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

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

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

Rebranding a Charity

It's not every day a charity finds itself in the enviable position of being able to rebrand itself and continue to do the good work it has been doing for over thirty years, but that's what happened to the little old North Cotswold Voluntary Help Centre based in Moreton-in-Marsh in the North Cotswolds.  After having appointed a new board the decision was made to modernise and part of that involved changing the name and brand.  Shuttlefish Creative were appointed and after establishing a good working relationship with the CEO we set about creating a new brand for them to grow under.

You can see the logos below.  Following in the footsteps of other major overhauls of well-known charities (Macmillan, Oxfam, Cancer Research, Age UK, Sue Ryder to name a few) we decided to move away from the dark colours and slightly institutional shapes (in this case bordering on the Orwellian) toward a bright,  modern logo with colours to reflect the countryside in which most of the charity's work takes place, and inclusive symbolism within it.

"Delighted with the new look, thank you very much indeed" - Beth Johnson CEO, CVN

Visit their new website