We’re pleased to announce that Adrian Rowe will become Chairman with immediate effect, leaving Creative Director and Deputy MD, Julian Gratton to take on the full time role of Managing Director of the business.

Adrian Rowe has lived and breathed direct marketing for nearly 30 years, carving out a career first in the home shopping sector with spells at Empire Stores, Next and Great Universal Stores.  After moving agency side in 1991 with Interpublic agency SBW, he helped to found Red C (formerly RSCR) in 1994. His contribution to the industry was recognised in 2001, when he was made an Honorary Life Fellow of the IDM.

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We love our lunchtime training sessions here at Red C. Every few weeks, a feast of sandwiches, cakes and pastries is laid out in the boardroom and we’re invited to gorge ourselves, whilst picking up new skills and knowledge from guest speakers or colleagues.

It was at one such day earlier this month that our Managing Director, Adrian Rowe, shared a presentation that he’d previously been invited to give at a conference in Amsterdam. It was an online masterclass, detailing some of the key learnings Red C have picked up during our time creating and implementing web strategy for our clients.

Part of this presentation included 7 ‘killer’ email tips Red C have found to be very effective. I thought it would be a good idea to share them with you here.

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We’re extremely proud of our work on the Swinton Mystery Tipper, especially as it has garnered the agency an armful of awards from two DMA Awards to two ISP Awards and two IPA Effectiveness Awards. We’ve had quite a few people ask to see our winning entry form… so here it is!

CONTEXT AND MARKET BACKGROUND

The insurance sector is a complex and increasingly challenging marketplace. For most of us, insurance has always been a distress purchase – something we grudgingly concede we need to have, and resent the increasing premiums. Three key innovations in the last decade have had a significant impact on the broader market. The launch of Direct Line’s online insurance offer, in 1999, following the formula of its breakthrough approach to offering insurance by telephone a decade earlier, forced every insurer and broker to reassess their approach – here was a company that made buying insurance simple and fuss-free, cutting out the middle man and talking everyday language. This sparked an extended period of discounting in the sector that still has ramifications today.

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Integrated agency Red C has won a three-way pitch to expand the role of online marketing for AGA Rangemaster Group, which celebrates the 300^th anniversary of its foundry this year.  The agency has been appointed to work on a number of brands including AGA, Fired Earth, Divertimenti, Falcon, Rayburn, Rangemaster and newly acquired Mercury.

“Each brand represented a very different challenge,” explained Red C Managing Director Adrian Rowe.  “For example, AGA already has a strong social media presence thanks to its passionate customer base and iconic status, whereas Falcon, which benefits from a strong commercial heritage, is aiming to raise its profile with those with a passion for cooking.”  The agency recommended a different blend of PPC, search engine optimisation, social media marketing and e-mail programmes for each brand.

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It’s a sad truth about advertising that we’re not always able to justify having a young woman walk around our office in her delicates. Although we were selling the same kind of service in this advert, Grattan customers are a little different to Freemans’ – so, bearing in mind this new target audience, we came up with a more ‘sensible’ concept that explained the practicalities and benefits of Flex in greater detail. And, believe it or not, I found this testimonial route the more enjoyable of the two ads to write… after all, it’s incredibly satisfying when you manage to explain an extremely sophisticated service like Grattan Flex in a concise and engaging way.

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