The Mayor and the Bears

Andy Street visits One Black Bear

Well, today was quite something in the history of One Black Bear as we welcomed none other than West Midlands Metro Mayor, Andy Street to OBB towers.

Rounding off 2022 in style, we showed Andy around our newly refurbished offices on George Street, JQ. Andy chatted to every single bear present and even took the opportunity to critique some creative scamps adorning our walls. Our esteemed Chairman, Paul Bramwell, also received a special call out for his continued Create Central contribution so all in all, what a great afternoon.

Jon and I explained how we’d invested significantly to transform an unloved, old jewellery maker’s cottage into a highly finished space and how this has helped our quest to reconnect the OBB team again post COVID. Job creation and developing young talent really drove our passion on this refurb’ project with five new recruits added since we flung open the doors.

The Mayor was also interested in how we’d retained and repurposed age-old features and also vastly improved the building’s energy efficiency rating at the same time. He also kindly agreed to a photo in front of our break out bar (wall art by the brilliant Jim at Seven 9 Signs) but avoided a little tipple.

Thank you so much Andy and Tom for finding the time to come and see us in our new home – it meant an awful lot to us.

West Midlands Metro Mayor Andy Street visits One Black Bear

If you’d like to visit us to find out how we can help you improve the West Midlands, drop us a note saying:. ‘Public sector is my personal passion’ here.

Adding to the Christmas Spirit at One Black Bear

Spirit Healthcare

We’re in very good spirits as we announce another healthy bit of new business.

Long established service providers to the NHS, Spirit Health provides a range of services to make life easier for healthcare providers and patients alike. Spirit Health can help save the NHS millions every year and improve patient care by working with local NHS teams and reviewing their use of medicines. They do this by identifying areas where savings and improvements can be made and working with GPs and healthcare providers in implementing these suggested changes, supporting patients and providing training.

Speaking about the appointment, Creative Partner of One Black Bear, Jon Harrison commented: ‘Spirit offers up some really interesting creative opportunities. Being a complex and heavily regulated sector really does make you work harder and think differently to create something with cut-through. We’re already enjoying putting our OBB creative and strategic stamp on everything we do.’

Matt Jones, Head of Marketing at Spirit Health added: ‘Having worked with One Black Bear before, I know I’m getting a driven, energetic and creatively brilliant agency partner. Having their fresh perspective on things has already seen us produce some eye-catching campaigns and I’m looking forward to what else the team comes up with in the coming months.’

The agency will work across a broad range of briefs including advertising, DM and social as well as product branding development.

If you’d like to know how we can improve your brand health, drop us a note saying “I’d like a spoonful of sugar” here.

MedMin prescribes One Black Bear to treat launch campaign

MedMin appoints marketing agency.

Get Well Soon specialises in elective day case surgery and those conditions the NHS has been forced to postpone because of pressures in the system. The service is targeted at people whose conditions are limiting their ability to work or live a pain-free lives.

Bold plans are afoot to launch Get Well Soon across the UK with Birmingham and the West Midlands being the first to benefit from the service.

Speaking about the appointment, Keith Duddy, CEO of Medmin commented: ‘One Black Bear came highly recommended to us, and from the moment we started working with the team there, it was apparent they understood what we were trying to achieve as we looked to make much needed changes to the way patients could access private treatment. 

I am delighted with the way they have embraced the brief, producing some great creative across the board and we are excited to see how we can build on that momentum in the months ahead.’

Kate Hartshorn, Managing Partner of One Black Bear added; ‘Get Well Soon offers a real alternative for patients who desperately need treatment and can’t afford to wait. Any initiative that alleviates pressure on the NHS can only be welcomed in these incredibly challenging times.’

Media plans are currently being finalised but are set to include outdoor, TV, and radio.

MedMin appoints marketing agency.

If you’re looking for a brand health check, drop us a note saying “I need to see a medical professional” here.

F. Hinds rings the changes with appointment of One Black Bear

F.Hinds rings the changes.

Still a proud, family business to this day and boasting 128 stores in the UK, F.Hinds are looking to differentiate themselves from competitors and push their message across key gifting periods such as Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day.

Following a competitive pitch involving five agencies, the two Birmingham outfits will now get to work on launching a new brand platform along with tactical activity for the brand.

Speaking about the appointment, Natasha House, Head of Marketing at F.Hinds said “This is something I have been working on internally for the past two years and I am glad that, after a long and very detailed process, we have finally found the perfect agencies to work with. Their experiences and expertise combined will lead us through what is a very new (but exciting) space for F.Hinds. We are looking forward to working with these two Birmingham based gems and I can’t wait to see what work we can do together”

Kate Hartshorn of One Black Bear & Emma Baxter of BBJ&K added, “We’re delighted to be appointed by such a leading, High Street retailer like F.Hinds. It’s great that two Birmingham based outfits won the day and we’re really looking forward to getting started. Thanks to still being a family run business, they have many virtues we can make the most of in a competitive marketplace.”

F.Hinds rings the changes.

If you’d like a shiny, glittering new agency to revamp your retail business, drop us a note saying “I do” here.

Ticking away the moments

Creative thinking time.

But today, time is ignored. We don’t want things to take time. And we don’t want to take our time. Fast fashion, speedy diet plans. Order some food and it’ll be with you in 37 seconds or your money back. And for goodness sake, that email has been in your inbox for over four minutes!!

*ahem*

Generally we associate speed with positive outcomes. Being ‘fast’ is perceived as good; being ‘slow’ is perceived as bad. I’m just writing this blog to confirm that this generalisation is, in fact, total bollocks.

The need for speed can remove the chance to think, devote attention, refine, check, care, reflect, improve. There’s a reason Baristas don’t serve Nescafé.

Daniel Kahneman’s theory of fast and slow thinking suggests thought comes in two forms – “System 1  is fast, instinctive and emotional; System 2 is slower, deliberative, and more logical.” While they don’t work independently from each other, this theory is cited in many areas, including marketing. Sometimes the best answers to creative problems come from taking the time to work through them properly. Pondering is power. (Wow, that’s deep).

Some things come quickly – a problem is easily solved, an idea speedily honed. Losing My Religion was written in ten minutes – I do get this. But all too often we want speedy turnarounds, instant results and quick wins. The time we have to deliver amazing ideas and beautiful work is getting shorter – the time it takes to deliver properly, isn’t. And the void between the two is growing. Rushing a job that shouldn’t be rushed can jeopardise the delivery of a great output. Yup, this is a one-woman-winge to ask for longer than 48 hours to fill in an RFI. More than 96 minutes for your D96.

Some things can be done quickly, some things shouldn’t be. Wanting time to deliver great work isn’t Fault. It’s Fierce.

Enjoy your Cup-a-soup. I’ve got six minutes of yoga to fit in before my next Zoom.

#BeFierce

Creative thinking time

Don’t put all your eggs in one agency.

Agency collaboration.

To be clear – this doesn’t mean a creative agency should be briefed first. To get the best results, media and creative should be briefed together. The point is that after this, it’s the creative that should be in the driving seat, with the media as navigator, advising the best routes to take.

If you’ve worked in the ad industry for more than six minutes, you’ll probably have an opinion on this, too. And I wholly appreciate the merits of meticulous media planning. But hey, as long as you understand your audience, you can start to form an idea. The KPIs, VTRs, Segmentation, Profiling and Optimisations can follow.

Trust.

Let’s not forget – the number one driver of trust when it comes to advertising is the creative. Effective advertising is achieved by expertly combining a concept, narrative and expertly crafted, beautifully produced assets with an audience that relate to it. An audience based on behaviour and choice. Not postcodes.

Just like trying to squeeze a square peg into a round hole, retrofitting a big idea into a pre-planned media space is far from ideal. It’ll be efficient enough to output some healthy stats and graphs, but ultimately – it could be working harder. ‘Efficient enough’ isn’t really what we’re about. Furthermore, it could stifle creativity, with the idea, concept or even just line, being given boundaries before it’s even had a chance.

And it’s not just the channel selection or ad size. I’d argue there are discussions to be had regarding budget sharing. More frequently media and creative budgets seem to be pre-assigned before either party is briefed. In instances where I’ve worked with a media partner to share a central pot of money, there’s not only been more opportunity for creative to take a lead, but more importantly, a platform for both parties to work better together towards a clearly defined objective from the outset.

Wouldn’t it be great for 2% less people to see an ad they ACTUALLY REMEMBERED?!

Remember the fundamentals.

And I know, I know – times are changing. Budgets are being squeezed as expectations sky-rocket. But that’s surely all the more reason for creative to take more of the lead as the industry shifts focus away from short-term performance to long-term brand building.

I’m not saying the creative should be finished before the media is even briefed – far from it. But I am making the argument for a bit of a heads up.

I once read that media is an investment against your strategy, while creativity is an expression of it. Both are only useful if they connect with consumers. And they’ll connect with consumers if they work well together.  

I couldn’t agree more. So this is my little call to stop the silo and start collaborating in a more collaborative way.

We’ll always need to make beautiful work fit into teeny, tiny spaces. But give us a chance to do some big thinking first, please?

#BeFierce

Agency collaboration.

If you’re looking for an agency that plays nicely with others, drop us a note saying ‘I’d like to share the love’ here.

Celebrated creative team join One Black Bear

Celebrated creative team join Midlands creative agency

Having met through professional dating website LinkedIn back in 2017, Jenny and Tristan have gone on to form one of the most celebrated boy-girl professional partnerships in the West Midlands since Rosie and Jim.

Their combined awards shelf holds two D&AD New Blood Pencils. Two spots on the Cannes Young Lions Shortlist. 11 Drum Roses Awards. And a Campaign Magazine front cover. Career highlights so far include making singalong TV ads with Aardman for Whitworths. Refreshing Britain’s biggest bike brands with Halfords. Harnessing the lyrics of So Solid Crew for Crucials Sauces. And helping the RNIB create the first braille Christmas cards for people with sight loss.

They’re very much looking forward to working with, and learning from, the longest standing creative team in Birmingham, if not the UK and maybe the world (over 30 years). Oh, and as their careers’ progress, they’re getting better and better at this writing in the third person thing.

See more of their genius by clicking here.

Celebrated creative team join Midlands creative agency

If you’d like to see what amazing ideas they can have to transform your brand, drop a note saying: ‘I want some Jenny and Tristan magic dust sprinkling on my briefs’ here.

One Black Bear grabs a pizza the action.

Dodo pizza appoints UK creative agency

Dodo, the international gourmet pizza chain has appointed One Black Bear to help push its continued expansion within the UK.
Already based in 15 countries, Dodo has bold ambitions to be the equivalent of Dominos with outlets right across the world. A truly tech’ led fast food business, Dodo currently has a handful of UK stores with plans for many more.

With its more artisan, gourmet approach to pizza. Ranging from its signature Roman-style dough and topped with local, British toppings including lobster & mango. To the most colourful and amazing salad bowls. One Black Bear will look to bolster awareness and propel the brand both tactically and strategically.

Speaking about the appointment, Kate Hartshorn, Managing Partner at One Black Bear said:. “This is a really exciting one for us. A pizza brand that’s looking to shake up a very crowded marketplace thanks to a fantastic product and a huge dollop of creativity. It’s our aim to grow with Dodo as they gain a foothold in the UK market and position them firmly in the mind of UK pizza fans.”

Misha Chernyshev of Dodo Pizza added:. “We have exciting ambitions for our brand and One Black Bear are a great fit to help us meet those ambitions. They have provided clever tech’ solutions to meet our marketing targets. Plus some completely crazy leftfield stuff to grab attention and create noise for our brand.”

Dodo pizza appoints UK creative agency

If you’d like to have a chat with us on how we can top that with your brand. Drop us a note saying: ‘Easy on the chilli on mine’ here.

One Black Bear is proud to announce membership of the IPA.

One Black Bear is proud to announce membership of the IPA

 

 

There are lots of great reasons to feel honoured to join the IPA (Institute for the Practitioners in Advertising) and we’re looking forward to everything being a full member agency offers.
The training, the seminars, the fantastic insight resources on offer to name but a few.

It’s more than just a badge. It’s a catalyst for us to look at the business as a whole if we’re honest. Belonging to such a revered organisation makes you want to get the rest of your house in order.

It’s all part of coming back better if you like.

Fifteen months plus into a pandemic means you have time to take stock. Look at areas you want to improve and generally assess how we could make OBB even better and stronger. Both for our clients and our people. We’ve talked about becoming members on and off for some time – and for one reason or another, it never quite happened. Too busy, too much other expense, too…..many excuses basically.

Now felt like the right time and we’re so very glad we’ve done it.

So that’s why the IPA logo will, following an extensive refurb’, hang pride of place in our new home in a new part of town… more on that in the coming weeks.
Next to our own new logo.
And above the desks of new staff. Very, very talented staff too (and that’s all we’re saying, for now).

So new affiliations, new home, new agency ID and new staff. Basically a new beginning.

Thanks go to the IPA for allowing us in, because the process of joining made us think about how and where we belong generally.
After 18 years, we feel and indeed are established – but still yearn to come back from the most bizarre of times feeling re-energised.
The hunger is still very much there. Who fancies an agency style lunch to celebrate?

If you’d like to talk to us about the importance of your agency being in the IPA, drop us a note saying:. ‘I need a serious agency that takes its responsibilities seriously’ here.

Frankie says, book a ticket.

Shock tactics in advertising

#FGTH was never a hashtag. It all happened far too long ago for that.

However, it’s fair to say that few bands with short careers are as formidable or boast an impact as considerable as Frankie goes to Hollywood.

That’s why I was so pleased to read about a new exhibition wholly dedicated to the Scouse band :

https://www.artscityliverpool.com/single-post/frankie-goes-to-the-british-music-experience-in-2021

I was at school when they first hit the radio playlists.

I would’ve been around 12 and Mike Read had refused to play ‘Relax’ on Radio 1 in the interests of decency.

Well (not) played Mike, because that was arguably the biggest boost you could give a new band with a record out .

Pre BBC ban the single sat at number six. Post ban, Relax surged to number 1.

For five weeks. (It’s also the seventh highest selling UK single of all time).

Loud, proud and with stonking beats just made for the clubs, I’ll admit to finding ‘Frankie’ very scary at the time.

At the age I was and coming from a pretty ordinary background, I guess the whole gay backdrop to this glorious 5 piece, with its risqué imagery and x rated lyrical content, was all a bit much for a 12 year old.

But that’s why I think they’re great – both musically and for helping to change attitudes.

Those with a sniffy, homophobic disposition had the stick up their arse swiftly swapped for a giant, rubberised poker.

This was needed because shamefully, back then, the whole gay movement was still something carefully censored within mainstream outlets like Radio 1 and TOTP.

Non-threatening mumsy gay would regularly grace prime time Saturday night tv but this was a different kind of gay. This was in your face gay. Gay with attitude – and thank God it happened too.

AIDS had shone a big bright light on sexuality but in doing so, had also demonised homosexuality in the media with negative headlines and assertions about a ‘gay plague’ sweeping the planet. Curtain twitching disapproval at its worst.

Headlines like ‘Gay Plague’ look and sound like something from the Middle Ages today because thankfully, social attitudes have evolved massively and for the better. https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2018/11/30/world-aids-day-1980s-headlines-tabloids/

But this was 1984.

Frankie was unashamedly provocative, sweaty, edgy and predatory. Holly Johnson strutted around in sharp suits while his band mates wore leather biker caps, long macs and even bondage style chaps – all within a video set akin to the last days of Rome.

Relax got turned off in our house if it came on the telly or (non BBC) radio. Again, a sign of less liberal & enlightened times. Also, incidentally, exactly the reaction good bands should trigger.

The video to Relax remains provocative even by today’s standards. And I think that’s great. To this day they are only one of two bands to have consecutive number 1’s with their first three singles.

Trevor Horn and his ZTT records deserve endless thanks for delivering us Frankie.

Being fierce at its finest.

When you want to come (sorry not sorry), book tickets to see the exhibition. I certainly am.

Then I’m going to try and write an ad that will upset mine and every other mum in the land.

If you’d liked to be shocked, ask us to look at a brief here.

Don’t Knock A Little Mitsake

Why marketing should embrace its own Error 404

NOTE URGENT THINGS he’d read. That little mistake had royally ramped up the sense of urgency I was going for. Ooops.

Don’t worry, don’t worry – this isn’t another blog about how an ordering mistake turned out to be the best cluck-up KFC ever made (I’ve already written that). But a smaller error that caught my attention back in January.

Ikea Singapore launched an exclusive range of cloth shopping bags. Exclusive because the web address was wrong. Thousands of bags were printed missing the ‘m’ in .com (hmmmm…. A one letter mishap – sound familiar!?).

Rather than throw them out, Ikea owned it, proudly displaying their bags with this message:

KLAMBY. LIMITED UNIQUE ALAMAK… At IKEA, it’s OK to make a mistake.

The decision to keep them on sale stemmed from a commitment to sustainability and reducing waste. And they flew off the shelves, with people keen to own such an elusive item.

The little point I am trying to make is that sometimes accidents can and do result in something positive. In advertising and in life. Microwaves, pacemakers, x-rays, playdough. All created by accident. And the slinky! Who creates a slinky by accident when they’re trying to engineer a balancing solution for ship equipment? An absolute legend, I guess.

As humans we learn by trial and error. It’s in our psychology from the day we’re born to use mistakes to help us grow, develop, learn, and improve. How do you think you learnt to walk? Run? Not electrocute yourself? My guess would be you spent lots of time as a child falling over and sticking your fingers in plug sockets, gradually adjusting your approach to keep injuries and hospital visits to a minimum through your adult life.* You learnt from your mistakes.

Make no mistake, I know mistakes are far from ideal.

We strive to stop slip-ups, endeavour to avoid error. But sometimes they bring good, so long as we learn from them. What’s valuable is being open to the potential from your mistakes; that unexpected result, and being tuned in enough to realise that what seemed like a problem could be an opportunity in some form.

Ikea sold thousands of bags, learnt to get their copy checked twice, and used the opportunity to showcase their green creds.

Richard James’s invention sold millions worldwide, brought joy to thousands of children that enjoy looking at stairs, and actually helped him in achieving his marine balancing mission.

And I stayed on the phone to Jon until gone 6, and learnt that dropping a critical vowel from an email subject line won’t get you sacked.

This is my little reminder to you that with all that’s going on in the world – little mistakes will happen – learn from them, and keep going. You’re doing fine.

Hang on in there, y’all.

*Christmas parties and social gatherings after 21st June 2021 are not represented by this statement.

Why marketing should embrace its own Error 404

If you’d like to talk to us about making opportunities out of problems, drop us a note saying:. ‘I hope it wasn’t a mitsake to send you this’ here.

The toil for loyal

Can we admit to Brand Loyalty?

A whopping 95% of our decision making is pre-conscious or intuitive. Just like us, out on our one exercise excursion of the day in the wintery rain, it’s always looking for shortcuts. And it’s no different when it comes to making decisions on the brands we buy.

Brand recall

We already know that most advertising receives no active attention whatsoever. Or not enough for our slothful brains to take in what is being advertised. And even if they do remember the ad, they might not recall the brand. Brands are a very small part of a consumer’s life – they don’t think much even about the ones they buy. Tech advances and busy lives have made getting attention increasingly difficult. Couple this with the levels of choice sky-rocketting and humans will look to habit and convenience to guide them, restricting consideration down to a few favoured brands.

A quick route to decision along with physical availability are key factors underpinning brand loyalty. A sensible buying strategy used to balance risk and avoid wasting time. You’ll use this in all walks of life – from choosing which hand sanitiser to buy, to what YouTube Yoga session to try. You’ll narrow your options down to your personal repertoire, and stick with them.

We ‘Satisfice’ (God, I love that word). Rather than fatigue our frontal lobe, we settle for satisfactory. Understand that brand loyalty is unimaginative, not passionate.

This all made perfect sense to me, until things started to change in March 2020. Brand loyalty is defined as:

“positive feelings towards a brand and dedication to purchase the same product or service repeatedly from the same brand, regardless of a competitor’s actions or changes in the environment”.

Regardless of changes in the environment… Hmmm…

How we recall a belief about a brand or anything else is highly dependent on situation, cues, and other things going on in our minds. We already know that what we think about brands is so trivial that our attitudes towards them aren’t always absolute.

Loyalty

I’ve tried to apply this to myself – both a consumer and human with a lazy brain – a creature of habit, ‘loyal’ to brands I know. Since the ‘rona took over, I reckon there’s been a shift in my brand loyalty, thanks to things out of my control. Some brands I would buy haven’t been available on the shelf. Some weeks I have been worried about unnecessary expenditure on a product I usually wouldn’t think twice about. Whatever it’s based on, I reckon my ‘brand loyalty’ is reducing – and I am not alone.

A recent study among US consumers found brand loyalty dropped by 16% between March and November 2020. Mostly attributed to job (and subsequent income) losses. Some also claimed to have switched brands simply because their ‘go-to’ wasn’t available on the shelf thanks to supply chain issues. As our sky-high choice levels fell, perhaps so did our subconscious loyalty.

Brand behaviour

But aside from the devastating economic context, there appears to be some potential positive outcomes too. With the last few months seeing some consumers shift towards brands that align with their values. Some that took part in the aforementioned study said they’d switched brands to ‘take a stand’ in response to a brand’s behaviour and position when it came to important issues. I get these may not be the same participants as those switching brands as a direct cause of income loss or product availability, but the shift is still worth noting. Brand selection could be becoming a little more about purpose than product.

And that’s probably where I have found myself too. I’ve switched energy providers to one with 100% green electricity, and am ordering more beer from BrewDog now they’re Carbon negative. I’m a walking bloody cliché.

Back in the olden days of hugging, pub visits, commutes and rushing about, our choices needed to be quick. There was a brand purpose ripple already in motion. I do wonder if the pandemic has given it a bit more force for some people. Perhaps when so many things have been taken away from us, we’re learning to take a more conscious control of the choices we have left. And perhaps the brands that stood for something will be the ones that thrive when we can all start standing near each other again.

If you’d like to maximise your inner satisficer, drop us a note saying:. ‘Just like Mick, I can’t get no satisfaction’ here.

Can we admit to Brand Loyalty?