At Red C we were chuffed to bits when we were shortlisted for the NatMag 100 award, which is a new initiative that gives agencies and their clients the opportunity to win a multimedia ad campaign across the entire NatMag portfolio of 24 brands, including Harper’s Bazaar, Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, Esquire and Men’s Health.

As part of the NatMag 100 Award, media and creative agencies were invited to devise the most innovative, creative ad campaign for an individual brand, utilising a combination of the brands in the NatMag portfolio and platforms to target women or men in the UK.

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We love a challenge at Red C. So when our client at Marisota came to us with a challenge to enter and try and win the NatMag 100 award… we jumped at the chance. Billed as the most coveted media award of 2010, the NatMag 100 award gives agencies the chance to win a 250k multimedia campaign for one of their clients. To be in with a chance of winning, media and creative agencies must devise the most innovative and creative ad campaign for an individual brand, utilising a combination of the leading UK publisher’s brand portfolio and platforms to target women or men in the UK.

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A few years ago at Red C we had some fabulous TV scripts that sadly never went into full production. Despite never seeing the light of day, the animation tests that were done for the adverts always made everyone here smile with how incredibly cute and well-executed they were. The guys behind the animation tests were a couple of fellas named Tom & Rory and their colleagues at Once Were Farmers… and thanks to the great experience we had with working with them, we knew that one day it would happen again.

Fast forward a few years and the opportunity to engage the fabulous skills of Once Were Farmers came by when we decided to try some new thinking on our latest Marisota DRTV Advert. The script was simple and charming and required something memorable and cute… so who better to get our Production Company, The Gate, to hire than Tom, Rory and the guys at Once Were Farmers.

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I like it when someone shares something with me that I have never heard of before. So I have the very talented retoucher Dan Watkins to thank for this posting. A few years ago Dan did some retouching for me on a shoot we did for Marisota that was shot in Portugal… fast forward to a few months ago and Dan and I bumped into each other at a talk I was giving about how Advertising Agencies are embracing all forms of digital video.

Yesterday Dan shared a riveting talk with me by Malcolm Gladwell on spahetti sauce, which if you get time you simply have to watch. But what Dan has done is more than that. He has shared with me a fabulous website that is full of inspiration… a website that I have never come across before but I am now kicking myself that I have not known about sooner.

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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’.

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I first got introduced to retoucher Ann Mulqueeney by my old Art Director and Creative Partner Simon Rowlands… and ever since I met her I have been constantly amazed by both her abilities as a retoucher and what a wonderful positive person she is… in fact I can safely say that she is someone who goes above and beyond for you every time to deliver truly stunning results.

Whether she is tidying up a fashion shot, smoothing down fabric and ironing out crows feet on a model’s face or undertaking something far more complex that could involve her having to combine up to 20 separate shots to create one stunning visual… Ann’s ‘can do’ attitude means even the most time consuming job is not a chore.

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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.

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Johnny's work for Marisota

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.

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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.

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