Independent British-owned energy supplier and challenger brand OVO Energy has appointed Wieden+Kennedy London to lead creative communications across traditional and emerging channels. The independent agency won the business in a competitive pitch, after being invited to participate via response to a strategic question. 

OVO Energy is a fast growing utility provider that prides itself on thinking as a retailer would and innovating like a tech business, whilst also providing energy to over 400,000 customers nationwide. Known for its award winning customer service OVO delivers a first class customer experience, along with simpler, fairer tariffs setting them apart from the Big Six.

“OVO is a forward thinking energy firm with a playful and provocative personality,” says Neil Christie, Managing Director of Wieden+Kennedy London. “We're looking forward to harnessing this and helping them to shake up the industry by creating thought provoking, purposeful campaigns that will make a real difference and demonstrate just how easy it is for customers to opt for a better, fairer deal on their energy.”

After finding ourselves scattered across various corners of the world over the Christmas break, we’ve all reconvened on Hanbury Street, back to work and (mostly) ready to kick off the New Year. And what better way to start than with some exciting news? 

It’s been announced today that our proposal has made it to the final four projects making up the Tate IK Prize 2015 shortlist. 

The Tate IK Prize is awarded annually by Tate for an innovative idea that uses the power of digital technology to connect broad audiences with art. The winner is given the opportunity to turn their idea into a reality in collaboration with Tate. Last year, the winning project was The Workers' After Dark project, which allowed the public to experience the galleries at night via live-streaming robots. 

We proposed Tate Here, an immersive audio experience which transports the public to the places around the country that inspired great works of British art. Tate Here would place museum-style benches in public locations that relate to artworks from Tate’s collection, such as Eltham for Chris Ofili, Margate for Turner, or Manchester for Lowry. Visiting each bench would trigger an immersive audio experience that uses binaural sound, via a mobile app, composed of archival material, sounds, music and storytelling, to bring-to-life the stories artworks have to tell that are intimately tied to places and events around the UK.

Watch the video on Tate's site here to hear more about the project from our creative directors Dan & Ray. 

Stay tuned for more; the Tate's panel of judges will annouce the winner next month.