Hooray! We’ve been shortlisted for the 2010 DADI Awards!
Our work for Virgin Holidays is up for ‘Best Use of Organic Search’ and our “Summer’s Hottest Playlist” campaign is in the running for the ’Digital Media Strategy’ award.
Looking forward to November when we find out if we win…
Group Account Director Alastair Boyle is looking forward to presenting at Figaro Digital’s SEO & PPC event at London’s The Hospital Club this Thursday, August 4th.
His session ‘All search and no marketing?’ will cover the following:
In a world dominated by technology and algorithms, search marketing can often be all search and no marketing. In this session, Steak goes beyond the buzzword ‘integration’ and draws on real world examples to show how best to use search as part of the marketing mix. We’ll look at how search can integrate with brand campaigns as well direct response, how it can inform and assess offline strategy, and how to maximise the potential of universal search.
Swiftcover.com is set to become the first insurer to use in-game advertising. The new brand campaign will feature virtual billboards in games such as Pro Evolution Soccer; Guitar Hero, Tiger Woods PGA Tour and Blur (a racing game). The ads will run through August and September on Xbox Live.
The in-game ads will tie into Swiftcover’s “Get a Life” advertising campaign theme featuring Iggy Pop and the “Little Iggy” puppet.
Tina Shortle, Marketing Director for AXA Insurance and swiftcover.com, commented on the initiative, “Swiftcover and Steak have worked closely together over the past five years to stay ahead of the competition. We were the first online only car insurer in 2005, we launched the first car insurance mobile site back in 2007 and have pioneered emerging media channels including Video on Demand and Spotify. Most importantly, we’ve capitalised on early-adopter advantage and have seen some fantastic results.”
The idea was conceived by Steak, who brokered the deal with Massive, the leading video game network, on behalf of swiftcover.com.
Alastair Boyle, Group Account Director at Steak added, “In-Game advertising is a perfect fit for the swiftcover.com brand and their target audience. This is the latest in our drive to use innovative ad formats for the right reasons, rather than jumping on every new media trend.”
Chris James, EMEA Manager at Massive concluded, “We’re very pleased to be working with Steak to select the right in-game placements for swiftcover.com. In-game ads have been shown to have some of the best recall rates around so it’s fantastic that more and more advertisers are now realising the potential of this medium.”
Studies have shown 72% of gamers recall seeing ads for brands in-game. In 2009 there was a 20% increase in average ad recall from the year before and the average brand recommendation lift scores were 29% ahead [MICROSOFT, 2009] 73% of gamers agreed that “ads enhanced the realism of the game” [INTERPRET, 2008]; and that across 600 gamers on Xbox 360 and PC showed that brand familiarity increased by 64%, brand rating increased by 37%, purchase consideration increased by 41% [NIELSEN, 2007].
Very pleased that the work we’ve done for British Gas Business has been shortlisted for ‘Best Use of Search’ in this year’s B2B Marketing Awards.
Sadly we have to wait until November to see if we win, so fingers crossed until then…
UK web campaign in partnership with Steak highlights 10-minute boarding experience with NetJets Europe
June 18, London, UK – Europe’s leading business aviation company, NetJets Europe, today launches a new digital marketing campaign in partnership with Steak. The campaign, ‘The 10-minute Take-off’ highlights the hassle-free nature of flying with NetJets Europe, getting time-poor businesspeople from their car into the air within 10 minutes of arriving at an airport.
The campaign will see a series of display advertisements drive visitors to a dedicated microsite, including site ‘take-overs’ with the FT.com and the Wall Street Journal.
Following a year of travel disruption and commercial airline woes, NetJets Europe has enjoyed increasing interest in its services from first and business class fliers looking to maximize their productivity and escape travel headaches.
“Our research has found that our clients and prospects want nothing more than an easy and completely hassle-free experience of aviation, something that only NetJets has the scale to deliver consistently,” comments Claire Cronin, Director of Marketing at NetJets Europe. “Although we’re the world leader in private aviation, we’re still something of a ‘well-kept secret,’ and with this campaign we’re hoping to educate a wider audience about the benefits of using NetJets.”
When users click on a display ad, they will be taken to a search-optimized microsite at http://www.netjetsuk.com. The centrepiece of the site is the “10-minute take-off” – a dramatisation of the easy, hassle-free boarding experience that passengers will enjoy with NetJets. This message is contrasted with the experience of flying commercially: transfers, hassles, queues, crowds and delays.
Steak was appointed following a competitive pitch to design and produce the micro-site and online advertising assets, support the media planning and buying strategy, and handle search engine optimisation for this latest campaign.
Oliver Bishop, CEO of Steak, says, “NetJets Europe is an exciting brand, with a well defined, demanding target audience. The ‘10-minute’ campaign seeks to reach this audience in an innovative and relevant way, and deliver compelling messages about why both individuals and corporations should consider NetJets.”
This campaign was created for the UK market as a pilot. If successful, NetJets Europe will look to develop new campaigns and online materials in its other target territories in Q3 and Q4.
List voted by music lovers through social media app
The campaign from swiftcover.com, the pioneer in online insurance, offered music lovers the chance to create this “Summer’s Hottest Playlist” in collaboration with Absolute Radio. Building on their ‘Get a Life’ campaign, swiftcover.com extended the campaign theme to encourage users to ‘get a life’ this summer by voting for the summer’s hottest tracks. The campaign devised by Steak, used Facebook as the main hub, hosting an easy-to-use voting application.
A master playlist of 75 tracks was selected by popular Absolute Radio DJs: Christian O’Connell, Geoff Lloyd and Ben Jones. Spotify and Absolute Radio listeners were prompted by the DJs to visit the Swiftcover Facebook page and voted daily for two weeks via the “sucks” or “rocks” buttons beside the track. This saw the music tracks physically rising and falling, depending on popularity, on the Facebook “chart”.
The final playlist hosted is hosted by Spotify on 22 June through the summer; with Facebook fans, Absolute Radio and Spotify listeners being notified that the winning list can be downloaded and played all summer long.
The idea was conceived by Steak, who is handling the social media and online display campaign. Audio and display ads including billboards and takeover pages, will appear on Spotify, Absolute Radio and Facebook linking through to swiftcover.com’s Facebook page. The Facebook app songs then link back to Spotify, which enables visitors to the site to listen to the tracks they’re voting for; and there is an opportunity to win a Spotify premium account for a year.
Tina Shortle, Marketing Director says, “This is a perfect campaign for the summer – sitting in the park in the sunshine listening to music that you’ve voted for – it epitomises our ‘Get a Life’ campaign. We’re excited that social media was at the heart of this campaign. Absolute Radio, Facebook and Spotify are the perfect partners for music lovers to create this ‘Summer’s Hottest Playlist’”.
John Barton, Head of Planning and Social Media at Steak says “We wanted to demonstrate how we can effectively integrate social media into our existing through the line digital strategy. This campaign is ultimately about building and fostering relationships between swiftcover.com and their audience in social channels that they’re comfortable with by adding value rather than selling. Music and summer festivals are effective passion point or the swiftcover.com
demographic and form the basis of our content strategy. We are excited and fortunate to work with brands like swiftcover.com who continue to lead the way in digital marketing within the insurance vertical sector”.
Kate Hussey, Head of Display at Steak says “We are excited about enhancing the current Absolute Radio partnership for swiftcover.com along with introducing another key strategic partner, Spotify, as a main driver of our audience. We believe that this campaign has the ability to kick off a summer full of ‘Getting a Life’”.
From Gareth Owen, Head of SEO…
“Calls to action in TV ads will be hugely important for SEO – the iPad will be sat on someone’s lap while they watch TV and it will be SO easy to get them to do a search for ‘LCD TVs’ and click on the Dixons result. Even if it is in P5 you can still ask people to do it – the clickthroughs from that alone are a massive ranking factor.
Beyond SEO, I think this does cement a whole new way of advertising to people on TV – ‘Download our app now’, ‘play our quiz game now for 10% off’.
What the iPad really introduces, more than anything else is the world of micropayments. If someone asks me to put in my card details to pay 60p so I can view some content I won’t bother. If it asks me to do it through my iTunes via a one-click ordering system, I might. The success of this can be demonstrated by Amazon, with an enormous conversion rate and sales via the mobile version of their site that would put anyone to shame.”
From Betina Bell, Account Manager…
“As its mobile predecessor experienced, the announcement of the iPad has come under intense scrutiny for all its perceived failings as a kind of computer, kind of mobile. However, what these non-believers fail to comprehend is that it isn’t masquerading at all. In fact, it is plugging a gap and fulfilling a demand where there previously was none – an achievement in itself. Providing wider accessibility with its simple aesthetic and promising covetability from those around you, including, albeit through gritted teeth, those disapproving non-believers.
For Display, it remains to be seen whether it will enjoy the same success and cult status as its smaller kin. We’ll be eager to segment and target to understand the demographic of its users and keen to see how advertisers react to its lack of Flash support. Our challenge as marketers is how to engage users, if this is to be a coffee table product. Given that the first model doesn’t allow a machine to machine connection, the iPad is very much challenged by the all-consuming TV.”
Steak has been appointed by DSG international plc (‘DSGi’), one of Europe’s leading specialist electrical retailing groups and UK market leaders, to work on behalf of its UK brands Currys, Dixons.co.uk and PC World. The account, won in a four-way agency pitch, will see Steak provide search engine optimisation services to DSGi, creating defined natural search strategies for each of the three brands to achieve online revenue targets and effective integration with other digital and offline marketing activities.
Gareth Owen, Head of Natural Search at Steak said, “This is an exciting opportunity to enhance the digital face of three major retail names and reinforce the strength of their offline brands in the digital space.”
David Walmsley, eCommerce Director at DSGi added, “As part of our strategy to win on the internet and take DSGi’s multichannel business to the next level, it is vital for us to build a stronger search presence. We were impressed with Steak’s energy, insight, expertise, and proven track record in delivering results for major retailers. I’m pleased to be working with Steak on this next phase of business growth, and am confident they will help drive our online brands forward.”
Fitness and glory. That was why I signed up for the Scottish Half Marathon. Not charity, I’m ashamed to say. But as the event drew nearer I needed something to stop me chickening out of this (to quote the race pack) ’serious athletic undertaking’ and decided to raise money to support the special school that my lovely godson goes to, called the Battledown Centre in Gloucester (more info on my JustGiving page).
With the support of lots of generous Steak people I raised over £1600, and completed the race yesterday in two hours and five minutes. And Steak’s mascot, Bruce the Bull, was there at the end to congratulate me!
Jocelyn (Bull) and Bruce (the Bull)
Jocelyn Bull, Marketing Director
The Raging Bulls are sadly not on winning form just yet. The second match of the season saw us lose to Publicis, 29-14. A dramatic come back from 19-2 wasn’t enough to take the lead, although it seems we’ve learned that the more alcohol consumed, the better we play!
Louise Fisher, Team Captain
