Think

Mitchells & Butlers came to APS after recognising a gap in the market for a quick turn around steak restaurant. Our task was to create a completely new restaurant name and brand identity as well as to design all of the supporting launch collateral that would ultimately help them really stake a claim in the crowded restaurant market.

Firstly, we needed to come up with a name – and out of a long list of suggestions, we hit on Son of Steak. From there we set about creating a refreshing personality that would inform the design, menu, and style of the restaurants, based on key insights on who the target audience would be.

Create

Working with the Son of Steak chefs, we directed a photoshoot that would capture the food, environment and feel of the restaurant. We also developed a strong tone of voice for a variety of multi-channel communications to enable the restaurant to attract customers with a little disruption.

Deliver

This complete top-to-bottom rebrand was handled on time and to budget, which allowed the first Sons of Steak restaurant to open as scheduled in Birmingham. The launch of the new brand was met with a huge amount of positivity by both Mitchells & Butlers and the people of Birmingham.

Superdrug wanted to engage a younger, more fashion-forward audience: an audience that would come in-store to glam-up and experiment.

Think

Affordable beauty has long been part of the core Superdrug proposition, so extending it to affordable beauty services was a logical step. Hence, the introduction of a unique high-end retail beauty concept which was to be premiered in Cardiff, prior to a potential nationwide roll out. The principle was beautifully simple. What was required was an equally beautiful, game-changing approach that would introduce a whole new audience to the idea of ‘glam-while you-wait’.

Create

We created dedicated areas for the beauty and hair salons which would integrate stylishly into a store environment and provide a platform for a glamorous launch campaign: and so Beauty Studio and Hair Space were born.

The launch had to satisfy two key criteria: create a social buzz and engagement at a local level and generate excitement at a national level among the target demographic and key influencers (e.g. beauty bloggers).

Deliver

The creative theme represented a mix of 1950s retro glam and pop art: candy-coloured and fun. Shareable real-time digital content featured on in-store displays and interactive/mirrored screens – connecting the salon with the online world of dedicated followers of fashion and beauty.

Together we worked on delivering:

• Point of sale – artwork production and delivery for the new store
• Logistics and fulfilment – sourcing of materials
• Systems and support – provided a digital screen delivery system that deploys real-time content, as well as the technical support

All of the photography and artwork for in-store and launch comms were designed and produced by our creative team, along with all of the necessary digital content and animations, an in-store catwalk and a selfie app enabling customers to take a pic or video of themselves strutting their stuff and share it instantly.

Aegon UK is a pension, insurance and investment company, and we’ve been working with them since 2006, delivering a range of marketing, digital and technology services.

Think

Aegon UK wanted a solution that would incorporate a digital and an agile way of working into the heart of its marketing strategy and operations. The overall objective was to develop a multichannel marketing management system which would deliver time and cost savings. To have a clearer understanding of Aegon’s objectives, we led 5 weeks of discovery activity, including multiple workshops.

Create

The solution was centred on our Marketing Operations Suite (MOS) – an integrated set of tools to manage multichannel communications. Using four of our MOS modules: Workflow Manager, Asset Manager, Marcom Store and Operations Manager, Aegon can now manage all of its marketing operations in a more efficient and collaborative way.

Deliver

All marketing activity and assets are available in a centralised location, giving Aegon the additional ability to measure and analyse data, across all projects. A single sign on function was added, allowing third party agencies to engage and upload assets to relevant projects.

• Job speeds increased by 89%
• ¼ of a million historic assets stored
• Accessed by 100s of end users
• 1000s of active projects centralised

“Aegon UK as a business has transformed over the last few years and digital is now very much the focus of all we do. APS has supported us at every stage on this journey and we now have an in-house design studio powered by APS with Account Managers, Digital Designers and Web Developers. APS listen, get what we want very quickly and always deliver what they promise. They are really easy to work with and great to have in my team.”

Head of Brand and Digital, Aegon UK

Discover

For a number of years, we have worked with Philips to produce and mail their referral marketing communications, delivering between 100-200k customers pieces per month across their lifeline, well-being and professional healthcare divisions.

Design

Philips asked us to look at innovating their existing direct mail packs, as it was felt that they had become outdated in their creative execution and customer impact.

Deliver

We suggested a new design each month, including a tactile and eye-catching pop-up self-mailer, something Philips had not previously tried before. The mailer had a soft touch coating to add interest when picked up by the respondent.

Develop

Harnessing our extensive vendor base, we were able to deliver production cost savings of over $3.5k, as well as giving Philips new options for their direct mailing. Through their monthly A/B testing, we are working with Philips to use insights gained to further improve response rates.