By Mandy Nelson
G&A is Grateful and Appreciative this month. It’s been a year of change and development at G&A like no other and we are Grateful and Appreciative the end is nigh. We are all taking a deep breath, getting our heads down for the last few days of hard graft, and looking forward to time out partying, walking, relaxing – and soaking up some sun and a few cold ones on the far side of Christmas.
The year started with a move to new premises in New Regent Street from the boondocks known as suburban Casebrook. No offence intended to our bovine and avian neighbours, but we did feel a little isolated out there. We are now happily ensconced in New Regent Street enjoying its passing traffic of assorted tourists, wizards, thespians from the Theatre Royal, business types, a random beagle puppy and a couple of steampunkers, all leavened with chattering smatterings of small people dressed in fairy frocks partying up at the bead shop. No tiny bejewelled fairy, or puppy, has yet been flattened by a passing tram for which we remain very Grateful.
We are deeply Appreciative of the hospitality outlets in our new location. It’s no secret that when we feel the need to get institutionalised, we are inclined to visit The Insititution craft beer and cocktail bar. If the sun is shining, and we can’t be arsed making it to the other end of our short street, we have been known to park up and bask right next door at No. 8, late on a Friday afternoon. And The Last Word Whisk(e)y Bar is the perfect park after dinner or the theatre, for a revitalising wee dram. Over lunch hours, we can chill out sitting in the street garden with an exquisite gelato from Rollickin’ Gelato or, at the Gloucester end of the street, a coffee from Caffeine Lab. We are at home!
Christmas in New Regent Street
Change just keeps coming. There are those in this industry, as well as out there in the wild, who have been overheard to whisper ‘Print is dead!’ We don’t believe that for a moment but daily acknowledge that print is only one potential medium out of many options we can use to spread brand awareness. No, print is not dead: it is simply shrinking, as one does in old age. Sound strategy and creative concept work is the essence of a stand-out brand. Of course, finding exciting, new and unexpected channels to market requires as much imagination and storytelling skill as developing the creative content of a script, illustration or ad campaign. The medium does indeed form part of the message.
Taking our own advice to heart, we formed a strategic business relationship this year enabling us to now provide a full social media management service onsite, within the context of our wider marketing and branding offerings. It’s the perfect vehicle for certain brands and small-to-medium size enterprises in particular are loving it. Social media is affordable. All content posted is instant, up-to-date, easily changeable and can be specifically targetted to a particular demographic. Results are generally easily measurable too, often in real time. When we manage a client’s social media, for the long-term or a one-off promotion, the client maintains full access to all their social media accounts and, if they want, can continue to post in addition to content we provide. We continuously explore channels to market for our clients. We don’t know what new outlets we’ll pick up on next – but we do know we will embrace positive change. We’re Grateful and Appreciative of the opportunities we have turned into new business for clients and ourselves this year.