brandopus

With over 500 million registered users, Twitter is one of the ten most visited websites on the Internet and can influence people worldwide.

This couldn't be truer for Twinings. It all began with a tweet from One Direction's Niall... "love your work! Your Lemon and Ginger is great! Drink about 3 or 4 cups before stage." Niall, has 11 million Twitter followers worldwide so you can imagine the impact this has had for Twinings.

The brief from Twinings was to create something personalised, quirky and fun whilst being a keepsake for Niall. And for me, being a big fan of any boy band at all, this couldn't be more of a dream brief to work on! The idea was that it would be a bonus for Niall to receive packs of his favourite cup of tea... after all, we want those vocals to be at their best whilst on stage! We worked with the current Lemon and Ginger packs, which we at BrandOpus re-designed as part of the Infusions relaunch in 2012, making it feel like a limited edition pack especially made for Niall himself.

Tweaking the illustrations on pack and also working into the copy made it feel more personalised, we even managed to get a few song titles in there too: "Naturally caffeine free... that's what makes you beautiful".

Speaking about the custom made tea, Niall said: "Thanks very much @TwiningsTeaUK! love the ole Lemon and Ginger tea! Love the boxes aswell haha." He then photographed this and shared the picture via Twitter.  To date, over 52,000 people have retweeted Niall's references to Twinings, and over 65,000 people have 'favorited' his posts.  

Since Twinings first interaction with Niall in April, they have seen their Twitter followers increase from 11,326 followers 18th April 2013 to 18,626 followers 13th May 2013, which is pretty amazing.

This just shows what how powerful social networking sites can be and how a brand's packaging can interact with an audience in a fun and engaging way whilst broadening Twinings social reach.

It's 2:30, they're an hour and a half late... that gives me 15 minutes (of fame perhaps? Bad joke...). Am I nervous or did my lunch just have too much garlic in it? Charlotte's excited, Charlotte's ALWAYS excited. Offset path, extrude, chop it out - use Penumbra Flare, people love Penumbra Flare. Why the hell did I iron a check shirt... that's the point of check isn't it, no ironing? What if they're wearing make-up, you know like guy make-up - how can I take anyone like that seriously?!

They've arrived... so that's what tailors are for. Ok, like the director said, poker face, if they want it lavender with rainbow gradient comic sans that's what they get. I can hear the silly music those shows have, new age/progressive salon - someone makes that music, someone has that job... What?! They're having lunch now... when am I going to design this thing? I mean it's one thing for TV to simplify and mis-represent the process but some work HAS to get done surely!!! Calm down - serenity now, serenity now. What's good? Well the cutter is simple, they have shown up and they're not as bigger idiots as the show makes them out to be, poor guys - people are going to hate them for no reason.

How heavy must that camera be? They're struggling, get a name guys... come on, 'Bitter Twisted' perfect for flavoured ale! Ok, style it up... Oh, hang on, yes! I can get a little idea in there - imagine it, to get an idea into a design on The Apprentice!!!

It's done, beautiful... I... actually this is good! Unbelievable. Sorry? What's that? We're not allowed that name...

We have undertaken a major overhaul of the UK's number one chip brand, McCain across the entire portfolio. The redesign sees the introduction of a new logo for the brand, the first change for over 50 years. 

The new identity encapsulates the natural landscape from the previous brand design and establishes the brand logo as the sunshine, bringing warmth to theMcCain brand. The design also sees the removal of the 'black box' logo, which had previously remained unchanged since the 1950s.

The new brand identity is part of McCain Foods GB strategy to drive brand and category growth, and continues the partnership between McCain and BrandOpus which saw the introduction of a masterbrand strategy in March 2011.

Mark Hodge, McCain head of brand, said: "The new visual identity by BrandOpus will help to segment, sign-post and simplify the McCain potato products range, and reflects our move towards a portfolio encompassing more potato meal solutions, such as McCain Ready Baked Jackets, which were launched with huge success last year. The packaging has real stand out and the consumer response in research was very impressive''.   

Hodge added:  "GB is the first market to launch the new packs, and depending on consumer response other markets may follow." 

The new packaging is appearing in-store from this month. 

We have expanded our management team with the appointment of Andrew Hirst as an associate partner. Andrew, currently design manager, joined BrandOpus as designer in 2007 just after launch, and brings thirteen years' experience to the partnership having previously worked with other leading London design agencies as both a full time and freelance designer. 

Nir Wegrzyn, our CEO, says: "This is another exciting moment for Andrew and for the agency. We are proud in our culture where people such as Andrew, who excel within the agency, have the opportunity to contribute at a senior management level. BrandOpus was established as a partnership, and the team are aware that they have the room to actualise their career within the agency and one way this is recognised is when they become partners."

Andrew Hirst adds: "Having started at BrandOpus shortly after launch it was clear even then that the combination of fantastic creative talent and the unique strategic approach to brand design were a winning combination, that would allow the agency to be one of the strongest and fastest growing in the UK. I'm immensely proud to join the partnership, and I look forward to being able to contribute in an even greater capacity to the agency's further growth."

Is it irresponsible to play up pester power in the current economic climate? Nir was asked to give his thoughts on the subject to The Marketing Society, published in Marketing Magazine today. See his response here, and the full article after the jump.

"In the midst of the economic crisis, it is irresponsible for the politically correct army to suggest that there is anything wrong with retailers who stock children's toys, not to mention criticising those outlets that dare to market to their end user.

Don't they want to keep the economy alive by encouraging trade, which is so important to the retail industry, even during more optimistic financial times?

Littlewoods' 'Christmas gift ideas' is set to become the most-complained-about campaign of 2011. Beyond being a particularly bad ad, it is not really selling any of the products featured. It is an ad for credit, and children are not the target audience for finance.

A quick look at the complaints posted about the campaign told another, different story. Most viewers were concerned that Littlewoods has effectively 'killed' Santa by suggesting that mum buys the Christmas presents, unnecessarily shattering a magical illusion for many children.

Of course, the irony is that Santa was the inventor of pester power."