With the continued boom in the gaming industry spanning over the past decade, we’re beginning to see more brands, celebrities and influencers find new ways to collaborate with games to have their fair share of the growing market and use their mass popularity to reach an engaged audience.

Earlier this year, we saw luxury swiss watchmakers, Tag Heuer, partner with Nintendo to launch their Super Mario range of smart watches. Initially a limited-edition product, it has been rumoured to mark the beginning of a long term partnership between the two brands. The Tag Heuer Connected x Super Mario watch marked one of the only times in history that a luxury watchmaker has collaborated within the gaming realms. Albeit an unpredictable partnership, it was refreshing to see a luxury brand do something with such a mainstream brand. With the rise in smart watch users Tag Heuer found a way to remain a staple in luxury timepieces but adapt to a more modern form of watch that will appeal to the younger generation who in turn will be their new target market in a few years to come.

Straying from physical collaborations, in game partnerships have been the most prevalent crossovers we tend to experience. These are often seen as easy wins like the time you could buy Snoop Dogg’s announcer voice over as DLC in Call of Duty Ghosts. It was a harmless addition to the game which had its novelty but the idea that it was anything more than a chance to gain a bit of hype and money for the game most would consider false. Still didn’t stop many, myself included, from buying it.

However, the main game that we’ve seen to continue to invest so much of their money, time and efforts into collaborations is online game Fortnite. Love or hate the game it’s something that everyone has at least heard of. Over the years, they’ve had massive collaborations with the likes of Marvel in the leadup to Avengers Endgame. Fortnite introduced their free to play game mode allowing players to play as an Avenger against villain Thanos. This was one of the rare times that a game has opted for free access in a collaboration and with the success and spike in playership it’s something that they have continued to push.

With Covid-19 shutting down all major festivals, concerts and live shows over the last year, Fortnite innovated their collaborations as they set up in game live concerts with the likes of Travis Scott and Ariana Grande. This was a unique approach as many other companies would have put a high profile event like this behind a paywall but it seems Fortnite prefer the exposure to keep a retained playerbase.

Video game collaborations are only going to continue, with the recent decade showing a tried and tested market. It’s only right to assume that these crossovers are only going to be bigger and better as time goes on. It’s almost impossible to predict the future of collabs, and with Fortnite setting a precedent of offering free access to said partnerships it will be interesting to see if similar games follow suit.

Muckle Media launches Aberdeen office, COP26 practice and design studio

Thursday 14th October: Muckle Media, the creative communications agency, has opened its first office in Aberdeen. Based at neospace, the North East of Scotland office will be jointly led by newly recruited PR specialist and senior account manager, Jess Murphy and studio manager and designer, Claire Emslie.

Jess and Claire will work closely with Muckle Media’s wider Scottish management team to grow the agency’s client base in Aberdeen. Alongside launching into a new city, Muckle Media is also launching two new offerings, with the creation of a design studio led by Claire Emslie and a new practice dedicated to COP26 communications in the run up and following COP26 in Glasgow.

Jess Murphy joins the agency from her recent role as PR and communications manager at Aberdeen Inspired, the city centre business improvement district (BID), prior to this Jess worked in various PR agencies and also as a reporter at the Press & Journal.

Claire Emslie joins the agency from being a self-employed creative running her own online design business. Prior to this Claire worked as a communications coordinator for drilling and engineering contractor KCA DEUTAG.

The new Aberdeen office will complement Muckle Media’s other offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness, which serve public, private and third sector brands in the UK and overseas with creative PR services.

Jess sees a great opportunity for Muckle Media in the Granite City as the North East economy bounces back, she said: “I am delighted to be joining Muckle Media during a hugely exciting period of growth. I’ve been following the company for a number of years and admired their creative campaigns, ambition and team ethos.

“As the North East continues to work through the recovery phase, promoting your business and its offering in the right way has never been more important and Muckle is well placed to deliver that. It’s a brilliant time to join the team and I’m looking forward to helping build up the Aberdeen base.”

Claire is excited by the prospects of continuing to build out Muckle Media’s capacities as a full-service communications agency with a design offering. She added:

“I am looking forward to being part of this significant growth period for Muckle Media as it expands into Aberdeen. I believe clear communications, supported by strong visual elements helps organisations stand out and reach their potential, so I’m thrilled to take on the challenge of launching a new design offering, and developing the studio to build out the capacities in this area.”

The new office has already opened and Muckle Media is actively recruiting additional communications specialist colleagues in Aberdeen and across wider Scotland. To find out more visit www.mucklemedia.co.uk. The COP26 team can be contacted at [email protected]

With watchdog organisations and individuals ready to call out brands for greenwashing, how certain can we be that what brands are conveying to the public is a true representation?

It is the responsibility of a communications professional and the brand to work together and make sure interaction with the public is done honestly and ethically. Before we could even fully understand what PR was, we knew it was our job to communicate the truth or in some instances, know when not to say anything at all.

It calls into question if the language we use around environmental sustainability should be more closely regulated. No governing body has the capacity or financial backing to monitor or interject the issue of greenwashing on the scale of which it is happening. A recent report by the Changing Markets Foundation found that 60% of sustainability claims by fashion giants were in fact instances of greenwashing (https://www.edie.net/news/7/Report–60–of-sustainability-claims-by-fashion-giants-are-greenwashing/).

Unfortunately, as greenwashing isn’t necessarily lying, not much can be done to stop it. Though, public exposition and mass boycott is often used to discourage others from doing it. An example Scottish climate activist, Laura young (@LessWasteLaura), offered to explain how greenwashing can work, al be it a bit extreme, is that fossil fuels are technically a natural product harvested from the very earth itself, so what’s to stop oil companies from selling their product as *Natural!?* *cue picture of an oil drum surrounded by green leaves*. Well for one, there must have been a clever individual who came up with the idea for the messaging in the first place, and two, a full comms team working hard to sell that messaging to the public.

Communications professionals have the privilege of being a barricade, a gateway that can either allow or prevent messages from going out into the world. We have the ability to prevent clients from deceiving the public through our choice of language.

The longer companies get away with greenwashing, the longer we postpone actual change being made. Organisations will continue to be destructive if they aren’t held accountable and consumers will continue to buy non-sustainable products and services if they don’t know any better.

It’s therefore our responsibility to ensure we have an in-depth understanding of our clients, who they are and what they do. Not to be mistaken for who they say they are and what they say they do.

It’s our role to unpick the language clients are feeding us and get to the bottom of the real meaning behind the words.

Natural, organic, eco-friendly, green (that’s a personal favourite).
From suggestive pictures with no meaning behind them *exhibit a – H&M ‘Conscious collection’* to companies with one sustainable product at the face of their dirty operation. This is all within the realms of communications and all completely avoidable if we choose to question the message we are portraying and ultimately stop anything misleading from leaving the drafts. For further troublesome green-sheen tactics, please refer to Green Impacts 10 signs of Greenwashing: https://www.greenimpact.com/tips/environmental-marketing-greenwashing-tips-for-staying-out-of-trouble/

If we truly want to turn things around and begin to reduce self-destruction inflicted on our planet, then it is up to us, the comms professionals to work alongside clients to eliminate forms of greenwashing. . Ultimately, making a positive impact on the environment comes down to influencing behaviour change, so there is a role for comms professionals to play here in making that happen.

We are excited to announce the launch of our new design studio here at Muckle Media. Offering in-house design in addition to our PR services to support all our client needs.

Headed by our design manager Claire Emslie, our design studio will support the creative development of visual identities and messaging, helping our clients stand out. Alongside brand redevelopment, logo design and refinement, website development and the creation of advertising and marketing collateral.

By offering this accessible design service our aim is to support our clients grow their business. By investing in professional design it shows that your business values professionalism and sends a powerful message to potential clients or customers. You only have one chance to make a first impression and we believe using a professional designer helps make it as effective as possible.

The service is aimed at clients who are at the early stage of growth, providing access to professional design to guide them in the creation of standout identities and marketing materials. Combing this with our PR services to promote strong consistent visual and verbal messaging we believe is truly the key to success.

Our Design Manager Claire says, “I’m delighted to be leading this new service at Muckle Media, and I can’t wait to help more businesses realise the benefit of good design when promoting your business”.

Having always been passionate about providing new opportunities in the PR, Marketing and Communications industry, we are very excited to have launched a new training programme. Amid a global pandemic, it’s been a difficult year for people starting their careers, so we decided to take action and help aspiring PR professionals to develop their skills and gain experience of working in the industry. In addition to our new senior hires, we have three Trainee Account Executives joining the team.

Jenna Maclean graduated in 2020 with a first-class honours degree in French and History from the University of Edinburgh. While at university she was actively involved with student television and theatre, producing a variety of content including short films, a Fringe production and award-winning online content. Through this she developed a particular interest in media relations and is very excited to continue her professional development at Muckle Media. Jenna loves travelling, having lived and worked abroad in France and gone solo backpacking in South America. In her free time, you can find her exploring Edinburgh’s coffee shops and attempting not to book another holiday.

Bobby Thomson recently graduated with a BA (Hons) degree in Media and Communications which has fuelled his passion for a career in PR. Bobby has worked on a number of PR campaigns during his time at college, most notably running the Scottish Student Journalism Awards 2018. Bobby spent three summers living in America at a summer camp from the ages 10-12 and is a proud dad to one Russian Dwarf hamster called Scamp, and two dogs named Ollie and Shadow.

James Maule graduated from Abertay University with a BSc Hons degree in Sociology. With him he has brought expertise and insight from years of experience in the realms of photography, service and retail. Now, he is ready to learn all that he can about PR. As an avid photographer and Munro bagger, you might find James in the hills with his camera on the weekends.

Jenna, Bobby and James will be fully integrated members of the team, helping on a variety of accounts and learning the ins and outs of the PR industry. We can’t wait to help them on their journey!

25th May, Edinburgh – PR agency Muckle Media has seen its team double in size with hires across the board, from Account Director to trainee level. Following the new appointments, the agency has also gone through a brand refresh as it continues to expand its offering.

Account Director Chris Batchelor joins the agency’s consumer team from PrettyGreen after relocating from London where he worked on Three Mobile, Disney Theme Parks and Brooks Running.

Mhairi De Luca and Katy Hughes also join the consumer team as Account Directors, following Muckle Media’s successful Returners to Communications Programme, designed to help women who have had a career break return to the PR, Marketing and Comms industry.

Mhairi has over 13 years’ experience in PR, working across a number of consumer brands including tourism and whisky accounts. She led on Famous Grouse, managing PR, events and social. Katy is a senior marketing and communications professional with over 16 years of experience in the private and public sector, both within agency and in-house roles including Consumer PR Manager at VisitScotland.

Jacquelyn Whyte moves into a Head of Food PR role at Muckle Media, having initially joined the agency in 2020 as maternity cover for Linsay Brown, who has now returned to the agency from parental leave.

The success of the Returners to Communications Programme doesn’t stop there, with experienced designer Claire Emslie joining the team as Account Manager to head up the agency’s studio and design offering. Emma Ross also joins as Senior Account Executive, having worked in various in-house marketing roles with a focus on social media and digital marketing within the hospitality and beauty industries.

Muckle Media has also recruited three Trainee Account Executives – Jenna Maclean, Bobby Thomson and James Maule – to help aspiring PR professionals gain experience of working with Britain’s most exciting companies.

Nathalie Agnew, Muckle Media’s founder, comments: “We are extremely proud of how we have navigated through the last year, and as we see the agency continue to grow we will always invest in bringing the best talent into the agency to ensure we can consistently deliver for our clients. Our Returners to Communications programme was a great success – not only did every returner who took part in the ten-week programme mark an increase in their confidence in the industry, but we have kept four of our returners on who showed they were the perfect fit to help us deliver outstanding work.

We also want to help nurture the industry’s future talent, which is why we are delighted to bring in three new trainees. This year has been particularly difficult for those looking to start their career, so we want to do all we can to show our support as well as offer a training programme to give our trainees the skills needed to succeed.”

On top of the new hires, Muckle Media has also gone through a brand refresh with an update to its branding to Bright Ideas. Realised. Recent client wins include Thistles Shopping Centre in Stirling and Cheeky Monsters toys.

To find out more, visit our team page now.

An intro into creating a brand identity

Most people understand the concept of branding, they know that it’s the thing that makes companies recognisable. You might recognise the link between successful businesses and strong branding. But how many people see the role of branding going beyond the visual, going beyond the logo or website and instead the brand being at the very heart of the organisation?  

That’s not to say that creating a visual identity isn’t important, it is. Creating a consistent look and feel so that your audience can easily recognise you is vital.  This includes the business card you hand out to your website and even (when we can return to) the company office.  These touch points should all look and feel consistent.  Think of it like creating layers, building your brand and adding to it with each layer that your audience encounters.

But your brand doesn’t stop with your visual identity.  At the very core of it is understanding who you are, what the business is and its values. If you don’t understand this, no one else will either.

Customers are savvy to the glossy sales pitch, it’s no longer about charm or spin. In fact, it’s not about selling your services at all it’s about telling your story. What truly connects you to your audience is your personality.

By connecting with your audience emotively, through shared values and beliefs, you can encourage loyalty. It’s this customer loyalty which leads to brand advocacy and in an increasingly overcrowded digital world it is this connection, the creation of brand advocates that will help amplify your message and ultimately elevate your business.

Knowing who are and your value proposition and being able to communicate this with your audience is truly what it means to take your brand beyond the visual.