Bad Taste Bears – Cute, collectable and controversial
Armadillo has been commissioned to build the new Bad Taste Bears e-commerce website. Bad Taste Bears is one of the UK’s most successful collectable figurine ranges, with a massive collectors’ base and worldwide distribution. Kirsty McGregor of Odd Co Ltd, the team behind the hugely successful Bad Taste Bears figurine range said “We felt the time was right to update the site and pretty much wanted to go for something completely different. Our site is very important both to promote us to a general market and also because it’s home to our Members’ Forum where collectors share experiences, organise meetings and keep in touch with all that’s going on the world of the Bad Taste Bears.”
Kevin Robson, Armadillo Client Services Manager said, “We’re thrilled to have to the chance to work with Odd Co Ltd. They have an excellent, quirky business and clarity of vision along with a real sense of fun. The site we’re building has a lot of functionality, with e-commerce alongside membership services and the OddCo Ltd. team were also really keen to have content management control. The design is something we’ve spent a lot of time on to make the site attractive to new customers and current members. It’s not a transition form the current website, more of a departure but there’s a need to be sensitive to a lot of different opinions. At Armadillo, we offer a depth of support to clients that allows them control of their site backed-up with friendly advice and training should they ever need it.” The Bad Taste Bears site will be live in November 2011.
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New appointment has designs on the future
Armadillo has appointed Ian Dawson in the position of designer from from Leeds University. Ian said: “I wanted to work in the Newcastle area because it’s such a vibrant and energetic place. I’d heard great things from friends who study here and have always thoroughly enjoyed my visits to the area. There’s always something to see and do.
Ian is from the village of Nafferton in East Yorkshire where he studied through to Sixth Form, including an A-Level in Graphic Design. After gaining his entry requirements, he enrolled at the University of Leeds on their Graphic and Communication Design degree. He also played football for semi-professional team, Bridlington Town AFC.
Armadillo MD Berry Burgess is delighted with Ian’s first month in the Agency. “We’re keen to try and help young designers and developers wherever we can. Ian will be working on a variety of design work from print to digital, producing pages for web builds, brand identity ads, posters and campaigns.”
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Wise Words
“What’s the purpose of my website – is it to please me and my employees or to serve our audience, generate more leads and convert them to customers?” If you have a website for aesthetic reasons, or simply to have a web presence, then it’s all fair and well but I would hope that most of you will subscribe to a more pragmatic proposition.
via John Hornell @TheDrum
Read More »Mobile Friendly Websites
So 
who needs a mobile website? Well, essentially any business that interacts with it’s customers, so in a nutshell, that’s everyone!
Despite what you might think, it’s not just a case of simply resizing your existing website and fitting it onto a mobile screen. The whole way in which a user interacts with mobile media, from the way in which they browse to the type of information they are looking for, varies massively when using a handheld device.
Mobile websites connect with your target audience, extend your brand reach, integrate with your marketing campaigns and can themselves generate additional advertising revenue. They can provide users with news headlines, multimedia downloads, and much more.
We custom build sites to compliment your existing website and provide your audience an additional touchpoint for your product.
If you wish to discuss creating a mobile friendly site contact us on 0191 257 8380 or visit www.armadillo-creative.com
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Co-operative Group rolls out QR codes on fresh produce packaging
The Co-operative Group is to trial the use of QR codes on packaging for fresh produce, allowing consumers to learn more about the background of the food and where it is grown.
Customers accessing the QR codes for the five products – dessert apples, pears, onions, Maris Piper potatoes and baking potatoes – will be directed to a mobilised website featuring information about the Group’s growers, recipes, nutritional information.
Anyone without smartphones will have the option to text a short code to receive the URL via text, for example text ‘APPLES’ to 83118.
Helen Bridgett, The Co-operative Food head of strategy, insight and planning, said: “Consumers have a growing appetite for knowledge on all things food related and this was an opportunity to provide them with an easy way to access this information.
“Customers want to know what they are buying, where it’s from and how it got here, as well as the health benefits and what they can do with it in the kitchen. QR codes present an opportunity to raise awareness and inform customers about the foods we sell.”
Read More »Star Dogs™
Every dog should have the opportunity to be dressed up as a Star Wars SnowWalker.
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Domino’s Pizza demonstrates the importance of mobile commerce
Domino’s Pizza, one of the world’s most popular pizza chains, continues to demonstrate the effectiveness of establishing an online presence and developing mobile applications after the company announced its biggest day ever for online sales last Saturday, taking over £1 million in orders, with 13% of them made via mobile devices.
That means that on October 8, Domino’s saw £130,000 in orders made via its iPhone, iPad and Android applications but also its mobile website – and that’s just in the UK.
In January, we reported that the company’s iPhone application had helped process over £1 million of orders after its launch in September, a period of around three months. At the time, sales made via its website or iPhone app accounted for 35.8% of UK deliveries, an increase of around 8% from 2009.
The company launched an Android application in May, following with the release of an iPad app in August.
Domino’s chief executive, Chris Moore puts the company’s sales into perspective:
“When we launched online ordering just over a decade ago, it was a huge investment, but one that has continued to pay off, year on year. To put this achievement in context, 12 years ago we took £100,000 in online sales in a year, by 2000 we were taking £1m in a year and now we are taking £1m in a day.”
To go from making £1 million in sales via mobile in three months to the same amount in one day is nothing short of staggering. The company has demonstrated that mobile commerce is something worth investing time and money into, to make it easier for customers to order and pay for their food, wherever they are.
via @thenextwebuk
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Is it essential for businesses to develop their own mobile marketing strategy?
Is developing a mobile marketing strategy worth the time, effort and investment for companies? Does mobile live up to the hype? How much impact can a killer app make?The Drum caught up with leading agencies in the world of app development and mobile strategy, posing a series of questions to discover just what it is that’s got people talking, and why developing such a strategy might not be just prudent – but actually essential for the future of your brand. Would you say it is now essential that businesses develop their own mobile marketing strategy?
Richard Carter, Digital Director, Bolser
Absolutely, mobile marketing has been around for quite a while and is continuing to see massive growth. We started using SMS marketing over 5 years ago for our clients and the recent development of apps and mobile web is just a continuation of this. No two businesses are alike, nor are customers. The sooner you start developing a strategy, the sooner you can begin to learn what works for customers. It lets you gain intelligence and means you’re able to develop and adapt your mobile approach. The days where businesses build an app because they simply wanted one or just to raise brand awareness are long gone, the app stores are just too overcrowded. Now an app needs to provide real value to customers and be of ongoing use otherwise it’s a waste of time and money.
Gemma Oversby, Head of Business Development, Storm ID
Mobile adoption is happening at such a furious pace that many, many businesses (and other organisations) will be caught with their trousers down. Do nothing and business owners will find their existing online offering increasingly inadequate; their marketing campaigns increasingly ineffective; and eventually the value of their brand and services eroded.If you are a business owner reading this and wondering whether you should think about a mobile marketing strategy ‘at some point’ please stop reading, have a stern chat to yourself in a private room, get yourself a mobile marketing strategy and start executing it!