What's New

Back in May, Wickedweb announced that our client Bluefin Solutions won the Interactive Media Award 'Best in Class' award for the B2B category. We are delighted that due to the strength of our rating for this website, the Interactive Media Awards have subsequently awarded the Best in Class award for the Consulting category this quarter as well.

The Best in Class Award is the highest honour bestowed by the Interactive Media Awards and we are thrilled that the Bluefin Solutions website has now won this across two categories.

Congratulations once again to our client and the talented team here at Wickedweb. Special thanks to Neil Narain, Niki Duggan, Lawrence Wagerfield, James Saunders, Rob Hollander, Steve Coventry and Ian Jepp.

See previous award announcement.

Smart Insights have just published an interesting article for multi-channel marketers. The results of the research suggest that online advertising campaigns are enhanced when the email marketing channel is added.

Read full article here

Wickedweb are the lead digital marketing agency for The Lifehouse spa, and we have had an exciting time working on their website launch and full technical systems integration.   

The Lifehouse case study focuses on an interesting challenge: the marriage of brand positioning, technical consultancy and creative execution.  There were a range of objectives that needed to be considered as part of the brief spanning functional, business and creative requirements.  The solution executed by Wickedweb weaves these together.  In addition, The Lifehouse spa was not visible online. At the start of our work there were no keyword listings and little brand awareness beyond their name. Therefore, an SEO strategy was implemented to turn this around. 

This has been a successful case study and the results showcase the impact of the website and the SEO strategy.  Want to find out more? Read on to discover how we did it…

Stacey Hedges, Marketing Manager at Lifehouse comments:

"Wickedweb have provided us with invaluable support, guidance and creatively in launching the website. The team have been a true extension to the marketing department and play an integral role in the development and evolvement of the site. It’s been an absolute pleasure to work with them and we look forward to continue to drive traffic to the site and future developments"

The DADI's (The Drum Awards for the Digital Industries) recognise and reward digital excellence. Wickedweb are thrilled that our client Ella’s Kitchen has been shortlisted as one of five nominees in the business to consumer category.

The digital strategy around our recent work with Ella’s Kitchen is now under review with the DADI judging panel, and we look forward to the Awards ceremony in Leeds when the results will be revealed in November.  

Congratulations to all involved on getting this far!

More details on the nominations can be found here

A few of us here at Wickedweb made a beeline for the Figaro Social Media conference last week. We are glad we did – there was a fantastic line up of speakers and some real insight from brands such as the BBC, You Tube, O2, Kodak and Phones 4 U. Social media is ever-evolving, and Wickedweb were keen to discover how these brands are utilising social media – and more importantly what results are being harvested. 

What was clear from the conference is that social media strategy is driven by what we know about the customer / prospect. It is very CRM dependant, and insight is best gained by what O2 calls ‘the continual conversation’. Regular tweets from a brand are essential and much more effective in building loyalty and confidence than ad-hoc spikes of communication. O2 have a team to manage this continuous conversation with their customers, and find it gives them competitive advantage.

At the core of this is the notion that social media is all about engagement. YouTube makes an interesting point: social media is a fantastic platform for building sparks of excitement for a brand, which ultimately creates and maintains this engagement. Video is ideal for this, especially if the Facebook icon is added to the video so that this excitement can be shared.

However, the question on the audience’s lips of course is how do we actually measure engagement via social media? We came to the conclusion that KPI’s could include areas such as likes, a change in attitudes, mentions on Google, awareness, continued advocates and bloggers etc. Xbox added to this by talking about ‘media stacking’: using various social media channels for better cut through and amplification of your message – and Britmums endorsed this by saying that brands should utilise a good variety of social media channels to satisfy different consumption habits. It is good practice to establish your voice on different channels and be proactive, so that as a brand you are ready when a consumer comes searching for you in their preferred way.

But it’s not all about the number of ‘likes’ a brand has. It is far more effective to look beyond the volume and think about what you actually want to do with them. O2 were keen to impart that it is essential that a brand focuses on exactly what they would like social media to achieve at the outset. Phones 4 U look at the actual cost of a ‘like’ which is interesting and also look to put a value of the ‘like’ to the business.

Brands can only do so much – although there will be more success capitalising on social media if brands can focus and build on social equity. This is about friends looking out for each other and sharing, rather than putting the actual brand first. There is definitely the feeling that a consumer would like their voice to be heard now that they have been given a platform - and brand love is there for the taking if a company can show they will listen.

In conclusion, social media as a platform gives brands an opportunity to reveal and re-iterate different aspects of their personality. O2 suggested that companies “dip their toe in and try”, with an emphasis on managing any consumer issues as quickly as possible. 

For me the sentiment of the day came from Kodak – this brand revealed the key to their social media success is to “engage, educate, excite and evangelise”...

Wickedweb were thrilled to be approached by Law Debenture recently to deliver an initial suite of 6 websites across their UK and overseas offerings. Law Debenture is UK based, but has global offices in the US and Hong Kong and our brief is to redesign the current Law Debenture international website presence and two additional companies in the group.

Law Debenture is over 100 years old and have a growing range of services. These include Service of Process, Corporate Services, Investment Trusts and Asset Backed Solutions. From a branding perspective, Law Debenture is keen to retain their heritage and traditional values. However they wish to refresh and update their website for today’s market and achieve objectives around data capture and lead generation.

The website will be aimed at lawyers, intermediaries and individuals and so the design treatment will look to engage these audiences. Wickedweb will also be looking at an e-commerce facility as part of the brief.

Account Director Neil Narain who is leading this project for Wickedweb comments:

“Our challenge is to consolidate the requirements from the different territories and service lines to provide a cohesive digital strategy for the Law Debenture’s suite of companies. We are currently at the scoping stage and look forward finalising the technical requirements in the near future in order to take the project forward”.

The project will be launched Autumn 2011.

Wickedweb are delighted with our latest award win for client Cosmetics à la Carte – the IMA Outstanding Achievement Award for the 'Beauty / Cosmetics' category. There were 56 entries submitted for this category this quarter, and so we are proud to receive an award that is extremely challenging to win.

The website for Cosmetics à la Carte excelled in all areas of the judging criteria and represents a very high standard of planning, execution and overall professionalism. The criteria Wickedweb are judged on includes design, content, feature functionality, usability and standards compliance and these scored very highly.

Congratulations not only to our client, but the talented team here at Wickedweb - in particular Kalli Daffin, Rob Hollander, Steve Coventry, Ian Jepp, David Pook, Lazlo Sike, Rob King, Mark Townsend and Billy Harvey.

If you would like more information on this project then click here to view the case study. Alternatively, give us a call to find out more.

Schülke are the international specialists in infection control products, hygiene, disinfection and preservation, and are a long standing client of Wickedweb.  The UK website was over - hauled by us a year ago and Wickedweb manage ongoing developments to the site and the digital strategy.  One of schülke’s key objectives is to maintain their leading position in the market by ensuring the brand engages with its audience in an innovative way.

Following the website re-brand, schülke were keen to enforce this re-positioning, increase traffic to the site and encourage repeat visits.  It was also paramount that we worked on raising awareness for the brand.  Wickedweb advised creating a members area for the main schülke website as part of the content strategy, in order to bring engagement with the audience to the fore.  In addition, a dedicated microsite for the dental portfolio was created to support a key campaign.

Our recommendation also included launching social media activity for the first time, which underpinned their data acquisition objectives.  Furthermore, Wickedweb rolled out an SEO strategy.

Find out more about the overall strategy Wickedweb implemented for schülke and how this met the client’s objectives.

Nicola Furniss, Senior Product Manager for schülke comments: 

“Wickedweb were integral to the launch of our re designed site which was intended to make us and our products and services more accessible to our customers. Wickedweb continue to support us both creatively and technically in our online activity as pioneers of infection prevention.”

Wickedweb’s SEO team continue to grow – welcome Darryl Kearvell.

SEO is one of our busiest departments here at Wickedweb, and our team is constantly growing. We are delighted to welcome Darryl, who has a strong programming and SEO background. Having worked for one of the largest digital media agencies previously, Darryl has experience with clients such Proctor & Gamble.

With a degree in Computer Science, Darryl has been building websites for 10 years. However he has a specific passion for SEO and pays particular attention to usability and engagement.

Outside of work, Darryl is a massive video games enthusiast and has worked in the industry for the last couple of years. Darryl joined Wickedweb having achieved all he wanted to in the video games industry and was keen to return to SEO.  

We know he will be a hit with our clients....

With our continued expansion, we welcome Chris Reid to the Wickedweb team. Chris brings extensive digital experience to Wickedweb. With both project management and front end development skills, Chris is ideally placed to hit the ground running in our busy studio.

Chris joins our existing talented development team and will work across our varied client portfolio.  As well as creative flair and a meticulous attention to detail, Chris also has a penchant for cycling to work – 30 miles a day with hills no less!  That makes some of us here feel quite...well... lazy.

Welcome to the family.

Wickedweb are pleased to announce we are the agency of choice for Gillingham Football Club, and look forward to delivering a suite of digital services across the Club’s portfolio.

We have recently won the opportunity to deliver a range of websites for the Club, and will begin with the brand identity for Priestfield – the club's conference & banqueting facility. The brand strategy work will roll out into the design and build of the new website for the largest purpose-built venue of its kind in the south-east. 

In addition, Wickedweb will also execute development work on two further websites for charities supported by the Club in order to raise awareness and funds.  More details will follow.

We will also be developing a new approach and image for the Club’s online merchandising site.

Following the website builds, Wickedweb will conceive the digital media strategy to take the websites to the next level, and will begin with traffic driving initiatives via SEO and Social Media.

Murray Evans, Marketing Manager for Gillingham Football Club, said: “We searched for a partner who could deliver a range of innovative ideas and solutions for several very different needs. We have started with our conference and banqueting business, because it is crucial to the company's success off the pitch, and we look forward to working with Wickedweb on this and our other digital projects in the foreseeable future.“ 

Wickedweb adds Gillingham Football Club to our existing sporting credentials which include a global strategy, design and build project for Mitre International, a microsite for the Rugby World Cup in conjunction with The Telegraph and a website for Ben Garner, a top ranked squash player.

Wickedweb are delighted with our latest award win for client Cosmetics à la Carte – the IMA Outstanding Achievement Award for the ‘Beauty / Cosmetics’ category.  There were 56 entries submitted for this category this quarter, and so we are proud to receive an award that is extremely challenging to win.

The website for Cosmetics à la Carte excelled in all areas of the judging criteria and represents a very high standard of planning, execution and overall professionalism.  The criteria Wickedweb are judged on includes design, content, feature functionality, usability and standards compliance and these scored very highly.

Congratulations not only to our client, but the talented team here at Wickedweb - in particular Kalli Daffin, Rob Hollander, Steve Coventry, Ian Jepp, David Pook, Lazlo Sike, Rob King, Mark Townsend and Billy Harvey.

If you would like more information on this project then click here to view the case study.  Alternatively, give us a call to find out more.