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After significant expansion of both their Doncaster and Widnes plants over the last two years, ReFood have taken their unique end-to-end, closed-loop offer to London, with the opening of their third UK Anaerobic Digestion (AD) facility, in Dagenham Docks. We were on hand to lend our support and witness the grand unveiling of this new £32m investment delivering a greener, safer, cheaper alternative to landfill in London.

 On a stiflingly hot day, Jules and Rich arrived on site just before 9am, and preparations were already in full swing. Resplendent as the jewel in the crown of London’s Sustainable Industries Park, the new site which has been developed over the past 12 months, after years of planning, was gleaming under the morning sun.

 Dignitaries, including representatives of SARIA and the RETHMANN group (ReFood’s parent companies) and the Deputy Mayor of London (Environment), Shirley Rodriguez, gathered to be given the first site tour, and carry out the first ‘ceremonial bin tip’.

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As more guests gathered, the ReFood team welcomed the great and the good from the industry, media and local government, to showcase the capability of the site. The statistics speak for themselves: 160,000tonnes of food waste p/a diverted from landfill; 73,600tonnes of CO2 displaced; and 14million m3 of gas produced.

 Philip Simpson, Commercial Director for ReFood presented the 100+ selected guests with a brief history of the business and the site, and then went on to highlight the opportunity on offer. Meanwhile, we helped coordinate the media at the event, live-tweeted the highlights for those not able to attend, and supported with the launch collateral and presentations for the day.

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Cleopatra’s magical appeal has captivated the world for centuries; no other queen of the ancient world has ever been as mysterious, alluring or powerful.

Last week saw the launch of Illamasqua’s new Scarab collection; drawing inspiration from the Ancient Egyptian mythology from which the name derives, and celebrating the enduring legend of Cleopatra. The collection sees make-up and fragrance combine to create a powerful offering of rich golden tones.

To support the campaign, we created a series of stunning images to transport you to distant lands and reflect the mythical beauty of Ancient Egypt and the intrigue of Cleopatra.

The final images can be seen online, across beauty counters and at Illamasqua stores throughout the UK.

Every now and then, a project comes along which has the potential to make a real difference to schools. Book-Lender was one such brief to cross our desks, which is gearing up for launch at the start of the new academic year following a successful trial period, and it’s already being hailed by primary school teachers as “ridiculously useful”.

One of the defining challenges for modern-day teachers is to deliver a great learning experience for students, under increasing budgetary pressures. Enter Book-Lender, a revolutionary new online library rental model for schools, designed to bring physical books back into the heart of learning.

Conceived with the pressures and challenges faced by today’s teaching professionals in mind, the service offers top quality curriculum-linked physical books, curated by library experts, that can be ordered in seconds and delivered direct to the classroom. Once schools have finished with the books, they simply return them free of charge and await their next delivery, safe in the knowledge that their pupils have benefitted from outstanding books and an uncompromised education. The proposition is simple: Rent. Read. Return.

The brand was developed alongside teachers and learning coordinators, looking for new and convenient ways to deliver outstanding education to our children. Using vibrant and inspirational imagery, Book-Lender is now helping to ensure the delivery of quality education for generations to come.

We’re proud to have brought a new brand to life on behalf of a joint venture between our longstanding client, Clipper and The John Lewis Partnership.

Click & Collect innovation, Clicklink™, is a solution that combines Clipper’s expertise in retail logistics and John Lewis’ extensive retail knowledge, to offer customers a more convenient delivery solution. Underpinned by the volume of Click & Collect traffic John Lewis customers demand, the service, innovatively, is open to other retailers, signalling a new era of collaboration.

Working closely with the teams at both Clipper and John Lewis over many months, we helped to launch this new innovation in retail logistics. Our work included brand development, identity, messaging and creating a suite of collateral. We were also on hand at Clipper’s latest investor day, held at their impressive Northampton site, to see Clicklink™ in action, sorting thousands of parcels, and ensuring next-day delivery to one of JLP’s Waitrose stores before midday the next day.

Customers are now turning to Click & Collect in their droves. Remarkably, over half of UK adults used Click & Collect in the last 12 months, and delivery choices are becoming more and more important when making buying decisions. The shift in customer retail habits has kept retailers on their toes, but Clipper’s promise of ‘agility matched by ability’ has assisted the industry in coping with these rapidly changing needs.

The Clicklink™ brand will now be rolled out across the UK, marking another milestone in the Clipper brand’s development, and adding to the suite of retail solutions they offer.

For our client MagnaColours who innovate water-based screen-printing inks, the exhibition calendar is pretty full, including two global industry exhibitions each year that attract key influencers from top brands and fashion retailers in the garment industry.

This year we encouraged MagnaColours to do something a little different, to go outside of their comfort zone and host a special evening event during the FESPA exhibition in Hamburg, Germany.  Instead of exhibiting alongside a number of competitors, Magna hired a professional gallery space for guests to escape the me-too stands of the main exhibition and be fully immersed in the world of MagnaColours.

The overall theme for the event centred around ‘Mixing it up with Magna’, which was brought to life over the course of the evening.

Guests were treated to a number of bespoke cocktails inspired by Magna’s revolutionary inks, all served by a number of Magna mixologists.  There was also spectacular entertainment provided by Burlesque dancer Katrina Darling, along with music mixed by the event DJ.

The event was without a doubt a huge success. A number of new and existing clients were able to enjoy and celebrate the MagnaColours philosophy and see some of their most amazing works to date.

Helen Parry, Managing Director on Magna said: “It was a fantastic night, our guests enjoyed everything we had in store for them, and we were able to perfectly reflect the personality and imagination behind MagnaColours®.”

Having built a successful female haircare brand from the ground up, Neal & Wolf was ready to conquer a new sector. With the rise in men visiting salons, their annual spend increasing and more, and more, barber shops opening, a tailored collection of men’s styling products was the obvious choice.

Men want the ultimate in both style and performance, and that’s exactly what we set out to achieve. Simple. Bold. Styling.

We created contemporary, masculine packaging and a POS and merchandising suite that would catch the eye of the grooming-conscious male consumer and attract attention in increasingly popular men’s salons (particularly the N&W branded real ale, beer mats and bottle opener). In other words, grooming for the modern gentleman at its finest.

Whilst Neal & Wolf’s female fan base is well established, we knew that we needed to establish ourselves in the mind of the male consumer to grow our audience, an audience that we discovered to be regularly researching styling tips online. The solution was to create a world that men could become a part of and so the Alpha Club was born. A unique online society where men can receive tips and advice on what it means to be a true modern gentleman. As well as purchase the right styling products for their desired look.

The result is a collection that is already flying off the shelves.

Propaganda Chairman Julian Kynaston spoke at a recent Connect Yorkshire masterclass event, aimed at passing on marketing and brand expertise to the next generation of the region’s entrepreneurs.

In a Q&A session alongside Simon Gray, Founder of Boost Drinks and a familiar face at Propaganda, the prominent business leaders talked brand, PR, digital and all things marketing. The assembled guests at the event, described by the organisers as “one of the liveliest, most interactive we have ever had” were given a taste of marketing expertise from both agency, and brand perspective.

Digital was a strong focus, as was the idea that more and more social media interaction is being done away from the public eye on ‘dark social’, with messenger services such as WhatsApp and Snapchat, and therefore can’t be measured by traditional analytics.

This leaves brands increasingly competing for a cluttered space, and highlights the importance of an integrated marketing solution. Figures suggest that this ‘dark social’ accounts for as much as 70% of traffic at present, meaning that brands effectively are only able to target and monitor the remaining 30%. Julian commented that this highlighted the ongoing importance of ensuring the product or service is fit for purpose in the first instance, so the ‘dark conversations’ that can’t be monitored, are more likely to be about a positive product, service or experience.

Julian pointed out that the world of brand creation is also changing, with online providing the biggest opportunity to match an audience with a new business idea. Increasingly, entrepreneurs and business people are coming up with hypotheses, which can be validated by what their target audience are searching for online, helping to ensure the opportunity is viable.

The difference between strategy and tactics was also highlighted in the room, with some confusion of ‘marketing’ and ‘marketing services’, suggesting that to some, marketing was simply deployment of a one-off approach, such as PR. Julian took the opportunity to express his view that the role of the outright marketeer is becoming increasingly scarce.

May Day has always been a celebration of two halves- a mystical pagan festival on the one hand to a rowdy celebration of working class unity on the other.

Last week saw the launch of Illamasqua’s new May Queen collection; harking back to beauty’s folklore and celebrating May Day as an antidote to heavy consumerism and a reminder of the power of solidarity.

To support the campaign, we set our stunning model images in beautiful graphics reminiscent of a quintessential English village sign and invoking thoughts of the May Day procession leading you away from Winter’s grasp into the rebirth of Spring.

The final images can be seen online, across beauty counters and at Illamasqua stores throughout the UK.

Propaganda’s Chairman Julian Kynaston has taken up a non-executive role at technology firm, Razor, in a deal that will help grow the business and develop new opportunities.

Sheffield based Razor are specialists in business process efficiency, advising clients on how to get the most out of systems, software and data. Over recent years, the firm has made a name for itself in Sheffield’s burgeoning  tech-sector, and beyond, with a model predicated on results.

Propaganda have recently worked with Razor to help shape and define their proposition, ‘The technology works’ and  brand identity. 

Speaking about the partnership, Julian said: “Razor are a great business, operating in an exciting market. I was immediately impressed with what they had to offer, and how their work can enable businesses to reach their goals. I’ll be helping them to grow their client base, develop their offer and realise their potential. The synergies between what we do at Propaganda, and Razor, are obvious.”

Jamie Hinton, CEO of Razor, said: “Julian’s reputation for helping to grow businesses is virtually unrivalled on the Yorkshire scene and I’m certain this will be a great partnership for all involved.”

Propaganda are pleased to announce that we have achieved double award success at this year’s Management Consultancies Association (MCA) Awards. Our wins came in both the Innovation and Strategy categories, for a project with our client ReFood. The awards, which bring together leading UK firms to celebrate consulting excellence, were presented at the ceremony in London on the 27^th April.

ReFood is a UK leader in food waste recycling, turning waste food and drink into renewable energy. A natural by-product of the process is digestate, traditionally seen as a waste product. Prior to our work, ReFood paid significant disposal charges to local Farmers each year for them to take the waste product.

With AD forecasted to grow in the UK by 800% by 2020, digestate market supply was set to increase, the challenge of reliable, cost effective, disposal was therefore set to worsen and was fast becoming a sector-wide issue. A further challenge was the market perception of digestate as a waste stream, without commercial value. To date, the AD sector had failed to monetise the high nutrient content of digestate.

As a result of the project, ReFood has a clear strategy to deal with the digestate challenge that is already yielding significant operational savings each year. A phased plan has been developed, designed to evolve the digestate product to produce a high value revenue streams.

The strategy has further cemented ReFood’s market leader position, created a unique closed loop proposition and has seen the launch of ReGrow the UK’s first branded, food waste derived biofertiliser.

In each of the categories entered, we were up against extremely strong competition from the likes of Deloitte, Arup and Cognosis, who submitted entries for their work with clients such as Network Rail, the NHS and Transport for London.

Richard McMurrough, Director at Propaganda said: “We are thrilled to have won two awards at the MCA Awards. In both categories, we were up against incredibly strong competition, which really makes the recognition even greater for us. It’s brilliant to see the hard work of two Yorkshire based businesses take on some strong contenders and win. As members of the MCA, we know that these awards celebrate the very best work of the consulting industry, so these wins mean a great deal.”

Philip Simpson, Commercial Director of ReFood commented: “Propaganda demonstrated vision and value in conceiving and developing the ReGrow brand. Not only that, they’ve successfully taken it from that initial idea to successful delivery, I’ve not experienced any other business that would be capable of this approach. This double win at the MCA awards, in which we faced some tough competition is incredible. This project solved a big challenge for our industry, so it’s brilliant to have that work commended.”

The new ad launches as The Car People celebrate the most successful period in the company’s 17-year history having sold more than 2,000 cars across their Wakefield, Sheffield and Manchester sites throughout March.

We’ve brought together some of the best creative and design talents to deliver the campaign – with Tim James Brown directing, MTP producing and animation handled by Will Rockall of Pearl DME (who recently worked on Lego Batman!) – with the aim of placing The Car People ahead of the competition in terms of customer insight, messaging and production values.

The first ad, Battlefield, focuses on the typical experience of visiting a used car showroom with aggressive salespeople pushing customers into something they don’t want.

The second ad, Online Hell, exemplifies the typical experience of searching for a used car online where customers are bombarded with web pages full of irrelevant marketing messages, pop ups and unrealistic sales claims.

Why not watch the ads for yourself to find out why The Car People are the hassle-free way to buy a car – whether in-store or online!

Last week saw Illamasqua launch a campaign to celebrate its hugely popular, best-selling ‘hero’ products; Hydra Veil, Beyond Powder and Gel Sculpt, each featuring a unique benefit that consumers and make-up artists can’t get enough of.                   

To support the campaign, we created a range of beautiful graphic images and animations set inside model silhouettes, each one creating a visual metaphor of the product benefit.

The final images can be seen online, on beauty counters and at Illamasqua stores throughout the UK.