Lee joined us in 2002 and has moved through the ranks to Head of Design and now to his new position of Design Director

Managing Director Laura Kynaston commented: “We are delighted that Lee has accepted our invitation to join our board of directors. He has been a highly valued member of our team for over 10 years and we are confident that he will have a big impact in a more senior position.

“2013 will see a further development of our creative offer and creative department and it’s essential that this department is represented at the most senior level of our business.  Lee has already shared his vision for the department with the rest of the board and we are excited about what this year has in store for us thanks to his input.”

At Propaganda, Lee has played a key part in shaping the iconic and much copied look of ghd – and more recently Illamasqua – with his art direction, design and online work picking up a number of Roses and Fresh awards, including a Fresh Grand Prix.

Lee’s words and work have featured in a number of leading design books, magazines and blogs. Most recently, case studies of some of his projects were included in the range of best-selling design books by Gavin Ambrose. Lee’s design work has also extended to TV, and an appearance on the hit Children’s BBC show ‘Beat the Boss’.

Lee concluded: “This is an exciting opportunity and I’m looking forward to taking it on and ensuring that Propaganda’s strategic consultancy for clients is brought to life and action  through creative excellence.”

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Illamasqua, Propaganda’s own brand, has been shortlisted as a CoolBrands® for the second year running. Just four years since launch, the cult cosmetics brand has become a global phenomenon and is hailed as the fastest growing make-up brand in history. Renowned for its dedication to self-expression, the revolutionary British beauty brand, that was created and conceived by Propaganda, has shaken up the make-up industry.

Meanwhile, Seabrook Crisps has made the CoolBrands® list for the first time in 2012. Propaganda worked closely with Seabrook, an independent, family-owned business, to take the brand to a national level. Our work established them as Britain’s fastest growing crisps brand, the 12th fastest growing privately owned food brand and secured us an MCA award for Customer Engagement Strategy in 2009.

Laura Kynaston comments “Achieving CoolBrands® status for Illamasqua and Seabrook Crisps is a fantastic result and demonstrates that a brand doesn’t have to rely on huge investment or celebrity endorsement to be successful. Both brands use insight and core truths, matched with exceptional creative strategy. Their success has come from out-thinking rather than out-spending.”

CoolBrands® have been producing their annual list since 2001. As well as 2000 members of the British public, this year’s decision makers include 39 Expert Council members ranging from style gurus and fashion leaders to artists and entrepreneurs.

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The project is the first significant investment in the Equanet brand and is part of the company’s growth strategy which incorporates brand development, as well as extending its service and product range, developing partner relationships and ensuring its customers continue to receive the best possible value. The company will be positioned by Propaganda as a credible IT solutions provider rather than just a hardware dealer.

Mark Garrett, Equanet’s Head of Commercial has very clear aims: “From a brand perspective, it’s vital that Equanet is understood by customers and partners alike for the business it is and is working hard to become. This will involve promoting Equanet’s extensive portfolio of IT solutions to businesses and organisations across the UK.”

The brand audit will be managed by Julian Horberry, Propaganda’s planning director. Julian and his team will ensure Equanet benefits commercially from the rigorous planning processes developed at Propaganda; they’ll also drive brand strategy and make sustainable business recommendations.

Julian Horberry said: “The IT market has changed significantly. Businesses in this sector, like Equanet, used to sell just boxes, now customers demand the whole package – a bespoke end-to-end IT solution.

“Our insight driven approach which depends on knowledge before assumption and strategy before tactics, is the key to our success with brand transformation. Once we have this knowledge, our job for Equanet is to create a business model that drives growth into the business through increased sales at a higher margin.”

Brand Discovery™ is Propaganda’s proven consultancy model, which discovers the truth about a brand, unearthing real market and customer insights to unlock brand and business value. This consultative approach develops a clear brand strategy born out of factual intelligence to deliver increased brand performance.

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PDM is investing in ReFood’s proposition and has plans to significantly increase its footprint across the UK with new Anaerobic Digestion sites.  Its recently opened Doncaster site is already exceeding targets, turning 45,000 tonnes of food waste from across Yorkshire into renewable energy.

Philip Simpson, commercial director at PDM said: “We can see the significant potential in this sector – almost 20 million tonnes of food waste is generated every year in the UK. Our method of recycling waste food, through anaerobic digestion, delivers on two sustainability goals: reducing waste going to landfill and generating renewable energy.  We’ve appointed Propaganda to help us unlock our potential in this market and deliver our goal of ReFood being the ‘go-to’ business for food waste recycling.”

Propaganda delivers brand transformation through a ‘knowledge before assumption’ and ‘strategy before tactics’ approach called Discovery™. Central to Discovery™ is a 360° brand and business audit which uncovers the brand truth and defines the transformational brand strategy; delivering measurable business results.

Kirsty Birks, director at Propaganda explains: “Our work with PDM is not about re-branding the ReFood business unit. It’s about building a brand that can leverage growth opportunities in a growing and dynamic marketplace. The Propaganda team is looking forward to working on this exciting brief and to delivering a brand strategy, working alongside Prova, to drive growth for ReFood based on knowledge rather than assumption. It is also pleasing to start work with another successful Yorkshire based business to add to the existing relationships we have with Clipper, FMG, The Car People and Boost Drinks.”

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At the beginning of August 2012 Illamasqua launched a campaign to make a stand, to start a fight for the Australian Consumer.  The campaign was to encourage Illamasqua fans to sign a petition for a fairer beauty price.  The petition is housed on illamasqua.com and Illamasqua’s Facebook page and attracted tens of thousands of people who were eager to add their voice to the campaign and sign the petition.  It is those people who have enabled Illamasqua in Australia to be the first make-up brand to take a stand and slash it prices dramatically.

The Illamasqua “Fight for a Fair Beauty Price” has sparked conversation globally with customers, bloggers, press and industry insiders.  Julian kynaston founder of Illamasqua appeared in a viral video, which was a platform for the campaign for the “fight for fairer beauty,” the video received thousands of YouTube views.  Industry bloggers have applauded Illamasqua’s campaign with praise flooding in from all angles.  The reaction from the industry press has been very positive with features about the “Fight for a Fair Beauty Price” appearing on influential beauty blogs such as Breakfast with Audrey and The Plastic Diaries.

After a month of rallying together with their customers and fans making a stand against the unfair cosmetic pricing in Australia, Illamasqua are proud to announce that they have won the “Fight for a Fair Beauty Price.”  As of tomorrow- the 1^st of September 2012 will always be the day that Illamasqua slashed the prices of their cosmetics to bring Australia back in line with the rest of the world.

Propaganda worked with Illamasqua throughout this campaign and we are all really proud of the results that have been achieved in such a short space of time.

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With over 150 years’ experience, PD Ports has industry-wide expertise in everything from retail, food & drinks and electronics to paper, timber, metal, chemicals, packaging, building materials and recycling, for clients including Asda, Tesco and Taylors of Harrogate.

Its award winning portcentric solutions has delivered tangible bottom-line benefits to clients by reducing lead times, improving logistics efficiency, reducing transport costs and achieving environmental objectives. This confirms the company’s position as one of the UK’s most successful and prominent facilitators and providers of portcentric services.

PD ports have recognised the need for a cohesive and customer-driven brand strategy and differentiated proposition as part of its ambitious growth plans for its portcentric logistics division. Brand Discovery™ will help PD Ports realise these ambitions through the insight and robust brand strategy that this consultative process delivers.

Geoff Lippitt, PD Ports’ Business Development Director, said:

“The retail sector in the UK continues to become more competitive, and the growth of multichannel solutions in this sector is anticipated to increase the level of demand for flexible downstream portcentric logistics solutions. As such, portcentric logistics is widely regarded as one of the most important developments in the UK logistics industry.

We have a clear ambition to be the premium provider of portcentric solutions in the UK. In order to grow further and maintain our position at the forefront of the portcentric logistics sector, we need to implement a clear and concise strategy that delivers on the needs of the market.”

Richard McMurrough, director at Propaganda continued:

“We’re excited about working with PD Ports on this challenging brief. Brand Discovery™ is an individual journey for clients because no two businesses are the same, no two companies face the same challenges, so no two solutions should be the same. That’s why our approach is based on knowledge rather than assumption and puts strategy before tactics. We transform businesses with sound strategic and creative thinking.”

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Jimmy Boardley has been appointed as junior account director working on FMG and The Car People, Rachel Stephens as social account executive working across a number of clients including Neal & Wolf, The Car People and Kryolan; Nafisa Shafiq as social account manager working on Boost, FMG and Cambridge Weight Plan; and Sinead Dowd as project manager working on Cambridge Weight Plan, Crystal Clear and a rebranding strategy currently under wraps.

Laura Kynaston, managing director, said: “It’s an exciting time at Propaganda and I’m delighted to welcome our new starters. We’re growing doing what we do best, adding value to our clients’ businesses through creative thinking aligned to sound strategy. Our proven consultancy process, Brand Discovery™, remains our point of difference and we continue to build our reputation developing transformational brand and business strategies for our clients.”

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But what has been at the centre of this transformation?

The simple answer is many things.

A gifted entrepreneur at the helm providing the vision and drive, a focused and capable management team, a talented technical and engineering team, a product that is simply superior to its competitors…and a compelling brand proposition.

Propaganda were commissioned by David in 2003 when he led the MBO to provide him and his fellow directors with insight into his recently acquired brand and to provide him with a brand strategy for growth.

Brand Discovery™ took a long hard look at the BFF business and identified what made them different to their competitors and why their customers enjoyed working with BFF and what they valued in their relationship.

The answer back then? That BFF Care.

They care about their people, their products, their technical capability and the superior service they provide to their customers. BFF’s reputation is built upon its dedication to product excellence and a focus on delivering against its clients’ needs. Working closely with customers throughout the development process, BFF’s strengths lie in its ability to produce unique products made to an exact specification that many other manufacturers find hard to match.

This was also the resounding feedback when we conducted our follow-up Brand Health programme in 2009. But importantly on each occasion both in 2003 and 2009 the challenges and opportunities faced by the business were different, for 9 years Discovery™ and Brand Health have provided a strategic road map, that has directly contributed to the growth and transformation of BFF.

So how time flies, it’s now 3yrs since our last interrogation of BFF and this time the programme of work takes us to the USA and Sweden as well as Bridgwater in Somerset, to conduct the brand audit and answer the questions… do BFF still Care? And what are the opportunities to transform BFF still further in the next 3 years?

The post Propaganda commissioned to conduct international Brand audit for BFF. appeared first on Propaganda.

Kirsty, who has been a member of the MCA Board since 2009 will be working alongside the newly elected President, Aimie Chapple from Accenture and two other vice presidents (Steve Watmough, KPMG and Chris Cooper, Challenge Consulting) to guide the delivery of the MCA strategy with a particular focus on the communications pillar.

Propaganda became members of the MCA in 2005 and since then has worked closely with the MCA Board to help articulate the core brand message and create subsequent communications strategy for the organisation. Propaganda has also been successful in the MCA Awards several years running and Kirsty won Marketing Consultant of the Year in 2007.

Commenting on the appointment, Kirsty said “I am delighted to have been elected as a VP and I look forward to working with Aimie, Alan and the rest of the MCA team to further demonstrate the positive and significant contribution UK consulting firms make to our economy. During these continued tough economic conditions, consulting firms are extremely well placed to help aid the recovery and help shape the future economic landscape of the UK”

Alan Leaman, Chief Executive of the MCA, continues, “Propaganda’s membership of the MCA demonstrates the breadth of our membership and the wide diversity of consulting firms in the UK. Now, more than ever, the MCA will be communicating the positive impact UK consulting firms make to the economy and the excellent services member firms deliver. Kirsty will be able to guide and support us in developing our communications with members, clients and the broader UK economy”.

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Boost’s phenomenal success over the past few years (Boost is now the No.2 energy drink brand within impulse*) is based on a strong value proposition, offering products with great taste and energy at a great price to retailers and consumers alike, which is why the Boost ‘It’s a No Brainer’ proposition is so fitting.

The 2012 Olympics is a major focus for leading sports and energy drink brands, many of whom are already beginning to flood the market with huge sponsorship deals and multi-million pound marketing campaigns, all jostling for attention in the ‘main arena’. After all, competing toe-to-toe in this way is just not the Boost way.

So, we’ve created a campaign that reflects Boost’s challenger brand mentality, one that’s relevant to its value proposition, expanding product portfolio of caffeine, glucose and sports drinks, and – most importantly – the target audience; everyday people, rather than sports athletes and adrenalin junkies.

One of the main objectives for 2012 was to gather data on the ever-growing pool of people purchasing, consuming and engaging with Boost to allow us to better understand their needs. Secondly, as Boost’s product portfolio expands, it’s essential to begin educating and building awareness of the sport and glucose ranges on offer, with the aim of gaining greater distribution and raising Boost’s profile across trade and consumer audiences.

The Boost Champions campaign sets out to make heroes of the everyday man and woman getting through the daily grind. It’s been developed to work across trade and consumer audiences using a range of integrated on and offline tactics. The campaign offers consumers the chance to win a top prize of £10,000 by playing a series of online games, plus the chance to win £10 instantly by entering unique codes found on promotional packs, plus a points loyalty reward scheme using promotional codes to redeem for music downloads or cinema vouchers. The campaign will be supported through street sampling teams, PR, online advertising, in-depot and in-store POS, email marketing and social media.

Want to get involved?…We think it’s a no brainer.

Boost Champions launches Monday 19th March.

*Source: SalesOut for year to August 31st 2011 (based on wholesale sales to more than 30,000 independent stores)

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