There is always plenty going on at Neue Media, so we have created this space to explore ideas and share our thinking. We will keep you up-to-date by sharing our insights, news, work, ideas and observations and anything else we think might peak your interest.
Source: socialmediainfluence.com
When marketing new products it is crucial to consider that consumers place visual appearance and colour above other factors such as sound, smell and texture. To learn more about colour psychology and how it influences purchases, see the latest infographic from KISSmetrics
Source: kissmetrics
The importance of User Experience (UX)
Below you will see a great illustration by the UPA, that highlights the importance of UX at all stages of your online process, to ensure a great experience for the user.
Source: www.mprove.de
There is an enormous challenge in today’s market in selling luxury health and beauty products online. Not only is it a hugely competitive market, but also the luxury shopping experience is very different from the conventional shopping experience. Luxury health and beauty products are sensory in nature and their purchase requires a high appreciation in aesthetics and the human senses. If you have ever been fortunate enough to drive a top of the range sports car, the experience you take away with you is not necessary the appearance and attention to detail of the car, but the adrenaline you get when driving the car. The experience comes from the perceptions, emotions, sensations and feelings that are aroused during the driving activity. This is what stays in your memory and is the reason why you want to experience it again and again.
The same principles apply to the way luxury health and beauty brands are represented online. Its not just a case of having a website, the most creative design or the most technology advanced website with rich content. The most important factor is creating an online environment that offers an exceptional experience for every user or consumer when visiting and returning to your website. The most important thing is to arouse the human senses and create a desire to be associated with a brand by making sure every visitor to the website is immersed in an environment that creates the brands universe.
The expansion of the digital world that we experience today, it’s a given that every health and beauty brand has its own website or is active in some form of social media. However, this presence online is not enough to guarantee that consumers will maintain interest in a brand, or encourage repeat visits, especially when so many brands fall short in translating the true essence of their brand and what they stand for in a digital environment. The most successful brands use storytelling principles to a brand strategy to simply make the journey more efficient and effective. They reveal a mystery behind the brand, touch the senses and are intermit and individual with their customers. Its these elements that will ultimately set you apart from your competitors, who look a bit like you and sell similar things (products, services) at roughly similar prices.
We have to come to terms that the Internet has been around for some time and consumers are now becoming used to the basics and are now demanding more. A consumer’s level of expectation has increased dramatically and they are now likely to lose patience with websites that look tired, poorly designed and functionality, don’t offer benefits, values or an interactive experience.
Strategic luxury ecommerce development involves many core elements that should all be considered in create a successful virtual environment. These elements are:
Brands in the health & beauty industry have the opportunity to really make an impact online, and if they are slow off the mark then they’re missing a good opportunity to push ahead of their competitors. Luxury health & beauty brands are special and therefore they can’t just replicate what’s been done before, they have to do something that stands out because that is what separates them from the others.
The more luxury health and beauty brands start doing this, the more consumers will be looking for them online, leading to a wider acceptance of shopping online for premier products and a larger audience.
Ever wonder what social network has the highest percentage of men? Had a feeling that a social network was beginning to take off, but no data to prove it? Are you a marketer looking for the next big thing on the Internet? Prepare to be enlightened!
Source: Ignite Social Media
Images can be the best way to present data, its a much clearer way of getting information across and more people take the time to digest it.
Source: datadial
Spending on the internet. The data below shows global trends in online shopping.
Source: Nielsen Global Consumer Report June 2010
Neue Media will be attending the The European Spa convention which is held at ExCel London on the 27-28 February 2011. Do let us know if you are attending as it would be great to see you there!
Preparing for e-marketing success
Sending out a weekly newsletter to your entire database celebrating who’s just won the staff raffle will not make for a particularly successful email marketing campaign. If you’re looking to increase the number of recipients that actually open your emails and engage in an effective, relevant manner then there are some practical steps to take and pitfalls to avoid. We hope that the practical suggestions we’ve made in this article will be helpful.
Email marketing campaigns, when done well, can provide a high return on the time and money you’ve invested, increase revenues and drive up profits. Read more +
Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park is one of the most beautiful hotels in London. We feel privileged to be working with this magnificent, historic, luxury hotel. The task we’ve recently completed for the hotel has been to design the new graphics for their exhibition stand at The National Wedding Show, which is held in early October.
Read more +
Having the best name, logo and advertising alongside all of your best efforts won’t compensate for a having a weak brand. But, what is a brand and how can you build a strong one? The tips presented in this article will offer you answers to these burning questions and summarise the golden rules of powerful branding to help ensure your brand is prepared for sustainable growth.
1. A strong brand starts with positioning
Your position is where your brand begins. It’s the unique space in your customer’s mind that only your offering can fill. You need to determine and stake your position before you develop the brand that will live there.
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Neue Media is excited to announce a new client partnership with stunning, boutique-style fashion brand Adourable. We’ve been tasked with defining the existing brand, creation of new brand guidelines that will support consistent communications, redesign of a new brand/stationery suite and ongoing support for all promotional and brand related activity. Read more +
The Ameerah brand continues to expand its operations with the launch of a new consultancy division. Neue Media continues to support Ameerah in their growth strategy by developing new branding for Ameerah Consulting and creating a fresh new exciting website from which to promote Ameerah’s new services. Read more +
Neue Media is excited to be working with the team at City Forex, evolving their brand to ensure relevancy and consistency throughout their communications. This progressive, specialist provider of retail and commercial foreign exchange services is keen to ensure that they build a stronger position within their sector. Neue Media is thrilled to be driving the evolution of their brand and our objective is to ensure that City Forex remains relevant, continuing to engage with their customers through clear, effective brand led design.
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Neue Media continues their long-term relationship with Ameerah by supporting their latest additions to their collection (a brand new range of medical uniforms for healthcare professionals). A new brochure is currently being designed for this revolutionary designer-ware brand that will help promote this new healthcare range.
Neue Media has recently started working with Currency Solutions on improving their brand communications. This forward thinking, passionate, foreign exchange specialist finds itself in a crowded market place and Neue Media is excited by the challenge of creating powerful brand lead design that will enable the Currency Solutions brand to communicate more effectively. Our first commission is to design a new brochure which truly reflects the company’s culture, experience and ethos, giving it a look and feel that makes it stand out from its competitors.
Aromatherapy gets a makeover!
We’re pleased to announce the completion of the new, luxurious ecommerce website for Aromatherapy Associates. We thought you might find it interesting to read about how we approached the design and development of this new site.
The success of this project has been greatly influenced by the close partnership we have with our client’s marketing team. Aromatherapy Associates had not attempted a digital project of this magnitude before, which is why it was imperative that we provide them with as much support, education, guidance and strategic direction that we had to offer. In order to get the project off on the right footing we organised workshops to define the brief with the client. This ensured that they fully understood the process and its various stages, taking care to consider every possible feature and phase.
The design brief that resulted from the workshops required us to provide the online visitor, with a positive, luxury brand experience. With the corporate branding having recently been refreshed it was Neue Media’s role to translate the new branding into the online environment, enhancing its ability to build relationships and increase brand loyalty, all the while striking the best balance between B2B and B2C site visitors.
The design route we followed took its inspiration from the new branding, using the gorgeous plant, flower and sculptural body images to highlight the all natural ingredients. However, as is our usual methodology, imagery was not our only consideration. The online experience needed to feel luxurious and helpful. We wanted to ensure that there was a platform for our clients to pass on their extensive knowledge while defining results that would help a variety of symptoms. The platform we developed was a product advisor. This is a personal online assistant based on a symptom lead, mood monitor that helps customers select the correct product for their body or face based on how they are feeling, and asking questions about how those feelings are affecting them at the time of their interaction with the product advisor. The final result is a small selection of recommended products focused on the customer’s specific requirements.
To keep this interactive website fresh and evolutionary the small, hard working marketing team needed to easily manage the website for their consumer, professional and global distributor customers. Neue Media provided a powerful, fully functional, fully scalable, Content Management System (CMS) that would accommodate the multi-currency and additional languages planned for the next phase of evolutionary growth.
As with any online communication strategy a strong reporting mechanism is a must. The CMS we recommended for Aromatherapy Associates has enhanced reporting features that provide the marketing team with a superior understanding of their online business, helping increase sales. This information supplies the means to develop a test and refine strategy, allowing continual improvement for future digital campaigns, while broadening the appeal of the website and helping build relationships with a wider audience through the improvement of the quantity and quality of the data capture.
The project has been a resounding success, relatively stress free for our clients and due to the new online brand experience Aromatherapy Associates are now building stronger relationships with their target audience, while increasing brand loyalty.
We are pleased to announce the release of our newly redesigned website, which is now live! During a busy summer, it was ‘all hands on deck’ to complete the website in time for an October launch, as we enter a new and very exciting era at Neue Media. Well done everyone for your hard work!
Neue Media continue to expand into the health and beauty sector with great success being had with Hawkins Muiderman with their bespoke leisure industry sales tools. These offline tools are aimed to engage and educate staff while at the same time adding an element of fun into a presentation.
Neue Media have been approached by online shopping network, IPSEOS, to integrate a versatile, database driven, mobile phone comparison tool so as to aggregate offers from other suppliers and present the most attractive offers. Using the latest technology our offering will help make IPSEOS a leader in online shopping.
The Forbury Hotel
December 19th 2008 saw the launch of the long awaited online experience for The Forbury Hotel. Designed and built by London-based Neue Media, the site evokes the highest standards associated with the Forbury Hotel.
The 24 bedroom Forbury Hotel has been the result of an inspired vision and a desire to create something truly exceptional that raises the standards in luxury. The Hotel needed a partner to take their standards and apply them online to create a worldwide window for their global audience.
Having seen the results of Neue Media’s previous projects, such as the Annick Goutal luxury boutique e-commerce site (www.annickgoutal.com), and following a lengthy consultation, Neue Media were asked to devise and construct a new online experience that would compliment the chic and luxurious image The Forbury Hotel has worked hard to establish.
The Forbury, whilst classic in its architecture, hides a collection of bold style ideas and modern art, along with many advanced technologies, such as their own 32 seat cinema. Neue Media saw this mix of strong individual styling and top of the range technology as key characteristics which should be applied to the new online experience. As one of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World, The Forbury has a reputation to uphold, which can now be serviced through the new online experience.
The final result is a true reflection on the values The Forbury holds dear; a bold, colourful and distinctive experience which disguises the underlying complex and cutting edge techniques and technologies employed to ensure the site’s longevity in a competitive market.
“The Forbury has an amazing reputation for providing the highest levels of service and satisfaction” said Nic Aylett, Managing Director at Neue Media. “we had to develop an experience that not only mirrored this, but gave them a platform to not only compete but stand out in a cluttered market. The Forbury has a unique personality, which we hope the website will communicate to customers around the world.”
Neue Media has again harnessed the latest technologies to create an intuitive content rich experience, whilst ensuring the presentation, interaction and online services available are at their highest standards. Interactive floorplans, room booking and restaurant reservation ensure all customers can choose their occasion carefully with The Forbury.
Features include:
The Forbury Experience site launched December 19th, 2008. For those who wish to immerse themselves in the experience, please visit http://www.theforburyhotel.co.uk/
Neue Media are currently working with the Ability Group to review their current offline marketing collateral. The Ability Group, who have built up a significant presence within the UK and European property markets, required a luxury and exclusive look and feel, but also within a set budget. This was where Neue Media excelled, demonstrating cost saving processes that allowed the use of quality papers and boards and different printing techniques to produce a high quality, cost effective end result.
Neue Media have been commission by Aromatherapy Associates, specialists in aromatherapy products and treatments, to design and build a selection of email marketing templates. Neue Media are very excited by the opportunity to work closely with Aromatherapy Associates, offering our cross-media solutions.
Neue Media has delivered an audio visual, interactive experience for Discovery’s customers around the world. Animations rendered in Maya and After Effects created high impact visuals, which were then integrated with music and actionscript. An advanced xml driven information panel was developed to cater multiple pages of text, image, video and audio files and could be distributed to multiple sites, in multiple languages, for users in specific regions or countries. Languages that the system had to cater for include; Traditional and Simplified Chinese, International English and many of the other EMEA languages.
The interactive was launched January 21st 2008 in Asia to coincide with their Ultimate Olympics programme.
Neue Media have recently completed a series of training tools for the Marriott Hotel, Leisure Operations. Each tool has been developed with a fresh new approach including a set of fun characters that help determine an individuals energy set and personality. These tools will help staff to identify a persons character, how they interact with other energy sets, their moods on a good day and also a bad day. All the teaching elements are contained in a bespoke presentation box that contain step by step instructions, presentation cards, prompt sheets, posters and a handout.
Annick Goutal website
June 25th saw the long awaited launch of Annick Goutal’s flagship online boutique. The latest addition to Annick Goutal’s line of prestige boutiques around the world boasts many remarkable features, making this new venture a true leader in the online luxury goods market. Offering multiple languages, multiple currencies and a wealth of additional cutting edge features, such as Content Managed Flash, advanced user recognition and a resolution responsive layout, this function packed site will be one of the most technically advanced luxury boutique sites in the world.
Delivering such a powerful and flexible e-commerce system required the right partnership. Annick Goutal needed a strong partner that would work with them to ensure the quality of their brand was not lost in the move to make them a luxury e-tailer. Their search led them to Neue Media, a London based design agency, whose knowledge of translating high quality offline brands into the online arena set them apart from their French agency rivals. Annick Goutal were so impressed with their passion and appreciation for luxury brands and their knowledge of how they can be applied online that they awarded the project to Neue Media, despite being the only UK agency on the pitch roster.
What makes Annick Goutal so special? True luxury isn’t about expensive photo shoots in glossy magazines. At the heart of Annick Goutal are exceptionally talented people using the finest materials to create unrivalled products. There is no substitution for this process in delivering true luxury. Annick Goutal takes great pride in what they do, but more importantly, they take a great deal of time to ensure their customers are getting the best fragrance for them. Every person who works at Annick Goutal understands every fragrance, why it was made and who it should suit, and ensures every customer shares in this passion and understanding.
The secret to successfully launching a luxury online boutique lies in clear communication, as Nic Aylett, Managing Director at Neue Media explains “Translating a successful luxury boutique brand into an equally successful e-commerce experience takes a great deal of listening, understanding and planning with the client. Annick Goutal’s fragrances are some of the finest in the world, and ensuring this message is not lost in the project process is paramount.”
Annick Goutal’s partnership with Neue Media has allowed both parties to work in harmony toward a single goal, to make Annick Goutal as successful online as it is in it’s native country France. Rebecca Barouche, head of Marketing at Annick Goutal explains “Working with Neue Media will enable us to utilise the full potential of our online presence, by introducing a fully scalable multi-lingual, multi-currency website automated with our logistics and local payment processes. They have acted with integrity and professionalism in working with us to develop a unique e-commerce solution.”
Neue Media have harnessed the latest technologies to create an intuitive content rich experience for Annick Goutal’s customers, whilst ensuring security, logistics and cultural spending habits are addressed. Sophisticated anti-fraud checking ensures the payment process not only allows the customer to buy confidently, but also protects Annick Goutal from unwanted fraudulent transactions.
Neue Media offer clients and their customers more refined, more secure and more content rich solutions, not only delivering multiple languages and multiple currency options, but also integrating stock checking and accurate shipment tracking across many countries and regions. The site will even handle bank transfers, real-time transfers and Direct Debits for countries that do not commonly use credit cards.
These options are becoming more widespread, and were until recently only reserved for the largest of brands. Our e-commerce and Content Management Systems have been built from the ground up to handle cross border e-tailing and uniting the different shopping habits of different countries into one system. Our system not only allows these different regions to be sold different products, but can adapt to different pricing and payment structures within each region too.”
Project Leader, Gwennaelle Hemeury, of Strategic Planning, Societe du Louvre explains the significance of the project within Annick Goutal “for Annick Goutal it was an important project since it is the development of our ‘worldwide showcase and International boutique online’. The power of Neue Media’s Content Management System and the intuitive functionality and design of the website will enable us to bring our online identity in line with our offline brand. Neue Media have introduced fresh and compelling ways to present our online product range, which will enable us to really connect with our users.”
