Heineken tactical outdoor campaign for London Marathon

Following St Luke’s recent appointment on the Heineken premium beer brand, we immediately started work on creating a tactical outdoor campaign for Sunday’s London Marathon, in addition to the nationwide press campaign for Heineken UK.  

The campaign saw the tactically relevant copy ‘Pace Yourself’ in targeted locations along the infamous Marathon route – a message of support to runners and a reference to responsible drinking.

 ('Pace Yourself' Tactical Advert)

The wider campaign sees iconic Heineken imagery throughout major UK cities with headlines that relate to and connect with their target audience in a light-hearted and humorous manner. Our CEO, Neil Henderson, said: "Sharing a wry smile with 30,000 runners as they slog their way around the capital shows that Heineken is in tune with the lives of Londoners."

Everyone at St Luke’s is delighted with the tactical campaign and is eagerly anticipating the next opportunity at the Heineken Cup Final.

It's a stylish summer with Very.co.uk and the Holiday Shop

"Summer summer summertime... Time to sit back and unwind."

Finally!

So to mark the occasion, our latest ad for Very.co.uk’s Holiday Shop takes us to beautiful Barcelona and celebrates the best of summer living, even if not all is as it first seems. Check it out below:

The ad, which launches today (10^th April) opens on a stylish, summer’s evening and shows our first girl looking glam as if she’s posing on a photoshoot, with smoke billowing around her. The camera then swings round to reveal she’s actually cooking on a BBQ with her friends in her garden, which is kitted out with outdoor furniture from Very.co.uk. The following scenes follow a similar pattern, and then in the end scene we meet Fearne Cotton, taking a selfie at the beach with her friend. 

Canada, the Spanish commercial directors we worked with on this, took a 360 degree approach to shooting this. The camera constantly moves in a sweeping circular motion, taking in the outfits and surroundings from BBQ to airport, patio and beach.

This is the first time our focus for Very hasn’t just been about style and fashion, we’re widening the reach to the department store offering – from bikinis to BBQs there is everything you need to do summer in style.

As always, we've made a behind the scenes film to give you a sneak peek of how the ad was made. Check it out in the image here:

This campaign will also be supported by national print, OOH and digital which will go live after Easter.

Let us know what you think!

Tweet us @stlukescomms.

St Luke’s, Strongbow and Bob the snake team up to launch the drink of the summer

With the days getting longer, and more importantly brighter, you could be forgiven for starting to consider the idea of hatching out of hibernation and stepping outside. This isn’t something that has gone unnoticed at the Strongbow offices. The launch of their new lemon and lime cider variation, Strongbow Citrus Edge, is a perfectly timed move and one that Strongbow believes will create “the drink of the summer”. This variation follows on from the incredibly successful launch of Strongbow Dark Fruit last year.

                          

As you would expect from Strongbow this is not a light refreshing tipple to be enjoyed after an afternoon lazily dipping your toes in the paddling pool. This is a light refreshing tipple to be enjoyed after a hard afternoon EARNING IT. Establishing this principle was the challenge which St Luke’s was set. After months of hard work we came up with the idea of combining the appealing fresh fruit which makes the drink taste great with something a little more sinister. This is reflected in the work as at first glance it appears to be showing the Citrus Edge nestled in a bush of luscious lemons and limes. However, when you look closely you see that there are several vicious looking snakes hiding in the foliage. This is particularly apparent in the animated work, which features eerily life-like movement of the snakes. 

The entire St Luke’s team is incredibly proud of this campaign as we feel it uses Strongbow’s well established brand messages to tell a new story about this innovative product. However, the ophidiophobics (look it up) amongst us might need to keep an eye out while Bob (as we know him) and his friends are slithering around the nation in their various shapes, sizes and formats.

ST LUKE'S AWARDED HEINEKEN® BUSINESS

Everyone at St Luke’s is very pleased to announce that we are now working with HEINEKEN UK on their Heineken^® beer brand.  We are already hard at work on several campaigns for Spring 2014 including the activation of The Heineken^® Cup final in May. 

This is a particularly exciting new client for us as it adds to an already strong relationship which we have been building up over the last nine years.  David Lette, Premium Brands Director at HEINEKEN said: “St Luke’s have impressed us over the years with their outstanding work for Strongbow.  They were the natural choice of partner to help us meet aggressive growth targets for Heineken^® in the UK.”

                 

                 

We are really excited by this latest win and pleased to see some beer join the cider range currently on offer at Friday drinks and nibbles.

Strongbow asks whether you can 'EARN IT.' in Rio challenge

Could you take on five of Brazil’s best female footballers in a five-a-side match? That is the challenge that will be facing an every-day group of friends from the UK, and that group could include you!

St Luke’s has been working with our client, Strongbow to build upon the ‘EARN IT.’ campaign, which we’ve helped develop over the last couple of years. The campaign, which is split up across several phases, will include a recruitment campaign, a selection and training day and of course, a trip to Rio to play five of Brazil’s best female footballers.

(Click image for 'EARN IT.' Rio challenge)

The first stage of the Rio Challenge is the ‘recruitment phase’, where we’re using social media, a TV ad, and a partnership with PowerLeague five-a-side centres to find 20 teams of friends who will be picked to come to the trial day. From the trial day, one team of five friends will be selected to go to Rio to challenge the girls. However, this won’t be any ‘selection day’, as the teams will have the guidance of a celebrity management team made up of football experts. This management team will also be flying out to Rio to help the team take on the girls.

Do you think you have what it takes to take on the girls in Brazil? Then what are you waiting for? Apply now via social media or through the Strongbow ‘EARN IT.’ website.

Everyone at St Luke’s is really proud of the great work being produced with Strongbow, and obviously, very excited for the upcoming campaign, which should bring in the Brazilian summer in style.

Banish the grey and Bring the Colour with Very.co.uk

As we slowly, and optimistically move towards a bright and colourful Spring and Summer, everyone at St Luke’s is delighted to announce the recent launch of our brand new Spring/Summer campaign, ‘Bring The Colour’ for our client Very.co.uk.

The campaign which features brand ambassador Fearne Cotton is initially set in an entirely grey scene, depicting the cold, dreary winter season. That is until Fearne Cotton steps out of a grey taxi wearing a vibrant pink dress from the new Colour Pop spring range. Steadily, the colour is transcended across other girls wearing the new trend and looking incredible in their bright colourful outfits against others, who are still stuck in their grey, winter clothes. By the end of the advert we see the trend has created a snowball effect and everyone is now wearing the new collection, where the advert ends with the line ‘Bring the Colour’.

 

 (Click image for 'Bring the Colour' Advert)

The ‘Bring the Colour’ TV campaign for Very.co.uk will be supported by a full range of communication channels, including print, digital, social media and outdoor.

Jon Owen, Retail Director for Very said, “Very.co.uk is on a roll. We are purposefully stepping up our fashion credentials with ever better on-trend collections and super cool advertising.”

Everyone at St Luke’s is incredibly proud of the campaign for Very.co.uk. If you wish to see some exclusive behind the scene footage from the shoot, then please follow the link here.

Welcoming isme to the St Luke's fold

We're delighted to announce that we've been appointed by existing client Shop Direct to handle the advertising account for their isme brand, following a recent competitive pitch.

There's no time to waste, as we're working on an exciting advertising campaign for Spring/Summer 2014.

isme is primarily targeted at 50+ women and will see us partnering with their brand ambassador Carol Vorderman in this campaign.

Jon Owen, Retail Brand Director at Shop Direct, said: “St Luke’s impressed us with their audience insight and with creative work that both builds the brand and works hard commercially.” Our CEO Neil added, “Being awarded isme is a testament to the outstanding results we have seen from our Very and Littlewoods campaigns and plays to our strength of managing brand portfolios. We can’t wait to set a new agenda for this exciting young brand.”

It's been fabulous news for our work for Shop Direct recently, and here's to continuing with new work on another great brand.

Welcome to the family, isme!

More Adwatch success for Littlewoods

Following on from the success prior to Christmas with our Shop Direct clients Littlewoods and Very.co.uk both being announced in Marketing Magazine’s overall “Adwatch of the Year,” the New Year has brought further success for Littlewoods.

Data taken from during the Christmas period placed our Littlewoods advert 6th for most recalled ad (54%), but it also placed 8th in the ranking of most liked TV commercials (18%). 

To put this achievement in to perspective, only four other brands made it on to both lists - John Lewis, Morrisons, Marks & Spencer and Asda.

The Littlewoods Christmas advert, which saw Myleene Klass helping out at Santa’s grotto, alongside fellow brand ambassador Mark Wright, depicted the essence of Christmas, with fun, music, presents and of course, Santa. Combined with the strategic combination of 30" and 10" executions, the 'always-on' approach to media has continued the 'front of mind' awareness we achieved throughout 2013, but for the first time we're landing work in the recall and most liked lists.

At St Luke’s HQ we're delighted with the results and recognition from the industry as it brilliantly reflects the hard work that has gone into the campaign from both the team here and Shop Direct. 

Here's to Spring/Summer bringing more success!

Adwatch of the Year

December brings out the reminiscent and celebratory nature in most all of us. It's a time to look back on the achievements of the year, the trials and tribulations we've overcome and look forward to what the new year will bring.

For us at St Luke's it's been a particularly successful year, and this has been topped off by Marketing Magazine's "Adwatch of the Year" feature, which runs down the 20 most effective adverts of the year in terms of memory recall. Adwatch of the Year 2013 celebrates our Shop Direct clients Littlewoods and Very.co.uk as the year's biggest success story. Throughout the year, adverts for both have featured prominently in the weekly brand recall listings during their time on air, but for both to make the top 10 of the year is a fantastic achievement for them and for us!

It's even more remarkable when the budgets for both brands were considerably lower than any other ad in the top 20, making us the best value advertisers of the year!

It's been a fantastic team effort, and has seen both brands making the best creative and effective work they have ever done - from Littlewoods launching their first Kids ad for Ladybird, to Very and their new uber-stylish Definitions brand it's great to see recognition from the ad industry as well as those crucial sales figures increasing.

Time to dust off the awards cabinet!

It's not every day that an advert for a feminine hygiene product is mentioned in the same breath as ones for Nike, BMW or the award hoarding awareness campaign 'Dumb Ways to Die.' However, we're delighted to say that our Mooncup 'Rap Battle' won Bronze for 'Best Original Song' at the London International Awards (LIA) awards in November.

                                               
The London based awards celebrate the creativity and power of ideas in all forms of advertising, digital, branded content, design, production, music and sound. The lyrical flow of our rap battle and its unconventional content stood out amongst some pretty hefty competition, and we're delighted with our bronze trophy.

And the winning doesn't stop there! Our Moments of Truth campaign for Strongbow, which launched earlier this year has also just won a Silver in the Epica Awards in the drinks category.
     
                                

They say things come in threes, and here is our final win (for the moment!) Our Business Director Jonathan Dale has been crowned winner of The Biggr Picture, a competition run by Campaign and Flickr to find the most talented 'extra curricular' Adlander. We're very proud of Jonathan's culinary achievements and his star feature in this week's Campaign.