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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He may be a Spuds Spurs fan, but Red C Account Director Steve White is not completely useless. He knows an awful lot about Email Marketing for one thing. So when he gave me a 700-page document from MarketingSherpa called Best Practices in Email Marketing I thought to myself, this is probably worth reading.*

MarketingSherpa is a research firm that specializes in tracking what works in all aspects of marketing (and what does not.) Their goal: to give marketers of the world the stats, inspiration, and instructions to improve their email marketing results.

According to their Research Manager Stefan Tornquist this guide was written “to provide one-stop guidance on building a ‘best in class’ email program, whether you’re managing an enterprise level marketing department or a small business.”

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I was overjoyed when I was offered a placement at Red C. Determined to get the placement at that company; I researched it as thoroughly as I could, so that I stood a good chance of success. I am glad I did.

Initially I was overwhelmed by the amount of information that I would have to assimilate. However, I found the team I was working with to be informative, helpful and friendly. The amount of knowledge that I have gained working at Red C has far surpassed what I have learnt at university. I think the best way of learning about a job is to actually do it.

What I have learnt is to prioritise my work, use my initiative and play an active and cooperative role in the team. I have learnt that Red C is a dynamic company with an innovative approach to marketing.

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Saturday morning, whilst tucking into my crunchy nut cornflakes, I watched a rather interesting news piece on the BBC about how newspapers are essentially suffering from a failing business model; and are looking at new ways to raise income due to the falling numbers of people buying papers… mainly because of the Internet.

Their immediate solution is to start charging readers a subscription fee for looking at content online, an initiative that is being championed by Rupert Murdoch, and admit that one day, newspapers will no longer be around.

As an ‘Ad Man’, I find something incredibly sad about the migration of newspapers away from traditional print and on to online. Especially as it seems very real that one day newspapers will no longer exist… especially with the rise of e-readers… meaning we could one day say farewell to the beautiful art-form that is the ‘long-copy advert’, which these days is a rare beast, but when it appears it’s a compelling and persuasive one.

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Which is best... iPhone or Blackberry?

Our love for our smartphones has led to two quite cringeworthy nicknames “iNat and Katieberry”. Which is best though? Is it my lovely white 16gb iphone 3GS or is it Katie’s sexy Blackberry curve? We aren’t the only ones to be having this debate, the internet is littered with articles and forums where other smartphone users have either argued their case or sought advice from other users before making that all important purchasing decision.

In terms of popularity, Research in Motion, the company behind the Blackberry phone, shifted 382,000 handsets in Q3 2009, compared to 254,000 iPhones sold by Apple.

Katie and I have given this some serious thought – she has tried to persuade me (even through some rap songs) but im pretty convinced that my iPhone beats her Blackberry curve hands down!… Over to you Katie… Read more…

Once upon a time, back when I was young and carefree, I dreamt of being an advertising creative. An art director to be precise. There was something about getting paid for drawing pictures at the pub that really appealed to me as a university student… I forget why.

It was during this time that I took a trip to the Tate Modern to get some inspiration for a Yellow Pencil winning idea. After an interesting half day I ducked into the gift shop and found myself  face to face with this weeks’ book; ‘No Copy Advertising’ by Lazar Dzamic.

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Before we go any further… no… the 14 times World Darts Champion is not moonlighting as a Commercials Director… the Phil Taylor we’re talking about is far taller, skinnier and has considerably less hair! Phil recently finished filming a new advert for us for Cottages4you… an ad that everyone here at Red C is incredibly proud of and was brought to life by both Phil and Sharon Gunnel, the Producer at Velvet.

Our first introduction to Phil was through his reel which immediately grabbed us for his clever subtle use of humour and ability to capture some lovely moments on films as well as getting some memorable performances from his actors. On meeting him I was instantly sold by his passion for both our concept and his desire to stay true to my original idea and deliver an advert that had high production values and quite simply and beautifully converted a singular message in a memorable way.

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I love it when a plan comes together

It was that great leader of men Hannibal Smith who once said… “I love it when a plan comes together”. And that sums up perfectly how I feel about our TV advert for the holiday cottages brand cottages4you. It took  a large number of talented people to create the 40 seconds of film that is embedded within this posting… and to give you an insight into how we ended up with the advert we did… I thought I’d tell you the story of the commercial’s creation.

From the original client briefing to some insights into the creative process and the ideas we presented you’ll hopefully see what went in to creating the final concept that went before the cameras. I’ll then look at the filming process as well as the work that went into the post-production and resulted in the final commercial… which is hopefully enticing people up and down the country to book a break with cottages4you.

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At Red C we love working with talented and passionate individuals, which is why we thoroughly enjoyed working recently with Trevor Forrest… who was the Cinematographer on our recent commercial for Cottages4you and also qualifies for the status of ‘bloody nice bloke’.

The Director of the commercial, Phil Taylor, told me how he had wanted to work with Trevor for a long time… and having worked with him on this project I can see why. The consummate professional at all times, Trevor worked his socks off to ensure the shot that was captured on camera was as lush and inviting as it could be… which has led to a great looking commercial.

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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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