Branding & Brand Design

Bigging up the benefits of being a brand.

Date:

05/05/2012

What’s in a brand? A logo? A website? Marie Turbill reports.

“There so much more to it than that,” says Kate Burton, the new Brand Director at Stokesley-based Better. It’s their job to help businesses identify and understand exactly what their company stands for and then build a brand that says just that.

She explains: “Many confuse having a logo or a website with having a brand.” But she says a brand runs far deeper than that. “It’s about identifying what the company is about and what it stands for. It’s the entire ethos of the business, its DNA.” (more…)

North-Eastern brands we’re proud of.

Date:

04/05/2012

An occasional reflection on the regional brands we admire. This month designer, Ryan Crawford, tells us what he loves about one of his favourite local brands - ‘Deadgood’.

This is a lovely brand. I first came across their printed material whilst on placement in Newcastle during my second year of University. They use one of my favorite typefaces (ITC souvenir) and they have adopted a wonderfully simple and clear language that ties in well with their brand identity – in fact, that’s what I enjoy most about them, that their brand is basically typography coupled with clever language. (more…)

Better’s helping hand for MAIN

Date:

01/05/2012

Sometimes there’s more to business than making money, as a Teesside firm proved when they extended a helping hand to a local charity hit by financial crisis. Marie Turbill reports.

HAVE you heard of MAIN? You soon will.

It’s the new name for a Teesside charity that may have previously slipped under your radar.

But all that is about to change as the support service for individuals and families living with autism, formerly known as The Main Project, has undergone a massive rebranding campaign, with the help of Stokesley-based Better brand agency.

(more…)

Social media and co-creation partnership set for rapid rise to power

Date:

11/01/2011

A NEW joint venture between two North East firms is on target to see sales hit £1m in its first year after attracting interest from several national corporate giants.

Newcastle-based market research business Explain has joined forces with Teesside brand agency Better, to launch Better Communities. The Better Communities product is a bespoke private digital community backed up by specialist research software which allows companies with large customer bases to gain feedback and insight from their consumers.

The co-creation and engagement tool has already attracted interest from a number of blue chips from across Europe in several sectors including retail, manufacturing and utilities, and negotiations with a handful of multinational companies continue to progress. (more…)

Customer engagement and insight in the digital age

Date:

16/12/2010

When Explain and Better first sat round a table at Seaham Hall in March 2009, the brief was simple; find a way of harnessing the dynamic growing power of digital media with the customer insight provided by market research.

The two companies had been brought together through a long standing relationship between Steven Bell, a board director of The Entrepreneurs Forum and David Shiel, managing director of Explain, a relationship that stretched back over 25 years when they both worked in the supermarket industry. (more…)

ArtsBank select Better for brand development, ongoing creative and marketing support

Date:

25/11/2010

ArtsBank is a major new artistic initiative, privately funded, and based on Teesside. Successful local businessman Bryan Goodall (FRSA and chairman of the Hambleton Group) has formed ArtsBank, with a £600k initial investment. ArtsBank aims to give a massive boost to the work of creative people across the north east, and beyond.

It has acquired and converted a substantial Victorian property (the old HSBC bank) in the heart of the beautiful and spectacular resort of Saltburn-by-the-Sea. The whole building has been transformed into a five-floor gallery and centre for the arts, with something for everyone. (more…)

Creative company names…

Date:

24/09/2010

You can’t fault these guys for their creative company naming (nothing to do with us by the way!).

We’ve seen some good ones in the past, including ‘William the Concreter’ for a local builder but we reckon these ones take the biscuit. Take a look for yourselves…

This was a business card leaflet dropped off at our business centre yesterday for a local car wash business. (more…)

Fudge Fancies

Date:

01/08/2010

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Be A Storyteller Brand

Date:

02/06/2010

I recently enjoyed a two day storytelling seminar given by Robert Mckee, the legendary story doctor who has worked with luminaries of the movie industry for more than 3 decades.

Stories are art, crafted to take the reader on a journey designed by the author to deliver a meaningful emotional experience. This seminar, and I recommend you seek out one of Robert’s London seminars if you have the chance, provided me with a rich learning experience that helps me in my desire to understand better the correlation between our emotions and values and the brands we buy.

I believe brands need to be storytellers. Using craft and structure to reveal the complex associations of values, benefits and features to their audiences using language they intrinsically understand and connect with. Their stories must tell the simple truth of their existence, helping their audience to see clearly their value, design and importantly create a platform for long term engagement.

It is in the storytelling therefore that some brands fail. They offer the same quality of service or product as successful brands, and yet they don’t translate this into their own success. They fail to capture the imagination of their audience and we must ask ourselves why?

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ArtsBank

Date:

09/04/2010

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