Strategy, the art of mapping future states and plotting the path to get there.

You’d be forgiven if the first image that came to mind when you heard the word McCain was a family meal given the brand’s focus on family connection in previous advertisements. In 2021, McCain wanted to try something new and engage with a younger audience. To attract this new audience we needed to reflect the way they approached meal times. What we found was that, firstly, dinner time is often their transition period from the ‘bad’ to the ‘good' parts of their day, and, secondly, they don’t follow the pattern of a traditional mealtime- for them, anything was acceptable. It was this understanding that led us to the overarching campaign thought that, with McCain, 'Anything Goes’. And who better to bring that to life than larger than life Drag Queen Baga Chipz?!

Agency: We Are Social

Dr. Martens is one of the world's most iconic brands and products, but when we started working with them they were faced with myriad interpretations of the brand depending on where you were in the world. To create a successful global campaign we needed to find what unites our global audience and show them that Dr. Martens was the brand for them. To do so we embarked on global research to understand what resilience, self-expression and rebellion meant in our vastly different markets. Armed with this information we were able to determine two potential brand territories which we then took back to the markets to test which was strongest. One came out a winner, and a global multi-year campaign was born. Enter, Tough As You.

Agency: We Are Social

Question: How do you reconnect a global alcohol brand to a sport they were once synonymous with? Answer: You create a multi-channel two month campaign in six weeks. Creating the framework from which the activity was to hang we needed to find the sweet spot between the sport, the championship, and the brand, which we found in the strategic territory: ‘in the face of fierce rivalries, Guinness celebrates humanity and friendship’. This became the guiding light for all our activity which spanned digital platforms, vodcasts, and experiential. The results? A Facebook spotlight award, and a firm reconnection to rugby.

Agency: We Are Social

In 2019 we were faced with an interesting challenge, a large rugby sporting event happening across the globe sponsored by a key rival, which we couldn’t, officially, talk about. Made even tougher was the fact the time of the matches wasn't conducive to marketing our product. So we had to think creatively. Through a deep knowledge of the brand and product, an understanding of rugby players use of coffee in their pre game rituals, and a semi throw away comment of 'Guinness kind of looks like coffee’, we came up with a guerrilla marketing plan that would also generate Guinness additional revenue. Finding and partnering with Brad Barritt, owner of coffee company Tiki Tonga, we created the 232 brew, roasted to the same temperature Guinness roasts its barley. And it was a blinding success, dominating Guinness globals’ IG channel, as well as selling out of stock. And not only that, leading to a new line of Guinness products that can still be purchased today.

Agency: We Are Social

A new tagline, declining brand association, and a global pandemic isn’t a recipe for success. We knew Pringles needed to shake up their approach if they were going to grab the attention of a new audience and keep Pringles top of mind. Instead of trying to speak to them where we were, we went where we knew they were spending their time…hours and hours of their time..TikTok. With the growing use of TikTok to keep us entertained during the pandemic, we knew it was our way into their lives. But how do we do that in an authentic, and inexpensive, way? We tapped into the behaviours of the platform, challenging our audience to make Pringles the must-have accessory for Gen Z’s social content. And it worked, with #playwithpringles breaking out of the UK becoming a challenge with over 4.7 BILLION views worldwide. TikTok even called it one of the most viral moments of the year.

Agency: We Are Social

Uber Eats were launching their new ‘Bring It’ campaign with a TVC and cut-downs, but they needed a way to further the reach of their campaign and more deeply connect with their audience. During the pandemic Twitch saw a dramatic rise in streaming. But this rise in streaming didn’t automatically equate to success for Twitch streamers across the UK, with many streaming to few or no viewers. During this period of intense loneliness and isolation we knew that Uber Eats could spread love and connection amongst the gaming community using the unique platform ‘raid’ feature. We partnered with two of Twitch’s biggest streamers, @Manny and @Miniminter, who dropping in on unsuspecting streamers bring attention and love to their streams. The results? #bringit was mentioned thousands of times in just a few hours, and perfectly setting up the final showdown between @Manny and @Miniminter, with the loser suffering their ‘Hot Chick’ Uber Eats delivered forfeit.

Agency: We Are Social

Launched in 2021, England Football is the grassroots arm of The FA, connecting more people to football across England. Working with them since launch, we had a deep understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the brand. When we sat down with England Football to hold a future planning workshop to create the direction for the next few years we realised that the positioning of the brand created in 2021 was no longer fit for purpose. Working closely with the team at England Football, we embarked on a project that would reinvigorate the England Football brand and clarify its position within The FA and the country. Watch this space for the rollout of the refreshed England Football brand, further connecting The FA to the country through the work and activity of England Football.

Agency: 50 Sport

Bitdefender is one of the world’s best cybersecurity companies, and yet one of the least known. We pitched to be their brand agency with an approach unheard of in the industry - driving a positive emotional response to a cybersecurity brand, rather than using fear as the key motivator. This led to the development of the customer facing brand platform - Protecting Your Important, which is now being used globally to connect Bitdefender’s business, consumer and Formula One audiences through brand campaigns and fame driving activations.

Agency: 50 Sport

Kellogg’s came to us looking to increase awareness and consideration in a younger audience. Over recent years they had seen their appeal amongst 16-24 year olds diminish, with the sweet snack seen as something for ‘kids’. We needed to find a way to connect with this young audience in a way that would shift their perception and encourage them to reach for a Rice Krispies Squares. What better way to do that than speaking to them directly? Partnering with research extraordinaires Kindling Strategy we devised a means through which we could superspeed creative development with the help of our target audience. We developed multiple creative options as stimulus and placed them in front of 10 friendship pairs of 16-24 year olds from across the UK. Hosting these sessions over zoom allowed us - agency and clients - to witness the conversation in real time. At the end of round one we had a clear view on what needed changing, so we altered the creative and put that in front of more friendship pairs. That second round created a clear winner with all in agreement. This we developed into a full TTL campaign.Description goes here

Agency: We Are Social

Fifty Digital has been on a journey of growth over the past seven years, shifting with the times to offer rights holders and brands the greatest chance of success. To reflect the changing landscape Fifty Digital knew that they needed a brand that more accurately reflected the agency it was becoming. With a newly formed Leadership Team we ran workshops to uncover the new vision, mission, positioning, and strategies that would take us into the future. This was then refined down to its final form and developed into a new brand identity, including morphing from Fifty Digital into 50 Sport - a nod to Fifty Digital’s past cementing its future in Sport.

Agency: 50 Sport