What We Got Up To In 2022
BY The Springers | Journal | 21/12/2022
When Glen, Chris and I completed the management buy-out back in March, we had a vision for the year and a long list of things we wanted to accomplish. And as I sit down to write this now we couldn’t be prouder of what has been achieved in just nine months.
Wonderful clients who are embracing the opportunity to challenge the creative boundaries of their industries. Exciting new additions to our team who have extended our expertise, reinforced what we do best and kept our client retention well above the industry average. All alongside an evolution of our own brand and continued investment in our studio, processes and people.
While it’s all going on there isn’t much time to stop and celebrate the achievements of our clients and our team, so it feels like a great time to look back and reflect on what we got up to in 2022.
A year for branding
This year we’ve had some amazing opportunities to create and launch new brand identities for bold regional and national businesses in a wide range of sectors.
We’ve branded a new foodie destination in The Mutton, rebranded the Supply Chain for Suffolk Chamber of Commerce and repositioned The Museum of East Anglian Life as the newly formed Food Museum to name just a few.
Getting to know these businesses and the people behind them is a big part of why we love what we do. Their passion, vision, ambition and commitment inspire us to do our greatest work and to go beyond the brief.
We have seen a big increase in B2B branding in 2022. In these often saturated marketplaces, where a cookie cutter approach to brand is often adopted, there is a real opportunity for businesses to stand out. Not just to level up and attract more customers, but to inspire their teams and engage new candidates. Many of these rebrands are gearing up to launch in 2023 and we’re looking forward to sharing them with you in the new year.
A year for marketing
We focused on strengthening our marketing team in 2022 with new appointments in strategic planning, social media and search engine marketing. This led to fantastic campaign results for clients across the agency.
In a bounce back for the hospitality sector we saw conversions increase, by a staggering 227% in some cases. We introduced new strategies continuing to use digital channels for B2B customers seeing impressive returns in the sector. We’re also proud to have delivered campaigns for several behavioural change and community engagement initiatives for the health care and public sectors, which are delivering real change for the hard to reach and communities in the east.
Print also had a resurgence, with many of our leading brands investing in print collateral to complement their online tactics so every touchpoint is covered.
A year for designing
Design is the heart of everything we do at Spring.
Print ads, digital ads, websites, brochures, exhibitions – you name it, we’ve got experience in designing it. And as our design team continues to grow the extent of this work is flourishing, with superb work across all of our clients. Here are just a few of the highlights from this year:
In Print: For the second year running, the Nursing and Midwifery Council asked us to create their Annual Report and Accounts. This saw us bringing the organisation’s new visual identity to life, simplifying complex information, all while meeting the government accessibility guidelines.
In Digital: Our longstanding relationship as creative partner for DanceEast saw us design and develop a bespoke new website for them. Having created their original website back in 2012 it was time to rethink how the organisation’s commercial priorities could be delivered, whilst retaining the beauty and inclusiveness the brand has become known for.
In Packaging: We designed a range of packaging for launch in a major supermarket. Every little helps.
A year for Spring
After almost two years of remote working and little in person team and client interaction it was great to finally be back in the studio.
When the buyout was finally completed on March 31st there was a list of things we wanted to address to begin making our mark on Spring, so over the past nine months we’ve focused on our team, our studio and how we approach our own brand and marketing.
For the team we introduced new Springer perks including an increase in holiday that grows with your career, private healthcare, flexible working and extra time away for birthdays and Spring socials.
For our studio, a beautiful old print works in the heart of Southwold, we redesigned the layout to support flexible working, began redecorating the space and have invested in new technologies and systems to ensure we remain at the forefront of our industry.
And for our own brand, we evolved our own identity to visually reflect our location and to verbally reflect our personality and approach.
Right, the mince pies and mulled wine are calling me now so I’ll leave you with this. If you want to know where your business could be this time next year after a serious injection of beautifully effective creativity into your brand and marketing, from an agency that aligns their success with yours, get in touch and let’s see what we can create together in 2023.