It’s the end of the year, and I’m a big fan of making lists (I always do my top ten albums of the year without fail), so I thought put together a short list of my favourite All-Channel campaigns from the past 12 months.

Not in any particular order (although obviously all of the Launch campaigns would be top of the list if we were ranking them). And also, even though my own specialism is digital, this is not a list of ten digital campaigns. However, most of them do have a strong digital element (but of course)

Here we go:

Betty Crocker – Whoopie Moments

You can read more about our All-Channel Betty Crocker campaign in the case study here, but to give you an executive summary: we built a bespoke Facebook app on the Betty Crocker UK page for fans to ‘share’ or ‘give’ whoopie moments (little bite size moments of joy) in celebration of Whoopie Pies launching in the UK. 12,000 new fans and 750 competition entries later, we’d spread joy around the UK (and Ireland) and made a considerable splash for Betty Crocker.

Heinz Get Well Soup

OK, so I did say this wasn’t a list of ten digital campaigns. However, I reserve the right to put digital campaigns in here. And I absolutely loved the simple genius of We Are Social’s Heinz Get Well Soup campaign. Launched at the beginning of cold and flu season, users could go onto the Heinz Soup Facebook page (using a specially designed app) and send sick friends a personalised can of Heinz soup. That’s it. A sentiment perfectly in keeping with the brand’s identity, and real ROI for Heinz (they obviously charged for the service). Very clever.

The Vaccines – User generated Instagram music video

Another campaign that I have blogged about before (complain if you like, but it’s my list) but it really was an inspired piece of theory and execution. The Vaccines partnered with Instagram and encouraged fans and photo-enthusiasts to upload their summer festival pics to a bespoke microsite. From the resulting images, a music video was cut together showcasing the best of the work. Great user generated content, viewed by (as of December 2011) one million people, saving Sony Music cash (real ROI) in the process. Genius.

Virgin Holidays – Winter Swimwear Queue

Launch were approached by Virgin Holidays to generate mass awareness for their January sale, so we put together a big, quick-to-execute All-Channel campaign that secured coverage in the Metro, Daily Mirror, Evening Standard, The Times and The Daily Star. We took the idea of a ‘summer holiday’ in December as our motif, and held the world’s largest ever swimwear queue outside Virgin Holidays brand new swimwear emporium on High Street Kensington. It’s a great example of our all-channel approach, bringing together experiential and social media that results in fantastic media coverage.

Jay-Z – Decoded

At Launch, we’re well-schooled when it comes to combining experiential and digital, so it made us all warm ‘n’ fuzzy to see an outdoor + digital campaign rewarded at this year’s Cannes Lions awards. For the launch of Jay-Z’s autobiography, ‘Decoded’, agency Droga5 put every page of the book in a real world location. The digital element of the campaign came through a Bing Maps-enabled scavenger hunt, allowing the audience to uncover clues and locate pages.

A big idea, a truckload of ambition (exactly what you’d expect from Jay-Z) and big client demands all resulted in a truly innovative and memorable campaign.

Capital One – Credit Made Clearer

If you mention credit cards to people, they’ll probably talk about their latest purchases, or how they have a mountain of debt to pay off. They probably won’t know their current APR or what travel insurance cover they have as standard. That was the challenge Launch faced when Capital One asked us to help build consumer awareness of their Credit Made Clearer initiative. So we put together an All-Channel campaign that mixed handing out information to people in airport departure lounges, organising competitions and a blogger panel with a range of family, parenting and personal finance influencers, alongside three media relations stories that looked at lack of awareness around the detail of credit cards. The results? 18 pieces of national coverage, 502 pieces of coverage overall, and credit card awareness in the front of the paper, instead of the back.

Red Bull Street Art View

Something of a theme here, with campaigns using maps APIs to create great content. Red Bull’s collaboration with Google Street View is another example of simple ideas always being the best. Red Bull used its clout to compile a database of the best street art from around the globe, then created a simple web portal that uses Google’s Street View technology and allows you to view the art in situ. It’s almost like being there.

National Australia Bank – the public breakup

Looking a little further afield, this campaign from Australia caught my eye. The National Australia Bank, to try and dissociate itself from the other major Aussie banks, publicly broke up with them on Valentine’s Day. This simple idea was moulded and adapted into an All-Channel approach – 60 couples broke up in public places, creating news stories and video content. The campaign also extended to press, outdoor, radio, mobile billboards, street teams, street chalking, and helicopter banners. The effort also ambushed execs from the other banks in their offices and elsewhere. Bold, typically Australian, but undoubtedly effective.

The NatWest Secret Cricketer

Sometimes, marketing campaigns simply make you smile. This is exactly what NatWest’s Secret Cricketer videos did for me. The bank signed up former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan, and persuaded him to dress up as an old man, and turn out for officially the worst cricket team in the UK. Their opponents needed to be none the wiser, and so he strode out into the middle and unleashed his signature cover drive. I would suggest you watch the video to find out what happened next.

The Banker – Top 1000 World Banks

Heard of The Banker? It’s an FT-owned publication, and as such, is subject to media compete issues when it comes to securing coverage. Launch ripped up that issue this year when creating awareness around The Banker’s annual ‘Top 1000 World Banks’ industry rankings. Using a mixture of briefings, news hijacking and good old fashioned news hooks, we secured 22 pieces of national / international coverage, as well as nine pieces of broadcast – across BBC, CNBC and Sky News. Highly targeted, highly talkable and hugely impressive. Even if we do say so ourselves.

Launch started life as a consumer brands project PR agency in 2001.  We were one of PR Week’s best new agencies of the year, attracting great people and great clients alike.

In 2005, our offer began to integrate media relations, digital and events.  We launched our corporate team around this time too.

And now, towards the end of 2011, we’re talking to people about our all-channel PR offer.

Innovation is good in business.  In fact, if you don’t innovate, your business quickly loses its shine and appeal.

All-channel PR?

It’s logical – whatever you have to communicate, to whichever audiences, we consult around the key PR channels-to-market to do it.  And we have all the capability in-house.

Clients should be guided, clients should be advised, and they shouldn’t feel hampered by one dimensional offers.  There’s too much at stake in the real / virtual / consumer / corporate inter-connected world and the relationship between experience / content / digital and media needs to be well explained – and bought in part (if that’s the need against the audience), or in whole.

Some clients come to us and say – ‘we’d love a bit of that.’  And that’s great.  Others come saying ‘we’re not sure, you tell us’.  And that’s equally, if not more exciting.

One size doesn’t fit all.  Having all the channels open and available has to be in a client’s best interest.

Add amazing people, brilliant thinking, collective culture and nice coffee and you’re probably on to something.

We had some exciting news at Launch towers this week, as the first details of Reputation Online’s Top 100 PR agencies made their way onto Twitter, c/o Vikki Chowney.

Launch is incredibly proud to be on the list at number 29 (you can check out a scan of the page below).

It’s a testament to the great work done by the whole team on a range of digital projects across a range of clients, including Disney, Royal British Legion and Tesco to name but a view.

As an integrated PR agency, we obviously put digital at the heart of everything we do, and encourage all of our staff to get involved in all aspects of activity.

I’d like to give a particular shout outs in recognition of their work to (in no particular order): Rachel Clark, Andy Nash, Rich Benson, Harriet Murphy, and obviously not forgetting our CEO Johnny Pitt, whose vision gives us the opportunity to work on such great projects in an innovative way.

You can pick up a copy of the full list in this week’s NMA. A microsite with details of all of the agencies featured launches next week.

We’re obviously sorry to see Reputation Online go, as well as the print version of NMA, and best wishes go out to everyone involved and affected.

Last week, we closed the books on 12 months of trading, which as ever, has made me reflect on key influences that have shaped our performance over the last year.

Firstly, despite one of the worst recessions in history, there’s been a lot of activity with clients and prospects, which tells me, the role for PR and its increasing influence on the digital scene is encouraging. And at unusual times too – lots more mid year activity. It’ll be fascinating to see how this plays out over the next 12 months.

Secondly, budgets have been harder fought over. And often smaller, too.  There’s absolutely zero room for sloppiness or complacency – and that certainly adds an intensity to things.

Finally, people. We’re always on the look-out for stellar people to join the trailblazing Launch family … but good people have been thinner on the ground this year. Lots of people have stayed put, many have lost their jobs … so recruiting the best hasn’t been easy. And you should never compromise – we certainly don’t.

There’s one thing that’s impressed me throughout, however, and that’s the Launch spirit. We’ve had epic wins, we’ve had some near epic wins, we’ve had some great client gains (and a few client economy-led shrinkages), major award wins, major award runners-up spots … and we’ve had extreme weather fluctuations, which with a creaking heating / cooling system, has tested everyone.  But one thing consistently shines through – and that’s a positive attitude and a willingness to get the job done – whatever the weather. 

Launch Group has been announced the winner in the sole PR category at the Drum Marketing Awards 2010 for its Walt Disney World Twinned Town campaign.

The Drum Marketing Awards is renowned for recognising outstanding marketing strategy within the UK industry at large, across all marketing disciplines.

Launch Group’s win of the best ‘PR Strategy’ award, resulted from its campaign to find the first-ever town in the UK to be ‘twinned’ with Walt Disney World in Florida, providing massive cultural appeal to the UK media – on and offline.  With Swindon eventually unveiled as the winning twinned town, the campaign achieved over 750 pieces of editorial.  Jonathan Ross opened his Friday night talk show on BBC1 with it and it was the coveted ‘And Finally’ slot on News at Ten.  

Commented Johnny Pitt, CEO, Launch Group: “We love developing big cultural platforms for brands, and the Disney Twinned campaign captured the mood and the agenda of the nation in a huge way.”

We are looking for a solid digital practitioner to join our expanding Social Media team – could that be you?

It is exciting times at Launch HQ. We have started working with more great clients and are busy coming up with creative PR campaigns. One of the fastest growing areas is Social Media, with more and more clients looking online for results.

Do you have experience of project managing social media programmes for well known brands? If so, we want to hear from you! Successful candidates will be able to demonstrate their technical skills, budget management and creativity.

Our People & Practice Manager, Liz, is waiting for your CV: lizj@launchgroup.co.uk

Forget the buzz of working on PR campaigns like the twinning of Walt Disney World Florida with Swindon and Jameson Cult Film Club events. The real competitive edge you experience working at Launch Group came to the fore on Tuesday – Shrove Tuesday – which became the perfect opportunity for Launchers to compete in a pancake making competition!

This was a no holds barred event. Spatulas at the ready, Launchers gathered in the kitchen to show off their pancake making skills and batter their fellow competitors into ignominious defeat. We outlined the skills required to make a perfect pancake early on: adroit handling of the frying pan; the ability to flick your wrist at just the right angle to deliver the perfect toss, and, of course, a tennis player’s eye for the ball. Corporate’s Rebecca failed on the last count; she dropped her first pancake!

We discovered along the way that it’s essential to turn up the heat – Launchers are good at that – and ensure that your frying pan and the fat is very hot. So that’s my excuse for my own rather feeble effort.  As the first Launcher off the starting block, I had to contend with a cold pan and although I demonstrated good throwing skills, my humble effort was never in the running.

Rebecca did better on her second attempt. But no Olympic contender ever gets a second chance so her pancakes were consigned to the bin. Then there was Chris, whose confident, cocky and laid-back approach wasn’t impressing anyone. His one-handed tossing of the pancake might have looked good but he was never really in with a chance of the big time. The same could not be said for Elodie, whose Gallic culinary skills shone through as she set about creating the perfect crepe. A delicate turn of the pan and a flip of the wrist and her almost perfect, aesthetically pleasing crepe was a joy to behold. Nevertheless, the French aren’t going to beat us at rugby, nor could they triumph in the pancake tossing stakes. In the end, triumph and glory went to Laura, who was universally praised for her effective tossing skills and the height of her throw.

So – what is Pancake Day all about? It is Shrove Tuesday, the last day before Lent when Christians give up something, most often a favourite food. Pancakes contain dairy products, fat and eggs. So Pancake Day is a day of indulgence when you can enjoy an indulgent feast of pancakes before the long slog of abstinence over Lent. I don’t know if any Launchers are giving anything up over Lent, but if they are, I’m pretty certain it won’t be any delicious food. There are a lot of good things about working for Launch Group, and one of them is that you don’t have to be coy and hold back when there is great food on offer. Roll on Easter.

Once again it’s that time of the year that we all brace ourselves for. The dreaded winter!  With the dark mornings and cold weather, the official start of winter is soon to be upon us. It’s time to don the scarves and gloves, turn up the heating and dig out the SAD light for that daily dose of vitamin D. Many of us look back over the summer months longingly…

However, winter isn’t all doom and gloom. There are definitely some cheeky pleasures that come with it…

December is the season to be jolly

Who doesn’t love Christmas? It’s the time for festive cheer, lots of guiltless, calorific food and a whole host of nights out – and all in the name of the season.

During this period people seem generally to be in better spirits (probably because they know a hard earned break is on the way!), and there is always a Christmas party or social gathering to attend, which is organised under the guise of ‘Christmas,’ but is really just another reason to go out and be merry.

It’s also a great excuse to shop! You can kill two birds with one stone as you shop for yourself whilst shopping for your nearest and dearest’s Christmas presents. It’s the perfect arrangement. 

Furthermore, as our evenings are plummeted into darkness, we can look forward to the warm glow of the Christmas decorations lighting up our skylines, shops and homes.  Thus making the dark evenings somewhat more bearable.

What I look forward to most, though, is the occasion when thousands of people up and down the country gather together to watch the Christmas lights being turned on. This year the turning on of the Regent Street lights was once again a festive treat and also a PR’s dream! The crowds enjoyed performances from Taio Cruz and Peter Andre, as well as guest appearances from Jim Carey and Colin Firth. This was to tie in with the release of the A Christmas Carol movie.

However, to promote the film, the audience were encouraged to join in with a mass sing along to a well know Christmas carol.

January brings us great bargains

So once the joys of Christmas have passed, by Boxing Day I’m already thinking about sales shopping! My thinking is that I might as well make the most of it and grab myself a bargain. So through out the first week of January I can be found, along with the majority of the British female population, trawling the clothes rails on the high street.  And once that bargain is found, it’s well worth the blood, sweat and tears.

February is a time for pancakes  

On the 16^th February people up and down the country invest in flour, butter and eggs for Shrove Tuesday. What to put on your pancake is always the most crucial question of the day.  Whether it is simply some lemon and sugar or a more adventurous personal favourite such as Nutella and banana, they are a scrumptious treat which are well worth the effort and help to warm the cold evenings.

So for those who are wishing for the winter months to be a distant memory, cling to the knowledge that there are a few treats in store, which will help the cold months fly by that little bit quicker.

Last Friday I travelled to Dublin for a wedding. It was a bit of a whistle-stop tour; we left home at 7am (leaving the doting grandparents in charge of our two dependents), hit Gatwick and embarked on our Aer Lingus flight.

All went smoothly, bar a hairy moment at check-in when the clerk pointed out that my husband had booked the tickets in my married name. Thank goodness for the new style driving licence (slap on the wrist for being a bad wife who has yet to change her passport!). Anyway, four hours later we were sitting pretty in the church awaiting the formalities.

As expected, the ceremony was a traditional Christian service with communion, but to accommodate the mixed congregation the service lasted just one ½ hours, instead of the traditional Irish two. The words, although faintly familiar from my convent school education, were very traditional. In particular, the wedding address “may she always follow the example of the holy women whose praises are sung in the scriptures,” seemed a little out of sync with the modern woman (lurching out of a bar on Sunday morning, fuelled up on red bull and vodka).

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Hi all,

I am back to blog again.

When I was asked to blog for the first time I thought: What on earth is this all about…these new fangled technologies!

It is a bit of a running joke in the office that I am some sort of technophobe. I suppose comments like “how does the titnterweb work?” and “did anyone catch xxx on the tellybox last night?” probably don’t help.  But despite popular belief, I have always embraced new technology, both at work and at home.  At home it is all about the latest sound system, wireless networking, Apple TV, computerised watering system in the garden…you get the picture. 

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