M&C Saatchi Group already handles the PR, media buying and all above the line advertising for Dixons Retail and the social media activity will complement the existing work, aimed at positioning Dixons Retail as the UK’s most helpful and inspirational electrical retailer. The work will cover all of the Dixons Retail brands including Currys, PC World, KNOWHOW, KNOWHOW Movies, and Dixons Travel.

The activity will be led by M&C Saatchi PR who will create content and manage communities for all of the retailer’s social media channels. The Group’s media buyers, Walker Media, will develop commercial partnerships with the different channels, while the advertising agency at M&C Saatchi will oversee the strategy and develop ATL campaigns that work across social.

Amanda Clift, Head of Marketing at Dixons Retail commented: “Social media plays a critical role in the next phase of the evolution of our brands. We have worked hard to become a retailer that is helpful and inspiring, and social media allows us to further demonstrate our commitment to these values. M&C Saatchi Group was the ideal partner to help us with this and their thinking and approach put them ahead of the four other social media specialist agencies that pitched.”

Chris Hides, MD M&C Saatchi PR added: “Dixons Retail has undergone a huge change in recent years, placing a renewed emphasis on the in-store environment and the customer experience. As a channel that can directly engage with customers, social media plays a critical role in building on this success.”

Elspeth Lynn Biog/Awards
• Prior to founding Zig, Elspeth was Art Director at DDB, Ammirati and Puris and Lowe Roche, before which she was a Vice President at Leo Burnett, winning multiple awards. Elspeth has served as a judge at D&AD, The One Show, Cannes Lions, Communication Arts, The Clios, The Andys and New York Art Directors’ Club and chaired the Marketing Awards in Canada.
• Awards at Profero London include:
- Adage Top Ten Agency to Watch 2012
- Marketing’s Digital Agency of the Year, Runner Up
- BIMA Agency of the Year 2011
- Creative Showcase Grand Prix winner

• Under Elspeth’s stewardship, Zig won various awards at:
- Communication Arts
- The One Show
- The New York Art Directors
- Cannes
- D&AD
- The Marketing Awards
- The Clios
- The Bessies

• Awards at Leo Burnett include: 2 Cannes Lions and a Gold Campaign award at the New York Art Directors’ Club.
• Elspeth has been featured in several publications including, “Who’s who in Canada” “100 Canadians to watch”, “Outstanding Canadian Women” and appeared on the cover of “Report on Business”. 

M&C Saatchi has created an integrated campaign to raise awareness of travel behaviour during the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Developed for Transport for London (TfL), the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), and other transport operators, this is set to be one of the biggest communications campaign associated with the London 2012 Games, and launches on 30 January.

The agency was briefed to develop a range of communications - from outdoor to digital to PR - to target people who travel through areas that will be 2012 Games travel hotspots this summer, encouraging them to plan ahead and look at their travel options to help them avoid the busy times and places.

The new campaign encourages those using the transport system during Games time to ‘Get Ahead of the Games.’ With the increased volume of people in London during the Games, everyone will need to understand the implications, and be encouraged to start considering new modes of travel, new routes or altering their usual times to avoid congestion.

The campaign uses an engaging, humorous illustrative approach by showing caricatures of Olympic and Paralympic athletes in day-to-day London transport situations to raise awareness of potential transport congestion hotspots. For example, one advert features two stereotypical and amusingly large weightlifters causing obvious disruption as they are squeezing themselves through the doors of a busy train. Ads will encourage people to seek transport information before travelling, which will be available using www.getaheadofthegames.com that will help people plan ahead and check their travel options.

The campaign follows the successes of previous behaviour change work by the agency, such as the Teenage Road Safety campaign for Transport for London and Change4Life for the Department of Health.

Chris MacLeod, Marketing Director at TfL, said: “Getting people to adapt their travel behaviour during the Games, at certain times and locations will be a key to the success of the 2012 Games. We have worked hard to ensure this campaign gets this message across, while ensuring that people understand that London and the other Olympic venues remain very much open for business. M&C Saatchi quickly understood our task and using a light-hearted, illustrative style were able to communicate this balance in a clear and engaging way to people who use our transport network.”

Carrie Hindmarsh, CEO of M&C Saatchi, added: “Big behaviour change campaigns like this are the life blood of M&C Saatchi, especially following successes with Change4Life and Transport for London. This has been a very challenging campaign due to its scale and complexity and we have relished the challenge. We are delighted to be playing our part in making the 2012 Olympics a true success.” 

Leading advertising agency, M&C Saatchi, has created a new campaign for FutureYou which highlights the issue of youth unemployment in the UK. The current level has hit a record high, with nearly 1 million school leavers and graduates out of work, raising fears of a generation lost to unemployment*.  

FutureYou is based on the award winning CyberMentors model, and harnesses the power of social networking to give young people aged 14-25 online access to a community of support and counselling from trained peer mentors, FutureYou Mentors and professional advisers.

FutureYou has briefed M&C Saatchi to help create the advertising campaign for the program that will provide advice, counselling and practical help to open up future opportunities. The target audience is primarily 16-24 year olds, but the charity also provides awareness to a wider society including businesses, schools and parents.

The campaign will include: TV, posters, press, digital and viral elements. M&C Saatchi developed the communications behind the new programme, with a brief to drive young people to the FutureYou website: www.thefutureyou.org.uk

The creative plays on the imagery and graphics associated with a scrapheap. The campaign will launch with the TV ad featuring a number of young people who have been, quite literally, dumped on a landfill highlighting this sharp issue of youth unemployment. The voiceover is provided by actor Craig Kelly, who played the lead in the Channel 4 hit series Queer as Folk and Luke Strong in ITV’s Coronation Street. The ad will also use the music, Everything’s Coming Up Roses, by Ethel Merman.

Carrie Hindmarsh, Managing Director, M&C Saatchi Group, added: “There is a long history of unemployment in the UK, but it has become considerably worse in the last couple of years. The graduate experience is certainly the toughest it’s ever been. This generation are integral to our country’s recovery and if we’re not careful, some of our greatest young talent will end up on the scrapheap. It’s more important than ever to help this generation who have felt let down by the current social and economic circumstances. We are delighted to be working with the charity to launch their new programme and it’s great to be involved and supporting such a valuable cause.”

This new campaign follows a number of new business wins for M&C Saatchi, including: Google, Vertu, Garmin and Siemens.

- Message highlights critical issue of 1 in 5 young people unemployed in UK –

Leading advertising agency, M&C Saatchi, has created a new campaign for FutureYou which highlights the issue of youth unemployment in the UK. The current level has hit a record high, with nearly 1 million school leavers and graduates out of work, raising fears of a generation lost to unemployment*.  

FutureYou is based on the award winning CyberMentors model, and harnesses the power of social networking to give young people aged 14-25 online access to a community of support and counselling from trained peer mentors, FutureYou Mentors and professional advisers.

FutureYou has briefed M&C Saatchi to help create the advertising campaign for the program that will provide advice, counselling and practical help to open up future opportunities. The target audience is primarily 16-24 year olds, but the charity also provides awareness to a wider society including businesses, schools and parents.

The campaign will include: TV, posters, press, digital and viral elements. M&C Saatchi developed the communications behind the new programme, with a brief to drive young people to the FutureYou website: www.thefutureyou.org.uk

The creative plays on the imagery and graphics associated with a scrapheap. The campaign will launch with the TV ad featuring a number of young people who have been, quite literally, dumped on a landfill highlighting this sharp issue of youth unemployment. The voiceover is provided by actor Craig Kelly, who played the lead in the Channel 4 hit series Queer as Folk and Luke Strong in ITV’s Coronation Street. The ad will also use the music, Everything’s Coming Up Roses, by Ethel Merman.

Sherry Adhami, Communications Director at FutureYou said: “Official data shows that one out of five Britons, aged between 16 and 24 were out of work in October to December. This evidence highlights the urgency to act now to prevent another lost generation of young people, stopping Britain's talent going to waste. We were incredibly lucky to have M&C Saatchi create this campaign for us and believe it really will make a difference. This hard hitting ad reflects the essence of what these people are really feeling.”