A Brief Portfolio of Work 22/2/2012
Archive for February, 2012
1987 Flashback…The Music
It’s our 25th anniversary, so we’re soaking up the nostalgia of 1987!
Wonder No.6; The Music. 2012 Brit Awards tonight, so it’s a good time to dig out the top 10 singles of ’87 – loaded with as much pop-cheese narration as possible! Here comes the countdown…
- It’s a band who like it loud, at 10 “Pump Up The Volume,” by M/A/R/R/S.
- Blasting off at number 9 “Star Trekkin” The Firm
- Seven is the usual number, but this makes it to 8 “It’s A Sin” The Pet Shop Boys
- Standing firm at number 7 “Stand By Me” Ben E. King
- They may never be respectable, but their chart position is – at 6 “Respectable” Mel & Kim
- Into the top 5 – she’s not fragile with this strong hit, at 5 “China In Your Hand” T’Pau
- These brothers are no losers at number 4 “You Win Again” The Bee Gees
- Hot-footing into the top 3 “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” Whitney Houston
- So close to being unstoppable, at 2 “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” Starship
- He didn’t give up and he hit the top, at number 1 “Never Gonna Give You Up” Rick Astley
So is there a point to this? You could consider the role of publicity in brand endurance. Music can create massive fame very quickly. Rick Astley sold a whopping 759,000 copies of his major hit single. Imagine the shelf space (pre-internet!) that he occupied, TV appearances, magazine articles, radio-play, live events, shows and tours…it would’ve been very hard not to know about Rick Astley in ’87. However, roll on a few years and ‘brand Astley’ had faded.
Why? It could be that the brand was the right thing at the right time and consumers simply had their fill. It could be down to stagnating, not moving the brand forward with changing tastes. It could be that the brand lost focus on the simple things that made it great. It could be that their market shifted and the brand failed to react. There’s plenty of possibilities, but one thing is for sure -building and maintaining popularity takes constant endeavour – if you don’t keep consumers interested you will lose them!!
'I love 1987' pop culture - Top 10 Singles
February 2012 Brochure Launch
February 2012 sees the launch of the Tesco Clubcard Rewards brochure – and Shaun Power Design’s 10th year of designing and producing it!
Showcasing over 150 rewards partners, this 48 page brochure has a lot to say. Our years of experience have shown us the importance of clear and simple customer communication, so the key to this project is collating a raft of information, digesting it, understanding it and distilling it down to its vital components.
Since 2002, Clubcard rewards has grown in popularity with Tesco customers and is now recognised as an integral part of the Tesco Clubcard loyalty scheme.
- Tesco 2012 Rewards Brochure
Aspall, creating a great British brand.
Not only are we celebrating our 25th anniversary as a design business, but also our 15th year of being design partners to Aspall.
The Aspall brand goes from strength to strength. Our design has helped bring them to market, allowing Aspall to speak to consumers about their excellence, heritage and values – but it’s Aspall, as a business, sticking to their core values that has driven their impressive rise on a national scale.
When we first shared brand development ideas with Aspall their major focus was on speciality vinegar. The shift back to exploring their heritage and classic production techniques has engaged consumers, strengthening the speciality vinegar offer, re-establishing the flagship Aspall Suffolk Cyder and has seen the company make a foray into the fresh juice market.
We love creating designs for Aspall and continue to help mould and shape their brand message and visuals. From designing labels for their entire Suffolk Cyder range through to the latest Vintage and Lady Jennifer varieties – to our solution for a revamp of the Aspall Speciality Vinegar, it’s all been warmly received and delivered great impact for Aspall. Their 100% English Apple Juice is the newest product line and has experienced a rapid and impressive rise from testing to gaining listings in three of the top five UK Supermarkets.
We’ve shared 15 exciting years of growth and when Aspall were voted, by consumers, as one of Britain’s Top 500 CoolBrands® we all knew that the brand was loved by customers and all the hard work was paying dividend.
It really is a team effort, we can brand Aspall successfully because they remain true to their beliefs and deliver superior product quality. We’re looking to keep the momentum going into some very promising years ahead for great British brands.
Have a browse of our Aspall digital case study below by clicking on the brochure.
1987 Flashback…more extreme weather!
We’re celebrating our 25th anniversary with a look back to what was happening in ’87.
Wonder No.5; The ’87 snowstorm. Forget the blanket covering of snow we’ve seen this weekend – this snowstorm had the blanket with duvet and mattress thrown on top!
In the early part of 1987 some southern counties experienced serious disruption as super-cold air, from Siberia, was abruptly shifted in the direction of the UK leading to some astonishing snowfalls. Over 20 inches fell in parts of Kent, Essex and London plus a whopping 30 (yes THIRTY) inches of snow was recorded on the North Downs near Maidstone! On top of that the temperature was brutal, with some days seeing a maximum of around -7°C and an overnight low crashing to -14°C (the extreme cold even affected the chiming hammer of Big Ben!).
So ’87 was extreme and rightly disruptive, but it can help highlight the importance of brand perception. The UK brand is built to help showcase the country to the rest of the world, it’s the British nation and should stand out as in control of it’s own affairs. So if a regular occurrence, such as indifferent weather, can play havoc with transport, cause panic buying and somewhat irrational behaviour, then there’s something amiss with the classic ‘keep calm and carry on’ spirit.
Brands speak to consumers to offer perceptions of ‘what they will do for you’ and when it comes to the crunch of dealing with tough circumstances, actions do speak louder than words. However, the right words supported by the right actions offer a whole new dimension of power for brands.
So, in short, be very proactive to build brand perception of real substance.
We love '87 - the Snowstorm!
We’re now a member of the DBA
We’re delighted to announce that we’ve joined The Design Business Association.
For us, it’s mutually beneficial. We fully support everything the DBA stands for in promoting professional excellence and creating a trusted trade structure within the design industry. The DBA provide a directory where prospective clients can find us and explore our agency, to gain information about our business and our work, with case study examples and client testimonials.
The DBA are first to encourage creativity – but their core value is focused on the effectiveness of design. This is vital to them (and us) and is something that we, as a business, have to prove in order to gain membership. The DBA is our industry trade association, an accreditation earned by being a professional and fair design agency whose work is not only creative but, most importantly, effective for our clients.
We look forward to a long and fruitful relationship.
Feel free to contact us for more information, or you can explore the DBA at www.dba.org.uk
- Shaun Power Design – Accredited DBA members