The top things that mattered to us in February

We’re back with our take on what’s happened during Feb that we think matters, and there’s been a lot going on in the world of purpose-led brands.

1) Ecover’s Laundry Against Landfill campaign

We’ve seen a huge momentum towards the end of last year of brands producing more impactful rallying cries - like this one we covered by Friends of the Earth last month. 

This month the spotlight was shone firmly on the huge amounts of material waste in the fashion industry, by Ecover’s Laundry Against Landfill campaign. We loved how their awareness piece is simply non-preachy yet effective, and how they’ve scaled the campaign to be multi touch-point, providing supplementary ‘how to’ guides on how to properly take care of our clothes on their site. 

Sara Mendez, Marketing Director at Ecover explained that  “with this campaign, we wanted to raise awareness of the problem of fashion waste. But also show people ways they can lessen their impact by falling back in love with the clothes they already own, keeping them in use, and out of landfill”.

2) Cans for Equity by BrewDog

It’s always interesting to see brands explore the ways they can attract and engage their superfans.

Look no further than what Brewdog have launched during Feb, with their Cans for Equity campaign - with the result being you can recycle 50 cans to become an ‘equity punk’ in Brewdog. 

This is such a great way to not just encourage behaviour change in the short-term, but also to show they care about their product at all stages through partnerships with First Mile to give their cans a second life. 

This initiative has created a more intimate perk for their superfans by feeling truly part of the brand, and we applaud it.

3) Sanctus’s campaign for Children’s Mental Health Week

This particular campaign is proof of how a creative can really thrive in the long-term. Sanctus, a brand providing mental health coaching businesses and individuals, decided to flip the script and create a film a couple of years ago on their socials for Children’s Mental Health Week. 

It made a comeback during the past month, and we wanted to highlight how much making this tonal switch on such a sensitive topic matters… it’s so great to see this from a brand with a more corporate audience. 

We spoke to George Bell, the brand and marketing lead at Sanctus who agrees that the power of the film also lies in the script. It’s comedic but authoritative on a subject when “all too often mental health is associated with images of someone sitting in a dark room clutching their head - this is, of course, part of mental health but it's not the full spectrum.”

“Although it's a couple of years old now, we still re-use it and still have a great response every time, which shows that it still remains uncommon for people to see mental health presented in this way.”

4) NHS x Notes to Strangers 

#notestonhs with @imalilo

411 Likes, 1 Comments - Andy Leek (@notestostrangers) on Instagram: "#notestonhs with @imalilo"

We’ve all seen these notes pop up around London over the years and one of our team is a huge fan, so we had put this in our highlight. 

Notes for Strangers started as an Instagram account by ex-creative Andy Leek, writing random notes on telephone boxes and bollards, spreading positivity and kindness where he noticed it’s severely lacking. 

This month we saw the launch of a collab with Notes to Strangers and the NHS, creating posters and notes for hospitals UK-wide to show support for nurses under severe stress. 

Hospitals tend to be a pretty bleak place and these notes are intended to spread positive messages at a time where political conversations are taking up much of the discourse around their work - it’s just a lovely thing to see.

5) ‘Meet the New Joby’ by Joby 

And finally in our roundup we wanted to include this really simple but effective repositioning campaign by Joby. If you don’t know who Joby are - they’re a tech brand that sells tripods for all different devices. 

We love how instead of putting their product front and centre, they hero their creators interacting with their product, weaving in UGC to add a mixed media element. 

It’s great to see Joby are exploring a new creative angle, becoming more experience-focused - so we’re looking forward to seeing their creative progression down the line!

Like what you’re seeing and want to create content that matters?

Email josh@mattr.media and let’s see what we can do...

The 6 steps you need to follow to create a killer crowdfunding video

Like many start-ups raising investment through crowdfunding, fintech brand Chip knew their investment video was crucial. With only 2 weeks till the raise, they were worried the traditional ‘talking head’ interview with their founder they had produced just didn’t do their mission justice. They needed help…and fast!

Enter Mattr Media, who helped create one of the fastest ever campaigns to reach £1m (eventually raising over £3.5m+ with a 380% oversubscription rate) and a video shortlisted for Crowdcube’s Video and Campaign of the Year.

So, how did we do it? And how do we continue to achieve record-breaking results for our other crowdfunding clients? Well, the below are 6 key steps we take with all our crowdfunding projects…

RULE 1: DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE IMPORTANCE OF YOUR VIDEO

Unlike pitching to traditional investors, you aren’t going to necessarily meet crowdfunding investors face to face and they aren’t just looking for a 10x return.

Dan Hardy, Head of Business Development at Crowdcube, summed up perfectly why that means your video is so important: “video is the dominant media format online and since Crowdcube is primarily an online investment platform... (so) your pitch video is the best chance you have for investors to learn about you and your business…”

So doing one and doing it well is crucial.

RULE 2: TELL A STORY

So how do you do that? Well, don’t forget on crowdfunding platforms, most of the people watching your film are not as financially savvy as traditional investors. So whilst top-level metrics are important, it’s just as crucial to answer deeper introspective questions that your audience will connect with. Things like “why did we start this in the first place? What’s the problem we’re trying to solve? How can we show we’re a big deal (PR/Awards/Team etc.)? What does the future hold?”

It’s also important to not get lost in explaining the “features” of your product. As Hardy explains, “the objective here is to get people to invest in your business, not to buy your product. That's a big difference… You need to strike the right balance.”

Overall, keep the message simple and save the detail for additional supportive content.

RULE 3: BE DISTINCTIVE 

Depending on how much time you’ve spent defining your brand tone of voice, this will make life easier or more challenging for you. But if you haven’t the foggiest, this is where a creative partner like us can help.

In order to make this video feel distinctly “you”, it’s helpful to consider questions like-

• If we were a brand from a different sector, which would we choose to be?

• If we had 3 words to describe how we want people to feel after watching this, what should they be?

• If we had 3 words to describe our product, what would they be?

• If we imagined our brand as a celebrity, who would they be? And why?

It’s exactly these kinds of questions that led us to creating such a fun and quirky fundraiser for Chip.

RULE 4: PUT YOUR AUDIENCE FIRST

The rise in popularity of crowdfunding has been born out of a desire for consumers to feel more connected with the brands they buy from. And that’s why so many successful crowdfunding campaigns are community focused - just look at Monzo and their amazing £20m crowdfund, or Brewdog and their 2000% overfund to total £10m. 

Alex Latham, Chip’s CMO says “It’s really imperative that our staff and customers feel a part of our mission, particularly for crowdfunding. There was no better way of doing this than when Mattr recommended we champion these guys in our films. I would say a lot of our Crowdcube success has been because of this attitude. ”

You should not underestimate the value of people being your advocates, helping spread the word for you and hopefully investing too.

RULE 5: CREATE VALUE BEYOND THE HERO FILM

For some investors, watching your main film may not be enough to sway them to part with their money. So think about what content you can create to support their final decision. 

Supportive “product explainer” films are great for the nitty-gritty you haven’t spoken about in the main film and of course, there’s the pitch deck for the financials. However, if budget can stretch, we also encourage films about the staff.

It surprises us that not too many companies create update films on how the raise is going  after the campaign goes live, a useful tool to stay top of mind.

RULE 6: CHOOSE THE RIGHT PARTNER

Most video agencies have fixed “packages” (as do we) for crowdfunding campaigns and many of us have proven experience, so how do you choose the right partner?

A big component of that will be whether you believe your chosen agency is not just doing this to get paid, but ultimately because they believe in your business.

You can gage part of this from initial conversations and the value they provide. But whether they “walk the walk” is tough. That’s why at Mattr we developed two further offerings to the standard package, which aligns us even further to you in your quest for a successful raise:

1. A part fixed fee part success fee package 

2. A pure success fee package (i.e. absolutely no up front fee to do so)

Finally…

You’re at an exciting stage in your company’s journey, but we know your video will be a crucial piece in the success of your campaign. If you’re interested in learning more, do contact Chief Shmoozer Josh at josh@mattr.media

3 ways service led brands can win hearts over minds

There’s no denying that some of the best service led brands have done a great job at integrating themselves into our lives, but the real question we need to ask, is have they got a special place in your heart? Simon Sinek has been championing the power of winning hearts as well as minds for the past seven years, yet we still see so many apps and digital services focusing solely on their product perfection instead of their emotional connection. USP’s are a rare find these days and too many digital brands concentrate on selling the features of their products instead of the benefits of it in use. The truth is, it’s balancing act and not an easy one at that but if you fail to crack both then the only path you’ll be on is the road to brand disengagement. So in this article we’re going to give 3 tops tips on how to win over the hearts of consumers as well as focussing on the minds. 

 

1. Use relatable data to connect

If you’re a service led brand with a great customer facing product, you are very likely to have access to great data, but the important question is, how are you using it to form emotional connections? Sure it’s integral to refining your service but it’s equally as important to utilise your data to engage beyond the product. A brilliant example of this is Spotify, everyday they use our data to recommend song preferences and custom playlists, it’s what keeps us discovering and using the service. But what they did to further build that emotional relationship was take the data they had to create an awareness campaign that formed a bond and human connection. This was a bond with Spotify, the music and the thousands of other users that also listened to “Its the end of the world as we know it on” after Brexit. And it worked, with results from YouGov showing that Spotify’s ad awareness scores increased by 5 points whilst its word of mouth exposure score improved by 16 points. So how about it, take a look at your data and see how you can use it to cleverly target and start conversations to stay top of mind outside your service. 

 

2. Use real stories to stay relevant

At Mattr.Media we champion creating real stories for many reasons, it feels honest, it’s engaging and it’s transparent but whilst we’ve seen a shift in feedback lovers and social media reviews so many services forget the importance of testimonials. People buy what other people buy. Your biggest advertisers are your customers and it’s technically free media, yet many brands don’t utilise their client base when it comes to testimonial content. If you need some inspiration, AirBnB are probably the best example of a brand that nailed testimonials from both a customer and supplier perspective. If you haven’t already check out the AirBnB stories playlist and Why I became a host to see how they took real stories to sell the emotional impact of their brand. If your product and service is up to scratch it’s no brainer for your next recruitment campaign. 

Top tip from us: The art of doing a testimonial well, is through telling an emotive story. Don’t just point a camera at your subject and feed them answers to regurgitate back, take the viewer on a journey they can resonate with. 

 

3. Use your employees (in a nice way)

It sounds so obvious, but so many businesses don’t use the stories of their employees to connect. Whether they are your designers, drivers, deliverers or even customer support, showing the people who form the business helps to build customer confidence and trust that you’re a decent brand. Last year we worked with Chip, the digital money saving app to help raise funding for the brand, showcasing Chip’s journey to becoming a bank, allowed Chip to put a face to the brand and involved the viewer in the brand journey. This personal non-generic approach helps to cement the brand the customers mind and provides them with human connection. Or you could take a leaf out of Deliveroo and Aecom’s book, who used their staff to promote the life changing affects the business has on everyday people. The important thing is making your brand human. Yes, we might be living in a tech obsessed world but everyone wants, needs and looks for is security and trust. Show it with your staff. And don't forget the obvious benefits of engaging your staff means that you’re able to use it for recruitment drives, employee engagement and customer facing content. 

So no matter what sector you are in, these three principles are applicable to every business who is providing a service. And the best thing about it? You should already have the tools in place to fuel these outputs. Look back through your data collection, review your social channels for feedback and listen to your employees to see how they can help promote your brand. Whether it be through thought leadership, event hosting, out of home campaigns, online video or even TV, take time to plan out the best win you can win hearts and not just minds. 

It will benefit your business so much more in the long run!

 

At Mattr Media we partner with brands and agencies who want capture real stories about the people and places that matter. We think about the purpose of your brand and it's relevance in today’s society. 

For more information contact stef@mattr.media or visit mattr.media