Eight disciplines, one team, one number to hit. You can buy any of them on its own. Most clients don’t.
We start with the commercial problem and write it down in one sentence that the people with the budget agree with. Then everything else answers to that sentence.
It usually takes three weeks: research into the category and the people who buy from it, the sentence itself, brand architecture where it’s needed, and a plan for channels and money. For Halden Hotels the sentence was “fill the dark months”. For The Albion Rep it was “get people under thirty into the good seats”.
Names, marks, words and pictures that a brand can live in for ten years, not one campaign. Hatch Paint and Ninefold both started here.
That means naming, identity, art direction, a tone of voice people can actually write in, and guidelines that get opened. Hatch Paint Co. came out of it with forty colour names, and Ninefold with a repair promise printed inside every coat.
One idea, written for every place it will run, before anyone shoots a frame. Made by the same team that plans where it goes.
The idea, film, print, out-of-home, launches and stunts, with a version for every placement on the plan. The Sorso Aperitivo pour only ran after six; the Halden Hotels posters were repainted every day to match the sunset.
Planned and bought in-house, on the client’s own accounts. No hidden margins on media, and the buyers sit in the creative reviews.
Search, paid social, programmatic, connected TV and out-of-home, bought at cost and reported honestly. For Oda Audio that meant buying almost nothing before ten at night. For Halden Hotels it meant scheduling every ad by solar time.
The daily version of the idea. Written for each platform’s habits, with creators who already have the audience’s attention.
Always-on content, creator partnerships and community management. The Albion Rep announced its £10 seats almost entirely here, because this is where people under thirty actually look.
A small in-house crew for stills, short film and edit, so we can make forty versions of a thing when the media plan needs forty.
Stills, short film, editing and post, and asset libraries the media team can actually use. The Ninefold repair films and the Oda Audio late-night spots were shot by the same five people.
The places a campaign lands: sites, booking flows, shops and email. We build them to convert, because that is where our numbers are counted.
Sites and launch pages, booking and checkout flows, e-commerce, CRM and email. The Halden Hotels site counts down to tonight’s checkout time, and booking a Ninefold repair takes under a minute.
Agreed measures before launch, honest reporting after it. What works gets more money; what doesn’t gets cut quickly.
Measures agreed before launch, tests and experiments, conversion work and retention. Revenue from returning Ninefold customers went from 22% to 31%; at Hatch Paint Co., one sample in three became a tin.
Fixed fees for projects, agreed before we start. A monthly fee for always-on work, reviewed every quarter.
Media is bought at cost on your own accounts, so you can see every pound. We don’t take commission on it, and we don’t get paid more for spending more of your money.
New clients start with a paid two-week sprint instead of a free pitch. You keep everything it makes, whether or not we carry on.
Spec work means guessing at your business for nothing. We’d rather spend a paid fortnight learning it.
We agree how we’ll know it worked before anyone writes a line.
Paid for, and seen by real people. We don’t make anything for a jury.
Quickly, too, so nobody loses a week.