JOAN London has created a powerful new advertising campaign for The Cybersmile Foundation to combat the growing threat of cyberbullying and online abuse. The campaign, Modern Witch Trials, which includes a short film directed by Chromista’s Eliza McNitt, aims to raise awareness of online harassment and spark a conversation about finding kinder ways to address problematic behaviour online. Drawing parallels with the Salem Witch Trials, which began 332 years ago this month, the film concludes with the central message that “Mob Justice Isn’t New. It Just Got a Tech Upgrade”, directing people to The Cybersmile Foundation website for information on how to engage more productively online. Born out of the rise of cancel culture, the campaign builds on the idea that cyberbullying and social media retribution are becoming more widespread, both for celebrities and those who are not in the public eye. It stresses how online harassment can affect anyone with a social media presence and that it is critical to not only highlight this increasingly prevalent issue but also start the dialogue about how we can build a more compassionate digital community. The film will be released, in partnership with Pearl & Dean, across all of their UK Cinemas in the run-up to Safer Internet Day (6th Feb), as well as on social media.
Integrated agency, Jaywing, has been awarded ‘Best Digital Marketing Campaign – B2B’ for a disruptive mental health campaign in partnership with IronmongeryDirect and ElectricalDirect. Jaywing received commendation for its impactful and attention-grabbing stunt, which effectively cut through the noise to bring heightened awareness to mental health within the tradespeople community. The recognition underscores the campaign’s success in addressing a critical and growing concern in an industry where mental health awareness is of utmost importance. The powerful stunt not only captured attention but also contributed significantly to the ongoing dialogue surrounding mental well-being within the trades. The campaign, fostering vital discussions on mental health within the sector and attaining viral success across various channels, clinched victory on the strength of its exceptional results, the first of which was its disruptive stunt in London’s bustling West End. This involved stitching 687 high-vis vests to form a poignant 12-meter-tall mural. This symbolic representation aimed to visualise the average number of UK tradespeople who tragically die by suicide annually.
The US arm of global social-first advertising agency, The Goat Agency, has been selected by Kraken Rum as their 2024 influencer agency of record. Kraken Rum is a Caribbean black-spiced rum, known for its strong, smooth flavor and mischievous, sultry brand identity (characterized by The Kraken itself). In 2023, they launched their new, lighter brand, Kraken Gold Spiced Rum, and worked with Goat to grow awareness amongst audiences on social media. Highlights from the campaign included an NYC launch event, a sold-out merch collaboration with Butcher Billy (famous for his designs with Stranger Things), and a creative campaign concept entitled “Hour of the Kraken.” This highly aesthetic social-first campaign involved creators “striking gold” in the form of a custom wooden PR box”. On opening, it revealed their first bottle of Kraken Gold Spiced Rum as a gift from the seas. The mysterious bottle was a catalyst for creators to produce their own #HourOfTheKraken tale, ending with a toast to the Kraken themselves. Following a competitive pitch process, Kraken has appointed The Goat Agency as their influencer agency of record for 2024, aiming to increase consideration and conversions on their D2C website through an influencer ambassador program.
Global intelligence and cyber security consultancy S-RM has unveiled its first ever above-the-line campaign, ‘Your first call’. The multichannel push was created in partnership with BIRD London, the creative agency founded by former M&C Saatchi Head of Strategy, Steve Parker. The new campaign seeks to position S-RM as the smart alternative to the “big four” consulting firms amongst c-suite decisionmakers, aiming to help drive double-digit revenue growth and ensure that the brand is highly regarded in the City of London and beyond. The campaign is based on the strategic thought that too often, business leaders adopt a wait-and-see policy when it comes to business risk. They have become immune to scare tactics. So, to persuade this audience to proactively manage the risks they face, BIRD London identified the need for an intelligent conversation. A series of elegant executions place risk in the audience’s world, while positioning S-RM as the sharp-thinking solution for risk management. ‘Your first call’ portrays S-RM as the confident partner that can solve complex challenges, so that when decisionmakers need to address the cyber risk to their business, or use intelligence to help make their next decision, S-RM is the ‘first call’ they make. The push is a confident alternative to the jargon-heavy, stock-shot laden advertising of the “big four”, with brutally simple and memorable headlines and a consistent branded sign-off. BIRD London sourced an original font for the campaign typography from Manchester-based independent font foundry F37. The font speaks to both the brand and the technical world S-RM operates in.
Jellyfish and Percept have agreed to expand their partnership by activating the Percept digital media auditing platform across Jellyfish’s 200+ global paid media clients. The partnership expansion is set to deliver improved campaign performance after many campaign launches have proven that the model fully complies with Jellyfish’s paid media best practices. Jeff Matisoff, Partner at Jellyfish, said “We’ve worked with Percept for several years and their platform helps our teams get campaigns into market faster, without compromising our highest standards for paid media activation. As Percept has proven its strength in maximising the ROI of our client’s media investment, our Process & Standards team is now rolling Percept out across all of Jellyfish.”
DLMDD, the creative sound branding agency, has launched a podcast series which showcases and celebrates London’s revered music venues and thus far features episodes telling the stories of Ronnie Scott and Spiritland with a host of other legendary venues lined up! Called ‘If These Walls Could Talk’, the podcast is hosted and created by DLMDD’s Head of Agency Business and music obsessive Jeremy Newton, who says: “Our goal is to showcase and celebrate London’s legendary spaces and places and bring to life the narrative, the personalities and the anecdotes that have contributed to a venue’s legend from those who have lived and breathed it.” The first episode takes the listener on a journey through the hallowed turf of Ronnie Scott’s, a venue steeped in prestige, history and legend. Joined by Ronnie’s stalwarts Miles Ashton, James Pearson, and the incomparable Paul Pace. From the vibrancy of post war Soho to encounters with the Krays, an impromptu Stevie Wonder performance, and a visit from Prince, the episode explores the Ronnie Scott’s mystique and brings its rich story up to date to the present day. The first episode is already live and available here. If These Walls Could Talk is a joint project and labour of love led by Newton alongside DLMDD production director, co-founder and podcast series producer Greg Moore, who is returning to his broadcasting roots. The series is available on Spotify and all other streaming platforms.
Specsavers has launched its new ‘Should’ve’ TV campaign with an ad called ‘Airport’ which has been directed by cult comedy director Declan Lowney, known for Ted Lasso and Father Ted. Harnessing the signature Specsavers humour, the ad from Specsavers Creative introduces us to couple Greg and Ella who are about to go on holiday. Ella manages to check in serenely ahead of Greg whilst he parks the car. Greg finally skids into the airport lobby with his wheelie suitcase and is now cutting it fine to make the departure. Checking the departure board, Greg rushes frantically to catch his flight and various tense yet amusing scenarios ensue that everyone can relate too. These include the classic cringe moment when you have to neck your bottle of water in front of an unimpressed security guard or relinquish your belt and your new espadrilles for an undignified body scan and of course try to run along a packed travelator when everyone else is walking. It ends with Greg racing jubilantly out onto the tarmac where the aircraft is getting prepped for take off. We cut to a concerned-looking Ella who is already onboard, peering out of a porthole window as she clocks Greg down below. But will he manage to board the plane, or should he have gone to Specsavers? The TV campaign is supported by Cinema, VOD, Digital video, OOH, press, social and special build. The OOH activity includes a placement at Waterloo Station’s big motion billboard which plays off the possibility that people might have mistaken the billboard for the departures board and Should’ve Gone to Specsavers. There will also be OOH gags in bus shelters, at petrol pumps, shopping centres, motorways and more – which send up how many people might be making sight fails in those places, such as putting the wrong fuel in their cars at petrol pumps or being on the wrong bus because they read the number incorrectly.
