WE'RE 5!!!!!

5 years ago, in a small 3rd floor office the Bluesoup dream began in earnest. We can’t remember the specifics, but it probably involved a bacon sarnie, cake and chocolate. Steve arrived with a plant, a desk light and a bin bag full of CDs. And as they say, we’ve never looked back and the rest is history!

It’s been an eventful ride but we’re blessed with a great team, a diverse & wonderful mix of clients who are great fun to work with and of course the media who look after us admirably.

In order that we shared the celebrations, we sent some personalised cakes to our nearest & dearest….

Roll on the next 5 years…..

UH OH...

Tin of Mini Hero’s in the office and even Steve is playing Christmas CDs -although he’s refusing to wear the musical Christmas tie Meg brought for him!

It’s only 11am and most of the sweets have gone.

It’ll be mince pies and Quality Street next. All diets have now been officially cancelled until after Christmas!

TVTASTIC

Delighted to say we’ve just been asked to come up with 6, yes 6, concepts for a 2013 TV campaign!

Can’t say much more than that at this stage other than it’s a campaign for a business telephony client.

Good news for us is that Tony, our illustrious copywriter, is famed for devising the Buzby campaign for BT way back when Noah was a lad! Happy memories for him and a very exciting campaign ahead!

....AND NOW WE'VE WON PAY PER CLICK

We’re delighted to announce that having appointed Bluesoup to handle all offline activity back in the summer, John Fowler Holidays have now asked us to take over all paid search activity too.

The campaign goes live this month ahead of the traditional push in January.

This marks a significant win as it allows us to look at the overall ad spend in a more holistic manner and demonstrates again our strong & proven credentials in the digital arena.

Roll on January!

SOUP OF THE MONTH :DECEMBER

Perhaps the easiest month of the year. Turkey and vegetable leftovers for the perfect Boxing Day soup…..or if you’re Meg, just the vegetables.

Merry Christmas!

OH THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS FRIGHTFUL...

….so we thought we’d get the tree up.

Mulled wine, cake, sweets and Christmas CDs today.

MERRY CHRISTMAS (and its still a week to go ’til December!)

BLUESOUP DOES DAVINA

It didn’t feature in the original business plan, but after almost 5yrs it’s come to something when you go downstairs one Wednesday lunchtime to find Steve, Meg & Kate “doing Davina”.

We’re not certain if/when it will happen again but look out for the soon to be released Bluesoup fitness DVD. Available at all good retailers, but probably in the discounted section!

Check out the video. Be the best thing you’ve done all year

Grapevine!

AND ANOTHER STEVE...

We’re delighted to announce the arrival of Steve Sanger to the Bluesoup party.

Steve has an enviable track record in responsive advertising, and although he drives a hard bargain with the media, is remarkably well liked! He brings a wealth of experience with him and is a welcome addition to the team.

There’s a debate raging to help us differentiate between the Steve’s. There was a suggestion that as Steve (Tricker) is of a smaller frame, he should be known as Steve 2. He’s not too keen but the proposal seems to be gathering momentum.

If you have any workable suggestions please email them to steve@bluesoupsomms.co.uk and I’m sure one of them will reply!

SOUP OF THE MONTH: NOVEMBER

                Back by popular demand is our soup of the month.

Bluesoup has nothing to do with soup, despite it being in our name, and despite the fact that we’re partial to the odd bowl now and again. However the Soup of the Month we published when we launched was always popular, so as we approach our 5th anniversary, it seems only right to return to our roots.

So the soup this month….roasted beetroot of course given all the work we’ve been doing with PWR+. What better way to start and a robust winter taste to boost!

Enjoy.

STEVE'S IN 7TH HEAVEN!

Long car journey’s are a regular part of our life – as are service stations and their limited selection of grub. But we discovered something new and exciting on Tuesday. Not one, not two….but 5 pigs in blankets on a stick. And hot too!!

Haven’t seen Steve as excited since Take That reformed!

Somehow think we may be detouring past a certain Shell petrol station on every journey from here on.

REACTIONS OF A NINJA!

Tuesday 1:30pm. The brief…..to give September sales a last minute kick for Farm & Cottage Holidays.

Tuesday 4:30pm. Front page of the Daily Telegraph secured for Wednesday’s paper.

Tuesday 6pm. New ad developed, approved & supplied.

Nuff said.

JOHN FOWLER HOLIDAYS CHOOSES BLUESOUP

We’re delighted to say that John Fowler Holidays has chosen Bluesoup as its marketing agency. John Fowler operate 14 holiday parks around the south west and as with all in this market, summer bookings are increasingly late so they needed a partner that could work as quickly as their market dictated.

So what attracted them to Bluesoup….? Probably a mix of our tenacious media buying, fast and creative design of ads and of course our can do attitude.

Happy days!

PWR+ IS HERE!!

You remember the new fruity sports drink we were working on back in June?

Well in a mind spinning 5 weeks from the initial meeting we had developed a brand identity and packaging. Not bad from a standing start by anyone’s standards.

The packaging has now been sent to the printers and we’re hoping to see the first bottles off the production line in early September.

One happy and excited client. One happy and excited agency.

FRUITY AND EXCITING!

Can’t say much at this stage, but we’ve just been appointed to develop the new brand identity, packaging and website for a new fruity sports drink.

All very hush hush, but we’re working with real life proper athletes and to add to the excitement, the product needs to be on the shelves in 10 weeks. Yep, you heard correct, from brief to finished, packaged product in 10 weeks (and we have to allow 4 weeks to make the labels-so we have 6 weeks)!!

Best get started……

HOORAH! THE MAYNARD SCHOOL CAMPAIGN IS LIVE

We’re delighted to announce that the campaign development work for The Maynard School, which we started in April, is now adorning the streets of Exeter. The campaign is making use of 48 sheet and 6 sheet posters, selected site by site, in high traffic areas for the target audience. The brief was to celebrate the history & success of the Maynard, whilst ensuring it remained contemporary & relevant to girls in 2012 (it’s an all girls school!).

Feedback from pupils, parents and staff has been really positive.  The bright, confident style has been well received and the designs are now filtering into internal pieces as well as a series of press executions.

Another job well done.

OLYMPIC TORCH PASSES BY THE OFFICE

A very excited office today as the Olympic torch passed just a few feet from Bluesoup HQ. Seeing as we are a bunch of elite athletes (see previous posts about the World Erg Challenge!) we really get the Olympic spirit! Yeh man.

Anyway, we were there, cheering, waving and straining to get a view as the torch headed “up country”. Tricky to get good shots, and poor Kelly appears to be looking the wrong way! She won’t admit what caught her eye and was more interesting than the torch! Answers on a postcard!

DIDN'T WE DO WELL...WORLD ERG CHALLENGE RESULTS

Team Bluesoup, consisting of 1 fat balding ex rower and 6 complete novices (2 of whom are part time) racked up an impressive 1,025,941m in the Concept2 World Erg Challenge which finished last night.  A final push from Ben, Steve & Meg got us over the line…but it was the team effort that set the foundations for such an impressive finish. We’re 70th in the table, but if you look at the average meters per team member we move up to 47th. Bam! We’re a transformed agency – we have calloused hands (of which we’re proud), we chat 500m splits on a night out and we goad each other into ridiculous challenges – Steve rowed a marathon on Saturday for the hell of it! We’ve also uncovered a highly competitive streak. Competition between Ben & Steve was fierce – with last minute rows being secretly completed with just hours to go! A massive effort from all concerned – we’re now gearing up for the Autumn Challenge. 2,000,000 meters perhaps?!

WE'RE RETIRING IN STYLE

Tingdene Parks have just appointed Bluesoup as their new agency. We’ll be working across design, online and media planning/buying. Tingdene have 19 retirement parks around the country, as well as 7 marinas. The company is recognized as one of the leaders in their field and have been acquiring, developing and running parks for almost 25 years.

We’ve already started work on refreshing and modernising the look & feel of the ads & brochure and are looking forward to developing and enhancing the media strategy in the months ahead.

WE'RE ALL GOING ON A COACHING HOLIDAY!

We’re delighted to announce that we’ve been chosen as the new agency for Lochs & Glens Holidays. Lochs & Glens own 7 amazing hotels in Scotland and transport their guests there from around the UK in a fleet of luxury coaches. The campaign revolves around tactical regional press across the country combined with national and online support.  And as the consumer base changes we’ll be working alongside Lochs & Glens to ensure that the media strategy keeps pace.

As well as taking on the media planning & buying Bluesoup have also been tasked with freshening the creative look & feel of the ads, brochure and other printed materials.

SOUTH WEST WATER OPT FOR BLUESOUP

Source for Business, the division of South West Water focussing on the business sector, has chosen to work with Bluesoup for its launch campaign. An initial soft launch is planned for the SW region with possibilities to roll out to national activity as the market becomes more competitive. Comms will focus on energy and money saving initiatives for a range of corporates before more targeted sector strategies are introduced.

WE'RE 46TH IN THE WORLD ERG CHALLENGE!

Well would you believe it? After the first day  of competition, Team Bluesoup are lying 46th out of 151 teams from around the globe. Not bad for a bunch of amateurs who’ve been rowing for just over a week.

Go Bluesoup!!

BEN'S A SPEED MENTOR

Ben was invited to the South Devon Tourism & Business Exhibition in South Devon today to join a team of 5 other industry experts acting as Speed Mentors. Tourism businesses from around South Devon attended and could grab a 10 minute meeting with a mentor to discuss their business and a particular marketing challenge. Whilst Ben covered traditional and digital media, other mentors were focussed on PR, Social, Marketing, Research & Business Planning.

In an exhausting but satisfying 2 hours the team cracked through 72 appointments. Roll on 2013!

BLUESOUP ENTER THE WORLD ERG CHALLENGE

Concept2’s one of our favourite clients and they make a mean rowing machine. So when we heard about the World Erg Challenge what could we do but enter!? They’ve kindly lent us 2 machines and the challenge is to see how far we can row between the 15th march and 15th April…compared to teams from all over the world.

Sounds OK heh? Well to put it into perspective, with the exception of Ben, the rest of the team have either never used a rowing machine or in the case of Steve and Jus, their use of the C2 has been at best limited. And now we’re in a competition with rowing clubs and gyms across the globe. what were we thinking?!

Training starts today, competition starts in a week. We’ll keep you posted.

BLUESOUP UNVEIL MOBILE WEBSITE FOR TRAVEL CLIENT

With the rapid growth of mobile web browsing on smart phones (already 10% of all searches) we’re pleased to announce the launch of a mobile site for Farm & Cottage Holidays. The site takes count of the fact that users browse “with purpose” when mobile and as a result we’ve focused on sales and conversions, leaving behind some of the prettier desktop styling. Buttons are larger to reflect the way users browse – with their thumbs and content has been stripped right back.

Thanks to the site, mobile bounce rate is down, time on site is up for mobile users, and most importantly conversions from mobile phones has leapt dramatically.

ADWORDS QUALIFIED - AGAIN

How quickly does a year go?! Within what seemed to be a blink of the eye the date.

THE MAYNARD SCHOOL OPT FOR BLUESOUP

We’re cockahoop to have been appointed by The Maynard School to help evolve their creative and media campaign for 2012 and beyond. The Maynard has been teaching girls in Exeter for over 350 years and is one of the top independent schools in the country. Our detailed research, fresh creative and media expertise won the day. If you’re in Exeter watch out for the new campaign due later this year.

STEVE'S GONNA BE A DADDY - AGAIN!

Big congratulations to the Tricker family…

2012 will see 3 become 4. Huge excitement (and some nerves) but it looks like it’s going to be a busy summer in the Tricker household as baby #2 makes an appearance.

What’s more entertaining for the rest of us is the inevitable DIY that’s headed Steve’s way – a pastime he relishes more than anything!

BLUESOUP TO DESIGN NEW IDENTITY FOR BIDEFORD!

Bluesoup have been appointed to develop a new brand identity for Bideford, our home town. As well as creating a new logo, we’ll also be working with the Town Council and Chamber of Commerce to  create a marketing strategy that will evolve as the plan for the town takes shape over the coming years. “We’re really excited to be working on this brief”, commented Steve Tricker, Creative Director. “There’s something special about working on your own home town and it will be great to see the work come to fruition over time”.

CONCEPT2 & WATTBIKE LONDON EVENT

Oh what a night! Bluesoup negotiated a deal with Canary Wharf magazine which saw 50 lucky readers invited to an exclusive city bar for a night of fitness & canapes…not two words usually seen together.

Revellers had the chance to win a signed GB Rowing one-piece lycra by posting the fastest time over 250m on the Concept2 indoor rower. If that wasn’t enough they had the opportunity to analyse their cycling style and see the effect of improvements before their eyes thanks to the Wattbike. And to top off the evening Mark Hunter, current Olympic Lightweight double sculler and 2011 & 2010 World champion brought his medals for all to see.

Quite an evening – and a few product sales to boot. Happy days.

BLUESOUP TO DEVELOP NEW PROSPECTUS FOR GREAT TORRINGTON SCHOOL

Great Torrington School have asked Bluesoup to develop a new prospectus for the school. Our fresh thinking stood out against other agencies who specialised in school projects and when coupled with our flexible, collaborative approach Bluesoup was the obvious choice. There’s a lot to be done in a short window…not least the school uniform is changing later this year which will require an 11th hour photo shoot when the uniform arrives.

FARM & COTTAGE HOLIDAYS ENJOY TV SUCCESS

We’re proud to reveal the TV ads which we’ve been working on for some time, and which went live on Boxing Day 2011. The brief was a challenging one; fun, approachable, holiday excitement and unique. We hope you’ll agree we succeeded.

The ads are running in the Bristol area, and early indications are that it’s a blinding success with bookings up disproportionally in this area. A fantastic result for us and the client…. Watch this space as there are plans for more ads later this year.

HERE COMES THE BRIDE...

A huge congratulations to our Kelly who got engaged at Christmas. Wonderful news…and a lovely bit of cake to celebrate! Confetti at the ready…