Archive for the 'International' Category

When you need to impress, write the book

Not too long ago, our friends at the sports marketing agency, SMI, came to us for help in producing a promotional brochure for their client Citroën Sport. SMI were marketing a sponsorship proposition for Citroën, one of the leading teams in the World Rally Championship.

Since the sponsorship deal would only be done for a not inconsiderable sum of money, our work had to be prestigious and noticeable – noticeable enough for Europe’s leading brands to start showing an interest. Our solution was dramatic piece of print, an A3 portrait brochure highlighted in Citroën red, and featuring some of the really dramatic photography that was available.

Fast forward a year or so and we find ourselves producing ‘Captured’, a photo-book highlighting award-winning photography of the teams and players in the Barclays Premier League – a coffee-table ‘book of the season’ that you’ll see in many of Barclays’ corporate reception areas.

It was ‘Captured’ that enabled us to find a format for another SMI project, this time promoting Mahindra Racing, who this year are the first team from India to compete in the Moto GP championship. Mahindra wanted to demonstrate to potential sponsors both the substance of Moto GP and the solid credentials of the team that they were bringing to the grid for the first time.

The Mahindra Racing credentials book comes with its own slip case and is part of the door-opening programme being implemented by SMI, in which Mahindra plan to introduce themselves to potential sponsors and partners, in India and across the world. We equipped their team too with a complementary Powerpoint presentation – styled to match the contents of the book – to help explain the nature and extent of the full sponsorship proposition.

The lessons from all of this seem to be that if you want to impress high-level audiences, then you can’t afford to take half measures, and a book may just offer the presence that your proposition deserves.

 

 

 

Company coming to Europe? Two suggestions…

Two important services for companies coming to the UK and Europe

We have two clients who might well be of interest to any company thinking of making its first steps into European markets.

USA2Europe help companies de-risk the move into Europe for the first time. The company puts in place all the accounting, legal and other business services that a company will need for the first year or two years of its establishment. Effectively outsourcing those services means that companies can get on their feet, without highly-paid headquarters staff. And as the company grows, then USA2Europe gradually withdraws, allowing a smooth path to a solid presence in Europe. USA2Europe actually works in the Middle East and the Far East too!

More at www.usa2europe.com

Of course, wherever they are, companies grow through increasing sales, and our clients at INCo are experts in finding and qualifying sales leads – particularly for IT and Consulting firms. INCo implement continuous contact with many different sectors of the market, finding through conversations about companies and their priorities in terms of investment. INCo has worked at all levels of potential purchasing organisations, including with Times Top 250 and Times Top 100. Their service has been proven with purchasing individuals up to and including ‘C’ level executives.

More at www.inco-online.com

And of course, if it is brand-building and marketing that you’re after, then please do contact us at WildWest!

Altassets says Stock Spirits for sale – at £1bn

Orzel vodka - becoming popular in the USA

Orzel vodka – becoming popular in the USA

According to a report in Altassets magazine, our client Stock Spirits is up for sale, with an asking price of around £1bn. Stock manufactures branded spirits from sites in central Europe, including its best-selling Czysta de Luxe and Orzel vodkas.

Stock is owned by investment company Oaktree Capital, who are apparently keen to cash in on the progress that Stock has been able to make over the past few years.

Stock was just beginning its remarkable transformation when we helped the company revitalise and define its logo and logo useage. We also designed and built ten websites for the various operating companies around Europe, all with a common look and feel, but allowing for regional differences, one of the most important of which was language. Several of the sites allow viewing in two languages, some in three, but everything has that consistent and high-quality look that Stock were aiming for.

We’d like to think that at least some of that £1billion is down to the classy websites we provided for each of the group companies.

Go to www.stockspirits.com for more.

Rumours of a celebration?

Stock's international sales are growing fast, thanks in part to our website

Stock's international sales are growing fast, thanks in part to our website

According to press reports, our clients at Stock Spirits are planning to launch an IPO sometime next year. Of course, we can’t comment on rumours, but if you do feel like a celebration, you will find some excellent cocktails on the Stock Spirits website!

We’ve designed and built websites for Stock in its corporate guise, as well as dual- and sometimes tri-language sites for the Stock operating companies around Europe (Italy, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia) and in the US, as well as a site dedicated to their growing international sales portfolio.

Stock came to us via their corporate PR agency, and we’re looking forward to providing great value and great presentation as they extend their global reach still further into new countries.

The Stock Appletini. Find the recipe on the website

The Stock Appletini. Find the recipe on the website

And of course, if you feel like a celebration, you could hardly do better than the Stock Appletini. You’ll find the recipe (with some others that use the great Stock range of branded drinks) on the Stock Spirits website.

Stock Spirits continues to win major international awards for its spirits brands, which combine traditional methods and high-technology in terms of production and quality control to achieve remarkable results. No wonder that Stock is rapidly becoming central Europe’s leading producer of branded spirits.

Financial Deal Reports – Now for Silverfleet

Silverfleet Capital successfully exits Histoire d'Or: the subject of their most recent deal report.

Silverfleet Capital successfully exits Histoire d'Or: the subject of their most recent deal report.

Deal reports are part of the essential landscape of investment companies – a key part of the communications landscape. They are essentially simple documents that keep shareholders, investors, the press, analysts and others in the loop with what a company does and how it is succeeding.

As such, they need to be well-designed, clear and factual, and of course, accurate too!

Silverfleet is a new addition to our client list. We’re very pleased to be working on research reports, web site, and branding projects for them, and of course, we are designing and producing their deal reports too.

This deal report on French jewellery company Histoire d’Or is produced in three languages – French, German and English, reflecting the European basis of the Silverfleet company and its investment portfolio.

Barclays New York Challenge

Barclays New York Challenge is a US-based curtain-raiser to the Barclays Premier League season. Here’s a link to the launch press conference (link) video where you’ll be able to see some of our brand activation work!

Serious about international sponsorship?

If you are, maybe its time to check out the FIA World Rally Championship and the most successful team of this century, Citroen Racing. We’ve just produced a marketing pack and presentation on behalf of the Citroen Racing team and their sponsorship marketing agency, SMI. (see the post below as well!)

World Rally gives sponsors a huge marketing platform with the necessary vast TV audiences. Citroen use world rally as a key part of their brand development strategy, and, if it works for them, you can bet they will make it work for their sponsors too.

Over and above the mobile billboard aspect, there are some really great hospitality options including something that money just can’t buy – the option to be driven over the Citroen Racing test track by the World Rally Champion, Sebastien Loeb.

Mind you, that is not an option for the faint-hearted! More here and in the post below.

http://www.sports-media-intl.com/case-studies/citroen

Sponsorship activation – our partnership with SMI

SMI (Sports Media International) is a specialist sponsorship agency working on an international basis with rights-holders and commercial companies. SMI helps rights holders package and sell sponsorships, and it helps commercial companies to source and activate sponsorships on a global scale.

Citroen Racing. The most successful World Rally Championship team of this decade.

Citroen Racing. The most successful World Rally Championship team of this decade.

Wild West has worked with SMI on a number of projects (and indeed designed and produced the SMI website!).

On the commercial front, SMI has been working with Citroen Racing since 2002, promoting its proposition to the commercial world. Citroen is the most successful World Rally Championship team this decade and sponsorship opportunities there are valuable properties. After all, Citroen uses its own involvement in WRC to promote and enrich its own brand on an international basis, and if it works for them, then it can also work for commercial sponsors too.

The joy of sponsorship is that it enables brands to gain traction on an international scale, achieving results that might be impossibly expensive on a country by country basis. Citroen’s unique record of success is also extremely valuable and can give brands almost instant status.

For more on SMI and Citroen, go to: http://www.sports-media-intl.com/case-studies/citroen

Satya Capital invests in Nigeria

Satya are an investment company, targeting opportunities in Africa

Satya are an investment company, targeting opportunities in Africa

Satya Capital, the private equity group which focuses exclusively on Africa, has chosen Hygeia for its first significant investment in healthcare in the continent.

Satya, whose Wild West designed website went live in 2009, is one of a new breed of specialist investors, determined to use their capital to develop the potential of this vast continent.

Satya, founded through the efforts of African entrepreneur Mo Ibrahim, is making an equity investment of $18 million, alongside a total of $8 million in new debt facilities from other sources, to allow Hygeia to expand both its hospital group (Lagoon Hospitals), and its health maintenance organisation (Hygeia HMO). These investments join the existing debt and equity provided by IFC and the Investment Fund for Health in Africa (IFHA) respectively.

Read the full story at www.satyacapital.com