what gets us out of bed in the morning

We're hunting down those brave brands of the future. Businesses and organisations with a challenger mindset looking for a likeminded agency that simply slots in as an extension of their business.

We’re describing you, aren’t we, we can tell.

Some would call you an innovator, disruptor or even a pioneer…

...but we'd call you a

You’re why we’re here. We can’t settle for mediocre when trailblazers are in town!

We want to work with those who don’t copy, don’t follow and who want to standout for themselves. We want to help build more authentic brands.

We feel it’s this trailblazing mindset and truly believing why you’re doing something that gives you the edge in your industry. When values and purpose align people instantly become more compelled to listen, believe and be drawn in.

Meet our favourite trailblazers

 Dick Fosbury 

This man blazed his trail on the biggest stage of all, the Olympics! In 1968 Dick dismissed ‘the way to do it’ by approaching his problem and jumping backwards. Seems crazy but it was this unique thinking that enabled him to shatter the record and win gold.

 Wright Bros 

These trailblazers found themselves in an aeronautical race against a far more advanced team. The success of Orville & Wilbur came from their insatiable curiosity and love of truth. Rather than a love of making money, everyone got behind their ‘why’ and drove the ideas forward.

so who are we?

We’re a group of courageous rapscallions, from brand strategists to project managers, designers, copywriters, developers, the list goes on. For the last 10 years we’ve operated with a compact core team, leaning on our extended network of talented specialists to support projects and clients whenever needed, giving us the ability to react like an agile shoal of herring rather than a cumbersome blue whale. Our ideas aren’t forced in any particular direction finding solutions to your problems, not problems for our solutions. Working together to solve things in a way that is commercially best for you and the business. Let’s call it 360˚ thinking.

our three brand beliefs

These core ‘brand beliefs’ greatly influence our way of working, not only in terms of approach and process, but in spirit and ethos as well.

Brand first

heart

When a well conceived brand is placed at the heart of a business, the value goes way beyond marketing.

Inside out

sauce

Customers want a clear sense that an organisation is rooted in a greater purpose; what they stand for and that we share beliefs.

Others say

soap

Be more you and you won’t need to convince anyone. Stay true and your audience will be far more compelled to listen and believe.

 

feeling curious?

for strategy, positioning or a new creative direction, get in touch and let's make something great happen.

how we do it

Our process allows us to get to the heart of a brand, find the distinctive and compelling truth of it, craft the story, and bring it to life.

1.

Discover

Reality check

Discover business insights, market conditions, and perspectives.

You ask yourself some tough questions in business, but you need an agency who asks tougher. Why do you exist? Who for? Why should they care? And that’s just for starters.

Through an in-depth discovery process we aim to uncover the truth – inside and out. This insight gathering stage will consider internal and external perspectives, look at the business, market conditions, competitor propositions and the wider operating landscape.

2.

Define

All about you

Define your core brand idea.

Brave might be the way we ask challenging questions, or equally it’s the way we’re prepared to look at different avenues to find a unique position in your marketplace.

Luck isn’t a good brand strategy, but building a strategy around who you truly are, is. Once we’ve discovered who you truly are and found the core values of your brand, everything in the future will be based on a solid foundation that you’ll come back to, time and time again.

3.

Express

Looking good

Express the visual identity.

Have you ever thanked your partner when they’ve bought you a lovely new outfit? They know your personal brand and what you stand for.

It’s the same when branding your company, and why it’s important that people know who you are on the inside, so they can buy into you. Once you understand the internal brand, deciding how to dress the outside is far simpler. We won’t help you pick a lovely new frock though, but are here to dress you with a new logo, a new colour palette, bold typography or whole visual ID wrapped up in a brand book.

4.

Activate

Get out there

Taking the new brand to market.

The brand strategy should direct all marketing planning and activity - steering the creation of all new marketing assets and communications, fulfilling the ambitions for the next chapter of the business and establishing its place in the market.

We always welcome the opportunity to support the shaping of a marketing ‘roadmap’ and any planning, as well as taking the brand through to the creation of new assets. However, the scope and scale of this phase cannot be fully defined until the first three phases begin to take shape.

10 September 2024

Abbeycroft Leisure

Retelling the story for the storytellers. xxxxxxxx We worked with Abbeycroft on: Brand Strategy and Positioning​ Copywriting + Tone Visual…

10 November 2022

Pier

Retelling the story for the storytellers. “To see ourself as others see us…” is not exactly a gift, as the…

11 July 2022

National Trust Sutton Hoo

Hoo’s waking up. The National Trust don’t go closing the doors easily, especially for 6 months, but this is exactly…

6 July 2022

National Trust 125 years

125 miles for 125 years. The National Trust came to us to produce two books, firstly to celebrate 125 years…