This mince pie was, as Pie Sponsor Nick commented, “very disappointing.” As a long-established, family brand we had high hopes of the Mr Kipling pies, but in vain. The packaging was standard fare: Santa-red (the background used is Santa’s belly with a fraction of his beard included, which looks somewhat out of context initially), with sparkles around the product name. As this keeps to the brand’s colours of red and white we should not be too critical of this choice, but it is hard to justify the use of such an out-of-context image as there are no other pictures of Santa on the box.

Moving inside, the pies look a little disappointing: topped with a tiny, ill-formed Christmas tree and lacking in much visible sugar sprinkling, they are certainly not the most enticing of pies. However, whilst most of the judges found these pies uninspiring at best (and decidedly unpleasant in some cases), Mandy really enjoyed the pie:

“It was the texture of the pastry that I liked, and there was proper fruit in the mincemeat. It was also less sweet than the Co-op pie which is a good thing for me.”

However Mandy had little support in this view: although Sarah did comment on the quality of the pastry, Ralph went so far as to say it tasted “burnt”, whilst three other judges complained of an unpleasant after-taste. As a result of these complaints the pie received a poor 5.3/10 for value for money, at a price of £1.89 each.

Sad to say, this pie received a disappointing final score of 225/440. Better luck next time Mr Kipling!

. . . . . . . . . .

AND THE JUDGES’ RESULTS ARE:

THE PIES Mr Kipling Deep Filled Mince Pies £1.89		RICHARD Appearance: 5/10 Texture: 5/10 Taste (mincemeat): 2/5 Taste (pastry): 2/5 Value for money: 5/10		NICK Appearance: 4/10 Texture: 5/10 Taste (mincemeat): 2/5 Taste (pastry): 4/5 Value for money: 6/10		SARAH Appearance: 5/10 Texture: 6/10 Taste (mincemeat): 1/5 Taste (pastry): 4/5 Value for money: 4/10
ROB Appearance: 4/10 Texture: 6/10 Taste (mincemeat): 3/5 Taste (pastry): 3/5 Value for money: 5/10		RALPH Appearance: 4/10 Texture: 8/10 Taste (mincemeat): 2/5 Taste (pastry): 1/5 Value for money: 6/10		GAVIN Appearance: 2/10 Texture: 4/10 Taste (mincemeat): 3/5 Taste (pastry): 1/5 Value for money: 5/10		JAMES Appearance: 3/10 Texture: 2/10 Taste (mincemeat): 1/5 Taste (pastry): 2/5 Value for money: 2/10
MANDY Appearance: 6/10 Texture: 7/10 Taste (mincemeat): 4/5 Taste (pastry): 4/5 Value for money: 7/10		JON Appearance: 4/10 Texture: 4/10 Taste (mincemeat): 3/5 Taste (pastry): 4/5 Value for money: 4/10		KAREN Appearance: 6/10 Texture: 5/10 Taste (mincemeat): 3/5 Taste (pastry): 3/5 Value for money: 6/10		TINA Appearance: 6/10 Texture: 7/10 Taste (mincemeat): 3/5 Taste (pastry): 4/5 Value for money: 8/10

. . . . . . . . . .

CASUAL PIE-STANDER COMMENTS:

Sam says: “He does not make exceedingly good cakes, or pies for that matter – these had poor decoration and an unsettling lingering taste. They did not put me in the Christmas spirit.”

Paul says: “Not sure if a quarter of a mince pie constitutes a tasting but my Yule money would definitely be on the Co-op thought the Mr Kipling was S*>$!”

. . . . . . . . . .

A simple sentence that makes the case for the importance of effective marketing communication in building a successful business – it’s not an optional extra, its fundamental. Establishing a “need” for something (as opposed to a “want”) whether a product or a service not only makes selling it much easier but also adds value to it.

So while the means and channels of delivering the communication have changed in my 25 years in the industry, and audiences have become more fragmented, discerning and sceptical as choice becomes wider, the purpose of what we do remains constant and potentially of greater value to a business.

My agency experience covers campaign direction and development for small niche clients as well as major brands in both the B2B and B2C arena, in diverse markets that include white goods, professional services and food, beverage and confectionery. This coupled with a stint on the client side informs my understanding of the agency/client relationship and the need to create a trusted, well informed and valued partnership for both sides.

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The Royal Institution of Great Britain has engaged Purple Frog as their brand and marketing agency since April 2009.

Our remit has been to redefine the Royal Institution’s positioning and communication strategy in order to create greater understanding of its role in, and relevance to, the UK and international science community, school and university education, business and the general public.

Having completed the first phases of this work, we are developing a range of brand and marketing communication programmes designed to reinforce the Institution’s status, build brand awareness, increase partner and sponsorship opportunities, drive up corporate and individual membership numbers and promote RI events, activities and venues.

RI is most widely known for the world renowned Faraday Christmas Lectures, televised since the 1960’s and as a central focus for pioneering scientific innovation, research and debate since gaining it’s Royal Charter in 1799.

With some of the most famous scientists of the last 200 years, including 14 Nobel prize winners, as it’s historic driving force, RI has undergone substantial change over the last 5 years in order to continue inspiring today’s and tomorrows scientists.

Regeneration of the institutions Mayfair exhibition, museum and lecture spaces combine with new venue, restaurant and cafe facilities to offer a prime experience to a broad spectrum of visitors.

Purple Frog has created a new UK brand awareness campaign for Bosch, running across press advertising and POS, promoting 4 key white goods product categories and new products within the portfolio.

The campaign focuses on Bosch global ‘Energy Saving’ positioning, supported by the ‘Which? Best Domestic Appliance brand 2009’ award, won earlier in the year and uses new global brand guidelines. The campaign broke in June and will run to end 2009.

Bosch were approached by Walt Disney Studio Motion Pictures via us as their agency as a potential brand partner in the launch of WALL•E. We explored the potential benefits for Bosch in this association and put forward a business rationale and creative proposal which was adopted.

There were immediate and longer term benefits for Bosch from involvement in a major high profile film with directly relevant technology, themes and messages that could help in delivering a complex set of messages more quickly and in a more receptive, understandable and memorable way to a broader target group plus having the added equivalent financial value of association via Disney’s own campaign.

We were able to create amongst other benefits:

- Huge exposure to new and wider audience – core families, 18 -34yrs
- An opportunity for ownership of eco territory
- Reinforcement of Bosch quality and reliability positioning
- The capture of future sales and awareness building
- Attachment of fun and a personality to a commodity brand

The Campaign
A campaign was devised to both engage both the trade and the consumer to increase visibility and in-store footfall and included; Press Advertising: In store POS and window posters; Web banner advertising; A family centred microsite; A linked competition with Disney Store and Disney Parks; A trade competition and product centred floor and window displays and re-useable CSR elements.

Results
The website, where traffic was being driven, received significant increased traffic with more than 10,000 additional unique user visits over the first 4 weeks of the campaign and collected over 3,500 customer competition entries. Bosch became visible on a number of eco blogs and were able to put the building blocks in place for the 2009 “ energy and water saving, green technology” campaign which ran throughout the year in-store and in the press.

Awareness in the period, coupled with other activity showed an increase and overall the vehicle and campaign was considered by Bosch to have been a worthwhile investment in the continued development of their brand.

In early 2008, Central government devised a project to increase public awareness of reduced referral times for patients between GP’s and Specialist care.

5 Primary Care Trusts (PCT) were selected to undertake a pilot scheme to establish feasibility and success rates before rolling out a national campaign. Each were asked to promote the core ’18 week referral time’ message in their own way but working within strict NHS corporate guidelines and set budgets.

Purple Frog was invited, by the NHS Buckinghamshire PCT, to guide them through the complex processes of defining a campaign plan, managing media spend and creating the right messages.

The resulting campaign that launched in June 2008 was unique in Primary Care Trust history. For the first time, cinema commercials, billboards and 48 sheet posters were used to support other awareness activity in GP surgeries and hospitals. One cinema carried 4 commercials per day for 7 days across 12 screens.

Results
Ultimately the campaign exceeded client expectations, gained considerable public campaign and message recall and was completed within timescales and budget.

All in all a great demonstration of what can be achieved with limited budgets when both client and agency work as an effective partnership.

Purple Frog are proud to have created change in the way that people think about their own Primary Care Trust.

We are delighted to announce that The Royal Institution of Great Britain has engaged Purple Frog as their brand and marketing agency.

Purple Frog has been engaged to redefine the Royal Institution’s positioning and communications strategy in order to create greater understanding of its role in, and relevance to, the UK and international science communities, school and university education, business and the general public.

We intend to develop a range of brand and marketing communication programmes designed to reinforce the Institutions status, increase partner and sponsorship opportunities, drive up corporate and individual membership numbers and promote RI events, activities and venues.

The Royal Institution is widely known for the Faraday Christmas Lectures which first started in 1825, and are now televised annually and as a central focus for pioneering scientific innovation, research and debate since gaining it’s Royal Charter in 1799.

With some of the most famous scientists of the last 200 years, including 14 Nobel prize winners, as it’s historic driving force, the Royal Institution has undergone substantial change over the last 5 years in order to continue inspiring today’s, and tomorrow’s, scientists.

Regeneration of the Institution’s Mayfair exhibition, museum and lecture spaces combine with new venue, restaurant and cafe facilities to offer a prime experience to a broad spectrum of visitors.

Purple Frog is looking forward to fulfilling a pivotal role in the Royal Institution’s development strategy.

Euan Rodger, Tresco Estate Sales & Marketing Manager commented ”We are delighted to be working with the team at Purple Frog. We face challenging times and Tresco being a leading UK holiday destination is keen to ensure that its marketing & communications is working well in the short term and that we have the necessary strategy in place looking forward. Purple Frog’s appointment is in place to help us achieve both”.

Tresco is known by many, as a result of the famous Tresco Abbey Gardens, but what is not often realized is that this privately owned island offers the perfect get away in a unique location, offering seclusion, white beaches and great food. Accommodation types vary from a boutique style hotel through to self-catering beach-front houses and cottages and at Purple Frog we are looking forward to delivering a strategy and series of campaigns that will put Tresco at the fore front of peoples thoughts when choosing either a short break or a get away from it all holiday.

Visit their web site to get a feel for the island and what it has to offer.

Brand Development

In early 2007, Rectory Homes, one of our longest established clients, commissioned us to re-evaluate their brand positioning and image. Our primary objectives were to build brand understanding and recognition as the business launched into new geographic territories in the UK, diversified its core property offerings and expanded it’s staff base to enable business growth.

In addition, Rectory’s board recognized the need to create competitive advantage in the crowded independent, regional property development market prior to a forecast economic down turn through 2008/9. In short, if the market was going to diminish, they wanted to be understood, believed and valued by their regional customer base.

The challenge

Traditionally, Rectory had placed little emphasis on brand and image development. It’s owner, ethos and the quality of properties built were considered as all that the Rectory brand needed in order to demonstrate the businesses worth. Whilst they needed property literature and advertised in property sections of regional publications, the priority had been to ensure that the logo appeared on all marketing material. Consistency of image and the way that marketing communications could be used to build understanding of Rectory as a beneficial business were considered as unnecessary, provided that marketing successfully promoted specific products.

The outcome was successful property marketing but with radically changing style and content, particularly with fast turnaround press advertising. There was no added value in terms of building the brand and, if an ad failed to deliver sales, no way of identifying why this had happened. After much debate and recommendation from Purple Frog, Rectory decided to change their ethos and redefine their image and communication approach.

The approach

Purple Frog began to redefine Rectory’s corporate image with workshop and discussion sessions with the businesses owner, CEO, directors and selected staff groups. The aim was to gain sound understanding of various hopes, plans and aspirations for the businesses future. Despite a perception from senior management that all staff had a unified understanding of what the business stood for and the direction it was heading in, we gained considerable variation of views.

Our first task therefore was to combine these insights with market and competitor analysis in order to create a clear, real and believable vision and brand positioning. This was then added to with visual and written descriptors of how the positioning could be communicated to various audiences. Once senior management had agreed the vision and positioning, they became (willingly) primary custodians of their brand positioning, image and communication approach. In itself this ensured that they would successfully lead their staff through brand change in the future and have clearer understanding of image and communication ideas as we developed them.

Having defined the positioning our second task was to begin building a structured corporate image – visual and written/spoken language – to best portray the business positioning, all potential corporate and product marketing applications and through all potential communications mediums.

This work encompassed logo redesign, colour palette creation, information hierarchy, type faces, photographic and illustration styles, various templates for corporate use – stationary, emails, signage etc. and variable style guides for different literature, advertising and promotional use. In addition we developed a writing style for different communication needs, where each allowed for both appropriate brand messaging and targeted messaging to various target audience.

Results

The outcome was a complete corporate and marketing guideline for use by both the client’s small marketing team and other 3rd party contractors. In turn this enabled Rectory to ensure consistent brand image and communication across all potential uses, regardless of who was commissioned to produce sales and marketing material. This enabled the client to not only begin to build brand recognition, understanding and belief but to save considerable money through needing less tactical marketing communication and enjoying better returns on investment when they did conduct this activity.

In addition, staff, partners and suppliers gained a better understanding of, and loyalty to, the company they worked for thus building motivation, contribution and advocacy.

Ultimately, Rectory Homes have gained a highly recognisable and differentiating brand image, begun to create understanding in their marketplace of why they are a good business to buy a new home from and have established a long term, powerful and flexible new business tool.

To find out more about how Purple Frog can help you develop your brand and corporate image, call 01844 295170 or email more@purplefrog.co.uk