News

This week we are excited to announce that London agency Skive have acquired a majority stake in Soup.

Originally founded in Norwich, we’ve been around for twelve years now. Our offices in London and Norwich house 35 staff and together we work for clients including Aviva, Sky, Innocent drinks, Open, Jordans Cereals, Virgin Money and Moonpig.

Skive has built its reputation as an interactive delivery partner for large agency groups such AMV, WCRS, Publicis and TBWA. They also work directly with major clients including Nestle and Reebok.

We have all felt a real synergy in approach and outlook between Soup and Skive so, in a move that will secure a place among the NewMediaAge Top 40 Digital Agencies, Skive has acquired a controlling stake in Soup. The acquisition also marks the arrival of advertising industry veteran, Alan Page as Skive’s new Chairman and is part of a strategy to create a strong independent digital force.

The two agencies will continue to operate as separate entities, but will share resources as required, to provide clients with an even wider range of skills across the group.

Alan Page’s appointment as Skive’s Chairman follows a string of major new business wins for the award winning agency, and reflects the company’s determination to strengthen all parts of its operation in the wake of this new business growth.

Late last year, Skive won Nestle’s biggest ever online campaign for KitKat and earlier this year created the award winning Start Thinking Soldier campaign for The British Army’s digital recruitment programme.

Soup’s recent work includes the development and launch of Revlon’s first ever UK digital marketing campaign, a new site for Kettle Foods and a nomination in the NMA Effectiveness Awards for the howies Do Lecture site.

Prior to the appointment, Page was the creative director of Yellowhammer, a founder of advertising agency, Harari Page, and more recently created one of the earliest digital marketing groups, New Media Industries.  He has also won a D&AD Gold award for “It takes up to 40 dumb animals to make a fur coat. But only one to wear it”.

Commenting on Skive’s acquisition of Soup, Alan Page said “We see this as the first step of our strategic plan to develop a broader independent digital marketing offering.  As Skive increases its direct relationships with clients, the exceptional skills of Soup in strategic planning and creative will provide the group with a chance to continue developing its own skills in these areas.  Also, the deal places the combined group in the NMA Top 40 agencies in the UK.”

Commenting on Alan Page’s appointment, Sean Singleton, Skive MD, said, “There aren’t many people who have won a D&AD Gold award and floated a company onto the stockmarket. Alan brings both a creative and business perspective to developing our agency further, as well as a few grey hairs.”

And, here at Soup, Nick Thompson said, “This is a great opportunity to take the business forward with like-minded people. Skive is ambitious, has strong credentials, a reputation for delivering high quality work and is passionate about digital. We are all excited about moving forward together.”

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Soup have been working with Revlon UK on a digital campaign to promote their biggest product launch in the last 5 years. Colorstay Ultimate Liquid Lipstick is Revlon’s revolutionary one-step lipcolour and fashionistas everywhere will be delighted to learn that they can buy it in Boots RIGHT NOW.

Soup developed a digital strategy to tie into the 360° campaign for the launch of the liquid lipstick which encompasses massive instore promotion within Boots, a prime time TV ad campaign and extensive press coverage. Importantly this is the first time Revlon have used digital as part of their campaign marketing mix anywhere either nationally or internationally so we have been delighted to be part of their first foray across the channel.

Our main aim was to encourage early adopters of the product using the social media spaces that have become a platform for young women like Lauren Luke to review products, share tips and demonstrate techniques. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube were chosen as central spaces for the campaign and, with the incentive of becoming Revlon’s official online reviewer, users are encouraged to review this project and post their videos and writeups on the product microsite.

To bolster the buzz around the campaign and particularly the conversations online, Soup have supported Revlon develop new relations with relevant beauty bloggers. And we’ve worked with Starcom to create an online advertising campaign that highlights the liquid lipstick’s longevity with time related ads.

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