Love works for business.

What happens when an award winning business with competition that includes the major supermarkets throughout the UK invites you to move their business to the next level? 

This was the challenge presented to us by our client Stilton Butchers.

With the economy in terrible trouble due to the global recession it was obvious we had quite a challenge on our hands if we were to win the consumer and succeed in our task.

Stilton Butchers was formed as a company way back in 1978 (the year I was born!). As the name suggests, the company began trading in those days in the quaint village of Stilton which as you probably already know is also famous for its blue cheese.

The company has move on a bit since then to say the least and now operates from a purpose built 16,000 sq ft facility and supply produce to the households and restaurants all over the UK.

Stilton Butchers; respected and loved as a brand in the UK.

It's quite a common belief that a butcher typically provides a standard of produce that's considered by many to be of better quality than the supermarkets provide. This generally creates a premium for the product.

It doesn't take a genius however to work out that in tough times people will look to similar products to cut costs and make budgets go further.

Traditionally brands have long enjoyed premiums associated with the respect that they carry with the consumer. Today, largely due to a combination of increased competition from supermarkets and a fragile global economy brands need more than respect if they are to win.


So what comes next?

New ideas and new ways to connect. We need to embrace a future beyond brands. We need look at what creates human action and a want to participate.

We can find all this if we look to emotion.

At Sensation Creative we set out to put the emotion of 'love' on the table for the Stilton Butchers brand with the belief that positioning the company in this way would help it to win the heart of the consumer and consequently, win her business.


We began working with the company in 2011 and since this time we have re-branded the company totally. This has included a new logo, website, booklets, vehicle livery, social media, press ads - you get the picture.

We infused everything we created for Stilton Butchers with powerful emotions that are in tune with the consumer so they understand her and relate to her dreams. 


Here is an example of this in action:

During the latter part 2012 we created the Christmas ad campaign for Stilton Butchers which included a poem, written by myself, entitled 'At Christmas Time'.

This poem was a direct arrow to the heart, focusing on love and family generations sat around the dinner table during the festive season but primarily focused on Christmas day. 

This enabled us to stoke up deep emotional memories and connect historical elements within these memories at the same time.

With this in place we flooded the consumer with heart felt emotions relating to childhood memories at Christmas. In doing this we triggered an emotional response within the consumer to act upon these emotions.

In this case by tapping in to these heartfelt emotions we were able to introduce the idea to the consumer that only the very best produce from Stilton Butchers would do. 

Due to the content of the poem, emotional based thoughts are stimulated to naturally evolve: Purchasing produce from Stilton Butchers would help to ensure she could create her own lasting family legacy so that her children might feel the same one day. This would also show her parents (assuming they're around) that their past efforts were appreciated without having to say as much as a word.

This heartfelt emotional overload was designed to create an enhanced desire for the consumer to make a purchase from Stilton Butchers.

It worked.

Our ideas helped Stilton Butchers achieve record sales for the Christmas 2012 period.

But that's not all. This was married by the news that during the financial year 2012 - 2013, the company reported that the annual turnover had doubled compared to previous year setting another record.


Stilton Butchers as a brand is currently super evolving. They have taken steps to move from a brand that is respected to one that is both respected and loved. This is a very important step in today's participation economy.

Our ongoing work which may have seemed way to soft for business was very successful. And this was despite the huge supermarket competition and the worst recession in decades.

The best thing about ideas like this is that even when you totally understand how they work you're still susceptible to them.

Love is beautifully simple and love in business works. 

Ideas fueled by emotion lead to action. They help cut through the overload of information facing today's consumer and position your brand in their hearts where it can win.


For more information talk to Sensation Creative; ideas company.

www.SensationCreative.com

Creating Irresistible, Award Winning Brands

A little over 15 months ago a new business opened up in my home city of Peterborough that has since become one of city's most talked about, blogged about and consequently most loved brands.

TOWIE'S Chloe Sims at the multi-award
winning Serenity Loves in Peterborough.

The name? Serenity Loves.

Since the company opened in March 2012 they have already managed to win two awards including 'Best New Business' and also an award for 'Best Independent Retailer'.

The brand has been carefully designed to be in tune with the consumer and has proved to be a major hit.

At Sensation Creative we created an irresistible brand image for the company. Everything from the logo, colour schemes, website, signage, printed media and other marketing material has been infused with emotionally charged design that connects with
the consumer.

Additionally we've seen great PR including a recent visit from TOWIE star Chloe Sims.

In business terms there is a lot of interest from investors who see big franchise potential in the Serenity Loves brand demonstrating the power of great ideas. 

Pretty swish. 

Find out how we can help your brand. Talk to Sensation Creative - we create consumer winning ideas.

Find out more: www.SensationCreative.com

Dreams

We all dream.

And I'm not just talking about the ones when we're asleep. I'm talking about the dreams we have for our lives, our future, our children's future.

It was a man called Kevin Roberts, world-wide CEO of a company you might have heard of called Saatchi & Saatchi that provided inspiration when he reminded me that Martin Luther King didn't stand up and say; "I have a vision statement" he said, "I have a dream". 

Dreams inspire us to better ourselves as we attempt to reach for the stars. So why is it that when it comes to business we replace dreams with things like 'mission' or 'vision' statements and other boring uninspiring stuff. Well, probably because the people in suits tell us we should. 

But it needn't be that way.

We're humans doing business and humans need to be purpose inspired to thrive. At Sensation Creative we understand this. We want to share and understand your dreams so that we can help you live them. 

Do something today that will really make a difference; replace your business mission/vision statement with your dream. You might go back to the original dream that you had for your business or an entirely new one - things are changing all the time. Get others involved that share the same dream - this is where you'll discover true inspiration.

After all, when it's time to stand up and tell your story, you'll want to be able to say you lived the dream, not a mission statement.

Talk to Sensation Creative - we create consumer winning ideas that will help you along the way. 

Find out more: www.SensationCreative.com

Positivity resonance in emotional marketing.

I'm a huge believer in the power of positivity resonance and emotional marketing.

When I'm discussing ideas based around this with clients I often use advertising examples from world leading brands as powerful and direct evidence to support this. 

One of my all time favourites is this advert from Dove. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpaOjMXyJGk&feature=youtu.be

The short 3 minute ad has had many of my clients in tears when I have showed them and it's not surprising.

The following will give you an insight in to the world of emotional based marketing.

As we all know Dove is a beauty brand and have a huge array of branded assets. In this ad there are no products. In their place we see some people who are shown that they are more beautiful than they had imagined, demonstrating they were quite literally blind to the real truth.


The emotions resulting from these findings are very evident in the ad. They capture the consumer providing a powerful, direct and heart felt experience. The result is a euphoric uplifting feeling of love, appreciation and understanding. 

But this is only half of the story...

The next time a consumer sees a Dove product in store there is a strong chance that an emotional connection will be made. In this case the connection is between the consumer and the Dove brand resulting in the initial formation, maintaining or strengthening the bond in a consumer-brand relationship. 

With over 70% of buying decisions made in-store a preconceived emotional bond is ultra powerful in directing consumer brand buying habits. This helps to make Dove a more irresistible choice at the point of purchase compared to competitor brands.

Dove didn't sell a product, like all great brands they sold an emotion based around their product. This is the type of marketing that helps to create brand premiums and loyalty.

A great example of positivity resonance in emotional based marketing.

The next time you see Dove in a store after watching this ad see how you feel.

Find out more by visiting www.SensationCreative.com

You don't have to be a globally recognised brand to work with a company that understands emotional based marketing and how to apply it to your business. This is what working with Sensation Creative is all about. Get in touch today.

A big week for global creative

This week saw a good few additions to the global creative industry.

Three things really come to my mind: Firstly Adobe launched Creative Cloud, a revolutionary new way of working with its software with Adobe themselves saying it's 'A whole new way to create'. In terms of the creative suite this is the biggest change from Adobe ever.

The second thing that I see as very important is the launch of the new Saatchi & Saatchi book called 'Loveworks' written by Brian Sheehan. The book tells the story of "How the world's top marketers make emotional connections to win in the marketplace".  This follows the two previous books by Saatchi & Saatchi World-Wide CEO Kevin Roberts; Lovemarks - The Future Beyond Brands and The Lovemarks Effect - Winning in the Consumer Revolution.

Finally and maybe not on such a global scale as of yet, my new ideas company Sensation Creative was launched.

When I first came up with the idea back in October 2012 I penciled in June as a realistic launch date. By January 2013 I set up social networks for the company, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in order to protect the brand. I acquired domain names around this time also. I was itching to go much earlier this year but everything fell wonderfully in to place at the right time, as I imagined it in mid-June.

At the time I had absolutely no idea that the same week I was to launch Sensation Creative that it would be such a big week for the creative industry. It's a total fluke that this happened - I'm hoping that it's a sign of good things to come. 

Hello from Sensation Creative; ideas company.

If you'd like to find out a little more about Sensation Creative please visit the website: www.SensationCreative.com 

It wasn't as I planned stuff to be honest.

In fact I still have no idea how I got to this point - it all seems a bit of a blur! Yet three and a half years after I set up as a sole trader under the self titled 'Simon Bell Design' I find myself setting up a new business.

Back when I started out on my own we were heavily set in the worst recession in decades and I had just one client. Between that moment and now things have gone okay. I've worked with and created award winning brands. My design work has improved but more importantly I have moved in to different areas whilst still retaining design at the core of what I like to do.

These days I'm very passionate about making meaningful emotional connects, through my work, with the consumer. Eventually I've moved from 'graphic designer' interpenetrating a design brief to providing complete brand solutions either in terms of visual brand ID or product marketing campaigns and advertising. It's been an incredible journey that's had some massive ups but occasionally equally massive low points.

I think that being a creative person is like that; experiencing big ups and downs in business have defiantly helped me to become more empathetic to clients and their requirements in business. It also keeps my feet firmly on the ground.

On the 18th June 2013, my new company, Sensation Creative Limited begins trading. This time around I already have a wide client base and a proven track record of success in the not to distant past and yet for everything I have learned the nerves are just the same! 

Find out more information about Sensation Creative's services just here: www.SensationCreative.com 

The Sensation Creative logo.