January sees the launch of the new The Car People campaign. Developed by Propaganda, the campaign will include: radio, point of sale, outdoor advertising, online media and new TV ads (airing in the spring).

The campaign comes off the back of a very successful 2014 for The Car People, with sales up significantly year-on-year.

Based on valuable insights gathered from an insight programme undertaken by Propaganda in 2014, the campaign addresses the needs of a changing consumer mindset and purchasing journey.

Consumers invest heavily, both financially and emotionally, into finding the right car for them, and they want reassurance that they will be taken care of long after they drive home.

The campaign showcases The Car People’s unwavering dedication to delivering a truly hassle-free experience, and highlights just some of the lengths they go to for their customers, before, during, and after they buy a car.

You can catch the radio adverts on Capital FM, and Heart throughout January, and keep your eyes peeled for 96 sheets and digital billboards in Manchester and Sheffield.

We are proud to congratulate Karen Betts, Director of Nouveau Beauty Group, on winning the prestigious 2014 NatWest Everywoman Award.

Celebrating the success of female-owned businesses across the UK, the awards are in their 12th year of giving recognition to women from all walks of life for their fantastic contribution to the British economy.

Praised for the creation and success of her empire, Karen was presented with her award in a glittering ceremony at The Dorchester Hotel in London last week where the judges commented “This woman is phenomenal”. Karen was applauded for her strong leadership and entrepreneurial skills that have seen her businesses grow from a small office in Yorkshire to a team of 182 valued employees with a £7 million turnover, making her a true role model and inspiration for aspiring entrepreneurial women all over the UK.

Karen’s passion to make women feel confident is another key driving force in her success. She comments “I don’t mind working every hour because it doesn’t feel like work. If you can dream it, you can do it.”

Last week saw the launch of 24 Seven’s National Roaming SIM, which allows mobile users to jump between networks.

This SIM is the first national roaming product in the UK and works by searching out the strongest signal from a group of major Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to improve network coverage and help eliminate so-called ‘not-spots’ where individual operator network signals are poor. The system works on a similar premise to roaming for available networks while abroad.

Propaganda worked closely with 24 Seven to ready them for the launch which took place at the Business Show at Olympia, London last week. Check out the film here.

It has been estimated that 20% of the UK suffers from an unreliable mobile phone signal and this can be down to a number of factors, including geography and network coverage. According to research, this can result in British user’s having no signal 15% of the time. However, in areas where signal strength is poor, reception is often available from one of the four main network providers. Until now, there has been no process or procedure to jump to a better signal strength, unless making emergency calls, leading to frustration and loss of earning for those involved.

David Samuel, Managing Director of 24 Seven said: “Working with Propaganda, we have been able to launch this new SIM card to provide mobile users with a more reliable mobile signal. Mobile reception affects so many areas of life. Businesses in particular could stand to lose out on millions of pounds due to poor signal strength or feeble network coverage. We anticipate it being extremely beneficial to ‘coverage-critical’ industries, such as lone workers, nurses and doctors, asset tracking, vehicle tracking and numerous other services.”

Find out more here: www.24seven.co.uk

Seabrook Crisps, where Propaganda Chairman Julian Kynaston has held a non-executive board role for the past six years, has been named as the region’s best food and drink manufacturer at the Insider Made in Yorkshire Awards.

The award was presented at the annual event, which recognises the best in Yorkshire business, in a prestigious ceremony at the Royal Armouries on the 27^thNovember. In announcing the winner, the judging panel recognised the role that the management team had played to help reverse a decline in revenue and consistently deliver growth both from a P&L perspective and in market sales.

Julian said of the award: “Seabrook is a great brand. I’ve very much enjoyed working alongside its superb management team to transform the business over the past few years. I’m delighted that the business has been recognised as Yorkshire’s best food and drink manufacturer.”

On September the 29th, overlooking the city of London, LVL Lashes was launched to key members of the press & beauty bloggers at Paramount, Centrepoint.

LVL founders Bridgette Softely & Karen Betts hosted the day of demonstrations & discussions and introduced the treatment that’s taking the beauty industry by storm.

Here’s a snapshot from the day.

Please take a moment to remember Sophie Lancaster. Because today, the 20-year-old young woman, who was beaten to death just because she liked piercings and dreads, would have been celebrating her 28^th birthday.

Having worked with closely with the charity her mum, Sylvia Lancaster, set up shortly after she died, we’ve become come close to the family which forms the Sophie Lancaster Foundation – Stacey, Kate, Stacey, Odette et al – and have been privileged to hear stories and learn about the type of person Sophie was. Caring, challenging, full of passion, talented. She was going places.

And as we reflect on the person Sophie, who was about to embark on her University Art Degree, would be today, Sylvia, is keeping busy hosting the Sophie Lancaster Foundation’s first ever hate crime conference with an impressive number of high-profile speakers, from parliamentary advisory officials to the police, exploring ways of working together to challenge attitudes and create safer communities for alternative subcultures.

Since 2007, not long after Sophie’s tragic attack, Sylvia Lancaster, has worked tirelessly to change the law and a mindset in society for the ultimate protection of and an understanding of alternative subcultures and create a lasting legacy to her daughter. And boy, has she pulled it off.

From the charity’s ongoing successful partnership with top make-up brand Illamsaqua to advising on hate crime with the CID, the award winning film Dark Angel Propaganda created to raise awareness of Sophie story to Sylvia’s recent OBE for her groundbreaking achievements, and now the Hate Crime Conference… read all about it … the proof is certainly in the pudding.

But one thing we must remember, especially today, is Sophie and what her name now stands for – Stamp Out Prejudice, Hatred & Intolerance. Everywhere.

A marketing campaign for Ann Summers, designed and implemented by Propaganda, has been shortlisted for a prestigious national retail award. The campaign, brought to life by Propaganda, is up against some of the top marketing work in the country at the 20th annual Retail Week Awards.

The shortlisted entry included the involvement of TOWIE star, Sam Faiers, and celebrated British fashion designer, Giles Deacon. These collaborations created improved exposure for the brand and drove sales to new highs. Propaganda has been retained to provide ongoing strategic marketing support to Ann Summers since autumn 2013.

The Oracle Retail Week Awards will be held on 12 March 2015 at the Grosvenor House in Park Lane, London and are the gold standard in British retail excellence. In two decades this illustrious event has championed, toasted and rewarded the finest achievements in the sector.

We’ve started the week on a high with a win at this year’s Fresh Awards, scooping a gong in the ambient category for our work with Ann Summers.

The winning work was taken from this year’s Valentine’s campaign which declares February the 14^th as Ann Summers Day. The campaign takes a stand against traditional Valentine’s Day messages with the launch of the Ann Summers Manifesto and states that Valentine’s is about being sexy; not sentimental.

And this is exactly the message we took to the streets of London by projecting it on the front of a famous store. You may have heard of it?

Ann Summers certainly caused a stir on the streets of London and on the board of the Fresh Awards judging panel. Keep an eye out for more disruptive tactics coming up soon.

To mark the launch of Breast Cancer Awareness month, international fine artist and bodypainter Filippo ioco brought his world famous PINK charity events to London and collaborated with the Pink Ribbon Foundation to host #PINKLondon2014.

The star studded event was a huge success, showcasing an exhibition of Filippo’s artwork which included live bodypainted models by the #KryolanLONDON team to raise awareness about the Pink Ribbon Foundation’s work. Exclusive performances by top DJ’s including Lisa Lashes and an intimate set by international recording artist Delilah made the night an extra special occasion.

Our client, Kryolan were honored to sponsor such a fantastic event which showcased art, bodypainting & creativity all for a great cause. Head of corporate partnerships and PR for the Pink Ribbon Foundation, Lisa Allen commented, ‘Every single guest had a wonderful time and I have received so many fantastic comments about Kryolan’s support of the charity and iocoBenefits. The Kryolan bodypainted models all looked fantastic and the PINK girls in particular were extremely popular.’

Filippo ioco expressed how the #KryolanLONDON team did an amazing job, he commented, ‘I’m so happy that I got to share this experience with all the great Kryolan London artists. I hope to work with them all again.’

Discover Filippo ioco on Twitter @Filippoioco and keep up to date with the Pink Ribbon Foundation @pinkribbonfound

Last week saw the launch of a new brand we’ve developed, called ReGrow, a sub brand from ReFood. ReGrow is a high-quality nutrient-rich bio-fertiliser that’s 100% sustainable and safe. Produced from food waste at ReFood’s Anaerobic Digestion plants, ReGrow works wonders for crops.

ReGrow opens up a new revenue stream for ReFood and as a natural product of ReFood’s closed-loop recycling process, it’s good news for the environment too.

To better understand the digestate market landscape and opportunity, the process started with a Brand Discovery 12 months ago, which in turn lead us to the proposition – ‘Food for life’. Thanks to ReGrow’s sustainable, closed loop, future-focused elements, this positioning fully embodies ReFood’s current ‘waste for good’ proposition.

We then developed a new identity for the brand (plus sales support tools and a website, which includes a bespoke fertiliser calculator). This new look and feel really crosses the line and gives the brand a real point of difference in the emerging biofertiliser market.

ReGrow was officially launched at ReFood’s new state of the art ReFood plant in Widnes and received a great reception from the local farmers and advisers that attended. The event also included presentations and Q&A sessions from the ReGrow team, (a team established by Propaganda, which includes industry-leading agromomists from Earthcare Technical and ABDA, farmers already using ReGrow and the ReFood commercial team). This handpicked team will use its combined knowledge and experience to help promote the many environmental, social and commercial benefits of ReGrow across the UK.

Propaganda will continue to work closely with ReFood and the ReGrow team to further educate the market and key influencers. We’ll also help to promote ReGrow, support their customer acquisition programme and ultimately drive the company’s strategy forward.