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Archive for the ‘Publishing’ Category

Report Writing

Wednesday, July 4th, 2012

We have completed a report writing brief for a Neighbourhood Energy Watch Survey, as part of a project undertaken by Studiowide to design and print leaflets, flyers and questionnaires for the charity; Transition Village Eastham and Bromborough.

The partnership between Transition Village Eastham and Bromborough, the charity Energy Projects Plus and the social enterprise Healthy Cities Community Interest Company has investigated why people may face difficulties in installing energy efficiency measures. Our remit was to design and compile a final report which would be presented to the funding providers and the general public.

The main aim of the survey team was to find out why people might not be ready to fit home insulation. The study will also enquire whether health or disability issues may impede households from improving energy efficiency. On the other hand residents will be asked whether they are aware that cold, damp housing can exacerbate poor health and may be a greater problem for people with disabilities who may spend longer in the home.

The data was collected over a 4 week period and then presented to Studiowide for inclusion into the report. Our role was to bring the data to life using infographics imagery and various elements to communicate the findings.

Report writing and presentation of data doesn’t have to be boring and can be done using text and infographics. Infographics are visual representations of data, information and knowledge. They have become increasingly popular and consumers find themselves attracted to the ability of getting the "full picture" at a glance without reading a lot of wordy text.

We completed the project on time and the client was more than happy. Studiowide provided graphic design and copywriting services on this project. We also published this report to a digital interactive brochure format.

Tags: copywriting, graphic design, report writing
Posted in Copywriting, Graphic Design, Publishing | No Comments »

Magazine Design

Wednesday, June 27th, 2012

We have Just completed another successful magazine design project for our client. The design brief was to produce a creative piece that could be used in a promotional campaign, highlighting the benefits of using print as part of a multichannel approach. The concept is a ‘magazine’ about ‘magazines’. Now that’s a paradox if we’ve ever seen one.

Our client, Prinovis, is one of the largest gravure printing companies in Europe, producing magazines and catalogues for big names like Argos, Boots and John Lewis, to name a few. They will be handing out these promotional magazines to potential customers of major blue chip organisations, as part of their upcoming exhibitions in London.

The magazine design highlights the fact that although customers are investing in web, mobile, tablets, social…etc, at a time when digital is developing so much, there is also evidence that the printed page is still strong in the decision making process and should be used as a unique and complimentary tool in a multi-channel marketing mix.

Our client believes that a magazine and catalogue encourages decision making. They feel personal – a direct connection with the brand – beating any web search optimization campaign for grabbing attention and standing out from your competitors. Therefore, our remit in creating the design and content was to work with Prinovis to come up with something that was unique and different, in order to communicate this message.

We worked closely with the team at Prinovis for direction and feedback of the specific content, and we utilised a variety of graphic design principles, including image manipulation and illustration. The magazine design project was finished, front to back, on-time and in under 5 days.

The client is extremely pleased with the final result and have the completed magazine / catalogue in hand, ready to be distributed at the In-Store Marketing show – Marketing Week event – held at Olympia, London.

We have also published the magazine to a digital page turning format for online use. View the digital publication here

Tags: catalogue design, magazine design
Posted in Copywriting, Graphic Design, Publishing | No Comments »

Personalised URL Campaign

Monday, June 25th, 2012

We are currently working on a strategic marketing campaign for a specialist insurance services company.

The company approached us to handle their direct marketing activity, through a variety of digital channels, including direct email.

We wanted to create a campaign with a difference. As the initial contact strategy was to be predominantly through email and SMS, aimed at 5,000 consumers per month, we had to get our creative thinking caps on to bring something to the table which produced great results.

We decided on building a unique micro web site for each contact. Then set about presenting a mini-story based around a comic strip, featuring the contact person as the main character.

The first product we were tasked to promote was Life Insurance. We created buying personas, which are effectively profiles of the people who will receive the emails. Once we stepped into the shoes of the customer we could then work out the details of the offer.

Personalisation of content is key to the success of such personalised URL campaigns. Whilst we were fortunate to have quite a lot of ‘opt-in’ data to hand, we were also very wary that such campaigns containing too much personal data can ‘spook people out’.

We opted to use some opt-in information such as; the local area the contact person resided in, gender, street name and their current make of car.

This information meant not only could we personalise the character’s name, street address and car, but the main character in the comic also changes, depending on the gender of the person visiting the page!

In order to add further impact to the campaign we used one of our campaign domain names: www.thisis4.eu to host each of these personalised websites on.

The first stage of the campaign is to notify each of the 5,000 contacts per month via email and SMS, informing them that our client has made them a very special web site, and why not go and check it out by visiting their own unique web site address at: www.thisis4.eu/name.surname.

The person then visits their own ‘individually created’ web site and views themselves in a paradox style comic. There are 3 call-to-action options available on page 2 of the micro site, including scheduling in a call-back or using the on-line Life Insurance quote and buy tool.

It’s early days yet to report any figures, however we’re extremely confident that we’ll get higher than average response rates on this campaign. Purely for the fact of curiosity – not many campaigns are utilising personalised URLs and landing pages at the moment – then we have the creative element to back it up. Studies have found that personalised URL campaigns typically increase response rates by 50 to 100%.

However, if you are considering such a campaign then please note: personalised URLs are not a quick fix to poor email campaigns. If you place a personalised URL on top of a poorly executed campaign, it will still be a poorly executed campaign.

Personalised URL campaigns can bring in around 40% response rates. However, it must be said that such great results are achieved with campaigns that have up-to-date contact lists, good use of creative visuals and a relevant offer.

If you would like to see how a personalised URL campaign can benefit you, then please get in touch

Tags: email campaign, personalised url
Posted in Chartered Marketing, Copywriting, Graphic Design, Publishing, Web development | No Comments »

Helping Businesses Promote Themselves Online

Tuesday, June 5th, 2012

Image Courtesy of HubSpot

Over this long Jubilee weekend I discovered that we, as a company, operate in a very peculiar business landscape. On one hand we’re constantly aiming to excel; to ensure that as a service provider we’re at the forefront of our marketing and promotional technology; constantly reviewing and learning the next big app, tool, widget or social media site, which we can then add to our toolbox in order to ‘help’ our clients in their online endeavours.

Then, on the other hand we’ve been faced with the reality for some time that our target market of small to medium sized enterprises in Liverpool and the North West, lag behind many rival cities in the use of the internet for business. Source Liverpool Chamber of Commerce

I guess my post today is as a result of the community spirit which is flowing through the UK at the moment and reminds me WHY we exist as a company: to help small to medium sized businesses in our local areas (first) and wider county boundaries (second) to promote themselves in the best possible way. At the moment, it seems like the best possible way to help our target market is to go back and revisit some basic fundamentals of online marketing.

This post is in essence a reality check. Yes, we CAN bring a whole host of new media tools to the table – and we’re very good at it when we do – but if some businesses are just not ready for it, then are we really helping them or overwhelming them?

So, as of today, we’re making a conscious effort to rewind a little and go back-to-basics to help those businesses who feel overwhelmed by online marketing. For the next 100 days we will be making regular posts as part of a campaign here at Studiowide, to help local businesses promote themselves more effectively online.

Each post will feature a separate sub topic to online marketing, and where relevant will also include links to some great e-books that we’ve come across over the last few months, all of which will help provide further learning for people who want to get stuck in.

[SERIES NOW COMPLETED]

View all posts in the online marketing series:

01 What is Online Marketing ✓	07 Using Emails for Marketing ✓
02 Getting Ready for Online Marketing ✓	08 LinkedIn for Business ✓
03 Blogging ✓	09 Facebook & Twitter for Business ✓
04 Using Videos for Marketing ✓	10 Social Media Strategies ✓
05 Content Marketing ✓	11 What Next in Online Marketing ✓
06 Getting Your Website Ready for Online Marketing ✓

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Tags: 100 Day campaign
Posted in Chartered Marketing, How To Do..., Online Marketing, Our News, Publishing | No Comments »

Packaging Design

Friday, March 9th, 2012

Background

The Grim Reaper Food company are specialist chilli manufacturers based in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, headed up by well-known Chef, Russell Williams.

The premium, artisan producer are winners of the ‘Fiery Foods Festival’, 2010 and 2011 and are quickly making a name for themselves in the chilli world. They are now seeking to expand their lines for chilli products, with the introduction of a chilli based rapeseed oil.

The Challenge

The Grim Reaper had introduced a chocolate bar range (of which, Studiowide also created the concept and designed the packaging) and has now developed 3 rapeseed cooking oils.

Our client provided us with the brief based around the design and production of the 3 labels for an assortment of oils, which consisted of the following flavours:

Rapeseed Oil infused Chilli called – Vengeance
Rapeseed Oil infused Chilli and Garlic – Tempest
Rapeseed Oil Oak Smoked and infused with Chilli – Incinerator

Our objective was to come up with the packaging design concept and to create the labels to be used on the bottles. The design had to remain consistent with the previous packaging.

The whole Grim Reaper Foods collection is chilli orientated and targets only the daring chilli lover.

The company is currently working on introducing even more product lines; therefore our challenge was to create a brand identity that would be easily recognisable and transposable throughout the range.

The final concept also had to communicate what fiery delights Grim Reaper Foods were offering. Thus the company required a clear, modern and creative approach for the brand.

The Solution

After research and brainstorming we concluded, the best way to achieve the required strong brand identity for Grim Reaper, and to help differentiate the products from its competitors, was to utilise colours and icons to identify the 3 alternative flavours; Vengeance, Tempest and Incinerator.

Colours instantly provoke emotions – used in many representations. This is also a great technique when used in food categorisation, e.g. in crisps, pink more often than not represents prawn cocktail flavour.

Hence, using the colour yellow to identify the ‘oils’ assists the consumer with the instant recognition of the product.

By simply placing a subtle band of colour on the top of each design we created a slight detail, balanced with the right amount of emphasis required to evoke the desired impact.

Alongside the introduction of colours we included additional graphical assets to specifically represent the Grim Reaper rapeseed oil line; we designed an assortment of icons to highlight the exact flavour of oil on offer. A vector, illustrated Grim Reaper character is present in all Grim Reaper food packaging, clutching his chilli formed scythe.

In the design of the rapeseed oil labelling the Grim Reaper is also seen holding the icon in his grasp, almost as if he is presenting the product to the consumer himself. This was replicated through all 3 oil designs with the character ‘owning’ a different oil icon for each flavour.

The Results

The Grim Reaper Foods oil collection differs from its competition in the sense that at present, the visual aesthetics of the packaging ensures the brand will stand out from any other chilli oil in the market.

The use of a character, alongside a creative narrative surrounding the brand, provides an authentic vibe. Early signs are the new packaging design engages and generates excitement from consumers.

“For a company to understand a client’s idea and bring it to life, for me, is amazing. Excellent to deal with, fast efficient service, from concept to final design – within timescales, and informed at each stage."
Russell Williams – Managing Director, Grim Reaper Foods Ltd

Tags: cases study, graphic design, packaging design
Posted in Copywriting, Graphic Design, Photography, Publishing | 1 Comment »

Digital Publishing Whets Our Appetite!

Tuesday, December 13th, 2011

Cooking Demonstrations – I love events like these. I always leave so inspired; wanting to get back to my own kitchen to try all the recipes for myself! However, by the time I get home it’s a different matter as I’m racking my brain just to remember the correct measurements and ingredients!

In response to a brief from our client; Celebrity Chef Paul Da-costa-Greaves, we had a little think back here at our office in Liverpool about how to overcome a similar lull of inspiration, regarding the audiences at his cooking demonstration – it was a no brainer – to create the recipes which are demonstrated at his events, as an online digital book!

Paul Da-Costa-Greaves is a Masterchef and creator of the gourmet fine food range ‘Feeding Your Imagination’, Paul has been busy lately, appearing at cooking demonstrations up and down the country. When it came to creating a range of recipe books we felt it was perfect for him to tap into the digital age of consuming information.

We created all recipe books online using our interactive publishing software. A simple, easy to read graphical solution that enables the recipes to be displayed in a familiar page turning format, just like a book only online. Paul’s recipe books specialise in seafood, desserts, alternative Christmas nibbles and even how to use your BBQ for yummy food all year round! These are all available exclusively to those lucky viewers of his cooking demonstrations.

Now that Paul has all of his recipes digitally published he can email the content after a show, instead of his audience trying to remember the exact method in which to cook his famous jerk chicken or seafood pasta. These digital books have been a huge hit with his fans and are great for referring back to in the kitchen. We have now completed four booklets with more to come I’m sure.

So I guess those dirty and thumbed Delia books can stay on the shelf, now that there is a much easier way to take recipes to the kitchen with you! Do get in touch if you feel you could benefit from our publishing services to turn your reading digital.

Tags: digital publishing
Posted in Copywriting, Graphic Design, Publishing, Web development | No Comments »

Marketing Campaign

Wednesday, November 16th, 2011

We are currently working on an exciting marketing campaign for a local environment / charitable organisation, in partnership with Wirral Council. Studiowide was selected from a number of companies to provide a 4 month marketing campaign, aimed at raising awareness of a Government grant, free home insulation scheme.

The project is a complete single sourced campaign encompassing; micro website, video production, PR, logo design, posters, direct mail pieces, digital marketing – including online and offline response devices.

The Warmer Wirral campaign is one of those exciting projects which we love to get involved with where we have 100% responsibility for all marketing and creative activities – this is where we shine.

Our campaign angle was to create a strong creative visual to which we could anchor the original idea of a Polar Bear mascot. Our client had originally been running this programme without external help, and now felt that professional assistance would bring the additional exposure that was needed. Our overall objective for the marketing campaign was to increase online applications for the free loft and cavity wall insulation scheme.

First off we needed a good logo. The previous company logo had been used in the campaign materials prior to the revamp. We felt that this didn’t present a uniform identity and was contributing to an overall confusing message.

The new Warmer Wirral logo was created along with a main graphic. At first glance, the graphic appears to be an iceberg, supported with the tagline ‘Heating Bills are the Tip of the Iceberg’. On a folded page the top of the iceberg is visible, then, by unfolding the piece the revealed iceberg is actually a roof top. Below the roof top lays the lower two thirds of a house.

When we presented this idea to our client they immediately liked the ‘houseberg’ concept. Having such a quick approval of the logo and visuals meant we could get on with creating the basic assets required for the four individual videos and the website.

Once the visuals and logos had been ‘tweaked’, we transferred this across all pieces, including poster and postcards. The direct mail was designed to be shown folded, which could then be pulled open to reveal the ice/houseberg concept.

We finished the direct mail letters and leaflets following additional briefing and review meetings. This part of the approval process was critical and involved senior representatives from Wirral Council and Energy Projects Plus.

Whilst working on our offline materials we were simultaneously creating our online assets. For the Warmer Wirral website we utilised a JQuery slider function to create the ice/ houseberg effect – this worked really well and provided the perfect landing page, bridging off-line communications with the on-line environment.

In addition to the website we wanted to add a greater visual element to the campaign – video lends itself perfectly to this project. All footage was filmed onsite over a number of days and culminated in short videos which were based on the customer journey. This included; the campaign mascot, Lofty the Polar Bear, including survey, installation and testimonials.

We’re extremely excited about the Warmer Wirral campaign being launched this week. We’re now beginning our promotional activities and hope to report back some exciting results in the coming months!

Testimonial;

“The strength of this company is its creative visual talent. We have gone from our own homemade look to a completely re-branded look that is totally professional, topical, fresh and, well, just plain gorgeous. We have seen an immediate increase in web traffic. Nothing has been too much trouble for these guys to do. Thank you.” Sandra Manning. Energy Projects Plus. Wirral.

Tags: marketing campaign
Posted in Chartered Marketing, Graphic Design, PR, Publishing, Video Production | No Comments »

Brochure Design

Thursday, October 27th, 2011

Just One Brochure

This is the second instalment in our complete rebranding for Just ONE. Based here in Liverpool; Just ONE is a recruitment agency specialising in the health care industry.

We’ve been giving them a fresh new look, company logo, brochure and a website design – which we'll be writing a blog about very, very soon!

After getting to know our clients well and understanding their needs, we began the process of rebranding. We know that their company revolves around eight core business streams. Each section of their business can stand alone, but more importantly can be accessed in ONE place (get the pun there…). This gives their clients ‘Just ONE’ point of call if they need one or more of the services they provide. These eight business streams under the one roof, is how our concept began, and after incorporating this core idea with some kick-ass design skills, we created a logo that harnessed that.

But rebranding is not just about a logo, it’s about continuity. This idea has to translate across all media…

Because these eight business streams are at the core of everything Just One do, we wanted to continue this concept across into the brochure. Once again, bringing out our designing skills we set to work crafting a brochure that had the same elegance, and crispness as their logo.

These brochures have a lot of information about the services Just ONE offer. Displaying all this information in a way that is visually engaging can sometimes be tricky, if it appears dull or lengthy consumers will generally glaze or skim over parts looking for the most relevant text.

Each business stream was displayed on a single page, accented with its own individual colour. Accenting each page with its own colour is a great way to show all eight sections in a visually striking and easy to understand manner. We also felt these colours were strong enough to carry their own. So, with this said, all the images are black and white. Some may say this is risky, but we say… it’s a ruddy good design! It makes the important assets of the company really stand out and I believe it enhances the overall design giving it a very chic, minimal and professional appeal.

The most important thing about good design is… that you don’t notice it. – If designed correctly it should showcase the information and engage the reader without being too ‘in your face’ or taking over from the information it’s trying to display.

Testimonial;

“Really pleased with the work carried out by Studiowide. Consistently offered advice and guidance and provided a first class customer service. We've now got a website, brochure and logo that is unique to our marketplace. All the feedback we've received has been positive and it's helping us move into new business areas.” Greg Price. Business Development Manager, Just One Recruitment & Training, Merseyside.

Posted in Case studies, Copywriting, Graphic Design, Publishing, Web development | No Comments »

Multimedia presentation

Sunday, October 23rd, 2011

Interactivity…isn’t that what everybody’s after these days? Presented with a choice for how to consume information – one being a straight-up, minimalist format and the other being a multimedia presentation with engaging visuals and interactivity; people are nearly always going to choose the latter option.

The iPad for example has changed the way in which Children are learning. Gone are the days when kids are sitting with their parents whilst trying to read a book. They’re getting stuck in and are engaging with the content – using their fingers to draw and write a story, playing games to recognise objects whilst learning basic morals.

We agree this might not seem like the ideal solution – it’s not as straight forward and simple as the traditional methods of learning – not to mention the re-mortgage on your home you need to afford anything by Apple – but it is a whole load more effective!

So if interactivity and rich multimedia presentations are becoming increasingly expected by consumers, wouldn’t you like to deliver your messages and information in the most exciting and engaging way possible? If you already have information that you’re trying to send out, it doesn’t have to remain as a painfully dull file, *cough*, sorry, I mean PDF,

Some PDF’s can be pretty laborious for people to read through and actually digest the information effectively. And as soon as you open a PDF you know you’re in for a treat when you see the number of pages you have to scroll through to find what you’re after.

Awesome, can’t wait…

There is another option… we can turn your plain PDFs into exciting, interactive multimedia presentations and digital magazines. There’s no need for you to re-write, change or make any special alterations. All we need to perform this mind-blowing feat is the original PDF document containing all of the information you want to turn into your new rich multimedia presentation. Once we have this, we can work our magic.

To operate the page turning interactivity you just use your mouse or scroll wheel to physically turn the pages, as if you were holding the magazine – pretty cool, eh? Not only that, users can also search your document to go straight to what they’re looking for. We can also set up chapter points so that users are able to quickly browse through specific pages of information they’re interested in.

Not only do we use PDF documents to create a rich multimedia presentation, we also work with Video, Animation, Word, Excel, PowerPoint . Once the files are converted they are uploaded to your website (or we can produce a file to be used direct from your desktop) ready to be viewed.

Another great feature of this format is the conversion to mobile and tablet form. This can be a useful stop-gap if you don’t have a website that is optimised for mobiles or tablets – these are media formats that are on the rise so ignoring this might not be the smartest move. All of our multimedia presentations converted to interactive page turning interactivity will also be optimised for mobile and tablets.

The ability to ‘share’ with friends via Email or popular social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter also makes for another great feature if you’re trying to spread your message to the World. It’s fast, practical and stylish.

VIEW SAMPLE LIVE FILE 0F MULTIMEDIA PRESENTATION

So that’s a wrap for now. Please get in touch to see how we could help you transform your flat, static PDF’s into a rich multimedia presentation that will please your customers no end!

Tags: interactive multimedia, multimedia presentation, rich multimedia
Posted in Publishing | No Comments »

Business Advertising

Tuesday, July 5th, 2011

By Beki Reilly

It’s been estimated that we see over 500 advertising messages every day (BBC), how many of these could you recall on your way to work or to the local shops? Not many I can imagine.

This may sound like an unusually high figure but advertising can so easily wash over us, instead of doing what it’s intended to do – grab our attention. It acts like a garnish to our everyday lives. We know it’s there… sitting on the side on the plate, but we’re just not interested in it.

In order to make an impact with business advertising you need to do something that;
a) Stands out
b) Communicates the USP (unique selling point) of your business to potential consumers in those few seconds you have to impress

We were recently asked to create an advertisement that captured the interest of fine food retailers, and stood out from the competition; this was for our client Feeding Your Imagination.

We created a concept around a bold visual which highlights that Feeding Your Imagination offers something different; a bespoke range of gourmet food produce with flavours people may not have experienced before. This in theory becomes a red carpet event for your taste buds – the VIP in food indulgence.

Extending the uniqueness even further we integrated the advert with a Quick Response (QR) code. This code enables consumers to interact with the advert by scanning the QR code with a mobile phone. QR codes are at the start of becoming main stream in UK promotional circles and are an ever-increasing tool in business advertising.

These codes are a great way of engaging potential consumers. The visual cue of the code acts as a hook, which then leads the user to further substance. This is advertising with a reinforced message, without overloading everyone.

To interact with the QR code users require a smart phones application. Consumers then scan the code which will then take them to an extended message of the campaign. This can be a further call to action or a promotional offer. In this campaign we used the QR landing page to communicate further product details to potential new retailers.

Our business advertisement for Feeding Your Imagination will be gracing regional fine food magazines over the next few months. As always we like to share our designs which are created for our customers from our studios in Liverpool.

As a company we also like to share best practice advice allowing new marketers and business owners an insight into industry techniques – please use our share buttons to repost this information to your friends and colleagues.

Tags: Advertising, business advertising, creative
Posted in Copywriting, Graphic Design, PR, Publishing | No Comments »