.

healthy_brand_2

So we have this theory…a healthy brand is a healthy business. We’re sharing our thinking over some breakfast and asking people to take some time out of their day to reflect on your own brand.

We’re holding a mini-series of these free seminars. The sessions will provide practical overviews to demonstrate why effective branding communications make sense. The first of these interactive sessions ‘Healthy Brand, Healthy Business’ will provide an overview of:

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Healthy Brand Healthy Business Review


April 5th, 2011 by Michael

Last Wednesday morning a hardy crew of marketing bods, legal eagles and professional networkers braved the early morning Manchester weather to join us at Waulk Mill. The reason? A fabulous breakfast seminar ‘Healthy Brand, Healthy Business’ on our favourite subject matter, branding.

We’d spent weeks planning the first of our Northern Insights mini-series and despite the number of registrations exceeding our original expectations by 50%, we nervously anticipated the arrival of our first guests, wondering who would show up and who wouldn’t.

As 8am loomed large, the inviting smell of bacon sarnies, pastries and coffee welcomed a shade over twenty visitors to a nice relaxed atmosphere of networking chit chat and industry banter. By 8.30am, Allie was in full swing and giving us her theories behind good branding as well as analysing some diverse brands that have got it just right.  The presentation was rounded off with an open Q&A session (yikes, we’d forgotten to ‘plant’ some questions, but the crowd duly obliged) and a fun business card draw. Our delegates returned to their offices armed with a branded smoothie and a swatch of some key seminar takeouts including some of our favourite smoothie recipes. One lucky delegate also walked away with an engraved iPod.

Montage 1

We’ve had some excellent feedback thus far and as a result have planned a repeat event on 11th May for those who couldn’t join us first time round. You can get a flavour of the presentation by looking at the video file we have uploaded here and watch this space for the sequel event which is planned for sometime in June. We are just digesting the event feedback to help us decide upon the content you’ve told us you want to hear about next.

If you couldn’t make it along but would like to be involved in future Northern Insights sessions please give Simon Calderbank a quick call on 0161 237 5151 or drop him an email simon@studionorth.co.uk

Allie Johns is proudly in her 20th year as a brand builder, having experienced all aspects of integrated marketing strategy from brand creation to campaign delivery. An award-winner in external and internal communications, she has proactively devised, managed and delivered a wide variety of work in the UK, Europe, USA and the Far East – both agency & client-side.

Montage 2

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Studio North relaunch Stagecoach in Sheffield


November 9th, 2010 by Lucy

Stagecoach have introduced new routes and new buses to demonstrate their commitment  to the continual improvement of transport links around Sheffield. The new single and double decker vehicles were split across six high frequency routes around the city.

Our task was to create a campaign that focussed on the improvements (though there was nothing necessarily wrong with the service in the first place!) and to develop consistent route branding, flexible enough to target specific audience profiles.

Stagecoach aim to attract an extremely wide audience that could include a young commuter travelling to their first job on a daily basis, but equally likely an OAP travelling into town once or twice a week.

Let us take you there

The chosen campaign demonstrates an emotive concept that ensures longevity while underpinning passenger’s route loyalty and the positives of bus travel. As well as regular bus users the campaign also had to consider car users thinking about switching their mode of transport.

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Can Film Festival


May 25th, 2010 by Dom

Every_Can_Counts‘Bring your empties and take your seat!’ – what could be simpler? As part of ‘Go Green Week’ earlier this year, our client Every Can Counts launched the ‘Can Film Festival’ in partnership with the NUS and People & Planet aimed at encouraging students to recycle their drinks cans in exchange for free film screenings.

Partnering with the NUS meant that special screenings were held at universities across the UK. Two or more empties were all that was needed to gain free entry.

We’ve been working with Every Can Counts now for almost two years and having created the original brand identity, you can imagine how chuffed we were to direct the ad campaign for the Can Film Festival working alongside our ‘producer’ client! In addition, we designed a suite of promotional collateral for festival organisers, all of which was made available to download via the Every Can Counts website.

Okay so we may not be in line for a Palme d’Or but Beer Hunter, Magnificent 7-Up, Lord of the Ring Pulls anyone?

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Living up to your brand promise


May 11th, 2009 by AJ

Always looking for that new taste sensation – i.e. decent nibbles, I picked up a large bag of Seabrook’s wasabi japanese horseradish potato crisps at the weekend. Their strapline promises ‘a right proper gobful’ and in the case of this particular packet ‘Phew! They’re a right hot gobful.’ This raised a wry smile and they were committed to the trolley. Only when I got home did I realise they’d cost £1.26 – I didn’t check at point of purchase, was simply swayed by the packaging, flavour option and the strapline. So my expectations went up yet another notch – i.e. from mouth watering, to these must be something special.  Sadly the taste experience was not up to a ‘right proper gobful’, neither were they ‘a right hot gobful.’ Which got me thinking, ‘Are Seabrook living up to their brand promise?’ Arguably from my humble, crisp appreciation perspective, they’re not – at least not with this particular flavour. Their brand goes back to 1945 – that says to me, here’s a company that’s proud of its heritage and has played it’s part in the development of the great British crisp. They’re also a brand that says to me ‘we’re not afraid to try new things,’ to diversify and keep up with customer taste demands (not to mention their competitors). In branding terms, reputation is everything.  But if your brand isn’t living up to its promise, then the reputation you’ve built up, whether its one year, 20 years (or in Seabrook’s  case 64 years), will be questioned by your customers – who as a result,  may then look for alternatives. The morale of this story? If you’re making a brand promise, make sure you can and do live up to it. NB. Seabrook’s quirky website invites official tasters – maybe I’ll apply? www.seabrookcrisps.com

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Have Innocent lost their innocence?


April 8th, 2009 by Nick

This week Innocent announced that it is to sell a 10 to 20 percent stake in the company to drinks giant Coca-Cola. For a company that strives to do business in a more ”enlightened way” going into business with one of the world’s largest corporate organisations will certainly raise a few eyebrows.

As Innocent join a growing list of companies that started small and developed a brand on the back of a values led approach, only to sell out to a large corporate. It may now have to convince its loyal advocates that its eco-friendly values have not been affected by this move. As a brand which strongly promotes itself as being ethical through policies on fruit sourcing and the environment, it has previously been linked with large multinationals such as McDonald’s to trial some of its beverages at their restaurants.

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Top ten tips on managing a brand identity project


March 30th, 2009 by Michael

1. Leverage existing brand equity

Effective rebrands harness existing brand equity taking audiences through an evolutionary journey which should keep the brand relevant and not irreparably disconnect the old audience from the new positioning. Often, except for the scenario where it is necessary to communicate wholesale changes (for example, a merger) a mere update or refresh is all that is required.

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Manchester to re-develop the 166-year-old crest


March 11th, 2009 by Nick

Manchester City Centre’s decision to task Peter Saville to create a new Crest for the city is an interesting one. Manchester is one of the most dynamic and creative hubs in the UK and I think most people would agree that we need a cohesive image that accurately projects where we are today. 

There’s no doubting that the city has a strong and proud heritage which forms the very foundation of how it has developed and changed. However, I applaud the decision to update the Crest as it, just like industry, commerce and culture, needs to evolve. I’m not saying that the past should be scrapped – far from it – if anything, it should act as the inspiration for the future. There was a lot of debate when Peter designed the now famous ‘M’ and this next phase needs to build on that clear vision. 

Our identity is now a bit fragmented and that needs to be addressed. Like any brand, Manchester can’t stand still. We are all slightly dubious and reticent when our favourite cereal or chocolate bar undergoes a design re-think, but as long as core messages and heritage aren’t totally abandoned then we adapt and accept them. Manchester is now well and truly on the international stage so the new Crest for the next 166 years needs to showcase the new aswell as pull on the old.

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