January 18, 2016
A new tennis season and a new opportunity for The Island to prove itself as a sports marketing agency. The 2016 tennis season begins today as the Australian Open in Melbourne throws open its gates to fans. The runner up in the men’s event in 2015 was Andy Murray. This was the fourth time he had lost in the Australian Open Final – an open era record. It may be the first tennis Grand Slam of the season, but Andy Murray has kept himself very busy over the winter months, and so have we. Here at The Island, we had yet another chance to flex our muscles in a sports marketing agency capacity. While Andy Murray was the runner up in the first ever Tie Break Tens tournament – a new short format for tennis – at the Royal Albert Hall in December, The Island took the lead on all web, print and marketing. The hugely successful event saw us implement a full media campaign including a fully responsive SEO optimised website and design advertising for print, billboards and social – featuring tennis stars Andy Murray, John McEnroe and Tim Henman. Click here to read more about our design, digital and sports marketing agency work for tennis.
December 10, 2015
Tie Break Tens is an exciting new concept in tennis, think 20/20 for cricket, and The Island were lucky enough to be asked to design and build the website as well as all the marketing and promotional collateral. It was a hectic few months as anything brand new tends to grow organically so we had to be totally adaptable to changing formats and requests from all stakeholders in the event. The night itself was a massive success with Andy Murray, John McEnroe, David Ferrer, Tim Henman and, eventual winner, Kyle Edmund gracing the TBT court. With any new concept there are tweaks and changes that can be made but it was amazing to be part of a revolution in a sport. Click here to read more about all the work The Island created for Tie Break Tens tennis.
August 6, 2015
We are half way through 2015 and Google algorithms, content strategy and mobilisation are still the buzz words in marketing. But what trends will remain? What will be the most popular? What is the next big thing? In this article The Island wants to give you an overview of what conversations are happening in the world of marketing and what the on-line world is saying the top 10 trends will be in the coming years for marketing. 1. Mobile is going to be front and centre (more than it already is) Evolution in technology and what consumers use mobile tech for makes this one of the major influencers of the trends to come. Mobile tech allows brands to create a more personal relationship with its consumers, wherever they are, and whatever they are doing. 2. Transparency will be key to brand-customer relationships. Right now, customers are looking for more engagement from their favourite brands. Genuine brands, who are straightforward with what they deliver to consumers, will see positive effects of their behaviour. It’s all about a good chat, not a good sell. 3. The demand for quality content will not slow down. Content, especially visual content, will be head of the pack when coming to the online marketing world. The customer is definitely being lead by their eye and, in a way, it feels like a more traditional print attitude to advertising. Grab them with the visual. Additionally, the rate at which a brand can create quality content will have a big impact on their success. 4. Customer produced content will be even more important. The strength of user generated content will surpass that of brand created content as brands start to give marketing power to their customers. From on-line reviews, to social media posts and blogs, brands will need […]
June 24, 2015
The Urban Innovation Centre was created to help businesses, academics and city leaders to discuss the regeneration of cities to make them future ready. We have just returned from a presentation there hosted by Nicole Crockett, CEO of The Building Exploratory, and Karen Elmes, Lifelong Learning Manager, who actively encourage people to participate in change at both local and regional levels.
June 23, 2015
The new Partick Thistle mascot is causing some controversy throughout sport and social media. Kingsly, designed by Turner Prize nominated artist David Shrigly, was created to launch the relationship between the club and US investment firm Kingsford Capital. It has to be said that it is unusual for a mascot as it in a line up of other mascots it is probably the last one you would want to cuddle. However, it has achieved massive PR for the club and is line with their motto for next season, “Not so cuddly anymore”. I remember when The Island re-designed Digger, the mascot for London Irish, and how careful we had to be to ensure kids could still associate with him and carry on their idolisation. The new real-life Digger was leaner, and much less dog eared, than the previous one. We unveiled him on the first game of the season at the new Digger’s Pound – a kids’ play area in one of the main concourses. Most kids were pleased to see him, but others thought he had changed a lot. But we were ready. We explained to all the doubters that it was Digger, but he had been in pre-season training with the team and was no much fitter and leaner. That seemed to work. Plus, we had a new cartoon version and a club that the kids could join to feel even more a part of the London Irish family. The bond kids have with the mascot is not to be knocked. They really do love them – as do the parents who like to get their photo taken with them just as much. Partick Thistle sound like they have a few more surprises up their sleeve to continue this new brand message which they hope to really push […]
June 10, 2015
Club level rugby in England has strong support but the national team still dominates when it comes to drawing in the masses. Average attendances for Premiership games are around the 13,000 mark (that’s a total average audience of 156,000 on any given match day.) The rugby world cup is now just 100 days away and is expected to attract a worldwide audience of over 4 billion and visitors are expected to spend up to £869m during the course of the tournament. How premiership rugby teams can increase their audiences The premiership teams should be gearing up, during this unique time period, to ensure they pull in new fans for the future, and also take advantage of the short term income increase the tournament could supply. Rugby is now played in 190 countries around the world so premiership rugby teams, who play in the most professional and oldest league in the world, should be using the world cup as an opportunity to draw in new audiences. The advantages are fairly obvious with increased merchandising sales and the opportunity to become more attractive to sponsors who see the opportunities behind the database of the club. The 11 host cities have the biggest potential in being able to attract new worldwide fans and engage with them, for the long term. Hopefully the clubs will use their own community structures to spread the word and engage with fans one-on-one. Using social media to increase attendances Social media is going to play an enormous part for the rest of the clubs where they should be utilising the ‘hero worship’ of their own world cup stars to draw attention to the club. Not just tweeting about their players but truly engaging with the new fans that avoids sales but which has warmth and a genuine feel […]
August 12, 2014
The Premiership season is about to kick off in England.
Excitement is high, nerves are on edge, predictions for the season have been discussed again and again. It's sweaty palm time.
And that is just for the people who work in sports marketing! Being part of a commercial sports team is a constant juggle between being an illogical and passionate fan, combined with the sensible head you need to make sure fans keep coming week after week.
Read more...
July 1, 2014
As a London digital agency it is imperative that we understand and are fully up-to-date with the online social landscape.
However, for our work with charities, public bodies and High Street regeneration projects, the team at The Island have also to ensure they worked on their own social conscience.