You heard it through the grapevine

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We’re loving the series by The Drum looking at the origins of companies in the context of advertising campaigns. Recently they focused on Levi’s and wow did that bring memories back for some of the Smart Cow team.

The iconic “Launderette” ad featuring Nick Kamen stripping down to his underwear to wash his clothes in a public launderette is an ad that will stick around in people’s minds for a while to come. This ad really saw the start of Levi’s spreading from America to Europe. The sexy undertone of the ad turned heads and got people interested in the brand. Airing in the 80’s with limited TV choice, no internet, smart phones, social channels or YouTube, Levi’s stood out, it was different and became an instant hit.

The background music “I heard it through the grapevine” not only reflected the mood of the advert with everyone staring and gossiping about Nick, but it also foretold the future for Levi’s. There was much gossip on the Levi’s advert and Nick Kamen across Europe, before you know it boys had lost their mullet hair opting for short smooth hair and a new market clamoured for Levi’s jeans.

Looking at the other launderette customer’s clothes it is obvious that Levi’s is ground-breaking and goes against the grain. So, the shock is not only Nick Kamen stripping but the revelation of discovering a new fashion and style from where the streets are paved with gold. It most certainly grabbed the attention of Europe.

Now, skip forward 30 years and it goes without question that Levi’s is a household name. A quick straw poll around the office certainly indicates that Levi’s are at top of mind when asked to name a brand of jeans. Although Wrangler and Lee were also mentioned as worn by our Digital Manager’s Dad!

Today, Levi’s popularity is still booming. Young adults and teens today are aware of the brand through celebrities sporting the jeans, and the fun Levi’s 2017 “Circles” advert.

The jeans seem to be everywhere! Levi’s has been around for generations and has made it work because of its power to change and adapt to the attitudes, mood and fashion of any given era. Its timeless image attracts the attention of any generation, and many more to come.

The big question is, can a brand of jeans match Levi’s? Other top brands such as Guess, Wranglers and Diesel are all very popular. But, what makes Levi’s stand out is its successful advertising campaigns; spread across all channels from TV to YouTube and social networks. The company has been around for 165 years, this is a long time compared to Guess and Diesel, who were both only founded 37 and 40 years ago, and it’s also longer than Wrangler who was founded 114 years ago. It seems fair to say the Levi’s is a hard brand to beat with its ability to adjust and restyle to complement feeling and spirit of the present era.

Has the emoji had its day?

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With emoji’s having their own day to celebrate them, we take a closer look at whether emoji’s have had their day or are here to stay.

Are emoji’s being used for business?

With the plethora of emoji’s available and new ones always emerging it’s important to understand how and where we can use them to make our business stand out, how you can use them to understand your market, or when not to use them in fear of looking unprofessional.

In 2017, a survey found 86% of emoji users were 24 or under* making it important for businesses with young target audience to bare this in mind when trying to appeal to the younger market.

Furthermore, there are expected to be 157 new emoji’s arriving on our screens by the end of 2018, rising the total number of emoji’s up to a stunning 2,823*. The sheer number of these mean it’s ever more important to understand how to use each emoji properly, as misinterpretations can have damaging consequences to a business, for example, did you know only 7% of people use the peach emoji as a fruit*, otherwise it’s more commonly known to describe a bottom – something very important to remember when advertising fresh fruit online!

How can your business benefit from using emoji’s?

It’s becoming very difficult to know when or when not to use emoji’s in digital marketing strategies, so we’ve got a few tips of when you can use emoji’s to your advantage.

Using emoji’s to attract customers in emails can be very effective especially in times when many businesses will be communicating with emails such as cyber Monday or black Friday. Emoji’s such as the lightning bolt can serve as a call to action, drawing attention to the email and offer and away from competitors.

With, 56% of brands using emojis in subject lines witnessing increased open rates, it’s certainly something worth considering**. Even without a click through, you’ll still be increasing brand awareness.

Be warned when using emoji’s for your business

Many corporate companies such as finance or legal firms will be wanting to convey an air of professionalism. In this case, an emoji in emails or social media may not be the best approach for your audience. Again, their use comes down to the content you’re using and the image you want to portray.

Incorrect use of an emoji may deem a company’s branding seem silly or immature, therefore you must make sure to understand what market you are targeting and the industry you’re competing in before adopting this emoji marketing strategy.

As well as this, if you do opt to use it in your email subject line, not all recipients will be able to see emoji’s as some platforms don’t support some emoji’s**, making them appear as just a white box, ruining the marketing plan that was in place originally and undermining the whole concept.

If you’re using emoji’s for business, ensure to use them sparingly and where relevant in order to not run the risk of looking unprofessional or mediocre.

Need digital marketing support?

For any more information on using emojis in digital marketing or any other questions on your latest email campaign, social media posts or website, get in touch with us for advice.

Sources: * WorldEmojiDay **Omnisend.com

Email marketing to grow your business

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You may be mistaken for thinking that with the boom of social media channels that email marketing is losing its effectiveness. Statistics indicate otherwise, email marketing is still a leading source of revenue for companies!

The popularity of email marketing

Email marketing is still widely used for gaining customers, being cost-effective, easy and efficient. In fact, 59% of B2B marketers say email is their most effective channel in terms of revenue generation*. As well as this, according to B2C marketers, 80% of retail professionals indicate email marketing is their greatest driver of customer retention*, with the usual favourite social media ranked second by 44% by the same professionals. This surely shows email marketing is not a dying strategy, but in fact a very happy underdog.

These email marketing studies were based around a solid strategy using particular key words and features aiming to attract as many customers as possible. These tactics can be incredibly useful when used correctly, for example; did you know that Tuesday is the best day of the week to send an email and receive some form of interaction on the recipients end, according to ten different studies!*  Furthermore, welcome emails have been found to be incredibly effective: on average 320% more revenue is attributed to them on a ‘per email’ basis than other emails*.

Email marketing agency Croydon

Smart Cow helps small to medium sized businesses become experts in email marketing, using all the tips and tricks of the trade such as adding vouchers or competitions to emails  to get the best out of your campaign. We can set up a campaign for you from designing the template through to managing the whole campaign, or we can just create a newsletter template for you to populate at a later date.

Smart Cow is a Constant Contact partner and as a result we can offer a free email marketing trial for businesses looking for a digital marketing future with us! Read more about our free trials for small businesses here and get in touch to chat about your campaign ideas.

Sources: *Wordstream

World cup illustrated

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We’ve all been caught up this last month with World Cup fever gripping many of us. So, if you’re feeling any withdrawal from the lack of the beautiful game on TV, take a look at these stunning football illustrations on Dezeen.

The Smart Cow team loved the ‘Football Atlas’ illustrations by Michael Raisch featuring a series of maps of countries competing in the World Cup, with colourful murals of key players adorned across their own country. This series has a vast array of drawings ranging from Harry Kane – our very own golden boot winner, to Lionel Messi of Argentina and Paul Pogba, France. It’s as if the lines of the maps have taken life of their own to create the players image which feature a wash of colour to depict the respective football kit or flag.

We loved the style of this portfolio, however one particular map that stood out was the Iranian illustration – it did not feature a star player but instead focussed on its female fans. This was not only a record-breaking World Cup in terms of penalties given and the least 0-0 matches occurring, but it was also historic for Iranian women football fans, as they are not permitted to attend stadiums in their home country. This made Raisch’s illustration of these female fans perfectly express what was most important about the World Cup – equality for all fans to enjoy the tournament, truly emanating the spirit of the game.

What we also liked about this project is that it wasn’t purely focussed on the ‘big teams’. Raisch made sure to create drawings of almost all the countries in this years World Cup, from South Korea through to Iceland and Senegal to name a few. This for us represented the fact that anything can happen with all teams having as much chance of doing well – especially seen this year with Croatia (much to our great contempt) qualifying for their very first final!

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