News & views

The recent news that "more than 80% of young adults in the world use social media to make purchasing decisions" has got many global brands taking their use of networking sites more seriously.

Surprisingly most SME's, education institutes and public sector organisations are still hesitant about making social media part of their overall strategy.

So we'd like to find out if you are making social media part of your strategy...

have your say and vote about Is social media in your marketing strategy?

Posted Wednesday 7th of October 2009

Each year colleges and universities up and down the country run intensive campaigns in an attempt to attract and engage new students. Marketing and branding budgets are spent on elaborate prospectuses, events, press ads and outdoor advertising. Many further and higher education institutes run strong campaigns with local schools in order to feed students on to courses, but despite all of these efforts it’s becoming increasingly harder to attract new students.

These challenging times, may be due to increasing numbers of distance learning options or the number of new academies opening. However it is more likely that it is due to the changing nature of the demographic. The upcoming generation of learners have been labelled many things, including “Generation Y”,  “Millennials” and “The Mobile Generation”, but one thing is for sure; they are part of a worldwide cultural phenomenon that is going change the rules branding and the way education is delivered.

view full story about Are you ready for Mobile Generation learners?

Posted Tuesday 6th of October 2009

At this year’s prestigious Travolution awards, our client lowcostholidays.com beat off stiff competition from Thomson, Thomas Cook and STA Travel to scoop win the Best Agent-Operator award for their website (which we designed). Fist bumps and high fives all round our studio today.

The judges said:
“A clear and coherent design, no-nonsense approach which sticks to its core product offering. A fantastic example of how to stick to the basics but ensure the proposition is well-executed for its target audience.”

Lawrence Hunt, Director at lowcostholidays.com says:
"Well done, you have worked so hard during the last 12 months in building our fantastic web site, thank you for your commitment and dedication you've done a fantastic job and you should be proud of our site"

Yay us.

Posted Thursday 1st of October 2009

According to research by Millward Brown Google's brand was valued at $100 billion. With more and more investors placing emphasis on brand valuation, it's about time we took stock of our own brands...

have your say and vote about What is your brand worth to you?

Posted Tuesday 15th of September 2009

Your brand, your promise
When you create and deliver a brand you construct an image, an image that customers will use to evaluate your business. That image has a number of different tasks, depending on your business objectives, but it’s fair to say that all brands should give a true representation of a business’s values. Your brand makes a promise to deliver on its image.

However, if your brand image hides a different story, it’s very possible consumers who have bought in to your product or service will feel cheated. We all know that a cheated consumer is not to be messed with, as the web provides limitless outlets for customers with negative feelings.

view full story about What can marketers learn from the Innocent backlash?

Posted Friday 11th of September 2009

On the 30th September The Chartered Institute of Marketing will try to resolve the old question of 'who rules the boardroom - marketing or finance?'.

At this exciting joint event, co-hosted by CIM Sussex and CIMA, you’ll hear views and insight from experts in both marketing and finance. You’ll then have a unique opportunity to thrash out and  solve a scenario around your table in a discussion hosted by representatives from CIM, CIMA, ICAEW, PWC and DMA.

Come along to understand what makes the suits in finance tick and the open-necked shirts in marketing buzz, and whether working closer together makes for a profitable future and peaceful co-existence.

Venue:
Crowne Plaza Hotel, Langley Drive, Crawley, West Sussex, RH11 7SX

Prices:
£30 non-member, £25 member, £15 studying member

Time:
18:00 Registration and buffet, 18:30 programme starts

Booking Tickets:
Call +44 (0)1628 427340 or book online

Posted Thursday 10th of September 2009

Back in June we were very pleased to add the NHS to our client roster. As our work began we soon found that working with a brand that is so integral to British life comes with as many challenges, as rewards.

We asked ourselves; ‘how do we find creative new ways of delivering one of our country’s most recognisable and well-established brands?’

view full story about Delivering an iconic British brand

Posted Wednesday 9th of September 2009

The South Coast Design Forum, in collaboration with the Design Business Association, is hosting a new event aimed at anyone working within the design sector.

The event is focussed on sharing ways to improve external communications and how to develop long term relationships with clients.

It's the first SCDF event to be held in Brighton and tickets are selling fast. There will be two speakers, some Q&A and perhaps a little bit of schmoozing. We've booked our seats and look forward to seeing you there.

Posted Tuesday 25th of August 2009

This month we’ve been busy with pitches and we started to think, it’s been a part of business for many years and shows no sign off leaving.

have your say and vote about Is free pitching bad for business?

Posted Tuesday 25th of August 2009

This time last year we decided to turn our process in on ourselves and review our brand strategy.

We began the process by carving out some time in between our client work, to get together and share what we’ve learnt over the past few years. We looked at the projects that went very well and even the ones that didn’t go so well. It was important for us to openly and honestly discuss our strengths and weaknesses, along with closely dissecting how our clients engage us as a business and what they need from us.

view full story about The Preview Review

Posted Monday 3rd of August 2009