Clear Focus Design and Marketing

Graphic designer wanted

2010-04-23T02:42:00.000-07:00

Full time position vacant

Want to work for Clear Focus?

We have a full time position coming vacant for a graphic designer, some web knowledge a benefit but not essential. The right person will be enthusiastic, happy to work with our great range of clients, talented and motivated.

A large amount of our work is highly creative so an interest in design outside of work is paramount and a knowledge of the trends and influences vital.

Go to our website www.cfdm.co.uk for more information

Psychic Family community keeps on growing

2010-03-03T09:50:00.000-08:00

The website family.psychics.co.uk by us is now a thriving community full of positive people and great facilities. The site's proprietor and renowned Psychic Craig Hamilton-Parker can be seen below discussing the site we built for him.

Design for tomorrow's customer, today

2009-12-01T06:28:00.001-08:00

Design for tomorrow's customer, today

Complete branding and marketing package for travelling conferences

Following a multi-agency pitch Clear Focus were selected to create the branding, website and marketing materials for University of the Arts London's travelling conference "Design for tomorrow's customer today".

The sold-out conferences run in conjunction with the British Council and the London Development Agency were taken to Beijing, Shanghai and then returned home to London for a summary session and workshop.

Site for medal winners

2009-12-01T06:26:00.000-08:00

Site for medal winners

The new and much prasied website for the Merchant Navy Medal has now been launched. Designed and built by Clear Focus the site is a major improvement for the charity and aims to raise the profile of a noble cause.

The medal, whcih is awarded annually provides an opportunity for the industry to recognise in a worthy and public manner, meritorious service by British Merchant Seafarers.

News - CX News gets new publishers

2009-05-04T09:28:00.000-07:00

CX News gets new publishers

In line with a complete corporate overhaul (also being delivered by Clear Focus) which includes a new website, stationery and policy branding we have been appointed to create a new look and feel for the insurance title CX News.

Our work included a new design, a new logo and the complete style guidelines including tone of voice. Our new angle for the writing style was well received with the lighter more friendly tone making the sometimes dry subject of insurance seem a little less grey.

Avoiding the cliché crunch

2009-05-04T07:26:00.000-07:00

THINKTHINK

Avoiding the cliché crunch

In these gloomy economic times...

As the depression deepens...

In this challenging era...

As businesses tighten their belts...

In a cash-strapped economy...

Are you feeling the pinch...

Have you seen any of these expressions recently? And would you perhaps be pleased if you never saw any of them again? Like us, you may have spotted lately that every website, email and direct mail you receive contains at least one of these phrases and there are plenty more along similar lines. And aren't they tedious?

These 'gloomy economic times' unfortunately present an ideal opportunity for anyone to use the economy as a backdrop for whatever they want to say. Instead of acting as attention-grabbing openings, these clichés are more likely to have the opposite effect. So inured nowadays are we to doom-saying that we tend to filter it out, it has become the white noise of communication, an incessant buzz that is simply annoying. And that could easily mean that the message you are trying to get across is lost.

We are all for communication, whether it is an internal, team building interaction or an external push to potential clients, it's our job and we love it but one size does not fit all. And economic clichés are fast becoming the dumbing-down of effective communication.

Some communications agencies have been as guilty of this as the clients they serve. Instead of writing a punchy start to a press release or an email, there are those who are quick to resort to clichés. Not only is it lazy, we ThinkThink it is downright unprofessional. When businesses are at their most vulnerable they deserve the very best an agency can give. You, are well aware that these are 'troubled times', you're living through them. The last thing you need is someone with a degree in journalism or marketing spelling it out for you.

Yes, you want a good deal and you want your team and clients to be aware that you are offering the very best value but no one needs patronising. You want smart, tightly written pieces that get the message across. Now really is the time to be innovative and resourceful.

If you had a message you wanted to get across to your colleagues who would you ask to do the writing? Would it be the person in charge of marketing? Someone with a bit of free time in HR? Or you might even do it yourself, perhaps you've always fancied being a bit of a writer?

These might seem like good choices to make. After all if you do it then it's free, always an attractive option; you might think that the people in marketing/HR can write; they may do the health and safety booklets or company policies and perhaps you think there isn't much to writing, anyone can do it. It's only a question of stringing a few sentences together.

Well, actually I don't agree.

And, my friends at Clear Focus ThinkThink that good writing can make a massive difference to even the smallest campaign; whether it is an internal communication or a major advertising campaign. It is not just what you say that matters, it is the way you say it.

Closing music

Good communications is a skill, in fact it is even an art. If you ask your agency for a new design for your website they won't tell the copywriter or the accountant to get a sketchbook out. They will give the brief to the people who have a flair for design, who can see a concept in their mind and transfer it onto paper or onto your site. You have trusted them with your design and they will use the very best people for the job.

Exactly the same principles apply to writing. Whilst pretty much everyone can write, not everyone can write editorial or sales copy well. They are specific skills, ways of structuring text so that the target reader is smoothly led through the words to the message. Copywriters can package their text for any audience; in fact the target readership is absolutely critical. In the way that a journalist working for The Sun will adopt a different technique to his colleagues on the sister paper The Times, so the writer will adjust his style to fit the audience. Writers are trained not just to write in a way that is succinct and easy to understand but also to tailor their writing very specifically

And the time when it is easiest to write badly (and get away with it) is in the middle of a recession.

If you want to engage your team and colleagues with internal messages that will inspire or keep your clients coming back for more call my friends at Clear Focus on 0845 225 0325 – they really are the experts.

News - Eurovision comes to London

2009-04-18T09:30:00.000-07:00

Eurovision comes to London

The second annual UK Eurovision Preview Party on 17th April 2009 was a rampant success with fans of Eurovision coming from all over to get a sneak preview of this year's Eurovision Song Contest performed live in the UK.

Held at the Scala, London and sponsored by Clear Focus, the event featured the Romanian, Polish, Cypriot, Icelandic, Irish, Ukrainian and Bulgarian entries. As well as some special guests from the UK's past entries.

News - Anglo American managers get a new online resource

2009-04-15T09:31:00.000-07:00

Anglo American managers get a new online resource

International mining company Anglo American's top management has a new online resource to share information, download resources and learn the latest strategies and company initiatives.
The internal communications microsite was built by Clear Focus from an excellent design by Item Group's Nigel Wood, based on their existing intranet.

The site is a monthly updated resource that we built in a SharePoint environment to integrate smoothly with the new corporate intranet when that gets implemented later in the year.

News - Education Show rebrand

2009-03-19T09:32:00.000-07:00

Education Show rebrand

After a multi-agency pitch, Clear Focus was appointed to rebrand Emap's Education Show. This next show will be the 20th and so a new logo was needed to show this.

Also for the first time the show is going to be in two clear areas, for teachers and for head teachers and so the logo shows a whole event but of two distinct parts.

The colouring will be followed through to the event with carpets and branding to match.

News - Emap's BETT 2010 campaign underway

2009-03-12T09:33:00.000-07:00

Emap's BETT 2010 campaign underway

Following the success of 2009 campaign and the resulting increase in visitor figures - attendance broke the 30,000 barrier for the first time ever - Clear Focus was invited to create the campaign for 2010, with no pitch.

Clear Focus' Barry Viniker said, "This is a great opportunity for us to take our concepts a stage further. We're happy to be working on BETT again."

The campaign will be a progression of last year's interactive classroom theme, to feature new technology and a revamped art style.

News - Business advisory for SIFE project

2009-03-01T09:34:00.000-08:00

Business advisory for SIFE project

The inter-university competition Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) is a hotly contested event where universities pitch teams against each other in categories including entrepreneurialism and the environment in business.

The London Metropolitan University's Ioannis Pantelidis invited our own Charles Fenoughty to be on the business board of advisors to help guide and direct the team.

"This is a very worthwhile and exciting chance for post-grad students to put real skills into practice. I especially support the employability week initiative." Charles Fenoughty

News - Digital marketing Indaba

2009-02-26T09:35:00.000-08:00

Digital marketing Indaba

On Wednesday 25th February, Kimberley Davies-Phippen of the Indaba Events Company hosted her first Digital Marketing and Innovations Indaba (indaba is a Zulu word for gathering) at The Studio, Birmingham.

She invited Charles Fenoughty from Clear Focus to attend as guest speaker and digital marketing expert.

The day, which was a special for members of the Solids Handling and Processes Association (SHAPA) covered such areas as search engine optimisation, effect email design, blogging, podcasts and much more.

"WOW! What a stimulating day, we all need a few of those to keep the juices flowing. Well done to Kimberley and to Charles Fenoughty too for such a super workshop and well done to SHAPA for making it happen." Keith Simpson Marketing Manager, Spiroflow

The danger of undervaluing internal communications

2009-01-04T07:19:00.000-08:00

THINKTHINK

The danger of undervaluing internal communications

How do you communicate company information with your colleagues? Perhaps you favour the short, sharp approach, something like opening your office door and shouting 'Hey, listen up and spread the word, we've got a new order'. Or possibly such transparency isn't your style, maybe you call a meeting, tell the senior managers and say they are not to breathe a word to anyone. Or do you prefer the 'grapevine method' – dropping a few hints to key colleagues knowing that they will hang around where people congregate and take delight in passing on fresh gossip?

If you are reading this because you are concerned that you are not getting your message across internally then the above may already apply to you. In which case you should know that a study conducted by the Ryder Self Group in 2003 found that when describing their ideal workplace employees consistently rate "effective communication between management and staff" in their top five expectations. (The survey canvassed 10,000 employees across a range of businesses).

↑ In their own words, people feel valued when:

Their opinions, expertise and experience are recognised through an open two-way channel of communication between management and staff.
They feel involved and empowered in decision-making processes relating to their jobs.
Their contributions and efforts are openly recognised.
Good and bad news is openly communicated, letting them know what is really going on in the organisation.

↓ On the other hand they feel totally undervalued and not trusted when:

They are kept in the dark about important developments in the organisation.
They are not asked about their expertise or experience in a particular job or field.
They are not consulted about important decisions.
They do not receive any feedback about positive things they have done.

So what? The boss is thinking. Surely it doesn't matter if there are a few disgruntled and misinformed people about, so long as the company is more or less doing well it can't really mean a great deal. I'm afraid that is simply not the case. You know, and I know, your colleagues are an asset; they are without doubt potentially the best asset you have, we just need to get this message across to the top brass.

If the employees on the floor are not receiving the company message in a way that makes them feel valued then you can be sure they are not giving of their best. And what's worse they are almost certainly doing some harm. A recent MORI poll found that 30 per cent of UK employees are 'brand neutral', 22 per cent are 'brand saboteurs' and 48 per cent are 'brand champions'. The brand saboteurs have low job satisfaction levels and poor commitment to the company. As a result, they tend to show anti-customer service behaviour, talk down organisational change and have an infectious negative impact on their employee peer group. No that's worrying, to say the very least.

When moral is down or work is tough it is important that the messages circulating within your company are positive. Why? Because internal messages have a habit of becoming external profiles.

Picture the scene in the in the pub after work on a Friday night. Someone in accounts has too many Bacardi Breezers and spills the beans on the present state of the company's book debts that he discovered whilst having a snoop, and it's not good. Speculation abounds over a curry later and by Monday morning half of head office is convinced that promised pay rises are in danger, redundancies are inevitable and the company is on a downward slide.

But what the man in accounts didn't know is that your main creditor has just re-structured, is about to pay everything it owes and has a massive order waiting for the company. In the kitchen, by the water-cooler, on MSN and the phone, the grapevine is alive with speculation. (It turns out that there is a notice on the board in reception from the MD telling everyone the good news – but no one has read it; no-one ever reads it.)

In the meantime your valuable colleagues are at best worried, rendering them unproductive, and at worst spending company time looking for another job. Sales people pass on their worries to the customers and before you know it the gossip has become a self-fulfilling prophesy.
I grant you the above is a gloomy example but at Clear Focus they ThinkThink that it is not too far fetched but nor would it take very much effort to turn this scenario around.

If this company had used an experienced communications and marketing agency to devise an effective internal communications strategy then this disastrous turn of events would never have happened. The news of the company's credit problems and subsequent rescue would have been on the desktops of the whole workforce; and with an opportunity to ask questions there would be no need for speculation in the kitchen/pub/restaurant.

Closing music

What the Clear Focus experts are really good at is tailoring communications to suit an individual workforce so that it speaks to them in a language that they will respect and with which they can identify. It's a sort of horses for courses approach. They know that some people will respond well to print – a company hand-out or magazine that they can take home or read over lunch, others prefer the electronic approach and the dynamics of an intranet or company blog where they can have their say or perhaps a downloadable pod-cast from the chairman. There is a massive choice of media that can deliver your message straight to the heart of your colleagues and that's where it counts.

The 52% who are presently either brand neutral or brand saboteurs can be helped towards feeling invested in the company and that way they will become brand champions. And being a brand champion means not only passing positive messages internally but also filtering these out to your customer, creating a buoyancy about the company that will, quite literally pay dividends.
Internal communications is the new marketing strategy.

Call Clear Focus on 0845 225 0325 to find out how they can help you to use your most powerful asset.

Exhibition marketing lecture at London Met

2008-11-13T04:15:00.000-08:00

Today, Monday 10th November, Clear Focus’ own Charles Fenoughty delivered a lecture to the Events Marketing Management Masters degree students at London Metropolitan University.

The lecture was entitled Traditional and Digital Marketing Methods for Events and Exhibitions. In his presentation Charles described the various financial models for an event, the classification of audience types, establishing a budget and the options available to a modern marketing manager.

Invited by the head of the course to bring practical experience to the students we saw it as an excellent opportunity to engage between business and academia.

The talk was well received and might well be the first of many.

“Thank you. Your presentation today rounded off the content of this semesters' studies, and provided an interesting grounding for studies next semester.“

Justin Lance, Academic Leader - TSCI Course Cluster Leader

Our Psychic Family

2008-11-10T01:58:00.000-08:00

Our Psychic Family – TV documentary

A new six part TV series for the Biography Channel (Sky 156) is centred on one of our clients, Craig Hamilton-Parker and his family. From Craig’s and his wife Jane’s position as international famous and respected psychics the series follows the brood as they exercise – or in indeed exorcise – their powers candidly in full view of the cameras.

More kooky than the Addams family and more functional than the Osbournes, Our Psychic Family also shows the every day lives of an extra-ordinary family.

The first episode “The Psychic's Apprentice” airs on Thursday 20th November at 9pm and features the search for an apprentice to Craig and Jane.

A full episode guide can be seen here: www.electricsky.com/catalogue_detail.aspx?program=2114

When the going gets tough the tough get marketing

2008-11-03T06:07:00.000-08:00

THINKTHINK

When the going gets tough the tough get marketing

“There’s no easy money to be made unless you’re prepared to leave town.”

If you listen very carefully, perhaps in the dead of night, you can hear a strange leathery, creaky, tinkling noise. You will hear it louder near estate agents, banks and financial institutions and it will be almost deafening the closer you get to the Square Mile, which is the City of London. It is, in fact, the sound of many stout belts being tightened. Actually I was making that bit up about being able to hear them; these belts aren’t really making a noise – they are metaphorical, of course, or in modern jargon, perhaps they are virtual belts, either way they don’t exist But, if you rely on the popular media as your news source, you would be forgiven for thinking otherwise. You might also believe that there were purse-strings that needed tightening and shoe-strings to be lived upon.

In fact not since the Second World War has there been so much scaremongering, entreaty to thriftiness and make do and mend. Buy all your clothes in charity shops, have your boots repaired instead of getting new ones, do all your shopping at the cash and carry, turn down the heating, batten down the hatches – there are tough times ahead. Before long we’ll all be living on spam and powdered egg and there’ll be a man in the pub with a dodgy moustache offering you some nylons and a length of parachute silk, no questions asked.

All this doom-saying by the media would have a slightly comic edge if it wasn’t becoming a downward spiral of self-fulfilling prophesy. And it is hard not to be sucked in, whatever the reality of your own business. The overwhelming message is ‘if you’re not feeling the pinch now, just wait, you will.’ But is this really the case?

There are many who are not convinced. ThinkThink is not in the business of being an economic analyst but there are plenty of people out there with bigger financial brains who are prepared to say that yes, there are those who will be caught by the economic downturn, however, they may have already been heading that way. ‘The bigger they are, the harder they fall’ – in other words if you were riding very high you have a long way to come down. If, however, you were cruising at a reasonable height you are unlikely to be so badly hit. Banks, estate agents, hedge fund managers and the like are in for a rough time but the rest of us need not buy into the prophesying. We can ThinkThink ahead and look at the reality of our situation and – this is the best bit– actually come out of the so-called recession in a stronger and more powerful position than when it all began. How? By marketing, that’s how.

You may be thinking in the words of Mandy Rice-Davis ‘He would say that wouldn’t he’. After all my friends at Clear Focus are in the business of design and marketing so we may have an axe to grind. But what we say is backed up by hard facts. If you advertise correctly during a recession you will not only increase your market share during that period you will be ahead of your market when the dust has settled.

“When other companies simply battened down the hatches, seeing only risk during the recession, the more successful competitors found opportunity and pressed their advantage… “ [ Source The McKinsey study; an independent report, that studied nearly 1,000 companies over an 18-year period (1982–99) including the US recession of 1990 to 1991,which showed that companies who increased their spend in a recession were the only ones whose profits rose substantially when the economy recovered.]

The Financial Times is at present running a campaign that reads ‘Global downturn; what’s the first mistake most businesses make?’ The FT’s marketing director Frances Brindle, says the campaign “…supports the argument that cutting back on advertising spend in recessionary or turbulent times hands a significant advantage to your competitors. There is considerable evidence to suggest that companies that continue to invest in advertising in tough times emerge stronger than those that don't."

The people at McKinsey and the FT aren’t the only analysts to have studied the effect of a recession or economic downturn on various businesses. Professor Patrick Barwise of the London Business School conducted an extensive review of the evidence about different advertising strategies in recessionary times. He advocates three positive strategies for coping in a recession:

Look for new creative, targeting or media opportunities. Slower market conditions can create new possibilities.

Strengthen your market position against weaker rivals, through your marketing strategy.

Keep going. The advantages of maintaining or increasing marketing effort are greater than the short-term benefits of reducing spend. Maintaining or growing ‘share of mind’ is much less expensive than trying to rebuild it later on.

The last of these three is most pertinent to the mind-set of many business-owners. The panic-inducing economic statistics (many of which are incomprehensible to even the keenest brains) will have many executives in charge of advertising budgets reaching for the phone to cancel the campaign they were about to run. ‘Let’s put it on the back burner’, they will say. But this is a big mistake. If you are brave enough to pick up that phone and call the marketing agency and say ‘Right, what can you do for us to make sure the business grows over the next year’ you will already be ahead of the competition. If you spend money (wisely) on advertising when others are tightening their virtual belts then they (and the consumers) will wonder what edge you have and what you know that the others don’t.

If this sounds like psychology then we put our hands up – it is, but then who said that advertising wasn’t a psychological science that relies on skilled designers and copywriters to make it work. And this is very important; when you are advertising in a recession you need to do it right. At Clear Focus they know you always need to get it right and that is what they do; but there is no time when this is more important than right now.

In this internet age when even your granny has her own blog, we have been lulled into thinking that everyone can write – good grief every footballer and his wife has a book out, how hard can it be? The truth is that writing for advertising can be very hard indeed and unless you know exactly what you are doing you might as well get your granny to write it for you because it will have the same effect. You need hard, edgy, tight copy that is set against strong, focussed design. You are going to get people to spend money they are being told they don’t have – you have to get it right. Bad design and weak copywriting will elicit little or no response but a well thought-out campaign run by professionals will more than pay for itself.

Companies must show the consumer that they are stable enough to withstand hard times, it is this feeling of confidence that will give your business the edge and make it stand out because the competition will be hiding under their desks waiting for it all to go away. You will become the market leader because you look like a market leader, your slick and well-thought out campaign will convince the consumer that you must be ahead of the competition because you have such high visibility.

And there is more than one advantage to advertising in a recession – not only will you stand out from the competition but you will pay less for the space than you would do at normal times. A good agency will be able to negotiate rates that will mean you get a lot more for your money at a time when you can stand out and make a much bigger impact.

Clear Focus Design and Marketing is an agency with the talent and experience to help your business to succeed. They employ talented designers and copywriters who will think, research, plan and act. Can you afford to be without them?

Give them a call today on 0845 225 0325 and see how they can help you succeed in trying times.

UKIBC

2008-10-08T02:33:00.000-07:00

UK India Business Council first annual summit

September 1st saw the first annual summit of the UK India Business Council, held at the Mermaid Conference Centre, London. The event which concluded with a gala dinner was a resounding success, well attended and much praised for its running and its appearance.

For our part Clear Focus was there on the day in force, with Barry covering the event for press, Charles roped in at the last minute to run the day’s AV elements and Tom participating in the event itself.

We were responsible for all of the creative aspects of the day, including the stage presentations, the stage design (although not the manufacture) and all of the marketing material, including their website. http://www.ukibcsummit.com/

Soon to be posted online will be video highlights.

Evict a Tenant live

2008-10-08T02:26:00.000-07:00

The website for Evict a Tenant, a fixed rate service for landlords has now gone live and we will shortly proceed with a full online and offline marketing campaign.

Owned an run by Lawson George solicitors, the site is a way for landlords to know exactly what they are getting themselves into with tenant issues. With most landlords agreeing that they need solicitors but are always afraid of how expensive things will turn out to be, a fixed fee service offers clarity and piece of mind, as well as being very affordable.

For more information see http://www.evictatenant.co.uk/

Clear Focus in China

2008-10-08T02:19:00.000-07:00

Charles Fenoughty has just returned from China representing Clear Focus at the Dragon Design Festival in Dalian. We were invited by The Guanghua Foundation as part of a UK delegation put together by Dr Zhen Ye of the University of Hertfordshire and Xiamen University.

The Dragon Design Festival was part of the Chinocs 2008 programme of events and was a large trade show ranging across all design disciplines.

Speaking at a major roundtable discussion on design in China – a meeting which brought together several heads of industry, including Xio Yong

the designer of the Olympic medal for 2008 – Charles put forward to opinion that design in China and the UK aren’t as different as so many people say. Highlighting the cyclical nature of influence and dispelling the myth that we are more developed in the UK for design, after all China had printing 1000 years before us. For both countries there’s as much inspiration looking backwards as there is forwards.

Many interesting meetings were had in Dalian and as a result we’ll be looking to do more in China, so watch this space.

BETT

2008-10-08T02:10:00.000-07:00

BETT CAMPAIGN UNDERWAY

With the BETT show in January efforts the visitor campaign has now begun in full. The creative concepts are finished, the advertising has started and the direct mail tickets are going to print as we write this piece.

The show is an educational technology show owned and run by EMAP. It will be help at the Kensington Olympia, 14-17 January 2009.

For more information see http://www.bettshow.com/

Keeping it brief or To brief or not to brief

2008-10-08T01:25:00.000-07:00

THINKTHINK

Keeping it brief or To brief or not to brief

So you’ve had this great idea. It absolutely cannot fail, You are going to reach a trillion customers by the end of the year. You’ve got the okay from the board, now all you need to do is get those chaps in from the marketing agency, tell it like it is and ask them to get on with it. Do that design stuff and make sure the customers buy it.

No problemo. That Bugatti is practically in the garage.

But hold on. One of those designers from the agency is on the phone about a ‘creative brief’. Says it would help the design team no end if they had a bit more information. Honestly. They’re the arty ones. Can’t they work it out from the notes you scribbled on the back of that menu? Oh right, they can work it out, but would we like them to write this brief thing for us and make sure they are going to cover all the points? Splendid. That sounds marvellous

But whilst they are on ask them exactly what a creative brief is and do we really need one.

The above scenario is a fiction but it isn’t entirely beyond belief and you can see how it happens. You have a product and you understand absolutely everything about it, down to the last widget. You have been sleeping and eating this idea for so long you know it backwards. And now you have to hand it over to a bunch of design and marketing specialists you hardly know for them to work out how to make the best of it.

So once ThinkThink had begun to consider this it seemed but a short step to start investigating the concept of a design brief and how important (or not) it would be to start a project without one.

Let’s think it through for a minute. You have presented the product to your design and marketing agents, given them some really pretty pictures or graphics and of course the name. You have explained very little more.

Now designers are arty, imaginative and creative. Where we see a colour they see a whole rainbow, when we see black and white they have a kaleidoscope of shades in their head. Designers are rarely made, they are born. They just have it.

But before we get carried away with the whole idea of art for art’s sake let us remember that these designers are professionals. These people aren’t designing for themselves or because it looks pretty, this is commercial design. Commercial design is something that grew out of a need for skilled individuals who could present products and environments in a way that would appeal to people.

Without the commercial element design is simply art. Beautiful, of course, but of no particular use other than to adorn the waiting room wall.

You would expect artists to know about shape, form and colour and yes, that is going to be very useful in selling this marvellous product. But it won’t be enough. Not unless you give these artists some direction, it won’t. You’ll get something visually superb from your photos and graphics; something that the MD can talk about over dinner for years to come, but you won’t sell a bean. Not unless you link the flair and creativity of the design element with the whole purpose of the campaign. And that is where the brief comes in. If you can channel these arty types and inspire them to use their skill to place your product in the most dynamic and appealing light and surroundings, then you will really see some results.

So let’s go back to our initial scenario. Let’s revisit this go-getter with the great idea and see what would happen if he decided to ‘wing it’ and just leave the brief at a name and some shots (no not Tequila, photos).

Let’s suppose that his product is linked in some way to people of pensionable age; it might be a financial product, a health plan say or some sort of investment. Anyway it’s quite a ‘serious’ product. It has to be bought before the end of the tax year for it to be any use, it can only be bought by people who fulfil certain age and health criteria and the company has authorised a budget of £1m.

Now in the way of all good game shows, we know all that information but the design team does not. It knows that the product is financial in some way, but the brief is so woolly that it has no real idea of its client’s target audience – where they live, work, shop; whether they watch TV, read newspapers, magazines, surf the net, have children or pets, drive a car, ride a bike, go on holiday…You get the picture. They know nothing. Zilch. Nada.

So what? Says laddo after a large lunch. You’ve got the graphics. Just Get On With It.

So our designing friends do as they are told. They decide to take a sort of ‘mean’ age group – 30 sounds good; then they make up the rest of the information about the target audience until they have built up a picture of the sort of person they think they should be appealing to.

They’re wrong of course and they are so fundamentally wrong that it is downhill from here on in. But let’s follow them anyway, because it’s not their fault.

The design agency people are now trying to decide what sort of a campaign their clients would like (and can afford). Are we talking brochures, flyers, TV ads, celebrity endorsement, a radio campaign, newspapers, glossies, a conference, exhibition material, internet ads, a website…? Can anyone read how many noughts there are supposed to be on that budget figure on the back of the menu? There’s a stain of what? Has anyone from the client’s company returned our calls? No. But they’ve sent an email saying ‘is it ready yet?’

You get the picture. Mayhem.

Someone has to take a decision. So a 20-page glossy brochure is designed. In it there are gorgeous photos of thirty-somethings frolicking in meadows, skiing, swimming and partying. It’s got a jokey, comic font and cartoon figures feature quite heavily.

And it’s handed over to the writers.

If we thought the designers were in trouble that was nothing. Writers are a very difficult bunch and they are very precise. They can spot a greengrocer’s apostrophe in a heavy fog and need a lie down if they see one. They like facts, facts and a few more facts. Let’s remember again that these are not arty writers of short stories or novelettes, these are commercial writers, copywriters, in fact. Their skills lie in being able to draw out the most important and appealing aspect of a client’s campaign and write it in such a way that it hits you in the face and sells itself. They eat and sleep headlines, slogans and bullet points and can remember the words from ad campaigns when they were nine years old. And they can turn 1500 words of rambling, turgid facts into 200 words of tight and punchy prose. But they can’t do much with a few vague scribbles on the back of a menu. As well as the obvious product profile, without which they can do nothing, they need to know their target audience, how to pitch the prose – should it be jokey or serious, heavy on facts or easy to read. Are they appealing to readers of Hello! Magazine or the Financial Times?

The copywriters are given the ‘visuals’ (brochure) by the designers plus the client’s instructions and are told to go away and not come back until it is done.

Now these are real professionals so unlike we mortals they can get the gist of what the product is about from the menu - but they aren’t psychic. So they don’t get the time limit tie-in to the tax year and there’s a 55 that looks like a 65 and that changes all the figures. And so on, and so forth. It’s a mess.

Now Laddo has spent the morning browsing the internet looking at infinity pools for his villa in Portugal. He’s got the big one in the bag and he’s as happy as the proverbial pig. So he’s a bit miffed to get a call on his mobile over a very nice lunch with his broker telling him to get to the boardroom. Pronto. It’s a bad line but it sounded like someone’s briefs weren’t up to scratch. Surely this is a matter for Human Resources.

Laddo is history by tea-time.

The long-suffering design agency people are asked to come and see the new head of marketing. They are briefed with time limits, budgets, target audiences and goals. The company love the campaign. It’s a runaway success.

ThinkThink has decided that good design is an investment not a cost. But it can only work if you get the brief right. My friends at Clear Focus believe that so much that they will even write the brief for you – they are good like that.

With Clear Focus, your marketing is measurable, profitable and provocative. Call us now on 0845 225 0325 or click
here and we’ll call you back.

An impromptu at the China design seminar

2008-09-24T08:16:00.000-07:00

Designernapped’ right after lunch, the afternoon ‘wish I could have a kip’ was filled with a roundtable for heads of business from all sectors of Chinese industrial design to discuss with us – the nominated four UK representatives – what we thought about and how we could see the future of design in a more eco-directed post Olympic China.

Not aware of this and slightly blindsided I made a quick speech about the origins of a green revolution which is from the people for the planet and not the other way around. Hoping that designers wouldn’t preach our message to an unwilling audience but would engage with media and use a process of creation that looked into the past – embracing a long history and rich culture – as much as it looked forward. The goal, to create products, marketing and design solutions to help people – all the people.

The session was congenial and ended nicely with meeting the participants, interestingly – the head designer of the Beijing Olympics who chaired the session and then a designer/lecturer who did the gold meddle this time round – if anyone’s interested Mr Xiao Yong is going to guest lecture at Central Saint Martin’s next term, a great chap to meet.

Following the forum, hoping for a rest we were given a 5 minute warning to be in the lobby for dinner – at 16.45 this could be worrying, but presuming a long journey we all made the deadline.

Dinner was an amazing banquet hosted by local dignitaries with a few welcoming speeches and much toasting. The eating is sociable, congenial and above all varied, the sea cucumber (I am sure we called it sea slug but hey) tasted much much better than it looked. And the Abalone rightfully has its place as the most splendid of sea delicacies.

The post dinner reception was in another hotel location, a mere short walk guided by a delightful group of umberella-ella, wielding girls and guys, to a red carpet entry and a huge hall for a gala celebration. They certainly know how to impress a few designers, that’s for sure.

Speculation of course moved on to how we would handle the games come 2012, I wonder will we pay host to out guest as graciously?

More tomorrow….

Dragon Design Festival china

2008-09-24T07:43:00.001-07:00

I think perhaps a better title for this entry would be:

We need more brochures! But that seems to be the way here.

After a long day – 25 hours in fact – travelling and then a clear day doing not much apart from walking around the city soaking up the culture, graphics, smell and delightful lack of street advertising the main event started.

Well there was a 3 hour set up for the stand at Dragon Design Festival - the annual design festival held in china with the mission of promoting industrial (that’s graphic and product to us) design in china. but this was down whilst the other members of the UK delegation were derelict of their duty in the local pub – Bavarian themed, of all things!

So first day of the festival the Clear Focus exhibition stand was well prepared with bilingual designs and brochures – thank you Pauline Weng for your translations – but nothing would prepare me for the sheer onslaught of interest we were subjected to. From 9.30 for the next two hours the stand was engulfed in a swarm of brochure hunters, voraciously consuming every element of design we had to offer.

Taking photos of our posters, asking for photos in front of the giant logo on the pop up stand and requesting business cards. Curiously and almost the opposite of meeting people in the UK, I ma now very used to exchanging cards with person two whilst hardly breaking conversation from person one.

Meeting a huge variety of wonderful and interesting characters, from local students to national leaders in their field, all of whom were equally interested in learning anything they could about how design in the UK differs from their city and their country.

In between meeting and topping up the literature stand I managed to slip off for a cheeky photo with one of the two Olympic torches, larger than it seemed on TV that’s for sure.

But the most heart warming element was the endless photography of the posters though – what greater flattery is there for a creative and marketing company than other designers seeking inspiration from our own work!

Thank you Guang Hua foundation for inviting us to your country and your festival, there’s days two and three plus the forum yet to go.

We’re gonna need more brochures (sorry Barry, I know as head of client marketing you’d soundly tell off anyone for running out of marketing material). But as Geoff McCormick of Alloy put it when I asked him – it gets too expensive to produce that many brochures. Interest from China is enormous.

China conference a resounding success

2008-03-31T05:03:00.000-07:00

Creative exchange with China conference

Run by the University of the Arts London and the London Business School's "Centre for Creative Business" with design and marketing by Clear Focus Design and Marekting http://www.clearfocusdesign.com/

About the conference

The conference held on March 13th, aimed to help creative businesses from both China and Britain to get to know each other before exploring the business potentials of the rising industry. 200 creative entrepreneurs, creative business managers and executives, policy makers, practitioners academics and researchers were in attendance.

Michael Bichard, rector of the University of the Arts London, said in his keynote speech that “If we remain isolated, we would not be able to achieve our creative goals of building global brands. To make collaborations effective, it takes much deeper look into the respective industries instead of superficial one" he said.

Bichard, who is also chair of Design Council UK, hopes that Design Council would cooperate with China not only academically, “but across the business to develop tomorrow's creative industry. It is not just about money, it's about understanding. The Olympics is a strong link between Beijing and London. two countries together can achieve great things."

Wang Yongzhang, director general of cultural industries at China's Ministry of Culture, elaborated on China's policy improvement on the cultural industry over the years to serve as a backgrounder to the audience and representatives from British and Chinese creative companies also shared information about their experience in China during panel sessions.

The afternoon session dwelled on three topics with participants discussing ‘Investing in China’, ‘Investing in the UK’ and ‘Managing Creativity in China’.

The one-day conference was sponsored by the Centre for Creative Business, University of the Arts London and London Business School, is part of China Now, a six-month celebration of Chinese cultural and history across Britain.

Clear Focus Design and Marketing

If you are interesting in talking to us about marketing, advertising or design please pick up the phone, we're here to help and happy to talk - 0845 225 0325 or email info@clearfocusdesign.com, to see some work examples: www.clearfocusdesign.com/our-graphic-design-marketing-portfolio.html

Another Creative Conference

2008-03-31T04:54:00.000-07:00

Announcing the Creative Exchange with China Conference
http://www.creativeexchangechina.com/

Run by Creative Centre for Business a joint venture between The University of the Arts London and the London Business School.

After a three way pitch Clear Focus Design and Marketing (http://www.clearfocusdesign.com)/ were appointed the contract for the design and PR for this prestigious event associated with some top names.

The University of the Arts
The Centre for Creative Business
The London Business School
The Southbank Centre
Think London and
The London Development Agency

We were awarded the job to create the branding for the event and the on the day branding, design and build the website, write and design all amrketing pieces and run the press campaign.

We're very pleased to be working in such good company and look forward to delivering some top quality pieces.

Announcing the Creative Exchange with China conference for UK creative industries.

The conference will be held on Thursday 13th March 2008 at the Purcell Room, and Royal Festival Hall at London’s South Bank Centre. The event is a joint venture between Europe's premier creative university, The University of the Arts London and Europe's leading business school, London Business School, under the Centre for Creative Business banner.

This is a new event from the Centre for Creative Business, which will feature experts experienced and successful in exporting the best of British creativity to China and Chinese business experts looking to develop partnerships with UK creative industries companies.

The day will provide those working in the sector with a rare insight into the way that the Chinese creative industries are developing and how industry pioneers have led the way for British companies to enter and win market share in China – one of the fastest growing and potentially lucrative economies in the world. It will also feature some of the most prominent names in Chinese business providing top-level insight into how to attract Chinese business investment and cooperation.

The event will feature an impressive creative industries speaker list. Professor Xiong Chengyu has been confirmed as the key speaker. He is special advisor to the Chinese President on Internet policy, Director of the Center for New Media Studies at Beijing’s Tsinghua University and Director of the National Research Center for Information Strategies and Board Member of the China International Culture and Exchange Center.

Additional information and booking information can be found at the official conference website, http://www.creativeexchangechina.com/

Clear Focus Design and Marketing

If you are interesting in talking to us about marketing, advertising or design please pick up the phone, we're here to help and happy to talk - 0845 225 0325 or email info@clearfocusdesign.com, to see some work examples: www.clearfocusdesign.com/our-graphic-design-marketing-portfolio.html

Why India? Why Now?

2007-11-16T09:36:00.001-08:00

New conference for the creative industry.
http://www.whyindiawhynow.com/

New conference for the creative industries, with event promotion from Clear Focus Design and Marketing.

One of our more recent business wins was the Why India? Why Now? conference, run by Creative Connexions (http://www.creativeconnexions.com/) a government backed initiative and The University of the Arts, London. This is an exciting project with work aiming at other creatives so pressure is high for us!

To view details of the creative conference click here

---------------------
About the conference
---------------------

Announcing the Why India? Why Now? conference for UK creative industries, a new event featuring experts experienced and successful in exporting the best of British creativity. The day will provide those working in the sector with a rare insight into how industry pioneers have led the way for British companies to enter and win market share in India – one of the fastest growing and potentially lucrative economies in the world. Brought to you by Creative Connexions the conference is a project from The University of the Arts London and is partnered by King’s College London, London Business School, and the School of Oriental and African Studies.

The event features an impressive creative industries speaker list, including:

Rodney Fitch CBE, the leading world expert on retail design and founder of Fitch, the leading international retail design consultancy.
Parminder Vir OBE, the critically acclaimed film producer, BAFTA member and
key figure in uniting British film industry with Bollywood.
Alpesh Patel, the highly acclaimed financial and economic commentator and author.
Graham Cartledge, a leading architect who, as chairman of Benoy, led the company
from design in the UK to export their designs around the world.
Sharon Bamford, Chief Executive of the newly formed UK India Business Council.
Peter Day, renowned BBC Radio 4 presenter and anchor of the In Business show.

The conference is on Monday 28th January 2008 at the Brunei Gallery Conference Centre, School of Oriental and African Studies, Russell Square, London.

New wins

2007-09-24T06:28:00.001-07:00

September 24th and time to update with a few new wins.

The last month has been exciting for new business and business developments with some big-name clients.

Recent wins include:

Cadbury Schwepps, in association with Chandler Gooding, the internal communications specialists
DMG World Media
The University of the Arts London

The first newsletter for Cadbury Schwepps - CS News has now been sent around the world, in three languages and twelve pages long full to the brim with illustrationrs in the fun slightly crazy Cadbury style. A full week spent creating handdrawn illustrations to accompany the news stories left designers with sore fingers but a piece to be proud of. We heard down the grapevine that no fewer than three Cadbury Schwepps high-ups said it was the best issue they've ever seen.

DMG World Media, part of the Daily Mail Group are famous for the Ideal Home Show, we are working with their in-house design team on the relaunch of their bathroom and kitchen expo the kbbreview EXPO.

Following great antipation and a wide ranging pitch we won the contract to launch the Why India? Why now? Conference a new event for Artscom, part of the University of the Arts London and run in partnership with the Creative Capital - World Cities initiative. The campaign includes all the PR, marketing, design and branding. This is a very exciting project for us providing everything using all of the skills available.

Looking forward

October looks to be just as busy, with The WSA Show hotting up and new work for some other big names - watch this space.

If you are interesting in talking to us about marketing, advertising or design please pick up the phone, we're here to help and happy to talk - 0845 225 0325 or email info@clearfocusdesign.com, to see some work examples: www.clearfocusdesign.com/our-graphic-design-marketing-portfolio.html

News [two]

2007-08-01T02:55:00.000-07:00

New website launched

The new www.clearfocusdesign.com check it out.

New site, freshened identity and an even more focussed approach, the new Clear Focus Design and Marketing site is now live. In line with the revised branding and ready to go.

Designed for usability and accessibility the design works cross-browser and across different media. Try printing a page – the printing will actually work neatly, without wasting your whole ink cartridge on a single sheet!

This website sees the start of a new business drive – watch this space.

Check out the new site and drop us a line with your opinion, www.clearfocusdesign.com.

News [one]

2007-07-31T08:30:00.000-07:00

Time to blog…

What’s multi-coloured and read all over?
Yep you’ve guessed it, the internet.

Ouch sorry! Awful but how else to start the first piece of a new blog? A bad joke is as good a way as any other.

Our new design and marketing blog is going to be a place for the team at Clear Focus Design and Marketing to pop our company news and the ThinkThink thought pieces. So over time we should build an archive of useful bits of information offering marketing and design opinions, tips and inspiration.

There will of course be items of news about the growth and new clients for us and the new projects we are undertaking.

If you are interested in what we are up to check out the website for a proper read about the company, there’s no point re-iterating everything here…

ThinkThink [three]

2007-07-31T08:17:00.000-07:00

Taken from www.clearfocusdesign.com

Pushing the envelope

Does the way the Post Office has “reorganised” the way it charges for mail impinge on creativity? Probably not.

Rats. That’s the end of exciting and interesting formats then, isn’t it? On August 21st 2006, the direct marketing business suffered its biggest blow since the Data Protection Act’s poxy opt-out box in 1984.

Since the unassailable monolith that is the Royal Mail changed its charging structure to make more/some/any money, art directors and designers everywhere are crying into their carrot and mango smoothies. Clients are shuffling along corridors, wincing as they pass a C4 envelope. And the Royal Mail’s bean counters are sitting back rubbing their hands and watching their cunning scheme pay off.

The Post Office can only have introduced this tariff in a bid to make more money. Maybe they’ll spend it on another rebrand! Perhaps the extra revenue will go towards funding more bean counters – the consultants who came out with this schemey little scheme. Maybe they’ll spend it on training and teaching their van drivers to, well, drive. (According to a survey, Post Office delivery people are the worst drivers in London.)

Let’s get down to how much more it’s going to cost you. These are the cold, hard facts.

Before August 21st 2006, if you wanted to send 4,000 A4 brochures (the national standard size for crying out loud) with a letter totalling sixty grams or less it would cost you this much in postage:

£1,280

If you wanted to repeat the exercise today it would cost you this much in postage:

£1,760

That is what we call a substantial increase. It is, in fact, an increase of exactly:

37.5%

Most people who read this occasional column are in the business of sending about that many brochures a few times a year. And it really doesn’t matter how hard the Post Office try to say in their brochures and advertising that they are ‘changing’ the pricing structure. They are in fact sending the cost of postage quite a long way north. No consultation. No negotiation. Tough. Live with it.

But what can you do?

Size isn’t everything. Make your packs small but perfectly formed.

Well, what you can do is this. Play them at their own game. Play to win. By way of some kind of compensation, the Royal Mail has increased the weight limit from 60g to 100g for standard postage of a “letter”. (They have done this because hardly anything sent in a C5 or DL envelope weighs more than 60g anyway.) So stick to C5 or DL for your promotional literature but splash out a bit more on the quality of the finished piece. The last research ThinkThink saw on this subject indicated that format actually had very little effect on response in any event.

Die-cuts and embossing were always thought to be expensive but because we’re forced to reduce the size, we can increase the quality to achieve the standout that you need. If you tot it up, you can have a much plusher, albeit smaller, piece for less than the cost of a standard A4 six, eight or twelve-page format. Ask your designers to recommend more interesting stock. Don’t flinch when there’s an interesting die cut on the visual because, chances are, the whole thing’s gong to be costing you less than it did when we felt it necessary to make sales literature almost always A4.

When you need a larger space to show something like a floorplan, there are interesting folds that can come out of an A5 piece to give you a bigger spread. Look at pop-up formats. Things that attract attention.

And, here’s the killer, when you’ve got a lot to say, let the website do the donkey-work. Get your copywriter to pile on reason after reason to go to the website rather than act off the page or leaflet – and let the team run riot with creativity online rather than in an envelope.

But, please, please make the piece as close to 100g as possible to get you money’s worth.

Closing music

There’s something that is puzzling your correspondent beyond belief. Why, in the name of all the gets posted, did the business consultants and bean counters fail to suggest the one very thing that could have turned the Royal Mail round eight or ten years ago? OK, it’s easy in retrospect but that great ogre that is biting lumps out of the Post Office’s revenue as we speak has been clearly visible for at least the past decade. Did they not see that this thing called the internet and, ergo, email was happening? Or were their heads buried so deeply in the sand that they thought it would just go away.

The real question is this: given that every forecast in the business universe predicted that the internet revolution would explode (and most of them underestimated the size of the blast quite considerably), why is the Royal Mail not the biggest, best run, least expensive and most respected internet service provider in the UK if not the whole of Europe? Why is there not a state-regulated Royal eMail? They could have had it but they didn’t.

They managed to miss the ship to cyberspace and now they’re making you pay the cost out of your budgets. Don’t let them get away with it.

Give someone a call who can make the most out of your budget, achieving better results for the same money! Spend it where it counts don’t waste your budget on postage because your designers can’t see past A4!

Check out our website and give us a call, www.clearfocusdesign.com.

ThinkThink [two]

2007-07-31T08:08:00.000-07:00

Taken from http://www.clearfocusdesign.com/

Is it too long? Is it too short?

This week, ThinkThink was asked again the eternal copy question: How long should text be? The long and the short of it is that copy should be as long as it needs to be to get your marketing messages across. That’s, er, it.

OK. That’s not it. It depends what you’re trying to sell or promote, to whom and in what medium. Clearly, you don’t want 300 words of prose on a roadside 48-sheeter but on the other hand, what about on a platform-facing poster on the Tube? We know at least two things from research (station exit questionnaires): platform-facing posters are read and understood by people and, secondly, most people who actually go ahead and purchase your products, read all the copy available to them before they make the decision to buy. That bit’s so important, it’s getting a repeat:

The vast majority of people who actually go ahead and purchaseyour products, read all the copy before they make the decision to buy.

That means you’ve got a fantastic chance to fill your prospects with the benefits, to encourage, to persuade, to illustrate, to point out, to show what makes your product different from the competition’s or unique in its own right. The old adage still stands: the more you tell the more you sell. And the last A/B split test that ThinkThink heard about where copy was tested revealed that the long version out-performed the short one by more than 800 per cent.

Copywriting is selling on paper. And what copywriters do – good ones anyway – is take the benefits of your products and services and help you communicate them in the most appropriate way. The benefits are the reasons to buy and the more reasons you supply, the better the argument. You want your prospects to read about your product and, when they’ve finished, they should feel that it would be stupid not to buy. Good copy should talk. Often, you’ll hear copywriters talk about what they’ve said on paper, not what they’ve written.

As far as ThinkThink knows, the subscription drive letter for the Wall Street Journal is still four A4 pages of single-spaced typescript long. Why? Because it works. How do we know it works? Because it’s been running for donkey’s years, virtually unchanged and, what’s more, it’s a brilliant piece of copy.

“People are too busy to read all that.”

Is that really an argument? People will read the copy if they’re interested. And it’s the copywriter’s job to engage your prospects, create and sustain the interest and then get them to act. If the readers are not the slightest bit interested in what you’re offering, then the fault probably lies with the media or lists that have been selected, rather than with the copy. The same people that are “too busy” to radically improve their life by buying your products are perfectly capable of reading the sports pages, feature-length articles – some of your prospects may well even read entire novels running to hundreds of thousands of words.

It takes a normal adult one-sixth of a second to notice, interpret and react to an image, then the headline should reinforce the visual proposition and directly or indirectly tell the prospect to read on. If the interest is there, the copy will be read.

Strange and true

Years ago, ThinkThink knew a copywriter who was charged with the task of writing about a new modem that had been introduced by a major consumer electronics manufacturer. The brief said they wanted the advertising to be “cool” and “funky”. The copywriter spent the requisite amount of time digging through datasheets, looking for the beautiful, golden nuggets of information to be converted into benefits that would help sell the modem.

The product marketing manager, when presented with the campaign visuals, said he didn’t want any copy; just the headline. The copywriter fought his corner until he was beginning to think about not just losing the client or his job but also, potentially, some of his teeth, and then gave up. All the text apart from the headline was deleted from the page by the designer – his most celebrated keystroke of the week – and the ads eventually went into production.

Because it was a mainstream consumer IT product, the media was selected appropriately: mainstream consumer IT magazines, and they’re rather expensive for full-page, full-colour display advertising even if it does look cool and funky. Two months into the campaign, the figures were all scrutinised by the bean-counters at the computer company. The cost of sale was huge, the number of modems still in the factory was likewise and the product marketing manager didn’t manage to work for the company much longer.

Closing music

What’s important is what you say and how you say it. Sure, there are cases for shorter copy but only if it can still do its job. One copywriter described his work as “making his clients richer than him by making lists not look like lists.” You can see some of his work in The Copy Book: How 32 of the world’s best copywriters write their copy.

Because the internal people to whom you present expect everything in PowerPoint bullets (short ones at that), that doesn’t necessarily mean your targets want the same. The thing is, when you’re trying to sell something to somebody, it’s probably not the best idea to start firing bullets at them. Let your copywriter use his box of magic tricks to cajole, entertain and persuade, to massage and inspire. It’s what you pay him or her for and you will both be better off as a result.

If you’d like to know more about how Clear Focus Design and Marketing’s writers can make your copy positively sing about your products, you can contact them by clicking here . One of them will call you back personally.

That’s coming up for a thousand words and, assuming you didn’t get interrupted, it probably took under five minutes of your time. Thanks for listening.

If you are interested in speaking to someone further check out the design and marketing advice and services on the clear focus website.

Think Think [one]

2007-07-31T07:51:00.000-07:00

Taken from www.clearfocusdesign.com

When marketing directors need shooting dead. Or the true value of awareness advertising, in our opinion.

The fish, she never cackles ’bout
Her million eggs or so.
The hen is quite a different bird,
One egg and hear her crow!

The fish we spurn, yet crown the hen,
Which leads me to surmise:
“Don’t hide your light, but blow your horn!
It pays to advertise!”
—Trad.

Keeping your knowledge, expertise, products and services a secret probably isn’t the best idea – unless, of course, you’re the Ministry of Defence. If you want to sell, you do have to make some noise in the marketplace. So go ahead: blow your horn for all you’re worth.

But wait. A few decades ago, this stuff called ‘direct marketing’ started to become popular. John Caples, Herschell Gordon Lewis, Drayton Bird and David Ogilvy – not in any particular order, and to mention only a few of the more famous names – were instrumental in changing the face of the whole way we thought about advertising. David Ogilvy wrote in one of his earlier ‘my life in the business’ books after he put a telephone number and a coupon on a leaflet and started receiving direct enquiries as a result: “I had tasted blood.”

Who’d have thought it: you give your target audience a way of communicating with you and they, well, do just that. Amazing. Today, we wouldn’t dream of running a campaign without appropriate ways for prospects to start the buying process. Would we? OK, it still happens. And it seems to ThinkThink that the more money that’s unleashed on a campaign, the more direct marketing crimes are committed.

For example, last night’s prime-time television featured no fewer than 14 thirty-second commercials with no call to action at all. Even if viewers were concentrating hard on what was being advertised (which they almost certainly were not), they were left with no way of enquiring about or purchasing the product. Two or three of the commercials had production values to rival a Hollywood blockbuster. The space on the TV channel itself would have run to tens of thousands of pounds per slot. And there was no way of buying or enquiring about the product. At all.

This is turpitude. The marketing directors who sanction such activity need shooting in the head. Put them out of their miserable, vain, insecure and nonsensical excuses for an existence. If I were the managing director or See, Eee, Oh! of the corporation that spent that amount of money on awareness advertising (what kind of justification is that? People do lie on surveys and wrestling, I’m sorry to have to tell you, is fixed.) I would ask, before pulling the trigger, some pretty serious questions. And then I’d turn the gun on myself in utter desperation.

ThinkThink is about to try to summarise the last fifty years of what we know about advertising in a few bullet points. There’s a bombshell at the end, so stick with it.

We know that data is everything.

If we know who we’re talking to, we can communicate with them better. The more time and money we invest in our data, the more successful our campaigns will be. And take a good look at the Data Protection Act’s requirements – as well as preventing you from falling foul of the law, what the DPA says will save and make you money. Simple as that. ThinkThink will be doing a piece on this later.

Put a call to action on everything.

Please don’t ever forget. TV commercials, leaflets, brochures, press ads. ThinkThink promises it won’t hurt.

Unless you’re selling stuff for babies, don’t use babies.

Your children are beautiful to you and your ‘life partner’ alone. Harsh but true. Using babies in advertising is a mistake. Similar story with dogs. ThinkThink knows people who don’t buy Andrex out of principle.

Put the proposition in the headline.

Think about what you’re selling and what you want the reader (or viewer) to do and ask them to do it. In the headline. If your copywriter comes up with something really clever or funny that doesn’t sell, ask them to have another bash. (ThinkThink admits he is asked to have another bash every so often. Especially when the only person that found the headline clever or funny was, um, him.) Really basic stuff this, but worth saying.

Get another opinion. One other opinion.

When you’ve briefed your agency and they come back a week or ten days later with the concepts, let them do the presentation, make your own judgement and then, the next day, pick what you think will work best (not your favourite, the one you think will sell hardest) and then show them all to a colleague who isn’t familiar with the brief. Listen to what they say and give your own and their feedback to the agency. If your agency listens and understands, you’ll get a successful campaign. You’ll make money.

Alternatively, show the concepts to everyone in the office, your mum, the au pair and the landlady of the local pub before you make a decision. Because creating great advertising is best done with a mish-mash of ideas from a committee of various unqualified and disparate people. However, the agency for which ThinkThink writes, would really rather you didn’t.

The bombshell. What advertising is now for.

ThinkThink took a while to get round to this – about two years, believe it or not. There is now only one purpose for advertising and one purpose is all. The singular raison d’etre of advertising is to point people in the direction of your website.Every weapon in the direct marketer’s armoury is there for the firing.

Testing – you can put different URLs on the advertising and gather the results by measuring the hits.
Knowledge – you can track where people go, what they look at and how long they stay. You can gather further information about their buying habits, what makes them tick – and what makes them click. You can get valuable information from your prospects directly by asking them to complete a questionnaire – and offering them an incentive to do so.
Unlimited selling space – there’s only so much copy you can cram into an ad, only so many messages you can put in a commercial. Your website – or a tailored landing page on it – can fill your potential customers with reason after reason to buy.
Dynamic content – you can adjust messages based on the knowledge you have acquired about your prospects. Sainsbury’s, for example, knows that ThinkThink is slightly partial to Rioja. Sainsbury’s also knows (because of ThinkThink’s Nectar card) that ThinkThink buys a particular brand of Rioja. So when Sainsbury’s started stocking another brand of Rioja, they emailed him to let him know – and offered a discount if he bought half a case of the stuff. It was on offer for £4.49 a bottle (which had to be a loss-leader). When it returned to its normal price of £7.49 a bottle, ThinkThink was already in the habit of buying the brand and merrily went on buying it. It was good, but a tad overpriced.

Here’s the message writ large: the only purpose of any advertising campaign you carry out is to direct people to a tailored landing page on your website. This is the new “don’t forget to put a call to action on your ads”. It’s sensible, elementary and vital.

Closing music

Clear Focus Design and Marketing can help you build great, integrated campaigns. Come to us with a marketing problem and we’ll work with you to solve it. We have skills in direct-response advertising, direct mail, brochures, radio, websites and emarketing. We can also help you align your marketing strategy with your business or project plan to help ensure you get the maximum return on investment.

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