Hello,
we are Salted Herring,
a digital design agency.

Everyone seems to have a fancy title for themselves these days, so what do we actually do?
Well, we think of it as whatever it takes to help your brand navigate successfully through the big wide digital world out there. That could be digital strategy, engaging websites, iPhone and iPad applications, email marketing campaigns, social media and gosh, just so much more.

If it’s in the digital realm, we can do it, and we’ll do it in a unique way that people enjoy, remember, share and come back to. Otherwise, what’s the point?

People interact in a unique way with digital media.

They want to be informed, entertained, share their opinions and get involved. At Salted Herring we think it’s all about communicating with people in a way that gives them an emotional connection with the brand. Once they’re engaged, meaningful dialogue is created. Deep down, it’s about people connecting on a human level, no matter what your brand.

Naturally this emotional experience must be one that helps take your brand and business where you want to be. This journey starts with a first step -  seeing where you are at. We’ll dig deep into your brief before we get going to make sure we get off on the right track.

From here we can start a process of creating something bespoke and distinctive to help you leave the competition for dust.

Every project starts with a good chat.

Ideally in person, but we have lots of overseas clients so Skype or even the phone works perfectly fine.

After some time getting to know you we will have an idea of what it is you need. Whether it’s serious strategic direction, a powerful new brand, or beautifully crafted digital design, we’ll make a plan.

If it turns out you need a website, there’s usually a fairly common way we go about this. It’s hard (if not a little dull) to sum up in words so we put together this little animation.

You could say the whole thing is a bit like building a house...

Our services include:

Strategy and digital marketing:
Brand strategy, Digital strategy, Campaigns, Social media, Email marketing, Banner development.

Branding:
Logo and identity development.

Websites:
Creative website concepts and design, Website development (HTML and Flash), Content Management Systems (CMS), Database Integration, Search Engine Optimisation, E-commerce, Web Traffic Analysis.

Content Creation:
Website content creation (copy, video, photography), Game development, Interactive video creation, Multimedia Presentations, 2D and 3D animation, Sound and music design.

Applications:
Online application development, iPhone and iPad application design and development, Facebook Applications.

As for the technical stuff:
We use a mixture of tools for each job. We're not big on one-size-fits-all solutions; we tend to craft a custom solution each time.

If it's a microsite, the best tools tend to be a combination of HTML and/or Flash Actionscript.

If it's a brand experience we'll usually use a combination of HTML and Javascript supported on the back-end/CMS side with either PHP, Python, or Java if we're getting serious.

Where it lowers costs and makes sense to do so we'll combine existing online products to provide a CMS out of online services and tools you probably already know and use (like Flickr, Blogger, Silverstripe or Drupal).

Applications, iPhone and iPad apps and other heavy weight projects tend to roll with a combination of C, Objective-C, Java and Flash.

In addition, no matter what we're working on, it's safe to assume there's at least a sprinkling of SQL, some Unix/Linux server management and some integration with the myriad of social network platforms.

New Zealand + Australia.

Whittaker’s / Heritage Hotels / Fonterra / EnzaFoods Ltd / DOC / Ministry of Social Development / Frucor / Positively Wellington Tourism / SPARC / Greggs / Victoria University of Wellington / Mr. Whippy / Local Government New Zealand / Run the Red / PQ Blackwell / Thom Music / Cornerstone Group / Wishbone Bikes / WWF New Zealand / VB Gold / Studio 53 Architects / Moving Tactics

Europe.

O’Neill Europe / Phillips / Bavaria Beer / Volkswagen Netherlands / BP / Martini Holland / Massimo Vitali

Agencies.

Colenso BBDO / Assignment Group / Ogilvy / Draft FCB / Clemenger BBDO / Ocean Design / Degree Design / Achtung! / Droga5

Salted Herring is owned by two partners.

Dutchman Pepijn Zuijderwijk (Pep) is the founder and creative director, and New Zealander Kate Handley is the business director.

Pep Zuijderwijk - Creative Director
Pep has been designing and art directing high-end, award-winning web work for more than 14 years. After graduating with Honours in Graphic Design at the Royal Academy of Arts in The Netherlands he went on to work in design and interactive agencies in the Hague, Wellington, and then London – where Salted Herring was born. Working on big brands such as MTV, Puma and BBC, Pep gained experience on big Europe-wide campaigns.

Moving back to the motherland with Salted Herring, the agency really grew up in Amsterdam during a real explosion in interactive from 2002-2006. Pep has been at the forefront of innovative technological and creative development in the industry from its beginnings, and continues to push the boundaries.

Kate Handley - Business Director
Kate is responsible for everything from new business to client servicing and general management. She’s also involved with concepting and sourcing creative talent for site content from time to time.

With a varied career in creative businesses spanning 15 years, she has an art for bringing creativity and business together harmoniously. Originally a commercial photographer in Wellington in the mid 1990's, she then she moved into advertising in 2000, working for some of the world’s best agencies in London and Amsterdam. She produced campaigns for the likes of Nike, British Telecom, Clarks and Vodafone. Now, after five years running Salted Herring with Pep, she’s passionate about the original and effective digital creative Salted Herring consistently produces to help its clients’ businesses. Kate does not eat Salted Herring.

The Professor
Now retired, the Professor was a founding member of Salted Herring. Starring in two previous Salted Herring websites, he made his mark and caused international intrigue.

After reaching digital enlightenment, he now lives in the self-proclaimed state of Zeeland in the North sea where no digital media is found at all whatsoever.

Awards.

2010 GOLD BeST Award in the large scale websites category for www.wishbonedesign.co.nz
2010 BRONZE BeST Award in the large scale websites category for www.runthered.co.nz
2010 FWA, SITE of the DAY (www.thefwa.com) for www.wishbonedesign.co.nz These awards recognize the most cutting edge, innovative web work worldwide.
2010 FINALIST in the Music category of the South by Southwest Awards in Texas for www.splore.net
2010 FINALIST in the Culture and Lifestyle category of the AIMIA awards (Australian Interactive Media Industry Awards) for www.splore.net
2009 BRONZE BeST Award in the Interactive Media and website design category for www.thegreatnzsongbook.co.nz
2008 GOLD BeST Award in the interactive media and website design category for www.oceandesign.co.nz
2008 FWA, SITE of the DAY for Volkswagen snake.
2006 BRONZE Eurobest Award for Advergame Pakman
2006 BRONZE Cannes Cyber Lion for Pakman (the worlds top advertising award)
2006 ADCN Award for Selmore (Dutch advertising awards)
2006 BRONZE Epica Award for Selmore website
2005 FWA, SITE of the DAY for Pakman
2005 NOMINATED Eurobest Award for Selmore website
2004 GOLD on webmaster republic for Salted Herring site
2003 WINNER monthly American Design Award for Original Salted Herring site
2002 FWA, SITE of the DAY for Original Salted Herring site

Publications.

2011 Whittaker's site featured on several industry blogs including Stoppress, Design Daily and Campaign Brief.
2010 Salted Herring invited to feature on www.passiton.com - a showcase of innovative NZ businesses being promoted to kiwis abroad via the KEA network.
2010 PQ Blackwell site is featured on American creative inspiration site Commarts as a Webpick.
2009 Equus Limited Edition and Run the Red featured in the Web Design Index.
2009 “The New Cool” article about Salted Herring in Idealog magazine’s Creative Showcase.
2008 “Walking into Websites” article about Salted Herring in the DominionPost Business Day section in November.
2008 Showcase of BeST awards gold winners in Prodesign in November.
2008 “Kiwi websites need to be spiced up” an article in the marketing section of the NBR in July.
2006 Salted Herring was featured in a 2 page article in ‘Creatie’ a Dutch design and communication magazine.
2004 Salted Herring featured in Xfuns, a design magazine from Taiwan.
2004 Salted Herring featured with 4 page profile in Korean W.E.B magazine.
2003 Salted Herring becomes part of Digitalcraft: The digital design collection of the Frankfurt museum of applied arts.
2003 Dutch design and visual communication magazine Items features Salted Herring.
2003 Computer arts magazine showcases Salted Herring in a 3 page article.