Mr B & Friends has created a vibrant brand transformation for two South West hospital charities as they merge into one.
The agency developed a brand positioning to strengthen the appeal of two charities as they combine under the new name of Bristol & Weston Hospitals Charity. Formerly separated as Above & Beyond and Weston Area Charitable Trust, the charity will now support all 10 sites within University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust (UHBW) beyond what the NHS is able to provide.
The distinctive new identity will provide a platform to launch the unified charity, engaging both new and existing supporters. Built from an organising thought of ‘Do great things’, the new brand shows the huge potential of the merger. The logo’s sunburst acts as a visual metaphor for the work the charity does. It’s the joy they deliver, the mark they make and the spark they ignite. It radiates the positivity synonymous with the team’s approach to fundraising, creating a truly single-minded beacon for their brand. A playful, punchy tone of voice instils a dynamic sense of personality, resulting in an identity that’s hard to ignore.
In addition to the strategy and identity work, full brand guidelines have been provided for ongoing consistency, while Mr B & Friends has worked with the charity team to develop a range of assets, from on-site shop posters to website visuals.
The charity funds the little things that make a big difference and work with the Trust to provide healing environments and spaces which provide dignity, privacy and empathy. They also fund world-class technology, treatments, knowledge and medical research and champion equitable access for all patients.
Simon Barbato, CEO of Mr B & Friends said: “From the first conversation we had with the team at Bristol & Weston Hospitals Charity we could see the passion and dedication they brought to the organisation. We’re delighted that we’ve been able to use our brand expertise to translate their vision into a striking new identity that will raise awareness of the charity and enable them to further its fundraising abilities.”
Paul Kearney, chief executive of Bristol & Weston Hospitals Charity, said: “This is a really exciting opportunity and we wanted a new identity that radiates positivity and has a clear name to represent and reflect this partnership as we move forward.
“Mr B & Friends has really embraced our cause and this new look and we’re looking forward to being a bold, positive and energetic force across Bristol and Weston.”
For more information about Bristol & Weston Hospitals Charity, visit bwhospitalscharity.org.uk
The internet should be accessible for everyone. Sadly, this is not the case.
Globally, around 500,000 new websites are built every day. However, a huge 70% of all these websites do not meet the basic WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines).
Today, there are one billion disabled people around the world – 15% of the global population.
This means that a huge proportion of the world wide web is inaccessible to millions of users who have visual, hearing, motor and/or cognitive impairments.
When in the production stage, website designers and agencies might also have to start considering another growing demographic – the aging population.
Loss of sight, fine motor skills and cognitive function can all greatly impact how well the older generation can interact with a website.
It can be incredibly tempting to create websites with unique layouts, personalised fonts and flashy graphics, but doing so means excluding thousands of potential customers.
Taking ethics out of the equation, there are two major benefits to creating an accessible website.
First, creating an accessible website will shine a positive light on your brand’s identity and firmly position yourself as a trustworthy company.
From an economic standpoint, brands that take the time to create accessible websites are the ones that are profiting.
Take the U.S, for example. Around 54 million people are living with some form of disability according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
This community alone represents approximately $1 trillion in aggregate income, which translates into more than $220 billion in discretionary consumer spending power!
There’s a great deal of misconception around the difficulty of designing an accessible website.
With a few alterations, creating a disability-friendly website can be simple. Here are 6 tips for designing a website that’s accessible to all.
This is often overlooked by designers, but it’s so important to ask people with disabilities to try out your website. If you understand your users’ needs, you can design a functional website with minimal issues.
You should also include people with disabilities on your marketing team, as they will be able to tell you first-hand what hurdles they run into when navigating websites. With this information, you can eliminate these obstacles before it goes live.
Siteimprove is a great online tool that allows you to check the accessibility of your website.
At Adapt, we have used it to locate and rework website features that are deemed inaccessible. Websites are scored with an A, AA, or AAA ratings, with AAA being the highest score. Most digital marketers aspire to have an AA rating.
Using Serif fonts or your own branded fonts can cause a lot of problems for people with dyslexia or visual impairments.
You should try to use Sans Serif fonts where you can as these fonts are much clearer and stand out on most images and coloured backgrounds.
The size of the font is also incredibly important. You should opt for a minimum size of 16 pixels for a Serif font and 14 for a Sans Serif font for easy readability.
To check if your choice of font is meeting the mark, try downloading the WhatFont browser extension.
Most websites that include pictures will use alt tags.
Alt tags are the words you see when you hover your mouse over a picture. They are extremely helpful to those using screen readers.
These tags would be a great addition to your website as you can add detailed descriptions to all your pictures. However, when writing these descriptions, you need to keep them concise.
Adding subtitles to your videos is essential, as they are extremely helpful for people with hearing disabilities or those with ADHD.
Some online platforms like YouTube are programmed with software that adds subtitles automatically. However, if you are producing your own videos, it’s important to take the time to create subtitles.
You should also consider writing transcripts and captioning for your videos, which covers all bases.
On most websites, you’ll notice a great proportion of them use the “click here” button to help you navigate to other pages. While this seems like an effective navigation system, this short description makes life incredibly difficult for those using screen readers.
For those who may not have used screen readers before, these programs scan your website for links to help users with visual impairments navigate around your website.
Short, generalised navigation links are difficult for screen readers to process. So, your users may get stuck on one page of your website, which is not good!
Instead of opting for the standardised “click here” link button, it’s worth writing a descriptive link. This will allow the screen reader to process what you’ve written and will allow the user to understand the content of your pages with ease.
For example, it’s better to write “to learn more about our job opportunities, check out Adapt’s careers page”, instead of “to learn about our job opportunities, click here”.
To help your web links stand out for those with visual impairments, underline them and add colour contrast.
The size and range of your links are incredibly important. Ensure the font of the link is a larger size and has a wide range, as this will be helpful for those with mobility difficulties.
Many people are unable to use a keyboard or mouse to trawl through the web, and instead use speech recognition software, screen readers, head wands, adaptive keyboards and trackball mouses.
These inventions are a great resource to those with visual, hearing or mobility impairments, but they will not work if your website fails to support them.
To ensure your website is easy to navigate for all, program your website to be keyboard-friendly. Adding visual indicators on tabs allows users to know their location on each landing page.
If you have a page that has a lot of content, it’s best to divide it into smaller sections, and the easiest way to do this is to create jump lists.
Another design aspect you need to think about is video. For those of you who already have or are considering adding videos to your website, you need to ensure they don’t play automatically as this can make life difficult for your people using screen readers.
Everyone deserves an easy user experience, and right now we are not doing enough to ensure our websites are accessible.
Taking the steps towards reworking the design of your website can seem challenging at first. But by following these 6 easy steps, you’ll have an accessible website up and running in no time.
The workplace is rapidly changing, but workplace practices, norms, infrastructure and management is struggling to catch up. Digital transformation is estimated to be worth over $400 bn in 2021 and is projected to continue to grow by 25% year-on-year.
This rapid change has left businesses in disarray. Is their digital infrastructure prepared? Which employees are struggling to work digitally? Whose remit does this transformation fall under – the CHRO’s, the CIO’s, or the CEO’s?
Enter Actual Experience.
Luckily for all of us, the Actual Experience (AE) team saw this digital mega trend approaching a decade ago. Having built their business on 10 years’ worth of academic research, they’ve engineered a comprehensive patented algorithm which, minute-by-minute, captures and analyses the real-world, human perception of digital applications and services.
In other words, they help businesses ensure that the digital tools, systems and platforms they’ve invested millions in are actually making work easier for employees, and providing a better experience for their customers.
Currently, many businesses use tools such as employee and customer surveys to find out the answers to those questions. But there’s a problem: employee and customer surveys are subjective and are often inaccurate or inconclusive. But when used in conjunction with Actual Experience’s algorithm, it is possible to glean objective, actionable insights from survey data.
ActualExperience’s Human Experience score provides businesses with an objective analysis showing which specific employees are struggling, and with which specific aspects of their digital infrastructure, so they can focus their time and resources on these issues – and keep up with the ever-shifting digital curve.
So, following on from a successful Account-Based Marketing (ABM) campaign and digital brochure, AE were keen to put their money where their mouth is, and upgrade their own digital offering to reflect their progressive business.
The AE team approached us to upgrade their website from Hubspot to Webflow: a no-code flexible website solution that doesn’t require complicated set-ups.
Our first step was for Actual Experience to take us through a thorough wish list. Here, we put together a full feature list, created high-fidelity wireframes and new digital design styles using their updated brand guidelines.
This process meant that when we transitioned the website over to Webflow, both parties had a very clear picture of what it would look like and how it would function. So we could push for tight deadlines in line with AE’s objectives without having to go back and forth to check small details at every stage.
One of the highlights of the website is the design-led navigation that adapts seamlessly to different screen sizes including phone, tablet and various desktop sizes. This was quick and easy to build with Webflow’s online visual editor. This platform is the perfect application for creating visually stunning, easy to use designs that don’t require massive amounts of coding, which AE in this instance, didn’t.
The navigation is not only designed to draw the user in, but allows different audiences to access different content that suits them. For instance, a HR professional will seek different information to IT professionals.
In the end, we created a future-proofed, design-led website under a demanding timescale, migrating 200+ content types seamlessly from Hubspot to Webflow. Check out the full AE case study here, along with the all-important, client feedback.
To find out more about Webflow, and our other digital design services, get in touch with us today at marketing@proctors.co.uk.
Life has changed immeasurably in the past fifteen months. Social distancing, self-isolation, and WFH are now part of our everyday vocabulary. Physical barriers were put up between us and our friends and family members. The same is true between brands and consumers.
However, as restrictions are loosened, these physical barriers will eventually come down. In a Post-Pandemic world, what legacy will COVID-19 leave for brands, and what newly adopted trends and ways of communicating should stay with us?
Physical Connection – a balancing act
Research suggests that over the course of the pandemic we have leapt 10 years into the future in terms of e-commerce penetration. This has accelerated a decrease in personal interaction with retailers and experiences. Physical connections have been slowly diminishing for decades, as tech-led startups compete with high street brands. From banking to beds, consumers have benefited from the increased choice and embraced the added online convenience. The suggestion being that the death of the high street is inevitable.
However, the jury is still out on the right balance between virtual and physical connections. Just as the pandemic enters its second year in the UK, Amazon launched its first physical UK store (cashless and packed with technology). Tesla – arguably the most future-forward car brand in the world – also places value in physical shopping centre outlets in the heart of towns and cities. Brands venturing offline have one thing in common – they see the move offline as establishing a new touchpoint for the brand as part of an overall ecosystem and to create memorable brand experiences.
‘Phygital’ is a term gaining traction meaning that consumers may be able to have it both ways — online and offline can live together to create more holistic brand experiences. UK-based furniture company Made.com continues to open physical shops that have the look, feel, and product assortment of their online persona.
Some sensory experiences just can’t be duplicated online, such as smelling the coffee, being able to browse to feel a fabric and see quality, or even engaging with a salesperson. Retailers should be thinking of ways to highlight the sensory and personal aspects of offline shopping even after lockdowns are eased.
Brands should remember that once consumers are offered convenience, there’s no going back. If last week they were able to shop online and pick up their order, then they might be unsatisfied if they have to resort to the old method of simply browsing the aisles.
Togetherness – tapping into consumers’ needs
Togetherness and inclusivity have become themes for consumer engagement during the Pandemic. Brands that successfully communicated, “We’re With You,” were able to tap into consumers’ need for comfort in a time of stress. Brands that reinforced this message with positive actions were the most successful.
Aldi developed an ad campaign designed to curb “panic buying.” Their reassuring tone of voice emphasising high quality, low prices and a focus on supporting their own workers as well as local charities has earned them a 10% increase in sales.
Deliveroo made positive gains when they provided 500,000 free meals to NHS workers and those most vulnerable who were unable to leave their homes. They also partnered with VISA to offer financial packages and advice to new restaurants looking to convert to delivery-only.
According to YouGov Plc, 79% of people say that they are more likely to buy from companies that have responded well to the crisis. Brands’ handling of the pandemic will affect how consumers see them and ultimately where they spend their money.
Realness – being refreshingly honest
During the pandemic we all had to adapt to new ways of communicating with each other via digital screens. Seeing our friends and colleagues’ kitchens or spare rooms; being interrupted by kids and cats all helped establish a new level of intimacy to our daily interactions. This also manifested itself in brand communications.
If you didn’t have your Ad ‘in the can’ you had to look for new ways to communicate your message in an ad-hoc way. The result was often lo-fi, socially-distanced campaigns that embraced the realness of the situation – both a practical response but also a human one to which we could all relate. Good examples are: “Nan’s Long Distance Roast Lamb,” from Tesco’s’ Food Love Stories campaign (via BBH) or, “We’ll get through this,” from Maltesers’ Isolation Life (from BBDO).
This blurred the lines even further between brand-generated content and influencer content, opening up opportunities for communication concepts that used hashtags and visual mnemonics to strengthen brand recognition and attribution. Zoom-style ads may get tired. But the fact remains, that the pandemic taught us that brands can embrace a more intimate and real style to tell refreshingly honest and compelling stories.
Convenience – a point of entry for survival
Through lockdown many of our freedoms and conveniences have been curbed. It’s not as easy to simply pop to the shop and grab ingredients for dinner. With this in mind many retailers were forced to reappraise how to provide more convenience and alternative ways to shop.
An Adobe and YouGov study found that 74% of retailers have changed their products and services in 2020 as a result of the pandemic – and that many of the changes would be permanent. 26% of retailers had introduced new digital and e-commerce services in response to demand.
Retailers have extended delivery slots, added click and collect services, or made temporary shifts to full online retailing. Brands that have adapted to support changing consumer needs and habits during this time of uncertainty have strengthened both their relationships and their reputations.
As we begin to relax strict lockdowns (hopefully for good), brands will need to consider how to re-establish physical connections with consumers. How do we embrace the convenience we have grown accustomed to and carry forward a more authentic and inclusive tone to messaging that helped carry us through this last year? Each of these things present strong future opportunities for those nimble and visionary enough to embrace new models.
By Shannon Osment, Director of Accounts and Pete Hawkins, Creative Director Chase Design Group UK
Chase Design Group ( www.chasedesigngroup.com) is a creative agency with offices in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and the UK handling brand strategy, identity development, package design and retail environments for clients including Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, Nestlé, Campbell Soup Company and Pfizer.
In the first blog of this two-part series, we break down the findings of LinkedIn and the B2B Institute’s joint report, ‘5 principles of Growth in B2B Marketing’, and explore why it takes a balance of brand building and sales activation marketing to effectively grow their businesses.
People are emotional creatures. That’s why brand building works so well on consumers. People become invested in – and attached to – their favourite brands, from cereal, to phone networks, to operating systems.
But business buyers are rational. Right?
Wrong.
OK – maybe not completely wrong. Purchasing decisions are made rationally in any successful business. But you’re missing a trick if you think building a B2B brand doesn’t matter.
But sales activation or performance marketing is the most effective way to measurably grow a B2B business. Right?
Wrong again.
In fact, a jointly commissioned report by LinkedIn and the B2B Institute – ‘5 Principles of Growth in B2B Marketing’ – has the data to prove it. (And, by the way, so does our client’s data.)
So where do these entrenched views come from?
B2B companies tend to be driven by either product leaders, service leaders or sales leaders.
Product/service-led companies tend to view marketing as ‘the price you pay for an inferior product or service’. Sales-led companies are driven by short-term sales targets, and they want leads. Now.
So, whilst many B2B marketers recognise the commercial potential of longer-term brand building, they face an uphill internal struggle to make their case.
But the ‘5 Principles of Growth in B2B Marketing’ report empirically proves the business case for longer-term B2B brand building and its impact on growth, by demonstrating:
· B2B brand building increases ‘mental availability’ and ensures your brand is easily remembered in a buying situation
· Effective brand campaigns reach every buyer in your category
· Creative brand campaigns that capture attention at an emotional level are delivered consistently over time, growing significant sales in the future, not just in the short-term
· Increasing loyalty does not significantly add to growth, but customer acquisition does
B2B brands follow the same ‘share of voice’ rule as their B2C cousins. The report defines the rule as follows:
“There is a well-known relationship between a brand’s “share of voice” (typically defined as its share of all category advertising expenditure) and its rate of growth.
Brands that set their share of voice (SOV) above their share of market (SOM) tend to grow (all other factors being equal), and those that set SOV below SOM tend to shrink. The rate at which a brand grows or shrinks tends to be proportional to its “extra” share of voice (ESOV), defined as the difference between SOV and SOM.”
The research data shows a significant correlation between market share growth and ESOV for B2B brands, specifically, demonstrating that in B2B, 10% extra advertising share of voice causes 0.7% market share growth per annum.
The report shows that the best performing B2B brands have an optimal balance between long-term brand building and short-term sales activation/performance marketing.
In B2B, the optimal budget allocation is 46% for brand and 54% for sales activation.
Sales activation focuses on an immediate response, and is generally a rational sell, featuring a piece of informational content, an offeror a product/service feature capable of generating a cost-efficient response.
It’s tightly targeted at hot prospects who are in-market with an intent to purchase, and designed for simple, quick response. Sales activation is great for short-term lead generation and delivering directly measurable ROI, but, it’s unlikely to be memorable, so the effects are short-term and won’t contribute to long-term growth.
In contrast, brand building drives long-term growth, with its effects lasting longer and accumulating over time.
It uses creative impact at an emotional level to create a lasting memory that influences buying decisions long after the adverts run, with a reach that’s much broader than sales activation campaigns, targeting the whole of market, and its effectiveness relying on repeated exposure.
The time frame for any brand building to take significant effect and pass the sales activation peaks shown in this graph is typically 5-6 months.
Not convinced? We recently we decided to test this theory out for ourselves, using the website data of one of our clients. And the results were pretty impressive.
Not only did we find that brand traffic – both direct and brand search – built consistently over time in line with their brand building activity, but we also found that the conversion rates from website visit to meeting requests and paying clients was 50% higher than any other traffic source.
If that wasn’t enough, we also discovered that in territories where there is low brand awareness the conversion rates from lead generation campaigns increased over time as the effects of our brand building efforts kicked in.
Stay tuned for part two, where we’ll explore the case for making your brand famous.
In the meantime, if you’d like to discuss your brand strategy armed with the latest industry data, or to discuss your creative marketing requirements, get in touch with us today at marketing@proctors.co.uk.
Mr B & Friends has welcomed two new members of the team this summer. Olivia Cox and Faye Stephens have joined the Client Services team as Senior Account Manager and Project Manager respectively.
Olivia has lived in Bristol since her time at UWE, and has solid experience both client and agency side. She had Mr B & Friends on her radar having seen the agency’s work on the Bristol Bears rebrand, and when the role came up, the timing was right for her to make the move. In her spare time she likes to take on new challenges – from learning to row to calligraphy to building a bin store!
Faye has recently relocated to the area from London, where she worked on the ASDA account. With a solid background in communications and content, she’s excited to delve further into the world of brand transformation. Faye has been embracing her move to the South West, getting to know the area and soaking up the culture. She also enjoys turning her hand to art and craft projects.
Simon Barbato, CEO at Mr B & Friends says, ‘We’re delighted to have secured these appointments to the team. With excellent project management experience and fantastic relationship building skills we think both Olivia and Faye will be a massive hit with our clients.”
Cytel, the world’s largest provider of statistical software and advanced analytics for clinical trial design, has appointed AgencyUK to lead the strategy and roll-out of Solara, the next generation in statistical and predictive trial design and selection software. This trial strategy platform combines massive cloud computing with Cytel algorithms to dramatically expand available design options for confident selection of the optimal design. Unifying statistical design and clinical strategy to improve clinical development productivity, Solara helps teams control uncertainty by simulating millions of design options in minutes; minimizes costs by ensuring teams find opportunities to shorten trial duration; accelerates speed to market (10-20% faster) and benefits the patients sooner.
The technology is such an advancement for the sector, that the Cytel board are investing heavily in its rollout, which includes a significant marketing effort led by Rebecca Grimm (Vice President, Marketing), Cytel and the team at AgencyUK.
“Solara is a real first for our industry, and we’re already active with live customers and their case studies which are starting to emerge. We appointed AgencyUK based on their sector experience, proven test and learn methodology as well as their passionately creative team. In partnership with AgencyUK, we’re looking forward to seeing the rollout expand globally over the coming months” says Rebecca Grimm, VP Marketing, Cytel.
“Our team has been working with pharma, biotech and clinical research organisations since 2008, and it’s always exciting to be at the forefront of new technology that can change how an industry operates forever. We’ve been developing the Solara brand and proposition alongside the go-to-market strategy. Digital media plays a vital role in its successful adoption by big pharma teams and biotech leaders alike, and we’re looking forward to its global roll-out over the coming months” says Sammy Mansourpour, Managing Director, AgencyUK.
Bristol based digital marketing agency, DNRG, previously Digital NRG, has had an exciting brand update. The graphic ‘D’ brings together 8 triangles that represent the company’s eight solutions. When reorganised together, the triangles form the split hexagon – denoting the top to lower marketing funnel. Combining DNRG’s solutions, through the consumer journey when all used together, creates a robust, smarter digital marketing strategy.
With its Head Office in Bristol, DNRG encompasses 53 team members with some of the most powerful brains in the business. DNRG’s rebrand has been driven by the desire to always be leaders in digital marketing and offer a strategy-led approach, rather than off-the-shelf solutions. The company’s business model is built on tailor made integrated digital solutions for any sized business, creating a competitive digital presence for SMBs to support lead generation and local sales to complex National brand led campaigns or Nationwide ecommerce solutions.
As Google Premier Partners, Facebook Business Partners and Microsoft Advertising Elite Partners, DNRG is always implementing the latest advancements in automation, AI and reporting with the support of their partners. DNRG has developed solutions accessible for businesses who do not have the budget for in-house experts or depth of knowledge within a marketing department. With a 96% retention rate in the last 5 years DNRG is clearly getting something right for their clients.
Along with the rebrand DNRG has responded to the digital evolution following the challenging period that the pandemic has presented by adding to their client product portfolio. To support its Website, SEO, Paid Media and Social propositions DNRG will be launching Smarter Performance, Rapid Talk, LinkedIn Accelerator, NRG Connect and a CRO proposition in July 2021.
With a strong focus on their team’s learning and development, DNRG has also set up an in-house academy which devotes 10% of hours a month for each employee to grow their knowledgebase and skills, so that they’re always ahead of the curve. Employing several apprentices, members of their team have made it from ‘The Apprentice’ to director within that five-year period. This all filters through to an enriched client experience.
Neil Rogers, DNRG’s CEO said: “Our rebrand is representative of our continuous growth in services, clients and team members. We offer our clients strategy-led solutions that are driven by their business goals and objectives. DNRG has developed award-winning campaigns that utilise technology, automation and highly skilled digital professionals to increase the return on our clients’ investments. It is our DNRG team players’ incredible support and adaptation to their clients’ goals alongside the delivery of effective digital strategies that has made DNRG the successful agency that it is today.
We truly have become the outsourced marketing department for 1000’s of UK based businesses and we know how to match the right digital solutions to their incredibly varied briefs and objectives. For the agency it is about building partnerships whilst delivering proven value results led by data driven decisions.”
DNRG is proving to be one step ahead of the game with the implementation of new techniques and operational processes in this rapidly changing industry. It is difficult for any business to stay abreast of digital updates, consumer demands and the online experience digital users expect, but DNRG offer extremely competitive solutions to ensure their clients can adapt to these requirements.
Designers, animators, writers and everything in between. If you’re an ambitious student or graduate brimming with creative thinking, we want to offer you an authentic taste of agency life. We’re giving you the chance to work on big projects and campaigns, from conception to completion, alongside our talented creative team.
So if you want to break into the industry, learn from some of the best, and have fun doing it; send your portfolio and a covering letter to creativeinternships@mrbandfriends.co.uk
Want to know more?
The lucky candidate will be offered a six month, paid internship starting around August or September. We’re happy to be flexible.
During your time with us, you’ll get an opportunity to experience every facet of agency life; from marketing strategy and collaborative idea generation, to beautifully crafted creative solutions across design, motion, copywriting and digital.
All of this while side-by-side with great people and an agency culture that’s second to none.
Here are just a few of the things you’ll benefit from at Mr B’s:
“As a Mr B intern you’re straight into the deep end of agency life: with briefs rolling in, there’s never any doubt that you’re an important part of the team. I couldn’t have found a better way to learn huge amounts about design and the industry, or to meet so many great people.”
Interested? Send your portfolio and a covering letter to creativeinternships@mrbandfriends.co.uk
The rebrand that sees the agency, originally founded in 2014, become The Co-Foundry, reflects its mission to work collaboratively with founders, bringing in specialist co-creators such as designers, photographers, animators and copywriters, according to specific project needs.
Owner, Sue Bush has developed a process that empowers client teams to be part of the strategic discovery phase, as well as the creative process. She is a firm believer in co-creation, “Ideas can come from anyone, and are not just the preserve of the design team. Brand identity design can, to a large degree, be democratic – not ‘design by committee’ but more, ‘winning ideas by group spark’.”
Having been at the helm of two agencies, Sue feels well placed to help solve the brand challenges tech and creative firms face. She co-owned a Shoreditch design agency when the internet was still in its infancy and then went on to establish her own brand design agency, Touchpoint Design, which harnessed design to the opportunities afforded by tech, “The challenge for tech and creative founders is the same, you strive to make a positive impact but are often too close to your business with too few hours in the day to find the best and most appropriate direction for your branding.”
“I set up The Co-Foundry because I believe there’s a better, more personal and inclusive way to approach branding. We work together with creative and tech founders and their teams to forge unique, purposeful brands, using co-creation and interactive discovery sessions to bring everyone in on the journey.”
The Co-Foundry sees Sue acting as an independent consultant with a team of specialists supporting her. When client needs dictate, she builds out and brings in this bigger team of co-creators to support her, creating a lean, agile and expert offer that’s especially designed to serve the creative and tech sectors.
To launch the new brand, The Co-Foundry has put together a series of short practical guides on how to start building a compelling brand, especially designed for small teams. Download the first instalment here.
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