DUO:Design and Marketing

What is the role of associations in our Linkedin world?

Some months ago we were commissioned to review and implement a new brand and website for The Association of Landscape Gardeners (APL). This has now been launched and can be seen by clicking here. The site has been designed to act as a gateway for consumers looking for professional landscaping help and as a community site for Members to gain accreditation, to share ideas and to continually learn about their craft. Also rather than ignore the trend of social networking and isolate itself in an elitist way it has, based on our recommendation, developed opportunities, via a Linkedin specialist group, to involve others in their discussions and debates.

The outcome of this re-invigorated brand for the APL is an association that I believe still does have a tangible role and added value in our socially networked society.

Changing Opinions

In my mind one of the key facets of marketing and design is to change people's opinions. Not in a cynical way with 'spin' and 'puff' but in a way that is authentic and encouraging.

I believe (and I hope they agree) we have started to do this with one of our clients, Barnsdale Gardens. As part of our strategic development of their brand we identified the need to broaden their visitor profile to younger age groups and families. it will be a long process but it has begun with the implementation of a campaign aimed at getting local schools involved by designing a Children's Garden for Barnsdale.This was launched back in July with the sending of posters and competition details to 100 schools. To-date over 20% of the schools have agreed to participate and more are signing up everyday.

The campaign will raise the awareness and relevancy of the Garden's as a visitor attraction for families, it will lead to greater community involvement and provide a myriad of PR opportunities for the brand. All-in-all 'authentic and encouraging.

Here is a photograph of one of the first school's signing up with the pupils holding the support material produced by DUO.

 

Today was great day!

Isn't it great when you get to the end of a busy week and you receive some positive feedback from unexpected directions.

This was an email forwarded to us by Nick Hamilton who runs Barnsdale Gardens -  we have recently reinvigorated his brand with a new identity, website and other communications (see www.barnsdalegardens.co.uk) 

"I have been using your redesign as an example of great marketing during a recession in presentations I have been making for Nottinghamshire County Council and Business Links.
 
Well done!
 
Regards,
 
Jane Reynolds"

This is testimony to our client's bravery in very difficult market conditions.

Also another client contacted us today out of the blue (Anglian Water - for whom we have developed an internal brand called Asset Plus - see anglianwater ) and said "In November we were judged as one, if not the leading, asset management company by Ofwat according to their scoring system, it is too early to say if we have retained the position, but Asset Plus was a key enabler.  This business is really getting behind what we started and there is a great organisational pull rather than us pushing.

This in my mind is exactly what good design and communications is about - being a 'key enabler'. Love this and love design - even after a long week.

Paul Middlebrook

Go on – take a break!

Last week we hot-footed it over the channel for a last minute family holiday in the Loire valley. It was great. Like so many people, we’ve had the big ‘CC’ cloud over us for much of this year and we’d settle for some time out in England. But, with kids out of school, a natural break in client projects and the sun shining, out came the laptop and in a few hours we’d bagged a bargain and were off. The jewel that we found was in a tiny village called La Celle-Guenand. Surrounded by mile upon mile of green and yellow – forests and corn and sunflower fields – we were treated to blue-sky tranquility. Time to downshift a gear. Time to think. Time to listen (why did God make birds so noisy?)! Time to BE rather than DO. Time to NOTICE rather than WALK BY. And guess what? We’ve come back to DUO with energy and some ...a busy week, packed with meetings and things to do but we’re raring to go. So, that’s official then – holidays are definitely good for you and worth fighting to hang on to even when the going gets tough.

Viv Middlebrook

A Brand with a Capital 'B'

Wow, it's been a busy week. We have just launched a new brand identity and website (with integrated Shop) for Barnsdale Gardens to coincide with their participation at Gardener's World Live at the Birmingham NEC.

The new brand has been designed to contemporise their offer and support its efforts to attract a wider audience of younger gardeners and their families.

Barnsdale Gardens, founded by Geoff Hamiton and made famous by the BBC Gardener's World TV programme, has a rich and authentic legacy based around the value that 'gardening is for everyone'. The design for the new Barnsdale Gardens brand reflects this approachability and communicates the proposition that it is the home of the 'largest collection of individually designed gardens in the UK'.

To view the new Barnsdale Gardens Website click here.

Getting together means more

Is it just me, or has the business world fallen out of love with events? Is the inexorable rise of building online relationships in the virtual world snuffling out our innate need for real life human interaction? Or is it just the pace that we live at, or our credit crunch mentality, where to spend nothing is definitely better than to spend something well? I don’t have the answer to these questions, however, what I do know is that as a design and marketing consultancy we are constantly challenged by our clients to achieve maximum impact with minimum spend whenever they are looking to create and develop meaningful relationships with their publics.

And so to one of our clients, the Wates Group, who earlier this month wanted to launch a new business; Wates YourSpace – a specialist interior fit out company aimed at smaller sized projects in the private and public sectors. The question to DUO was HOW to communicate the message on a tight budget and within an even tighter timescale. With a corporate brand proposition of ‘Above all, it’s about people’, real people contact had to lead the promotions and so a drinks reception at the very business like, yet younger, funkier IoD Hub on New Broad Street, London EC2 was the focus for the launch. The event was supported by an fantastic showcase of Wates YourSpace’s work in the form of a contemporary brochure, display panels and AV. It was great fun; a cellist played, guests arrived and connected over a glass of wine and canape or two, the Wates team thrived on the energy in the room and many new horizons were talked about and imagined.

Why am I writing about this rather ordinary, 2-hour event that took place on 13 May 2009? Well as an advocate of real human interaction being infinitely better than all that virtual stuff, and recognising that actually what we all seek is to attract energy to ourselves and our businesses it’s time to get back to getting together a bit more often. Energy is infectious. It builds people up and makes them feel that they can achieve even more. Its the fuel for ideas, creativity, progress. And its something that is still a little illusive to even the best web designers. So for me, events and occasions to generate some positive energy is just what we need more of!

Viv Middlebrook, Client Services Director

The unexpected sells

We were at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show this week seeing a couple of our clients (Adam Frost and Barnsdale Gardens) and I was reminded about the potential power and impact of Ambient Media. These wonderful little cars with artificial grass, from Easigrass were to be seen bombing around Chelsea causing alround to 'stop and stare'. What a fantastic, memorable and fun way to cement a brand impression.

Small world, and I love it!

The internet is 20 years old today! The first website, built at a lab in Switzerland just up the road from my ex-employer, DuPont, went online in 1991. And there are now more than 80m sites worldwide, which is a fantastic illustration of a concept that became a rapid success due to its overwhelming power to store knowledge, connect people and ideas and generally make the world and its wonders accessible to so many. I’ve always been the first to admit to being a bit anti-techie around the office. I’m the one who likes to read it on paper instead of on screen; to use my fountain pen as opposed to a keyboard and am most happy when I meet clients face to face instead of dialing into the dreaded virtual world of the teleconference. However, I’ve decided to be more techno-positive and to acknowledge and embrace the true power of technology for the way in which it enables me to fulfil my passion for connecting and communicating with people in my day to day work, no matter where they are in the world. Just the other day, I received a great email from a client colleague who has recently relocated to Memphis, Tennessee, after being based in China for the past six years. He’s been a regular contributor to the magazine called 'Going Further' that I write for my client, Lucite International, and we’ve shared many an amusing email as I’ve learned about his world and work through colourful stories of another culture. These stories are then edited and retold to many, many more, and are a wonderful way of creating understanding, removing fear, opening horizons and, above all, building great relationships. This world-shrinking technology also means that I receive information from all my sources in Asia through the night, can work on stories the following morning and have them into magazine design by close of play, making full use of a 24hr working day between us. So the next time there’s a frustrating technology blip, I’m going to think on the positives of technology and all that it can do for enriching my work-life.

Viv Middlebrook, Client Services Director

Its good to feel optimistic

Sometimes when you are in the 'present' it is hard to look forward to the future so it was good to see this more optimistic view of the future from my ex-boss - Sir Martin Sorrel at WPP. He said today after issuing a statement that revenues would be 2% less in 2009 compared to 2008:

“Although the economic gloom has heightened recently, with further earnings disappointments, surprise dividend cuts, continued financial restructurings and rights issues, we still believe there will be a recovery of sorts in 2010, partly driven by weak comparatives, as the massive Keynesian fiscal injections, quantitative easings and interest rate reductions take hold.

“These already approximate to $12 trillion or approximately 20 per cent of worldwide GDP of $64 trillion.

“The first half of 2009 is going to be extremely tough, it will probably be better in the second half of 2009 in comparison with the second half of 2008.

“It’s very foolish to try and call when the market will turn, and in the real world, but we’re sticking our necks out and saying that, in 2010, we will see some improvement — but it will be against weak comparatives.”

Certainly for DUO it has been a tough 6 months but we are starting to see a more 'green shoots' of recovery. Just this week we have been appointed to provide marketing support to a famous visitor attraction in our area - Barnsdale Gardens. With the trend for more 'staycation' holidays and the consumer desire for less costly experiences the gardens have a fantastic opportunity to prosper.

Creativity is disruptive

I thought that I would share this as it made me think and maybe it will make you think too. The message was posted on a blog by Dave Trott and mentions a speech by Sir Ken Robinson called 'Is Education Killing Creativity'. The most touching part comes at the end.

He talks about a little girl who was very disruptive at school. In class she was always chattering, moving about, fidgeting. She’d had to move school several times because of this problem. One day her mother was at her wit’s end when the headmaster called her in.

She sat with her daughter in his office waiting for the inevitable litany of reasons why he couldn’t have his daughter at his school. Waiting for him to suggest medical treatment: drugs that would calm her down and make her behave. But this headmaster didn’t do any of that.

He said to the girl, “Your mother and I are just popping outside for a chat. We won’t be long.”

Then he got up to leave, but he turned the radio on before he did. Outside the room he said to the mother, “Just watch this for a moment.” And they looked through a little window at the girl. At first she sat there, listening to the music on the radio.
Then she started tapping her feet, Then she stood up and began moving, swaying to and fro. Then she began moving rhythmically all around the room.

The headmaster turned to her mother and said, “Look, you haven’t got an unruly child, you’ve got a dancer. She needs a school that caters for her talent.” And that’s what happened. The mother put the little girl in dance school. For the first time in her life, she was with children like her, and she fitted in. First she became a ballet dancer, then eventually a famous choreographer.

And now she is worth millions, and arranges all Andrew Lloyd Webber’s productions. All because one headmaster saw an opportunity where everyone else only saw a problem. Because he wasn’t trying to make her fit the norm. He wanted to celebrate what made her different.

Her creativity was disruptive and sometimes awkward (not normal) but this was the thing that made her special. All it needed was for someone to see it.

Maybe, we all need to look harder for talent and passion rather than educational acceptance.