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What we do

Jul 1

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Bupa

Working with us

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“The thing I love about Stick & Twist is their ability to simplify the complex and build marketing strategies that we can implement in the here and now. They are genuinely transforming the way we think about marketing, top to bottom.

I often call them my ‘special ops’. I can point them at anything, big or small, and they always deliver incredibly thought-provoking, insight-driven responses that challenge me and my team – and make us all the better for it.

They work seamlessly with our other agencies. And one of the biggest wins has been how everything we do is aligned and has a clear purpose. I am sure if you asked any of our incumbents, then they can see the value of having Stick & Twist at the top table.

Working with Stick & Twist may challenge the way you work with agencies, or challenge your model. But I can assure you that you will never look back.

If you would like to discuss any of this, I would be more than happy to meet in person or chat on the phone.”

— Marketing Director, Bupa UK Insurance

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“Stick & Twist are THE agency in our roster. I value their independent thinking, which is always centred on creating the best outcomes to the brief, rather than pre-determined, often biased thinking from some of the network agencies that I’ve spent the last two decades working with.

The Stick & Twist model has to be the way forward for all CMOs and Marketing Directors. I couldn’t recommend them highly enough.”

— Bupa UK Insurance

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“It is a genuine partnership. They are a true value-add with no agenda. And the potential for them to work alongside our growing in-house teams is very exciting.”

— Lloyds Banking Group

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“I find the support they provide invaluable. Top quality output, comprehensive but simply articulated. They collaborate well, always proactive, quick but always on point. Really professional and experienced team, as well as being lovely people to work with.”

— Hiscox

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Marketing transformation. In 3 months.

Historically high ROI

PA new high for Hiscox marketing ROI

challenge

Lloyds Banking Group had embarked on a journey of Marketing Transformation for almost three years, identifying the enablers, capabilities & technology they needed to become a customer-centric organisation. They had the right tools in place, but found the implementation of customer-centric thinking was falling foul of existing marketing tendencies, siloed practices and outdated team processes, The body languages of the ‘old world’ were halting the march to the new.

Engagement

We partnered using our ‘In-House’ model, an approach designed to work with (and potentially re-structure) client teams to form potent, strategic ‘squads’ that empower in-house and agency resource to produce their best work.

Approach

Meaningful transformation can’t be a side-of-desk project, especially when that desk is piled high with BAU, so we incubated a dedicated proof-of-concept ‘Squad’ focused on doing different. We designed a bespoke, rapid marketing design process, with four one-week planning sprints, giving us complete focus to deliver a robust proof of concept (POC) for the business to approve and fund for in-market delivery.

Output

Insight-led audience profiles, highlighting needs, pain-points, motivations & opportunities
Fully develop customer journey and customer experience maps
Mission tested agile way of working to streamline the delivery model - the LBG ‘Squad’ approach
New agency structure to decouple strategic expertise & delivery brilliance> An evolved approach to measurement – quantifying the true impact of engagement

Impact

18 Months on from the original brief, not only is the original proof-of-concept live, but Lloyds Banking Group have got a further four ‘Squads’ mobilised, delivering against four themes across five value segments – with a total audience reach in 2020 of over 5.5m customers.

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Asthma UK: Defining and adopting a supporter first marketing strategy

The challenge

The traditional marketing approach wasn’t working for Asthma UK. Primarily building on transactional data was resulting in declining engagement and donations from their BAU activity, and left them struggling to wring value from an overly complex 157 segment database. Asthma UK wanted to simplify their approach, reorientate around new audience and data insight - and redefine the future of their communications strategy.

The need

The overall reach of the Asthma UK database was significantly lower than the amount of interactions they had across their digital platforms. Clearly, there was an opportunity to enrich their understanding of an Asthma UK friendly audience and revise their marketing strategy around deeper understanding.

The solution

Stick & Twist installed a new marketing approach that blended web, social and search data to uncover motivations and understand behaviours across their entire audience universe. With Asthma UK we built communications and supporter journeys that better reflected people’s real relationship with asthma, and more clearly defined the role Asthma UK should play.

Optimised supporter journeys embedded on a new data strategy
New segmentation based on insights defining relationships with Asthma – 157 segments evolved into 6 needs-based audience groups
Digital journey optimisations enhanced data capture and boosted conversion at newly identified key moments of truth in Asthma UK’s digital journeys
Data strategy rolled out designed specifically to convert the new, younger audience Asthma UK attracted to their platforms, but needed to better engage to convert.

The result

Moving from a ‘ask first tell later’ approach to a more educational conversion strategy built around supporter needs has allowed Asthma UK to convert a greater proportion* of anyone interacting with the charity. During Q2/Q3 2020 (and during COVID-19) this has resulted in 1M new sign ups to the charity.

*Exact uplift cannot be reported

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Our clients

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1. Partners

We recognise great strategy isn’t produced in a silo, so we put time and effort into our relationships and our people. In fact, we designed our business to attract the best and get the best from them, freeing them to take responsibility and connect directly with clients to achieve their best work.

To ensure we make a meaningful impact on your business, our people are empowered to get up close and personal with you, your customers and the challenges you face. Bringing creative, challenging and unbiased thinking, delivered in a manner that will be completely bespoke to you and your needs.

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2. Complementary

We’re not here to steal someone's lunch. We have no hidden agendas. We’ll agree our working processes and rules of engagement with you, in order to define the right boundaries and complement your existing agency partners – having come from that world ourselves.

Our focus will remain on what we’re good at and helping you get the most out of everyone you work with, both inside and outside your organisation - ultimately empowering your roster to deliver more.

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3. Unbiased

One of the biggest frustrations we hear is that agencies don’t pay attention to their clients. Often the issue isn’t that they’re not listening, but what they’re hearing doesn’t fit their agency agenda.

When valuable brains should be focused on the issues of the day, they are often elsewhere, trying to work out how to sell additional services or the latest agency IP.

That’s why we focus solely on strategy with no additional agenda. It lets us give you an unbiased view. Strategic thinking that is open, honest and simply aimed at being effective.

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4. Actionable

We stay well clear of the hypothetical BS that all too often infiltrates the strategy world: average people hiding behind text book theories, buzzwords and acronyms that are either meaningless in the real world, or great in practice but wholly impractical in the reality of your everyday.

Everything we do will have a clear purpose, and we’ll only propose it if we know it can be achieved.

We’ll make it simple and propose actionable plans grounded in your reality. Ensuring our work sees the light of day, rather than sitting gathering dust in the ‘not quite there yet’ pile.

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5. Valuable

With no onward agenda, our strategic thinking is liberated to solely focus on delivering value to your business. Smaller teams (but not smaller talent), simple cost models and lower overheads increase the value of our input even further. In fact, we’re often 40% cheaper than the larger agencies or consultancies you may be using.

Our stripped back model also allows us to deliver greater flexibility, so when things shift or change, we can pivot to ensure the strategy time you are paying for is used where and when you need it.

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Nick Baker

Founder & Strategy Partner

Nick has been working in the industry for almost 20 years, gaining a breadth of invaluable experience at the likes of JWT, Sapient Nitro, VCCP & Proximity London. Before setting up Stick & Twist, he led some of the biggest (and best) planning teams in the UK.

Nick’s roots are founded in data-driven, insight-led marketing strategy, although his diverse experience across a wide range of client industries, means he has a very broad set of skills and areas of specialism.

Fortunate to have worked alongside a number of large, global clients, Nick is an award-winning strategist, winning Gold in both IPA Effectiveness and Cannes Lions Effectiveness awards, as well as spearheading Proximity’s best ever haul of over 20 DMAs in his final year there, before scratching his lifelong entrepreneurial itch and launching Stick & Twist in 2018.

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James Bartram

Business & Strategy Partner

James has 16 years’ diverse experience in some of the UK's best agencies, working as a digital specialist, creative technologist and strategist.

His focus is on the intersection between brand and customer experience, which (he would say) has never been more important.

Working for the likes of Apple, O2, IKEA and Waitrose, James has picked up numerous awards including Cannes Lions and the DMA Grand Prix. He was also the most awarded strategist at the 2019 DMAs.

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Anna Laird

Strategy Partner

Anna has worked at some of the best direct, digital and customer experience agencies in London and Sydney for the last 17 years, including Draft London, Craik Jones, Proximity and RAPP.

After starting out in account management, she soon fell in love with strategy and hasn’t looked back since, working on award-winning creative campaigns and customer experience strategies across a diverse mix of industries and brands, including Gordon’s Gin, The Economist, Channel 4, Lloyds Banking Group and most recently IKEA where she led the UK’s customer experience and loyalty strategy.

Her passion is to work on strategies that find an intersection between brand purpose, customer-centricity and performance effectiveness, believing you can grow your share of market and customer value while making a positive impact on society and the planet.

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Richard Colvile

Strategy Director

Richard has over a decade of experience in marketing strategy roles, specialising in large scale customer engagement and business transformation programmes. In recent years he's developed a sector specialisation in retail, leading the customer strategy for Specsavers and Currys.

His focus is on finding new ways to develop customer first strategies that deliver business value.

Contact Richard

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Anna Cole

Strategy PARTNER

After spending 10 years training as an Architect, Anna swapped her hard hat for a thinking cap and has spent the last 21 years shaping customer experiences at some of the best agencies in London and New York, such as Havas, Ogilvy, iris, LBi, Analogfolk, Proximity and RAPP.

During this time, she led customer experience, digital and loyalty strategy on British Airways, easyJet, the BBC, Tesco, Volkswagen Group and Unilever; and most recently, PayPal.

She loves working with clients to help them understand how their customers can play a more genuine role in their brand’s story, and help to make them more human, purposeful and profitable.