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RAW CREATIVE IS RECRUITING!

Digital/PR Senior Account Executive


Due to a raft of exciting new client wins this leading full service creative agency (that’s us!) is seeking a talented senior account executive to manage social media and online activity, along with some traditional PR accounts across a portfolio of clients.

The successful candidate will be a recent graduate with a strong understanding of social media practises including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Flickr and blogging. They will also possess first rate communication skills with a flair for writing and media relations.

At the forefront of online trends and evaluation methods for social media, the Senior Account Executive will also pioneer best practise across the company.

An understanding of SEO and traffic generation would also be advantageous. Previous agency experience is desirable but not essential.

Well presented and confident you will be adept at client handling.

This is a newly created role which to a large extent will be autonomous and requires a self-starter who can manage their own workload. Strong copy writing skills are essential as at times you will be required to support the busy PR team as part of this role.   

Based in the heart of the affluent Spa town of Harrogate you will benefit from working in modern new town centre offices, in a friendly and creative environment. Competitive salary for the right candidate.

We are especially keen to hear from those who are available to start at short notice – please send your CV to aimi@rawcreativeltd.com or adam@rawcreativeltd.com

There's no place like VQ

We decided to approach the people who pull the strings at Victoria Quarter Leeds, with our proposed creative and ideas for VQ's seasonal events in 2013. They were very impressed with what we produced and to our surprise asked us to produce the creative for this years big summer event based on the Wizard of Oz.

We were delighted to get the opportunity and above is an example of the creative. Combining elements from the story and the glitz and feel of the VQ centre we produced an identity for the event that Raw Creative and the client is very pleased with.

The event is tonight 24th May 2012 and the evening starts at 6.00pm and runs until 9.00pm, with many individual stores hosting their own events and magical offers and discounts available throughout the centre; it’s the perfect opportunity to secure your very own pair of Ruby Slippers! Check out some of the offers on the VQ facebook page.

To add to the occasion, the centre will be dressed with Oz-inspired props and you’ll be able to meet many of the characters from the film and enjoy live entertainment while following the Yellow Brick Road around the centre’s stores.

So if you can get yourself somewhere over the Rainbow... there’s a wizard shopping event just waiting to be discovered.

Keep calm and eat cake!

On Thursday 5^th April, the Raw team hosted its first ever Colossal Cake Sale for Help for Heroes. Well it sure was colossal! We gathered outside of the Victoria Shopping Centre and spent the day with troops selling hundreds of cakes, cupcakes, biscuits, meringues and chocolate crispies to Harrogate’s shoppers.

Despite miserable weather all week, the sun came out for us and so did 20 soldiers from Ripon’s Army Recruitment Team and Harrogate Army Foundation College. After recruiting friends, family and Harrogate Advertiser readers to put their baking aprons on, we were lucky enough to receive sugary donations from several local businesses. A big thank you to Betty's of Harrogate, Mama Doreen’s Cupcake Company, Bespoke Cupcakes and the Harrogate Cake Company for  their scrumptious offerings (which sold out long before ours!)

We also had fantastic banners designed by our team and printed complimentarily by Holberry Signs, another big thank you to them and to the Victoria Shopping Centre for letting us pitch camp on the piazza for the day!

So how did we do I hear you ask? Thanks to the generosity of Harrogate cake lovers we sold out, raising a phenomenal £450! Every penny will go towards the Phoenix House Personnel Development Centre at Catterick Garrison, which opened in 2011 and aims to rehabilitate wounded servicemen and women in the North of England.

Moving on up now!

Here at Raw HQ, we’re all settled into our new office and what a fantastic few months it has been since the big move! Not only are we now at a pride of place location on the prestigious Albert Street, we have a bigger office and, thanks to recent victorious pitches, a bigger client list too!

The last few cardboard boxes have been unpacked and our shiny new logo vinyls are up on the floor length windows for all of Harrogate to admire! Since moving in, our PR and design monkeys have been busy working on pitches and tenders for work and we now have several new clients which we will soon reveal.

In February, the team put on their best smiles for the Raw photoshoot! Harrogate-based photographer, Simon Johnston came in to take team snaps and headshots for our press releases, website and, of course, the Read Raw blog. Although it has taken a few weeks to all agree on one we like – here’s the long-awaited Raw team photo:

Last week, myself and Jo journeyed to MediaCityUK in Manchester for the BCSC Social Media for Shopping Centres seminar. We handle the social media for a number of clients, many of whom are shopping centres all over the country. The conference was a great opportunity for us to gain insight from some of the industry’s most proactive Social Media managers, seeing Justin Webb, PR Manager for the Trafford Centre and Jim Harris, Centre Manager of St Stephen’s in Hull, talk about their objectives and campaigns was very helpful. We’re already planning future campaigns for our clients and the advice at the conference was a big help!

We have some exciting things coming up at Raw. As well as the work we’re starting for new clients and the Tough Mudder training schedule Nicole has told you about, we’re doing our bit for charity. We’ll be hosting a Colossal Cake Sale for Help for Heroes on Thursday 5^th April. From 11:30am, we’ll be outside of the Victoria Shopping Centre in Harrogate, selling cakes to shoppers with the help of young soldiers from Harrogate Army Foundation College. We’re asking friends, families, colleagues and local businesses to donate cakes and all things sweet to the cause, so if you can pop your apron and get baking, we’d really appreciate the contribution!

That’s all for now here at the Raw HQ I think, watch this space for upcoming news and announcements or follow us on Twitter, @RawCreativeLtd.

 

 

 

We’ve Arrived!

After a slightly stressful move on Friday 20^th January the Raw team are settling in nicely to our swanky new offices just up the road from our old home at the top of John Street.

Not only have we moved, a group of us are setting ourselves a personal challenge and taking part in the British Tough Mudder event, where six of us will be training for the 12 mile obstacle course taking place on 18th November 2012.

Training has already started and we are now entering week three of our 35 week training programme that has been kindly set up by Justin O’Halloran, local fitness trainer and owner of Performax Fitness in Pannal.

So far we have completed two outside runs, the first a 5km which involved us running through a dark forest, through lots of slippery mud and up the hills in and around the Valley Gardens in Harrogate. Due to the rain and level of unfitness between the majority of the group it’s safe to say it was quite a struggle, however it left the team feeling determined to continue with the challenge and get fit!

The second group session saw the team complete a 6km run. This time we missed out the muddy forest and kept to the roads. However it wasn’t a simple jog around Harrogate as we had all secretly hoped - Powerplate man had us all sprinting through the gardens to help increase our fitness levels and get us used to the feel of how the body relates to obstacles. The determination had set in and people had been doing their best to exercise outside of group sessions which made last week slightly more bearable than the first.

 We are now getting ready for week three and will keep you updated with our progress. Help us keep up our motivation by following our progress and seeing how we do on the big event. A team picture will follow but for now why not enjoy our new office photograph – cleverly edited by the design monkeys of course ;)

The Raw Studio Is On The Move!

The big move is on Friday the 20th January, and then fingers crossed we will be fully operational in our fresh new studio come Monday 23rd January. We are taking plenty of snaps of the big move, so no doubt they'll be a blog post made out of them showing off our new studio.

Im personally looking forward to getting my hands on the big blank walls at the minute. If you have any inspiration you can throw my way regarding design studio or office interior design ideas, then do so. Have plenty of ideas so far but no harm in having more.

Merry Xmas - Create Your Own Santa!

Click on the image below to view our Christmas E-Card:

This years Xmas card from the Raw Creative Team.

Now that the year is coming to a close and we are all have our minds focussed on the festivities. We thought you may need a little distraction to pass the time. Once you have finished just follow the instructions to receive a slightly trickier challenge, and make his trusted friendly reindeer.

Hope you enjoy making your Christmas paper toys, feel free to tweet us a pic of your work.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all the team here at Raw.

The Mystery Of Pantone v CMYK

What colour do you fancy today?

The reason I am posting this is that we have just had an incredibly complicated job go through the studio that involved the mystery of colour matching and I thought I'd try and explain a few things. So, in brief, this is how it went:

We had a client’s new brochure design to do and this was to match the colour on the previous brochure that was printed about three years ago using their own special Pantone Dark Blue. Simple?

Well no, unfortunately the previous job involved a press pass by the client. This is where they go to the printers and sign it off as it is being printed. When the press pass was done, the colour was amended whilst on the press and other colours were added to the mix and levels on the machine were played with. Meaning the special spot colour we thought it was, it no longer was. So, now what?

The printers helped out and sent the old brochure off to their colour chemists where they mixed up a match. Not as simple as it sounds either with each colour being affected differently by different stock (paper types) and coatings/lamination used. Although we eventually had a good solid colour to work with, we now had a new problem!

The new cover design used a pattern that was made up of various overlaying gradients of the spot colour. This, when printed in the new spot colour, did not match the CMYK representation the client had seen with it revealing much more contrast in the various blends. The client wanted the new colour but with the subtlety of the original design. This proved extremely difficult as the cost of testing a variety of blends on press was too much, so with only a calibrated proof to go on from the printers (this is a high quality digital print but does not print spot colours), we had a stab at which one of several cover variations was going to work best. This is probably on press as I type, so we will soon see the result!

During all of this we had to think of other material we are working on for them; business cards, folders and a newsletter. Throw into this the fact that the newsletter is being printed 4 colour CMYK, the folder 5 colour, the business cards 2 colour and the brochure will finally be printed 6 colour with a spot UV finish (but we will leave that one for now), it has created quite a headache in terms of colour consistency.

Explaining Colours

Did I lose you with all that?  Well, this is why I thought I would take a little time out to try and explain the different processes in simple terms.

The subject of print colours can be lost on most non-designers. If I start to explain that the colours you see on your PC screen are not the same as print colours, that my screen will probably differ from yours and that your home printer is again very different to mine; I will no doubt find a very confused face looking back at me.

Right, the web colour spectrum is RGB, print colours are typically CMYK and Pantone and we will leave RAL out of it (used basically to translate into paint). Still here?

Sometimes it is necessary to try and educate clients on printing processes, and other times it can add extra complications they don't really need to know, however if it has an impact on the work, they need to understand what is going on and what could be the future implications. Hopefully there are then no shocks further down the line when the client receives their printed items.

Differences between CMYK and Pantone colours for printing purposes:

CMYK Colour Printing
(Also called ‘process colours’)

Colour is produced on your choice of printed material (paper, vinyl, cardboard, fabric etc) by mixing four separate ink colours:

Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black (CMYK).

Using this method can mean that when printing many copies of the same artwork, as is common with business cards and other forms of stationery, some areas of colour may not appear completely consistent. Consistency is affected by ink density, temperature, paper quality, and, when using CMYK, the colour can differ between printing companies. Generally, though the differences are very small.

Digital printers use the CMYK colour printing method. They can offer this at a very competitive price and allow short runs. You can print off a PDF document of your final design on a high quality office printer and get a close representation of the colours in your design.

This means that the finished CMYK print run should be pretty close to your office printer, however you can’t guarantee an exact match as stock (paper type) and the laminating process or coating can change the shade slightly on printed colours, as well as the heat at the time of print and so on.

Pantone Colour Printing
(Also described as ‘spot colour printing’ or a 'special')

If you wish to ensure that your logo design or company colour will print exactly the same on every single printed copy, you can specify what is called a ‘spot colour’. They are also guaranteed to look the same no matter which firm prints them.

There are a few spot colour systems available, but the industry standard is the Pantone System, each Pantone colour has a code – for example PANTONE 021 is an orange colour.

You can pick a Pantone colour from swatch books that display these colours and list the codes for each one (remember that when looking at a pantone colour on a computer monitor, it can look different from when printed and depending on which monitor you are looking at). Only by viewing a ‘swatch book’ can you see the actual colour as it will print. These are also pretty expensive to buy and if you understand this article and think about how they are printed, it makes sense.

You cannot view Pantone colours by printing a design file from your own office printer. This is because an office printer only prints in CMYK – therefore the only way to see accurate colours is to look at a Pantone colour book or see the design printed using the spot colour on the printing press.

The Printing Press (Litho Printing, Lithography, Offset)

These are extremely expensive machines and can vary in size. The basic principle is that it acts like a giant train, each carriage contains a large ink well and a rubber roller that holds an image of what each carriage is to print. These carriages connect together and the paper is fed in one end and passes through each carriage collecting an image of colour from each roller and ink well and is then spat out the other end ready for finishing (laminating, cutting, perforating, folding, stitching etc)

A typical large machine will me made up of six colour units, the first four will be made up of cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK); leaving two more for specials (spot colours). A plate is rendered/etched with an image for each colour and is then transferred to the rubber roller that prints the image. I will leave how this is done for now to keep it simple, but may come back to it in another blog post.

So basically, the more colours, the more expensive, because each colour needs its own plate and space on the printer. Litho printing gives a much smoother print using the soft rubber roller compared to digital, so it is often used for large run four colour CMYK jobs, as the setup costs are outweighed by the print quantity and higher quality.

So Which Is Best?

PANTONE PROs

• Specific colours which are consistent no matter who prints them.
• Vibrancy of colour that you can’t get with CMYK.

PANTONE CONs

• Increased cost.
• Short runs become too expensive because of set-up costs. Due to the making up of each plate and the ink wells having to be filled with your specific spot colour; used then emptied and cleaned ready for the next job.
• Difficult to get an accurate colour representation before the job is printed.

CMYK PROs

• Low cost printing in multiple (limitless) colours
• Cheaper short runs for small orders.

CMYK CONs

• Lack of colour vibrancy … some colours can be a tad dull compared to what Pantone can offer.
• Cannot guarantee exact consistency of colours.

Summary

Most large clients end up with a set of guidelines that dictate things like colours and when they should be used. They will have a Pantone colour and an alternative CMYK version of the colour. This affects some colours more than others; an orange like ours is quite heavily affected and loses its vibrancy when printed in CMYK, so we add a little bit of red to the mix to give a stronger shade when printed digitally in CMYK.

As for our client that started this post. They will have a total of six colours to play with; they have the standard CMYK, a Spot Dark Blue and a special Metallic Silver. Depending on the job, these colours are used differently. For a four colour CMYK job, the alternative CMYK conversion for the spot colour is used and a grey (60% black) is used instead of the silver. Then when funds are available or the job warrants it, the specials can be used. Fingers crossed the colour comes out as we wanted and then all the info can be put into guidelines to ensure consistency.

I’m sure there is loads I have missed out here, as it is such a vast subject, but I hope this gives you a brief understanding of colour or an insight for any student’s reading into another side of being a designer. As 95% of my knowledge on this came after leaving university, it is something I wish I’d has a better knowledge of when going into the working world.

Follow @CraigJMarshall

Addicted to Harrogate

Here’s the thing – working at Raw is going to bankrupt me. I'm now well into week 3 and am simply LOVING agency life. A fabulous team, young, funny, eager, fresh. Plus a great mix of clients. Coming from a varied PR background that has largely encompassed cars, construction, indie bands and lads mags it is a DELIGHT to be able to write about something I know about - party frocks and the like.

But there is one problem that is having an adverse effect on two key relationships in my life – my already tenuous union with the bank manager and the one I have with my landlady (who also happens to double up as my Mother).

Let me explain. Raw Creative is situated in the beautiful and elegant spa town of Harrogate and within its CBD, it possesses some of the most decadent, luxurious and stylish shops known to the British High Street.

I have been based out of some interesting locations in my time – London’s South Bank for starters. Oh so beautiful and perfect if you want to go for a lunch time jog (in case you were wondering - not once in four years). But with a stark absence of anything but Prêt and a smattering of tourist shops, there was little to tempt me in the way of material gains.

London Bridge – again, slap bang in the hubbub of London life but nothing much in the way of retail distractions. A grimy industrial estate on the outskirts of East Leeds – which, though as glamorous as a dose of gastric flu, really did wonders for the wallet.

So it really is a joy to work in such swish surroundings. On stepping out of Raw’s front door I am greeted by Space NK, Molton Brown, LK Bennett, Brora, Cath Kidston Jack Wills and Pandora. A few steps down the road and high street jewels TopShop, River Island, H&M and New Look beckon me in with their booty of festive fashion. So far, a quick trip to the Post Office has resulted in 2 winter coats, a new handbag, a shiny top, a lip gloss and some expensive body lotion. Yesterday, I had every intention of going to Boots to get my fix of Shapers tuna on brown. So how then, did I find myself veering wildly into Jaegar to try on a sheepskin coat which was reduced from £575 to JUST £190. I mean that's an investment right?

I have now taken to smuggling my ill-gotten gains into the house like a petty thief, as Mother eyes me suspiciously – “I haven’t seen THAT coat before?”, “Is that ANOTHER new top?” “Have I had your rent this month Aimi or are you paying me in new shoes?” You get the idea.

I’m convinced the novelty of being so close to this veritable shopping oasis is going to wear off. In any case, I’m far too busy peddling my PR wares to be taking a lunch –hour.

But in the meantime, Primark (yes amazingly there is one in the 'Gate) has become my methadone and like every struggling addict I am slowly learning to wean myself off the lunch-time sugar hit....

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Holidays Are Coming!

THE SPARKLE OF CHRISTMAS ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS

The evenings are getting darker, days are getting colder and grand light switch-ons are happening all over the country. Back in the day, wintery signs like these would symbolise the beginning of the Christmas season. Not anymore, due to the phenomenal brand power, the beginning of the nation’s festivities is now triggered by the first play of Coca Cola’s uber popular holiday anthem, ‘Holidays are coming’ on our screens!

This year, the multi billion dollar company is pulling out all the stops for its Christmas advertising campaign. As well as the television ad, which had its first 2011 play on Saturday 12th November, and the annual limited edition Coke Can featuring the world’s most renowned fizzy drink-lover, Santa Claus, the age-old Coke lorry is touring the country! Visiting 100 locations nationwide, the giant truck will be spotted by millions, bringing to life the advert in celebration of the brand’s 80th year of festive advertising. Now that is a campaign to be proud of.

The power of festive TV adverts cannot be denied, Toys R’ Us recently experienced a Facebook backlash after replacing their original ‘Magical Place’ Christmas ad with an ultra modern version with a brand new theme song. The advert, which was first shown in 1989 (the year I was born!) was, for many, a treat they expected on their screens throughout the season. Christmas is a traditional time of year and the great British public love their routines. National brands choose to take full advantage of this, creating advertisements that become a part of the yearly festive routine, M&S and John Lewis never disappoint at getting viewers into the Christmas spirit and the new Littlewoods advert certainly tugs at the heart strings of the impressionable public.

Better go, we have some Christmas Press Releases to be getting on with!

That Time of Year again...

 
We are not even halfway through August and I’m sat writing this looking out onto grey, miserable skies. Sipping my warm coffee and dressed in what only could be described as winter attire (black) it seems once again our good old British summer has peaked too soon...

While other countries are perhaps reaching the hottest part of summer, it’s this time every year U.K shops are filling up with autumn/winter collections and that nagging Christmas feeling rears its head. Despite the fact it’s not even September yet I start picturing myself sprawling out by log fires, cosy in winter knits and Christmas shopping in New York (!) Indeed only last night wearing my hooded jumper and slippers I was shamefully planning my winter wardrobe. My excuse being I’m tiring of that all familiar British late summer debate: is it warm enough to go without my jacket? Bare my legs? Or even wear a dress!

My day to day activities here at Raw Creative have only sought to fuel this fashion obsession, currently working on gathering press images for a Christmas gift mailer I have found myself debating which pieces I will be buying myself next season, although surely winter fashion is an investment?! At least I tell myself that every year whilst rummaging through my copious belted coats, fur and knits collected over the last few winters.  Downloading images for Raw and deciding what will be good gift pieces, I have found myself  debating what will be my investment piece this year: another classic coat?! statement bright dress ?! (damn you Net a Porter and Vogue!)

I actually can’t wait to don my knee high boots and swing coat, Carrie Bradshaw style against a wintery backdrop. I mean, my maxi dresses have only had a few outings this summer most of which I’m sure was abroad! The lure of autumn/winter fashion is already calling me and let’ face it who wants to wear old flip flops when there are shiny new boots and sky-high heels available!

Yet the irony of it is that I know come mid-December  I’ll be cursing the cold weather, fighting my way through last-minute Christmas shoppers and my hedonistic image of me in winter’s ‘latest’ boots disappears (especially as I’ll be wearing them until at least April!) Those flip flops and accessible summer fashion suddenly look oh so appealing again!