Geronimo appoints new Creative Director
Geronimo has appointed Jason Andrews as its new Creative Director. Andrews will oversee Geronimo’s creative delivery, and his extensive digital expertise will continue to strengthen Geronimo’s integrated offering.
Andrews joins the agency from emortal, a business leading the next wave of web-enabled, socially-connected, consumer applications. In Dec 2009 the company was awarded ‘Company to Watch 2010’, by the prestigious US Eastern Technology Council.
Andrews’s role as Chief Creative Officer oversaw all product development, directing a team of US creative’s and marcomms strategists both on- and off-line to develop the next generation of social networking platforms.
Prior to emortal Andrews co-founded his own agency – Personal. With an enviable client list including Nike, BMW, 3 Mobile and COI, the agency won over 30 industry awards. He has also worked at Agency Republic, FCB Sydney, Banks Hoggins O’Shea and Proximity London.
Andy Snuggs, Managing Director of Geronimo, said:
“Jason is top of his game and we’re thrilled to have him on board to further enrich our creative product. With Jason’s expertise in integration and immense knowledge of everything digital, it’s going to be an exciting year for ourselves and our clients”.
The appointment comes on the back of Geronimo’s commitment to continued investment in creative and digital. Geronimo recently launched G-tech, a creative digital production agency. G-tech aims to help clients with technology management. It works by utilising a partner network to deliver a variety of digital functions, in a fast and cost effective way, allowing the clients to reduce their tech management and focus on core business.
Geronimo launches new Grant’s Whisky website
Geronimo has launched a new website for Grant’s Whisky. The ‘members club’ styled site focuses on whisky drinker’s passions of gardening, music – and of course whisky. The ongoing activity aims to build a deeper relationship and create conversations amongst consumers, driving brand engagement in a market focussed on price.
The ‘After Hours Club’ website features a ‘Music Room’ where consumers can win an exclusive concert with pianist Murray McLachlan, view profiles of musicians such as Jonathan Ansell plus enter quizzes and much more.
On the website’s ‘Garden Terrace’ you can meet Grant’s gardening expert, TV presenter Chris Beardshaw who’ll be providing gardening tips and a chance to win tickets to BBC Gardener’s World Live.
And at the ‘Whisky Bar’ you can meet Grant’s Master Blender, Brian Kinsman, and win an After Hours personalised tasting experience.
The site’s Ambassadors will be providing regular and seasonal updates to keep content fresh. Consumers will also be contributing blog content with recommendations and comments on relevant events they’ve enjoyed.
Speaking about the activity, Managing Director at Geronimo, Andy Snuggs said:
“In a market so focussed on price, it was important to understand what really matters to Grant’s consumers, and do things differently to get them interacting. The website really taps into their passions and interests outside of whisky, and provides relevant content to engage with them”.
This is the first campaign that Geronimo has launched for Grant’s following a three way pitch win. Geronimo was appointed last year to develop its digital and CRM strategy in the UK. The campaign will integrate across various channels and includes a segmented ongoing contact programme.
Direct Line landlord insurance ad
Our new TV spot for Direct Line Landlord Insurance, featuring Sarah Beeny is on air from today.
Our research showed many ‘accidental landlords’ do not have the right cover – indeed, they don’t even know that specialist landlord insurance exists; they just keep their ‘normal’ home policy going.
Normal home insurance doesn’t cut the mustard because, quite simply, your insurance is invalid once you have tenants in the property.
So if you try and claim and you’re not properly covered, you could end up faffing around for weeks on end to get it sorted AND paying for it yourself. Not a lot of point in those premiums you’ve been paying eh?
There was a clear education job to be done: you really do need proper landlord cover and it really isn’t any more expensive than your home policy - and we selected TV as the most appropriate medium to communicate this wider message.
We chose Sarah Beeny as the spokesperson because she has the credibility to add weight to this important message.
SMiB Conference London October 23rd
Geronimo’s Head of interactive, Eaon Pritchard will be doing a turn at the Social Media in Business Conference in London on October 23rd.
The theme is ‘conversations matter’, Eaon will be doing something on consumer empowerment and engagement . How the digital revolution has changed the way purchase decisions are made and why understanding this matters for marketers and business.
Other contibuters include Chris Hambly, Neville Hobson, Joanne Jacobs, Judith deCabbit Lewis, Benjamin Ellis and Will McInnes.
Check out the SMiB site for full details.
It’s at The Strand Palace Hotel, London, WC2R OJJ
women on the web
In 1995 only 5% of internet users were women.
It’s easy to understand why there weren’t many female adopters in the early days of the web. It was just a massive store of information, in effect a huge library so why would we bother? Whilst men may (in a pub-quiz, top-five loving, Nick Hornby sty-le) enjoy delving through endless reams of information, there is nothing compelling about facts.
Whether gathering dust on shelves or whizzing about in the ether, facts on their own don’t spread.
Now the web has evolved and become an enabler, a connecting force and story creator - it has truly been given a place in the lives of women. And the stats reflect this, with us now accounting for 50% of Internet users.
In ‘Inside her pretty little head’ Jane Cunningham and Philippa Roberts identify key areas that motivate women. Under the guise of ‘codes’ they propose that to motivate women you must appeal to at least one of these to resonate with the female psyche. Specifically the four areas identified are Altruism, Aesthetic, Ordering and Connecting.
Bearing these four codes in mind, has there ever been a medium more suited to women than the web?
It provides freedom from hassle and the ability to save time with online shopping, reassurance through research and comparison sites (all appealing to the Ordering code), in-depth learning and detail (Altruism code), as well as enabling the quick and easy passing all of this information and opinion on to family, friends or anyone that’s listening (Connecting and Altruism codes).
The web is now seemingly built for chatting and sharing, gathering and exchanging – and that’s why women are thriving online.
As a result of this alignment of web-functionality and innate female drivers, a multitude of female sites are springing up.
Our primary view of the world is not a competitive but collaborative one – thus the connectivity, personalisation and sharing aspects of web 2.0 enable these to happen better, quicker and further than ever before. From shopping and chatting, to communities and gossip – these all serve a thread of the female codes. No longer are lone women sat isolated at kitchen tables; they are online, sharing, advising, commenting. In essence doing as they always have done, but on a wider, global scale.
Combining this with a growing awareness of the female influence on purchase decisions – us women as the purse holders - means we are driving innovation within the digital space, creating apps to further service our needs.
Taking the hassle out of the weekly shop and suggesting dinner menus was just the start, as the latest addition to online fashion retailer Zappos, MyZappos service shows.
It now provides a virtual closet of identified possible purchases, which friends on Facebook and followers on Twitter can view, comment and advise. Using social media groups to recreate the in-store ‘shopping with a friend’ reassurance – in an easy, accessible way. You get to virtually try before you buy.
One quote I heard (though irritatingly can’t remember where from) was ‘There will be no Web 3.0 – social media sites such as Facebook and MySpace will be the web’.
This places the web firmly as a channel to aid and be embraced by females – open, social exchange is where we thrive. The web is not a means unto itself but a channel through which our normal social behaviours can be amplified. It’s not changing our behaviours, just making them easier and faster to happen.
So keep a look out, for a continuing rise of women online not only changes marketing tactics but also the shape and functions of the space itself.
Becky