APOLLO AGENCY

Vasiliki Koulourioti

Published in

AD DISCOVERY — CREATIVITY Stories by ADandPRLAB

8 min readJul 2, 2023

Betty Tsakarestou

Daniela Moldoveanu

Afroditi Skiada

Creating Apollo Agency was a very fascinating and exciting project for our team since we got the chance to meet the world of advertising and Public Relations. We chose the AD Discovery and Creativity Lab Project in order to explore and improve our abilities and in the meantime have fun and cooperate with the other members of our team. As a Greek-owned advertising agency, we decided to represent brands, products, and services that are part of the Greek fashion and cosmetics industry. Building an agency from scratch is not an easy process, but with the guidance of our supervisor, we mapped out our steps.

One of the first steps we had to make to establish our advertising agency was to determine mission goals and values. After a lot of processing, we finally landed on the following:

VISION
• Establishing our agency within the Greek industry
• Gaining consumers’ trust
• Maximizing our audience
• Representing start-up companies

MISSION
 Using innovative methods to promote our clients
(presenting brands internally — humanism, emotions, personification)
 Creating interactive environments between our clients and their customers
 Acquiring and maintaining a consistent client list

VALUES
A company’s values are determinative of its work and its impact on the audience. Our first value is reliability, as we aim to be honest with our clients. We support transparency and we never conceal or add fake information in any of our projects. Following those is respect which is a condition for cooperation with any client. We do not only respect our clients, but we promote respect for all the consumer audience as well as all contributors to our work within the company. Also, humanism is a great value for our agency as we provide a friendly helpful environment for our audience while we support a sustainable, affordable, and eco-friendly mindset. Also, teamwork could not be missing from the list as without interaction, communication, and collective effort none of our projects could have been completed. Coordination is the key to success and only when everyone takes part do we achieve our goals. The last one is creativity and innovation as we are not tagged in all fashion ways of marketing and advertising, but we always want to promote new approaches and new ideas
that will attract interest. We want to be the leaders in new aspects of advertising.

Our website is one of our main communication platforms, that we use to present ourselves as a company as well as our work. We mention who we are, our core (vision, mission, values), our team, our projects. We have also included a section that includes links to all other communication platforms and a “contact us” form, so our clientele can reach out to us.

Specifically, on social media, we are more focused on Instagram. We decided to make it our main platform, due to its structure, popularity, and its convenience of use. Through Instagram, we promote not only our work but also our agency’s foundations and team members. We publish all the content we create for our projects and provide a general picture of each one of our collaborations. We use Instagram to make our opinions and
beliefs known to our audience, and our first — pinned — posts about the launch of the agency and we have information about ourselves — our creators, roles and goals.

Tik Tok is a secondary platform that we use to show backstage of our work. Tik tok is where we show our human side (bloopers, good and bad moments etc). We do not only post the content of our projects but also videos that represent us throughout this journey. We aim to share authentic content to showcase our real personalities and not just a standard agency
image.

PROJECT : NikeSync

Our first project was one of our biggest milestones, and therefore we decided to give it a lot of importance. Starting with our first project “Nike Sync”- a service. The campaign was all about an app specifically created for women globally to help them control their menstrual cycle better while adjusting their working out routines and nutrition based on their needs.
One of the main goals of this service was to promote that women should never be ashamed of their bodies, while also learning more about themselves and that they are not weak because of their cycles. In order for us to create our campaign, we had to study and analyze the App’s usage and
features, the first campaign that was designed for it, future plans and goals for the service etc. Then we were called upon to develop the campaign.

Since it was our first project we did not have a specific approach to follow. After a lot of research, we thought that the best-promoting method to use would be storytelling.

Our proposal was the following:

PROJECT : Marmalady

Our second project was focused on fashion and more specifically the promotion of “Marmalady Clothing Bar”, a Greek fashion company that focuses on the creation, selling, and promoting of female clothes in Greece and Cyprus. According to the company, their goal is none other than inspiring women to dress a lot more feminine, sexy, and powerful while
boosting on a great scale their confidence level. We created a campaign for the summer collection called: Summer Nights in Greece. Following our previous project, we decided to go with a campaign that is based on storytelling and focused on the brand’s customers. More specifically, due to the brand’s character as authentic and independent, we thought that using this approach would be the most effective way to promote the product. The main content was made by customers as we asked them to post photos and videos of their nights out wearing Marmalady clothing. They shared their experience and we made it the central part of the campaign. The aim was to present everyday women through authentic moments of summer fun, in order to show customers how they too can identify with the girls depicted. We wanted to make female customers feel confident while connecting fashion with fun where clothes play an important role but only with their positive contribution. In other words, we don’t need beautiful bodies and professional models to showcase a collection.

OUR ADVERTISING METHOD AND APPROACH

By implementing a customer-centric approach and storytelling as our advertising method, we realized that there are many benefits. More specifically:
 Emotional Connection: Storytelling allows advertisers to create a narrative that resonates with customers on an emotional level. By crafting a compelling story, advertisers can tap into customers’ desires, aspirations, and values, helping to establish a deep and meaningful connection. This emotional connection can drive brand loyalty and long-term customer relationships.
 Relatability: Customers are more likely to engage with advertising that they can relate to. By adopting a customer-centric approach, advertisers focus on understanding their target audience’s needs, preferences, and pain points. This knowledge allows them to create narratives that address customers’ concerns and offer solutions, making the advertising more relevant and relatable.
 Authenticity: Customers appreciate authenticity in advertising. When brands prioritize the customer experience and place the customer at the center of their stories, it signals a genuine commitment to understanding and addressing their needs. This authenticity builds trust and credibility, which are crucial for building long-term relationships with customers.
 Differentiation: In a crowded advertising landscape, storytelling can help brands stand out. By using narratives that evoke emotions and create memorable experiences, advertisers can differentiate their products or services from competitors. A customer- centric approach allows for personalized and targeted messaging, making it easier to cut through the noise and capture customers’ attention.
 Retention and Advocacy: Effective storytelling in advertising can have a lasting impact on customers. Engaging narratives that focus on the customer can create a positive experience and a sense of loyalty. Satisfied customers are more likely to become brand advocates, sharing their positive experiences with others and helping to expand the brand’s reach through word-of-mouth marketing.
 Long-Term Value: Building customer relationships is not just about short-term sales. It is about creating long-term value. By adopting a customer-centric approach and leveraging storytelling, advertisers can create narratives that go beyond immediate product features and benefits. They can communicate a brand’s values, mission, and vision, fostering a sense of belonging and inspiring customers to become part of a larger story.

SPOTIFY

As we wanted to establish ourselves and grow our company, we thought we should try a more engaging and interactive way of advertising. So, we approached a different perspective of marketing, “Podcasts”. We will be the hosts of our podcast, having a wide variety of discussion topics such as social issues, fashion, personal experiences etc. We’ve already published our first podcast about working women (current situation, issues, struggles), while sharing our own experiences at work. In the future, the podcast will include discussions on the latest trends in beauty and fashion, providing insights on what’s hot and how to incorporate them into everyday life. This type of content would be beneficial to the audience as it helps them stay updated and make informed choices about their personal style. The agency could invite industry experts, such as makeup artists, hairstylists, fashion designers, and beauty influencers, to share their knowledge, experiences, and tips. These interviews would provide valuable insights and advice, empowering the audience to enhance their beauty and fashion routines. We also aim to feature stories of successful women in business, highlighting their achievements, challenges, and lessons learned. By sharing these stories, the agency can inspire its audience, especially aspiring professionals, to pursue their dreams and overcome obstacles in the beauty and fashion industry. Our podcasts will not only be published on Spotify but they will be published on any social media platform as the show our point of view of modern society. Hosting a podcast allows the agency to expand its reach and increase brand awareness, potentially attracting new clients and customers who resonate with the content and values of the agency.

Overall, our experience was very pleasant and meaningful, despite the problems and difficulties that we have faced. At the end of the day we always came up with the desired results. We shared many beautiful moments and all along cooperation, honesty and trust were the keys to success. As young entrepreneurs, we hope this is not just a project for university but something that will grow and expand in the future.