We’ve all got a cupboard or a drawer that we fill with random bits of junk or those items that you never throw away, just on the off chance that one day you might need them. I was sifting through my very own cupboard of this type last weekend when I came across my old A-Level Media Studies ring binder amongst old toaster instructions and dead batteries. The temptation was too great so I took a gander. I was quite impressed. I was quite the academic.
Anyway, whilst sifting through the binder I came across a project entitled “My favourite advertising campaign”. The campaign I had chosen was the United Colours of Benetton. Within the report I had showcased some on my favourite ads and to be honest with you, I was blown away all over again.
Over the past few years we’ve all had to tighten our belts. People want more for less and supermarkets have reacted to this by focussing their marketing on pushing cheap, value products. In contrast to this being a ‘foodie’ has become more fashionable than ever. From our love of TV programs like Come Dine With Me to the adverts made sexy by that highly annoying M&S lady, everyone is wanting a piece of this pie.
Granted, there have always been fads but now food has a cultural significance of its own. We’d love to be known for being an amazing cook and throwing the best dinner parties around. We feel the need to buy organic products rather than bog-standard own brands and if like me when you get to the counter at the supermarket you probably find yourself checking out the neighbours trolley in a keeping up with the Jones’ style.
The brands that have picked up on this trend have done it with gusto. By making a stylish alliance with their brand they are appealing to women like me who love both fashion and food.
If new products can come and go, why can’t the stores that display them do the same? Well they can, and this is known as ‘Pop-up retail’. Over the last year there has been a surge in the pop-up phenomenon. You may ask the question what exactly is pop-up retail? As I discovered, it can only be described as something that is a temporary venue — the space could be a sample sale one day then a host to a private cocktail party the next.
Pop-up retail is specifically an idea or mindset that allows a company to create a unique environment that engages their customers, as well as generates a feeling of relevance and interactivity. The main trend encompasses “popping-up” one day, and disappearing the next – creating a sense of being fresh and relevant – fantastic attributes for any brand. Read more…
Our recent farce of a general election, where the bottom half of the UK turned blue and the top half red and yellow with some orange dotted around in between, brought it home to me how different the UK is and how we have gone back more to being four separate countries more than any time in our recent past. This has implications for us as marketers I believe that we need to take into account more.
Having spent the run up to, and the actual election, in Scotland it proved a very interesting experience. Travelling up through the country from Cambridgeshire – true blue agricultural East Anglia – into Yorkshire, Cumbria and then most of the length of Scotland, the blue conservative banners disappeared and the yellow banners (not of the Lib Dems) but of the SNP, started to appear everywhere. Talking to Scottish friends, they feel very nationalistic and have no interest at all about what goes on in Westminster, identifying very strongly with the SNP and indeed that was borne out in the actual election result.
When we were tasked with giving High and Mighty a new look and feel we didn’t want it to just be pretty graphics and pictures with no substance behind it. We wanted to create something that explored High and Mighty’s passion for helping men look their best even though they need clothes in hard to find sizes. I mean, just because you are high and mighty it doesn’t mean you can’t look good!
We wanted to create a look and feel that also encapsulated the great people who work on the shop floors of High and Mighty. Unlike normal clothes stores, High and Mighty’s assistants are skilled at finding men clothes that not only look good, but fit perfectly too. So they are well educated in how to dress a man, no matter what height or width he may be.
Yes it’s still freezing outside, personally I’m getting a bit fed up of scraping my car every morning but not to worry, we’ve got something that might brighten things up a bit…
Marisota is warming up our living rooms and launching us into this spring summer fashion season with its new DRTV commercial. With a little help from Director, Simon Lewis and The Gate Films, we’re confident the ad will do the trick and shake you out those winter blues.
The summer season campaign is always hard to produce as the concepting, planning and filming all take place over the festive period, when the warmth and sunshine of summer couldn’t be further from your mind while you’re dithering in sub-zero conditions in Manchester. But with a team full of great ideas it wasn’t long before we cracked it and brought to life our theatrical-themed concept, ‘The Marisota Show’.
Choosing a director is a tricky business. You are putting a lot of trust in someone to bring your concept to life and this time we needed it to be extra special.
Working on the concepts for the Marisota spring summer 2009 DRTV advert we had to go back to basics, introducing the girls and focusing on the research and size messages. So to bring all this to life means taking care of the little details.
Once the storyboards were signed off the real work started. Firstly finding a Director who can understand the concept and add something special was needed. I was introduced to Andy Saunders through Sharon Gunnel and her production team at Velvet. The first pre-production meeting went really well, Andy brought lots of ideas to the table to bring the ad to life… and I was sold on him straight away.
It’s not often you purchase a book so big that it comes with its own display stand. Believe it or not the version of Sumo that graces our reception is the mini version… the original release was so big that it came with its own table and broke records for weight, dimensions, and resale price!
I first came across Helmut Newton’s work when I was studying photography and was immediately captivated by his distinctive, seductive and original style. I hunted down images created by him and even had a scrapbook dedicated to images that I had found by him… images that I would try my hardest to emulate.
Back when I was a Junior I was packed off to Manchester on a photo shoot for Yorkshire Electricity. My Art Director had come down sick, so it was up to me to step into his shoes for the day and take control of the Art Direction for a lovely Ad concept we’d come up with.
The Photographer we’d had booked for us by my CD was Jonathan Oakes, and what I learnt on that day has stayed with me all these years. One of the most important things it taught me was, when it comes to choosing a Photographer, you need someone with a passion for every job they undertake and who is determined to deliver a quality product every time.
Late nights. Much to my husband’s dismay I’ve done my fair share of them. My latest late night adventure involved a 12-hour one-day DRTV shoot for a client that’s close to my heart… Marisota!
The last advert we did was a big success. So there’s a huge expectation with this one. But by again focusing on the strengths of the Marisota brand… I think we’ve created the best advert yet. But mind you, I said that about the last one… and will probably say it about the next one.
We’ve all got a cupboard or a drawer that we fill with random bits of junk or those items that you never throw away, just on the off chance that one day you might need them. I was sifting through my very own cupboard of this type last weekend when I came across my old A-Level Media Studies ring binder amongst old toaster instructions and dead batteries. The temptation was too great so I took a gander. I was quite impressed. I was quite the academic.
Choosing a director is a tricky business. You are putting a lot of trust in someone to bring your concept to life and this time we needed it to be extra special.
It’s not often you purchase a book so big that it comes with its own display stand. Believe it or not the version of Sumo that graces our reception is the mini version… the original release was so big that it came with its own table and broke records for weight, dimensions, and resale price!
Late nights. Much to my husband’s dismay I’ve done my fair share of them. My latest late night adventure involved a 12-hour one-day DRTV shoot for a client that’s close to my heart… Marisota!
