S3 Creds Doc by S3 Advertising

is a multi-award winning, integrated full service advertising agency based in the heart of Cardiff city centre and London. We specialise in media buying & planning, creative & design, branding, web design & development, digital & SEO, social media and PR. The Drum’s 2016 UK Advertising Agency of the Year, we pride ourselves on being a truly national agency benefiting from the very best talent that Wales has to offer. We work with some of the UK’s largest brands such as Companies House, Airbus, MotoNovo Finance and Bounce Energy Balls, as well as Wales’ best known brands; the Welsh Rugby Union, the Football Association of Wales, BBC Wales, Brace’s Bread, S4C, Public Health Wales, Welsh Government and Development Bank of Wales. If you want your brand to be seen, heard and talked about, then S3 Advertising probably isn’t the best choice, it’s the only choice…

With over 300 years’ industry experience, our advertising expertise and industry relationships are second to none. Headed by Matt Jones, let us introduce you to some of the agency’s key figures, and how they can help fulfil your brand’s or business’ potential.

CEO & OWNER Entrepreneur of the Year 2016 at The Cardiff Business Awards, Matt has over 12 years’ experience and has held senior leadership roles at the largest global media owners, bringing unrivalled knowledge and an inspirational leadership style to his role as CEO. He believes that in order “to build a great company, you have to build a great team.” m.jones@s3advertising.agency

CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER

SENIOR ACCOUNT DIRECTOR

COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR

S3’s Chief Operations Officer, Andrew ‘AJ’ Jones

Becky has eight years’ experience of PR, advertising

Mike has over 20 years’ media experience, working

brings 16 years’ experience - including time at

and social media marketing, and is an expert

for media owners such as Trinity Mirror, Newsquest

Reuters and Nasdaq Inc. - with him to the agency.

at turning client messages into engaging and

and, for nine years, Exterion Media, giving him a great

Responsible for ensuring S3’s client side operations

memorable content. At S3, she leads a number of

understanding of the outdoor landscape. Mike’s primary

are efficient, fully streamlined and project managed,

the agency’s largest accounts - including University

goal is to make businesses and brands famous and

his efficiency and personable nature help provide

of South Wales, MotoNovo, Development Bank of

provide the greatest return for every £1 spent on

clients with an optimal experience. They say that

Wales - her expertise invaluable when it comes to

advertising. As well as bringing new business into the

nobody is irreplaceable, yet AJ’s ability to handle

translating client’s key messages into engaging,

agency, Mike is also responsible for looking after clients

high pressure situations and make seemingly

memorable stories. With a strong understanding of

such as S4C and David Spear Commercial. After all,

difficult decisions with consummate ease, make

brand and a focus on strategy, Becky ensures that

the customer is king in Mike’s world and if the client is

him a notable exception

every campaign touchpoint comes from the same

happy, then he is happy.

to this rule.

core identity, with every aspect working to a single

m.webb@s3advertising.agency

a.jones@s3advertising.agency

minded proposition. r.campbell@s3advertising.agency

CLIENT ACCOUNT DIRECTOR The devil is always in the detail for Shane, previously a senior Media Planner & Buyer at S3 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; he brings a further level of specialism when developing brand strategies. His agency experience is invaluable, and his passion for managing campaigns has lead to countless brands becoming the best they can be. s.keech@s3advertising.agency

HEAD OF DIGITAL A fully-fledged digital expert, Adam is a qualified Google Partner, certified in Google Analytics and AdWords. His dedication to client satisfaction shines through all projects, with a strong eye for detail when it comes to monitoring clientsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; campaigns from start to finish. a.armytage@s3advertising.agency

CLIENT ACCOUNT DIRECTOR A true FMCG specialist, Ellie’s experience working for brands such as Zoggs, Bounce Energy Foods and Coldpress Foods, make her the perfect candidate for a role as a Client Account Director at S3 Advertising. Working from S3’s London office, Ellie plays an integral role in the success and growth of our award-winning media team. Managing a number of key accounts, she works on and manages campaigns, from initial strategy through to eventual delivery and evaluation. e.rose@s3advertising.agency

HEAD OF VIDEO PRODUCTION S3’s youngest head of department, Dan understands that video has now become a major leading promotional tool. Working tirelessly as head of S3’s award-winning, evergrowing video department, Dan creates flawless video, which not only follows the client’s brief but far exceeds their expectations. Dan specialises in production, directing and editing, as well as creative concepting and design. With his finger constantly on the industry pulse, he is constantly looking for the latest, video-based tech and methods to use in his clients’ campaigns. d.veal@s3advertising.agency

CREATIVE DIRECTOR With over twenty years’ experience in the publishing industry, Jamie has overseen content for some of the UK’s biggest publications, including Top Gear, T3 and Sky magazines. A true all-round creative, Jamie’s ability to concept, write copy and manage other creative staff members, make him the perfect candidate to lead the agency’s award-winning department. A stickler for detail, Jamie is responsible for all content that leaves the agency, ensuring every aspect of a work’s composition is perfect for the client. j.hibbard@s3advertising.agency

HEAD OF WEB DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT Steve has over a decade of experience in the design industry. Over the past 13 years Steve has worked on diverse projects with a broad range of clients, including Airbus, Brace’s Bakery, Cardiff City Football Club, Glamorgan Cricket and Welsh Blood. Steve enjoys combining modern digital techniques with more traditional methods. With the industry moving towards using more dynamic online content, Steve has moved to focus on web development. s.lewis@s3advertising.agency

ART DIRECTOR / DESIGNER Leanne studied Design for Advertising at Swansea Metropolitan University, graduating with a 2:1 degree. Working for a variety design and creative studios, her client experience includes Oreo, Bayer, Barclaycard, Cancer Research, Diesel and, more recently Bounce Energy Balls and Kabuto Noodles. Leanne is a creative at heart, whose artistic routes have grown into a skill set mixing artistic ability, a conceptual mind and extensive knowledge of design software. l.bisby@s3advertising.agency

CREATIVE COPYWRITER Having graduated from the University of Brighton with a BA (Hons) in Sports Journalism, Jack cut his teeth with digital publishing firm, Made Up Media, working alongside clients such as Rio Ferdinand, ITV and RBS. Jack has a hunger for creating new ideas: the notion of bringing a fresh concept to life is what gets him out of bed every morning. Thanks to his experience as a journalist, Jack is a stickler for the fine details, meaning he won’t leave the office until the i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed. j.rivers@s3advertising.agency

2019: Winners of CIM Best Integrated Marketing Campaign (Large) 2019: The Drum Digital Awards Winner 2018: Five number one rankings at the Drum Top 100 Agency Census, including #1 Independent Advertising Agency in Wales.

28th Best Agency in the UK

2018: Fast Growth 50: Sustainability award winner 2018: Winners of two CIPR awards – Consumer Relations Campaign and Arts, Culture and Sport Campaign 2018: Shortlisted for three RAR Digital Awards – Online Analytics/Measurables; Online Advertising; and Online Media Buying 2018: RAR Award shortlisting for Media Buying 2017: Fast Growth 50: fastest growing creative industries firm in Wales 2017: Seven awards at the Drum Top 100 Agency Census including FIVE UK number ones: #1 Financial Performance, #1 Welsh

Advertising Agency, #1 UK Advertising Agency (25-50 staff), #3 UK Media Buying & Planning Agency, #6 UK Advertising Agency

2017: Won RAR award for best agency (under 40 staff) for Media Buying 2016: The Drum’s UK Advertising Agency of the Year 2016: Ranked #1 in the UK for the third year at The Drum Digital Census for Excellent Client Feedback in the Media Agencies Sector 2016: Won 3 RAR awards for best agency (under 40 staff) for Advertising, Media Buying, Creative & Innovation 2016: Won RAR Digital award for best Online Media Buying Agency (under 40 staff) 2016: Matt Jones, CEO, won Entrepreneur of the Year at the Cardiff Business Awards 2016: Ranked number 3 in the Independent Agency Census 2016 for Media Agency under 40 staff in the UK

OPPO ICE CREAM Across January and February 2019 – guilt-free dessert brand, Oppo came to S3 in pursuit of a disruptive and stand-out Valentine’s PR/Social campaign. Its primary objective was to effectively spark an explosion of conversation around them within the industry, and elevate the brands newly formed, dark and desirable personality. This process began, partnering with sex toy champion, Ann Summers to create a branded ‘Spooning Kit’ for press, influencers and consumers that would reflect the provocative, adult tone we were looking to convey. The kit comprised of: indulgent Oppo ice cream/cheesecake, a golden dessert spoon and to top it all off, an Ann Summers Moregasm Bullet. Yep, you read it right. Having sent this pleasure kit to selected media audiences, accompanied by a press release - we secured an OTS rate of over 1.7 million for the brand, with journalists from MTV, Cosmopolitan, LadBible and more all covering the product. We combined this package with a landing page, teasing the consumer launch of the spooning kit and ran an online voucher giveaway, alongside a suite of witty social content to help build on its momentum. Our 28 social posts achieved an increase of 1,838 Oppo followers over the period of their posting, as well as 560k impressions and 6.5k engagements – with a massive spike over the week building up to Valentine’s Day. This build-up successfully led to 33,000 landing page visitors over its duration, over 18,000 voucher requests and 8.2k e-newsletter sign-ups (+96.6% prior to the campaign).

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH WALES Whilst the word ‘Clearing’ might not mean much to the vast majority of the public, it’s one that is vitally important for many sixth-form students across the UK.

Indeed, if students don’t achieve the A-Level grades they need to be accepted to their chosen university, Clearing offers a lifeline and so is an important day for many higher education institutions, including our client, the University of South Wales. Wanting to take full advantage of digital advertising’s capabilities on Clearing day, USW approached us to help them attract students through Google AdWords and Facebook. Beginning with an in-depth audit, our digital team restructured the client’s existing account, before multiple strategy meetings with USW helped finalise budgets, approve ad copy and determine logistics. On the day itself – proving why we’ve been ranked #1 for client satisfaction three years running – our S3 digital gurus were onsite with USW’s marketing department, benefitting from direct call centre access while providing senior management with real-time updates. Thanks to this hands-on approach, we received numerous plaudits from the client while increasing impression share (USW’s online market share) by 40%.

HELP ME QUIT In 2018 we took on the task of using advertising to reduce the impact of smoking in Wales when it began work with Public Health Wales for its national Help Me Quit campaign. Objectives were to inspire 3,968 individuals to begin their quit journey using NHS services and to use behaviour change methods to support the decreasing prevalence and impact of smoking in Wales. Intelligent insight and continual optimisation tactics are at the heart of this campaign. We began with detailed insight into the C2DE audiences gained from our numerous research platforms, including Experian MOSAIC. Members of our team then spent time training with Public Health Wales’ behavioural change scientists to learn the principles of behaviour change and understand methods that could be utilised within campaign creative. With all this information we were able to craft out a campaign creative that not only spoke directly to the campaign’s core C2DE audience but that normalised quitting behaviour through use of everyday models and a playful “We’re doing it” message. Our channel strategy saw campaign messages delivered through a mix of TV, out of home, PR and a multi-faceted digital campaign that uses a wide range of audience and messaging combinations to deliver greatest ROI. Utilising Search, Display, YouTube, Facebook and Remarketing in conjunction with our overarching fully integrated campaign, we have pushed innovation boundaries in terms of Welsh public sector marketing initiatives. Since the campaign begun we have worked in complete partnership with Public Health Wales to conduct regular review and optimisation, with digital activity in particular providing a myriad of insights that are

reported transparently and used practically to feed back into and improve the campaign tactics. A key tactical change was the move from flagship peak TV slots to an ‘always-on’ approach utilising cost-effective daytime TV solutions. Since the new activity began results grew rapidly with subsequent months achieving double that of previous. Likewise a recommendation from Team S3 to troubleshoot failing conversion rates through a new, bespoke website saw S3’s web developers produce am attractive and mobile-optimised new site designed with the clear purpose of converting visitors — a move that saw web conversion rates rise 14% year on year. Ultimately, the partnership between the two sides has had a true impact on campaign performance and is supporting vital work in Wales to limit the devastating effects of smoking in our public. Highlight Results: Challenging KPI of 3986 conversions in 2018-19 campaign period exceeded! Web traffic up 93% vs. same period last year Conversions up 114% vs. same period last year Our search campaign conversion rate: avg. 7% vs. industry standard of 2-3% – demonstrating that our ads are more relevant to our audience and are working more cleverly to achieve results vs spend Our YouTube view-throughs: 33% of people watched our creative through vs. industry standard of 17% – showing our creative is achieving cutthrough with our audience

FIND AND FUND In 2018, MotoNovo Finance approached us in need of an agency to support the launch of their new platform, findandfundmycar. com – ‘the home of feel good car buying’ – an online used car sales aggregator where users can find and finance used cars, all in one place.

Our senior team also provides the MotoNovo team with strategic planning advice across all areas of the marketing campaign – from website to creative. Recommendations around PPC-specific landing pages, streamlining of the conversion journey and diversification of content have all helped the platform deliver concrete results.

Our team of digital specialists partnered with MotoNovo’s product teams to extensively research and plan a campaign that would combine a heavy PPC (pay-per-click) campaign with SEO tactics to drive traffic and ultimately vehicle and finance sales.

While a move to position-based attribution modelling (whereby we measure all adverts that have played a role in a consumer’s path to purchase) has empowered findandfundmycar.com with analysis that feeds into even their offline advertising strategies.

We set up tracking across the website conversion journey and planned digital risk strategies – from KPI alert dashboards to PR crisis communications plans – in preparation for their introduction. With a significant digital budget findandfundmycar.com’s PPC campaign now operates successfully on a huge scale, thanks to diligent monitoring and optimising from our specialists across search and display..

Overall, this campaign is a testament to the power S3’s digital advertising agency services can bring to clients with an online point of sale.

We also led findandfundmycar.com’s first venture into brand PPC advertising across Facebook, Instagram and YouTube - elevating its debut dogs-in-cars TV advert as a cost effective complement and alternative media format to TV. S3 shift the dials of the campaigns day in and day out to ensure performance is delivering against set CPA (cost per acquisition) targets. By monitoring the account in this manner we’re able to provide crucial business insights and heavily track channel usage, enabling a transparent and detailed service.

Highlight Results: Delivered substantial sales leads for client within target cost per lead Have decreased the overall cost per sales lead by 47% over course of campaign Delivered 80m+ brand impressions - Over 2m+ visitors driven to website YouTube TrueView campaigns have boosted brand recall by 39%

SPECTRUM COLLECTIONS When Spectrum Collections approached us in June 2016, their makeup brushes had already achieved cult status within the beauty world, thanks to a legion of avid fans – including high profile celebrities – who swear by the cruelty free, vegan products. Never ones to rest on their laurels, however, Spectrum Collections wanted to ride the wave of this success by increasing their online presence and, ultimately, their revenue. Cue our award-winning digital experts who, having audited Spectrum’s account, identified structural problems that resulted in the client not being able to fully benefit from AdWords’ capabilities. To help Spectrum achieve its full potential, we launched a series of highly targeted PPC campaigns to reach their key demographic. Thanks to search, shopping, display, video and remarketing campaigns, S3’s digital team demonstrated why they’ve been ranked #1 for client satisfaction three years running. Since beginning their campaign management, S3 have helped Spectrum Collections increase revenue by 310% and profit increase of 580%. After the initial launch in the UK, with the help of S3, Spectrum Collections ventured into the US market. Via Paid Google advertisement, S3 have increased revenue for the US campaign by 205% with a profit increase by 313%.

MR TOM PEANUT CRUNCH BAR On the modern day battlefield that is the retail shelf, winning the consumer war is becoming an increasingly tricky affair. With so many different brands vying for attention, campaigns have to be more strategic, accurate and efficient than ever.

Wanting to win that battle, Mr. Tom and his army of caramel covered, peanut crunch bars employed S3 to launch a bold advertising campaign with military precision. Our approach saw the client benefit from all aspects of our full-service offering, from planning a heavy-weighted, eight-month outdoor campaign (including 6 sheets, petrol forecourts, bus rears, ad vans and escalator panels) to creating a new website; managing the brandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s social media channels to creating an experiential event that was broadcast on a 40-metre-long digital screen at Waterloo Station. Using our credentials as a 360Â°agency, we were able to produce meaningful, prolonged conversations and engagement between the brand and consumers. With sales up 14% on the previous year (amounting in an extra 1.129 million bars being sold) and Mr. Tom now stocked in Tesco stores nationwide following the campaign, we helped Mr. Tom win both the battle AND the war.

DELIVEROO

When it comes to brands that deliver great food, fast, they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t come much greater and faster than Deliveroo. And, when the brand approached us looking for equally great campaigns planned quickly, we couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t wait to deliver to them, for a change. With that in mind, we went to work on planning various hyper-local and regional campaigns, for both new launch and existing markets. Strategy wise, our first port of call was to identify core areas of influence within delivery zones to assess where budget should be spend. This resulted in media planning and buying largely weighted towards both traditional and digital out of home formats. If the proof is indeed in the pudding, then we served up a real treat, with the brand seeing an astounding 746% uplift in sales during the Cardiff launch campaign. Such was the success of these initial campaigns, the brand then tasked us with launching their newest venture, Deliveroo Editions - hubs where the brand hosts collections of hand-picked restaurants, all specially designed for delivery.

KABUTO NOODLES

There’s nothing we like more here at S3 than working with a challenger brand, especially within the FMCG sector. So when Kabuto Noodles came to us looking to spread the word regarding their fresh, Asian flavours, we were champing at the bit. Despite having already built themselves a successful brand, Kabuto were looking to grow their business with an emphasis on an uplift in sales and brand awareness. Knowing what Kabuto were looking to achieve, our team of media samurais identified core areas of influence, comparing sales data to do so. Armed with all the appropriate research, we employed a three-pronged attack, combining London underground 16” sheets with proximity supermarket sites to drive sales. Completing our trident approach with the placement of various ads in premium, glossy magazines, we were also able to target the brand’s slimming world audience, resulting in a sales uplift and yet another satisfied client.

BOUNCE FOODS

With the mantra of ‘Smart Snacking’, Bounce Energy Balls pride themselves on operating as smartly and efficiently as possible in everything they do. Which is why they made the smart choice in choosing S3 to provide all facets of their advertising. Creatively, our first project involved concepting and designing a fullpage ad to run in trade publication, The Grocer. Running alongside this ad, we also planned and designed an outdoor campaign that featured sites in close proximity to stocked stores: point of sale Tesco smart screens and large format. Confident in the quality of our strategy, ideas and execution, the brand then tasked us with a large outdoor campaign to run across London’s transport network. Having identified the locations and lifestyles of the audience, the media - underground, bus and taxi – was planned with a total reach of 4.56 million people. Following extensive research into industry trends, our creatives devised a strapline – Life Hacking. Protein Packing. Tastes Cracking. Smart Snacking – that perfectly summed up the product and brand, with bright colours and packaging shots bringing colour to an otherwise dull, grey urban landscape.

S4C

S4C have always been at the forefront of promoting Wales and, as a proud, Welsh advertising agency, we were thrilled when they chose us to take the lead on promoting their programming to audiences across Wales and beyond. Combining outdoor and digital advertising, our first two campaigns saw the promotion of Walesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; World Cup Qualifiers and The British and Irish Lions Tour. With the Welsh national football team on a roll, we looked to build on this momentum with a campaign comprising TrueView, AdWords, remarketing, digital outdoor and takeover pages (Wales Online and Daily Post). Just like the team itself, our results spoke for themselves; S3 providing S4C a higher-than-predicted audience share, with TrueView generating over 76,500 views and over 700 hoursâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; of watch time. The text ads were seen over 27,000 times and generated 2,100 clicks. Employing the same strategy for The British Lions Tour, we were able to produce higher viewing figures than predicted for all matches in the series. Generating nearly 3m impressions and 122,541 trailer views, our impressive online numbers were bolstered by 43,207 adverts shown across digital pub screens, targeting a 73% male audience in the process.

ICELAND FOOD WAREHOUSE Even though we might associate frozen supermarket, Iceland, with celebrity endorsements and quantity as opposed to quality, the brandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Food Warehouses are looking to change those perceptions thanks to more luxury ranges.

And, with the frozen food chain set to open 25 new food warehouses a year, Iceland needed an advertising agency who could fulfil this demand for quick growth. Cue S3 Advertising. Responsible for a series of national launch campaigns, Iceland tasked us with driving footfall to new stores and to build brand awareness in the local area. Using the various research platforms at our disposal, we delved into local demographics to identify where they lived, worked and where they would be exposed to media. Combining this with hyper-local targeting in the drive time to stores, we were able to create a series of multi-channel campaigns comprising radio (which we wrote and produced), outdoor, press, ambient, door drops, sponsorships and digital. The result was a series of extremely successful store launches, with the brand now etched firmly into the public psyche.

DEVELOPMENT BANK OF WALES Providing finance for businesses across Wales, our brief was to create a bilingual, multi-channel advertising campaign that informed audiences of the brand’s proposition, driving businesses online to apply for finance at developmentbanc.wales. Having combined our collective expertise comprising copywriting, design, media planning & buying and digital, we incorporated a holistic creative strategy which saw all of our messaging and creative sit underneath the proposition: Developing Welsh Business. For the creative execution, we focused on the real-life people and business owners who would benefit from the brand’s proposition and investment. This humanised the brand, incorporating authentic storytelling into their strategy to create a more engaging campaign. By documenting the everyday people who can receive Banc’s help, we ensured resonance with the target demographic and increasing the efficiency of the message. We devised a clever yet simple strapline that perfectly summed up the brand’s proposition: “At Development Bank of Wales, it’s our business to help finance yours.”

A brief overview of the animations that we have produced over the past year such as; Social content for Bounce Energy, Website content for Airbus and Braces Bread and also animated educational videos for South Wales Fire and Rescue and StreetGamesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Us Girls.

An overview of some of the projects we have worked on over the past year such as; Clogau 1854 anniversary, London Mint Office, Viola Corporate and also social media content for Bounce Energy and Mallow & Marsh.

An overview of video production projects that we produced throughout 2018 such as; University of South Wales Clearing campaign, Castle Bingo, Deliveroo, London Mint Office, National Farmers Union, Invacare, South Wales Fire and Rescue, Wrigleys, Trade Centre Wales, Airbus and Clogau Gold.

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So, there you have it: a fully integrated service, all under one roof. As we’ve said, you’ll find media buying & planning, creative & design, branding, web design & development, digital & SEO, social media and PR all in touching distance of one another. This makes communication easier; walking over to a desk to book that photographer is certainly easier than trying to co-ordinate diaries back and forth over the phone. Yet despite being a forward-thinking, modern agency that’s always looking to the future of advertising, we also embrace its past, incorporating traditions that are just as relevant and effective today as they’ve always been. Traditions such as pairing an Art Director with a Copywriter. Traditions such as leaving the mouse and keyboard to put pen to paper instead. Traditions such as face-to-face meetings rather than reams of impersonal emails or WhatsApp messages. Because it’s these little traditions that make the big difference, and go a long way to explaining why our clients love us. And why, given the chance, you’ll love us, too.