Kate will add considerable experience to our existing agency team in terms of creativity, brand communications and client servicing, reinforcing our audacious ambitions for Better. Kate’s pragmatic and innovative approach to brand creation and management is based on over 20 years consulting with some of the world’s most iconic brands including ICI, Vodafone, Nike, BT, British Gas, Virgin, Diageo, Royal Mail and Nestlé. During her career, she has worked with London’s leading branding and design agencies – including Wolff Olins, Identica, JKR as well as WPP-owned Coley Porter Bell (as a Board Director) and Enterprise IG.

Kate’s focus is on providing expertise in the craft of delivering excellence through ideas-generation, effective brand management and compelling communication strategies.

Says Kate: “When I relocated to the North East, the challenge was to identify the agencies that would understand – and welcome – my London-based experience and sensibility.”

“Quite frankly, Better quickly emerged as the one to beat as I realised I was increasingly using them as my benchmark by recommending them before I had even met them.”

“Since then, not only have I been impressed with the scope and breadth of their work, I am blown away by their sophistication, their commitment to delivering excellence and their entrepreneurial spirit. Just as important, they are attracting the sort of clients that I really want to work with.”

So, as you can see we intend to deliver on our vision as we continue to build a design and brand consultancy full of the best people, doing the best work. You should know us by now though, at Better we’re never content with the best. That means living and breathing our commitment to continually evolving and challenging ourselves to keep delivering outstanding thinking, and award-winning creativity, for the most visionary of clients.

Building brands people believe in. That’s Better.

Take a peek below. We’ll be adding some more photos when we get done.

Have a great Christmas and we look forward to a prosperous 2012!

The Better Team.

Since its formation in 2008, in the midst of the economic recession, the Stokesley-based agency has gone from strength to strength. Offering brand, creative, marketing and web services it is now regarded as one of the leading agencies in the North East. This year has seen Better win a number of high profile contracts with clients such as Five Lamps, Business & Enterprise Group, Northumbria University, The Trout Hotel, The Assembly Rooms, Cleveland Fire Brigade and Gentoo.

In its first three years, the agency has also extended its reach internationally. On the back of great work for UK & Ireland SAP User Group (UKISUG), Better were selected from other European agencies for the design and development of a new website for the Swedish SAP User Association (SAPSA).

As the client base has continued to grow, Better have doubled in size by investing in its studio team and now employs eight people with a powerful mix of skills in brand, digital, design and marketing.

The eight-strong team also includes six graduates from the North East’s universities.

Mark Easby, Managing Director said; “Our consistent growth of over 30% year on year over the last three years has been exceptional. This year we’re set to exceed our projections again with the last 6 months being our best period so far. We have continued to see a growth in demand for our services as businesses across the country look to market their way out of the recession.”

“In this environment clients demand a return on their marketing investment and our clear focus on results means our customers continue to have the confidence to invest their marketing budgets in Better. We are proud to have developed long-standing relationships with a number of clients and have become brand partners for national companies such as MPI Offshore, NDI UK and Anabas. Our work on all aspects of their online and offline communication has helped them build a strong place in the market whilst increasing visibility for their products and services.

The agency is passionate and committed to the development of the region’s businesses. They have backed this up through contributing directly to the skills of over 300 SMEs and Start Ups by sharing their knowledge delivering marketing workshops and seminars at a number of regional events including Marketing:TheArtOf, CIM, Service Network, Entrepreneurs Forum and more recently the Keeping Your Business Fit Conference.

Better has also embraced social media and is at the forefront of new web technologies. This has seen them form a partnership with Explain, a Newcastle-based market research business, to develop and launch Better Communities. The product is a bespoke private online community platform which allows companies to gain insight and feedback from their customers. The online platform encourages customer engagement and collaboration though discussion areas, focus groups, polls and surveys backed up by powerful profile reporting and analytics.

Mark Easby said: “We understand how social media and web technology is developing, and see private online communities as a key tool for brands to communicate with their customers to drive loyalty, engagement, innovation and co-creation.”

Since its launch earlier this year, Better Communities is already being used by brands such as Northumbria Water, Scottish Power Energy Networks, and HOME Group with many others interested in the platform.

Even with financial growth, the flurry of new clients, success in The North East Business Awards and recognition of it’s team through the Culture for Success Awards, the agency has set itself ambitious growth plans and is looking forward with excitement to the next three years!

Over 50% of delegates attending the workshops answered “Social Media”. With such interest in this area, the programme was put together to include a Master Class on the subject delivered by Stokesley based brand & design agency, Better. Declan Metcalfe, Marketing Director is delivering the master class which will give the big picture on Social Media, looking at strategy, case studies of successes and how to make Social Media really work for your business and include Better’s own story of success.

Date: Wednesday 14th September 2011
Time: 8:30am
Location: The Hilton, Newcastle Gateshead

Declan says; “Businesses need to be as visible as possible in a tough economy. They need to be seen where their customers are making decisions and that is increasingly online. Who would make a purchasing decision without checking out the company or the product online first? It’s become the norm.

As a means of communication the growth of some social media tools is unprecedented. It’s a new space that offers businesses huge opportunities to understand their customer and create deeper high value relationships with little investment other than time.

I think the conference will give the people attending the chance to see how other businesses, like our own, are successfully using social media to grow their profiles online and apply some of the practical advice to their own businesses. I’m sure everyone will leave with ideas they can implement immediately and I find that a really exciting prospect.”

Business Link’s Fighting Fit conference consists of a full programme of keynote speakers, practical workshops and showcases of best practice, with the theme of the conference being around managing and implementing change.

Jess Faith, Event Coordinator for Business & Enterprise Group (BE-G) who deliver the Business Link service in the North East says: “Fighting Fit 2011 has been put together using feedback from attendees at the workshops that have been running throughout the year, therefore we are certain that it will be relevant and meaningful to the audience. Speakers Damian Hughes, Author of The Liquid Thinker and Roger Flynn previously of Virgin Group PLC will provide inspirational and motivational keynotes both with a wealth of experiences to share.”

“Based on feedback from last year’s conference, we are really pushing the networking aspect of the event, with 300 delegates from regional SMEs, we are embracing social networking with the use of a Twitter Forest and people can start tweeting about the conference and even arranging a “Tweet Up” by using #FFit2011 and following us on @kybfightingfit.

Tickets are only £35 (inc VAT) including lunch, refreshments and parking. Full details of the Fighting Fit 2011 conference can be found at www.keepyourbusinessfightingfit.com/ffit2011.

Julie Moore who takes up the role of Studio Manager, joined Better from Codeworks, one of the North East’s leading membership organisations and conference creators. Julie will work closely with Better’s designers and developers on client projects and support the accounts team to ensure the company maintains an exemplary focus on creativity and customer experience.

Mark Easby, Managing Director, said: ”Julie brings a wealth of project management experience, having an outstanding track record in managing internationally recognised conferences in the digital sector such as DIBI and Gateshead Digital Summer and was part of the Thinking Digital team. She’s a gifted communicator, organiser and will bring those skills to bare on our clients projects.”

“Julie is an highly experienced, self motivated manager who shares the company’s drive to succeed.”

Julie has already got her teeth into a number projects for key agency clients as well as the agency’s new community platform, Better Communities. She is also hard at work further streamlining and evolving the company’s project process.

Speaking of her new role, Julie Moore said: “I am really delighted to have joined the team at Better. They’re a young company with an established reputation in the region with a growing profile nationally. Add to this their exciting new digital community platform that is already being taken up by national and international organisations and this was exactly the kind of company I wanted to join.”

Julie’s appointment is the third new team member at Better in the last twelve months, a testament to its continued growth. The company puts its commitment to customer care, transparency and staff development as factors in its growth and its recent award at the Service Network Culture of Success Awards 2011.

Better has also won a number of national and international accounts in the last twelve months including Scottish Power Energy Networks, Northumbria Water, The Trout Hotel, Home, Crafter’s Companion, UK & Ireland SAP User Group and the Swedish SAP User Association.

You can follow Julie on Twitter at @MissJulieMoore or keep up to date with Better through @Better_Studio.

This year’s awards attracted more entries than ever before, which only goes to show the commitment of businesses across the region to maintain a culture that nurtures and invests in their staff, provides transparency to their customers and the drive to succeed in growing their businesses.

We were extremely happy to be shortlisted amongst some established, vibrant businesses and would have enjoyed the evening put on by Service Network regardless of the outcome. It was of course made just that little bit more special for the team here at Better for winning the small business category. For that we’d like to thank category sponsors for this year’s Awards; CCS Mobile, Cintra HR & Payroll and Gateshead College who came out to see us and the other shortlisted companies. The questions were probing and every aspect of the business was looked at in detail, such was the task they took on to evaluate each entrant on it’s own merit.

The Judges were kind enough to say, “Better, Teesside based brand communications agency and winner of the Small Business Category, has a very clear idea of the culture they are developing. They believe in creating a transparent culture, one that will work, both internally for staff but also, and just as importantly, for their customers. The judges felt that the team demonstrate real passion for their business, true integrity and are proud to wear their hearts on their sleeve. Better, who have been operating for just over two years, have already built up an enviable client base, winning contracts against much larger agencies. The company is now successfully working on new collaborative projects to ensure a sustainable business model for the future.”

We entered these awards because they aren’t purely focused on business performance. They are as much a celebration of the teams that work extremely hard to ensure the culture within Better and the other companies who entered the awards, continues to put staff and the customer at the heart of our businesses. Our pride in receiving the award reflects our pride in our people and the job they do for our customers. It’s our team’s award ultimately.

Click on the link to see the Service Network image gallery and watch the winners video on BDaily.

Position: Studio Administrator
Job Type: Permanent
Salary: Dependent on experience

We’re always looking for the right people to join our growing team. By right, we mean able to fit seamlessly into Better and join the buzz we’re creating. We are currently looking for a well organised individual to join our team as Studio Administrator.

Reporting directly to our Managing Director, the successful applicant’s duties will include: answering all incoming calls, taking messages, managing the team’s calendars, working alongside the Creative Director and Account Managers to ensure work is planned in efficiently allocated to individual team members, updating project reports to ensure planned work is carried out on time, ensuring client files are updated and organised correctly, liaising with various suppliers, procurement of print services, distribution of invoices and other general administrative duties.

The successful candidate will be someone who can demonstrate resourcefulness, an analytical mind, attention to detail, a high level of accuracy, effective organisation skills and excellent interpersonal skills and love to come to work with a smile!

Salary is dependent on experience and we are looking for someone who can start asap.

Closing date for CV’s is Thursday, 31st March.
Please submit CV’s by email.

No canvassers please.

We’re always happy to hear from people who feel they can contribute towards what we’re committed to achieving with Better. Please email us and submit your CV. We’ll always respond to every enquiry because it’s just bad manners not to. And that’s not how we roll.

You can find our listing here – http://www.nicelydonecss.com/better/

What do your customers really think?
The $64,000 question in these ever changing times is “What does my customer think?” Well we’ve been thinking about that too and are really proud to announce the launch of Better Communities, our private online community platform. Since it’s launch in December interest has been phenomenal and we’ve already signed Scottish Power Energy Networks, Northumbrian Water and Home Group with 4 further communities in the pipeline.

Better Communities (www.bettercommunities.co.uk) provides our clients with a powerful online private community platform through which they can develop a long term strategy of engagement and co-creation with their customers and internal / external stakeholders. Our communities are currently influencing strategic business decision making, marketing planning, insight discovery, innovation and driving new product and service design.

Developed in partnership with award winning market reseach company Explain, our communities uncover customer attitudes by providing a secure online community through which we can conduct qualitative and quantitative market research. We strive for and discover actionable insight that our clients use to develop closer relationships with their customers, using techniques and online applications that harness the power of the community.

It’s awards time again, and we’re on the shortlist.
We’ve been shortlisted for ‘Newcomer of the Year’ and ‘Services’ award at the NE Business Awards, oh yeah!

It’s been a huge year for Better; we’ve grown our business, the team, the portfolio of clients we work with, and developed our first digital product that we launched at the start of the year (as above). When we submitted the award applications we’d considered the criteria for the awards carefully and reflected on our business. We’ve come a long way in a short period of time, and with help and support we’ve built a business on strong creative, our imagination and financial management. It’s testament to the whole team, who have contributed to getting us here and this was recognised by us winning the Internet and ICT Award last year. We also recently announcement that we’ve been shortlisted in the Tees Valley Best New Business awards to be announced later this month.

We already think we’re winners just for being shortlisted so we look forward to celebrating with the other shortlisted businesses at the event in March.

Better investment in local talent.
Growing the team isn’t something we take lightly. Getting the mix right is vitally important to the buzz in the studio. So we’re delighted to welcome Ryan to the team, who recently graduated from Teesside University with a first class honours degree in Graphic Design. After leaving University Ryan enrolled on the Graduate Internship Programme and was offered an initial 10 week placement with Better, and we just couldn’t let him go.

Ryan is working alongside Peter, our Creative Director, on brand, creative and print design projects and in that respect he’s already making an impact. Ryan joins a team that has grown from the original 3 founders in 2008, to a powerful mix of 8 individuals specialising in digital and creative.

Better sponsor the EXPOTEES 2011.
EXPOTEES 2011 is in its sixth year and is the annual showcase of students’ projects which demonstrate innovation, research and development in a wide range of computing subjects – from advanced computer technology to those centred on entertainment. We’ve sponsored the Web Design and Development award and are looking forward to seeing the students work showcased. As always we’re looking forward to getting further involved with Teesside University and the exciting projects that are happening on campus. Find out more about EXPO Tees on Teesside University website.

We’d also like to say a warm welcome to some nice new clients.

Please look out for them, they’re great businesses and organisations led by good people.

TADEA
We’ve been busy supporting the marketing team at TADEA who have appointed us to help develop their brand and marketing materials. A leading North of England, not-for-profit, carbon reduction advice company – TADEA assists homes, businesses and communities to find cost effective solutions in the areas of energy efficiency, renewable energy and sustainable transport. TADEA also offer contract management and environmental project consultancy. TADEA has grown significantly since launching in 2002 and with a new markets opening up to them felt their brand needed to reflect the new strategic direction of the business. The brand project has been a totally inclusive process, involving people from across the business in helping to identify what differentiates TADEA within the market place.

Institute of Digital Innovation (IDI)
We’re very proud to have been selected by The IDI to redesign and redevelop the organisation’s website. Located on the campus of the University of Teesside, the IDI brings together business and postgraduate research to develop intellectual property, foster commercial opportunities, and create a strong creative industry and digital technology cluster in the UK. The new website, and development of the IDI’s social media channels, will support The IDI to build on the success of internationally recognised work in digital application and content development including animation, computer games, digital film and sound, visualisation, and virtual reality.

Sheena Douglass
We’ve been working with Sheena and her team to redesign and redevelop Sheen’a official new website, www.sheena.tv and support the development of Sheena’s digital footprint. If you’re looking for some papercrafting inspiration, it’s the place to go. The website includes Sheena’s blog (with a vibrant community of followers), latest news on TV shows, new products and more. Through the website, fans can get inspired by Sheena’s video projects and image galleries, or visit her online shop where you can buy all of her latest products, plus the essentials which no crafter should be without! While presenting regular TV shows on Create & Craft and Ideal World, Sheena still finds time for making cards, rubber stamps and papercrafting.

Anabas
By the time you receive this the studio will have taken delivery of a shiny new brochure for our client Anabas, one of the UK’s leading Facilities Management providers. We first starting working with the team at Anabas over a year ago and the relationship has gone from strength to strength since then. In this time we have worked on various projects including design and production of a bespoke direct mail, corporate stationary, design and development of a corporate blog, development of concise brand guidelines and even the production of branded chocolate coins! We are really excited to be working alongside them on their new corporate brochure which our Creative Director, Peter, has lavished with some amazing print stocks and treatments. We cant wait to show you the results which pictures posted on our new website soon.

From the Blog

We’d rather contribute to the conversation than sit on the fence.

That means poking your head up above the parapet to get shot at. We have opinions and ideas we’d like to share so here’s one of our most recent blog posts.

Two heads are better than one?
In an age of coalition Government, the ‘Big Society’ agenda and focus on the entrepreneurial spirit, collaboration is emerging as an integral theme across all areas of society and industry. With the global economy tightening as never before, collaboration between businesses is absolutely vital for growth as well as profitability. So why should businesses collaborate? What are the personal skills and attributes required? How do you go about finding a partner to collaborate with? And once you have found that partner, how do you form an effective and mutually beneficial way of working together? Service Network’s event ‘Friend or Foe? Not going it alone’ on the 17th March will help to answer these questions. Find out more…>>

Out and about.

Where we’ve been and where we’re going.
We’ve been busy since the start of the year with events being attended by just about the entire team. Paul and I have been to number of Entrepreneurs Forum the highlight being the Sir Jackie Stewart event a few weeks ago. Ian and Simon went to the New Adventures in Design conference in Nottingham, and Ian also spent a mind blowing day at the UK Scale Camp event in London. Declan and Sam meanwhile attended the Agile Project Management event delivered by the Codeworks DEV team held at the Centre for Life. Declan also bought his ticket for Thinking Digital 2011 and it would be fair to say he’s been walking around with a smile on his face ever since.

From left field (but it shouldn’t be).

T-SHIRT WAR!!…a stop-motion music video. The makers of the video, Rhett&Link, changed shirts over 100 times each, taking individual pictures of each unique shirt. The designs on the shirts are not photoshopped. They are real shirts for each frame of animation. Watch it on our YouTube channel here.

From our YouTube Channel.

One of my personal favourites. New York invaded by 8-bit creatures! PIXELS is Patrick Jean’s latest short film, shot on location in New York.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou8vRWTSsJo

From our Flickr Channel.

We’ve updated our Flickr channel with pictures from some of the recent goings on in the world of Better.
Take a look at some recent photos of Life in the Better Studio, the Entrepreneurs Forum Jackie Stewart event and the visit from the NE Business awards film crew.

Follow us on Twitter.

Keep up to date with the day to day goings on in the Better studio. www.twitter.com/better_studio