Advertising firm flies high thanks to owl clan

Jun 25 2009 by Andrew Mernin, The Journal

A FAMILY of owls has helped a North East digital agency win a contract that could see its groundbreaking technology installed in 300 shops across the country.

The feathered family made up of Rowland, wife Rosie, and children Rocco and Ruby, will be given life – through animation – as the faces of national pharmacy chain Rowlands, which has 500 stores nationwide.

However their creators, Newcastle digital agency Guerilla, will also use the characters to show off their new digital technology currently being rolled out to 50 Rowlands stores, with plans to go into another 250.

Guerilla has written software from scratch for a system that allows its clients to control the content of advertising on in-store TV screens from one central location.

The technology fits on to a single USB stick, which is then inserted into the back of a TV screen which will carry in-store advertising.

Guerilla is hoping to expand its use of the technology beyond Rowlands in the future and will take on a handful of new staff to work on the in-store installation process.

Managing director James Allen said: “Instore TV was a challenging project to oversee. The efficient roll-out of the product was down to the expertise of the staff, both at the development and project management stage.

“We hope to maintain the same level of proficiency in rolling out the project in the additional stores and retain the success enjoyed by both agency and client.”

Meanwhile, the company has developed a new ‘extranet’ site for community pharmacy group Numark, which will be used by thousands of pharmacists from all over the country to order new stock.

In March this year, Guerilla tripled the size of its headquarters, moving from an office on Westgate Road into new premises on St James Street, near St James’s Park.

It has also made a number of new appointments this year as it grows its public relations, communications and digital offering.

Recent arrivals at the company include Joanne Elliott and Matthew Ellison as account managers, Rob Palmer as website designer and Heather Bell as director of public relations.

Claire Knight was brought in to build the firm’s new media division and returned to the North East after 10 years of working in Edinburgh.

With a background in advertising, she has worked with several well- known brands including Newcastle United, Tesco Personal Finance and Hilton International.