Monday 30 July 2012

Press release – Underwired wins Mitchells & Butlers

Mitchells & Butlers, the UK’s biggest restaurant and pub group which owns the All Bar One, Toby Carvery, Harvester and O’Neills chains amongst others, has hired specialist digital strategy agency Underwired. The company’s annual sales are close to £2 billion and across the group’s 1,600 businesses it serves 435 million drinks and 125 million meals each year.

Underwired has been engaged to help the company develop its digital customer engagement and data strategy. The agency, whose other clients include Sony, Bupa, Harveys Furniture and Holidaybreak plc, recently became independent following an MBO in March.

Paul Madden, Head of Digital at Mitchells & Butlers, said of the appointment:  “The digital channel continues to grow in importance to our customers and we are constantly looking at new ways to improve our online services and the levels of personalisation we can provide. Underwired has demonstrated a clear strength in the area of customer relationship management and understand how to maximise engagement through a robust data strategy.”

Felix Velarde, Underwired’s Managing Director, commented:  “Mitchells & Butlers owns brands we’re all very familiar with, and their customers are exceptionally engaged. This provides rich territory for some fascinating strategy development work, and we are extremely pleased to have been selected to work with the digital team on this project.”

Underwired’s other clients include Sony, ASICS, Bupa and F. Hinds.

Friday 20 July 2012

Press release – F Hinds appoints Underwired

F Hinds, Britain’s leading independent family jewellers with over 100 high street shops, has appointed specialist digital strategy agency Underwired to build its online customer engagement programme. The retailer, which was established in 1856, serves around 2 million customers every year.

Underwired will develop the brand’s digital marketing strategy and will work closely with the board of the brand.

F Hinds’ Andrew Hinds said of the appointment, “We have a close relationship with many of the customers who use our shops and we want to be able to extend that to provide the same quality of service to them online. Our outlook is long term and hard sell is an anathema, so we only want to be in touch if we have something relevant to offer our customers as individuals. We chose Underwired because their approach mirrors ours and because they are straightforward and focussed on the simple things which matter the most.”

Underwired’s Marketing Strategies Head Matt Button commented, “We’re very excited to be working with such a well established retail business. We will build a long term strategy using our experience and expertise from working with other retailers that remains true to the values and ethos of F. Hinds.” Button was previously Head of CRM at retailers Waterstones and HMV, where he led award-winning customer engagement and loyalty programmes.

Underwired’s clients include Sony, ASICS and Bupa.

http://www.fhinds.co.uk
http://www.underwired.com