Proud finalists at CIM Marketing Excellence Awards

What a fantastic time we had at the CIM Excellence in Marketing Awards 2016 last Thursday 14 April at the beautiful Grosvenor House Hotel in London.

I am so proud to have seen The Media Angel up alongside some amazing brands in the finals. Our ‘Legacies’ campaign with Ty Hafan was nominated with the likes of O2, Direct Line, Camelot, Bupa, PWC UK, Legal and General, Vision Express, Jewson, Visit Britain and Santander as an example of excellence in marketing across the UK. With our Legacies campaign achieving a ROI of over 300% for life limited children at Ty Hafan, we were identified as worthy finalists demonstrating a commitment to marketing innovations within the SME category. All finalists were celebrated for the creativity and originality of their campaigns, paying special respects to the positive impact that great marketing can have on an organisation; much like our Ty Hafan Legacies case study.

There were 24 categories rewarding the breadth of marketing excellence across some of the UK’s most respected brands. I couldn’t be more proud of The Media Angel and my team making the finals and representing Wales. Out of around 150 finalists in total, there were only 5 Welsh organisations at this year’s ceremony. To be the only Welsh media planning and buying agency shortlisted in the finals feels like an amazing achievement. Also flying the flag for Wales in the Brand Experience category was our wonderful client Swansea University. Their Making Waves campaign has performed exceptionally well over the past 3 years, increasing in popularity year on year with added thanks to our talented team’s media planning and buying expertise.

I am so very proud of  The Media Angel and my team for achieving such huge recognition. Being such a small and hard working agency we are beyond thrilled to be able to say we were the only media planning and buying agency across Wales to win at the CIM Canmol Marketing Awards, and one of few Welsh brands to make the finals at National level in 2016. The past 12 months have been truly amazing for our dedicated team.

We would love to say a huge thank you to all of our clients and friends for their constant and continued support over the past few years, we are so grateful to each and every one of you. Without your support we wouldn’t be where we are today. We love our roles within this exciting and fast paced advertising sector. Each day and each client campaign is so varied, we love the fact we don’t know what we will get asked to work on next. Whatever the campaign and whatever its size, we have a combined industry experience of over 50 years and love to put our heads together to tackle any kind of brief. So if you are looking for some inspiring and innovative ideas then get in touch with our team of experts. #LoveMarketing

Read about our award-winning campaign here.

The Media Angel finalists in the National CIM Excellence Awards!

We are absolutely overjoyed to announce some very exciting news.

After being the only media planning and buying agency in Wales to win an award at the CIM Canmol Welsh Marketing Excellence Awards in 2015, we have been shortlisted for a marketing award at National level!

Our outstanding work on Tŷ Hafan’s legacy campaign has earned us a place as finalists at the CIM Marketing Excellence Awards 2016, which is set to take place on April 14^th at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel. Our work has been shortlisted alongside campaigns run by Appletizer, The Happy Egg Company, Virgin Media and O2 to name just a few!

The CIM’s prestigious Marketing Excellence Awards were developed to recognise and reward brilliance in the field of marketing. Now entering its seventh year, these awards are a fantastic way to raise awareness of the creativity and originality delivered by marketers who are at the forefront of the profession. We will be proudly exhibiting their work for Tŷ Hafan, which has already been praised as “simply brilliant” by the judging panel at Canmol.

Tŷ Hafan Legacies have become a key income stream for the charity, generating around 70% of annual individual giving income over the past few years. Our team were appointed to take care of the Legacy campaign on behalf of Tŷ Hafan and devise a campaign that would help the charity raise these vital funds through pledges.

We made innovative use of both new and traditional media marketing methods including video on demand, print press and direct mail to maximise an extremely precious budget. The results were outstanding, generating returns of over 300% for the charity.

Managing Director Alison stated “We are beyond thrilled to be nominated for an award at the CIM Marketing Excellence Awards this year in London! We were over the moon with our Canmol win, and are now so excited to raise the national profile of our small but brilliant organisation and of this case study; which demonstrates what can be achieved from maximising precious budgets, selecting the most affordable and appropriate media.”

“In this case, a simple mix of new digital media and more traditional, popular methods such as press raised the profile of Tŷ Hafan and their schemes for donating to impressive ends – achieving amazing over-delivery on targets. The campaign delivered an overwhelming 300% more than the proposed target and we genuinely feel this case study is an inspiration for charities nationwide. We feel this should be inspiration for other small, hardworking agencies too; we’ve shown that despite being a team smaller in numbers we have the aptitude and dexterity to make a huge difference”.

We are also so delighted for client Swansea University who has been shortlisted for their ‘Making Waves’ campaign; a project we have also been heavily involved in executing.

“We couldn’t be happier for the team at Swansea University for making the shortlist with us; we are super excited to celebrate with them in London on 14^th April” says Alison.

We would like to wish all fellow finalists the very best of luck, and we are very much looking forward to a fantastic evening.

The best of our 2015

We had the best time in 2015. It certainly was a fantastic year for us at The Media Angel.

The last 12 months were filled with so many highs it has been difficult to pick our favourites, however we have managed to select some of our best moments:

 

• At the very top of the list has to be our win at CIM Canmol Marketing Excellence Awards 2015. As the only media planning and buying agency to win across Wales at this event, we were extremely proud of our reward for helping client Ty Hafan achieve returns of over 300%. Our efforts in helping Ty Hafan obtain these returns on a limited budget were described as “simply brilliant” by the judging panel.

 

• We were delighted to help Cardiff Airport successfully launch Flybe, their newest airline to the south Wales market. We implemented a large campaign for Flybe securing sponsorship of the weather on all major South Wales radio stations. We also ensured Flybe’s message could be seen at many high footfall areas in South Wales including Swansea, Cardiff, Bridgend, Newport and Pontypridd train stations and St David’s 2 Cardiff among many others! Flybe is Europe’s largest regional airline, promoting 14-routes from Cardiff, including three brand new routes to Cork, Munich and Milan. With our assistance, passenger growth at Cardiff Airport has increased by 13% compared with 2014.

 

• Similarly, our campaign for Vueling which involved sponsorship of ITV Wales Cymru weather and Vueling Cardiff Bay Beach contributed to the success of the airline at Cardiff Airport. Such success has resulted in confirmed extra capacity for summer 2016. Following the best summer in four years for the Spanish airline at Cardiff Airport, Vueling has already announced extra flights on all four routes to Barcelona, Malaga, Alicante and Palma Majorca in 2016 offering, 31% increase in seat capacity between April and October for the summer ahead.

 

• We were also very happy to see our client Swansea University win a CIM Canmol award for a 2nd time with their Undergraduate recruitment campaign, Making Waves. We were delighted to be a part of organising this fully-integrated marketing campaign; seeing their new TV advert amongst programmes such as Made in Chelsea and The Only Way is Essex were particular highlights for the team. We were also lucky enough to see the advert first-hand at London’s O2 Arena before One Direction came to the stage.

 

• We’ve loved helping Swansea University promote their beautiful new state of the art, multi million pound Bay campus this year with some bespoke targeted campaigns to ensure the campus stands out.

 

• This year was a particularly successful one for us on the tender front! We managed to secure contacts on a number of competitive tender pitches against several local agencies, winning the opportunity to work with Swansea Council and the Swansea City Tourism team on their ‘Swansea Bay Moments’ campaign (an exciting campaign extending into some of the UK’s biggest cities). We also won the opportunity to work with the South Wales Fire & Rescue Service on their summer drowning prevention campaign. We were delighted to welcome some brand new clients to our portfolio including Festival Park and ACT Training. We’ve made some lovely friendships with many fantastic organisations.

 

• We were involved in some inspiring human rights campaigns including The Children’s Commissioner for Wales ‘Beth Nesa’ project. We were asked to help the Commissioner launch the biggest survey on Children’s Rights in Wales to adults across the country after a successful campaign with them in 2014. The campaign created a fantastic response with large numbers, higher than expected, participating in such an important cause.

 

• We have also been helping to promote some very important health messages to the people of North Wales. Gwynedd Council approached us for some assistance in encouraging people; particularly youths aged 16 – 24, to quit smoking. To tackle this brief we made sure we made use of some highly targeted digital platforms around No Smoking day, ensuring the message appeared to the relevant audience at an especially relevant time.

 

• We’ve enjoyed helping to raise awareness of some great new skills organisations such as Welsh for Adults and ACT Training. Look out for their campaigns on learning Welsh and apprenticeships scheme across Cardiff, Bridgend and the Valley this January. Similarly, we continued to promote Coleg Y Cymoedd’s advice days throughout the year after carrying out student research to ensure the advertising was appearing in exactly the right places.

 

• Helping to launch GoAir, Wales’s largest trampoline super park has definitely been another very exciting project! We are so proud to say we were heavily involved in this launch implementing an exciting radio promotion alongside a successful VoD, digital and print campaign. Thanks to the success of this launch several more super park sites have been announced to open this year across the UK which we are busy working on.

 

• Every year we thoroughly enjoy working with client Spacefitting furniture, and 2015 was definitely no exception! As well as continuing to ensure Spacefitting receive coverage in targeted magazines around interior features, we assisted in the promotion of their bespoke event, where they were keen to flaunt their stunning new showroom displays, expertly designed by husband and wife team Steve and Claire Bloom.

 

• The National Trust also returned to us this year for assistance in promoting their brand and beautiful portfolio of properties across Wales during the busy Christmas period.

 

• We had great fun last year sponsoring the drinks receptions at some of the industry’s highest profile events including the CIM Canmol Awards and the Cardiff Life Awards.

 

• There were a number of new advertising opportunities arriving in Cardiff in 2015, and we chose to lead by example and advertise with some of these brand new formats. We were one of the first brands in Wales to run our own advertising campaign on the new quality HD digital screen on Newport Road; one of the very first brands to take advantage of this high impact new format.

 

• We also secured ourselves some targeted adverts in some high profile, relevant publications across Wales These publications included the Western Mail top 300 businesses in Wales supplement and the Business Insider’s Top 100 Welsh brands.

 

• Ending on a particular high at the end of the year was the news that our contribution helped Cardiff Airport enjoy a brilliant 12 months. They recorded October as their fastest month for growth in 2015 with an increase of 62% compared to the same month last year. There was also 21% passenger growth in September, 32% in November and 52% in December.

 

• Finally, we ended the year doing something incredibly rewarding for us. Our team took part in Ty Hafan’s Christmas Pantomime ‘Peter Pan’. Making the children at Ty Hafan giggle and smile was the perfect end to an amazing year.

 

We are really keen to say a HUGE thank you to each and every one of our clients for your continued encouragement and support throughout the year! We’re looking forward to continuing this work with you in 2016 and fulfilling your campaign objectives to make this year even better than the last!

So what’s next for 2016?

We expect 2016 to be just as exciting. We have just this week been announced as finalists in both the Creative and Professional Services categories at the Cardiff Regional Awards 2016, up alongside some prestigious Welsh brands. Thank you so much to everyone who voted to get us up there!

We also have lots of different projects on the horizon and will be getting involved at numerous different awards events throughout the year; Alison is particularly looking forward to being a part of the judging panel at the Cardiff Life Awards this March. We are also looking to expand our team with some new recruits; enhancing our offering existing and new clients with some additional skills! We love to select the best solutions for all kinds of marketing briefs, so make sure you get in touch with us. We’ll help you over deliver on your objectives and together achieve fantastic results.

We’ve made the finals for a CIM Canmol Marketing Award

We are so thrilled by the news that we have been shortlisted for a 2015 CIM Canmol Marketing Award for our work with children’s hospice charity Tŷ Hafan! The Chartered Institute of Marketing hosts Canmol every year; dedicated to celebrating excellence in Welsh Marketing.

The business and marketing experts on the panel at Canmol felt our work with Tŷ Hafan; helping them raise crucial awareness of the amazing work they undertake for children with life limiting illnesses was worthy of an award nomination.

Tŷ Hafan offers comfort, care and support to life-limited children, young people and their families in the hospice, in the community and in their home so they can make the most of the time they have left together.

Tŷ Hafan established an Individual Giving team in 2012 to generate sustainable income from individuals. Legacies has become a key income stream for Tŷ Hafan, generating around 70% of annual Individual giving income over the past few years. We have been working with the charity since 2014 to help devise, buy and implement their media plans across all projects, including the Legacy promotion.

The campaign focused on how Tŷ Hafan helps life-limited children to leave their priceless mark on the world, and encouraged people to leave their own mark on the world too through leaving a gift in their Will. ‘Leave your Mark’ was the key message to promote this campaign.

We are extremely proud of the fantastic results the campaign achieved from using a simple mix of new digital media in the form of VOD with ITV Player and more traditional, methods such as print, magazines and direct mail. The campaign proved that by using the right mix of new and traditional media, amazing results can be delivered within an affordable cost.

We found this project extremely rewarding, as its outcome has made a real difference to life-limited children and their families in Wales. The campaign contributed to increasing the number of donations the charity needs to be able to continue with their outstanding work. The campaign delivered an overwhelming 300% more than the proposed target, generating on average £360,000 which will go a long way in helping Tŷ Hafan continue to do the brilliant work that they do.

We’d love to send our huge congratulations to all of the finalists, especially to clients Swansea University and Swansea Bay!

We’re also proud to be sponsoring the drinks reception at this year’s Canmol Awards on 6^th November for a second year. We are very much looking forward to welcoming all guests with a glass of bubbly to start the evening off to what we are sure will be a great event!

The Media Angel spreads the word about Tŷ Hafan’s Will Offer

Gifts left in Wills change lives. For Tŷ Hafan they are vital in providing care and support to children with short lives and their families all across South Wales.

Luca Pucella is a happy, energetic seven-year-old with an infectious laugh and wicked sense of humour. He brings lots of colour to the lives of his family and is a popular pupil at his school in Bridgend. But what makes Luca different to other boys his age is that he suffers from a rare, life-limiting condition called ROHHAD syndrome. He is the only person in Wales to suffer from the incurable condition.

We are privileged to help Tŷ Hafan support children such as Luca and his family, with their ‘Write a Will’ campaign to raise donations left in Wills.

Angelo, Luca’s dad, said: “When Luca was first diagnosed we felt very much on our own.

“He has had a host of problems including repeated respiratory arrests. It’s really difficult seeing him in intensive care and Luca has probably been in every bed in the paediatric emergency unit at Heath Hospital.”

The family felt a sense of relief when they were referred to Tŷ Hafan in 2010, and have benefited greatly from the charity’s support.

We helped implement their mixed-media campaign, consisting of ad inserts and editorial in highly circulated press titles, online display ads and printed pharmacy bags across South and West Wales.

The campaign promotes the ‘Write a Will’ offer, running between 11-22 May 2015. A team of solicitors has agreed to write Wills for Tŷ Hafan by making a suggested donation of £50 for a Simple Will, or £75 for Mirror Wills.

This important campaign is very close to our hearts, as it’s our remit at The Media Angel to help charities make a difference through implementing effective and fulfilling campaigns.

We are delighted to be working with a welcoming and life-enriching charity such as Ty Hafan on their legacy campaigns.

Find out more about Tŷ Hafan’s ‘Write a Will’ offer.

Caring Children’s Charity Chooses Caring Media Agency

The team at The Media Angel are delighted to kick-start 2015 with a new client; leading children’s hospice charity Tŷ Hafan – one of the UK’s top paediatric palliative care charities, based in Sully, South Wales.

One of the key objectives at The Media Angel is to work with organisations that make a real difference to people’s lives. Starting this month, The Media Angel is helping to promote the opportunity to bequeath Tŷ Hafan a legacy gift in your Will.

Since 1999, Tŷ Hafan has helped over 600 Welsh families with children to make the most of their precious time left together, and one in five of the children Tŷ Hafan support is cared for thanks to the gifts that have been left in Wills.

Alison Debono, Managing Director of The Media Angel said: 

“I feel really privileged to be working with such an amazing organisation such as Tŷ Hafan . The work they do is unbelievable and makes a huge difference to families who must be going through such a hard time.”

This marketing campaign consists of a mix of innovative video-on-demand advertising using ITV Player, targeting adults across Wales, and print adverts across highly circulated press and magazine titles to help share and raise awareness of the amazing work that Tŷ Hafan does.

Alison added:

“We wanted to make sure that the right media platforms were used for their precious budget, and we are confident the campaign will get to the right people across the right areas.”

Laura Barlow, Legacy and In Memory Fundraiser from Tŷ Hafan said:

“It’s been great working with Alison and her team at The Media Angel. Based on our brief they came up with innovative ideas and selected media options that we hadn’t before considered a possibility; particularly with some of the new digital on-demand services.

“The team has been so helpful; they are flexible, supportive and we are very much looking forward to a continued partnership and friendship in the future.”

To find out more about the legacy ‘Leave a Gift’ campaign, watch the video at: www.tyhafan.org/leaveagift.

Contact Tŷ Hafan for a free information pack via email: [email protected] or call: 029 2053 2265.

If you’d like help with any of your marketing campaigns then please get in contact with The Media Angel on 02921 320200, or email: [email protected]. We are here to help.