Last month saw Ellie Goulding launch her first ever collection of shoes, in partnership with Europe’s biggest shoe retailer, Deichmann. The star-studded fashion show and launch event took place in East London, with Richmond & Towers managing the UK element of the Europe-wide launch and securing some fantastic media attendance and coverage for the collaboration. In light of the success of the launch and the positive response from media to the collection, we look at how to choose the right celebrity ambassador or partner for your brand. The Right Fit When it comes to working with a celebrity ambassador it’s important to do your research. Aligning a brand to an individual is a big step and one that should not be undertaken without proper investigation into the individual and various aspects of their lives (career, interests and social habits etc.). Is this individual (or indeed group of individuals) aligned to the brand’s core values and will their star power help augment it in a way that is authentic, believable and attractive to your target consumer For example, if the brand messaging is aspirational or health focused, choosing a celebrity who is constantly photographed either with a drink in their hand or falling out of a club, won’t work. In addition to the product or service that you would like to promote, it’s important to think of them as an ambassador for the brand and business as a whole. Do their values align to that of your company? Detailed research and bigger picture thinking may even serve to provide the brand with additional touch points with the individual and in turn, a more authentic partnership. Who is your target consumer and how do they communicate? As a brand or company, you need to know who your target consumer is and how they communicate. Are they massively influenced by social media (more likely than not this is true), what TV shows do they watch and do they listen to radio? Which websites and blogs are they visiting the most? Are they still reading newspapers, and what magazines are they influenced by? Understanding how your target customer digests content will ensure the brand selects an ambassador that appeals and communicates directly to its target market of consumers. Brands like to work with celebrities to appeal to their audiences. Increasingly, that means the celebrity should also have a massive, passionate following on social media. Personification is key The best celebrity endorsement or partnership will come from an organic ormutual appreciation for the service, product, brand or company. A good place to start is to look at who the brand’s biggest celebrity fans are and look to establish or indeed grow this relationship. If the brand has not yet acquired this following and is seeking to strike up this type of relationship with a potential celebrity ambassador, it’s important to get your product in their hands or have them experience the service or brand first-hand. This allows the celebrity buy into the brand and a become an advocate, long before the official (and legal) elements of the partnership come to light. Without getting these elements right, the partnership will likely fall short of delivering ROI on the often huge sums required to secure a celebrity ambassador for a brand.
AG Barr’s FUNKIN COCKTAILS appoints food and drink specialist, Richmond & Towers (R&T). The employee-owned PR and social agency will oversee all UK trade communications for FUNKIN across its on and off trade channels. This will communicate the simplicity of the brand’s range of ready to drink nitro cocktails, mixers… Read more
Brand engagement agency R&T (Richmond & Towers) has been appointed by Brooklyn Brewery to oversee its social media presence in the UK. Following on from a successful year of leading UK PR for Brooklyn Brewery – which saw the launch of its new pilsner – R&T has won the brand’s… Read more
Are you ready to dive into the latest consumer behaviour trends? With the world around us continuing to evolve at pace, it’s more important than ever to keep up with what consumers are thinking, feeling and doing right now – and take a step back to consider the effect this… Read more
Richmond & Towers is celebrating the successful launch of the London Tonic Series at Beefeater London: The Home of Gin. Beefeater is the world’s most awarded gin brand and with its distillery based in the heart of London, it is the only historic dry gin distilled in the capital city, making it a true London spirit. The London Tonic Series is aimed at shining a light on the best of London’s arts and culture scene, from stand-up comedians to all-star mixologists, through a series of monthly events while putting the Kennington distillery on London’s map for locals and tourists alike. The Beefeater London Speakeasy was the first of these events, and was a celebration of the spoken word scene in London; a speakeasy in the truest sense of the word. Selecting strong talent was key to the success of the event, and as such the team decided to work with Joshua Idehan, one of London’s most talented spoken word artists. Joshua is a frontman of the Benin City and HughLoveHugh bands and a Mercury prize winner. His wealth of experience meant he was able to provide an interesting narrative on his story to date, a mini spoken word work-shop on the art of spoken word, and entertaining performances of his work. With the talent secured, the team set about designing and promoting the Speakeasy. The Gallery Bar at the Beefeater distillery was chosen to host the event due to its open and airy feel and the team designed artwork to brand the space and stage, giving it an authentic ‘speakeasy’ vibe. To encourage as many Londoners as possible to attend, it was decided that there would be two sessions, both free of charge, with guests asked to donate to the London Tonic Series’ charity partner – City & Guilds of London Art School; a not-for-profit, specialist higher education institution based in Kennington. Events, listings, drinks, lifestyle and London focused press were targeted, resulting in strong pre event coverage on the London Evening Standard, Time Out and Londonist. Guests at each session enjoyed refreshing Beefeater Dry gin and tonics upon arrival, as well as delicious literary inspired cocktails – an oolong tea martini renamed Oo-la-long the Watchtower – during the ten minute interval. The event was a sell-out following the strong coverage secured, and the feedback from guests on the day was very positive with many citing how it had opened their eyes to some fantastic local culture and talent.
AG Barr’s FUNKIN COCKTAILS appoints food and drink specialist, Richmond & Towers (R&T). The employee-owned PR and social agency will oversee all UK trade communications for FUNKIN across its on and off trade channels. This will communicate the simplicity of the brand’s range of ready to drink nitro cocktails, mixers… Read more
Brand engagement agency R&T (Richmond & Towers) has been appointed by Brooklyn Brewery to oversee its social media presence in the UK. Following on from a successful year of leading UK PR for Brooklyn Brewery – which saw the launch of its new pilsner – R&T has won the brand’s… Read more
Are you ready to dive into the latest consumer behaviour trends? With the world around us continuing to evolve at pace, it’s more important than ever to keep up with what consumers are thinking, feeling and doing right now – and take a step back to consider the effect this… Read more
In July of this year, Richmond & Towers were tasked with the takeover of Deichmann’s Facebook and Instagram accounts. Here’s how they spent the past month both planning and implementing a brand new social media campaign: Brainstorms & planning Equipped with clear KPI’s, the lifestyle team organised a series of brainstorms including an all agency and smaller team sessions. A number of key themes set to run throughout the three month campaign were established, along with weekly pillars of activity that would inform both the social media shoot and subsequent monthly content planners. Once these had been agreed, the four types of post that would be used during the campaign were agreed upon: Curated content Visual content (photoshoot based) Product lead posts News jacking Creation of visual content A picture tells a thousand words – and this is especially true when it comes to talking about shoes socially. A combination of styled imagery, fun model shots and clever GIFs were developed from the key themes and each shot was planned in detail ahead of the social media shoot. The team worked with a stylist both ahead and during the shoot to ensure ideas were feasible and the smooth running of the day. Shots were selected on site with the photographer to ensure faster turnaround on assets. Scheduling of content Once imagery was approved, the team worked closely with the Richmond Towers in-house social media team to ensure content was scheduled for periods when engagement was high on both platforms and posts were likely to perform best. Paid for spend The agency’s social team also advised on the best posts to support with advertising spend, how much to place behind each and why (e.g. strong imagery or key sales messages included). As one of the campaigns KPI’s was to build likes on Facebook, Like Us Ads were chosen to support the campaign, along with Brand Awareness Ads. Reactive trend activity The team put together a list of key websites, blogs and influencers with whom the brand should be engaging with online. These are monitored daily and if posts are likely to interest the Deichmann follower, the team create reactive content (posts, shares, comments or likes) for the most relevant platform. Overall performance The campaign has had a great start, seeing increases in Facebook and Instagram followers, and engagement rates across both sites are performing at up to three times the industry standard.
AG Barr’s FUNKIN COCKTAILS appoints food and drink specialist, Richmond & Towers (R&T). The employee-owned PR and social agency will oversee all UK trade communications for FUNKIN across its on and off trade channels. This will communicate the simplicity of the brand’s range of ready to drink nitro cocktails, mixers… Read more
Brand engagement agency R&T (Richmond & Towers) has been appointed by Brooklyn Brewery to oversee its social media presence in the UK. Following on from a successful year of leading UK PR for Brooklyn Brewery – which saw the launch of its new pilsner – R&T has won the brand’s… Read more
Are you ready to dive into the latest consumer behaviour trends? With the world around us continuing to evolve at pace, it’s more important than ever to keep up with what consumers are thinking, feeling and doing right now – and take a step back to consider the effect this… Read more