content hub //

January 7, 2022

2021: A year in review

As the team at REAL HQ launch into another year of clever creativity, it's been great to reflect on the projects that kept us so busy in 2021.
As the team at REAL HQ launch into another year of clever creativity, it's been great to reflect on the projects that kept us so busy in 2021.

Let’s be real, there’s a 50/50 split on 2022… we know not everyone is sure what to expect yet but after a mammoth 12 months, we have the very highest of hopes for what’s to come, and as we launch ourselves feet first into another year of clever creativity, it’s been good to take a few minutes to reflect on the projects that kept the team at REAL HQ so busy in 2021.

It goes without saying that the last year was one like no other, but, for REAL, it’s been our busiest yet! From new team members to record-breaking data, PLUS, a mammoth 8k miles traveled for our clients (don’t worry, always safely and within government guidelines) – it’s safe to say we’ve made the most of the last 12 months.

We started out working with Canterbury City Council and award-winning construction giants Bouygues to develop a whopping 400 linear meters of hoarding for their £115 million mixed-use development The Riverside at Canterbury, which created a new lifestyle quarter in the historic city.

After another memorable year in our long-standing partnership with Sodexo, we brought their Riverside Student Accommodation brand to life with a variety of well-placed, eye-catching signage points, before helping them secure national exposure and hit a new web views milestone!

We didn’t stop there as we created a storm on Canterbury high street with our inventive ‘what 3 words’ awareness campaign which drove tangible foot traffic to their marketing suite with a fun, and intriguing message.

Read more about our W3W campaign here.

After Hyde New Homes tasked us with developing a naming strategy for their 200 sustainable new homes development Riverside Square, our research team had fun with demographic data and we went on to create a development sub-brand for the project also.

We helped student accommodation operator U Student exceed sales targets and fly the flag of their evolving brand with three inspired lifestyle videos promoting student life across the UK! Footage included the University of Aberdeen’s stunning campus and the rural side of RGU, University of Sunderland as well as some stunning University of Carlisle campus and castle shots.

In the summer some of the team spend a few days working with the University of Greenwich where we staged their campus accommodation ready for refreshed photography and updated virtual tours.

We had fun designing welcome boxes for more than 10,000 students across the country including students going into their first year at the University of Greenwich and the University of Northumbria.

Tracey, Mike, and Laura took time out to attend the Youth Marketing Strategy conference in London in September, bringing insights back to the studio which has since set the trend for unending conversations around cool and curious ideas for up and coming campaigns. Watch this space for “Gucci” Gen Z and youth campaigns!

We improved curb appeal at Linkcity’s  Birmingham student accommodation property Altura and hosted for Altura at the University of Birmingham and Birmingham Guild of Students online refreshers fair ‘The Digital Welcome’ where we saw more than 11k interactions during the event.

Mike and Laura spend 48 hours in Falmouth where we took a site tour of the new luxury scheme which we had the privilege of creating the naming strategy and brand for new client Investin PLC. Watch this space for our luxury student accommodation brand and website reveal, due to launch in 2022 (spoiler alert, it’s pretty flipping impressive)!

In the studio

After returning to the office early in the year we’ve spent the majority of 2021 enjoying working with views from our beautiful, new Cheshire countryside spot.  

Mia joined us in February bringing her amazing design skills to the table followed shortly by Amy in April who somehow managed to take on the busy job of digital marketing executive as well as managing an apprenticeship program.

Teamwork makes the dream work #ThisTinCan

We celebrated not one but two graduations as both Mia and Mike were finally able to attend their ceremony’s after graduating in 2020.

We saw some great exposure in the press for the agency as we celebrated our 5th birthday and we ended the year on a high as our longest-standing ‘Real Person’ Tracey, was promoted to Head of Creative and Marketing.

… and that’s to name just a few of our lovely clients and the projects we enjoyed working on in 2021. Phew, what a year!

Now, we’re ready to do it all again! Are you? Get in touch…

Laura Bosworth

Laura Bosworth

Managing Director

Other Articles

Categories