New clients and a change...

Autumn has started as it always does.  Through late summer there's always a feeling - whatever company you're working in - a semi-panic that it won't get busy again.  Forgetting that we haven't had a summer like 2013 for a long time, I hadn't put two and two together that people weren't responding to phone calls and letters because they're all relishing the heat.  Back to school and it's still beautifully warm but everyone's in a mad rush to get new websites up and running, brochures in the post and photographs done while the leaves still cling to the trees.

Our new sister company, Marketing for Care Homes is now fully under way and the website has been a resounding success.  We were unsure about how it would work on a national level with minimal input into hardcore SEO tactics, but new clients from Birmingham to Oxford to Worthing have allayed any nerves we might have harboured at the launch of the project.

In other news, having beaten all our targets for the second year running, Shuttlefish Creative is now a limited company. And on a completely different note I noticed this week that Shuttlefishing is actually something people do and Shuttlefish is also a band in Cape Town, South Africa. , although judging bythe MySpace page it's a bit light on tunes. Have a great autumn guys.  Here's picture from our archives to cheer you all.

A New member of the Family.

While our clients were all on holiday we thought it would be a good time to launch a new company.  I say company, it's what we already do, but in order for people to be able to find us better we've re-branded it and given it a name.  If you are involved in any way with the care sector in the United Kingdom, you now have a one-stop shop called, rather simply, Marketing for Care Homes. 

It began after having worked hard for the very successful Berkley Care Group for two years, helping them to brand and launch four new care homes across the UK.  We now act as external marketing departments for some, and ad-hod creative agencies for others.  Whatever it is a care client is after, we tend to find that it's our knowledge of their day-to-day business that makes it easier for them to trust us to provide what they need.  It's early days and doesn't affect anything we already do as Shuttlefish Creative but if you know someone in the care sector, or you're launching a new home, get in touch for a meeting, with no obligation. Alternatively, contact me for a brochure and a chat.  0333 012 0066

Side-stepping the phrase 'Marketing Spring Clean'

It should be that time of year when marketing blogs such as this little corner of the web harp on about giving your brand a refresh. As it happens it's the coldest March for many a year and the dafodils are still hunched and green, drifts of snow abound everywhere. What it does mean is there's extra time to get the marketing materials up to date. We have a number of clients for whom we're sprucing brochures and reinvigorating marketing collateral, dusting down websites and chattering on Facebook, Twitter and the like. The trouble is, if there's a building involved there has been little to no chance to get outside and photograph them in the higher, warmer sun, amid the blossoms and set on fresh, vivid blue skies. So we have a mini backlog; there's no point in rushing these things and end up sat for the whole year with a dismal, snowy picture on the front of your brochure, we have to play the waiting game.

One way around the appalling weather is to get creative. Working for national client Jackson-Stops & Staff (Cotswolds) we were tasked with creating a local marketing campaign.  As you can see from the image below, we've added the landscape ourselves.  Before that we'd taken pictures of each of their offices in three different locations.  Then, after digitally stitching them together, we've given it an 'illustrated look' and placed it where the company want to be, at the heart of the Cotswolds.  We'll be helping them roll out this campaign over Spring so keep your eyes peeled for more.

Our photographers are itching for a break in the weather so that they can capture everything at its best. If you've not yet thought about your new season marketing, there's still plenty of time. Get in touch to see what we can do.info@shuttlefishcreative.com

Design Infographic 2013

Our friends at Shutterstock have just published this infographic with their data for what's hot and not around the world this year. And who doesn't love a good infographic?

New Branding for Executive Coaching Company

Rowena Wild is an executive coach who has just taken delivery of her new branding, courtesy of Shuttlefish Creative.  I really enjoyed this project as there was a bit of scope for doing something different.  Rowena wanted to stand out from the executive coaching crowd which, as far as we could see through trawling the internet and various forums, was either one way or another - There are the high level, blue chip players who dare not venture outside corporate grey, and then there seem to be another group who have gone a bit "wacky", often unfathomably so.  (It should be said, there were some really good ones too!)

As a result of our research and our dialogue with the client, we established the frog motif, both in the logo and as a creative device for sales and marketing materials. The link? I hear you mumble at your screen..  It's a story about decision making which involves frogs, a lily pad and the decision to leave said water-based plant.  As a conversation starter we used the frog motif next to the suggestion that the recipient of a business card ask about the frogs.  Instant ice-breaker which has apparently been a great hit with potential clients.  Other services included business stationery, website and marketing flyer.  

"Thank you so much, I've had some great feedback" - Rowena Wild.

 Visit the website

The Vintage Sports-Car Club Race Pack 2013

One of the oldest car clubs in the world has yet again proved its modernity and forward thinking. The Vintage Sport-Car Club wanted to send out a 2013 race pack to their members on a USB memory stick instead of the traditional bundles of paper. Once inserted, the user is presented with an easy to navigate menu showing all the race and meeting categories, which, once selected, will enable them to view and print the rules, regulation and entry documents as they need them.  The card also fits inside a wallet for safe-keeping.  A simple idea, but we think the end result was intuitive and beautifully presented- so much better than just standard printed documents!

This is just the latest in a long line of work we have done for this great club which has included everything from clothing catalogue photo shoots to digital marketing.  Check out the website which we redesigned last year

Mather Collectables: New Company, New Brand

Young and ambitious former Bonhams man Ben Mather has decided to set up his own auction house specialising in the sale and acquisition of collectable motor vehicles.  Where better to go and get yourself a sophisticated brand to reflect the industry into which you're now plunging yourself and your life savings?  Luckily for us that's what Ben thought and we're now up and running with a logo which hopefully does just that.  The typeface is a beautiful traditional titling font 'Golden Cockerel'  from the famous typographer and all round nut-job, Eric Gill (of Gill Sans fame).  We spaced the letters more widely in the subtitling and kept the colour to a subtle 20% black on top of a 70% black background.

To give the logo a traditional feel we used heraldic elements of Ben's family name 'Mather' including the eagle and the stars and the Latin motto 'Fortiter et Celeriter', (Strongly & Rapidly).  We stopped short of the clam shell despite its obvious motoring connotations.

"I absolutely love it, thanks ever so much" - Ben Mather

Mather's holding page