A refreshing story: Founding the Refresh & CO. Ad Agency
How It Started
The Refresh & Co. Ad Agency started as a mere common interest between five individuals who shared a love for beauty and a drive for social and environmental awareness. Combining their knowledge and shared background in communication, in 2022 these five university students in Athens joined forces to create a one-of-a-kind creative media and ad communication channel, which would be used to help people get in touch with the beauty and skincare industry through their main service of advertising and marketing — while staying true to specific core values, like ethical consumption and environmental consciousness.
But who is Refresh & Co.? In our “about” section on our website, we presented ourselves as a Greek creative media marketing & ad agency that works in the field of beauty, makeup and self-care — with the tagline “Refresh yourself. Refresh your brand”. Specifically, we specialize in advertising beauty, cosmetic and skincare products to a new generation of shoppers online, in combination with creative content creation.
We mainly provide three (3) main services:
- Advertising and Content Creation
- Digital and Social Media Advertising
- Ad Curation and Variety
Our mission as a beauty & selfcare advertising agency is to meet the desires, needs and expectations of our clients and their brands to their best of our ability, with high quality promotional beauty content and marketing services. We provide a platform for our clients to prosper in the advertising and engagement sector, as well as a unique perspective from which our clients can succeed. We want to build good relationships both with our clients and their audiences based on trust and reciprocity and create a cooperative and collaborative working environment. Refresh & Co. advertises products, services, and brands equally and with its own flair — creating wholesome and client-curated campaigns. We help companies and brands promote themselves authentically, wholeheartedly and eco-consciously, putting time and effort in each and every client request.
Being aware of our environmental responsibility as an ad agency existing in the height of the climate crisis, we take particular care in putting effort to preserve the natural world by working with companies that are characterized by eco-conscious and sustainability goals, and who are continuously striving to improve the environmental aspects of their business operations with responsible production & promotion of sustainable consumption.
Our values include:
- Commitment: As an ad agency, we are committed to creating a promotion satisfactory to our client’s needs and expectations.
- Innovation: We constantly strive for uniqueness in our product promotions and creating an one of a kind beauty campaign.
- Responsibility & Accountability: We work with and are determined by an active assumption of responsibility and hold ourselves accountable for any mistakes.
- Inclusivity & Diversity: Just like the beauty industry itself, we strive to include people from various cultures and backgrounds in our work, with different experiences and perspectives.
And most importantly,
- Sustainability & eco-consciousness: We specifically look to work with companies that are cruelty free (no animal testing) and support energy sustainability. We are also committing to specific Sustainable Development Goals, like GOAL 12: Responsible Consumption and Production and GOAL 13: Climate Action.
The Refresh & Co. Website
Our website works as the main hub for information, work and actions for Refresh & CO. It’s a comprehensive framework of our company, our mission and values, our work and promises amongst other things. This is where we direct our audience and possible clients to learn more about us and everything we do and stand for.
It includes 1) a landing page that includes an about section, the story of Refresh & CO., lists of our services and our goals, as well as a short contact section at the end (email & social media channel),
2) Detailed descriptions and explanations of our mission, our vision and our values, including our main value of Sustainability and Eco-consciousness,
3) A list of our team members/co-founders and the company’s departments,
- Strategy Department: Kyraki Logotheti
- Innovation & Growth Department: Armalda Hoxha
- Creative Department: Stelios Steiakakis & Anna-Danai Tsakalidou
- Media & PR Department: Nefeli Babe
4) A comprehensive list of our work and projects; In the short period of our company’s existence, we have managed to create two (2) projects, which are the GiANT Heart Season 2 Campaign Proposal “Passing to You” for Novibet, and our “BEELIEVE IN BEAUTY” 2023 advertising campaign concept for the APIVITA Experience Store, as a collaboration between us (Refresh& Co.) and APIVITA.
- “PASSING TO YOU”: GiANT Heart Season 2 Campaign Proposal
On May 16th 2022, our team in the Refresh & Co. ad agency had the opportunity to create and present a short communication brief for representatives of Novibet for their ongoing campaign “GiANT Heart”. Here we propose some campaign suggestions and ideas for the second season of their project.
The main concept was the creation of an annual campaign, which would extend the work the project has already done, through new means and actions that give back to the community. This includes: Charity events, Outdoor installations (art), Partnerships and contributors, and, in the context of planning a media strategy, social media presence.
- “BEELIEVE IN BEAUTY”: A digital campaign for APIVITA
On June 6th, 2022, the Refresh & Co. team was able to present finally our newest collaboration and campaign with our client APIVITA, called “BEELIEVE IN BEAUTY” which was based on the APIVITA Experience Store in Athens,Greece. With the goals of spreading the word about the store and promoting both ours and APIVITA’s values on ethical consumerism and environmental consciousness, the campaign, with the message “BEE BEAUTIFUL-BEE RESPONSIBLE”, includes:
- Strategic beauty spots throughout the city of Athens, where people can visit and learn all about the APIVITA Experience Store.
- Outdoor installations (OOH): Advertisements for the experience store will appear on bus stops and billboards located on buildings in Athens.
- TV commercials: The creation of a TV advertisement which will consist of an actual (mini) tour inside the experience store with a narrative of its services & offers.
- Social media & content marketing: Specifically, the campaign will be distributed through Facebook, Instagram & TikTok, and will include the making of creative content and advice on ethical consumption — with the hashtags #beebeautiful & #beeresponsible.
All details for both of these projects can be found in our website and in our two separate following articles about the GiANT Heart initiative in general, and the BEELIEVE IN BEAUTY campaign and how it came to be.
5) Our strategy plan & approach as an Act of Leadership, in the context of Interbrand’s report on “Brands as Acts of Leadership”.
Social Media Channel(s) — Refresh & Co. on Instagram
An important part of our company’s activity and work comes from and is presented through our social media channel on Instagram. Here we post not only information about the agency and our work, but also unique content to engage with our audience. We post info about us, general beauty and skincare tips for our followers, and any announcements on our future or on-going campaign(s)/project(s). It also works a more tangible and superficial example of Refresh & Co.’s social media advertising services.
In conclusion, Refresh & Co. remains a start-up ad & creative media agency in between the large and constantly expanding field of beauty advertising. While that might sound discouraging, we believe that our values of sustainability and eco-consciousness and our creative work reflect the potential for further expanding our actions and services, by working with more companies and promoting sustainable and ethical consumption practises to an even bigger audience - as the consumerist audience’s need and demand for alternative eco-friendly practises continues to rise in the coming years.
Tags: Betty Tsakarestou , Stelios Stiakakhs, Kylogotheti, Armaldaxotza, Danai, Nefeli Babe
