A Case Story: Stilton Butchers - Christmas Past, Present & Future

Case Story: The Special Editions

#1 Stilton Butchers, Christmas Past, Present and...

Christmas 2013 marks the third Christmas that Stilton Butchers have been a client of Sensation Creative. So what has happened in that time and how has our work helped?

We take a look at Christmas Past, Present and...

Our work began in September 2011. We took on an award winning business with the simple task of “making it even better”. 

Since this time we have completely re-branded the company which has included; creating the new logo, re-designed the website to provide a more welcoming feeling, created vehicle graphics and designed online social media content, in addition to originating very successful advertising campaigns across printed and digital media.

 The website prior to Sensation Creative (Left) and (Right) after.

During the period 2012 to 2013 despite the uncertain economic climate and massive supermarket competition our work helped to double the company's turnover.

Our 2012 Christmas advertising campaign which featured the poem entitled 'At Christmas Time' proved to be Stilton Butchers' most successful to date adding to the company's increasingly growing and loyal customers base.

Then this year after an incredibly summer,  in late November 2013, Stilton Butchers recorded there busiest, day-month-year since the online side of the business was set up 5 years ago. 

Stilton Butchers' new fleet livery is clean, adaptable and features
a simple, clever play on words 'Let's meat online'.

Stilton Butchers has become one of the iconic butcher brands which is respected and loved through out the UK by its customers. Many of these customers can often be found on the social networking site discussing their purchases and also sharing images of what they have achieved with the produce and their culinary skills!

This evidence supports the ultimate position for any brand: super evolving beyond trust to find love where it can really flourish and generate a type of loyalty that goes beyond rational thoughts and reason. 

Business seeks to grow and become more profitable. To our way of thinking this is achieved by creating more respect which hopefully leads to the ultimate for any brand; consumer love. This is the true measure of becoming ‘better’.

Understanding this and making it happen; this is the Sensation effect.

So that's Christmas past and present. And as for the future, well that’s still to be decided but it's looking pretty good...



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And then there's Google+

You can Google just about everything you want to find out in terms of research. You can blog from Blogger, a Google product, have a Gmail account. There's more - Google this, Google that.

And then there's Google+.

You know about it but how many people really use it. I've looked over this a few times and like many just can't get to grips with it. Technically it's brilliant and offers so much choice and integration and maybe that's the problem. Google deals with data and they're brilliant at dealing with it.

Big data helps them provide the brilliant search engine that we all love. The thing that makes the Google search engine so good and so attractive is the fact that it provides quick and easy access to just about everything you could ever want to know and more besides that you probably didn't. This is presented in a brilliantly simple way: A white screen with a Google logo and a search box.

More information than you can learn in one lifetime made irresistibly attractive by simplicity of interaction that the Google search page offers.

Surely Google should look at who, not what, they are designing Google+ for. Humans aren't programs that can be set up to harvest huge amounts of data in one go - this is stressful. Naturally we want to read between the lines and get to the point - we're curious, irrational beings after all. 

For most, great functional design for humans is the simplest way to fix a complex problem so to my mind Google+ could do with a massive simplify button. Get rid of everything that's in the way of close human interaction. Maybe this will help by letting people engage with each other a little easier online.

That was the original idea right?

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When brand love comes to town.

The effects of consumer behaviour towards brands and vice-versa is astounding. So when brand love comes to town you'd better be ready to understand it and what it means for your business.

The list is endless: People attach themselves to brands for many reasons from necessity to luxury indulgence. What I find incredibly interesting is what happens to the consumers mind when they attach themselves to a brand.

When brands are created specifically to tap in to areas such as mystery, sensuality and intimacy they stand a far greater chance of becoming not just respected but loved. Brands are loved for all types of different reasons and playing a part in people's lives to improve them is common reason to fuel a purchasing decision.

These days brands are also relied on to provide support in other ways; from helping to overcome global problems to helping people overcome tricky or difficult emotional circumstances - even when the specific circumstances seemingly have nothing to do with the brand itself. When a brand is being used in this way to engage with the consumer and successfully creates participation, it's clear that a strong emotional connection between the brand and the consumer exists.

This is all beyond the obvious 'on-the-tin' benefits and this is where brands are winning the hearts of the consumer as they get closer than ever to our lives and create emotional connections.

Indeed, emotional connections to brands can be so powerful that the only thing in common with a consumer-brand relationship could be that of the brand simply linking a set of relevant circumstances with the consumer for one particular moment in time.  The desired effect could be equally as simple; to create an enabler for the consumer to interact or deal with a situation in an easier way than they might otherwise have had the opportunity or thought to do so.

In many cases the result often ensures a means to end an internal emotionally based conflict, providing closure, streamlining and simplifying the consumer's life at the same time. These actions are beyond the boundaries of where a brand traditionally sits and offer a set of new, holistically structured, emotionally motivated rewards.

Looking at social media is a good example: Social media provides an accessible platform for brands and consumers to hook up and when this takes place an irresistible opportunity often arises for brands and consumers. In situations like this, brand love comes to town.

For the brand it's win, win. It creates a platform in the mind for the 'feel good factor' to thrive in and the chance of creating a stronger emotional bond with the consumer. For the consumer it's an enabler of participation in what can often be seen as 'the bigger picture'. It rewards consumers by enabling them to position themselves in a caring or responsible way with minimal effort, low risk and a perception of higher social standing.

This is good for consumer-brand relations because it gives the brand increased recognition within existing and potential markets. Crucially, for the consumer it provides a voice and opportunity for recognition on an even playing field and, at the same time creates an environment to help the consumer 'feel better' by rewarding her with warmth and empathy which of course are strongly linked to love.

Understanding this comes with a great deal of responsibility. Ensuring that Sensation Creative practice advertising techniques for our clients that are in line with ethical values is something that is very close to our heart.

As my old primary school teacher once taught me; 'It's nice to be important but it's more important to be nice'.

To my mind, the same can be said for brands.

Find out more at: www.SensationCreative.com