Digital Lifelines Scotland seeks to improve digital inclusion and to design digital solutions that better meet people’s needs, to improve the health outcomes for people who use drugs, reducing the risk of harm and death.

Maguires were appointed to create a modern and dynamic brand to help DLS continue its valuable work in both the digital and physical worlds.

At the heart of the new brand marque are subtle references to the letters ‘d’ and ‘l’ encased within a series of interconnected curves. As Digital Lifelines Scotland is funded by Scottish Government and run as a partnership programme, these curves are designed to represent both the collaborative make-up of DLS, as well as the supportive nature of their work. The overall visual effect of these interconnecting curves provides the new brand with a distinct digital ‘fingerprint’ marque, with the line forms influenced by circuit boards. Finally, the vibrant colour palette was chosen to represent the scottish element of the organisation, with the colours based upon a Scottish thistle, sitting against a bright blue sky.

The brand also required a highly adaptive brand system to allow staff the tools to create a wide-variety of branded communications from issuing reports and papers, to presenting and attending various events and conferences.

St Aloysius’ College is a leading independent school based in Glasgow. 

In 2019, Maguires created the highly successful campaign, ‘The Start of Something Great’, to promote the school’s annual open day.

Over the next few years, the campaign was successfully retained, with the central ‘hero’ images being updated each year, with additional video and web content added into the marketing mix, to further strengthen the offering. 

For 2022’s campaign, the client was keen to evolve the campaign style, while still remaining true to what made the original campaign successful.

Maguires was also commissioned to capture a fresh bank of photography of school life for the in-house social media team. 

This saw us spend two days at the school, across several locations, capturing a wide variety of school activities. From this we were able to assemble a fresh collage style and an expanded range of ‘hero’ pupil shots, providing variety and diversity for the digital and outdoor campaigns.

Finally, this year we decided to create a small thank-you for our ‘heroes’. Each pupil’s family was sent individualised posters with their name adapted to be part of ‘The Start of Something Great’ strap-line.

Following a successful pitch, Maguires were employed to provide the creative concept and graphic style for Celtic Football Club’s Christmas campaign.

The brief was to highlight the array of international talent now assembled at Celtic Park, following the appointment of Australian manager Ange Postecoglou earlier in the year.

We created the campaign strapline ‘Sending Cheer Far & Near’ with an accompanying logo and graphic style, which takes its visual cues from international travel and Santa’s mail room.

As well as designing the annual gift catalogue, we provided a comprehensive campaign toolkit and guide for the Celtic in-house team to use across over 500 sales assets. In addition to this, many of the graphic assets were featured prominently in the highly successful campaign film, produced by Arteus.

Glasgow’s extensive retail offering includes three main shopping streets in the city centre – known as ‘The Style Mile’ – with Buchanan Street at its heart.

Ranked second in the UK retail hierarchy, behind only London’s Oxford Street in terms of CACI rating, Buchanan Street is home to an array of mainstream retailers and aspirational brands.

However, as high streets across the UK adapted to a post-pandemic world, operators Hines showcased a unique opportunity for premium retailers to take over rarely available commercial space in an iconic location at the top of the street.

Maguires were tasked with creating the sales credentials brochure for the opportunity and accompanying window vinyls across all units. We also commissioned original photography and a video walk-through to supplement the marketing offering.

St Aloysius’ College is a leading independent school based in Glasgow.

In 2019, Maguires created the highly successful ‘The Start of Something Great’ campaign to promote their annual open day (view the full case study here).

One year later, and with the world in the throes of a global pandemic, the likelihood of a traditional face-to-face open day was slim. Anticipating this, the school briefed us to explore an alternative solution which helped prospective parents and pupils learn about the school in advance of applying.

We knew that a virtual open day would clearly be a necessity. This would allow for direct communication between parents, staff members, and pupils – both current and prospective. To this end, we engaged our events partner (and client) Cameron to discuss the requirements for a live virtual event.

Our ambition was to bridge the gap between the experience of a physical event and that of a virtual one. This would allow prospective parents to tour through the campus at their leisure, getting a sense of the school environment and the beauty of the city centre location.

Our solution was a bespoke, informative and feature-rich microsite that would provide a range of multimedia content which could be explored in advance of the live virtual event. The main body of the microsite was a series of six films that would help to tell the story of St Aloysius in greater detail. Using a range of interviews with staff, pupils and parents, coupled with reportage footage of the campus, facilities and daily school life, the final films each focused on a different element and resulted in over 20 minutes of high-quality content for viewing.

Alongside this, we commissioned a bespoke 3D map of the campus, drone footage of the building exteriors and a 360-degree interactive tour which showcased the inside of the main school buildings.

Finally, the virtual tour website provided a prospectus download (also designed by Maguires) and an online application form for the open day.

The site acted as a vital companion to our digital advertising campaign, which pushed traffic to an online applications page. The virtual tour site was then served to interested applicants as well as being pushed out as part of a separate, targeted social media campaign.

The results for the 2 virtual open days (Senior School, and the Junior School) were hugely encouraging. Since the campaign commenced in November, there have been 26,851 link clicks to the microsite from social channels. Campaign content served on social channels has had a total reach of 65,551 with 28,995 video views by early December 2020.

Following a successful pitch, Maguires were appointed to produce a multi-channel creative campaign for leading independent school, St Aloysius’ College.

Our campaign was to focus on driving awareness of the school and increasing attendance at their upcoming open evening.

The school motto, Ad Majora Natus Sum – which translates as “I was born for greater things” – is the foundation upon which the school’s teaching philosophy is based. “Our young people not only have their academic potential ignited, but are also taught to look on the world with empathy, offering their talents and energies for the benefit of others”, states Headmaster Matthew Bartlett.

It’s clear that what makes St Aloysius’ College unique in a competitive sector is this ‘greater’ good, which became the heart of the campaign. We wanted to keep the existing ‘Great Things Happen in The Green Blazer’ as an overall brand strapline, but give this year’s campaign a more direct call-to-action, while remaining true to what makes the school special.

Our solution was to highlight that choosing to attend St Aloysius’ is ‘The Start of Something Great’, at whichever stage a pupil joins – from Kindergarten through to the Senior School. The use of the word ‘great’ gave us the ability to tie the campaign to the school’s traditions, while also promoting the many ‘great’ aspects of the school: the friendships, the opportunities, the facilities and, of course, the results.

The creative centred around an impactful collage style – bursting with activity, but with a singular ‘hero’ image at its core. This echoed the school’s ethos of “plac(ing) the formation of the whole person at the centre of all learning.”

All campaign photography was shot by Maguires, with the campaign film also being directed and edited by our in-house team. We developed the campaign creative across a multitude of assets, implementing them as part of a targeted online marketing strategy on Facebook and Instagram, with a bespoke canvas ad within Facebook that helped to streamline the sign-up process.

The campaign was highly successful, with a 52% increase on the previous year’s attendance figures.

Formerly Cameron Presentations, this forward-thinking, 70-year-old, family-run events company were looking to revitalise their entire communications landscape with a new look and feel across all media channels. Our mission was to design and produce a brand, website and digital comms strategy which projected Cameron’s evolution and confidence within an ever-changing and highly competitive industry.

Using ‘connecting ideas’ as a working strapline, we devised bespoke dot matrix patterns or ‘circle clouds’ which represented the notion of connectivity and alluded to light / sound wave patterns. This formed the cornerstone of the brand identity and allowed for extensive flexibility in creative execution. A vibrant and confident set of colour gradients were developed, working harmoniously with the circle clouds and providing the brand with a robust, flexible graphical backdrop. The clean, confident brand identity was then deployed in a number of new marketing materials, including letterheads, business cards, brochures, bespoke envelopes, van livery and signage. Added value came from the development of a bespoke desktop app which animates the circle cloud pattern, allowing for variations in both ring speed and wave width.

A clean, modular web build was designed and developed which projected Cameron as leaders and innovators in their sector and projected the company as an ‘Events Agency’.

Copy style was an integral aspect of the new Cameron identity – they were looking for a fresh and bold tone which differentiates them from their competitors and aligns with their ‘fun, friendly, creative’ ethos.  All copy for both offline and online comms was written from the ground up by Maguires’ in-house copywriting team, ensuring both brand identity and copy style align seamlessly.

Our social and digital strategy needed to be vibrant, on-brand and engaging, ensuring cut-through to captivate the Cameron crowd and increase social interactions. Using a mix of paid-for and organic content on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram, as well as a robust Google AdWords campaign, our strategy and content creation ensured huge spikes in engagement and massive increases in website click-throughs and online enquiries.

Check out the new website and some of the stats below.

www.wearecameron.com

Website sessions up by 70%
Page views up by 75%
User session duration up by 31%
Pages per session up by 18%

The stats above reflect the % change in key stats on the old Cameron website vs. the new Cameron website for a period of 30 days after launch.

20 20 Opticians are part of the Duncan & Todd Group, one of the UK’s largest optical retailers. They have seven locations throughout Scotland, offering high-quality eye care, as well as award-winning lenses and frames.

The client was looking for a summer campaign that would promote their own-brand frames.

Maguires proposed a style of photography which would contrast the more lifestyle-based model campaigns often associated with high street opticians.

We also wanted the photography style to stand out as being from the 20 20 brand, as it was likely to be seen alongside promotional posters for various designer brands also available in store.

By using 20 20’s distinctive red and green colour palette across all of the posters, we created a striking series of hero posters.

To ensure a more authentic look, we didn’t use model agencies – instead sourcing models from the streets of Glasgow to complete six ‘hero’ posters.

The campaign was deployed throughout all seven stores nationwide, as well as online, in press and as a series of animated 6 sheets.

Quarriers is a leading social care charity that provides practical care and support for thousands of vulnerable children, adults and families across Scotland. They help thousands of people to lead happier, more fulfilling lives. By challenging inequality, Quarriers give vulnerable people more opportunities and, importantly, ensure that their voices are heard.

Maguires were originally appointed in 2018, following a successful pitch, to create a recruitment campaign for Quarriers. Having struggled to fill carer roles through traditional recruitment avenues, the client decided to use a creative advertising campaign to target people interested in a career in care directly.

We created the ‘Care to join us’ campaign. The simple message got right to the point, by identifying the crucial requirement of working for Quarriers – that you really care.

A strong call to action prompts anyone considering a career in caring to find out about available roles via the Quarriers jobs page.

Quarriers were keen to champion their staff in the campaign, so Maguires commissioned and art-directed the photography at Quarrier’s Village using real Quarriers employees. Multiple creative executions were then provided for a far-ranging campaign across outdoor, social, digital, press and radio.

Launching in August 2018, the campaign has resulted in triple the number of visits to the Quarriers site, with the suitability of applicants also increasing to a healthy 1 in 3 being taken on.

The original campaign led to 200 new hires (as of April 2019) and was awarded S1 Jobs ‘Recruitment Campaign of the Year’ 2018.

To build on the success of last year’s campaign, we proposed producing an accompanying film for 2019, to help bring to life the vital work of Quarriers carers.

Once again, the photography and film work was commissioned and directed by Maguires at Quarriers Village, using real Quarriers employees. By featuring the same carers in both the print and film campaign we helped give a wider visibility to the ‘stars’ of the campaign.

The campaign launched in August 2019 across outdoor, social, digital, press and radio.

Stravaigin is one of the best-known restaurants and bars in Glasgow. For over 20 years, they’ve taken pride in using local produce to create internationally-inspired Scottish dishes.

Having been approached to promote Stravaigin’s monthly 5 course fine dining events, we were first tasked with refining the Stravaigin brand.

The logo had gone through a number of iterations over the last 20 years, with several versions still in use throughout the restaurant. We simplified the original logo using typography sympathetic with the Art Nouveau style of the original brand.

Previously hidden within the logo, the ‘Think Global, Eat Local’ ethos was elevated to its own brand marque, acting as a companion to the main logo. This ethos was the essence of their brand, so by creating a separate marque and producing it as a simple ink stamp, we allowed this ethos to be branded on everything that they do.

In addition to the logo, we introduced a new brand colour – influenced by the dark natural wood interior and game-filled menu. This helped provide a fresh look for the staff, with uniforms and hand-stamped business cards.

Finally, we designed a series of menus, from À La Carte to Brunch, Cocktails to Daily Specials, and everything in-between.

The new brand allowed us to create a unique look-and-feel across all communications, including a series of targeted social media campaigns. The first of which was a campaign to promote the new À La Carte menu from Chef James MacRae.

In addition to the branding and marketing responsibilities, the Maguires in-house team provided all photography used across the paid-for social campaigns.

Stravaigin is one of the best-known restaurants and bars in Glasgow. For over 20 years, they’ve taken pride in using local produce to create internationally-inspired Scottish dishes.

Maguires were approached to provide a distinctive advertising style and marketing strategy to promote Stravaigin’s monthly 5 course fine dining events. Each event had a unique culinary focus, with the menus taking inspiration from a particular country or world region.

The creative had to be distinctively ‘Stravaigin’ in style, whilst also illustrating the geographical focus of that particular month.

Taking influence from the reclaimed fixtures and salvaged antiques found inside Stravaigin, we identified geographical and culinary features from each of the countries to create unique artworks for each event. This led to multiple creative executions for our targeted social media advertising campaign, as well as posters, flyers, emails and menus for the event staff.

Having already redesigned the Stravaigin brand, we were keen to provide a strong creative rationale to tie all of these events together along with the new brand. As ‘stravaig’ is an old Scots word meaning ‘to wander’, we proposed presenting each of the events as part of a series, which we called ‘One Night Wanders’.

Now recognised as Scotland’s Theme Park, M&D’s is unique in Scotland. There are over 70 rides and attractions throughout the park, including thrill rides, kids’ rides, 18 hole miniature golf, glow in the dark indoor bowling, a massive indoor complex, a gigantic soft play area, bars, restaurants and an indoor tropical rainforest.

Maguires were tasked with updating the marketing strategy and creative look and feel for the 2018 season, to appeal to a teenage audience.

We developed a series of playful images showcasing the variety and the excitement on offer at M&D’s, with the ‘hero’ of each image being ‘text speak’ associated with a fun visit to M&D’s.
The campaign ran across all print and digital communications, as well as a substantial outdoor campaign.

Following a successful pitch, Maguires were appointed by Stirling Council to create and launch a new brand and marketing campaign for the Stirling area.

The initial stages of the brand development saw us undertake an extensive three-month consultation process, where feedback was gathered from key stakeholders and residents. This process covered both city centre and rural areas, stretching from Crianlarich and Aberfoyle, to Dunblane, Bannockburn and Callander.

The result of this process saw the creation of the brand ‘Stirling: Alive with Scotland’ – illustrating that Stirling is a place where you can find all that is good about Scotland; its history, beauty, ingenuity as well as the wide-ranging opportunities it offers.

(more…)

Refined branding for established, reputable kitchen experts.

Maguires started working with Palazzo Kitchens & Bathrooms in 2016, developing a new brand and website.

Since then, we’ve been running Palazzo’s social channels, generating new leads each month through a series of paid-for campaigns, case studies and lifestyle blogs.

All of the content for the case studies and blogs are created in-house at Maguires, with original photography and copywriting included in our monthly fee. This enables Palazzo to regularly showcase their craft, while helping provide continued engagement with potential customers.

Word-of-mouth recommendations from satisfied customers are important to Palazzo. This is why reaching out to potential customers through Facebook is vital to their growth. Maguires have developed a clear and concise social media marketing strategy which emphasises the quality of the Palazzo service.

By utilising a combination of sophisticated targeting and high-end photography & video content, Maguires have been able to consistently build the Palazzo social audience and continuously increase the number of high-quality leads.

Our detailed SEO strategy has seen Palazzo Kitchens climb to the top of the rankings for a selection of vital key terms, including the #2 position for “kitchens Glasgow”. The Palazzo website bounce rate out-performs the average for organic visits, increasing organic lead generation consistently month on month, with Cost Per Click (CPC) on Facebook also falling well below the average.

In addition, Social SEO optimisation has taken place, with Maguires helping Palazzo to increase the number of 5-star reviews the company receives on specialist interior design social network Houzz, as well as on Google and Facebook.

palazzo.co.uk