Category: General

Keeping things ontrack ...

Over the past 6 weeks we’ve been on a brand journey with SQS giving their works management system, ontrack, a new identity ready for them to take it to market.

We started with all key stakeholders filling in our branding questionnaire so we could start to build up a picture of their expectations for the new look and feel.  Then we ran two workshops where we had concepts and copy lines aplenty to move around into our likes/dislikes corners.

The final design was then chosen and after some finessing we’ve delivered a set that includes a core logo, a core icon and a secondary set of colour-ways for different applications and markets plus, of course, a set of brand guidelines to keep everyone ‘ontrack’ with it’s usage!

We can’t wait to see the new branding being used!

FROM THIS:

TO THIS:

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Small Business Branding

We love working with companies big and small and helping a local mum launch her new business was a great fun project to be involved with.

We spent some time together talking about what she was offering – chemical peels, botox, fillers – and how she was going to manage this alongside her continued nursing role in the cancer ward of the local hosptial plus juggling motherhood and life in general!

After just three ‘mentoring’ sessions she had an action plan, a brief for her branding and a renewed confidence in herself … and Holistic Nurse Aesthetics was hatched!

Branding by the chicken/egg studio.

Mentoring by our MD Karen.

HNA treatments by Lisa.

 

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Get on yer Bike!

Next month see’s Lee Valley supporting national Bike Week – we helped developed creative for their flyers, digital banners and TV screen advertising plus flags and outdoor media.

 

 

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NEW CLIENT: SQS

We’re really excited to be working with SQS on the marketing strategy and roll-out for their Works Management System, Ontrack.

SQS is a family firm that has grown into a leading utility solutions provider in London, the Home Counties and the South East they developed Ontrack as a bespoke works management system that provides end-to-end job tracking and quality management.  Our task is to now re-brand and take Ontrack to market.

Welcome to the Coop SQS!

 

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The Social Media instinct

You’ve just thought of a great post, and as you reached for your phone, your thumb pauses, hovering between the blue icons.  Which account should you post this to? Twitter, Facebook or both?  The two sites have a very different feel to them and appeal to a different demographic.

The fact that you ‘approve’ friends on Facebook, and ‘follow’ on twitter suggests the intimacy of the relationship.  FB (family & buddies) is largely about continuing real relationships in the virtual world, whereas Twitter is more about making connections from an entirely online community.  So you’re more likely to get a stream of birthday messages on FB and a link to an interesting article on Twitter.

Many of us use one site more than the other, and have a natural ‘feel’ or what’s appropriate where.  However the social media scene is vast, there’s Instagram, Pinterest, blogs and many more, each with their own ethos and perspective to consider.  Obviously there aren’t hard and fast rules, but the subtle differences between the sites is a big consideration when planning a social media campaign, which is why it’s crucial to have people on your team who have experience across the vast range of social networking and who understand why one post doesn’t necessarily work across sites.

How’s your social media instinct? Where would you post in these scenarios?

1)     Pictures from a family holiday

2)     Funny post about a topical story, just to make people smile.

3)     Link to a news article with a comment aimed at starting a debate.

4)     Request for help finding a handyman in your local area.

5)     Sharing a petition about a cause you support.

6)     A review you’ve written about a book you read.

7)     An amazing up-cycle job you’ve done on an old chair.

8)     Trying to raise donations for your sponsored walk.

At chicken/egg, Jacqui and her team, make sure that the right message gets delivered in the right way to get through first time, because you don’t get many second changes in the constantly updating on-line community

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Chicken or the Egg - a love story!

When Carla, our SEO guru, sent out this out we all loved it … so only fair to share the ‘chicken or the egg’ love!

Great work from Christine Kim and Elaine Wu from the Ringling College of Art and Design.

 

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HOW TO: Facebook comps

Facebook are notorious for changing their rules with little or no notice.  As a user (especially a business Facebook Page user) it’s up to you to keep abreast of all any new regulations, and make sure you’re following them.

Unfortunately, ignorance is not a defence: if you don’t toe the Facebook line, you could find your page deleted, and all your hard-earned ‘Likes’ absorbed back into the ether.

Despite the rules on competitions being changed nearly two years ago (May 2011) we regularly see promotions that blatantly breach them so we’ve pulled together a brief ‘how to’ guide to help keep you on the straight and narrow …

Basically, Facebook want nothing to do with your competition; in fact, they want to distance themselves as much as possible!

So, things to remember: 

You cannot run a competition anywhere on the timeline of your Page. Instead, it must be done via a third-party app  (essentially an independent page within a Facebook page) and the terms and conditions must very clearly state ‘that the promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook’.

There are only three Facebook functions or features you’re allowed to utilise in the running of your competition: you can require people to Like your page, check in to a Place, or connect to the third-party app that will then direct them to your competition page.

However, none of these actions are allowed to grant automatic entry into the competition.  Instead, they are a stepping-stone that leads to your main means of entry: whether that be a multi-choice question, a task, or whatever you decide.

All other Facebook functions are off limits.  What that means is, you can’t ask people to Like or comment on a specific post on your timeline, and ‘a winner will be chosen at random from everyone who replies’.  Nor can you ask them to ‘upload your photos, and the funniest one will win’.

Similarly, you can’t use Facebook functions as voting mechanisms, ie: ‘Like your favourite photo, and the one with the most votes wins’.

You can’t even notify competition winners on your Facebook page, or via messages, or chat, or personal profiles.  It’s up to you to make sure you collect a means of contacting the eventual winner (an email address, phone number or Twitter handle), and you must make it clear it is you collecting the data, and not Facebook.

So, there it is: the basics of how to run a competition on your Facebook Page.

You can read the full rules and regulations here

If you’ve any questions or would like help in setting up your Facebook Page for future competitions then give us a shout!

 

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Infinite Possibilities

I think my stomach’s stopped lurching now… I was among the millions of  people who watched Felix Baumgartner step off the edge of space and free-fall to the earth this week – not something I’d have envisaged watching if you’d told me 20 years ago.

Not only did the daredevil Austrian make history after jumping from 128,000 feet, he also broke the sound barrier and the world record on the number of viewers watching a live stream via YouTube – with an audience of 8 million watching live.

Hats off to Felix, but also, kudos to Red Bull, who backed the stunt and watched its brand exposure go into orbit as fast as Felix fell out of it.

Hands up, how many marketers have you known who’ve come up with a zany, out-there idea that’s made everyone in the room smile, before looking at the logistics and the cost and dismissing it with an ‘it’s a nice idea, but we simply don’t have the resource’? How many of those marketers knew perfectly well it wasn’t a feasible option but suggested it all the same to prove their creativity?

Well, Red Bull has thrown down the gauntlet. Never again will a marketer be able to say ‘never’.

This feat must have taken YEARS to orchestrate. It would need an epic team of experts from a whole raft of fields; not just one man prepared to risk his life. Red Bull has been a big name in bringing extreme sports into the public eye for years, but they’ve taken it to a completely new level now, and they’ve really set a new standard.

This week, Forbes declared that Red Bull’s sponsorship of the live jump was equal to ‘tens of millions of dollars of brand exposure’, and while we have no idea how much time, and money was ploughed into bringing this stunt off, it’s certainly proved its worth for the brand.

So there’s a strong message here – if you have a fantastic idea, one that can stop the world for a couple of hours, then have the guts to help see it through. Yes it takes money, time, resource and God knows it takes energy and dedication, but you might just have a success on this scale on your hands. And if you’re struggling, I can recommend a well-known energy drink to help you get through the pain…

 

 

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