The FIFA World Cup, which is now in its 21st year, will be gracing our pubs, homes and any screens people can get their hands on from 14th June to 15th July and the BBC has created something rather spectacular to help celebrate in the lead up to the footie event of the year.
During the FA Cup Final on the 19th May (and also after the Royal Wedding), the BBC debuted their fantastic new advert to their viewers to start generating excitement for the World Cup. The advert is a superbly animated series of tapestry pieces that illustrates iconic moments from previous World Cups and introduces the football stars who are competing this year.
The film is truly stunning and the creators wanted to highlight the global impact of the footie tournament rather than focusing on this year’s host country, Russia. But wait there, the campaign doesn’t stop with just the animation; the already seven-metre long tapestry will expand with memorable moments as the tournament goes on.
So far the tapestry has used a whopping 227,000 metres of thread to make 600 unique frames of tapestry and long after the footie event ends the piece will remain the tangible evidence of the passion of the players and fans themselves.
Here at apt, we think that this campaign is truly beautiful, it has taken a absolute skill and accuracy and the results are really something we should be proud of our creative industries for. What are your thoughts on the advertising campaign? Let us know on social media...
It’s that time of the year again, the Battle of the Christmas Adverts! This year it seems like almost every company has their own Christmas advert too. Some make us laugh, and some make us cry, but all of them try to sum up the festive period in one advert in their own special way. We have put together our top five Christmas adverts from this year. Spoiler Alert: Surprisingly, John Lewis’s #MozTheMonster advert didn’t make the cut…
Number Five: At number 5 we have M&S’s ‘Paddington Bear and the Christmas Visitor’ advert. The childlike humour in the advert fits perfectly with classic Paddington Bear, and creates a wonderful and witty story for all the family to enjoy. The modern take on Paddington – fit with marmalade sandwiches – takes the number 5 spot on our Christmas adverts of 2017.
Number Four: This may seem like an unlikely contender, but we’ve all been wowed by McDonald’s this year. Their #ReindeerReady advert shows a typical family and everything that goes on during the festive period. The advert is great for all the family – with some funny moments for adults. The advert’s witty storyline and light-hearted humour managed to get 4th place in our top 5.
Number Three: Aldi’s Kevin the Carrot is back, and has earned it’s spot in the top 3! It has everything needed for a classic Christmas, including lots and lots of lovely food. It’s playful take on Christmas makes everyone giggle, especially our favourite line ‘I think I just “pea”d myself’. The advert really suits Aldi as it’s adverts are always make us laugh, but this has topped all of them.
Number Two: Debenhams’ #YouShall is at number 2, and warm our hearts with its modern take on the classic story of Cinderella and her Prince Charming. It encompasses everything about Christmas, from twinkling lights to the first fall of snow, this advert makes you feel festive and fuzzy. The idea of love at first sight and fairy-tale makes you feel magic – you can’t help but smile as you watch. We love how they incorporated technology into the story and it makes the story feel as though it’s true. Every aspect of this advert is enchanting - and that is why it’s our number 2!
Number One: Finally, at our number 1 spot we have Sky Cinema. Our favourite Christmas advert of 2017 is homely, warm and emotional. The strong feeling of family and love throughout the advert is truly magical, and the film and music featured (The Sound of Music - My Favourite Things) reminds all us all that the best times are spent with family. Bringing many Mum’s to tears, the advert showed a family growing up and evolving overtime, yet the whole family coming together at Christmas.
Eighteen years ago, a fledgling SOHO Coffee Co. opened its first store just off the High Street in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, serving the best quality organic, Fairtrade coffee – years in front of the mainstream coffee chains. This week, the 32nd store to be spawned from this humble beginning has been opened in the very same town. As a mark of the company’s origins and success, the store will be its regional flagship outlet, located in the prime position welcoming shoppers to a 21st century re-development in the heart of the spa town. This latest store, the first of eleven planned for this year, reflects the changing trends in consumer demands, focusing on health and the requirement of customers to choose how and when they eat and drink.
The Brewery Quarter is a multi-million-pound development in the centre of Cheltenham’s shopping centre, based around the old Cheltenham Brewery. It’s a state-of-the-art entertainment complex with a variety of restaurants and bars, 10-screen IMAX cinema, gym, bowling centre, and children’s soft play centre. SOHO’s latest store will be 1,300 sqft in area and enjoys the prime corner pitch, greeting shoppers as they approach the new Brewery Quarter.
‘We are hugely proud of the quality and variety of food and drinks we offer our customers. We have a team of passionate foodies whose mission is to ensure our customers can choose food to match their lifestyle and mood – whether that is protein- based, less meat or a need for a Friday sticky treat. We are introducing hot grain pots, baked sweet potatoes and tacos as part of the new store launch to allow customers to customise their lunch choice. Breakfast is big on our menu – our bacon and egg sandwich using happy eggs and freshly baked, hand-cut bread is just great.’ said Penny Manuel, Managing Director.
“We’re extremely delighted to be opening our latest outlet in the new Brewery development in Cheltenham. We will always have a soft spot for Cheltenham, it’s where SOHO began and is the heart of our company operation”
The Brewery Quarter store will create 15 jobs and promotional opportunities for three of SOHO’s loyal family.
Here at apt, we are extremely pleased to announce that we are the runner up in the Imagine’s Great Minds 2016 Campaign!
We have been awarded the runner up prize of £50,000 worth of media and content, after developing an exciting campaign idea for local tour operator, Compass Holidays. The ‘Tour de You’ idea was submitted into the competition back in July when the team pulled together their creative ideas over a good ol’ cuppa!
The competition was hosted by Imagine, the new creative studio from special interest content and platform company, Immediate Media Co. The brief was to design and create an innovative campaign for a client using Immediate’s portfolio of internationally famous brands. These include Radio Times, BBC Good Foodand Lonely Planet Traveller and many London based media agencies across the UK contributed to the competition. Specifically, the campaign needed to optimise the power of Immediate’s 18 million monthly UK audiences across special interest sectors as diverse as Food, Cycling, Weddings and Gardening.
The judges commented our exciting ‘Tour de You’ idea used great brand insight to perfectly match the passion areas of the Immediate brands to Compass Holidays’ breadth of offering. The campaign is set to focus on brands including BBC Countryfile, BBC Wildlife and Olive to focus on the range of specialist tours Compass offer.
We are all so pleased here at apt, especially as we were shortlisted with some big London based agencies! The full shortlist for Great Minds 2016 is as follows:
Airbnb entered by Starcom Mediavest
Compass Holidays entered by apt Marketing
Hellmann’s entered by Mindshare
Sainsbury’s entered by PHD UK
Thomas Cook entered by Dentsu Aegis Manchester
Thomson Long Haul entered by MediaCom
Our MD, Angie Petkovic says “We entered the competition back in July after having a brainstorming session over a cup of tea and the excitement could definitely be felt in the office. As we’re a small agency, words cannot express how proud I am of my team and the hard work they put into the brief has most certainly paid off! We’re all now really excited to get the ball rolling and to work with Imagine.”
New research from Royal Mail suggests that younger people enjoy receiving quirky and creative direct mail campaigns from brands. Especially in a world where a lot of communication is digital, younger people feel excited to receive a piece of mail that isn’t a bank statement or bill!
The research, titled The Life Stages of Mail, was conducted by Royal Mail’s MarketReach team and found that people aged 16-24, who have finished education and live at home were more likely to open envelopes than the 55+ age group.
Almost half of young consumers, who are referred to as ‘fledgings’, agreed that the quality of a piece of direct mail told them something about an organisation and 38% of ‘fledgings’ are more likely to look at a direct mail piece if it is printed on a high quality material. The research also showed that 32% of this age group trust direct mail campaigns more than information on the internet; as well as 18% finding it more memorable.
Of course, ‘fledgings’ are still more likely to respond through digital channels such as text messaging and social media, however this enables brands to also include elements such as a QR code or website link into a direct mail campaign.
So with that being said, here are some top tips on how to make sure your next direct mail campaign sticks out to ‘fledgings’:
Personalisation: Personalise your direct mail to ensure that it reaches the correct person and not their parents... (obvs!)
Tone of voice: Be sure that the tone and style of the copy is suited to the age group you are communicating your services to.
Call to action: Make sure that your direct mail piece has a clear and accessible call to action and guide them through the next steps.
Encourage sharing: Encourage your targets to share the direct mail piece with friends.
Make it easy to respond: Create a hashtag for consumers to interact with you or give clear instructions on how they can contact you using different devices.
There you have it, some top tips on how to ensure that your next direct mail campaign appeals to young consumers. If you are looking at your next direct mail campaign, we can help you with ideas, design and even print. Give us a call on 01242 250692 to get started!
Ah the humble marketing campaign, we are surrounded by them on a daily basis. From the advertisements played on the TV to the billboards strung up in the high street, this is how brands communicate with consumers.
Here at apt, we are no stranger to marketing campaigns and we love seeing what new and creative ideas are doing the rounds. Read on to hear about some of favourites this month:
Lyst: Canine Collection
Online fashion retailer, Lyst recently announced on the popular social media platform, Twitter that their website had a new feature. The Canine Collection feature supposedly allowed online shoppers to choose their ideal furry friend by browsing based on the breed, size and the cuteness of puppies. Of course this was a hoax and it was later revealed that Lyst had set up the website feature to raise awareness about the amount of ‘handbag dogs’ having to be re-homed with the help from Blue Cross. We think that this was a really clever way of reinforcing the age old saying ‘A dog is for life and not just for Christmas’ by adapting to the online browsing and shopping habits of modern day life.
Boots: Chemist of the Nation
Household name chemist, Boots recently had a TV spot during ITV prime time show Britain’s Got Talent. The spot was a mix of documentary style footage showing how the services Boots offer can help the community. One of the clips showed an optician offering children important eye tests at a Zoo and in another a skin advisor offering advice to teenagers ahead of a school disco. Other scenes included Boots staff giving advice to new Mums and even handing out sun screen in India! We are firm believers in positive relationships and we absolutely loved the realness and the connection in this advertisement.
Here at apt, we specialise in delivering and implementing effective marketing campaigns for your brand or business. So if you’re looking for some support or just a sounding board, please get in touch today on 01242 250 6925 or visit our website.
This year the annual Super Bowl celebrated its 50th year of gaming and of course advertisements! The annual football championships is one of the most watched sporting events in the world; therefore it comes as no surprise that big brands take it upon themselves to win the battle of the ads!
Previous Super Bowl advertisements have gone down in history and it’s not because they interrupt the sporting event. Costing up to £5 million for a 30 second slot, recognisable brands produce over the top ads that include exaggerated special effects and often big celebrity endorsements. Although, 30 seconds may seem like a short amount of air time, advertisers can expect to reach gigantic audiences with this annual television broadcast. Last year Super Bowl was watched by 114.4 million viewers and that amount is expected to keep growing year on year.
This year the competition has been fierce. It was hard to choose, but here are our favourites from 2016:
Heinz - Weiner Dogs #MeetTheKetchups
Although a major household brand name, Heinz made the decision to advertise their famous sauces for Super Bowl 2016. The Weiner Dogs advert opens with a stampede of Dachshund dogs running slow-mo across a field dressed as hot dogs. It then becomes clear who the sausage dogs are racing towards; people dressed as the famous Heinz Variety sauces! The final scenes show the hot dogs being united with their favourite sauces. Really, what’s not to love about this advert?
Watch the Weiner Dogs in action...
Mountain Dew – Puppymonkeybaby
Mountain Dew took the opportunity to advertise the new flavours to their Kickstart energy drink range for Super Bowl 2016. The 30 second spot opens on a shot with three guys watching TV when suddenly a strange creature consisting of a puppy, a monkey and a baby appears from out of the wall with a bucket of Mountain Dew Kickstart. After handing out the drinks to the guys and at least ten seconds of disturbing dancing, PuppyMonkeyBaby leads the way by dance with his newly energised friends following behind. We’re not sure whether we can un-see this...
Meet the slight disturbing PuppyMonkeyBaby here...
Doritos – Doritos Dogs
Once again Doritos joined in with the Super Bowl ad battle, they even had two campaigns; however this one in particular was our favourite! The opening scene shows three dogs at the window of a supermarket pawing for some Doritos. The scene then shifts to a sign on the supermarket door saying ‘No dogs allowed’. After a variety of shots of the dogs trying to get into the supermarket but being shooed off, they come up with a plan. The final scenes show the dogs disguised in a trench coat and hat finally purchasing their beloved Doritos. This advert really made us giggle, especially as we are a fan of dogs...
Watch the Doritos Dogs victory here...
Audi R8 – Commander
Many brands who advertise for Super Bowl go for a comedy ad; this year however, Audi R8 took the approach of a short film. The opening scene depicts a retired old man who seems to have lost his love for life; cutaway shots to old photographs reveal that he used to be an astronaut during the golden years of Space Age. Following scenes show his son visiting, handing over the keys to his new 205-mph Audi R8 V10 and father and son both enjoying a fast (maybe too fast) ride in the new car and space reminiscing. The short film style ad also pays tribute to the late singer David Bowie with one of his famous songs, which we thought was a nice touch.
Experience the technology here...
So there you have it; our favourite Super Bowl 2016 adverts! Let us know what your favourites were by tweeting us @apt_marketing...
The first television advert was aired 60 years ago in black and white to 100,000 homes; the advert was for Gibbs SR toothpaste and was just a minute-long. Today adverts can be seen almost anywhere, you can’t even click onto a YouTube video without watching an advertisement first! With that being said, we thought it would be fitting to celebrate TV adverts 60th birthday with a list of our very own favourite adverts:
Ahh Bisto
The nation’s favourite gravy granules since 1908 have pursued a number of great TV advertising campaigns. The ‘Ahh! Bisto’ slogan is still instantly recognised and is always repeated when making the gravy to accompany that roast dinner!
R Whites Lemonade
Before writing this blog, the team were asked what their favourite adverts were and our MD Angie burst into song “I’m a secret lemonade drinker, R Whites Lemonade!” Composed by musician Ross McManus, the ‘I’m a secret lemonade drinker’ jingle will be memorable for anyone who listens to it!
It has to be, Heinz
We’ve all seen the advert where people are sitting down to enjoy their dinner with a mystery condiment bottle which it is immediately recognised as Heinz, because well it just has to be Heinz...enough said.
Fairy Liquid
The popular jingle “Hands that do dishes can feel as soft as your face with mild green fairy liquid” was sung by one our MD’s Angie good friends. Simple yet memorable, in fact we’re sure you’ve probably got it stuck it your head now?
Haribo
Here at apt, we all have a sweet tooth and love the Haribo adverts that depict adults with children’s voices. We’re sure that everyone can sing the jingle too ‘Kids and grown-ups love it so, the happy world of Haribo!’
Snickers
Snickers have produced some very interesting advertising campaigns with the help from a few celebrities including Mr T, Mr bean and Joan Collins. The slogan ‘Get some nuts’ and ‘Eat a snickers, ‘cos you’re not yourself when you’re hungry’ is sure to have made you giggle in the past!
Compare the Market / Meerkat
‘Compare the Market.com’ was the first memorable jingle from the insurance company and was sure to keep playing around in your head after listening to it on the radio or TV. In 2009, however, Compare the Market upped their game by introducing cheeky fluffy meerkats named Aleksander and Sergei. Their campaigns have featured everything from a Jacuzzi to meerkat adoption and more recently, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Cadburys Gorilla
Using the iconic purple in the background and a gorilla drumming to a legendary Phil Collins record, Cadbury’s managed to create a brilliant memorable advertising campaign. Cadbury’s are very creative with advertising campaigns and never cease to amaze us with their enjoyable and memorable TV adverts.
Levi’s Flat Eric
Levi’s jeans have done some iconic adverts in the past, but our favourite has to be one which involves a certain yellow character. Flat Eric, a humorous puppet built by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, featured in the Levi’s Sta-Preast One Crease Denim advert back in 1999. The song that Flat Eric is dancing to, called ‘Flat Beat’ by Mr Oizo took the pop charts by storm!
American Old Spice
We’ve saved the best for last... American Old Spice have created some extremely interesting adverts throughout the years; in fact we’re not even sure what some of them mean but we still think that they are great! We can’t explain why; we suggest you take a look at their YouTube page to see what we’re talking about!
Made from “the purest Swedish spring water”, Rekorderlig cider has been tantalising our taste buds with a plethora of flavours since 1999. The newest campaign, Silver Skaters, displays two male figure skaters performing an eccentric routine that is described as “beautifully Swedish”. That’s no coincidence...
During the advert Jarmo, the coach, sings to provide encouragement for the two skaters who are focusing on performing their routine flawlessly. With wonderfully wacky moves, the Swedish ice skaters look at ease on the ice until their final showstopper spectacle in which one of the pair is effortlessly flung across the ice in a moment of pure hilarity.
With Rekorderlig cider being mentioned by CoolBrands in 2014, the last few years have been majorly successful for this company; which has been accentuated by a large growth in market share, going up to 20%, in the UK as of July 2015.
Here at apt we think the campaign will help Rekorderlig become on par with other major competitors. We think the advert is refreshingly brilliant, with a zesty unorthodox essence; linking well to their many flavours of cider. Not only is the campaign clever because it subtly links Rekorderlig’s cider to the idea of being refreshingly different but it’s also bizarre enough to make you, the consumer, remember it.
In a brilliant cross-promotional move between Twentieth Century Fox and iStock by Getty Images, a series of ultra-cheesy stock images have been created featuring the cast of Unfinished Business, including Vince Vaughn and Tom Wilkinson. They're free to use (editorial only) and will be available in batches over the next few weeks - download the first four here...
Having used quite a few shots like these in our time we think it's inspired! Would love to see them used in an internal staff newsletter...
