Go Big or Go Home!!

It is quite easy to maintain a decent ranking with SEO. People put in some effort for a short period of time get some results then stop. But what if you went above and beyond? You pushed the boundaries and went further than just creating a Blog. “Big Content” as it’s called takes time and effort but you can reap the rewards at the end because the people who have gone for the easy and safe option may have a constant measure of traffic heading to their site, but it won’t really drive sales.

Google's new algorithms Panda and Penguin are providing us with great opportunities to rank higher through creating great content that people love and share. Yes you still need to do the standard on page SEO and yes back links will still be part of your strategy, however brilliant content is what Google and your prospective customers want to see.

Big content doesn't sound easy. If it was everyone would do it. Singling yourself out from the rest of the boring, steady traditional SEO techniques will stand you head and shoulders above the competition.

Like general content; big content increases traffic but big content can provide more loyalty because people will come back to visit the site. Eskimosoup Web Design in Hull work with a number of clients providing this type of big content - exciting content that is shared throughout the Internet. With time and effort put into your big content it makes it unique to anything else on the web.  It creates a widening gap between you and your competition. If you set a high bar for your SEO then it is much tougher for you competitors to jump over.

Big content means big ideas, general content just depends how much of the same message you distribute across the web. Big content is the quality of the content as well and it is not as expensive as it seems. You have to put more thought, creativity and effort in but that will not always increase the costs you pay.

In most cases there is a risk of failure. With marketing we try something, we test it and we make a decision on how to improve it for next time.

Pushing yourself will bring benefits you do not want to be going through the motions. Putting yourself one step ahead of SEO trends will improve your position and minimise the amount of fierce competition you will have. The interest from users will be much more regular and demanding with big content. Eskimosoup Graphic Designers In Hull  are the people you can trust in  terms in SEO.

Visual Social Marketing: Heading In The Right Direction

Smaller, local businesses still need to continue with their traitional SEO and done Marketing, but also include work with social media, local SEO and Pinterest. To target small businesses; using this new mix of marketing will help local businesses find suitable targets.

The rise of Visual Social Media

The Internet is still growing at an incredible pace and to keep up with modern marketing techniques  local businesses should consider visual social marketing from social media. Applications like Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram is now the next high priority in online marketing. More and more we are seeing purchase decisions that have been influenced by online referrals, that is people like you and me who have rated or made comments on the product and service, rather than big spend messages from corporate , branded marketing messages.

Clearly companies want to ‘hang-out’ were their target market is, so for example if you are targeting women, then Pinterest is the place to be with 79% of the total usage is by women. 

Phones dominating the market

Mobile phones are key to marketing. Most people have their phones with them or within reach every day and most text messages are read within a couple of minutes of receiving it. Businesses need to have a “responsive” web design that helps websites work equally well on every platform and device such as PC’s, laptops, tablets and smart phones. A responsive web design from Eskimosoup Graphic Design in Hull uses media queries to figure out what device it is being displayed on and thus the images and content will adjust to fit the format it is on, for example if you decrease the size of your browser window, the images and text will not stay the same size, the layout will shrink which still allows the content to be seen.

To Compete in the future

For small businesses to compete in the future there are a few key things they need to do:

1: If you haven’t already started using Pinterest get going otherwise you will be playing catch up and that’s something small businesses can not afford to do.

2: Businesses need to experiment with social media and see what works and what doesn’t for their company

3: If people can relate to you and your brand they are more likely to use your company.

4: Visual Media is so important: We have so little time these days to read huge amounts of text, most of don't even want to. We want information quick and it has to be easily absorbed. It makes sense that marketing efforts should be moved in to a visual medium as so many us can process visual information so much quicker than pages of text. It is evident that video is already being ranked more highly in search results and can often be seen ranking higher than text results. With videos comes great brand awareness and a sense of trust with potential clients. By creating a 2 minute clip using an HD camera or webcam companies can produce excellent online video content. Eskimosoup SEO Hull can be a great help to your company in terms of SEO marketing your content.

Our blog has moved!

Hi there - just in case you wondered why activity on Souper News has dramatically halted, fear not we are are busy as ever and now hosting our new on our main website - please do check it out. Thanks!

Souper celebrations!

Souper Friday is live just in time for a lovely long Diamond Jubilee weekend!

This edition looks at a "farm to fork" philosophy, advice on how giving back is the new way forward, a sneaky peek at our new look website, and a competition to win something very sweet indeed.

Read Souper Friday here and please do share with anyone who enjoys all things awesome. If you'd like it sent direct to your inbox from now on, simply email Account Manager Rich Sutherland.

Now we'd like to wish you a souper weekend and a right royal Diamond Jubilee celebration. And if you're in the Cottingham area, perhaps we'll see you at the eskimosoup stage at the Springboard Festival - we'll be the ones singing along and pretending we know all the words. ;-)

See you again soon!

Click to enlarge

A shared journey

We at eskimosoup offer top-notch marketing solutions, design, websites, events, copywriting and business strategies, but we still learn things along the way thanks to the projects we manage and the clients we work with. Time to Change Hull is an excellent example. 


Communicating the message that 1 in 4 of us will experience mental health problems in our lifetimes, this NHS Hull campaign encourages people to know the facts, to support their friends, family and coworkers, and perhaps most importantly, to talk about the subject openly and free of social taboo.


We're currently having videos produced that look at mental health in different ways. One that's available to watch now is an interview with Pete Haslam, a local writer and radio presenter, who shares his experiences of mental health problems and explains the actions he's taken in order to still enjoy his life. Meanwhile, 'The Pub Chat' has a humorous script written by eskimosoup's Rich Sutherland, which sees two everyday Hull blokes demonstrating how a simple conversation can achieve more than you may think.


We want to get as many views as possible in order to spread this valuable message, so please do view, like, share, post and/or tweet if you get a spare few minutes.


Once you've done that, perhaps you could also take a moment to think about whether someone you know might benefit from a chat over a coffee or a pint. Even a phone call, email or text message can make a huge difference to a person's life, it's being there for them that matters.


Let's end mental health discrimination together.

Très sophistiquè - A Brand Spotlight by Craig Cawkwell

Stella Artois has a rich advertising history, having produced some of the most memorable campaigns in recent years. However, negative connotations with the brand in 2007 led to a complete reform in communications targeted towards UK consumers. The turnaround was impressive and has resulted in a brand image that can only be described as ‘très sophistiquè’ (my attempt at French).

From 1982-2007, all Stella Artois communications within the UK centred on the slogan ‘Reassuringly Expensive’ – a campaign produced by Frank Lowe. This in itself was an extremely bold and clever campaign, choosing to turn a substantial negative (a higher price due to the greater duty on high-alcohol beverages in the UK) into a positive, by assuring customers that the higher price represented greater ‘quality’ than cheaper alternatives.

Early communications were primarily print ads, but in 1990 a chance viewing of Jean de Florette (a French historical drama) led one of Lowe's creative directors to pen a script based on a similar concept. The resulting television and cinema advertisement, Jacques de Florette, proved immensely popular and formed the basis for a series of award-winning adverts produced between 1991 and 2001, including Good Samaritan, Last Orders and Returning Hero.  These ads were extremely popular due to their successful fusion of humour and beautifully shot imagery and remain extremely influential today.

Despite the long running success of the ‘Reassuringly Expensive’ campaign, Stella Artois’ image started to drastically change in the eyes of British consumers. Due to its higher alcohol content, Stella Artois developed a reputation for making its drinkers aggressive. This, coupled with the brand’s popularity amongst football hooligans and binge-drinkers, meant that violence soon became associated with the brand, eventually earning Stella Artois the unwanted nickname of ‘Wife-Beater’. This was of course extremely detrimental to the brand and highlighted the necessity for Stella Artois to produce a campaign which would remove these negative associations.

The brand’s initial response was to drop the word ‘Stella’ (the UK’s adopted slang term for the lager) from its communications and remove the slogan ‘Reassuringly Expensive’. In 2008 the brand then chose to release a campaign aimed at informing customers that only four ingredients were used to make the lager. However, this did fairly little to remove the negative stereotype associated with the product.

As a result, the ‘She is a thing of beauty’ campaign was produced, which helped reposition the brand as cool, elegant, and sophisticated – a far cry from anything associated with angry drinkers and wife-beating. The first set of TV ads focused on the Stella Artois chalice, something which now personifies the brand ethos. Throughout the campaign, the importance of preparation was highlighted, with the nine-step pouring ritual being likened to a beautiful woman getting ready before an evening out.

As new products were launched within the Stella brand, a similarly elegant, sophisticated styled advertising strategy was used, helping to sustain this new found ‘chic’ personality. This is demonstrated no more so than in the ads for Stella Artois 4% which have firmly established the brand as being too-cool-for-school. These ads all generally follow the same story – everyday guy (although he is always ruggedly handsome) is ‘filtered’ three times, each time becoming more suave, debonair and cool. However, it is the way in which these ads are created which has made them irresistible to the audience. The sixties aesthetic provides the visually stunning, ultra-sophisticated theme (which works extremely well both on TV / Cinema spots and Outdoor) whilst the lavish locations and excessively attractive leads serve to keep the audience interested. Finally, this is topped off by the sexy French voiceover which delivers the metaphoric tagline ‘Triple Filtered with a Smooth Outcome’.

More recent Stella Artois products have also adopted the overarching brand’s smooth and sophisticated personality. Firstly, the campaign for Stella Artois Cidre once again utilised a sixties feel, this time presenting the ultra cool Le Président cheekily explaining to British consumers that it is not Cider, it is Cidre. These ads are again extremely strong visually, carrying forward the now well established tradition of Stella Artois communications.

Another of the brand’s new products, Stella Artois Black, has taken the idea of strong visuals one step further by staging a number of live role-play events, the latest being ‘Black Diamond’ – a live version of a classic film noir movie set in sixties Paris, engaging attendees by making them part of the story

It can be safely assumed that despite very few negative stereotypes ever fully disappearing, the recent campaigns by Stella Artois have proved how influential well-thought out communications can be in altering public opinion.

Now that’s a smooth outcome!

Opportunities to work with eskimosoup

eskimosoup are recruiting to help us deliver on a range of exciting marketing campaigns. Specifically, we are looking to appoint for the following positions:

Social Media Marketer A charismatic communicator with a keen interest in social media and marketing. Flexible working hours. Pay rate dependent upon experience and ability.

Events Team Leader An enthusiastic customer facing team player capable of working independently, making decisions and managing a small team of colleagues. Flexible working hours. Pay rate dependent upon experience and ability.

Direct Marketing Coordinator A well organised and driven candidate with the strong written and verbal communications skills required to develop and deliver marketing campaign work. Flexible working hours. Pay rate dependent upon experience and ability.

To express your interest in these roles, please email John Gilbert and provide a summary of why you feel you would be an awesome addition to the eskimosoup team by 12pm on Friday 18th May.

We hope to hear from you :-)

Promoting physical and mental health

The Hugh Rice Jewellers Hull Marathon of Easter Sunday, 8th April, proved a huge success, with around 1,500 people squeezing into their best Lycra to run the 26 miles through Hull, Hessle and twice across the Humber Bridge.

 

Organised by Toro CSC Events, the route took in numerous local landmarks, such as The Deep, the KC Stadium and the picturesque Marina, and the weather offered a perfect combination of cool breeze, occasional sunshine and the odd light shower to give the runners unscheduled rehydration.

With local family business Hugh Rice Jewellers as the headline sponsor, each of the ten route zones were also backed by local organisations:

Zone 1 (City Centre) - Wilberforce Sixth Form College

Zone 2 (Anlaby Road) - Time to Change Hull

Zone 3 (Boothferry Road) - David Lloyd Leisure

Zone 4 (Humber Bridge) - St Stephen's

Zone 5 (Hessle) - eskimosoup 

Zone 6 (Hessle Road) - TaxAssist Accountants 

Zone 7 (Arena) - Hugh Rice Jewellers

Zone 8 (Marina) - Spencer

Zone 9 (Victoria Dock) - Cash for Kids

Zone 10 (Old Town and Museum Quarter) - Classlane Media

The marathon also saw the launch of our Time to Change Hull campaign for NHS Hull, which aims to reduce mental health stigma and get people talking. To really grab the public's attention, our Bubbleheads made their first appearance: spreading the word that 1 in 4 of us will experience mental health problems in our lifetimes, they certainly stood out in their brightly coloured morpshuits, and a second team was in place to chat to fascinated spectators about mental health and this exciting campaign.

The Bubbleheads with Batman (AKA Aaron Howlett)

Check out www.1in4ofus.co.uk to see how you can help end mental health discrimination. And make sure to keep checking the Hull Marathon website for information about next year's edition - will you be taking part? Tweet us at @eskimosoup to let us know.

Let's end mental health discrimination together.

Old Spice: "…I'm on a horse."

A Brand Spotlight by Craig Cawkwell

  

Despite being adored by granddads across the planet, there is no doubt that Old Spice was a brand in need of a serious facelift. And who better to do this than the perfect male!? ‘Ladies, meet… the man your man can smell like.’ A hugely popular TV campaign successfully translated into a social media phenomenon has completely rejuvenated the Old Spice brand and made its products once again desirable to younger consumers.

  

Founded in 1934, Old Spice produced shaving soap and aftershave lotion, marketed with a traditional nautical theme. Despite being relatively successful in its early years, sales of Old Spice began to decline, with young consumers in the 80s beginning to view the brand as old-fashioned, outdated and smelling-like-old-man! Indeed the idea of smelling like your dad was something which wasn’t particularly appealing to the market that Old Spice was targeting.

  

In 1990, Old Spice was acquired by P&G who set about transforming the small, stagnating brand into a men’s personal care powerhouse. This involved refocusing its marketing messages on performance via the ‘Prove-it’ campaign, which challenged buyers to use the product and get their money back if they were not satisfied. They also realised that due to the stigma attached to the brand by males 25-45 (who remembered the pungent smell of their dad’s generously-applied Old Spice aftershave), they would be more successful in targeting younger consumers. P&G therefore set about a number of grass-root marketing activities, handing out samples at schools and colleges and sponsoring youth-orientated events.

  

This concentrated activity, coupled with TV ads featuring young sporting celebrities, led Old Spice to become extremely competitive within the male teen personal care market, edging out Right Guard as the top teen brand in 2001. However, it was in the late 2000s when Old Spice began to experience colossal growth thanks to some humorous campaigns developed by Weiden+Kennedy. 

  

In 2007 the ‘Experience is Everything’ campaign was launched. A twist upon the preceding campaign, Old Spice embraced its heritage with humour and double entendres in order to establish the brand as an authority when it comes to the ‘experiences’ which young males seek. The first TV ad featured Bruce Campbell nonchalantly strolling around his lavish study, explaining the importance of experience in the form of one long sexual innuendo ‘If you have it, you don’t need it. If you need it, you don’t have it. If you have it, you need more of it.’

A number of humorous ads followed Bruce Campbell, with Patrick Neil Harris appearing as a parody of his Doogie Howser M.D. character and Terry Crews appearing in a number of TV and online ads.

It was, however, a few years later in 2010 that ‘the man that your man could smell like’ ad helped double sales of Old Spice body wash. P&G realised that a massive proportion of Old Spice’s customer base was females who bought products for their partners. Therefore, they commissioned a campaign to be produced which was aimed predominantly at women. However, the result was something that definitely appealed to both sexes! Men wanted to be him, women wanted to be with him. He was… the Old Spice Guy (or Isaiah Mustafa if you felt the need to know his real name). The first ad featuring the Old Spice Guy consisted of him basically explaining to women (whilst travelling seamlessly through a number of exotic locations and poses) that their man could never be as handsome, chivalrous, generous, caring or smooth as him, but they could smell like him… if they use Old Spice! The strapline ‘Smell like a man, man’ then appears on screen as Isaiah strikes the ultimate manly pose of holding a bottle of Old Spice… whilst straddling a noble steed.

The Old Spice Guy was an instant hit. However, the TV ads were just the beginning of what turned out to be one of the most impressively run campaigns of the last decade. Due to his popularity, numerous people began discussing the Old Spice Guy across the web on various platforms such as Twitter, YouTube and Reddit. In an unprecedented move, Weiden+Kennedy chose to engage these people directly and recorded Isaiah’s individual responses to fans in the form of 30-second YouTube videos. This allowed the brand to humorously communicate with potential customers on an extremely personal level, something which hadn’t really been done before. These videos went viral on a gigantic scale, generating 40 million views within the first week, with Old Spice on YouTube becoming the all-time most viewed channel. As a result, sales of Old Spice products went up by an amazing 107%, with their body wash product becoming #1 body wash brand for men.

Continuing the humour and heavy emphasis on social media, Terry Crews has once again been recruited for Old Spice’s current campaign ‘Smell is Power’. This campaign is breaking new ground by showing Old Spice invading other P&G owned brands because ‘Old Spice Body Spray is too powerful to stay in its own commercial!’ This includes Terry bursting through the wall during an ad for Bounce Dryer Bars and his head smashing upwards through a box of Charmin Toilet Wipes! This is obviously an intelligent way for P&G to gain dual exposure for its products whilst maintaining the powerful message that SMELL IS POWER!!!

Keep an eye out for Terry bursting through a wall or toilet near you!

Cyril the Cig has been up to his dirty tricks again!

He's been turning up at regional games and trying to make people follow him, but Cyril got more than he bargained for at every game, with matchgoers uniting to boo and jeer him off the pitch.

  

Commit to Quit helps people to bin the cigs whilst supporting their team, with fans pledging to quit as part of an online league table.

   

Our Account Director, Rich Quelch, explained why this campaign is so important: 

  

"It's about raising awareness of the effects of smoking and making people realise that it's actually very easy to quit. There's so much free help and advice out there and so many people to share the journey with. We've had huge support from Hull City, Hull KR, Hull FC and Scunthorpe United, and their followers have made them all very proud."

   

At the Hull City vs. Leeds United match, Roary the Tiger proved that being fit, strong and healthy is a far better way of enjoying life by playfully pinning Cyril to the ground for the cheering crowd.

   

The Commit to Quit roadshow visited Hull, North Ferriby, Bridlington and Scunthorpe, spreading the word and encouraging people to stop smoking. The website is available for smokers to quit and non-smokers to help them do it: www.commit-to-quit.co.uk

    

Remember: After just one year of not smoking, your risk of suffering a heart attack is halved. On top of that, you will have saved an average of £2,372!

eskimosoup are committed to a busy couple of weeks to promote a regional campaign commissioned as part of the National No Smoking Day 2012 programme.

The “Commit to Quit” campaign sees NHS Hull, NHS East Riding and NHS North Lincolnshire join forces with Hull City, Hull FC, Hull KR and Scunthorpe United to help supporters stop smoking and recognise that smoking is not the social norm in our area.

The campaign will use a number of activities to ensure awareness is raised around the Commit to Quit campaign and No Smoking Day, which takes place next Wednesday.

To answer any questions and give fans information on the NHS Stop Smoking services, the Commit to Quit team will be at the at the KC Stadium tonight as Hull City play Leeds Utd. Visiting Bridlington next Monday and Scunthorpe next Wednesday, so make sure you keep an eye out for campaign mascot Cyril the Cig.

These road shows will also inform people about the live league table, which everyone can play a huge part in.

Cyril made an appearance at Hull FC Vs Wakefield Wildcats on Sunday with the club fully behind the campaign; James Clark, head of communications, media and marketing at Hull FC, said: “We are a firm believer in working with the local NHS to send poignant health messages to our loyal supporters and we want them to understand there is support and advice available in the city.
“I’m sure there will be plenty of friendly rivalry and competition between all sets of fans from each club and plenty of ‘healthy’ banter, with a serious underlying health message of quitting smoking.”

For more information on the campaign and how you can support your club, visit www.commit-to-quit.co.uk and enter the live league table of pledgers and make your team proud.
You can also follow @commit_to_quit on Twitter for updates.

eskimosoup Grows International Business

Hull-based marketing team eskimosoup has restructured to support their continued business growth of e-learning services amongst an overseas client base.

Based in Hull city centre, eskimosoup has seen year-on-year growth in turnover since their merger with two other companies in 2008. The company’s client base includes e-commerce businesses and retail operations, whilst approximately half of their business comes from NHS trusts across the north of England.

In addition to providing core marketing, design and web development services, the team has over the past three years developed an online health and safety training and management system named Safeon. Safeon’s asbestos awareness training and their “world first” confined space training packages are being used by blue chip clients in the Middle East and at sites across Europe. In a move to help the company maximise this opportunity for significant growth, former managing director of eskimosoup Chris Middleton has taken strategic lead of Safeon with a view to maximising its global potential.

To ensure that eskimosoup can continue to grow whilst maintaining quality; John Gilbert has become eskimosoup’s Managing Director, whilst former marketing manager, Rich Quelch has been promoted to Account Director.

Chris Middleton, speaking about his change in role said: “After a lot of hard work and determination we are now at a point where our online learning platform is being adopted by some of the largest companies in Europe with sites around the world. To pursue this exciting opportunity it is essential that Safeon becomes a company in its own right with a dedicated leadership team.”

“In order to look after the clients and employees of eskimosoup that got us to this point in the first place; John, Rich and the team are ideally placed to focus on how we can continue to provide the very best of service to the very best of clients.”

eskimosoup are relocating to larger offices in June and will in the same month be using their communications sponsorship of Humber Business Week as a platform to launch their next generation of mobile application products.


Links:
eskimosoup
Safeon

Change in the Air?

The eskimosoup team has been working hard on preparations to launch a major new initiative from NHS Leeds that helps local people engage with a range of healthy lifestyle services.

Leeds Let’s Change is a package of services promoted through a central website developed in order to provide an accessible information hub which is easy to use and can quickly show what health living services are available across the city.

As well as developing the website and brand, eskimosoup’s marketing team are running a programme of community events and partnerships to introduce the initiative to individuals at key areas of the city. This commences on Saturday when the team will be present at White Rose Shopping Centre engaging with the public to answer questions and introduce the services available.

For more information visit www.leedsletschange.co.uk

And we're back in the room...

...or rooms. The rooms of the eskimosoup building. :)

We hope that you had a lovely Christmas filled with chocolate scoffing, DVD watching and fun with friends and family. Perhaps even a bit of karaoke? Whatever floats your boat!

Happy New Year to all of our readers and we'll see you again VERY soon with news, updates, shout outs, Brand and Team Spotlights and all sorts of other shenanigans.

In the meantime, why not follow our tweets?

All the best for 2012,

The Souper Team

eskimosoup is:

A Hull Marketing Agency

A Hull Web Design Agency

A Hull Graphic Design Agency

What an eventful year!

31st December 2011... seriously? But surely it's still 1994, with lads acting like idiots to 'Cotton Eye Joe' whilst the girls show off their more stylish (but badly coordinated) dance moves to 'Saturday Night'.

    

Hmm... come to think of it, the last 12 months have seen eskimosoup deliver some amazing campaigns with a very modern, innovative, 2011 feel to them. Oh, and we've been tweeting like crazy. So yeah, it looks like we're just being a bit nostalgic because the year is at an end, bless our festive socks.

   

So, with nostalgia in mind, we've decided to each look back at our favourite bits of 2011. Ohhhhh, there are some beauties!

    
   

"Getting to go on the roofs of both City Hall and Holy Trinity Church as part of Hull BID's Christmas in Hull campaign. It was amazing seeing our city from those vantage points. Even getting wedged in the church's bell tower didn't dampen my spirits!"

Rich Sutherland, Account Manager and Copywriter

    

"Jumping off the 150-foot beast that is Goliath at Aerial Extreme. What a rush!"

Chris Middleton, Managing Director

 

"Dressing up as a huge cigarette in front of 20,000 match-goers at the KC Stadium! (It was to promote No Smoking Day by the way.)"

Steph Collinson, Client Care

   

"In the year of 2011, Manticore was born from the embers of eskimodules, a platform for the rapid development of web-based deliverance."

Carl Butcher, Web Developer and Systems Administrator

   
"Watching the upcoming 1884 Dock Street Kitchen take shape each week whilst photographing its amazing developments."
Phill Wilson, Technical Support 
  

"Something I've been wanting to do for ages is learn Sage, and now I am!"

Rachel Galtrey, Client Care

  

"The highlight for me was becoming the Director of Hull Comedy Festival and then performing stand-up as my new persona Albert. Two words: character building."

Rich Quelch, Marketing and Events Manager

  

"Watching Rich Quelch stand on a stage and do an awesome job of making a massive tool of himself but making me laugh and cry in the process."

Shane Cane, Graphic Designer

    
"Sneaking our new baby, Noah, into the Piccalilly clothing catalogue. We went to The Yorkshire Dales for him to star in his first modelling photo shoot!" 
Phill Postill, Creative Director      
  

"I've had a very productive year of creating websites. It's between 15-20, maybe more, for 2011 alone - a personal record!"

Adam Poskitt, Web Developer

   

"This year I have mostly been (for those who remember 'The Fast Show') developing websites using HTML 5 and Sassy CSS files. In a nutshell, HTML 5 is cleaner, faster and easier to maintain and Sass makes CSS fun again!"
Hannah Griggs, Creative Director
     
"Fully launching our Health and Safety training package, safeon.co.uk, after a loooooong 2 years of development."
George Griggs, Technical Director
     
"My favourite thing is that I finally have a team that's willing and able to do all of the crazy and memorable things on my behalf!"
John Gilbert, Marketing Director
   
"Creating the OneFineDay website, which was then featured on Something for the Weekend. That, and doing an impression of an airplane using two chairs."

Nick Bolt, Lead Developer and all-round good egg 

     

Steph as Cyril the Cig

Rich Q as Albert

Nick as The Supersonic ThunderBolt

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE! :)

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Christmas Day is almost upon us, which means that our work on Hull BID's amazing Christmas in Hull campaign for 2011 will soon come to an end. 

   

Everyone at eskimosoup has loved every minute of this project. It's allowed us to meet some wonderful people, plan and take part in lots of exciting events and activity, and use possibly the most breathtaking feat of architecture in the city, Holy Trinity Church, for a couple of festive fun days.

 

We've smiled at the sight of our Dickensian characters roaming the streets, with Scrooge pretending he didn't like Lush cosmetics before unashamedly sniffing the bath bombs. We've bitten our nails as our Santa abseiled down City Hall at the Christmas Lights Switch-on, arriving safely at the bottom to chat to Viking FM. We've sung along to our City Centre version of Band Aid, which saw staff from a variety of businesses come together to belt out a few lines. And, perhaps most incredible of all, we've met The Chuckle Brothers. "To you. To me." (Sorry, it had to be said. Hehe!)

 

The eskimosoup office closes at 1pm on Friday 23rd  December (so that we can go eat festive grub and play some games in The New Clarence) and reopens on Tuesday 3rd January 2012. But don't worry, there's a blog post automatically scheduled to upload on New Year's Eve, which looks back at a few of our favourite things from the last 12 months (such as doing a 150-foot jump, having a go at stand-up comedy, and dressing up as a walking cigarette at a penalty shoot).

 

In the meantime, Merry Christmas to you all! Make sure to squeeze in a fair few mince pies and wash them down with a sherry or two. ;)

  

The Souper Team

Reindeer food and the Rockin' Rev!

Our first instalment saw the Grade I listed building fill with music, laughter, creativity, Yuletide magic, wonderful gifts and mouth-watering aromas.

And now... it's almost time... for an even bigger one...

*drumroll*

 

CHRISTMAS AT TRINITY

SATURDAY 17 DECEMBER, 11AM-4PM

Inside and outside Holy Trinity Church, Hull 

FREE entry but donations to the church are greatly appreciated 

   

   

MEET

jugglers, Dickensian characters and Santa as they rub shoulders with stallholders, including Roisin Dubh, Hull One World Shop, Fairy Moo, Font Yeti and Beasley's Clothing.

 

HEAR

the Trinity Choir, Hull Choral Union, the Cottingham Singers, Hull Ladies Choir and acoustic acts Lindsey Simpson and Phill Wilson perform carols and Christmas songs.

 

TASTE

hearty food and delicious soup from Pie and sweet treats from Lucy Beal Cakery.

  

SMELL

the church organ (if you're into that kind of thing).

  

MARVEL

at Matt Woodcock, Holy Trinity's own Rockin' Reverend, as he strums out a few festive tunes in Trinity Square.

 

AND MAKE REINDEER FOOD AND TREE DECORATIONS

with The Adventure Play Van creative team (there'll be glitter, felt tips and Play-Doh aplenty!)

 

Then, at 5pm, grab an orange, red ribbon and sweets, light a candle and join in with the carol session. Intrigued? Check out Holy Trinity's heartwarming Christingle.

See you there!

Marathon Sponsor’s a Real Diamond

Local jewellers Hugh Rice are the headline sponsors of the upcoming Hull Marathon, which will take place on Easter Sunday, 8th April 2012, and welcome everyone to take part, from seasoned athletes to have-a-go heroes.

eskimosoup brokered the sponsorship deal on behalf of Hugh Rice Jewellers and have been commissioned by Toro CSC Events, organisers of the Hugh Rice Jewellers Hull Marathon, to manage further business engagement opportunities.

“Getting right behind the Hull Marathon offers the perfect opportunity for our company,” said Mike Rice, Managing Director of the Hugh Rice Group. “As a local family business with forty years’ experience, we’re proud to support an ambitious event like this, particularly as it really shows what the area has to offer.”

This high profile event will advance Hull’s standing in the national arena of sports and fitness, promoting a healthy lifestyle whilst offering a fun, exciting and memorable experience for all involved.

Raising much-needed funds for local and national charities, the Hugh Rice Jewellers Hull Marathon will benefit Help for Heroes, The Lord Mayor's Charity Appeal and The Bull Foundation, which was set up by the event creators to support local grass roots activities.

Participants start and finish outside the grand architecture of the Guildhall. During the challenge they take in iconic landmarks that include The Deep, the KC Stadium, West Park and Pickering Park, the Humber Bridge, the village of Hessle, the Marina and Victoria Dock riverfront. It’s going to be an exhilarating day filled with beautiful sights, fresh air and a shared buzz of excitement!

For more information visit www.hullmarathon.com