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July 4, 2011
My name is Ellie Richards and I have just finished doing my GCSEs at Guildford High School. For my week’s work experience, I chose to come to Mzuri and spend a week in their office and get involved with the things they do. I had heard tons of positive comments about the company, so I felt lucky to be accepted for the week, and excited for what lay ahead.
I turned up at Mzuri’s office on Monday morning with little knowledge of what I was letting myself into, but when I arrived, I was immediately overwhelmed by the welcoming and buzzing atmosphere I had just encountered. I was introduced to the smiling, enthusiastic team, shown my way around the building and after a refreshing cup of tea, got straight to work on my first task involving a mailshot database. After a few hours, I had become very competent at using the software and the data was well on its way to being completed. After a well-earned lunch break, I began my next task with Victoria, who outlined the requirements for a promotional postcard for a company based in London. Having been given some useful information, I began writing the blurb part on the back, doing my best to advertise the company and hone in on the requirements for its specific audience. I was pleased I could help out and when I was happy with my final result, I emailed it over for some final tweaking. Finally, I discussed with Clare some possibilities for a mail chimp and did some research for that, which was a great task and added variety to my day. After a long, fun and informative first day, I reluctantly left for home, reflecting on my first day with Mzuri. So far, so good!
By Tuesday, I had learnt the ropes and felt at ease in the friendly work-place at Mzuri Design. I continued with the mailshot, and just before lunch, had ended up with a complete set of data for Clare to use- a job well done! I was then given a challenging task, to fill in a 6 page, DL leaflet for a company, by condensing information from their website etc. and adding a few ideas of my own. Whilst doing that, I learnt how to summarise and advertise information and understand the basic layout for a small hand-out leaflet. Just before I finished for the day, I was given a task Katherine had come up with the night before; a blog, about Kit Kats! It was time to test my writing skills. Slightly apprehensive about writing my first ever blog, I gathered together some information and researched facts and figures to help me decide where to begin the next day… .
Day 3 and the team continued to be extremely encouraging and after we discussed some ideas, I got stuck in to writing my Kit Kat blog. Once I got in to the ‘blog writing zone’ I managed to get into the flow of it, and soon enough I had my first draft completed. Clare kindly read through and gave me some useful tips on how I could improve it. With my final draft ready, I was shown how to log on and input my first blog onto their site. I even designed a small photo time-line to go alongside the text to add interest, and when at last it was published I was very pleased with my end result and got some really positive feedback from all the Mzuri team, so thank you to them for that opportunity!
In the afternoon, I was shown a programme called ‘Cision Point’ where by you can search under different categories to get together a list of places appropriate for your client to advertise in. Once I had got to grips with the software, I ended up with 2 full lists of possible magazines ready for the client, so another useful software I’d learnt about.
Thursday began with sorting through a selection of returned postcards and eliminating any duplicates, so Mzuri could identify certain clients that had moved or were no longer in business. Then came a long, yet essential task involving MailChimp designed for sending out email marketing campaigns to subscribers and members. This continued to Friday, but I was done by lunch. On my last day, I was assigned the task of filling 40 Press Packs for a company doing a garden at Hampton Court Flower Show. Whilst doing this, I saw that variety of things Mzuri do, and how good the quality was. In each pack were two, beautifully designed and well written A4 information sheets, along with the sleek company postcard. They had even designed small CD roms in each pack containing a selection of photos, which I think was a brilliant way of advertising.
All in all, my week at Mzuri has been a brilliant experience, and I would like to thank everyone there for being such great people to be with and really adding all they could to give me the best week of experience.
By Ellie
June 29, 2011
Having watched the recent programme on BBC2, ‘Made in Britain’, I was intrigued by the extent of the world-wide success of none other than our own, British brand, the Kit Kat. Not only did it swiftly become the UK’s best-selling confectionary brand only two years after its production, but it has remained there ever since. According to Nestlé, every five minutes enough Kit Kats are made to out-stack the Eiffel Tower… and Dubai eats its fair share, with 1 tonne of Kit Kats sold in their airport alone EVERY day… now that’s a lot of Kit Kats!
But what makes that small chocolate finger, wafer bar so successful? Why do we always seem to opt for the more expensive, well-known brand, when the supermarket’s own shelves have a perfectly good selection, probably with almost exactly the same taste and shape, yet for half the price? Is it really that Kit Kats have the far superior qualities for a snack bar, or is it just, simply, the reassurance we get from picking up our foil covered, bright-red-labelled, familiar Kit Kat?
I’m starting to get an inkling that the success of a brand has more of an impact on the success of the product than I first thought…
Evan Davis, the presenter of ‘Made in Britain’ confirmed this, by telling us viewers that about 80% of Kit Kat’s value was entirely in the brand. When Kit Kat was first bought from Rowntree’s by Nestlé for £2.5 billion, an estimated £2 billion of that price was the value of the brand alone! Only 20% of the overall sum paid for ‘Kit Kat’, was for the tangible assets, such as the business factories, machinery etc.
This then made me think; so what is the value of a brand? How can a design so simple, become such a triumph? At first glance, I would never have predicted the Kit Kat would have become such a success story, as its simple logo style is neither flashy, nor artistic, yet here we are, in 2011, with the same Kit Kat it has always been, and it is still the number one, best-selling confectionary brand ever.
I think it bubbles down to the fact that, if I asked my grand-parents what they associated with Kit Kat bars, it would be pretty much entirely the same for me. We all think of packed lunches, or picnics, or family outings, when the Kit Kat has been the perfect snack, as the fingers can be broken off to share (or not!) around for the whole family.
This tells me that the survival and maintenance of its brand, has therefore struck gold causing the red and white Kit Kat logo to become entrenched in our culture, a ‘household name’! Nestlé have continued to stick to their core design, (with the exception of the blue wrapping, introduced during the war, whilst rationing changed the ingredients), and as a result, Kit Kats have become an integral part of the lives of people all around the world, a constant, ensuring its fame and success.
Thanks to this continuity, by choosing a Kit Kat off the shelves we feel reassured once we’ve tucked into that same bar that we all love, and know, so well.
I think if we take the Kit Kat success story as an example to follow, the instalment of a key, memorable, yet simple brand name and logo, plus strictly maintaining its core design components, are the most crucial things for any company hoping for a successful product.
By corroding your brand, you corrode its achievements and fame, so, when trying to promote your own products, keep in mind, that whilst you may have the most brilliant item or business in the world, the value of your brand and maintaining, managing it and protecting its image, are fundamental ingredients in a flourishing business.
So, hats off to Kit Kat- they really do have the whole marketing thing under their belt!
June 24, 2011
I don’t normally pay a whole lot of attention to TV adverts; to be honest, I am a BBC girl at heart, so don’t usually have to contend with them. But I saw one recently that struck a massive chord – it was from Google, promoting their new Chrome browser.
It features a child called Hollie, and features actual footage taken by her family over her life so far. The premise is a father setting up an address to email his newborn daughter and then sending her messages over the course of her life. I nearly wept (as, from what I could see from my Facebook newsfeed, did a fair few of my friends)!!??
My daughter is now 20 months old. I bought one of those baby journal type things in my pregnancy ‘must-buy-everything-and-anything-baby-related’ phase.
I filled in a few pages relating to her first couple of months, so I can tell you the first song I sang her (“If You Were the Only Girl in the World”), the car she travelled home from hospital in (Honda CR-V), how much sleep we got in the first few weeks (very little) etc. All vital information, clearly.
Then it all dried up a bit. And I am seriously regretting it. I can’t clearly remember the things I want to – when did she first sit up on her own? When did she first give that infectious giggle? When did she start pulling the cat’s tail? (ok, not so bothered about that last one). I can only remember when she took her first steps because it was on New Year’s Day!!!!
Anyway, I set up an email address for her in May 2010, just before we held a party for her; I thought it would be nice for guests to RSVP directly to her. The account had lain dormant ever since……..until I saw this ad.
I have started to email my daughter.
Not on a daily basis, but it’s become a ‘notepad’ for all the things I don’t want to forget. And the things I want her to know when she’s old enough to log on and read them. So it might just be “you sang ‘twinkle twinkle little star’ on your own, and I nearly burst with pride”. She’ll probably groan and proclaim I am excruciatingly embarrassing at some point, but given time, I hope she’ll appreciate it, because I know I will.
So although advertising may not always do what you want it to directly (I’m still not using Google Chrome), it might still have an impact on your customers, and make them talk about you – as I say, my Facebook feed was buzzing about this ad after the first showing. And this, as we all know, is half the battle. You can see “Dear Hollie” here: http://www.youtube.com/googlechromeuk
June 21, 2011
I would never have anticipated that the demolition of a building opposite our office would be the inspiration for a blog post, but hey, stranger things have happened!
For two weeks now, a group of builders have taken residence on the site of a beautiful Victorian building over the road from our office. We watched with interest and excitement when the scaffolding went up thinking that someone was finally going to restore the beautiful house (which has stood empty since we moved in to our offices 4 years ago) to its former glory. Our fascination turned to disappointment when we saw them starting to strip the roof tiles off. And so they continued to demolish the building layer by layer, brick by brick.
 Marketing inspiration can come from anywhere...even from a half-demolished building! It’s hard to imagine that the labour costs of this method make it a profitable endeavour, especially as there have been 4 – 6 builders on site for two weeks to get to the stage shown in the picture, but there must be good enough margin in selling on the bricks, cornices and other Victorian features or they wouldn’t be doing it.
Where’s the idea for marketing campaigns without the outlay I hear you say…. I promise, I’m getting to that….
So, with my mind on the subject of ‘salvage’ as I walked from the car park next to this building, to our office, I began to ponder what marketing materials we might have stocked in our cupboards at Mzuri which are still bang up to date and useable, but are languishing sadly waiting to spring in to life.
The team were quick to respond to my caffeine-fuelled enthusiasm when I announced that we are to embark on a renewed business development and marketing drive. We all agreed that it made sense to make sure that we have squeezed every last bit of use out of marketing materials that we have already invested in.
The list of things we have already incorporated into our campaign plans this week include: coloured envelopes (various sizes!), marketing leaflets, direct mail postcards, letterhead, email sign up postcards, A4 folders and large format printer marketing materials. (We have also consigned some things to the recycling bin having determined that they are no longer relevant – it’s important to be practical and impartial when taking this course of action!)
We’ll be usefully (and with any luck effectively) using all of these items in the near future as the campaigns get signed off and sent out, and we are all feeling very chuffed with ourselves that we have made full use of our existing materials. They worked really well for us last time we used them, and we’re confident they will again this time.
So, maybe now is the time for a bit of house-keeping in your office to see if there are marketing materials you have in the office that could be put to good use. You never know what could come from it!
June 16, 2011
They say ‘write what you know’ well this month I know all about how hard it is to sell a house (mine has been sold and fallen through again twice in three months) and, in my fug about how to resell the place for the third time, I realised I was subconsciously applying my marketing head to the problem.
In my mind I was running through routes to market, boosting the general appeal of the house itself to maximise the target audience, trying to establish whether the house is priced appropriately in relation to the current market and the audience we are targeting etc.
All this planning, checking and analysis got me thinking about how many people actually consider these questions when trying to sell their products or services… be honest, do you? Well if not, who can blame you, you’ve got plenty else to think about and, let’s face it, you need to focus on what you’re best at, your business. So with that in mind, perhaps you can help stop me obsessing about selling my house and give me something else to think about, I’ll be waiting for your call!
Zoë
June 8, 2011
We had an interesting exchange in the office yesterday stemming from whether to have BBC Radio 1 (Zoë and Victoria’s radio station of choice) or BBC Radio 2 (Clare, Katherine and Phil’s favourite) playing in the background while we merrily got on with our work.
We settled on listening to a variety of CDs, but as part of the debate about the pros and cons of various artists we stumbled across the topic of the first gigs we went to (we did get lots of work done yesterday too, honestly).
The results are shown below – some people are clearly cooler than others (I don’t think my Bros days cut the mustard when compared to some of the others!), but we’ll let you be the judge of that…
OUR FIRST CONCERTS:
PHIL: Dire Straits, On Every Street Tour, 1991, Sheffield Arena
ZOË: The Wonderstuff (Size of a cow and all that!), The Wedgewood Rooms
PAUL: Sugarcubes, Birmingham Hummingbird
LARA: Michael Jackson (I was 13), Wembley
CLARE: Jamiroquai, Manchester
VICTORIA: Madonna, Blonde Ambition tour, Wembley
KATHERINE: Bros, Wembley
EMMA: Cliff Richard, Location: Hong Kong 1977 (there were lots of over excited Chinese ladies throwing their knickers on stage, I don’t know who was more embarrassed Cliff or my Dad!)
OUR BEST EVER CONCERTS:
PHIL: U2 – Zoo TV / Zooropa Tour 1993 – supported by the Utah Saints and some dreadful Dutch rock band, Feijenoord Stadium Rotterdam
ZOË: The Police (19 weeks pregnant so had to sit down for most of it) How retro chic am I!, Twickenham
PAUL: Blur (though it is a bit of a blur), Nottingham Rock City
LARA: Mumford & Sons, Apollo
CLARE: Bjorn Again (ABBA tribute band), Manchester
VICTORIA: Chemical Brothers (also a bit of a blur….!!), Brixton Academy
KATHERINE: Coldplay, Crystal Palace
EMMA: Level 42, Brighton Civic Centre
OUR FAVOURITE ALBUMS OF THE MOMENT:
PHIL: (New) Kings of Leon – Come Around Sundown, (One that’s come out the archive recently) The Cure – Mixed Up
ZOË: Got to be Plan B – the Defamation of Strickland Banks…love it!
PAUL: Paloma Faith – Do you want the truth or something beautiful
LARA: Nerina Pallot, ‘Put Your Hands Up’
CLARE: Supergrass – In it for the money
VICTORIA: Can I have two (which are polar opposites?!)? Magenetic Man and ‘Bright Lights’ by Ellie Goulding.
KATHERINE: 21, Adele
EMMA: Beautiful South, Brixton Academy
So there you have it, we’ve laid our musical tastes bare. I wonder what they say about us?
June 6, 2011
Whilst out shopping recently at The Magical Rooms in Grayshott, I came across a mobile phone toy from Ecotronic Toys which ticks a lot of boxes if you are looking for toys with eco credentials. I was looking for a mobile phone toy for my daughter (to cure her of her obsession with my blackberry which is providing detrimental to its health!) so naturally the fact that it was a phone was the starting point in persuading me to part with my cash. However, what I was drawn to in particular was that it doesn’t need batteries (the phone’s entertaining music and lights are ’charged’ by Chloe shaking it about all the time) and also that it had really interesting, very eco friendly packaging that I hadn’t seen employed in this industry before.
The packaging is biodegradable, pared down to the absolute minimum, easy to open, has no dangerous ties and wires and uses nothing but recycled paper. And, at the same time, still looked really well designed: it was easy to read, nicely designed and had real shelf appeal.
 Ecotronic eco phone - a great 'eco' packaging solution When compared with a lot of toys you see that have excessive packaging I think the approach of this toy company is inspired. It certainly made me stop and think about our eco credentials as a company (something I am starting to look at so we can reduce our carbon footprint as much as possible) and also of course, we will be taking a fresh look at client packaging briefs to us too to see if we can’t make some difference there too.
June 1, 2011
Whilst making Sunday dinner last week, I very cleverly managed to pour a pan of boiling water over my arm, resulting in a very sore arm, a ruined Sunday roast and a trip to A&E!
I was in and out of Royal Surrey County Hospital in two hours and was dealt with by a bunch of very professional and kind medical staff. I returned home with a bandaged arm and strict instructions to visit my local doctors’ surgery to get the burn re-dressed within 24 hours. Sounds simple enough!
At my local surgery, the appointment system is such that you have to phone at 8am to get an appointment that day (10 minutes later and you’ve missed your chance!). So having dutifully picked up the phone at 8am sharp, I tried to get an appointment for that day.
First hurdle – it’s only the District Nurses who do dressings. Ok.
Second hurdle – they only do dressings between 2 and 4pm. OK well that’s not too bad. It means leaving work early but if that’s what has to be done then so be it.
Third hurdle – you can’t speak to them so you have to leave a message on their answer machine. Bye.
So after much hand-wringing and message leaving, I finally secured an appointment with the District Nurse and had my burn re-dressed.
However, I had a completely different experience when I decided to try and get subsequent re-dressings carried out at the doctors’ surgery in a different town near to my office.
My call was picked up by an answering machine and I was told that my call was important to them, they were very sorry for any inconvenience caused and I was the first in the queue. When I spoke to the receptionist a few minutes later, I wasn’t prepared for the friendly, sing-song voice on the other end of the line, so used am I to the defensive hostility of my usual surgery.
I explained my situation and she replied that it was no problem at all and of course I could see their nurse. She then proceeded to book an appointment, at a time convenient for me, for every day that week and told me it was fine for me to carry on being treated there for as long as necessary. I found myself thanking her profusely, amazed by her customer-focused helpfulness!
It’s extraordinary that two very similar organisations can adopt such a differing approach to their customers, resulting in two opposing customer experiences. As a customer, if I could choose which surgery to visit, I would definitely go with the one where I felt valued. It shows that it’s not just an organisation’s logo, signage, advertising and marketing collateral that expresses their brand values and ethos. The customer experience is just as important.
As an Account Manager here at Mzuri, when I’m working on a new brand for a client, I always look at how they interact with their customers, so that every point of their customer contact thoroughly reinforces their brand values. But being on the receiving end of terrible and brilliant brand communication, has really reminded me of the importance of this sort of holistic branding. Administrative systems and telephone manner are just as vital as an eye-catching logo and corporate colours.
Oh, and my arm is still sore and icky but healing well!
May 24, 2011
A few weeks ago, I made a discovery. Of the food variety (my favourite variety). And it is slowly but surely being disseminated round the office, and a fair few friends of mine too, so I’ve decided to share it with the masses in case you haven’t been indoctrinated already.
Ladies and gentleman, the Graze box.
Basically a cardboard ‘lidded tray’ that gets sent to you once a week (or more, or less, you decide) containing four dinky boxes of deliciousness. It might sounds like a cross between meals on wheels and airline food, but the Graze folk have got it spot on.
I decided to have a go when a friend sent me a code to get my first box for free (they are normally £3.49) – clever marketing ploy, part 1.
The website is refreshingly clean on the design front, easy to navigate, and friendly without making your toes curl. I found out very quickly that I would be under no commitment if I signed up, and that I would be able to cancel my orders at any time – clever marketing ploy, part 2. Nobody wants to be reminded of the gym membership they took out in 2003 that wallowed unused for 11 months.
OK, sucked in, now what do I do?? “Oh GOODY!” I thought when I saw all the questions I could answer on my likes and dislikes. No, I’m not joking, I am the only person I know who filled in the recent census form on the day it arrived. Graze sets out all the ‘little punnets’ that they include, and invites you to say whether you want to bin/try/like/love/send often.
I was in heaven, frankly. Out with your ‘beach bum’ mix (can’t stand dried mango), in with the ‘honey bee good’ (love anything nutty). Lay off the olives please, but send me lots of the dark rocky road
So, form filling complete, I sat and waited for Wednesday morning when box number one was due. Get into the office, and there it is on my desk as promised. Packaging that made all of us ‘ooohhh’ and ‘aaaahhh’ – the little booklet giving me “fact-tips” about how to get the most out of Graze and how nutritionally balanced each box is, the little punnets sitting in their specially designed insert, the contrast of the gorgeous colour photography against the ‘raw’ brown paper style packaging. And the invitation to “eat more healthy food (fewer biscuits)”. Brilliant; I was being healthy to boot, it says so in black and white – clever marketing ploy part 3.
Suffice to say, at least half of the office had signed up by lunchtime using the code I’d given them to get a free box – reciprocal marketing at work, I also benefit from them joining by getting £1 to use against my next order, or to donate to Graze’s school of farming in Uganda.
I actually look forward to the email I get the day before my box arrives, giving me a sneak peek at what’s coming. I look forward to the actual box arriving like a 9 year old getting their first letter through the post.
I am now a very happy Grazer, and just hoping I don’t start to moo with delight.
www.graze.com
May 17, 2011
Now, I love clever marketing which is why I wanted to tell you about an event I went to last weekend with my children.
It was held by one of our clients, The Royal School at their Junior School site in Haslemere. The event, entitled ‘Grow for it’, came hot on the heels of a period of intense change at the School and was designed to highlight and promote both the School and the recent extensive additions to its offering, to local parents of eligible children.
The premise of the event, which was open to the public, was an outdoors gardening and wildlife activity day hosted by Charlie Dimmock and Alan Titchmarsh. Children aged up to age 11 were invited to attend one of the two half day sessions to take part in pond dipping with Charlie, decorating flower pots and planting them up with Alan, making mini-beast houses (I am now the proud owner of a ladybird house made out of chicken wire and plastic straws as well as a bee house built from rolled up newspaper and half an old drinks bottle!) and finally, to go on an interactive nature trail around the School grounds.
Now you might be wondering why I thought this was such clever marketing… so here’s why…
- The event was open to the public and advertised online and in local press to ensure target area coverage.
- It was a weekend event designed to be enticing to children but also to adults looking to keep their kids entertained with something new. The celebrity aspect was also guaranteed to draw attention and it worked like a dream.
- It generated a lot of footfall into the school by children and parents of the right age (I’ve already mentioned that the upper age range for the event was 11) handy, considering the Royal School Junior School accepts children from nursery age right up to secondary school age.
- The event had been designed to be incredibly interactive, keeping people moving and showing off the most attractive areas of the school at the same time. There were also handy, but discreetly placed pieces of collateral giving information about the school and offering the chance to register for more information.
- The staff and helpers at the school were all amazingly friendly, helpful and engaging. The event really couldn’t have been a better advert for the school and to top it all off the whole thing was free and each child got to take home a Royal School wrist band, their own decorated pot plant plus their own mini-beast house.
Correct me if I’m wrong but I imagine there are an awful lot of young children in Haslemere and surrounding areas right now thinking that the Royal School must be the best school ever and we all know what pester power can achieve!
Overall, a brilliantly planned and executed, clever and effective event that is sure to achieve its objectives…long live clever marketing, we salute you!
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