Archive for the 'Branding' Category
13 July 2011 at 10:59
OK, it's taken a little longer than necessary to post this entry about the new Stewart Signs website which went live in January, but you know, we've been busy...
Anyway, after a very successful launch of their rebrand in 2010, we turned our attention and considerable tech wizardry - in collaboration with Utopia's web development partners Hostpipe - to the design and build of the new and quite frankly massive Stewart Signs website.
Stewart Signs new website
This baby's got everything including a full bespoke Content Management System and an Ecommerce package that functions on multiple levels.
The back end (easy there) is a mammoth and stacked full of clever functionality. And it needs to be given it has to service the impressive Stewart Signs customer portfolio, including: Transport for London, BT Openreach, Osborne, BSM, First, Saga, JC Decaux...and on and on.
We took this:
And made this:
So what's next?
Well, the website isn't standing still. It's alive! Help! By which we mean, it's a constant work in progress with all the best connotations of that word: progress. That's what Stewart Signs are all about, constantly forging ahead and leading the outdoor media, signage and livery industry, which they've been doing for decades.
Marketing communications
Away from the web, they are now turning their attention to the year ahead. To kick things off, Utopia paid them a visit last week at their base in Southampton with a rather fetching document in hand containing all sorts of ideas and plans for marketing Stewart Signs over the coming 12 months, including:
- Email marketing
- Printed literature
- SEO and social media marketing
- PR
- Direct Mail
- Advertising
Obviously, we don't have any designs or words to show you yet, so instead and by way of signing off this post (hahahaha!), here's a photo of some Utopians in front of a Stewart Signs branded van.
JP & TJ signed, sealed and delivered
Tags: Stewart Signs | marketing | website | design | email marketing | Utopia | Hostpipe | SEO | social media marketing | PR | advertising
Posted in Design | Branding | Strategic Marketing | No Comments
15 February 2011 at 15:55
A major client with major clients
When you’re the market leading specialists in road and rail livery, signage and outdoor media and your customers number BT, Transport for London, Shell, National Grid, First Capital and Sky, you need a brand identity that embodies confidence, experience, expertise.
Stewart Signs are renowned for delivering projects of the highest standards and have been for over 40 years, but then you already knew that....just look around you, there are examples of their work everywhere, such as the BT Openreach vans, every sign and poster you see on London's tube and bus network, the huge train wraps on Eurostar, countless vehicle wraps on lorries, the signs that show us the way around the UK, and the media displays that surround us in airports and stations.
Utopia take the branding challenge
Starting with a session on marketing and brand strategy, we created a new visual identity for Stewart Signs. Giving them 6 design routes to choose from, they went with our favourite . One particular challenge was to consolidate the various areas of the company, most notably bringing their Rail brand - Halo Rail - in house under the Stewart Signs umbrella.
Our brief: design a brand identity that's both versatile and conveys the scale and scope of their business. A brand identity that's colourful, vibrant, dynamic and contemporary.
So, we took them from this:
to this:
Brand roll-out
In our next blog, we'll look at the challenge of designing and building a (pretty) vast eCommerce website . But we’ll wait until it’s launched...any day now.
Meanwhile, here’s a glimpse at one of our favourite documents – Brand Guidelines. Where would we be, moreover, where would our clients be, without a few carefully devised rules and regulations for keeping their brand new brand on track? Yes, it’s a rail pun, we had to get one in.
See more of our work for Stewart Signs in our portfolio
Posted in Design | Copywriting | Branding | Strategic Marketing | No Comments
28 January 2011 at 10:05
Avelo, the market leading providers of technical solutions for the financial services industry, appointed Utopia as their creative marketing agency to deliver 3 campaigns.
Campaign 1: Wealth Optimiser
Design and deliver the launch of Avelo's new wealth management product, Wealth Optimiser.
Utopia's brief included devising the campaign concepts - One Stop. All destinations - for a product that will, for the first time, enable financial services practitioners to access all their clients' assets and information from one, single place.
An integrated solution
Avelo, branded 1st - The Exchange at the time, wanted to keep the campaign marketing and implementation under one roof, so Utopia's integrated service was the natural choice. Speed, creative quality, technical competence and reliable communication gave this campaign the success it demanded, for which we provided:
- Creative design and product branding
- Copywriting
- Campaign website with online registration
- Video production
- Email marketing
- Banner adverts
- Trade Press advertising
Experience the campaign website, visit www.wealthoptimiser.co.uk
Campaign 2: RDR Countdown Programme (Retail Distribution Review)
Avelo required a creative concept / campaign idea together with associated marketing collateral to communicate the RDR Countdown Programme to a wide range of distributors in the financial services market.
Again, Utopia provided a full range of services underpinned by our design, copywriting and web skills to deliver:
- Campaign creative
- Email invitation
- Jump page
- Online banner advertising
- Branded print materials
Campaign 3: Avelo Roadshows
Avelo required a creative concept / campaign theme together with associated marketing collateral to promote the Joint Roadshow to a target audience of their key financial services clients. This would also be one of the first opportunities for Avelo to promote their new name and brand.
Utopia presented a range of creative ideas, combining our strengths in copywriting and design, to produce:
- Campaign theme and creative
- Email marketing and jump pages
- Direct Mail
- Online banner advertising
- Trade press advertising in Money Marketing magazine
Posted in Design | Copywriting | Branding | Websites | Email marketing | Advertising | Video | No Comments
23 April 2010 at 11:10
Utopia client, The Whelford Group, is delighted with the new marketing brochure.
Now to get Phase 1 of their redesigned website coloured in, written, built and live….in 2 weeks, in time for the region’s business awards.
Posted in Design | Copywriting | Branding | No Comments
28 December 2009 at 11:14
What have we been up to in Utopia?
Don’t give me that look. I know it’s been ages since the last post, but we’ve been busy. Since the launch of the MASCo rebrand, their marketing activity has grown and grown, culminating in the Christmas-lights-style-switch-on of their new website.
Designed with the customer first, it’s already had lots of positive feedback. So what’s the focus for our marketing of MASCo in 2010? PR, email, and internet marketing. I want to bring that advertising spend down and hike up their exposure with a combination of traditional editorial and clever online activity. We’ll keep you posted.
What’s new?
Word of mouth has so far been the winning formula for our own client wins, but with the new Utopia Communications website about to launch (yes, finally!), we’ll be pushing more. The site includes a showcase of our recent work, which you can also navigate by service criteria (marketing, creative, web, PR), and there’s a client area that will keep communication flowing on individual projects.
A flurry of quotations and commissions ended the year (including two requests for copywriting arriving on Christmas Eve), so we look forward to leaping into spring (we don’t like winter) with all sorts of new challenges and interesting clients…apart from a new travel company coming on board in November, the construction industry seems to have taken a shine to Utopia. Resist urge to weave in building puns.
Happy New Year!
To all our clients, suppliers and friends, we wish you all every good fortune for 2010.
Utopia Communications
Posted in Design | Copywriting | Branding | Strategic Marketing | Websites | Email marketing | Advertising | Social Media | PR | No Comments
27 August 2009 at 11:18
The fruits of our rebranding are beginning to bloom for MASCo. Don’t worry, not all my posts / clients are MASCo, but it’s a major project: brand id development and tone of voice with 360 degree roll out across all marketing communications. Advertising; Website; Email marketing; Brochures; Stationery; Signage; Vehicle graphics; Exhibition materials…it’s a big one.
Really challenging to find the logo solution because MASCo’s business is so diverse with multiple product lines: reclaimed bathrooms; radiators; fireplaces; garden ornaments; architectural features; building materials; wood flooring…so no one image can represent what they do, unless you opt for predictable (see their competition). Then Eureka!
Skip, the designer (see next post about how Utopia works), came up with a window on the MASCo world concept. It’s fresh, it’s surprising, it’s versatile; it juxtaposes simple contemporary design with the client’s classical style. The window is literally a hole; any angle on the MASCo world can be seen through it. Take adverts, the first visuals to be rolled out, which show an aspect of a product, but always seen in context of the bigger picture, like this from the Period Living newswire and this ad for Period Ideas:
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