As we continue our look back at the River team’s 2018 highlights, we delve into the world of podcast launches for Healthy For Men and getting the chance to interview boxer Muhammad Ali to create a hard-hitting(!) cover feature for Balance magazine.
Name: Tom Rowley
Job title: Editor
Client: Holland & Barrett
When we launched the Healthy For Men podcast, it was one of the most exciting moments of my career. The first episode – ‘What is Anxiety?’ – explored the complexities of mental health, and was nominated for a Mind Media Award for best mental health podcast, which was incredible given the profile of the event and our fellow nominees.
Name: Matt Ford
Job title: Associate Creative Director
Client: WW
Implementing the new brand guidelines for WW [formerly Weight Watchers] was an exciting though big challenge, but I was really happy with the end result. Germany was the first territory in the world to adopt the new style, so it was great to be part of such a significant re-brand.
Name: Tiffany Van Der Sande
Job title: Client Services Director
Client: Princess Cruises
The summer cover of Journey was a winner for me. I love the contrast of Hong Kong new and old, which took me right back to exciting travels and inspired me to plan some more adventurous holidays.
Name: Renée Lo
Job title: Account Manager
Client: Jumeirah
A highlight for me was having the opportunity to work on Jumeirah’s 2018 festive campaign which was my first international client here at River. I was working closely with our talented creative team and delved into the above the line world. Our brief was to create premium and luxury ‘adcepts’ and festive copy which aligned with their existing Christmas theme and guidelines – and I think it looks great.
Name: Sarah Akhurst
Job title: Editor
Client: Co-op Food
This is my favourite cover of those we produced this year, a real showstopper that perfectly sums up the step change we have made with the food content since refreshing the magazine in June. We loaded the flavours of the season – apple, cinnamon, maple and toffee – into our Spooky Poison Apple Cake and crowned it with three Co-op toffee apples. The perfect union of recipe and product!
Name: Alison Lawn
Job title: Art Director
Client: Ramblers
The best bit for me about walk magazine is the landscapes. I hate the rain – I’m a fair-weather walker – so this image for me is the epitome of winter walking: crisp blue skies and snow on the hills. This is Loch Tulla and Stob Ghabhar in Argyll, and it’s from a feature called The View From Here. It reminds me to stop and look and appreciate just how beautiful the UK landscape is.
Name: Taimen Zlattner
Job title: Social Media Executive
Client: Jessops
Our goal with the Jessops account was to completely revamp their social media presence and the way consumers engaged with the brand. The highlight of my year was transforming the Jessops Instagram account into a platform for photographers, professional and amateur, to showcase their work and engage with like-minded photographers. The hashtag #jessopsmoment encourages users to tag us in their shots and has resulted in an average of 100 entries a day, increasing our engagement rate from 12% to an amazing 40-55% in just four months.
Name: Sam Turner
Job title: Advertising Director
Clients: Superdrug and Unilever
This year it was great to work with the amazing editorial team at River to create a Superdrug and Unilever cross-partnership Halloween campaign. The end creative and campaign looked stunning and was a great example of a truly 360-degree campaign that was also really commercially viable. The visuals landed across print, online, social and throughout the in-store bricks and mortar estate with point of sale. It was great to see the whole campaign come to life in this way.
Name: Louise Zecevic
Job title: Editor
Client: Diabetes UK
When I heard I was going to interview a boxer named Muhammad Ali, I couldn’t believe my luck. Like his predecessor, this Ali is a true inspiration. Not only has he battled against discrimination that saw him shut out of his beloved sport, he was also a lovely young man who wanted to use his story to inspire and help others. And as you can see, he packs a mean punch!
We also produced the Balance Book Of Celebrations, which was a great project to work on.
The one thing people with diabetes have in common is that life doesn’t stop after their diagnosis. But they do need to make adjustments to the way they live to help them stay as healthy as possible. With this in mind, we wanted to tackle the issue of how to approach celebrating life’s big events – which are often centred around eating and drinking – with family and friends. The result is a glossy booklet filled with recipes, tips and inspiration that I hope provides real value for our readers.