If you caught part one you’ll know that we are celebrating our 25th year in business, and what an incredible year it has been. In this second part of our year in review we delve into the first ever combined DARE and Superdrug Christmas Gift Guide,and take a look at our ever-growing podcast presence with everywoman visiting Manchester City Football Campus to speak to their Head of Women’s Football, Gavin Make.
Name: Jo Hoare
Job title: Editorial Director, AS Watson
Client: DARE (Superdrug)
The November/December issue of DARE was the first to combine the magazine with the Superdrug Christmas Gift Guide and resulted in a bumper-sized 100-page issue. With X-Factor star and curve model Hayley Hasselhoff on the cover, it resulted in national press coverage across a variety of sites.
Name: Andy Greening
Job title: Digital Manager
Client: Everywoman
A highlight this year was being invited to the Manchester City Football Campus to speak to their Head of Women’s Football, Gavin Makel for the everywoman podcast. Gavin has been responsible for taking women’s football from grass-roots level to the stars we saw in the Women’s World Cup.
This episode is a must-listen for even non-football fans. The passion and determination of these women, who have been paving a new athletic career path in professional women’s football over the recent years, is inspiring.
Name: Kitty Aldis
Job title: Senior Content Manager
Client: Co-op
Project: Compostable plastic bag video
This year has been filled with foodie video content for our client, Co-op Food – 52 recipe videos in total. We have also started to create more non-food video content, which focuses on the Co-op Difference, ranging in topics from community charities, health and sustainability. My favourite project was the short video we created to showcase Co-op’s compostable plastic bags. We filmed this in-house, which was trickier than you’d think. It involved me hassling everyone for their leftover banana peels to use as food scraps in the video, along with the camera operator capturing a LOT of shots to achieve the stop motion effect. It all paid off in the end, as the video achieved a four-star rating in Co-op’s internal rating system (for reference, three stars is good, four stars is excellent), and it was used on social to get customers talking about the bags – hopefully acting as a means to an end for reducing plastic.
Name: Ellie Hughes
Job title: Editor
Client: Healthy (Holland & Barrett)
Shooting our new-look covers for Healthy was a highlight of 2019. We worked with leading photographer Rachell Smith to define our unique editorial positioning through our cover images. Result: fresh, modern and beautifully composed images of a diverse range of women looking naturally strong, happy and healthy in a lifestyle setting.
Name: Matt Ford
Job title: Creative Director
Client: Cunard
The Cunard Verandah restaurant on board Queen Mary 2 video shoot was a big logistical challenge. Queen Mary 2 was only in port for a few hours on her turnaround day between transatlantic cruises, and in that time we needed to negotiate passport control, shoot in two different locations on board Queen Mary 2 and record audio for both the video and accompanying articles for the Cunard website. We got there, just!
Name: Jess Kalbag
Job title: Account Manager
Client: Dutch healthy (Holland & Barrett)
The September 2019 cover of Dutch Healthy was a highlight for the team this year, as it marked the first cover shoot River has done for H&B Benelux. Influencer and foodie Rens Kroes was interviewed for the editorial, making her the perfect cover star for the issue, photographed in the idyllic Dutch countryside. The September issue also saw the introduction of in-store vouchers, offering readers money off products in H&B. The vouchers drove nearly €30,000 worth of product sales!
Name: Louise Zecevic
Job title: Editor
Client: Lincolnshire Co-op
We had the exciting task of redesigning Lincolnshire Co-op’s magazine this year, giving it a fresh, modern look, which allows its fantastic local produce to shine. This cover, from the summer issue, shows halloumi, sweet potato and avocado burgers, which were delicious.
Name: Lisa Taylor
Job title: Managing Director, Maven
Client: Phynova
It’s hard not to love these extraordinary sunrise images taken of our tai chi expert at The Shard. We were there hosting an early morning event for media and influencers on behalf of our life science client, Phynova, and experts had already spoken to our guests about a plant-powered natural remedy proven to have hugely beneficial physical benefits. Everyone then participated in a tai chi class, as this martial art also has hugely positive physical and mental health benefits. It was a memorable morning.
Missed part one? Click here.