This is the fourth time that we’ve done our quick review of the year. It’s an opportunity to reflect and fly through some of the stuff we’ve done over the past twelve months or so. It’s been a whole lot of fun …
January
As ever, we kicked off with the unveiling of the year’s coins with The Royal Mint.
The year in Hope&Glory has kicked off with this invented (by us) tradition for the last three years or so. It delivered well over 200 pieces of coverage on New Year’s Day – and is always a great way to start January.
Shortly after, we also managed to land IKEA’s first campaign of 2018 as we managed to convince them to create an entirely new product – the TOGether bundle. So everyone could Sleep Like a Swede (and get a better night’s kip in the process).
Oh, and before the month was out we also created adidas’ Winter Olympics kitting out campaign with over 300 athletes photographed in a three data marathon.
February
For our next stop, we worked with the lovely people at Capcom to unveil Monster Hunter World with a pop-up Monster Hunter Meat Shack. The campaign helped MHW become the publisher’s biggest ever seller with 10 million happy customers.
Next stop was our first global ad campaign. We created Pokemon Planet as we unveiled some of the new “pocket monsters” to appear as Generation III was released into the world of Pokemon GO. The film aired in the UK, Germany and the US across primetime TV.
The month was far from quiet as our next stop was a magnificent campaign with Facebook (the first of two this year) as we created the Gallery of Groups for the brand. Heroes of the show were the lovely people at Very Old Skateboarders – whose film went on to global acclaim.
There was also some time for some awards action as we were named Agency of the Year at the PR Moment Awards. Which was nice. There were also campaign wins for our work with East Village E20 and with Meantime Brewing.
March
As the Beast from the East appeared, the Novotel Hotels crashed a ton of coverage with some pretty spectacular footage of the snowstorm smashing London. Quick, simple newsjacking and the sort of stunning story for a brand that we love.
In the same month, we also launched the Year of the Living Dead with Thorpe Park. In a weird break from the norm for the park, we channelled our inner Monsters Inc. as we manged to generate electricity from visitors’ screams.
April
As is tradition on the first day of the month, we put out a variety of April Fool’s stories for clients. The standout performance, however, came from Argos as we helped them bring to life their “digital retail” narrative with a USB-powered dispenser that spreads the smell of catalogue to visitors when they go to the retailer’s website. Supposedly.
Meantime, as the Royal Wedding loomed, we worked with Plenish nut milks to create a nutty version of the whole crew – to show that they are a brand that “treat nuts like royalty”. It bagged a ton of coverage. As we hoped.
Oh. We also went along to the Sabre Awards where we were richly rewarded. We scooped EMEA Creative Agency of the Year. There were also gongs for our client work (our favourite awards) as Argos, IKEA, Sony, East Village E20, HTC Vive and Barclays were all given top honours – with Sony included in the list of Campaigns of the Year no less. Oh, There was a win for IKEA at the PRCA Dare Awards too.
May
May brought a gem of a campaign with IKEA as we helped the nation get “maverick with fabrics”. To bring that message to life we created “three piece suit(e)s” using the retailer’s fabrics. A cheeky photoshoot and video later and we cleaned-up across the media.
Also in May, we did some proper news at The Macallan unveiled their really quite magnificent new distillery. With some utterly stunning coverage for the brand across pretty much every broadsheet and retailer we had a cracking time with some natural news to promote.
June
We took June off apparently. Actually, we didn’t. But we didn’t get around to writing anything up for a bit so we’ll have to overlook this one.
We did, however, pop along to the Content Awards where we won for work with STRIPPD and adidas. Which was pretty good now, wasn’t it?
July
We created Harry Kane-ine and Grrr-eth Southgate for Fresh Pet as we made a film to help stressed football fans find respite from the tension of the World Cup. It bagged a ton of coverage for the brand.
Speaking of World Cup stories, we also celebrated the England vs Sweden game with an IKEA campaign that saw us launch a “meal of two halves” – fish and chips with meatballs. The story was a stunner across the media.
Along the way, we also created our first global event for Reebok as we launched the the reboot of their classic Aztrek silhouette with a “Re-run the 90s” event that welcomed over 1,300 people and featured partnerships with NTS and Hunger Magazine who took over various rooms during our 1990s House Party.
Oh … then we launched Rover.com in the UK. We created the world’s first Dog Swimming Gala in Hackney. Also known as the “Doggy Paddle” and “Reservoir Dogs”, it got a ton of coverage – including the DPS in The Guardian. It was a cracking day out too.
August
In August we did a ton of work. But to mention it all would be to undermine two of the weirder and more wonderful things we did.
First of all, we managed to get Gemma Collins to help us out by recreating a series of Kim Kardashians most infamous selfies – all in the name of showcasing the remarkable camera on the HTC U12+. It was a bit barking mad and the results were off the charts. It was breaking the internet territory.
We also worked with the legendary Bobby Seagull – he of University Challenge fame – to showcase Argos‘s range of Home Assistants. As you do. Bobby was soundly whipped by the combined might of the tech ranged against him. The coverage was stellar.
September
September was likewise pretty full-on. But a couple of highlights …
We had a pretty weird time as we launched O2’s newest tariff which offers the ultimate in pick and mix choices to consumers. The launch therefore saw us create what must have been just about the biggest ever pick n mix on the banks of the Thames. It went down rather well – and what’s more drove people into store.
One of the other highlights of September – indeed of the year – was our work with Facebook as we created the agency’s first feature film. The Beyond the Screen campaign culminated in six short films being screened across cinemas nationwide. They also delivered a ton of coverage across the national and lifestyle media. It was a pretty remarkable campaign featuring some incredible people using Facebook to do some amazing things.
October
October brought new clients and new work for them. Most notable along the way was our work with Photobox as we banged in piece after piece for the PIPAS – or Photobox Instagram Photography Awards. We cleaned up with DPS pieces across the media and a seriously healthy uplift in sales as a result of the campaign. Here’s a quick run-down on what we did with the shortlist and there’s also a brief piece on the final selection.
We also found time to knock in our second global ad campaign for the year with yet more work for Pokemon …
Then we tipped along to the PRCA Awards. It was a cracking night as we came away with yet another gong for our work with the team at Marie Curie. But even more delighting for us was the fact that we were named Large Agency of the Year – the smallest Large Agency in history, we suspect.
What’s more, we also discovered that the Sabre Awards named us the Best Creative Agency in the World at their end-of-year gala event in Washington DC. It was quite cool.
November
There was a ton of work across the agency in November. So we’ll just call out some bloody brilliant work with the Isle of Man as we placed Fairy houses across the Island (because it has such a rich folklore heritage). The coverage was global. It got a lot of people talking.
There was also some fantastic work with LinkedIn as we delivered the first campaign against the creative platform we developed for them … LinkedIn: Discuss. Our story – that plus size employees earn less then their colleagues of average weight – cleaned-up across the media and drove a lot of incredibly healthy debate.
We pottered along to the CorpComms Awards where awards were awarded and gongs given out. We were pretty well chuffed to leave the night with work for Argos and Marie Curie recognised. It was a cracking night out for all concerned.
We also decided to take the step of publishing our parental leave policies. So people considering joining us don’t feel they have to ask (because there is still a worry that there is a stigma attached to such questions).
December
There were then a couple of cracking dog-related campaigns (because if you work for Rover.com and Fresh Pet there are going to be a few of those). However, the canine campaign that stood out in December was the work with Champions Tennis as the coverage went global thanks to our Ball Dogs.
There was also a really weird piece of work with the aforementioned Rover.com as we launched a Trampoline Park for dogs – because apparently owners don’t give their pets enough exercise during the cold winter months. Perfect answer really.
Rounding-out the year (at least the work that we’re going to run through here – there was a ton of work we could have included, alongside thumping press offices for the likes of IKEA, Sony, Argos – Black Friday was immense this year (the is extensive) was our campaign with Uber. We spread a little Christmas cheer by offering free rides to NHS workers over the festive season. The media loved it. As did NHS workers themselves.
So there you have it. Another year. Another cracker work-wise. Lots more to come in 2019. Can’t wait …
