blog

Rachael Barrett’s 100 Pipers Limited-Edition Night Bottle Launch Party in Bangkok

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 19:17:48 +0000

100 Pipers is the best-selling Scotch in Thailand and one of our favourite brands to work with. The massive launch party that took place on February 24th was the culmination of many months of hard and rewarding work.

After receiving the initial Night Bottle brief a year ago, we knew that we wanted to achieve something both very modern and very Scottish. We started by searching for young, up-and-coming fashion designers who could bring their unique ideas to the project.

This led us to meet Rachael Barrett – a very extraordinary fashion designer from Glasgow who has designed dresses for Lady Gaga and many others using her signature style of working with silicone rubber and embracing deconstruction as a design element.

Working with Rachael, we produced the limited edition 100 Pipers Night Bottle, which has a hidden layer that lights up only under UV light. Together we also designed a special silicone wrap to go with the bottle, especially for the PR launch party.

The night went by in a breeze and left us all with a very satisfying feeling of a job well done. We will definitely return to Thailand as soon as we can!

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IWSC Awards Dinner with Alan Winchester and a lucky Guardian of The Glenlivet

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 17:20:16 +0000

The International Wine and Spirit Competition dinner took place last Wednesday, with the participation of none other than The Glenlivet’s Master Distiller, Alan Winchester.

The evening was a great success for the fine whisky house, as it scooped the top award in Scotch whisky, the Single Malt – Speyside – Cask Strength 55%+ – 21- YO category, with its superb Founder’s Reserve.

To make this awards dinner even more exciting, we organised an exclusive competition for the Glenlivet Guardians, who competed to win two seats at this prestigious event.

We were very pleased for Mr Richard Berry, who got the competition answer right and was invited to keep Alan company in enjoying the dinner and being there for The Glenlivet. Pictures like this warm our hearts even more than 55% ABV drinks!

"Sláinte mhaith!" from Mr Alan Winchester and Mr Richard Berry

Company Day Out – Horse Racing at Brighton

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 13:22:46 +0100

Some of you may have noticed the automated out of office replies from the Circle office last Thursday, but for those who didn’t – we were having the time of our lives gambling on horse races on our Company Day Out!

We work hard and therefore deserve to play hard. The whole team got together at 9am, but instead of sitting down at our desks in our cosy Percy Street office we sat down for breakfast at The Diner. Then we were off to Brighton, playing quizzes on the bus.


The ladies won!

The gents lost...
At Brighton Racecourse we had the full experience: betting and cheering loudly; a very exciting experience, to say the least, and some of us even returned with some very decent winnings! By the end of the day everybody was really relaxed and ready to get back to the city. All that excitement and fresh sea air cannot possibly be good for you...

Autumn Crop of New Starters at Circle IMC

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 12:54:52 +0100

Circle keeps growing! Three new starters have joined us since the previous update in July. Without further ado, let me introduce you to Faye, Marco and Evgeniya!

Faye Sharman

"Hello there, I am Faye.

I am an account director; I have been working in advertising for over 10 years now, working above the line, below the line and – where I like it best – through the line.

In my spare time I love to eat (from kebabs to Châteaubriand), catch a film (from The Smurfs to The Prophet) and run (from light jogging to… well, I’m working on it).

I look forward to meeting you."

Marco Claveria

"Yes... My name is Marco, and, no, I am not a vandal.
Neither am I Italian, although this picture was taken in Venice!

I am a senior designer, and will be managing the studio here. I bring considerable experience, mainly working on brands within the beauty and drinks sectors.

In my spare time I mostly love hanging out with my 16-month-old daughter. We watch Match of the Day together on Sunday mornings!"

Evgeniya Kozicheva

"Hi! My name is Evgeniya!

I am always open to new experiences in life, which is why I moved to London several years ago. Having a marketing background and bookkeeping experience, I am starting as Financial Assistant at Circle IMC.

I enjoy Zumba, British sitcoms and good books."

Virtual underground shopping: shopping virtually, underground…

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 08:55:17 +0100

Food shopping is a chore. At least, in the UK it is. Things in South Korea are slightly different...

With a population of fewer than 50 million people that includes more than 10 million smartphone owners, the South Korean Tesco network, Home Plus, rolled out virtual underground stores in an attempt to boost online sales.

Tube walls were plastered with posters of grocery items with QR codes, enabling commuters to do their food shop while waiting for the train. And when it came, shopping could be continued, with deliveries arranged within minutes or hours rather than days.

As most of the major UK supermarkets already have mobile apps for online ordering, the jump from this to a virtual shop seems small. But what Home Plus does that mobile apps fail to do is bring the act of shopping to the consumer on an automatic level. It might seem quite forced – we’re sure it would feature in a present-day adaptation of 1984 – but that’s not to say it doesn’t work.

Sales for Home Plus saw an increase of 130 per cent in three months, with the number of registered online users rising by 75 per cent. Home Plus is now number one for online grocery shopping in Korea, coming a close second to offline first-placed E-Mart.

For Home Plus to work on the UK underground, networks would have to be integrated with the internet, not to mention the fleet of delivery vans on standby. With the Olympics less than a year away – and throwing our unrealistic demands out of the window – this could be something that would make for an interesting journey on the Jubilee Line.

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Havana Club Selección de Maestros Global Tasting Programme: Blend of Excellence

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 10:48:17 +0100

Another month gone by and another exciting project has been launched. Last year we won the pitch for developing a global tasting programme for the newest addition to Havana Club range, Selección de Maestros, and we rolled up our sleeves!

A couple of inspired brainstorming sessions later, we came up with ‘Blend of Excellence’, a flexible and interactive tasting programme aimed at educating different audiences about Havana Club’s origin, the ‘spirit’ of Cuba, their master blenders, the ‘Maestros Roneros’, and the secrets behind the making of Selección de Maestros. The idea was to keep Cuba at the heart of the project and reinforce the heritage of the brand: Havana Club rums are Cuba in a bottle.

Aside from designing the tasting programme and adapting it to the different audiences, we came up with the overall look and feel of the presentation. We also put together a how-to guide to aid markets in implementing it locally, and designed tools such as tasting mats, event banners, digital invitations, tasting cards and a gift bag. On top of that we produced a video about Cuba to really bring the tasting programme to life.

We are certainly happy with the finished work, and so is Havana Club International Junior Brand Manager – Miguel Diaz, who said:

‘Working with Circle has been quite an experience; they have a great regard for their clients, and their devotion to a task is beyond expectations. Circle’s ultra-premium approach and sharp propositions came in handy at every developmental stage of our tasting programme for Havana Club Selección de Maestros "Blend of Excellence". Thanks to their hard work and strong creativity we now have another promising training tool for our customers and clients. I would recommend them to any spirit brand, and they will certainly be at the top of my agency list if I want to undertake another project with the Havana Club brand. They really can deliver!’

If you have the opportunity to taste Selección de Maestros, remember it is definitely Cuba in a bottle!

Shiseido: eBay Auction for Japan

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 17:18:42 +0100

The world stood still in March this year when the devastating earthquakes and tsunami hit Japan, and at Circle – like everywhere else – our hearts broke for the tens of thousands of people affected. So when our lovely friends at Shiseido tasked us with finding an innovative way to raise money for the British Red Cross’s Japan Tsunami Appeal, we jumped in whole-heartedly.

Working with the British Red Cross, PayPal and eBay and its charity arm MissionFish, we ran a Charity Auction for ten days this August and donated 100% of every sale price to the Appeal. Under the hammer were fabulous items and experiences donated by Shiseido and its sister brands Decléor and Carita, as well as lots put up by their UK partner spas and salons including Harrods, Selfridges and Champneys.

The results were fantastic, with all items selling above their retail value. The Shiseido team was thrilled to raise and donate £5,000 towards the British Red Cross’s Japan Tsunami Appeal. Circle was honoured to have been involved with bringing the auction to life, and we thoroughly enjoyed developing the fundraising task from conception to reality for such a fantastic and important cause.

The Glenlivet Guardian Cask-Tasting Event

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 09:03:02 +0100

August has been an exciting month for Circle. One of its highlights was organising a unique whisky cask-tasting event for five lucky The Glenlivet Guardians, whom we invited and brought to London for the day.

The Glenlivet Guardians programme is more than just a brand loyalty programme; it’s a forum for whisky enthusiasts from all around the world to share their passion for the traditional spirit and to exchange knowledge, opinions and new ideas. The Glenlivet regularly rewards this community of whisky lovers with special treats; this time it was an “invite-only” cask-tasting event in London, with the sole goal of choosing a single cask to bottle exclusively for their fellow The Glenlivet Guardians. The Circle team undertook the task of organising the tasting, starting from searching for the appropriate venue and including organising food, nosing samples of ten different aromas and making travel arrangements for the participants, as well as various other bits and pieces. The results were nothing short of spectacular. The day went like a dream and a very special cask was chosen, which was originally filled on 18th December 1992, and stood at 55.4% strength. Most importantly a good time was had by all. Here is what the lucky participants had to say about the tasting:
“Looking back on this wonderful day, I can only be thankful to have been part of such a special event”: Martin Verbiest, Guardian Ambassador, The Netherlands.
“I hope the Guardians approve of the cask that has been selected, as it was a difficult task but a great experience, not to be missed“: Linda Jackson, Guardian Ambassador, UK.
“I am proud to have had this great opportunity and I can’t wait to do it again!” Peter Pfundheller, Guardian Ambassador, Germany.
“It was a great event, another of those that make us feel that we are the Guardians and we are important to The Glenlivet: we have an active role and get to decide things that are significant to us; we interact and are not just names on an email list”: Tom Alanko, Guardian Ambassador, Spain.
“The overall experience was, in one word, ‘awesome’. The way The Glenlivet handles its ‘Guardians’ is unique”: Tino Brasz, Guardian Ambassador, The Netherlands.
And, finally, the host of the tasting, none other than the charismatic Ian Logan, The Glenlivet Brand Ambassador, who is recognised simply as “The Guardian of Malt”, summed up the day:
“The time, effort and diligence shown by Linda, Tom, Martin, Peter and Tino in reaching their decision were fantastic, with all participating fully in the final result. Can I do a tasting like this every weekend… PLEASE??????”
In the end, we were extremely delighted to deliver this memorable experience for everybody involved and to engage The Glenlivet’s trustworthy followers in such a personal way. Our delight may have had as much to do with the fine whisky, though...

New Starters at Circle IMC

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 16:48:14 +0100

Good news! We’ve been extremely busy here at Circle IMC. An exciting 2011 and an optimistic outlook for the future has encouraged us to look for new talent across the company and we have managed to find it. Here’s what our newcomers have got to say about themselves.


Gemma Savage “I have recently joined Circle as an Account Director following five years at RPM, a full service creative agency specialising in experiential. I am passionate about travel, cuisine and live events as well as creating campaigns which are exciting, engaging and rewarding for consumers.”
Chris Micklefield “Hello there. I'm Chris and I’m straight out of Uni where I studied graphic design. I will be working as a Junior Designer here at Circle IMC. I love red wine and the beach – hence my choice of Uni being Bournemouth. The ultimate combo of the two makes me very happy!”
Guy Fergus “Non-ginger Scotsman with a weird accent who comes from the deepest, darkest depths of an advertising and digital background. I’m an account manager with Circle IMC. In my spare time I love making house/techno music, not to mention doing lots of stupid things like triathlons, British Military Fitness and bodybuilding.”
Ivo Majors “I picked up my marketing knowledge from working as an account manager at OMD in Latvia. I recently moved to London and started as a Junior Account Executive at Circle IMC. I take care of the company’s blog and Twitter account. I’m crazy about digital media, running and proper hard rock!”

New Circle Branding

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 02:27:04 +0100

Well, it’s finally here: the new Circle IMC branding is now public. We felt that we needed to update the Circle website, and while we were doing that, we realised the logo and corporate image were looking a little tired.

It’s the typical story of an agency making our clients look great but having very little time for ourselves.

So check out the site and let us know what you think!