Stripe News Archives - Stripe Communications

Our success at the Cannes Lions – Hear Us Roar

By Chris Stevenson
22nd June 2018
#StripeLife

Last week in Cannes our work received a highly coveted Cannes Lions award in the entertainment category for our factual, feature-length documentary, Wildlands. A hugely competitive sector in which we were the only BTL agency to be represented.

Cannes is undoubtedly the creative pinnacle in global marketing comm’s. It sets the benchmark and showcases the most remarkable work from around the world. To not only appear but to win among them is a phenomenal achievement.

In 2017, we premiered Wildlands at BAFTA to a global media audience. The documentary assesses the war on drugs in Bolivia and South America as told through the eyes of those from both sides of the law who have helped shape and determine that war. Narrated by NY Times
Best selling author, Rusty Young (Marching Powder, Colombiano) the film has now been distributed globally through multiple digital platforms (Amazon Prime, iTunes, GooglePlay).

We created Wildlands to promote and support the launch of our client, Ubisoft’s, new video game; Ghost Recon: Wildlands. In fact it was the idea that won us the pitch. The game depicts Bolivia as a narco-state, gripped by a drug cartel which gamers must take on and defeat.

Wildlands served as a companion documentary to the game. It asked you to ask the question; is it conceivable that a fictitious video game portrayal of a drug war could be mirrored in a factual reality? Also in a western civilisation where cocaine use is prolific, what questions must society ask ourselves to stop this insidious and destructive drug?

In a world where the likes of Narcos, Sicario, etc. captivates global audiences, we knew we could bring new gamers to Ubisoft through non-gaming platforms, providing an entertainment experience with depth, substance and integrity. Digital VOD platforms then also leveraging algorithms to serve content to those people most predisposed to consume it.

What started life as a UK marketing asset for Ubisoft, was quickly adopted as the lead global marketing asset. Our client’s belief allowing Wildlands to grow to become what we wanted it to be.

All winning work in Cannes is embossed with these three tenets; courage, vision and emotion. They make you feel, make you care, make you think and make you do something. They make you pause, reflect and react.

Wildlands was complex, challenging, riddled with issues and at any one point, we could have said enough. But we didn’t. We didn’t because Stripe, Chief Productions (our production partners) and Ubisoft knew this work was special. This work would present a landmark in video game marketing communications and this work would make you feel, make you care and make you act.

Wildlands has now scooped a D&AD pencil a Clio award and now a bronze Cannes Lion. But it’s most important function is to prove to us all that courageous, visionary and work that moves you will always win. You just need to do it.

New Stripes on the Block

We are excited to welcome two new communications pros to Stripe Towers this week! Crissie Campbell is settling into the London team as a Director while Samantha Crawford has joined the Edinburgh office as a Senior Account Director.

Crissie brings over 10 years’ experience working at London’s top agencies with some the biggest brands in the world of entertainment, gaming and music including Facebook, Nintendo and Sky. Crissie is a creative thinker and self-confessed chatterbox – qualities that will make her right at home in the bright, bold, turbocharged world of Stripe.

Crissie said it was the company culture that attracted her to Stripe: “I loved Stripe’s bloody awesome attitude! It’s a really exciting time for the brand and the people are so nice. I’m looking forward to developing and growing the team and making Stripe famous!”

Globetrotter Samantha has eight years’ experience working for agencies across London, Sydney and Dubai. Specialising in consumer and entertainment PR, Sam has worked with multinational brands including Procter & Gamble, BBC Worldwide and PlayStation. Sam describes herself as ‘brave, honest and nurturing’ and when she’s not hard at work, you’ll find her in the yoga studio. A recently qualified yoga instructor, Sam will be bringing equal helpings of zen and PR pizazz to the team.

Sam said: ‘I really love seeing how different people work, so I’m looking forward to learning about all the different minds that fuel this joint! Stripe creates some of the best work in the industry and I’m excited to be a part of that.’

Welcome to the team ladies!

ScottishPower appoint Stripe to UK PR and communications brief

Fantastic news! We’ve been appointed by ScottishPower to support its PR and communications across the UK.

Following five years of working closely with ScottishPower, we will continue to provide strategic campaigns to promote ScottishPower across CSR, sponsorship, retail, SME, renewables and SP energy for the next two years.

Simon McMillan, Head of Media Relations at ScottishPower, said: “We operate in a competitive marketplace so it’s essential that ScottishPower stands out. Stripe’s commitment to matching our requirement for excellence in supporting all our campaigns has again set them apart from the crowd, and we’re looking forward to continuing our relationship with them.”

Juliet Simpson, CEO and Founder of Stripe, said: “We’re thrilled to have retained such an important piece of business. It is testament the strong relationship which we have worked with ScottishPower to develop that they have shown their continuing confidence in our values and approach. As leaders in delivering sustainable and greener energy, this is an exciting time for ScottishPower and they have a strong and differentiated narrative platform for us to work with. We’ve really enjoyed working with the team over the past five years and are looking forward to the next stage of our journey with them.”

UBISOFT UK APPOINTS STRIPE FOR CONSUMER AND CORPORATE PR BRIEF

We are delighted to announce that we’ve been appointed by Ubisoft UK as the retained agency for its consumer and corporate PR, working alongside the in-house PR team. Our brief is to deliver creative PR communications plans supporting all of Ubisoft’s major video game launches in the UK including Ghost Recon: Wildlands, Watch_Dogs 2 and South Park: The Fractured But Whole. In addition to this, we’ll support the French video games giant with corporate positioning and issues management in the UK.

The account will be managed by our London office and will report in to the Ubisoft UK marketing and PR team with work having commenced from June 2016.

Mark Slaughter, Ubisoft UK Marketing Director, said, “Stripe have demonstrated a quality of creative thinking that will deliver real impact to our national campaigns this year. The team showed strength in that they could not only deliver great product campaigns but also help us realise our ambition to be recognised as one of the world’s leading entertainment brands.”

Stripe’s London office is headed up by Managing Director, Chris Stevenson, who joined in January 2016 and has overseen the rapid growth of the agencies client roster which includes Magners, Paddy Power and now Ubisoft.

A new Stripe force in London

By Juliet Simpson julietsimpson
22nd January 2016
#StripeLife

It’s official… We’re excited to announce the opening of our new London office and the appointment of Chris Stevenson as our London MD.

Chris joins us from Emanate and over his career has worked with some of the most respected agencies and exciting brands to deliver PR, digital and communications strategies for clients across consumer tech, entertainment, FMCG and sports. He brings his expertise and innovative thinking to lead the business and nurture and grow our reputation in London.

But that’s not all we’ve been up to, as we continue to develop our strategic, creative and digital offering. We’re excited to announce that we have three further new senior players to add to our team.

Anna Russell, former General Manager, Brand Marketing at Audi of America has joined us as Director of Strategy. Anna will be expanding Stripe’s strategic and creative services and continuing the digital evolution of the agency.

Lesley Morton was part of the original start-up team at Stripe and returns as Head of Brand Entertainment. For the last four years she has been working on global brand campaigns and brings communication specialisms across music, arts, film & TV from her previous role as head of the Music & Entertainment team at CSM Sport & Entertainment.

And last but not least, we announce Hilary Joiner as our new Creative Director. With 20 years’ experience in both traditional and digital arenas, Hilary will be responsible for developing and delivering Stripe’s creative capabilities and ensuring that great ideas continue to be a part of our DNA.

We’re kicking off 2016 as we mean to go on. It’s our tenth year and we’re as ambitious now as we’ve ever been. The demand from our clients for integrated communications continues to grow and at Stripe we’re committed to innovating and differentiating our business.

Watch this space…

Rising Stripes – celebrating our talented team

We’re celebrating here at Stripe with a whole clutch of promotions among our talented team.

Georgia Lea has been promoted to Account Executive after a storming start at Stripe since joining through our Stars & Stripes graduate scheme.

Joe Boyle has wowed us with his can-do attitude and moves to Senior Account Executive; as does Alex Crate who’s been doing phenomenal work for John Lewis, Sourz and Greener.

Moving into the role of Account Manager are Jen Ward – who’s showed us what she’s made of on ScottishPower – and Claire Lennon, who’s played a big part in the success of our corporate team.

Kirsty Grierson, our talented account lead on VELUX and The Kitchin, is now Senior Account Manager.

Moving on to the Stripe management team, Rachael Stone is promoted to the role of Account Director.

We’re also thrilled to announce that Kate Forster, who heads up our Corporate team, moves to Associate Director.

A huge congratulations to each and every one of our Stripes on the ascent!

A new chapter for Stripe

It’s exciting times here at Stripe HQ as we announce a strengthened management Board and raft of team promotions, as part of an overall restructure.

After eight years at the helm, Juliet Simpson is moving to the role of Chairman to focus on providing senior client counsel, business strategy and exploring expansion into new sectors and locations.

Morna McLelland, who has been with us since 2007, will head up the UK agency as Stripe Managing Director.

Two further additions to the Board – Jenny Ingram and Stephanie Robertson – together with the recent appointment of Digital Director Darcie Tanner, further support our strategic growth plans. At management level, Simon Ebbett and Stuart Martin have both been promoted to Senior Account Director.

As Juliet put it: “2015 is set to be our biggest year yet and our restructure is all about fulfilling our growth ambitions”.

We’re off for a celebration!

Rising stars at Stripe

We’ve got a quadruple celebration at Stripe with a clutch of new promotions in the team.

Shaun Bell has been promoted to Senior Account Manager. Since joining in 2011, Shaun has cut the PR mustard on clients including John Lewis, the Scottish Government, Young Scot and ScottishPower, and in 2014 was named Outstanding Young Communicator at the CIPR PRide Awards.

Emma Paul has delivered amazing work on John Lewis, ScottishPower, Oliver Bonas, Pizza Express and iQ Chocolate accounts in her time at Stripe, and is now Account Manager.

Orla McGowan also now holds the Account Manager title following a stellar 18 months at Stripe during which time she’s been a powerhouse on VELUX, The Kitchin and the Scottish Government’s Road Safety campaign.

And Kara Gaughan, who joined the team in 2014 is now Account Executive after hitting the ground running on her IRN-BRU and Magners accounts.

All started life at Stripe on our Stars & Stripes Graduate Trainee Scheme which we will be running again this year – watch this space.

Huge congratulations Stripes!

Stripe strengthens digital proposition

We’re kicking off 2015 with a further strengthening of our digital team and a big welcome to our newest Stripes – Darcie Tanner and Kris Robb.

The appointment of our new Digital Director Darcie supports our strategic growth plan to further develop and invest in our digital proposition to match client demand. Darcie joins the Stripe Management Board with responsibility for strategic business development, digital delivery and revenue growth.

Coming from Lost Boys (part of the DigitasLBi network), where she most recently held the position of Head of Social Operations, Darcie has wide-ranging experience in Scottish and global markets working on campaigns for clients in the FMCG, automotive, sports, online retail, travel & hospitality, finance, food & drink, technology, telecoms, insurance and beauty sectors.

Kris joins us as Digital Account Manager and was also previously with Lost Boys as Community Manager. Having worked on a range of global brands, Kris brings expertise and insight in social media management and cross-digital projects to Stripe where he will focus on boosting clients’ digital presence.

Texan-born Darcie and Kris, a Business Information Systems graduate of Edinburgh’s Napier University, will support the wider agency team on digital and social consultancy, content generation and delivery.

Managing Director of Stripe Communications, Juliet Simpson, said: “2015 is gearing up to be our most ambitious year yet and digital is undoubtedly a key strategic area for us with client activity continuing to grow. Both Darcie and Kris are hugely experienced and talented digital players who will help us take our clients to the next level.”

Double win at the CIPR Scotland PRide Awards

It was a double win at the CIPR Scotland PRide Awards for the team here at Stripe – as well as picking up Outstanding Public Relations Consultancy, our Account Manager Shaun Bell scooped Young Communicator of the Year.

Shaun was praised for being ‘head and shoulders’ above the other candidates with his passion for what he does shining through. After joining Stripe in 2011 through the Stars and Stripes graduate programme, Shaun has worked his way up to Account Manager and delivered campaigns for clients such as John Lewis, the Scottish Government and Young Scot.

Our MD, Juliet Simpson, said: “I’m extremely proud of the whole team who all play their part in helping us to achieve amazing results for our clients, and I’m especially pleased for Shaun who fully deserves this award for the dedication and passion he brings to his job every day.”

We also won Silver awards for the Public Sector and Consumer Relations categories for The Scottish Government Country Roads campaign and VELUX Lovers of Light campaign respectively.

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