News

January 2012

Bristol bowling social

A group of employees from the Bristol office headed to the Lanes bowling alley on 26 January for some ten pin bowling and pizza fun. Kicking off the evening, Matt & Oliver took on the 18” New York Hot pizza for which they had to perfect their pizza rolling technique so as not to lose any topping. Once everyone was fed and watered, the bowling commenced. Jon, Leo & Nick all got off to flying starts with first ball strikes; Paul on the other hand didn’t start so well completely missing all ten pins with his first ball! The strikes continued to fly in with Leo pulling off two in row. Arvy, Caroline, Laura & Tristan all managed to crack the 100 mark and Kingsley put in a late surge for victory scoring a whopping 20 on his final frame, but it wasn’t enough to topple eventual winner Leo with a personal best of 136.

December 2011

The Drum Top 100 revealed

We’re pleased to announce that we’ve been placed in The Drum’s UK Digital Top 100, an authoritative guide to the top 100 digital agencies in the UK in 2011. This is the first time that we’ve entered which makes the news even more exciting.

The list reviews the range of digital talent in the UK and provides an insightful, comprehensive guide for companies seeking an agency by mapping the digital market. The guide enables comparison of agencies by discipline and provides financial information and clients for each agency.

Bruce Griffin, Chief Executive, says:

This is a great recognition for the hard work the team has put in this year and the projects that we’ve been working on. 2011 saw us grow by 25%, open a London office, win new clients such as BP and be instrumental in large digital projects for Sky and Babcock. Being recognised alongside other renowned digital agencies on a national level is what we’ve been working towards so being placed on the list is fantastic.

December 2011

Stuart Spain becomes Operations Director

We’re pleased to announce that Stuart Spain has been appointed as Operations Director.

Stuart has played a key part in the Rockpool team for just over a year now as Service Delivery Manager and has now been promoted to the Board of Directors as Operations Director. In his new role, Stuart will work closely with the senior management team to drive efficiencies and streamline processes within the business.

Bruce Griffin, Chief Executive, explains:

“Stuart has worked closely with our clients and teams to ensure the business has the infrastructure in place to deliver and scale our digital projects. His appointment enables us to continually build on the service we can offer clients and helps Rockpool’s offices in Bristol and London work seamlessly together.”

Movember 2011

Movember

Getting involved in the month formerly known as November for the second year running, 11 Rockpool Mo Bros became walking, talking billboards for the Movember campaign. Well done to Arvy, Dan, Darren, James, Kingsley, Leo, Paul, Piotr, Sean, Tom B & Tristan who’ve all been channelling their inner Tom Selleck and grooming, trimming and waxing throughout the month to raise money for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer and other cancers that affect men. For some, their new mo has only enhanced their fine looks; for others, their resemblance to slightly dubious characters is an altogether different story (step forward Paul). Thanks to all the participants for keeping us entertained in November and, more importantly, supporting a very worthwhile cause.

November 2011

Pool competition

Back by popular demand, the second Bristol pool tournament took place on 24 November. Going straight into the quarter finals, the early favourites managed to avoid each other and the draw saw Annie v Kingsley, Arvy v Matt, Piotr v Tom P and James v Nick. Matt was the only player to hold onto some of his honour by taking Arvy to a deciding frame before bowing out, while Annie, Piotr and James were subject to a thrashing in their respective games. The semi finals saw a confident Tom P v Arvy and a student match up with Nick v Kingsley. Both matches went down to the fifth and final frame with Arvy pulling off a fluky trick shot to sink the black and knock out Tom P. On the other side of the draw, Nick nearly cleaned up off the break but Kingsley fought back to take it to a tense finish with Nick finally the victor. The final didn't prove to be such an equal matching, with Nick completing a 3-0 whitewash of Arvy to take the trophy. Better luck next quarter to those who missed out when Nick will be out to defend his trophy.

November 2011

The Cloud launches Cloud In A Box for smaller businesses

The Cloud, the UK’s largest public access Wi-Fi provider, worked with us to launch a brand new service for smaller businesses to provide free Wi-Fi to their customers.

'Cloud in a Box' is a new service for independent businesses with less than 10 employees needing an active business broadband, but at a lower cost and with lower band width.

The brand new e-commerce site provides information about the product, a service to check line compatibility and a sign up service where businesses can purchase a package for a one off set up cost of just £99. Everything they need is then dispatched in a box to their door.

Peter Gandy, Chief Commercial Officer, explains:
“Today smaller businesses need a competitive advantage. As more people use smartphones and other mobile devices to stay in touch on the go, their desire for free Wi-Fi access is greater than ever. This site is designed to give businesses a simple solution which can be delivered straight to their door.”

For more information on Cloud in a Box small business owners should visit www.thecloudinabox.co.uk

October 2011

Halloween

The Bristol office celebrated Halloween in spooky style this year to raise funds for the agency's chosen charity, Shed@ThePark. The day started with employees arriving in appropriately scary or Halloween themed fancy dress. A monstrous (geddit) effort was made by all and the vote for the best outfit was won by Mr Pumpkin Head, AKA Matt, snatching the top honours from Tristan, our resident zombie surgeon. The day continued with a trick or treat lucky dip to which one studio member got a little addicted, isn't that right Arvy? Throughout the day much of the chat centred on the pumpkins laid out on the breakfast bar which had been sold in advance by the CSR team for the Jack-o'-lantern competition. As ever, most managed to expertly exhibit their creativity with Spiderman, Batman, Banksy and even Jekyll & Hyde patterns carved into the pumpkins. As twilight approached the mass lighting commenced with Dan taking top honours with his intricate scary face design. Laura came in second with her take on Jack Skellington and Tristan's worm infested pumpkin grabbed third prize. The day's activities closed with a spooky themed pub quiz at the appropriately named Black Castle pub just down the road. A massive thanks also to the CSR team for organising a fantastic day and for raising £170.63 for our charity.

September 2011

Bristol pool competition

Due to popular demand, 16 employees from the Bristol office headed to Rileys on Park Street on 15 September for our inaugural pool tournament. In what was a highly spirited night of pool, banter and competition, some people lived up to expectations (and their bragging) and some didn’t (not mentioning any names...OK then...Darren, Leo, Matt & Piotr who didn’t win any games and played for the wooden spoon which was...er...won by Leo). Tom P & Arvy, the early favourites, both had shock exits in the quarter finals. Laura held up the ladies side by making it through to the semi finals but, after an impressive battle, she lost out to Kingsley. The other side of the draw saw our most laid back of pool players make it to the semi finals but, unfortunately, Luke lost out to eventual winner Jon (a freelancer at that!). The night was such as success that it could now become a quarterly event...think we might need a trophy, watch this space...

September 2011

BP's new marketing platform

Our latest, exciting digital platform was created for BP and launched last week. The new service - called "Today’s Offers" www.bp.co.uk/offers - is the first step to BP using a digital platform to deliver exclusive internet only deals to supplement the in-store offers and promotions.

It works by enabling consumers to discover relevant offers either by a shop’s location, or by offer category – Thirsty, Hungry, Entertain Me and My Car. They can then print out the offer codes, email or text them to use later or view and present them on their phone in-store.

David Pitron, BP’s UK Trading Director has this to say:

"The UK convenience market is changing rapidly and so are the expectations and habits of our customers. We want to make life easier for our customers and to offer them great value and even more compelling reasons to visit our stores. The digital platform we have created with our partners at Rockpool provides our customers with a great new way to save money"

Featured in Marketing Week magazine and website and Brand Republic.

August 2011

Corporate Regatta

A group of employees from the Bristol office took part in the City of Bristol Rowing Club corporate regatta on Sunday 21 August, competing against four other local companies; Computershare, Dare, GP Care and Nokia. After putting in two training sessions a week for the month before the event, the big day finally came and Alex, Annie, Bruce, James, Laura, Nick, Rachel, Rosie and Tom B put their newly acquired rowing skills (that would be blade on the feather together and not crab catching!) to race against each team. Despite it being our first year competing in the regatta we managed to avoid coming in last place and, with the elusive summer sun shining down, a great day was had by all. Congratulations to Dare who took the trophy.

August 2011

Volunteering

As part of the agency’s CSR commitment, a team of five employees spent a day at @Bristol for this year's third installment of volunteering. Annie, Leo, Mark, Paul and Rosie joined Shaun the Sheep and friends for a Championsheeps LIVE farmyard sports day. With the help of some very experienced @Bristol shepherds, the volunteers led groups of children and adults around varying challenges such as Flock n' Roll, Farmyard Fling and the Naughty Pig Sack Race. We're not sure who had more fun playing around with games; the volunteers or the kids! Although the day was hugely enjoyable and rewarding, after coping with hundreds of children throughout the day the volunteers slept very well that night. Thanks to @Bristol for having us back - we look forward to our next volunteering day soon.

July 2011

Scavenger Hunt

16 employees in four teams hit the (rather wet) streets of Bristol on 21 July for a scavenger hunt. Kicking off with a beer and popcorn briefing in the Boardroom, the teams headed out to collect or photograph 40 items finishing up at the Apple pub a few hours later for the judging and a well earned cider. Team ARRR Mateys, consisting of Leo, Rosie, Tom P & Tristan, were the winners collecting 8,800 points. Special mention goes to Team Peg Legs for almost making it on to the Bristol City football pitch to pick up 2,500 points. Rules are rules though, and unfortunately the edge of the pitch is not on the pitch...

June 2011

Oh what a night!

So, they came, they saw and they toasted!

Last week we opened our snazzy new London premises where our team, clients and friends gathered for cocktails and a BBQ to celebrate this new development for the agency.

The office is in Power Road Studios, Chiswick; former BBC studios and a restored industrial building with personality reminiscent of our Bristol HQ. Our light, spacious mews office will host a new client management team, technical development bods and be headed up by Chief Commercial Officer, Peter Gandy, to ensure our clients in the capital can access our services simply.

Bruce Griffin, Chief Executive, explains:
“As we continue to expand our client base and services, a London office means that our clients can visit us regularly on busy projects or our Client Services team can visit them. We’ll continue to house the technical teams in Bristol but grow the London base simultaneously.”