The company, founded by insurance professional Chris Davies and corporate governance expert Fiona Recker in 2009, works in partnership with UK surety providers and banks to identify and secure the most effective bonds for their clients across the construction, engineering and import sectors.

Since launch, DRS has enjoyed immediate success and with over 20 years’ previous experience to understand the requirements and challenges of their clients, the company has earned its reputation as a sector expert. However, in order to drive business growth and to stay ahead in an increasingly competitive market, DRS has recognised the need for a cohesive and customer driven brand strategy to realise its ambitious growth plans.

Fiona Recker, director and co-founder of DRS said; “We feel that we have achieved a great deal in a short period of time, and the company has continued to grow by using our client knowledge and insight to secure completely workable solutions and deliver outstanding levels of client service. In order to achieve our vision and to maintain our position at the forefront of the surety broker sector, we need to implement a clear and concise strategy that delivers upon the needs of the market. I look forward to being a part of the Brand Discovery™ process and the strategic direction it will provide to help drive DRS to the next level.”

Propaganda are delighted to have been shortlisted, for the Customer Engagement category for the work we have done with Clipper Logistics, alongside Ernst & Young with BMW, IBM with Nationwide, LOC Consulting with Truvo and Transform with Argos. The Awards are assessed by an independent judging panel, with particular focus on the value they created for the client organisation.

This year the Awards ceremony will be held on Thursday 19 April at the Hilton Hotel, Park Lane, London, attended by over 500 senior consultants, clients and stakeholders.

Propaganda today announced the appointment of industry heavyweight and business consultant, Carl Hopkins, to its board of directors, as it continues to take its own unique approach to transforming brands to new heights.

Although this move may come as a surprise to many industry insiders (particularly as Carl, ex- chairman of advertising agency JDA has been prohibited from working in the sector for four years since he successfully sold his business in 2007) it is a move that creates a natural next step for both Hopkins and Propaganda founder, Julian Kynaston.

Carl’s appointment comes as Kynaston’s other brainchild, Illamasqua, continues to grow at a fierce rate, meaning that Julian can take more time to concentrate on building his iconic global make-up brand, while Carl provides extra board level support at Propaganda.

Julian Kynaston says, “This relationship with Carl is born out of a mutual appreciation. I like and trust him and he admires us. Having taken a step back from the industry, it was interesting to hear his thoughts on how he views Propaganda.

“In my view, Carl is a true entrepreneur. He has viewed Propaganda from the other end of the telescope and has witnessed, at first hand, the sector's admiration of our unique model and concluded that this, above all other agencies is where he needs to be. The fact that he has joined us with a shared vision of growth, specifically around our growing digital proposition is absolutely exhilarating. Exciting times ahead.”

Carl continues, “Throughout my many years in this industry, I have always thought there was something different and unique about Propaganda. I have known Julian for years, and Propaganda was always an agency to be watched, never crossed.

“The chance to get involved with Propaganda was irresistible. Many have attempted to replicate the Propaganda agency model as it is challenging, intellectually & business driven and is fully committed to developing its clients’ businesses. And I like that!”.

Carl will work closely with the senior team at Propaganda to move into the agency’s next stage of development as its creative and strategic model adapts and evolves into the digital area.

This revolutionary technology sees the scent of the fragrance and the packaging linked by a number of ‘sensory triggers’. The fragrance and the packaging contain identical triggers, so if a consumer responds positively to the packaging then they’re almost guaranteed to respond positively to the fragrance. This heralds a new era in the field of fragrance e-commerce, as customers will no longer need to sample a fragrance before they buy it as the packaging will tell them all they need to know.

With their evangelical online audience a consistent priority, Illamasqua is delighted to be the first brand to integrate the new ‘sensory cohesion’ technology. This was a massive boost for the brand, as many of their global online audience are unable to access Illamasqua stores or counters to sample their products. Since the technology was incorporated into the packaging of their new fragrance ‘Freak’, the brand has received record-breaking pre-order sales and smashed their targets by 120%.

Lucy Sheridan, planner at Propaganda, is delighted with the outcome: “Illamasqua value their online audience immensely. So, unlike every other fragrance brand, we were determined to create a fragrance that Illamasqua’s online customers would feel confident enough to purchase before they’d even sampled the scent. We’ve broken yet another barrier, in true Illamasqua style.”

You can view the Freak launch film and pre-order the Limited Edition Gift Set and 75ml Eau De Parfum at Illamasqua.com ahead of the official launch on the 20th October.

Above: Visuals of the campaign imagery and online tactics.

Illamasqua, the Cult British cosmetics brand founded by Propaganda, has been officially named a CoolBrand in an influential annual initiative to identify the UK’s most powerful brands.

The CoolBrands list, now in its 10th year, is born out of input from 2,000 consumers and a panel of 36 designers, style experts, media personalities and prominent figures from the worlds of TV, fashion and music.

Since its launch in 2008, Illamasqua has taken the cosmetics industry by storm and in a world of global giants such as L’Oreal and Estee Lauder this is no mean feat.

Four years ago Propaganda took the bold step of developing its own client and created Illamasqua. Propaganda founder, Julian Kynaston believed that if the agency could grow and develop successful global brands for its clients, then that experience could be translated to create the agency’s very own.

Propaganda’s core business is based on using verified consumer insight and market validation to inform business planning, product development and ongoing brand strategy. Illamasqua was created using these processes – resulting in a unique brand that connects strongly at an emotional level with its target consumer.

Julian Kynaston comments: “Being recognised by CoolBrands is a great accolade, firstly for Propaganda as it has proved that with dedicated brand strategy, planning and insight, developing your own client can work incredibly well and secondly for the people who have embraced Illamasqua so passionately.”

“Illamasqua has evolved from an initial idea, to turn the stale and predictable cosmetics market on its head. We wanted to reclaim the creativity and artistry that was once proudly associated with make-up. I knew there was a hunger for something more than the bland uniform approach as offered by the gaggle of high-street goliaths. For Illamasqua we wanted to create tools for people to use, which illustrated freedom from the norm, encouraged individuality and allowed self-expression. I can proudly say that Illamasqua achieves this.”

Co-ordinated by The Centre for Brand Analysis, the CoolBrands list was drawn from over 10,000 independently identified brands, whittled down into a shortlist of 1,500. The panel of 36 influencers then scored each brand, bearing in mind factors such as style, innovation, originality, authenticity, desirability and uniqueness, before more than 2,000 members of the British public gave their ratings. The views of both the panel and consumers were combined to produce a list of the 500 brands most highly rated. Illamasqua beat tough competition to take its place in the prestigious list.

View Illamasquas Cool Brand book spread (PDF).

Following several months of in-depth research, which delivered rich insight into the needs and aspirations of its customers, Propaganda has worked closely with Straight plc to implement a new brand strategy for the business, which will deliver upon the needs of the market, as well as raising its corporate profile.

As a result of the findings from Discovery, Propaganda has created a new brand positioning and proposition, which is both engaging and compelling, designed to differentiate Straight in its sector. The initial launch phase includes the roll out of the newly developed corporate visual identity, a brand advertising campaign and a new corporate website which will launch later this month.

Jonathan Straight, chief executive and founder of Straight plc said, “We recognised a need for a cohesive and customer driven brand strategy to help us realise our ambitious growth plans. The insight delivered as a result of Propaganda’s Discovery programme, not only highlighted our key strengths but also identified areas for development, and has resulted in Propaganda creating a new brand strategy and corporate identity.”

“We’re extremely excited to be launching our new brand identity; the execution is contemporary and fresh and represents our deep understanding of the waste and recycling sector.
Our new strapline ‘for tomorrows world’ was chosen to represent our corporate values and brand proposition.

“As a progressive organisation, we believe that it’s important for straight to evolve our business in line with our customers expectations and changes in the market and we believe the new brand strategy and identity helps us to do just that.”

It is a unique and first to market proposition in the 'very low calorie diet market', an online self help tool available to all CWP maintenance customers to be used in conjunction with advice and support from their CWP consultant.

The My Cambridge microsite features an online food diary which allows customers to set goals for the day, and helps them to stick to them, with a key feature of the diary including a section to diarise what they have eaten. From this the diary calculates what calories are left to play with for the rest of the day, it even keeps track of your five a day, alcohol & water intake and exercise regime.

To provide guidance and inspiration there is also a database of 100's of searchable healthy recipe and meal ideas and if extra support is needed My Cambridge links directly to the customers CWP consultant, allowing them to offer advice and support whenever it's needed.

Additionally customers can access 8 different reports to analyse their diet in a bit more detail. They can view which foods contribute the most fat to their diet, or add the most calories. There is also an innovative 'swap function' which will highlight a different food or brand that's similar to the one you enjoy, but could save calories.

All the functionality is geared to the My Cambridge golden rule - stay within your personal allowance and you'll keep your body looking the way you want it to. My Cambridge has been warmly received by the Consultant network and was launched to maintenance customers last month.

The UK’s leading high value, retail and e-fulfilment logistics provider Clipper, is proud to announce the launch of its first ever Future Forum, Death of the High Street?

With its unrivalled fashion and high value e-fulfilment expertise, and an impressive client list which includes the UK’s major multiples and high street retail brands, including John Lewis, Harvey Nichols, Liberty, Mint Velvet, Morrisons, Asda George, Tesco, New Look and Whistles, Clipper understands and appreciates better than most, the challenges and opportunities of e-tailing.

With this in mind, the Future Forum initiative has been designed to both enlighten and engage professionals from the world of retail, with an afternoon of stimulating debate focusing on the challenges, risks and opportunities presented by on-line retailing.

The inaugural event will be held at the infamous Langham Hotel, London, on Thursday 8th September from 1.00pm – 5.30pm and will be attended by delegates from some of the UK’s leading retailers, including Morrisons, Tie Rack, Ann Summers, Alexon, Austin Reed and Jaeger, and includes presentations by retail specialists PwC retail, retailer Harvey Nichols and e-comm solutions provider Venda. Propaganda’s very own head of digital, Kristal Ireland, will also share her insight and expertise in the world of digital and social media.

Tony Mannix, managing director, Clipper said: “Working with many of the leading retail fashion brands, we recognise the growth and opportunities of e-tailing and have evolved our business in-line with the recent e-commerce boom.”

“We hope the forum will provide not only a great networking opportunity for our fellow retail professionals, but also generate an afternoon of stimulating debate, which will explore effective strategies for avoiding common pitfalls, whilst at the same time examining ways to ensure that a retailers on-line activity is a winning proposition.”

Kristal Ireland, commented: “At Propaganda we don't believe anything in digital operates as a silo, that is why we use Digital Intelligence™ to ensure brands are strategically analysed and positioned before we deploy the wide variety of digital marketing techniques available.”

“Ensuring your brand is communicated, protected and ultimately heard online is becoming an ever more business critical and complex process. Whether you talk to your customers via search, social, mobile, video content or via your company website, each channel needs to be considered as part of an integrated marketing strategy. At every consumer touch point it is imperative that the consumer experience is in line with the brands ethos and values, in today’s environment a poor experience is easily communicated in real time to a potential audience of millions.”

“The Future Forum is a great platform for all speakers to share some of our collective insights with retailers looking to move in to or improve their online proposition and I’m sure it will be an interesting afternoon of stimulating debate.”

For more information, or if you would like to attend the event, please call or e-mail Johanna Ogilvie at Clipper on 0113 204 2050.

Established in 1985, Eternity currently supplies football leisure wear to a variety of football clubs throughout the UK and Europe, and has earned itself a reputation as a market leader in the football industry for creating high value, quality collections that supporters appreciate, whilst allowing clubs to maximise their retail potential.

Propaganda has been appointed to deliver an in-depth ‘Discovery’ programme - a 360 degree review of its brand positioning and proposition with customers in the UK and internationally, as well as with football supporters. The rich insight delivered as a result of the Discovery programme will enable Propaganda to develop a brand strategy that will deliver against Eternity’s ambitions to grow the business.

Phil Fellone, managing partner, Eternity said: "This appointment represents the next stage in our ambition to evolve and grow our business. Propaganda's robust strategic approach and track record for delivering real business results and brand development made them the perfect choice.”

Richard McMurrough, client services director, Propaganda, said: “We are delighted to be working with Eternity, and we look forward to delivering a clear and concise strategy that will help them deliver against their objectives to grow the business and to help drive Eternity to the next level.”

From our ongoing work to really understand the car buying consumer, we know that value for money is the top consideration when purchasing a car. What’s more, we delved deeper to understand exactly what value means for these customers. The campaign therefore responds perfectly to consumer demands and demonstrates value to prospective customers who may not be aware of The Car People and their difference. The integrated campaign will be seen on TV, radio, press and online.

Alongside this, we've just undertaken a strategic social media audit, to understand online share of voice, measure sentiment of online conversations, and the likelihood of customers sharing their purchase experience in a social space. The social media strategy born out of the audit strives to engage consumers beyond the car purchase window, and – in keeping with The Car People’s brand promise – do so without hassle.

Our aim is to engage with current customers and attract prospective customers with interesting, informative and entertaining content, to contribute towards an increase in brand awareness, front of mind recall and ultimately web generated enquiries.

Look out for exciting social competitions and conversation soon!