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2008 : 2007 : 2006 : 2005 : 2004
PC World digital job goes to Play
Source: Marketing I Published: 7 December 2005
PC World is to increase its digital marketing focus following the appointment of digital agency Play.
M&C Saatchi-backed Play was hired by Dixons Stores Group without a pitch to work on a Christmas campaign. It will then develop a digital strategy for next year.
It has been tasked with creating branding and response-based advertising, which will extend to online PC World's tagline "The best of both worlds", which is currently running in its Christmas TV campaign.
The activity will promote PC World's e-commerce capability, with ads running on newspaper websites and shopping comparison portals. Media will be handled by Walker Media.
Play was founded last summer by three former executives from Omnicom-owned agency itraffic, which is now part of Agency.com.
Find out more about Play... |
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Lucozade Sport launches new strategy in first web campaign
Source: Revolution I Published: November 2005
Lucozade Sport is to embark on its first web promotion in an effort to reposition the brand. The campaign will push the benefits of the drink on performance, regardless of consumers' sporting prowess.
Advertising will exploit Lucozade's partnerships with sports organisations, such as Players' Football Association and England Hockey, by targeting amateur and professional athletes who visit their sites. The push will evolve the 'Are You Ready?' strapline, which has featured in the brand's above-the-line ads for the last two years, in conjunction with sports stars Jonny Wilkinson, James Cracknell, Denise Lewis and Michael Owen.
Consumers will be eligible for a 15% discount on Lucozade Sport when they input a promotional code on the Lucozade Sport Science Academy (www.thelssa.com) site. They can buy products online and receive them by post.
Digital agency Play developed the campaign. There are also plans to redevelop the main site (www.lucozadesport.com).
Lucozade recently launched an integrated brand-awareness campaign in August to tie in with the beginning of the football season. It aimed to promote Lucozade's position as the official sports drink of the FA Premier League and its long-standing association with the Football Association. The push included TV, outdoor and press ads.
Find out more about Play... |
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ITV runs digital panel drive for new drama
Source: Revolution I Published: November 2005
ITV is using a digital outdoor campaign to promote ITV's new drama, Vincent, starring Ray Winstone as troubled private investigator Vincent Gallagher.
The broadcaster is piloting a campaign using Viacom's digital escalator panels in Tottenham Court Road tube station. They display sequenced messages, which appear to follow passengers down the escalators as if they are being trailed by a PI.
Messages are superimposed on a fuzzy, CCTV-style backdrop and climax with an image of Ray Winstone and the strapline: 'Vincent. The Daddy of all Private Investigators'.
The campaign was developed by digital agency Play. Play managing director Jon Sharpe said: “The digital escalator panels are an exciting development in outdoor media and perfectly suited to the effect we wanted to create with this campaign. As more traditional media channels become digitised, the onus is on agencies to think innovatively”.
In Vincent, being shown on ITV1 on Mondays at 9pm, Winstone portrays a workaholic, headstrong PI who forgets he is running a business and gets too involved in his work.
The cast includes Joe Absolom as Vincent's junior PI, Robert, and former Coronation Street actress Suranne Jones as Beth.
Find out more about Play... |
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ITV runs visionary campaign for new primetime drama
Source: New Media Age I Published: 20 October 2005
ITV has launched an interactive ad campaign to promote its new Saturday evening drama Afterlife.
The series revolves around psychic Alison Mundy (Lesley Sharp), whose life becomes linked with that of psychology lecturer Dr Robert Bridge (Andrew Lincoln) when a vision of his dead child begins to haunt her.
To communicate the drama's key themes, digital agency Play has produced a teaser campaign around the message 'Are you Alison?' scrawled in a child's handwriting across a variety of advertising units.
These are complemented by an overlay, messaging plus units (MPUs) and a Flash microsite that lets users experience Alison's plight by scrolling their mouse over ordinary objects in her house to reveal the sounds and visions she experiences.
The campaign primarily targets a female, 25-44-year-old ABC1 audience. Placements have been booked on the entertainment sections of sites like AOL, MSN, Yahoo!, Handbag and iVillage, plus the TV listings sections of Guardian.co.uk and RadioTimes.co.uk.
Jon Sharpe, MD of Play, said, "The campaign looks to elicit a level of interaction within the ad units themselves. It gives you the opportunity to get into the mindset of the show's protagonist." .
Find out more about Play... |
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Privilege backs 'posh' TV ads with interactive game
Source: Revolution UK I Published: 11 October 2005
Royal Bank of Scotland-owned insurance brand Privilege has launched an online campaign to support its above-the-line advertising.
Web activity continues the message of the M&C Saatchi TV ads, starring Joanna Lumley and a café of Northerness who affect a posh accent. The TV campaign uses the tagline 'You don't have to be posh to be Privileged' and aimed to increase brand awareness.
In the online campaign, a viral invites users to find out exactly how posh they are. Visitors to the Posh Icon web site (www.poshicon.com) are asked a series of questions: whether they are more likely to opt for 'all inclusive' or 'A la Carte', a sovereign ring or a diamond, a shell suit or a bespoke outfit.
The game generates a profile, which participants can forward to a friend, informing them how posh they are, along with details of what their pseudonym, celebrity partner, residence, car and tipple should be.
Users can then click through to request a quote or ask to be reminded to renew their car insurance. A skyscraper ad links to the insurance company's homepage, at Privelege.com, where visitors can sign up for services such as an exclusive web quote for home insurance. The game was developed by agency Play. The company's managing director, Jon Sharpe, commented: “It's refreshing to work with a major financial services brand that recognises the potential of interactive media, beyond search marketing and display advertising.”
Privilege was launched by The Royal Bank of Scotland in 1994 and attracted 250,000 customers in its first four years. It now covers about six million drivers and targets distinct audiences that include Londoners, executives and over-50s drivers.
Find out more about Play... |
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Play wins Marks Barfield site redesign work
Source: New Media Age I Published: 6 October 2005
M&C Saatchi partner digital agency Play has won a two-way pitch for the brief to redesign the Web site of London Eye architects Marks Barfield. Work has already started on the project, which aims to create a site that visually integrates with Marks Barfield's offline marketing materials and uses a bespoke content management system to meet the needs of a broad range of audiences.
Find out more about Play... |
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Tourism Australia hires Play to create atypical ad campaign
Source: New Media Age I Published: 22 September 2005
Tourism Australia has hired interactive marketing agency Play to create its new online ad campaign, which presents a less traditional image of the country to potential visitors.
Jon Sharpe, MD of Play, said the aim of the campaign is to display images of what people expect from Australia but to complement them with more quirky features.
"We show all the stereotypical sites of modern architecture, such as the Sydney Opera House, but we also want to show people driving a Jeep through the ocean," he said. "The campaign will promote a wide range of activities available in Australia."
Media agency Carat Interactive is responsible for planning the campaign, which will run on sites selected according to their audience and demographic composition, such as Yahoo!, The Guardian, Time Out, Gaydar, Channel 4 in the UK, and Die Zeit, Welt and travel portal Trekker's World in Germany. Dina Gower, account director at Carat, said they had planned 7m impressions.
Find out more about Play... |
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The Link hires Play for digital marketing
Source: Revolution UK I Published: 13 September 2005
Mobile phone retailer The Link has appointed Play as its first online marketing agency, having previously created its digital campaigns in-house.
Play, the digital agency set up by M&C Saatchi and former itraffic directors Matt Gorzkowski, Jon Sharpe and Ethan Segal, won the brief in a pitch against another, unnamed agency.
The Link plans to launch an online marketing campaign at the end of September, which will include a microsite, rich-media formats and a viral push.
The agency's initial remit will be to extend the brand's new above-the line ad campaign featuring the 'Suit You Sir' tailors from the Fast Show.
The characters, played by Paul Whitehouse and Mark Williams, already feature on the Dixons-owned chain's site, TheLink.com.
Meanwhile, Play also scooped the web marketing account for Tourism Australia in a co-pitch with M&C Saatchi, which works on its above-the-line ads.
Play won the account from agency Joshua. A campaign involving rich media is set to launch at the end of September.
Jon Sharpe, managing director of Play, said: "Travel and consumer electronics are sectors in which the internet has had a massive impact on the way consumers make purchases. We are eagerly anticipating the opportunity to help Tourism Australia and The Link take advantage of interactive media."
Find out more about Play... |
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Mandarin Oriental appoints UK agency Play
Source: New Media Age I Published: 22 July 2005
Global hotel group Mandarin Oriental has appointed UK-based agency Play as its interactive marketing agency. It's first brief is to create an email marketing campaign aimed at increasing awareness of specific hotels. This is Play's second new business win this month, following an appointment by Royal Bank of Scotland's Privilege Insurance brand (NMA 07.07.05). Play also counts ITV and Virgin as clients. It's a joint venture set up earlier this year between M&C Saatchi and three former directors of digital agency itraffic.
Find out more about Play... |
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Play produces viral for Privilege brand
Source: New Media Age I Published: 08 July 2005
Royal Bank of Scotland has appointed Play as the interactive creative agency for its Privilege Insurance brand.
Privilege has been working with digital planning/buying agency Outrider for some time, but previously developed the majority of its digital creative work in-house.
Jon Sharpe, MD of Play, said RBoS decided to appoint an agency to help build the brand online and boost conversions. Play has started working on a viral campaign for Privilege that's due to break in about six weeks' time.
Outrider will continue online planning/buying for Privilege.
Play is the joint venture between M&C Saatchi and three former executives of digital agency itraffic, set up earlier this year.
Find out more about Play... |
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ITV in major ad push for new reality show
Source: Revolution UK I Published: 22 June 2005
ITV is running an extensive ad campaign online to raise awareness of its new prime-time reality series, Celebrity Love Island.
A range of rich-media ad formats, a viral game, HTML and video emails, and a desktop 'screen-mate' have been developed by digital agency Play.
It was set up by former itraffic directors Matt Gorzkowski, Jon Sharpe and Ethan Segal with M&C Saatchi. The push will run throughout the series' five weeks of broadcast. Overlays, MPUs and expandable banners will be placed on sites including MSN.co.uk, handbag.com, fhm.com and hellomagazine.co.uk. Planning and buying was by mOne.
The show will be promoted through a viral game called Baby-O-Tronic in which players match contestants to find out what their offspring could look like. Users can also download Crab News Screen Mate, which sits on the desktop and offers news updates from the Island.
The technology for the ad formats was developed by b3 Products, a spin-off company of agency Lawton eMarketing. ITV appointed Graphico to develop and manage the web site for the series which will provide online coverage.
The series stars 12 celebrity singletons who are sent to an island paradise to compete for cash, votes and love.
Find out more about Play... |
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Celebrity Love Island online campaign to generate hypothetical offspring of contestants
Source: Revolution UK I Published: 16 May 2005
ITV is running an extensive online ad campaign to raise awareness of its primetime reality series 'Celebrity Love Island' starting today.
The show, which will feature 12 celebrities including Abi Titmuss, Blue member Simon Webbe, former Atomic Kitten star Liz McClarnon, Rebecca Loos and Callum Best, will be promoted by a viral game called Baby-O-Tronic, which allows players to match contestants and see what their offspring would look like.
A range of rich-media formats, a viral game, HTML and video emails, and a desktop "screen mate" have been developed by Play, the digital agency set up by M&C Saatchi and the former itraffic directors Jon Sharpe, Ethan Segal and Matt Gorzkowski.
The campaign running through the five weeks of broadcast will use overlays, MPUs and expandable banners placed across sites including MSN.co.uk, handbag.com, hellomagazine.co.uk and fhm.com, with planning and buying by mOne.
Crab News Screen Mate, a friendly downloadable crab, sits on desktops and keeps users updated with all the news from the island.
The technology for the ad formats was developed by b3 Products, a spin-off from Lawton eMarketing. ITV selected agency Graphico to develop and run the website for the show, which is planned to launch in time for the first episode. It will provide online coverage of the show in which celebrity singletons are sent to an island paradise to compete for cash, votes and love. The show is being hosted by Patrick Kielty and Kelly Brook.
Find out more about Play... |
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Play wins Virgin Books account
Source: New Media Age I Published: 14 January 2005
Virgin Books has signed up Play, the new digital joint venture between M&C Saatchi and three ex-itraffic directors, as its first-ever interactive agency of record.
The book publisher and retailer is the first client win to be officially announced by Play, which launched in December.
However, NMA reported in November that the then-unnamed agency had been appointed by Nestle Purina, which owns petfood brands including Bonio and GoCat (NMA 25.11.04).
Jon Sharpe, MD at Play, said that another couple of client deals have also been signed since, but he could not reveal details.
Play has already started working with Virgin Books to review its brand positioning across all channels. The agency will take responsibility for interactive strategy, creative and media planning/buying.
"Virgin Books has done some site building before, but this is the first time it has appointed an interactive marketing agency," said Sharpe.
"Publishers typically spend all their marketing budget in-store and don't have any for above-the-line campaigns. Online will let them reach a wider audience more cost-effectively."
The agency expects to launch its first campaign for Virgin Books in the next couple of months, with viral and mobile marketing activity likely to be first on the agenda.
Find out more about Play... |
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Virgin Books selects digital agency Play
Source: Net Imperituve I Published: 13 January 2005
Virgin Books has appointed Play as its interactive marketing agency, as the Richard Branson-owned retailer and publisher aims to expand its online presence.
Play will take responsibility for all strategic planning, creative and media planning and buying.
Jamie Moore, marketing director of Virgin Books, said, “Interactive marketing is becoming increasingly important to our business and Play impressed us with their understanding of the Virgin brand and their creativity.”
The agency's initial tasks for Virgin Books are likely to include a review of their brand positioning, a viral marketing campaign and a mobile marketing campaign.
Jon Sharpe, managing director of Play said: “We're hugely excited about working with Virgin Books. They have a great brand, a diverse catalogue and a real understanding of the value of building relationships with consumers through interactive channels.”
Play is a joint venture between Jon Sharpe, Ethan Segal, Matt Gorzkowski and M&C Saatchi.
Find out more about Play... |
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