Pot Noodle... it's what students live off you know!

It’s been a month since I completed my placement at Red C, and I’m back studying at university. I’m back into student life, which, in case you’re wondering, doesn’t just mean sitting around eating beans on toast and watching Doctors on daytime TV. But it does feel  strange as the reality of returning to university as a final year student is a far cry from what I imagined it to be. Whilst I’m sat in a stuffy lecture hall struggling not to fall asleep from the lecturer’s monotonous voice, making notes about theory models, I can’t help but think back to my time at Red C and think how different it was.

I find myself missing the hectic bustle of the office, the ringing phones, even having to check through all the email links. It’s then I realise just how much Red C has changed me, motivated me and inspired me. When I look around at the other students who didn’t complete a placement, I can’t help but feel they’ve missed out. I feel my time at Red C was invaluable in helping me develop and for setting me on course to achieve my goals in advertising.

Read more…

Manchester agency Red C has won a two year email marketing contract from high-speed rail operator Eurostar.  The agency was chosen from among 15 agencies following a multi-stage pitch process. The remit is to assist Eurostar in the strategic development of their pan-European email marketing and to deliver a suite of email communications for the UK, France and Belgium.

Following the recent deregulation of the European passenger rail market, Eurostar is implementing a number of changes to it business in preparation for the arrival of direct on-rail competitors for the first time.  The appointment of Red C is part of this programme as the company wanted to work with a single agency to help develop a unified and coherent approach across all markets.

Read more…

A few years ago our Mystery Tipper picked up an array of marketing awards… and after a couple of years of continuing to deliver some impressive results for Swinton’s Taxi Division she has been nominated by the lovely people at the DMA Awards in the category of ‘Best business performance or improvement’. Needless to say we’re all really chuffed here at Red C towers and have already begun polishing those shoes and ironing those gowns for the award-ceremony!

The Direct Marketing Association Awards don’t just reward great looking creative. They reward excellence in results and delivering business performance through insightful, inventive and innovative marketing strategies that feed into great looking creative that then go on to deliver stunning results for clients.

Read more…

Effective marketing strategies aim to provide consumers with product information in an efficient way by highlighting its existence and increasing its awareness. Companies are therefore increasingly adopting the use of email as a means to achieve this, with varying degrees of success. This method has become a fast and efficient way for high volume marketing distribution, but it does have its drawbacks.

Consumers receive many marketing emails on a daily basis, and consequently, businesses are in continuous competition to stand out in an overcrowded inbox. Success in conversion-to-purchase is therefore largely based on how consumers receive and respond to the emails they are sent. Cognitive and behavioural factors such as memory/recognition and social trends also play a part in determining how successfully these emails are received by consumers. Such aspects can be determined by measuring how individuals view these types of stimuli, as well as indicating the shifting levels of attention in specific key areas.

Read more…

Our email marketing skills are doing us proud this year, producing great results for our clients and receiving another three award nominations.

The Jessops campaign has received two nominations: Best Retail Marketing Strategy & Campaign & Best CRM Strategy & Campaign. Whilst our strategy for Swinton has been recognised in the Best Financial Services Marketing Strategy & Campaign category

Now in its third year, the MiAwards identify and highlight the very best in marketing, media and communications agencies, teams and individuals across the whole of the UK.

Which makes our fourth nomination even more special for everyone at Red C towers and something we are all very proud of – North West Marketing Business of the Year.

So all fingers will be crossed on 17^th November and hopefully it wont just be champagne we’re picking up at the Gala Awards ceremony.

Clients to keep happy, prospects to pitch to, ideas to generate. It’s pretty much work, work, work all day, every day here at Red C.

We work round the clock, against the clock…and quite often in fear of the clock. With another deadline always looming it sometimes seems like we never stop!

Which of course we don’t. Ours is a fast-paced industry that throws us a new challenge almost every day – and that’s why we love it.

When the going gets tough we work twice as hard, sustaining ourselves with strong coffee, short lunches and plenty of biscuits. We wouldn’t have it any other way.

Read more…

On a recent holiday to Egypt I did an introductory scuba course. Probably not the best of ideas considering I’m terrified of deep water. However, the opportunity came about and my attitude is that you should always face your fears, especially when it allows you to learn something new.

So I went scuba diving, and guess what? I loved it! I was locked onto the instructors arm refusing to release the grip as the instructor pointed out all the beautiful species of fish and coral to me. It truly was a fantastic experience which, even though I was terrified, I am glad my fears didn’t make me miss out.

Read more…

We’re pretty hot when it comes to this email marketing business, as well as making our clients happy it’s nice to know that our Peers recognise our expertise too… so as you can imagine we were chuffed to find out that we’ve received two nominations for our email marketing work at the 2011 Dadi Awards.

The Dadi Awards (Drum Award for the Digital Industries) are the awards that recognise and reward digital effectiveness. The awards are open to any business, including agencies and clients, who are producing effective digital strategies. Bringing together individuals and companies at the forefront of digital and providing the opportunity for those entering to prove how good they are.

So needless to say, with two nominations we are quite chuffed, and are looking forward to hopefully picking up something shiny on Friday 11th November in Saviles Hall in Leeds.

No matter how beautifully crafted your email programme and how engaged your core customers, you’re always going to get unsubscribers. It’s a sad but inevitable fact of email marketing and you have to be strong and let them go. The most important thing is that whilst you’re waving goodbye to old friends at the back door, you’re shepparding new ones in at the front. Invigorating your email file is absolutely crucial to maintaining healthy KPI’s but how do you get them in? Bought lists are so hit and miss and, in the unforgiving world of spam traps and blacklists, potentially harmful to your sender reputation.

With this in mind, I’ve prepared a list of the top 5 ways to grow your email file organically, with the type of opener-clickers that will have you forgetting those unsubscribers in no time.

Read more…

This year is the 25^th anniversary of a very significant event for me, an event that has led directly to me being here today.

In 1986, as a young direct marketer working for home shopping giant GUS, I was lucky enough to attend the Montreux Symposium, on the Lake Geneva shoreline (as Deep Purple put it).  At the time, the week-long Symposium was the biggest event in Europe for the direct marketing industry, and attracted some major speakers.  But for me, the single most significant session, one that profoundly affected my approach to direct marketing, was a ground-breaking live demonstration and seminar by Professor Siegfried Vogele, founder of the Institute of Direct Marketing in Munich that is now owned by Deutsche Post.

Read more…