Always turned on in Hollywood
oomph has been working with the world's first online desktop, nivio, for 18 months now and nivio's initial step into the USA was done with more than a little splash last week. A platinum sponsor of one of the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) events in Los Angeles, and a launch party at a Mulholland Drive residence, made quite an entry into the online desktop space. We're expecting serious interest from Microsoft and more work to help build the nivio brand and product globally. And yes, always turned on! is the tagline. Want to know what it does? Drop us a line or check out the website.
Discovering Saudi Arabia in a Bank in Riyadh
oomph have just completed a 4 month journey of discovery - literally. Having beaten Mckinsey's and Forresters to win the Dicovery Phase for a digital strategy for Riyad(sic) Bank, we submitted our final presentation, proof of concept and implementation programme on November 8th. By all accounts , plaudits have been very positive. We think it's a game changing piece of work for the Bank and hope to be involved in implementation in 2011 follwowing further procurement dicussions. (It is a serious Bank, it is the Middle East). We covered organisation, processes, business rules, technology platforms, strategy, online marketing, social media (this will be big!), brand, usablity and eCommerce, interviewed over 60 people and reviewed over 50 sites in our work. Fascinating and compelling. We'll work with our client to develop best practice models from this work so watch this space......
Microsoft must be cool
Hush hush. New project about to be signed for Microsoft. Thanks to a very edgy IT research consultancy we know. Full of very clever folk. More to come soon when we do some fabulous work.
We always wanted to be in the Top 40
Chart positions may not be quite as important to us as they are to the likes of Madonna, Lady GaGa and The Wurzels, but our mums love the fact that oomph are in at a very respectable number 40 in the Bristol Media Top 100 for the South West. As one of the biggest creative networks in the country, Bristol Media aims to support and promote an exciting, competitive creative and media industry right across the region. For the compilation of this Top 100 list of creative agencies, all 3500 member companies were asked to rate each other. For more information, take a look at www.bristolmedia.co.uk.
Oomph spins the Good With Money coin for The Co-operative Financial Services
oomph have just launched a new website for The Co-operative Financial Services in support of their current brand campaign, which is aimed at explaining exactly how they are 'good with money'.
The site is designed around a 3-d animation of a gold coin, which can be flipped from one side to the other to demonstrate the two equally balanced sides of The Co-operative's story. On one side sits their ethically based community programmes, social responsibililty and green credentials. One the other side is the bank's financial expertise, their history of financial solidity and their long-standing commitment to good value.
Carl Sharples, Head of Customer Propositions, said 'We've worked closely with oomph on proposition, creative and execution on this project to evidence our commitment to good value and customer support as well as our well known ethical credentials and the fact we're owned by our members. There's a clear strategic thought, a powerful, imaginative and engaging concept to bring it to life, and rich content linked to guidance, products, general information and our brand. We'll be building on this work in the future to enhance our reputation for commitment to Value, Fairness and Social Responsibility'.
Stephen Priestnall, Planning Partner at oomph added 'The Co-operative brand has a massive part to play in the financial sector in the midst of a recession, as consumers seek out trusted partners. The purpose of this site is to start to engage them in an understanding of what the Co-operative Financial Service's commitment to looking after your money means. We know it's hard to be original, different and relevant in the FS sector so it's great to get the opportunity to look at a creative route that really can't be owned by anyone else.'
Desk Shortage
It looks like we'll soon need to fetch a few more of these lovely glass-topped desks from Ikea if we take on any more new staff this year. So far in 2009 we've seen three fresh young faces joining the team here at Oomph headquarters in Cirencester.
The rapid expansion of our all-girl, all-skills media team continues with the arrival of 25year old Helen Houghton as a Media Analyst. Getting page after page of numbers to add up comes naturally to our Helen, whose career path has lead her to Oomph's door via Nelson Thornes publishers and Pop2 Internet, which she informs us is where she discovered her interest in marketing and analytics with a particular fondness for FMCG Branding and Consumer Behaviour. A native of the most northerly and unspoilt parts of the Welsh countryside, Helen's cheerful and outgoing personality hides a hidden determination and strong character. How else does someone get to the Gym like clockwork twice a week, every week and still have time to drink a dozen cups of tea a day? When asked for a few interesting bits of personal info to add to this blog, Helen came back with these two fascinating facts; she is the proud owner of a pair of original size 9 feet and has an irrational fear of bones, which we couldn't confirm the phobia name for at time of going to press. Possibly Cartilogenophobia? But that was on Wikipedia, so who knows.
After spending a number of weeks freelancing with us, 30year old Interactive Designer Richard Kean enjoyed our lively banter so much that he decided to stay on, hoping we wouldn't notice his freelance contract had run out in February. Seriously though, before joining the Oomph creative team Richard worked as a successful freelancer, was an in-house designer at Cheltenham design agency Room 58 and even owned his own design agency down in Bournemouth. And, if we ever throw a cocktail party, he apparently does a mean Tom Cruise impression. The well-travelled Richard brings with him a wide array of print and design experience - from putting together complex exhibition stand designs to creating brand identities for major blue chip companies. Of course, as a self-confessed family man with two lively young children, Richard doesn't have a lot of spare time to himself. When he does, he tells us he likes to play guitar, swim and shoot people on computer games - but not necessarily all at the same time.
Richard is not the only one to join us hailing from the South Coast. We have recently welcomed aboard the lovely Louise Bryant-Hunt. Louise joins us as an Account Handler on The Co-operative Financial Services account team. Relocating to the Cotswolds from Southampton, Louise has previously worked with the Remarkable Group and Fusion Marketing and Communications. With a keen-eye for detail, (the other eye is not so keen), Louise launched into her first Oomph project - a major website redesign - with real gusto and great success. Once she's at home with her manic rescue cat on the sofa and certificate for GCSE Russian hanging on the wall, cheese-loving Louise likes nothing more than to practice her passion for all foods Italian. She's even learnt to make her own Pasta. Nice. With outside interests in every activity from gardening to scuba diving, Louise wants to try out Zorbing next. You know, when you get zipped into a giant hamster ball and pushed down a steep hill by a farmer. After that, who knows?
Cotswold Outdoor launches edgy new website.
Outdoor equipment specialist Cotswold Outdoor have this week launched www.stayontheedge.co.uk - a new forum-style website that gives both climbers and mountaineers an online base camp for mountain safety, spreading the important message about keeping your mountain senses sharp. It was conceived, designed and built by Oomph and aimed squarely at the mountaineering and climbing community, where even the most experienced members know you need to strike the right balance between the instinct for adventure and the instinct for survival.
With the valuable participation of the Plas y Brenin National Mountain Centre and support of the British Mountaineering Council, Cotswold and Oomph have created stayontheedge.co.uk as an independent mountain safety information source. The site's aim? Simple. To help make enjoying the world's mountains safer for everyone.
www.stayontheedge.co.uk gives newer members of the climbing and mountaineering community the opportunity to learn key safety issues and develop crucial skills. It also enables more experienced mountaineers to share their valuable knowledge with each other so they can better understand their individual limits and find the best way to safely overcome them.
The website has launched with a thought-provoking competition, where the members of one lucky UK climbing or mountaineering club will win themselves a prize worth over £2,000.
Vicki Owen, Marketing Director at Cotswold Outdoor, said 'Our DNA as an outdoor retailer is firmly grounded in expertise and affinity with real outdoor adventure enthusiasts, and we've always tried to maintain a range of products and to recruit and retain staff with real and relevant experience to climbing and mountaineering. This site and the partnership with Plas y Brenin is a great example of this commitment'. Stephen Priestnall, Planning Partner at Oomph noted 'Making a decision to focus on an online execution to a very tight community, naturally sceptical of advertising, has proven to be a real test of our media, planning, creative and design practitioners. The result is a piece of communication with genuine relevance and value to the audience, supported by great content from Cotswold and their partners.'
Cotswold Outdoor is one of the UK's leading retailers of outdoor clothing and equipment. With over 40 stores around the UK, Cotswold stocks all leading outdoor brands and helps people make the most of the outdoors with its uniquely enthusiastic approach to providing expert advice and service.
Insight Research goes deeper with Oomph
Insight Research Group, a leading healthcare & consumer global research company, has just launched their new website, created and built by Oomph at www.insightrg.com . Richard Gilmore, Chief Executive of Insight and Chairman of Cello Research, commented "there is as much art and intelligence to research as there is science and the sector is not great at making this clear. We worked with Oomph on a focused brief to show how we think in getting to the root of the problems our clients use research to resolve - in all sectors and across the world. The website achieves this brilliantly with 'the truth is not always on the surface' as a concept". Stephen Priestnall, CEO at Oomph noted that "clearly we wanted to achieve an elegant and innovative visual design, but we also succeeded at making the site 95% AAA accessible (the rest is AA) as well as using a cost effective CMS so Insight can control key areas of their own content."
Insight Research Group is a global marketing research consultancy established in healthcare and with a growing consumer and business division drawn from a huge pool of expertise and different techniques. A leading member of the Cello Research group of companies, they work in more than 50 countries across Europe, Africa, North America and Asia.
The Cheltenham Ladies' College appoints Oomph for brand and web task
Cheltenham Ladies' College, one of the UK's leading international 11-18 academic institutions has appointed Oomph, the multi-channel communications agency, to redevelop their website. This will also be used as a platform to promote their brand reflecting not just their stellar academic performance but also their long track record of innovative approaches to personal development through the arts, music, sport and technology. Amanda Naylor, Marketing Director commented "The Cheltenham Ladies' College has an impressive reputation for providing an excellent education. For over 150 years we have been in constant evolution as the needs of our students and the outside world have changed. Today we prepare our girls for the global and technological challenges and opportunities of the 21st century. Through our website, we want to highlight the leading role played by the College and by our Principal, Vicky Tuck in shaping opinion about what constitutes a high value education for tomorrow's women. Oomph presented themselves as an agency thinking of the big picture as well as having the expertise to take our brand through all channels." Rodger Williams, Creative Partner at Oomph noted "researching for the proposal, it's clear Cheltenham Ladies' College has massive strength in its brand values. If we can help present these to their current, former and prospective students & parents as well as opinion formers, it will be a genuinely rewarding job of creative brand development and execution".
The Cheltenham Ladies' College is an independent boarding and day school for girls aged 11 to 18. Founded in 1853, the College has been at the forefront of girls' education for over 150 years and has a worldwide reputation for academic excellence. With some 865 students, the girls thrive on expert teaching, small classes, state of the art facilities and a vast range of extra-curricular activities and go on to study at leading universities, both in the United Kingdom and in the United States.
Oomph hires jungle tracker
As Oomph expands its media team, the jungle that is online media buying and planning needs someone who can machete their way through to some sensible numbers. Charlotte Summers, fresh from skydiving, camel riding, desert trekking and rainforest tracking is that person and has joined Oomph to take on a more adventurous challenge. Having spent time previously with Ecclesiastical and Intel as a proving ground for serious marketing skills, now its time to get down and dirty with serious spreadsheets, clicktags and lunches with media aggregators. Yes.