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When you think about it, it's truly amazing to see how far we've come in such a relatively short space of time. Even when you think back to the early noughties, it's clear that in the travel industry, innovation is happening at a rapid pace. We've taken the time to round up some of the most significant innovations that we're seeing in the travel technology space today. How could you leverage some of the innovations we've highlighted in our infographic to drive your business forward? Tweet us @DMA_Partners and let us know!

BY MARÍA HOYOS If I don’t see it, I don’t believe it. These are words many of us have said at one point or another. With the Syrian refugee crisis, it was the image of a small boy on a beach or a father in tears as he and his family made their way off a boat that caught our hearts and minds and brought the tragic situation to life. Through these images, there has been a shift in our understanding and a growing a determination to help. Images have power. It only takes one to start a revolution - and just one photograph can entirely change our perspective. While an image makes the news, it can also capture a historical moment and become a symbol for a time. Images like the photo taken by Joe Rosenthal of Iwo Jima or Alfred Eisenstaedt’s iconic snapshot that immortalised the kiss between a marine and a nurse in the middle of Times Square in NYC at the end of World War II. A symbol of joy and positivity, this image is so significant that on the 70th anniversary of the end of the war, people around the world dressed as marines and nurses to celebrate. Photographers put words aside. With just one image, they can convey what they themselves have lived, immortalising an event. "If I could tell in words, I would not need to carry a camera." Lewis Hine An image transports us to places we've never seen and allows us to relive historic moments. It can make us experience unexpected feelings and take us to unexpected places. An image is powerful; compelling people to move, feel and understand. Pictures really are worth a thousand words, because without them, we would not know even half of the hidden corners of the earth or our universe. They are the essence of our world, of our history. What images have moved you and changed your perspective?

There’s no doubt that ‘blockchain’ is one of the buzzwords du jour - but how much of an impact will it have on travel trade communications? Blockchain technology is still in its infancy and it may take 3 to 5 years for us to be able to see the full picture, but we’ve found a number of areas where we can see it potentially disrupting the industry. 1. Traveller Data & Profiling We’re shifting away from the world of paper tickets and moving towards a world where biometrics and wearable tech are becoming the norm. These mobile devices could include a ‘single traveller token’ with secured biometric data, which would allow data to travel with travellers and eliminate the need for constant ID verification. Imagine a business travel experience like this: You arrive at the hotel and a friendly receptionist checks you in and gives you your key. You then receive a text message with your room number as you verify your identity as you walk to the room. You open the door smiling because you haven’t had to worry about fumbling around with lots of different tickets, pieces of paper and forms of ID! With this shift, it’s easy to see how the passenger experience will become faster, frictionless and more enjoyable for business travellers. 2. Loyalty Programs Loyalty programs are a huge marketing tool in the business travel sector - but for customers, keeping tabs on things can become difficult - especially when many different suppliers are used. Instead of having to carry multiple memberships, blockchain technology could pave the way for integrated traveller loyalty programs where points can be redeemed across multiple suppliers, products and services. Will businesses be keen to unite in this way to make their loyalty schemes more user-friendly for today’s customers - who value diversity and value for money over loyalty? That remains to be seen - but one startup company that our client Amadeus is watching closely is Loyyal, which is a mission to make it happen. 3. Avoiding PR Crises & Miscommunication Blockchain technology also has some more practical applications that have the potential to help travel brands avoid PR crises and miscommunication. For example, utilising blockchain technology during the booking process could potentially prevent overbooking situations, which has been known to lead to negative press for airlines. Similarly, blockchain technology would allow ‘smart contracts’ to be made between suppliers and travellers. These contracts are digitally signed, electronic agreements between parties which are instant and leave little room for human error. This would lead to increased transparency in communication between everyone involved, potentially leading to stronger, happier business relationships. 4. Early Adopter Brand Buzz The simple fact that blockchain technology is still in the ‘new kid on the block’ (pardon the pun) is a bonus for companies in itself. Travel brands that are bold enough to bet on the technology and communicate their journey with it are likely to gain kudos and column inches just for being early adopters. In turn, a brand’s innovative use of blockchain technology is likely to enhance its value proposition within the marketplace and it could even become a USP. If the technology is leveraged and executed well, it could surprise and delight travellers - potentially leading to greater market share as a result. 5. Greater Transparency in Advertising One of the biggest issues travel marketers face at the moment lies in ad delivery verification. So what if ad-fraud and ad reporting errors could be eradicated with the help of blockchain technology? Thanks to its decentralised nature, blockchain-based ad systems could detect if ads are being delivered and if they’re being delivered to the right people. A player to keep an eye on in this space is MetaX’s ‘adChain’, which promises to provide ad buyers with a “scalable, trustworthy solution for tracking and verifying all advertising impressions”. -- What’s your take? Will these potential applications of blockchain technology help or hinder the travel sector? Can you think of any other ways blockchain could impact travel trade communications? Tweet us @DMA_Partnersand let us know!

Events are one of the most lucrative marketing methods for B2B businesses, with as many as 80% of marketers believing that they are critical to their company’s success. In fact, events are so significant that according to research by Bizzabo, 63% of marketers plan on investing more in live events in the future. With this in mind, it’s crucial to ensure that you stand out from the crowd and generate the best possible return on investment from every event you attend. As the competition heats up, the tried and true methods won’t cut it for much longer, so perhaps it’s time to rethink your event marketing strategy to make sure you don’t get lost in all the ‘noise’? Over the years at DMA Partners, we’ve organised conferences, forums and attended numerous trade shows, business expos and networking events. To help you make an impact at your next event, we’ve distilled our experience into 4 key nuggets of wisdom. 1. Your Research and Planning As the old adage goes, “fail to prepare, prepare to fail.” Before you start thinking tactically and dream up show-stopping flash mobs and virtual reality immersions, you need to go back to basics and create a solid strategy that will underpin every element of your event experience. This will make all the difference between a seamless, integrated and impactful approach and a hodge-podge of mixed messaging that confuses the consumer. Here are some key questions to ask when shaping your event strategy: What do you want to achieve by attending this event? (e.g. 40 new business leads) Who exactly are you trying to target? Which of your competitors will be in attendance and what is their brand position? What is the one key takeaway you want everyone who comes into contact with your business to leave with? How can you creatively and seamlessly communicate your key takeaway to ensure that your message is memorable and different from the competition? In 2016, we were honoured to be named as a finalist in the B2B Marketing Awards for our work with the Amadeus airline IT financial suite at the World Financial Symposium. It was our strategic approach to positioning the brand at the event that ultimately led to success. It was also what caught the attention of industry bodies as well as the brand’s target market, showing that it pays dividends to invest in the planning stage. 2. Your Stand When it comes to making a great first impression, it almost always comes down to the look and feel of your exhibition stand itself. Your stand should communicate vibrancy and energy, ultimately drawing people’s attention away from other stands and towards your own. So how do you do this? Here is a list of our top tips: Make sure your branding is prominent, distinctive and attractive and communicated through backboard posters and pop-up banners Take advantage of lighting, sound, visuals, props, people and technology that will enhance and complement your key messaging - can you combine these elements to create an ‘experience’ for people? If you have a table, bring along a tablecloth in a complementary colour so you can store items under the table while keeping things neat and tidy from the perspective of attendees Bonus tip: Try to gain a stand in a high-footfall area if possible. You don’t want all of your hard work to be in vain because you’re stand is tucked away in a corner that is overlooked. 3. Your Staff While your stand is what will help you capture attention, it’s your event staff who have to work their magic to turn that attention into something more tangible. Here are a few things to consider when it comes to your event staff: Providing staff with branded uniforms can help to reinforce your message (see below for an example of uniforms we designed for Amadeus) The staff you select to represent your brand should be well-presented, warm and friendly Your staff should be conscious of their body language and strive to appear as approachable as possible Attendees walking by or showing interest in your stand should be greeted with a warm hello, a friendly smile and an engaging question Instead of going in with the hard sell, your staff should try to engage visitors by displaying a genuine curiosity about them, their needs and how your solution could help them Why not give your staff company branded name badges or lanyards so that people can connect with them on a more relatable ‘human to human’ level? 4. Your Promotional Materials Finally, to make your message stick, and potentially spread wider than the confines of the exhibition centre walls, you should distribute strong promotional materials to attendees. When you think of all of the ‘event swag’ you’ve collected over the years, do things like pens, flyers, brochures, mouse mats and stress balls come to mind? That’s because that’s what everyone defaults to when they think of promotional materials. It’s time to get creative, think outside of the box and come up with something unique to send your prospects home with. For example, in our work with Amadeus to promote their airline financial suite offering, their key message was ‘more gain, less pain’. We wanted to create something really unique, memorable and on-message to give to prospects, so we created a branded box filled with mints. The box created a great talking point and helped customer engagement with stand visitors. How could you model this method to drive home your key message and create longer-lasting buzz? So there you have it - our top 4 pieces of wisdom on standing out from the ‘sea of sameness’ at your next event. Can you recall any businesses that have stood out to you at recent exhibitions and trade shows? We’d love to hear from you! Tweet us @DMA_Partners and let us know your thoughts. If you’re looking to establish a stand-out events strategy, please contact our Managing Partner, Philip Martin, to discover how we can help: philip.martin@dma-partners.com.

Online video marketing is on the rise and is quickly becoming the go-to content format for savvy B2B marketers. With Cisco estimating that by 2020 online videos will make up more than 80% of all consumer internet traffic, there has never been a better time to embrace video within your marketing strategy. One of the key perks of video content is that it is so versatile and as such, it can be used in a manner of different ways, from long form to short form and from entertaining, to inspirational and educational. So which types of videos should your business be creating? Let’s take a closer look at 3 of the most popular types of B2B video content. 1. Explainer or Teaser Videos Explainer videos are one of the most commonly produced styles of video content today. Whilst their name is pretty self-explanatory, these videos are typically short and snappy and give prospects a quick insight into who you are, who you serve and what you do. More often than not these videos are animated but they can contain real footage too, as well as a mix of both elements. One of our favourite explainer videos is the below example from HubSpot. Let’s break down why HubSpot’s video works so well: they immediately create rapport with the audience, as the narrator demonstrates that HubSpot understands the problems people face on a daily basis in their roles as marketers they create a need for their solution by explaining why other marketing tools and tactics aren’t as effective as they once were they provide their prospects with an intriguing vision of the future and show that it can be easy with their solution, especially in comparison with other solutions in the marketplace they close with a compelling call to action, backed by social proof and a final summary of the benefits to seal the deal Wouldn’t you agree that it’s quite an achievement to communicate all of these critical components in under 2 and a half minutes? Can you envisage how the HubSpot explainer video structure could work for your business? 2. Vlogs Vlogs are perhaps the easiest type of B2B video content to produce, as they can be produced with very minimal equipment and editing capabilities. There’s no need to hire an expensive cast of characters either, as some of the most engaging B2B vlogs come straight from a company’s employees. This adds to their charm, as today’s consumers view vlogs as being more genuine than some of the more staged and polished video styles. You may have some budding actors that you may never have considered before. Depending on the context, vlogs can be loosely scripted or recorded completely off the cuff, and the possibilities for content are endless. Here are just a few examples you could experiment with: 60-second roundup of the key points from an industry conference your business sponsored or attended Day in the life’ style vlog documenting the life of one of your company’s key employees Behind the scenes tour of your company’s new office Commentary on industry news and developments So, when it comes to creating B2B vlogs, all you really need is some content ideas, some willing employees, and an iPhone! Are your creative juices flowing yet? 3. Customer Success Stories Customer success videos, featuring case studies and testimonials, are a fantastic video format to use to connect with prospects who are close to a buying decision. Customer success videos work so well because they allow you to showcase your company’s expertise, with the added benefit of social proof from a happy client. This puts your prospect in your successful client’s shoes and gives them a tantalising taste of what it could look and feel like to work with you or use your solution. The below example by FreshBooks is a fantastic example of an engaging and inspiring customer success story video. The viewer is quickly immersed in Sarah’s story about her life as an interior designer and through the power of storytelling, finishes watching the video feeling like FreshBooks made a real difference to her business. Which customer success stories could you leverage to create compelling video case studies? --- All in all, B2B video has been proven to generate fantastic results for businesses who embrace it and put it to work strategically and creatively. In fact, according to recent research carried out by the Aberdeen Group, video marketers get 66% more qualified leads per year. Would you like to achieve similar results? Get in touch with our Managing Partner, Philip Martin, at philip.martin@dma-partners.com to discover how we can help you create and execute a winning video strategy from start to finish.

Did you know that most B2B marketers believe that event marketing is the single most effective marketing channel for achieving business goals, according to Bizzabo? With this in mind, it’s important for SMEs to extract the biggest return on investment possible from participation in live events, whether that be trade shows, conferences or seminars. Recently, Traveknowledgy engaged DMA Partners to help them maximise their ROI from event marketing. Our brief was to help Traveknowledgy explain what they do in a clear, concise manner that would make them stand out and become ‘top of mind’ within their target market at key industry events. In this article, we’ll walk you through 4 of the key steps we took to help Traveknowledgy to make their appearance at Travel Technology Europe a roaring success. These tips are applicable to almost any SME looking to supercharge their event marketing success. 1. A Strategic Approach The first step in a successful event marketing plan is to adopt a strategic approach and set clear goals about what you want to achieve. Here are some examples of potential event marketing goals you may want to consider: increased brand awareness lead generation customer acquisition The SMART goals framework is a simple format you can implement to set your objectives in an organised manner. 2. A Solid Event Marketing Budget In order to achieve these goals, it’s important to invest accordingly so that you can make the best possible first impression. Forrester reports that event marketing makes up for 24% of B2B marketing budgets, however, Bizzabo reports that “the most successful businesses are spending 1.7x the average marketing budget on live events”. We’re firm believers that investing that little bit extra in preparing for events leads to the best possible outcomes. In our experience, businesses that do this, such as Traveknowledgy, have a much easier time communicating their value proposition and therefore achieving their event marketing objectives. 3. Eye-Catching Stand Design At most events, your primary objective while there is to get people to stop by your stand and engage with your employees. This means that your stand needs to be in a prime location and must catch the eye of members of your target audience, highlighting some key messages as they make their way through the event space. Before engaging DMA Partners, Traveknowledgy suffered from disjointed visuals and a stand design which had too much text. This meant that their key marketing messages were lost and people were less likely to engage with them as they were unsure of the value they could bring to their business. We worked with Traveknowledgy to simplify their marketing message and make the benefits of working with them explicitly clear with a modern, eye-catching stand design. 4. A Memorable Marketing Toolkit Often, customers need time to think before committing to making a purchase, so it’s important that you give marketing collateral to visitors to your stand. This collateral should reinforce your marketing message and give people a means to connect with you after the event so they can move further down your sales pipeline. It should also echo the look, feel and messaging of your stand, to further reinforce your brand across all touch points. To help Traveknowledgy become memorable within their target market, we helped them design an event marketing toolkit. This toolkit comprises of various marketing materials that communicate their value proposition in an attractive and clear manner. --- The results: “Two super intensive days, we’ll see what it leads to. You did a great job on the stand, lots of compliments and was overwhelmed with work :)” - Max Sevastianov, Founder, Traveknowledgy - --- Could your event marketing strategy benefit from an upgrade to boost your ROI? Get in touch with Philip Martin to discover how we can help: philip.martin@dma-partners.com.

Rather than looking at office facilities as a pure balance-sheet expense, forward-thinking companies consider their offices as a key component of corporate strategy. A better office design can make employees happier and healthier, but from a “numbers” point of view, is it worth it? One of the main objectives of redesigning an office is to increase employee productivity, - and unless concrete figures are offered, it can be difficult to envision this project as having a solid return on investment (in dollars!) Studies differ in the variables examined from one to the next, but overall, we can describe two key components  that affect office workers’ productivity: the quality of environment (ventilation, heating, natural lighting, décor, cleanliness) and the office layout (Informal/formal meeting areas, quiet areas, privacy, storage, desk, circulation space) Quality of environment: The World Green Building Council (WGBC) research on productivity identifies some key factors*: Air quality - There are clear health benefits from good Indoor Air Quality (IAQ). Better IAQ can improve employee productivity by 8 – 11%. Joseph Allen, a professor at Harvard University, recently conducted a series of experiments to test the effects of green buildings on workers. Participants inside a green, properly ventilated building scored between 61%-100% higher in cognitive function than those that were monitored in conventional office blocks. Allen and his team estimate that it costs up to $40 per person per year to double the ventilation rate in a building – but the study suggests that productivity benefits range from $6,000 to $7,000 per person per year. “The costs are trivial compared to the benefits, any way you look at this,” he says. Thermal comfort - employees experience a 4% reduction in performance at cooler temperatures and 6% at warmer temperatures. Lighting - office workers with windows sleep an average of 46 min more per night and experience 27% less headaches. Noise - office workers’ performance drops by 66% when exposed to distracting noise. Office layout: Research shows that benefits and penalties to workplace productivity are experienced equally across open-plan and enclosed office environments. Apart from requiring less space per person (and therefore less costs), the open-office plan can enhance information flow, communication and teamwork. However, for activities that need a high-level of submersion and concentration (like writing long reports or developing software), this design can be detrimental as the number of interruptions and level of noise is higher. Clearly, no office-design can be applied blindly to every type of business and work function. Differences have been found in what is optimal for different business functions and groups of workers (younger/older, female/male). At DMA, we believe that productivity is directly associated to the workplace and are advocates of high levels of customization and variety. We have designed award-winning task-specific spaces that fit the purpose and maximise the benefits whilst minimizing the detriments for productivity when carrying out each task. Does your workspace require a makeover that boosts productivity, employee health and happiness? Discover how we could help you develop a workplace that makes your business thrive by contacting our Managing Partner, Philip Martin, at philip.martin@dma-partners.com. --- * Haynes, Barry, Suckely, Louise & Nunnington, Nick (2017). Workplace productivity and office type: an evaluation of office occupier differences based on age and gender. Journal of Corporate Real Estate, 19 (2), 111-138.

Since making an appearance on Google Trends in 2015, Account Based Marketing (or ABM, for short) has well and truly graduated from being a marketing buzzword to one of B2B’s most sophisticated and celebrated marketing strategies. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, Account Based Marketing is simply a marketing strategy that flips the traditional B2B demand generation funnel on its head. We love Marketo’s definition, below: “Account-based marketing (ABM) is a strategic approach to lead generation in which your time and resources target a key group of specific accounts. Lead generation draws in the numbers, and ABM qualifies and targets those leads before you market to them. In other words, by inverting the traditional early-stage marketing process, you target your campaigns to specific customers the moment they enter your funnel, and you do it with real-time, personalized content.” So why should you consider implementing an Account Based Marketing Strategy? Let’s take a look at three core reasons. 1. Sales and marketing teams evolve to work in harmony The days of marketing and sales teams being siloed off from each other are coming to an end. With Account Based Marketing, the walls between sales and marketing are broken down as each function must evolve to support the other strategically. To effectively treat accounts as individual markets in and of themselves, marketing and sales teams must collaborate to identify these accounts, and then to plan strategic campaigns to connect with them throughout every stage of the buyer’s journey. The result of this is almost always a better customer experience and a more harmonious, results-driven organisation. 2. Less waste and more success In a sense, Account Based Marketing could be described as the application of the Pareto Principle to B2B marketing. With more traditional B2B marketing strategies, there has been so much emphasis on marketers generating as much demand as possible. However, the evidence shows that a more mass-market approach leads to more generalised messaging which, in turn, leads to a lower conversion rate. On the other hand, ABM forces marketers to focus their efforts and budgets on a series of much narrower, clearly defined targets. As a result, their activities have a much higher success rate, and they tend to use a lot fewer resources to achieve these optimised results. In comparison with ABM’s laser-targeted approach, more traditional marketing efforts begin to look wasteful, inefficient and ineffective. Wouldn’t you agree? 3. Return on investment is more likely According to the ITSMA Account Based Marketing Survey, 84% of companies say that Account Based Marketing delivers a higher ROI than other types of marketing. So why is this the case? There are a few factors at play here. Firstly, ABM allows you to connect and engage with multiple stakeholders within single accounts. This is critical because a buying decision is likely to be made by a group of people rather than a single individual - especially in larger organisations. Secondly, communications stemming from an ABM strategy are more likely to be personalised, relevant and received at the right time. This means that people are more likely to remember the key messaging and take action on the embedded calls to action. Finally, when combined with Artificial Intelligencecapabilities and an integrated approach, ABM campaigns can reach prospects across multiple channels, providing brands with true real-time opportunities. --- If you’re looking for a more integrated approach to B2B marketing that allows you to engage with multiple stakeholders within an organisation, adopting an Account Based Marketing approach should be at the top of your to-do list. Get in touch with our Managing Partner, Philip Martin, at philip.martin@dma-partners.com to discuss how we can help you get started.

5 years ago Gartner research unveiled their thesis that Customer Experience (commonly referred to as CX) would soon become the “new battlefield” for brands. Now, in 2019, it’s becoming increasingly clear that Gartner was correct, with numerous follow-up studies confirming the importance of customer experience and its direct effect on customer loyalty and advocacy. In fact, a study by Walker found that by as early as next year, “customer experience will overtake price and product to become the key brand differentiator”. With CX being one of the best ways to stand out from the crowd and build a loyal customer base, let’s examine some simple CX innovation projects B2B tech firms can implement to create a stellar experience for their customers. 1. Use Storytelling to Communicate Your Value Proposition It’s easy to forget that a great customer experience often begins before a prospect actually decides to become a paying customer. If your marketing materials don’t create an emotional bond with your prospects, you’ll never have the chance to take the relationship further. Data and statistics are often forgettable, so this is where great storytelling comes into play. If you want a customer to feel emotionally connected to your brand, and therefore make your business stand out, they need to be aware of your company’s mission, values and the benefits of doing business with you. So how can brands use storytelling to do this? Video is the perfect medium, as it increases the retention of your message and is often a customer’s most preferred way to consume content. Within each video you produce, you want prospective customers to see themselves at the heart of the story you’re telling - by putting themselves in the shoes of your current happy customers, or seeing themselves as going through the same pain points that your business so clearly understands. This paints a picture in the prospects mind that they, too, will have a positive experience with your company. 2. Implement an Engaging Onboarding Campaign When a business acquires a new customer they have a small, yet significant window of opportunity to set the context for a positive and lasting customer relationship straight off the bat. In our experience, designing and implementing an engaging onboarding campaign for new customers is a simple way B2B brands can “set the tone” and improve customer retention. One of the easiest ways to do this is via a simple email campaign, which walks customers through a series of steps they need to take (or information they need to know) to get the most out of the product or service. For businesses with larger budgets, a dedicated online e-learning hub is a more interactive way of achieving the same objective. One really creative way of ensuring customers actually complete the onboarding process is to “gamify” the process with specific setup milestones customers must achieve or a series of “quick start” lessons they can complete to win badges or certifications. 3. Help Customers to Help Themselves In today’s digital world, customers are becoming increasingly self-sufficient. This is evidenced by the fact that the majority of customers now prefer dealing with businesses who allow them to help themselves first before reaching out to customer support. As studies have shown that 70% of customers feel that a brand’s website should include some form of self-service support, this is an easy focal point for brands who wish to improve their customer experience. A simple way to do this would be to create a dedicated area of your website for self-service support, such as a well-organised FAQ bank. There, customers could search for answers to their most pressing questions and find solutions in a matter of minutes. When you consider the traditional approaches businesses have in place, where customers call a hotline and end up sitting on hold for 5 minutes, or have to wait 24 hours for a response to an email or support ticket, it’s easy to see why this approach will win you brownie points with your customers. --- Do you want to transform your B2B customer experience into one which will surprise and delight your customers, inspiring loyalty for years to come? Get in touch with Philip Martin to discover how DMA Partners can help: philip.martin@dma-partners.com.

Colour Psychology in Marketing The psychology of colour and its impact on branding is a fascinating and widely discussed aspect of marketing theory. While it’s not an exact science, the colours you choose do make a difference. They can impact the way we feel about a product, and can help differentiate between brands. Colour has also been shown to increase brand recognition by up to 80%, and can improve comprehension by 73%. The study of colour psychology in marketing is an attempt to encourage trust and influence perceptions, both positive and negative, calming and energising. A study on the impact of colour on marketing showed that “people make up their minds within 90 seconds of their initial interactions with either people or products. About 62‐90 percent of the assessment is based on colors alone.” And while there are many debatable tropes and myths around the topic of colour psychology – such as using red in fast food logos to stimulate hunger – most marketing experts will agree that there is a benefit to understanding the interplay between colour and brand perception. The Meaning of Colour The emotional response we have to colour is greatly influenced by the framework through which we view it. Consequently, colour symbolism can vary widely based on culture, individual experience, and personal preference. Still, there are some common meanings that can generally be referenced when considering which colours to choose for your branding. Colour can also have a psychological effect beyond its symbolism. Purple balances stimulation and serenity, while blues and greens are peaceful, calming, and restful. From a scientific perspective, green has been shown to reduce eye strain, and blue can actually lower blood pressure and slow your breathing. Warm colours such as yellow or orange, on the other hand, are exciting and energising, and are thought to increase appetite. However, these colours should be used in moderation, as they can be over-stimulating. While it’s impossible to factor in the unique tastes of each individual consumer, it is crucial to consider a colour’s potential differences in meaning cross-culturally, especially when marketing outside of your regional context. For example, while black is largely considered the colour of mourning throughout the western world, it varies greatly across different cultures and countries, including the following: India: White Thailand: Purple Korea, Iran: Blue Egypt, Ethiopia, Mexico: Yellow South Africa: Red Even commonly used branding colours, such as red, blue, and green, can have vastly different meanings in different countries. In the UK, red is often associated with danger, while in China, it represents good luck. Blue invokes patriotism in the US, while in Italy, it signifies religion. Green represents life in Japan, and death in South America. With so many factors to consider, how do you choose? The best approach is to select the colour palette that best fits what your brand wants to convey: Red: good for action-oriented products and brands Orange: indicates value and discounts Yellow: attention-grabbing Green: eco-friendly, natural Blue: most commonly used corporate colour, and the most well-liked colour in the world Case Studies: brands that have trademarked colours Studies have shown that people have a strong, immediate reaction to brands they recognise, and as a result are more likely to trust and purchase from them. Some companies have taken the idea that colour increases brand recognition a step further, by claiming specific colours as an integral part of their branding. Tiffany blue, Louboutin red, T-Mobile magenta, and John Deere’s green and yellow colour scheme are all examples of companies that have trademarked colours and used them to such effect that consumers can identify the brand by that colour alone. How to Choose the Right Colours for Your Brand While you don’t need to design or trademark a specific colour for your brand, the above examples highlight how important colour can be when it comes to brand recognition. Here are some tips to help you decide: Look at other logos and branding themes in your industry. Which colours are commonly used? Are there patterns? Do the colours you’ve chosen seem to “fit” with your company and industry? What associations will people make with your colours? Research the cultural associations of your colours to determine what messages you are sending internationally Determine if your branding colours will rely more on shades or tints. Studies on colour perception and preference have shown that women prefer pastels and softer colours, while men prefer more saturated or darker colours. It is worth noting that both prefer blue overall. Decide if you want to use a complementary colour scheme or a contrasting one. Complementary colours are usually perceived as calming and peaceful, while contrasting colours draw attention. Studies on colour combinations found that most consumers prefer palettes composed of similar colours with a strongly contrasting accent colour. According to the article “Psychology of Color,” effective colour coordination can be achieved by “creating a visual structure consisting of base analogous colours and contrasting them with accent complementary (or tertiary) colors.” Case Studies: how contrasting colours can boost engagement Once you have established a colour palette for your branding and website, it is interesting to note that a contrasting colour can be used to great effect to boost engagement. Here are two case studies of companies that showed significant increase in conversions after changing the colour of their Call to Action (CTA) button on their website: A famous test pitted two button colours against each other: green and red. Green was the colour of the website’s branding, and the original colour of their CTA button. However, by simply changing the button colour to red, the website saw an increase in conversion of 21%. Another website put this same test into action, changing their CTA button from green to yellow, which resulted in a 187.4% increase in conversions on their website. These results indicate that it’s not necessarily the specific colour, but rather the contrast that makes the difference. Conclusion When evaluating colour choices, it’s important to be open to new ideas, to experiment and try different things to see what works for your company and your brand. Don’t be afraid to take risks, but consider the messages you want to convey with the colours you choose. While there are no absolutes when it comes to colour psychology, these theories can offer valuable insight into what motivates consumers and influences their perception. Do you need help selecting the best signature colour(s) for your brand? Get in touch with our Managing Partner, Philip Martin, at philip.martin@dma-partners.com to discover how we can help you use colour to maximise your visual impact.

We have dedicated the past 15 years to helping our clients tell brand stories that win the hearts and minds of customers. Over the years, we’ve learnt a thing or two about collaborating from our clients and the ingredients required to create successful, long-term relationships. We wanted to share our learnings to give something back to the business community, as we know that deciding to work with an agency can be a very daunting process - especially when you’re used to doing everything in-house! In this article, we have distilled our learnings into 4 key pearls of wisdom that will help you navigate the world of building a successful partnership with confidence and enthusiasm. With that being said, what works for one partnership may not work for another, so this list is by no means exhaustive or set in stone. Instead, think of it as a starting point, with some helpful principles to follow! 1. A Shared Vision When a client first approaches an agency, they often know which targets they need to achieve, but don’t know the best way to do it. An experienced agency will guide you through the process of unravelling the many different threads that make up your business and help you map out a clear journey for achieving your goals. This is often achieved through a series of ‘onboarding’ sessions, where an agency will ask a series of thought-provoking questions so that together, you can create a shared vision of what success looks like. Reaching a shared vision is profoundly important because if agencies and clients aren’t on the same page from day one, it can lead to issues cropping up at a later stage of the relationship. 2. Pure Chemistry Agencies are made up of people who are specialists in their respective fields, as are businesses. Often when it comes down to a client comparing agencies who have a similar track record, chemistry is what makes one agency stand out from the rest. Not unlike a first-date, chemistry sessions allow you to spot any red flags early on and get a feel for whether or not your relationship is likely to be a good fit for both parties. So what should you look for in terms of chemistry? Similar values - do you share a similar outlook? A cultural fit - do your organisations share a similar working style? Synergistic personalities - do your teams’ personalities complement each other? We believe that the best partnerships arise when an agency becomes an extension of your team and if these elements of chemistry are present, it can make for a much more seamless relationship. 3. Clear Expectations Once you have created a shared vision and established chemistry, it’s important to set clear expectations for both parties. A successful client-agency relationship is built on the premise of an equal partnership with give and take required on both sides. Clear expectations should be set around areas such as: Timelines Resource allocations Deliverables Brand guidelines Budget Response times Scope of work We have found that creating and then sticking to these expectations will allow agencies and clients to maintain an efficient and happy long-term partnership where both sides feel equally valued. 4. Great Communication Last but not least, we firmly believe that great communication is the true secret to success in building and maintaining client-agency relationships. (And not just because we’re a communications agency!) The agency should take on the role of listening to the client’s needs and, as experts in their field, advise them on the best course of action. This requires a truly collaborative approach and therefore, the client should be willing to be open to fresh ideas, new perspectives and often, some healthy debate. Beware the ‘yes man’ agency! Furthermore, once expectations have been set and work begins, transparent communication is what keeps a relationship flowing and growing. Regular contact via calls and email with project managers on both sides is one way to ensure this happens. ---- Are you looking to find the best matching design and communications agency to partner with and take your brand to the next level? Get in touch with our Managing Partner, Philip Martin, at philip.martin@dma-partners.com to discover if we’ve got chemistry!

As a creative agency, we’ve certainly analysed our fair share of B2C marketing material over the years. We decided to reflect on what we considered as the five best recent marketing campaigns that tackle some of the more difficult but important subjects. Ranging from charities to global corporations, their message has kept them firmly in the public eye and transcends generations of consumers. When it comes to subsequent awareness and action, the proof really is in the pudding... Be The Match: Be The Guy Before this campaign, non-profit organisation Be The Match (helps saves lives through marrow donation) was facing a tough challenge: how to reach out to the ideal 18-24 year old male donor type. So what did they do? Flipped the traditionally patient focus campaign on its head by focusing on the donor and the amazing opportunity to save a life. Using popular platforms among young people, such as Snapchat, to drive awareness and relevance, the campaign saw the number of young male donors increase by over 200%. So what can we learn from this? Grab your audience’s attention by doing the unpredictable and communicating in the correct channel. Always: #LikeaGirl Now this one really tugs at the heartstrings. Taking up the everyday stigma surrounding girls in sport, the campaign tackles the stereotype that the boy’s way of playing is better and that doing something ‘like a girl’ immediately makes it weak. By acknowledging consumer challenges and tackling social issues, Always taps into our innate sense of empowerment as an audience that can impact change. State Street Global Advisors: The Fearless Girl This is a remarkable piece of breakthrough advertising, especially for a finance company. Erected secretly the night before International Women’s Day, “The Fearless Girl” statue takes up a defiant pose to stare down the 28-year-old Wall Street “Charging Bull”. Serving as a symbol of female leadership in the epicentre of the world’s financial capital, the statue urges companies to hire more women in business leadership positions. The use of a little girl is also a stroke of genius; not only do you see yourself in her, you see your children, the future and a new era of equality. CALM: Project 84 With 84 men committing suicide in the UK every week, this campaign focuses on what is, unfortunately, a very topical issue in today’s society. The art installation designed by street artist Mark Jenkins, places 84 male statues on top of ITV’s This Morning studio to urge for real government action against suicide. Using workshops involving bereaved family and friends, each sculpture was modelled on a real man that took his own life, adding a tragically human aspect to the campaign. Not only did the project evoke a massive emotional response, it also resulted in 34% more people contacting CALM for help and gained 2.1 billion pieces of media. This campaign is a prime example of effective emotional marketing being able to bring people together; to quote CALM’s CEO Simon Gunning “This fuels hope, and hope fuels action”. Dove: Campaign for Real Beauty Known globally as bringing truth to advertising, Dove’s ‘Campaign for Real Beauty’ chose to use ‘real’ women, prompting consumers to look at what attributes made them beautiful. Here it wasn’t about selling soap but tackling a worldwide problem – a lack of body confidence. While only 23% of women felt they were responsible for influencing their own definition of beauty in the media, Dove provides a fresh outlook on the concepts of beauty in modern society. As for sales of their product, they increased from 2.5 billion to over 4 during the campaign. Moral of the story: sell an idea and the product will sell itself. --- So how can the success of these campaigns be replicated you ask? Well, all these award-winning campaigns have one standout characteristic in common – emotion. According to Harvard professor Gerard Zaltman, 95% of our purchase decision making takes place subconsciously. So forget rational; customers make decisions based on how they feel. As a result, customers who feel emotionally connected to a brand are twice as valuable as satisfied customers because they are less likely to be influenced by price but instead by what the brand represents. This theory doesn’t stop at global brands either; whether you’re big or small, profit or non-profit, emotion is a key device in appealing to any target audience. Here at DMA, we ́re passionate about brand stories and what creates a successful campaign. Whether it’s a decision to completely rebrand or an internal company video, we help your brand get the success it deserves. For all enquiries please contact our Managing Partner, Philip Martin at Philip.martin@dma-partners.com.