Interviews, insight & analysis on digital media & marketing

NDA Agency News: Joint, Glass Digital, Nexer Digital and more

Naked Wines has appointed Joint as its UK creative agency and Goodstuff as its UK media planning and buying agency to work on a brief to both deliver a reappraisal of the brand and to future-proof the long term growth of Naked Wines. The new campaign, launching in Spring 2022, will make UK wine drinkers aware of Naked Wines’ core value proposition, fair pricing and commitment to disrupting the wine industry for the better. As part of competitive creative and media pitches, the brief focuses on the UK market, delivering an idea and campaign with potential to iterate and extend across a range of ATL touchpoints.

Organic herbal tea and supplement brand Pukka Herbs have chosen Newcastle-based digital marketing agency Glass Digital to help boost their online visibility through SEO. Under the terms of the new contract, Glass Digital will be working on an SEO campaign for Pukka Herbs that involves the three main pillars of an effective organic search strategy: technical SEO, content writing, and outreach. The agency has dedicated teams for each aspect of digital marketing, ensuring that Pukka will have specialists working on every area of its campaign to help connect as many people as possible to the beauty and power of nature.

Human-centred digital design agency, Nexer Digital, has been appointed by the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh as the main provider of website development for the next two years to bring its online presence in line with the organisation’s wider values. Throughout the partnership, the Umbraco Contributing Gold Partner will support improvements across the organisation’s main digital web estate – rbge.org.uk –  collaborating on a number of digital projects that will enhance user experience and champion digital sustainability, accessibility and inclusivity. The contract, worth £60,000, will enable Nexer Digital to expand the Garden’s strategic focus areas of science, horticulture and education. In the initial stages of the partnership, Nexer Digital has performed sustainability audits on the website to offer guidance on improving performance and reducing the carbon footprint of the platform.

Independent media agency The Kite Factory has unveiled a new leadership restructure and a wave of promotions to celebrate the talent behind record results and to position for future growth. The Kite Factory has announced two new Senior Leadership Teams as part of their commitment to their people-first culture, enabling career development and opportunity that ensures innovation and operational excellence at the heart of the business. The Operational SLT will be responsible for running the agency from client strategy, planning, buying, measurement, data & analytics and creates leadership opportunities for a new generation – many of whom have built their careers within The Kite Factory. This team will consist of: Anthony Abou-Zeid – Head of Client Service, promoted from his role of Client Business Director, Gabby Krite – Head of Digital Operations, promoted from Digital Account Director, Christian Taylor – Head of Planning, promoted from Strategy Director, Sarah Faust – Head of Analytics, promoted from her role of Senior Data Scientist, Niki Grant – Head of Search, promoted from Search Director,  as well as Caroline Dolan – Head of Charity Clients and Alice McKeown – Head of People. This team will be supported by the Strategic SLT, who will be responsible for driving the long-term strategic direction of the business, looking for innovative solutions to current and future client challenges to anticipate and meet the client growth agenda.  This team will be made up of: Robin Trust – CEO, James Smith – Managing Director, Ben Foster – Managing Partner, Digital promoted from his role of Director of Digital, Rik Moore – Managing Partner, Strategy promoted from his role as Head of Insight, Strategy & Planning, as well as Rob Watt – Managing Partner, International, Byron Garside – Finance Director, and Jonathan Leech – Commercial Director.

Forever Beta has been appointed as the lead creative agency for the iconic snack brand Peperami. The agency will be developing a new strategic and creative positioning that reinterprets the brand in order to drive relevance to younger, modern-day consumers. Peperami is still famous for the wild animated character ‘Animal’, however, the brand has
recognised a shift in culture and consumer needs since the ‘Animal’’s conception. ‘Animal’ will now be used as more of a brand icon, rather than the central character of the brand’s
marketing campaigns. Forever Beta has developed a channel-agnostic campaign built upon deep cultural and consumer understanding. The campaign also aims to bring cohesion to the brand’s comms across its multi-disciplinary marketing mix for 2022 and beyond. The agency was appointed for its cultural strategic thinking and unique creative approach, as well as its energy, passion and great chemistry with the Peperami team. The work is due to go live later this year.

Independent clothing brand Busby & Fox is dressed for success after signing up with Brightpearl to amplify their growing, multi-channel retail business. The Devon-based company will now benefit from Brightpearl’s industry-leading, made-for-retail features including a powerful Automation Engine, advanced reporting functionality and popular Demand Planner tool. With Brightpearl transforming their entire operational framework, Busby & Fox can quit spending time on tedious manual tasks and be free to grow fearlessly. With ambitious plans to amplify their digital presence, the company chose Brightpearl to supercharge operations and streamline their extensive back office into one real-time, central hub.

Milk & Honey PR has been appointed by Intelligent Health System Omnos. Starting immediately, Milk & Honey PR will be responsible for UK media relations, alongside digital consultation and collaboration for social media channels. The aim is to drive brand awareness and increase the number of people using for Omnos to help them optimise their health starting with completing the self-assessment questionnaires and taking the relevant home tests to understand where they are on their health journey. The agency will also be preparing for the launch of an exciting new product this year, which will enable users to make better, informed choices surrounding their health and wellbeing, to drive their quality of life and lifestyle.  

Digital agency Organic has announced its appointment by Improve International – the global provider of CPD for veterinary professionals – to handle its paid media. Organic will be supporting the business’s ambitious growth plans as it continues to support vets and vet nurses to drive up standards and improve outcomes for animals and their owners. This will be achieved by restructuring accounts and campaigns across paid channels such as Google, Facebook, Instagram, Bing and YouTube, creating a new measurement framework and reporting dashboard, whilst also delivering ongoing strategy and consulting to help drive performance. Expansion into emerging territories including the USA, triggered Improve International’s need to drive efficiency and effectiveness in its digital advertising. Organic was appointed following a competitive three-way pitch process led and managed by Ingenuity.

The Big Bamboo Agency, founded by Nicola Stamford in 2018, has announced the opening of its second office location – in Leeds city centre. In addition to its existing office at Windsor House in Harrogate, the agency’s new office occupies part of the third floor of Rutland House on Call Lane in Leeds. The opening of a Leeds premises follows a number of client wins, including CLOUD NINE just last week. Recently The Big Bamboo Agency secured placement in the Top 50 UK PR agencies in the North of England. The agency now has 17 team members, including designers, content writers, and PR, social media, and brand specialists.

The partnership management platform, impact.com, has announced a partnership with Ellos in the Nordics, as its team continues to expand across Europe. Ellos is a fashion and lifestyle company within Ellos Group – the leading e-commerce group in the Nordic region, with digital transformation high up on its agenda. Active across Scandinavia, Ellos has previously worked with various affiliate networks such as Awin and chose impact.com following an extensive pitch process. The decision was based on the needs of the business: It sought to work with a platform that could manage multiple channels and deliver transparency in all areas, allowing it to scale its programme in exactly the right way for this leading ecommerce brand.

impact.com has also announced that it has been named a Market Leader in Research in Action’s (RIA) Partner Management Automation (PMA) Report, which surveyed over 10,000 IT and business decision makers across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. Noted in the report as “driving the partnership economy forward,” impact.com scored top marks on its breadth and depth of service offering and highest overall average for company strategy.

Manchester digital marketing agency First Internet has created the website for Peel NRE and Cubico Sustainable Investments’ new renewable energy venture, Peel Cubico Renewables. The two companies formed a partnership last year to develop more onshore wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) projects across the country, to support the UK’s decarbonisation agenda. First Internet has created the digital platform for the partnership, which will showcase the range of projects being developed and form the basis of the whole marketing programme, helping Peel Cubico Renewables reach its target of delivering more than 500MW of onshore renewable energy projects over the next five to 10 years.

Jargon PR, a small international PR agency, has announced its appointment by POD Studios, a paid digital marketing agency based in London. Jargon PR will work with POD Studios on an ongoing awards-led campaign that will celebrate the growth of the business and increase the presence for the brand in the digital marketing space. Jargon PR will work with POD Studios to raise awareness of the agency’s recent growth and successes through an ongoing awards campaign. The campaign will aim to drive POD Studios’ authority within the digital marketing industry and create a competitive edge for the business, showcasing the capabilities of the agency.