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.