Business Brands
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Creativity with purpose At DesignTactics, we create tools that our clients use to engage more effectively with their audience – and ultimately, to grow their business. For clients who target consumers, we help them compete: We develop brand strategy and creative communications to forge stronger customer relationships, and to retain and win sales. For our government and corporate clients, we help them to compete for attention: We create messaging strategy and design solutions for clear, focussed and effective communication. We deliver these results with a service that is complete, efficient and clean. Our clients trust us to solve their problems: we have the skills and the expertise to identify a solution, resolve all the details, then execute it in every aspect. This combination of superb project management and highly effective creativity is our brand promise. It powered the clients you see here to achieve greater results, and it can do the same for you: Read on, and start to think how creativity with purpose could help your business.
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Bank of Ireland Brand Environment
The Cards & Loans division of Bank of Ireland commissioned us to create a system of visual branding for their office environment. The aim was to communicate their goals to staff and create stronger engagement - to bring their service values to life for the team. The key to the success of this project was the work we did with the Bank of Ireland to distill the department values into a statement of purpose. This gave us a strategic foundation for the subsequent creative work, which was based on a portfolio of candid staff portraits. Finally, we managed the entire printing, production and installation process.
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Tourism Ireland Annual Report
In 2005 to 2007 DesignTactics worked with Tourism Ireland to create a truly striking series of Annual Reports. Such Reports are not often renowned for their graphic flair, but these were different. Because Tourism Ireland operates exclusively abroad – marketing the island of Ireland overseas - they wanted these Annual Reports to showcase their new global advertising campaign. The aim was to allow stakeholders in this country get a more tangible sense of their work worldwide. Margaret O’Reilly, Head of Corporate & Industry Communications of Tourism Ireland, explains: “Tourism Ireland is responsible for marketing the island of Ireland overseas. We don’t actually operate within Ireland, and as a result, not much of what we do is actually seen here. One of our challenges is to keep stakeholders here updated on our activity in key markets, and the
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2005 Annual Report gave us the opportunity to profile the new global advertising campaign.” DesignTactics responded to Tourism Ireland’s dual objectives with a creative, high-end and ambitious approach to the report’s layout: “They devised a design which incorporated gatefold – a double A4 page – it meant that our photos were used to really striking advantage.”
Creating a design that gave photography such a central place was really important: “We had a whole new suite of images and advertisements that were being shown in leading markets across the world, and we wanted to showcase them to stakeholders.” Ania from DesignTactics worked closely with Tourism Ireland on the
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project. “Because the brief was really quite open, we had room to be creative, to elevate this from previous reports and make it quite special.” This allowed for an innovative multitextured approach to the design: “We created it in US letter size, which is fatter and smaller than A4. It’s full colour throughout, with eight pull-out sections, that are, in effect, triple pages. These pages gave us the chance to include some fantastic photography that linked in with Tourism Ireland’s existing campaign, so the annual report was actually used as an element of marketing communications.”
Annual Report 2005
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But it wasn’t just about photography. DesignTactics wanted to create a document that felt luxurious and stand-out: “It’s also very tactile,” explains Ania, “the back accounts section is printed on different stock, a range of intricate print finishes were used throughout, and the cover featured an engaging UV varnish.” On this project, the ambitions of Tourism Ireland enhanced what was possible, and the finished product was a real testament to those standards.
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DesignTactics also worked hard with Tourism Ireland to enhance the accessibility and style of the document. All agreed that the copy content of the Report required a greater injection of emotion and marketing-led messages than a traditional report. The aim was to creatively manage and structure the textual information and the new campaign visuals in an engaging and integrated solution. Throughout the project, DesignTactics encouraged a less-reverential and rigid treatment of the content, which allowed them to break up the statutory communications with emotive messages and visuals. Tourism Ireland’s Annual Report is supplied to stake-holders throughout the tourism industry, as well as government departments, libraries, third level colleges and the like. It is also available on request to the general public. For Tourism Ireland,
Tourism Ireland Marketing Plan 2005
“With DesignTactics, there is a really excellent level of support. Their attention to detail on client service is very strong, and that’s definitely one of the pleasures of dealing with them,”
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the 2005 Report was very well received, with superb feedback from stakeholders. As for the process of working with DesignTactics - what was Tourism Ireland’s experience? Margaret explains the context in which the
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Report came to fruition: “When we’re working with outside contractors such as DesignTactics, we’re relying on them to be really committed to our projects, because our internal resources are so tight. On this project, we found great commitment, close involvement and reliable support:
With DesignTactics, there is a really excellent level of support. Their attention to detail on client service is very strong, and that’s definitely one of the pleasures of dealing with them,” says Margaret, “but ultimately, it’s about the final product – and that certainly came through.”
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Vodafone
Corporate Communications Like all public companies, Vodafone manages its ethical obligations through a Corporate and Social Responsibility unit. We worked closely with this team for a number of years, partnering their PR company Financial Dynamics. Apart from a number of statutory reports, we also worked on innovative communications projects such as “The Little Red Book of Mobile.� Supplied to all new customers, this publication encouraged responsible use of mobile phones through accessible and engaging messages.
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Cloonacool
Product Branding Bill Carty was directed toward DesignTactics on the advice of Bord Iascaigh Mhara – the Irish Sea Fisheries Board. Bill and his wife Mari breed Arctic Charr on their innovative family fish farm in Cloonacool, Co Sligo. While their local reputation and sales were excellent, they needed to reach a wider audience with their fish, particularly among chefs. They wanted their Arctic Charr to take its rightful place on the menus of Ireland’s leading restaurants. “We knew we had a good product, and a good story,” explains Bill, “and we were looking for some way of portraying that. Myself and Mari were doing well when we met customers face to face, but we needed something that could tell our story when we weren’t there. I went to BIM first, and they recommended DesignTactics. We had our own ideas on it – but what DesignTactics came up with was in a different league. Myself and
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Mari came to the whole marketing side of this quite raw. We didn’t have much experience. What impressed me most about DesignTactics was their professional approach: they saw the potential in our product and they wouldn’t settle for second best.’
really crucial, as it allowed them to highlight the uniqueness, purity and authenticity of the product creating a wholly-owned brand asset that still had the immediate resonance of a place of origin name like Dublin Bay prawns.
The team at DesignTactics convinced Bill to put time and energy into creating a brand for the product, rather than a corporate identity for his business. This approach was
Having created the product brand identity, DesignTactics then focused on supporting and enhancing its image: creating a stylish, striking brochure, with high-end visuals
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and copy that reflected the high standards of Cloonacool Arctic Charr. Alena from DesignTactics explains: “If you’re in a room with Bill, you feel something. You can understand where he’s coming from – you sense his passion and integrity. That’s inspiring, it makes you want to do your best to capture those values. It was our challenge to convey his personality and his approach with this brand. We identified the market he wanted to talk to, and then created something that would appeal to sophisticated chefs of high-end restaurants. The aim was two fold: to introduce Cloonacool Arctic Char as an authentic and credible product - and then make them want to try it. We knew the brochure had to be really mouthwatering so that head-chefs who deal with food everyday would still find this product appealing.” “With this kind of business-tobusiness communication, we knew we only had one chance to capture their attention – and that was the brochure. So it had to make an impact. We needed the copy to be top-notch, and we
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needed slick imagery. Yet we were working to a small budget. This is a project that shows you can still achieve great results if you invest in one core piece of marketing and do it really well.” says Bill. Alena: “Overall, our approach is to understand the story of a product, learn about the audience and the competition, and then identify what values have to be captured to make that product successful. Then we distill this into a brand
By any standards, the brand has been a huge success. Bill explains why this happened: “People knew by the quality of the brochure and the recipe cards that this was a quality product. The production was beautiful, and chefs try the product purely on the basis of the brochure. They are also putting our brand name on their menus – we’re seeing ‘Cloonacool Arctic Charr’, just as DesignTactics had planned.” As Bill says, initially his vision of the brand was a modest one. “It would
the copy to ensure that it spoke Bill’s words and conveyed his message.” Despite his initially modest expectations, Bill is now convinced of the value of pushing the envelope when it comes to investing in branding: “DesignTactics first created a brand for our product, then created a visual style and language for our brochure. It was ‘a whole package’ in terms of marketing. When we got their quotes at the beginning, we were initially nervous
“We’re really proud of the brochure, we’re happy with how it represents our product, and we feel we could go anywhere with it.” that conveys these messages for every communication. Bill had already identified the market he needed to talk to, and that gave us the focus to create a piece that appealed to sophisticated chefs in high-end restaurants” “We’ve really had a massive response from the brochures. It’s growing all the time, but within six to eight weeks we had doubled our sales.” says Bill.
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have been easy for DesignTactics to put out something more basic.” He explains, “but they didn’t. They used really beautiful images, there was a good feel throughout the brochure, and the layout and overall look was designed to be striking and sophisticated.” Alena also feels that the copywriting was central in conveying a sense of Bill and what he stood for: “we put energy into research and a lot of care into
- but it’s been more than worth it to us already. We’re really proud of the brochure, we’re happy with how it represents our product, and we feel we could go anywhere with it.“
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“We’ve really had a massive response from this work within six to eight weeks we had doubled our sales.”
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Brands
Top: Corporate identity for event management company
Top: Retail brand identity for Athlone furniture store
Bottom: Event branding for GlaxoSmithKline
Bottom: Brand identity for Irish tax advice service
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Top: Identity for the International Council for Offshore Aquaculture Development
Top: Corporate identity for eastern European property development company
Bottom: Corporate identity and naming for management consultancy firm
Bottom: Celebration device for TidyTowns 50th Anniversary year
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Self Help
Marketing Communications The aim of this project was to create a Christmas Catalogue which would more tangibly inform the public about the variety of initiatives run in Africa by Self Help, a development agency. The important message to communicate was that Self Help focusses on sustainable development rather than aid. It was therefore essential that readers understood what these gifts achieved; unlike the one-off items that other charity catalogues sell, these gifts trained the beneficiaries to help themselves out of poverty. This catalogue yielded the largest ever return of Christmas donations for Self Help.
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Above: Detail from Self Help Christmas Catalogue Facing page: Badges offered for sale through the catalogue
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TidyTowns
Marketing Communications DesignTactics began working on the Tidy Towns competition after winning a very competitive tendering process. David McLoughlin of the Department of the Environment spoke about why they chose DesignTactics: ‘‘The tendering process often shows who really wants the contract - who brings a genuine passion to the project. What particularly impressed us was the amount of work DesignTactics had put into the tender. Other companies listed prices for what they could do, but DesignTactics put in actual concepts to show what they were capable of. And some of that work was so good we used them in the actual campaign.”
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There was another, more practical consideration says David: “they gave us a pretty competitive price!” So how has the relationship worked out? “Really, we’ve been able to use DesignTactics as another arm of the Tidy Towns unit. Whenever we asked, they took on extra tasks – liasing with other agencies, arranging for Irish translation, sourcing various
“There is a sense that DesignTactics are with us on the journey and that it’s a real partnership. We’re constantly working with DesignTactics to help interpret what we are looking for.” things. Their role went way beyond design, and we felt really supported by them.” In terms of the campaign itself, promoting the Tidy Towns had its challenges: the competition has always had very strong roots in rural Ireland. The challenge has been to make it as appealing to the increasingly urbanized style of our towns. Ania was the key liaison for DesignTactics: “When it came to Tidy Towns, the reality was that the
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challenges of urban life meant that we needed to appeal to a new Ireland, and to communities that had not yet been captured by the competition. In response, building up the recruitment drive was a key element of our strategy.” “What we did was to create a threephase approach: Our first piece was a small recruitment flyer, which proved really effective. Huge numbers of people then asked for the ‘pack’, and the Department of the Environment was delighted with the response.” The main piece of material was the pack itself – which outlined how to enter the competition, and then detailed their approach to judging and the various specialist prizes that were on offer. The overall message had to be kept simple in order to outline what was involved. Each page was designed to keep the individual person interested. “Last year’s pack was a totally new departure for us” says David. “Really, we were trying to get an urban feel to it. One of our key images was of a girl washing graffiti off a wall – people really picked up on that, and it
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created a lot of interest - The Irish Times even ran a supplement on the competition, which was a first. David himself was a late convert to the value of the Tidy Towns competition. “I discovered Tidy Towns when I moved down to Rathvilly in Carlow – they were former winners, and I could really see what it was doing in the community. Tidy Towns gets people working together in a way that is just fantastic.” But David is now keen to develop participation much more fully in urban communities: encouraging urban renewal agencies to get involved as well as getting new areas to enter the competition. “There isn’t an urban area that wouldn’t benefit from entering the Tidy Towns”, says David, “Because of
“Really, we’ve been able to use DesignTactics as another arm of the Tidy Towns unit. When needed, they took on extra tasks.”
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The overall message had to be kept simple in order to outline what was involved. Each page was designed to keep the individual person interested. the increasing urbanization of Irish society, that’s where the future of the competition lies.” The Department of Environment has a real vision for the Tidy Towns. “There is a sense that DesignTactics are with us on the journey and that it’s a real partnership. We’re constantly working with DesignTactics to help interpret what we are looking for.” DesignTactics also worked closely with the Department to create a new set of Tidy Towns trophies that better reflected the modern face of the competition. The creative process involved identifying the themes the award had to represent. Sculptor Shane Holland was then commissioned to create a sculptural piece that reflected four areas of Tidy Towns that were considered central: heritage, architecture, water and plant-life.
to work with Shane Holland Design Workshops because of the company’s excellent reputation for producing sculptural and decorative products at their studio in Duleek, County Meath. Cast in silver plated bronze and acrylic, Shane’s sculpture was so striking that a 3m high replica of the trophy has since been erected in Westport to recognise that town’s repeated success in Tidy Towns.
These elements were selected because they tied into the ethos of Tidy Towns. DesignTactics chose
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International Fund for Ireland Annual Report
After an extremely competitive tendering process, DesignTactics was selected to design and produce the International Fund for Ireland’s annual report. This document plays both a regulatory and a marketing role, so the design needed to clearly communicate functional information while conveying the variety of work undertaken by the fund. The document had to fulfill the legal requirements of an annual report, while showing benefactors how and where their money had been spent. It also needed to act as an influencing and engaging document for stakeholders. The success of this project was achieved through DesignTactic’s ability to distill the required information into a user-friendly and attractive Annual Report which served all of its varied functions to each of its disparate audiences.
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Brands
Top: Brand identity and naming for entrepreneur-oriented life-coaching service Bottom: Campaign identity for schools programme run by Self Help
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Top: Retail brand for licensed premises and restaurant, Portlaoise Bottom: Retail brand for estate agency in Clane, Co. Kildare
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Top: Corporate identity for interior design firm Bottom: Umbrella identity created for Sr. Stanislaus Kennedy to brand a network of non-profit lobby and support groups
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Top: Naming and identity for Property Management company Bottom: Brand identity for Quality Standard
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Fรกilte Ireland
Corporate Communications DesignTactics first won a place on the panel of design and communications suppliers to Fรกilte Ireland in 2002, and we have since successfully tendered for two successive terms. Our work for Fรกilte Ireland fulfills two functions: Firstly, we create clear and engaging publications that convey the strategic, statistical and research data vital to the sector and to government. Secondly, we partner Fรกilte Ireland to help tourism businesses improve their own marketing communications.
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Fรกilte Ireland Strategy Document 2007
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Above: Irish Farmhouse Holidays Marketing Brochure, produced and printed in six separate language editions Right: Part of a suite of material produced for Performance Plus, a skills and productivity programme for tourism small businesses
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BIM
Corporate Communications DesignTactics has a multi-faceted relationship with Bord Iascaigh Mhara. At a functional level, we were retained to consolidate their corporate communications, and have showcased our recommended approach in key publications and events. At a more strategic level, we work with the marketing side of the organisation on initiatives that promote seafood to Irish consumers, and on building brands for individual seafood businesses in Ireland.
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Facing Page: Identity and communications material for ICOAD This Page: Corporate identity guidelines and sample industry document produced for Bord Iascaigh Mhara
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Scottish Provident
Corporate Communications We worked with Scottish Provident from the time of their takeover by Abbey National in 2000 - providing consultancy on branding, design and communications. These projects included revitalizing their product brand identities, improving communications methods with the brokers who sell these products, and re-branding their savings and pension products to make them clearer and more appealing.
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Elementsix
Corporate Branding As part of their evolution from DeBeers Industrial Diamonds to Elementsix, we created a family of directional and brand-communication signage. The primary aim was to introduce a sense of consistency and to clarify to the communications on their large site in Shannon. We worked closely with the client to create and implement a wayfinding system, and also developed a number of large-scale brand communication installations for key areas in the site. Our work in Shannon became the benchmark for the environment branding of Elementsix worldwide. We subsequently created a signage manual that was rolled-out across their offices on four continents.
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Wayfinding and brand signage for Elementsix. Commissioned by Bradley McGurk Partnership and produced by Artisan
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What can we do for you? Are you equipped to compete for business? To capture and hold the attention of your audience? Now that you’ve seen what we’ve done for our clients, consider what we can do for you.
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Brand Identity
Communication Audits
Consumer Brands
Competitor positioning analysis
Retail Brands
Product/service positioning analysis
Corporate Brands
Visual Audits Brand Communication
On-shelf performance analysis
Packaging
Competitor visual audit
Point of Sale Sales Aids
Brand Positioning
Print Advertising
Positioning modelling documents
Signage (Branding / Wayfinding)
Brandstorming workshops
Environment Graphics Retail collatoral Stationery Brochures
Written Communications Name & strapline creation Copywriting & Editing
Annual Reports Newsletters Presentations
Client Services Project Management Print Management Supplier Management
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DesignTactics Unit E7, Nutgrove Office Park, Nutgrove Avenue, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14. Tel: +353 1 207 9107 Fax: +353 1 207 9100 www.designtactics.net
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