A four-day week is both a blessing and a curse at RE-UP. A blessing because, well, it’s a four-day week, which means one less day of avoiding eye-contact with frowning commuters, and the August Bank Holiday means an extra day to enjoy summer. Woohoo!
So, why is that a curse? Simple: we are busy. Very busy. It’s becoming a running theme of these blog posts indeed, but as RE-UP grows, so does our client base, briefs and challenges. Which is an even bigger woohoo! The last few days have also seen yet another slice of French delight appear in the form of Mélanie, our new graphic design intern from Nantes. A great benefit of this is that Nuveen has more time to sing at her desk – though joking aside, more digital artistic help means a more productive RE-UP. Smiles all round!
Let’s get started on RE-UPdating you with news from this glorious creative team. They’ve been working on a print advert for our tech heroes Firefox OS Africa. Thinking about Firefox’s app store – The Marketplace – our team crafted a slogan, a killer image and a powerful concept to unite Firefox OS Africa and Orange. It’s a unique and a feel-good creative idea, which celebrates the underground heroes who come alive with Firefox OS Africa. All will be revealed soon…
Autumn/Winter 2015 has arrived at Méduse with the launch of their brand new collection! With plenty of chic ankle boots and sleek high boots now on show, the team have been publishing a range of pieces to celebrate this, including the creation of an autumnal themed Facebook and Twitter cover photo as well as a profile picture to match – the best way to show the change in season! Additionally, Méduse is showing off its upcoming spring/summer collection for 2016 at trade show Who’s Next in Paris this weekend. Truly a jelly shoe brand that moves with the seasons!
Moving from France to Japan, Shu Uemura Art of Hair have launched a Facebook contest that runs for the whole of September. We’ve been supporting them with content and design to push the stylist’s looks, with the winning look receiving a grand prize of €1,000 to spend at Kitsune online – lucky things!
More exciting news, this time from the world of our favourite bus client. iDBUS just announced a rebrand – to OUIBUS. Not only do they have a shining new name and look, they’re also launching brand new double decker buses in the UK.
Back to the design team: they have been sketching, scamping and creating detailed pencil illustrations to give the web design mockups the little boost of character they need to evolve into small, rustic icons for our favourite foodie client, who we can now reveal is none other than Rachel Khoo of The Little Paris Kitchen!
We have been working with Rachel on a new online magazine called Khoollect. With the launch date set for October of this year, we have been hard at work with preparations. To get us all really excited, she has just released a newsletter to all her fans informing them about the upcoming new website. It’s been a great honour to work with such a loved UK chef on this upcoming launch – we can’t wait to keep you guys informed, and see what our work with Rachel leads to!
With all of this, it’s easy to forget that we’re just as in tune with the outside world. It’s been a very interesting week on the digital front, including:
- Reports that we can now predict who will be the next top model by using an algorithm based on Instagram activity. From now on, we will be finding the next Kate Moss, Cara Delevingne and Naomi Campbell by measuring and analysing engagement rates, volume of followers and posts per month. If this was to become industry standard, the fashion-focused Instagrammer must be quick to accelerate their volume of followers as so not to be systematically dismissed. It’s both a cool and slightly scary assessment of data’s hold on the modern and future world.
- Google have begun testing a new feature to improve restaurant brand awareness on their Maps application. The new feature will see user-generated photos being automatically attached to a restaurant’s location on Google maps – thereby allowing users to define the brand image. With Google looking to enhance maps through more dynamic tactics, TripAdvisor and Zomato may have to rethink their strategy as not to find themselves being consumed by the dominance of Google.
- You might just have heard about this one! Not only have Google recently introduced a new parent company, but they have now updated their logo to fit with 2015 and beyond. With Google making many major brand developments, it seems as if they are attempting to transform brand perception and drive forward a new, fully integrated brand identity. It’s incredibly interesting watching what they’re up to – we’ll keep you updated in future RE-UPdates. When Google changes something this big, you know the world is evolving with them – not the other way round!
- As YouTube recognizes an expanding interest with its niche audience, it has introduced a new gaming app. This not only allows its users to filter news strictly related with their interests, but also supports major brands in reaching growing gaming culture. With inflow of similar tech tools, companies may gain ability to finally more effectively access their target niche audience. By taking it a step further, they can even expand their market.
- Just as Armstrong took his first steps on the Moon, brands following his path continuously try to make themselves more visible by being present beyond Planet Earth. However, as competition constantly grows, actual space in Space is increasingly shrinking. With the interest in Space advertising, brands should reconsider where to locate their promotion and more importantly research for the right gap to fit into.
That was easy, wasn’t it? It’s good to be in the know with RE-UP! Watch this space for more news next week, both within our red-brick walls and the world outside – or hey, even the universe beyond, with that last intergalactic snippet coming into play! Until then…