Slice Issue 4

5 FIGHT CLUB QUOTES TO TRANSFORM YOUR MARKETING APPROACH

Redesigning your website

A brand refresh for LCMB

Have you noticed how some brands seem to have popped up out of nowhere? – We look at how this has happened.

Why you need to think of SEO from the start.

Slice 4 0

Ideas | Stuff | Creative | Goodness

November 2014

What We’ve been up to

Brrrrrrr, it’s a bit chilly out isn’t it?

Welcome to the winter edition of SLICE, a newspaper designed and published by the toasty minds at Toast.

So, wrap up warm, grab a cuppa soup and sit down to have a read through the following pages that we’ve put together for you, take it as a big hug from us.

We hope that you find something interesting in SLICE, and if you have any feedback, of course let us know. ‘till next time!

What We’ve been up to recent work by toast

LCMB has engaged every aspect of Toast’s full service offerings from branding AND brochures right through to website design and build. A great client to work with and great projects to work on – the perfect mix and match.

As with most new clients, LCMB came to Toast with a specific requirement, which in this case was a need for a new brochure. During discussions with LCMB as to the ‘objective’ of the brochure, we were able to establish who they were, what they did and how they did it. We explored and examined their existing branding and communications. In doing so it gave us the best starting point to refresh the existing brand (1) before undertaking the brochure and other materials.

By working closely with LCMB throughout the rebranding process it was agreed that there needed to be a stronger link between the LCMB letterform and it’s associated strapline Low Carbon Maintenance & Buildings” to build brand recognition and service offering (2).

We went on to evolve the logo through a change in palette and styling of the petals device. This new structure & layout also allowed sub-brands for individual service offerings to be developed with their own distinctive colour that is then accented throughout their literature and other communications.

The refreshed branding has since been applied to a whole range of materials from brochures (3), newsletters (4) and case studies to pull-up banners (6). The biggest application was when LCMB asked the digital team at Toast to create a brand new website using the new branding.

The new content driven Wordpress website (7) is now live and allows the services and benefits of LCMB be found and shared.

All this work completed for LCMB has engaged everyone from Toast, from branding through to brochures and communications through to the digital team, a real full service offering and a joy to work on.

1. Previous logo 2. Final brand identity and sub-brands 3. Company brochures 4. Newsletter 5. Case studies 6. Pull-up banner 7. Website

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www.lcmb.co.uk “The team at Toast have a great breadth of skills and we were very impressed how they took our original logo, understood the brief and gave us a great selection of logos to choose from.”

Chloe Craughan, Sales and Marketing Executive “LCMB is a consultancy that makes a big difference for our clients by improving their financial and environmental sustainability, we do this by improving their resource utilisation.

Toast have worked with our team over the last 8 months to refresh our branding, our website and marketing literature to help us communicate our proposition, services and what makes us different.

We’re delighted with the end result.”

John O’Brien, Managing Director and founder of LCMB

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6 BRANDS THAT BRILLIANTLY DIFFERENTIATED THEMSELVES FROM THE COMPETITION

Why They’re Brilliant • They’re unlike any other cosmetic brand on the marketplace.

• They have international reach with a local ‘warm and fuzzy’ approach.

• They are advocates of ethical buying and the purity of handmade things.

They value social and corporate responsibility over a luxurious and outof-reach image.

• Their branding is simple and genuine.

• They have a massive cult brand following.

How They’re Doing It • They understand their customers.

They appeal to the girl who’s ‘had enough’ of standard beauty products and has strong beliefs.

• They’re selfless with their products they offer free samples and in-store trials on nearly everything.

• They aren’t selling a product they’re selling a viewpoint on how they define beauty.

• They offer a oneof-a-kind retail experience that feels like you’re walking into an Etsy store in real life.

Article courtesy of www.hubspot.com

Today’s winning brands aren’t playing it safe.

They never say “that’s how we’ve always done it,” and they know their brands are more than just a sleek logo or a cool website.

The brands that crush their competition are those who understand that strategic branding goes much deeper than pretty visuals and responsive code. Branding is layered, sculpted and tested.

To create a layered, brilliant and competition-killing brand, three things must align.

Why They’re Brilliant Why They’re Brilliant • They’re a cellular company that is changing what it means to be a cellular company.

• They’re catering to a smaller, niche audience that is young and urban, those who don’t want to be tied down and ‘owned’ by their cellular company.

• They listen and follow the behaviors of their core customer.

How They’re Doing It • They create messaging that aims directly at customers’ biggest pain points (being tied down to a carrier) and away from their biggest flaw (the size of their network).

• They have a strong and unique color palette think pink!

• They pay ETF’s the biggest hurdle in switching carriers.

• They allow customers to bring in unlocked phones to switch to T-Mobile.

• No longer is customer service some person in the back of the building like Kelly from The Office, it’s immediate, digital and genuine with Zendesk.

• They’re a one-stop shop customer service platform that empowers the whole organisation.

• They help customer service agents prioritise.

Companies no longer give off a ‘take a ticket’ message.

• They’re destroying the stereotype that customer service is something that’ll take forever.

Why They’re Brilliant • Airstream has been a cult classic since 1929.

• They’re one of the most recognised RVs on the road.

The image is iconic.

• They have a massive audience following that embraces the “retro” side of life.

• Their product has a great blend of the past meets the future classic exterior, modern interior.

• They offer a “silent” luxury it doesn’t scream “I’m rich” until you get inside.

How They’re Doing It

• Customer service is made beautifully simple.

• Their software brings all customer feedback into one place.

• They relaunched a new website and digital experience in 2014.

• They have a clean and intuitive site design that makes it easy to learn and find content.

• They offer endless community and dealership events where you can sit in an Airstream to experience it yourself.

• They offer best practices for their customers, positioning Zendesk as a industry thought leader.

• Understanding of your best potential audience(s) • Understanding and differentiating from your competition Combined, these elements create brand magic. To see these three things in action, keep on reading. Below we’ve collated some brilliant companies that are great at differentiating themselves from their competition.

Why They’re Brilliant

• They focus on quality, image and community. The product is expensive, but rarely loses value since it’s built to last.

How They’re Doing It

• Understanding of your brand (internal beliefs and communications)

• Their campaigns focus on their following using the tagline ‘Live Riveted.’

• They go beyond being a grocery store, they’re also content generators and thought leaders.

• They use their site to offer a whole new experience for customers offline and online.

• They understand why people shop at Whole Foods in the first place because it’s a wholesome food source.

How They’re Doing It • They’re sharing ideas and generating meaningful content that isn’t boastful they understand what their customer is looking for.

• They’re promoting a ‘greener’ lifestyle and they got rid of plastic bags in 2008.

• They focus on local stores, taking away that feeling of the big chain.

• They use bright, unique and cheerful design that is easy to understand.

Why They’re Brilliant • They look absolutely nothing like any other recruiting site and company.

• They steer away from conservative, stuffy pictures and copy.

• They make learning about their company fun and engaging, the brand has a pulse.

How They’re Doing It • They use bold messaging that speaks to ‘you’ and not about ‘we.’

• They use little-to-no industry jargon.

• They use a consistent and striking brand look and feel.

• They use original website design that is hyper-visual.

• They feature downloadable content and clear CTAs.

• They partner with shows like Top Chef to promote their food.

• They host events, run multiple blogs and have an app showing they’re way ahead of their competition.

SLICE 4 / NOVEMBER 2014 / 3

What we love THIS MONTH

November

1 Surf Magazine Redesign Brilliant redesign of Transworld Surf Magazine

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Found by Adam: “ It’s 100% nicer now.”

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www.inspirationhut.net/inspiration/modernmagazine-re-design-transworld-surf/ 2 ‘PhotoMath’ App This camera app will help you solve math equations instantly

Found by Andy: “Why didn’t this exist whilst I was at School!” www.designtaxi.com/news/370227/This-CameraApp-Will-Help-You-Solve-Math-Equations-Instantly 7

3

Norway’s beautiful new banknotes

Norway recently held a competition to design their new bank notes, here are the winning entries

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Found by Adam: “These are great designs that brilliantly show the old and the new of Norway” www.theguardian.com/culture/gallery/2014/ oct/09/splashing-the-cash-norway-beautiful-newbanknotes?CMP=twt_gu 4 A is for Zebra A is for Zebra, illustrates the alphabet with more engaging words

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Found by Andy: “A slightly more interesting children’s book designed by Sean Tejaratchi with some nice illustrations.” www.wired.com/2014/10/new-alphabet-bookdozens-offbeat-drawings-every-letter/#slideid-1575705

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5 Apple Landing Page Check out this nice landing page for the new Apple iMac

Found by Laurence: “It demonstrates really well how massive the screen size is!” www.apple.com/imac-with-retina 6

Norwegian Currency Redesign Inspires U.S. Concepts

In light of new designs being announced for the Kroner, an anonymous ‘Reddit’ user mocked up beautiful new designs for the dollar

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Found by Andy: “More exciting than the current designs” 9

www.psfk.com/2014/10/reddit-user-kroner-dollarredesign.html 7 Breaking Bad illustrations Artist Ralph Steadman has put his pencil to the characters of Breaking Bad.

Found by Adam: “I’ve always been a fan of Ralph Steadman’s illustrations so it’s great to see his take on one of my favourite shows.”

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www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/ news/ralph-steadmans-drawings-of-breaking-badcharacters-are-brilliantly-unhinged-9795184.html 8

Nice little video on CEO getting involved in design process

A humorous look at why designers shouldn’t be told how to do their job Found by Simon: “a nice blog piece with funny video.

Check it out” www.designtaxi.com/news/369709/A-HumorousLook-At-Why-Designers-Shouldn-t-Be-Told-HowTo-Do-Their-Job 9 Dynamic Chair Govert Flint’s ‘Dynamic Chair’ turns the body into a computer mouse

Found by Andy: “Day to day in the studio might be slightly different if we had to move our toes to kern some type!” www.dezeen.com/2014/10/08/govert-flint-dynamicchair-computer-mouse-body-actions

Team instagrams of the month

4 / NOVEMBER 2014 / SLICE 4

TRULY UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM IS THE FIRST STEP IN FINDING THE SOLUTION THE BEST DESIGN AGENCY IS ONE THAT IS AS EAGER TO UNDERSTAND THE PROBLEM, AS IT IS TO CREATE THE SOLUTION. WHEN CHOOSING A CREATIVE DESIGN AGENCY, YOU OBVIOUSLY WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY CAN DELIVER CREATIVE SOLUTIONS, BUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A GOOD AND A GREAT CREATIVE AGENCY IS THE ABILITY TO UNDERSTAND THE PROBLEM BEFORE TRYING TO ANSWER IT.

Toast are often asked to deliver a project such as a product launch, reposition branding and packaging or a multi-site website but we always believe that the first step in adding value to any project is to truly understand the underlying goals. Clients need more than just technical competence from their agency; they need them to understand the brief and accurately understand what is required.

We do this by being genuinely engaged and interested in what our clients do and truly appreciate the challenges that they face, because if we don’t spend the time to understand the problem it won’t matter how long we have to create a solution, it will always be flawed.

By being interested in what our clients want to achieve means we investigate the explicit and implicit requirements ensuring we know exactly what is required to fulfill the brief but also how to exceed it. Often it might just be the appreciation of how one project directly affects another, or it might be how to improve the effectiveness across a range of media; the added value is always different. We strongly believe that the ‘challenge’ is an essential part of any

truly effective creative design process, without it you will be lucky to achieve a successful outcome let alone adding value and creating the best solution.

At Toast this extends into how we start a creative project, often creating mood boards along with initial scamps and sketches that allow us to clearly demonstrate that we have understood the requirement and what our clients want to achieve. This approach avoids developing creative solutions that don’t address the original problem, which could have taken up valuable studio time. The only ideas that are taken further are ones that the client wants to see, ensuring only the best ideas are developed and the strongest solutions delivered.

So if you agree that it’s essential to get the foundations right before rushing to create attractive, yet superficial, design solutions then talk to Toast today. We can help you with any project, whatever the size, just let us know what goals you have and we will help you achieve them.

SLICE 4 / NOVEMBER 2014 / 5

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FIGHT CL TO TRAN MARKETI

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This quote illustrates people’s annoyance with outbound marketing. It speaks to the irritable nature of TV advertising and unwanted brand messages. Inbound marketing, on the other hand, seeks to shift the decision-making power into the hands of customers. So, are you investing in interruptive types of marketing or offering something needed and valued?

Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt)

“What concerns me are celebrity magazines, television with 500 channels, some guy’s name on my underwear.”

Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt)

perfect. I say let-let’s evolve, let the chips fall where they may.”

02 “I say never be complete. I say stop being

01

HERE ARE A FEW MARKETING INTERPRETATIONS OF FIVE MEMORABLE FIGHT CLUB QUOTES:

Fight Club is one of our favorite films.

The acting didn’t reduce author Chuck Palahniuk’s powerful messages from his book that the film was based on.

On the contrary, it helps us connect them to different social realities, including the universe of marketing.

The film’s transformative character inspires transformative actions from a business perspective.

LUB QUOTES NSFORM YOUR ING APPROACH

SLICE 4 / NOVEMBER 2014 / 7

Single-serving friends are the ones you meet once and will never see again — a situation marketers should avoid by all means. Social media has proven that readers, followers and fans are not ‘single-serving.’ They don’t serve merely as customers but have multiple identities as parents, dog-lovers, science fiction readers or wine enthusiasts. The goal for marketers, then, is to develop long-term relationships with well-rounded individuals.

The Narrator ( Edward Norton )

“The people I meet on each flight?

They’re single-serving friends.”

Article courtesy of www.hubspot.com

Effective marketing can be achieved without big spending. Be smart and strategic about your assets — invest in human resources, unique experiments and resultsdriven marketing. Customer evangelism, for instance, doesn’t cost much in comparison to other marketing channels but leads to high retention rates. When the contents of your wallet can only go so far, the collective brain of your company extends a lot further.

Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt)

05 “You’re not the contents of your wallet.”

With new communication tools, it is increasingly possible for different team members to take initiative and launch new projects. By distributing power more evenly within your organisation, you can give rise to a fairer and more innovative company culture. Encouraging employees to think for themselves and to make ‘managerial’ decisions can lead to fascinating results.

Richard Chesler (Zach Grenier)

You find this, what would you do?”

04 “Pretend you’re me. Make a managerial decision.

03

People tend to forget that evolution is not equal to perfection. Don’t obsess over the idea of completion; rather, remain open-minded and welcome change. Learn to let go of projects and let things evolve. The essence of entrepreneurship lies in the ability to take risks and make new mistakes, not in avoiding these lessons in search for perfection.

IF toast did... ...a kids healthy snack brand

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Initial scamps

2

Development

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This, the second of the ‘If Toast Did.....’ projects, where we feature a ‘made-up’ product to show our creativity and passion to create something different to the norm. We have some fun, do what we want, with very little restrictions, but show our thirst for the IDEA. For this issue of SLICE, we’ve branded and packaged a kids healthy snack brand, ‘Morning Mr Magpie’.

Designed by Charlotte Brown, Designer at Toast.

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Article courtesy of www.hubspot.com

SOME OF OUR RECENT WEB WORK:

Www.southamptonem.com

www.acrotrend.com

www.mxss.co.uk

www.lcmb.co.uk

www.bluecapcoffee.com SLICE 4 / NOVEMBER 2014 / 9

“

IF YOU ONLY HAVE A

HAMMER YOU TEND TO SEE

EVERY PROBLEM AS A

NAIL” Abraham Maslow

At Toast we work with clients on a whole range of projects, from launching a new product or brand, redesigning a catalogue to increase sales or creating a website and digital campaign. For every project, no matter the size and scope we still apply the same fundamental approach – we ask: “What do you want to achieve?”

This result driven approach means we avoid any preconceptions or personal preferences on message and media, ie we don’t presume to know the best solution before we clearly identify the requirement.

This may seem obvious but we have found that our clients, before coming to us would get what best suited their agency and not them. Examples ranged from solutions that seemed to benefit the agencies portfolio or skill set rather than the objective.

This saw clients receiving a brochure when a direct mail campaign would have worked better or a brochure in a ‘fashionable’ style rather than one that fitted their specific audience. We believe that the best solution is the one that answers the original requirement, regardless of the tool used to get there.

The breadth of experience that we have at Toast means we don’t have just one solution to every problem; we tailor a solution based on the clients’ specific requirements and goals. This approach means clients always get what they need rather than apply a one-size-fits-all approach.

10 / NOVEMBER 2014 / SLICE 4

friends of toast Great projects come from working with great people

There is an old saying that to work on great projects you need to have great clients, well we would like to add that great projects come from working with great people and this includes suppliers as well as great clients. Over the last 17 years Toast has worked with a whole range of great clients in a wide variety of sectors and industries and this has meant that we have had the pleasure of working with interesting people including printers, photographers, sign-makers and illustrators (the list goes on) who have helped our clients achieve their goals. We think that what links them all is the passion and dedication they show to their business or area of expertise.

We wanted to start this series of interviews with a client that is relatively new to Toast so would like to introduce: Sarah Churchill of The Artisan Kitchen producers of multi Award-winning Preserves, Jams and Marmalades in the heart of Gloucester.

Name: Sarah Churchill | Company: The Artisan Kitchen | Age of Company: Just over 3 years

Ice-breaker – allow us to get know you a little better: how do you take your coffee/tea?

At home a strong coffee with Coffee-mate a great start to the day.

If you had to describe your company in one line, what would it be?

“Handcrafted, delicious, preserves.

What’s been your biggest challenge?

Artisan Kitchen has grown very quickly, and this year I was bowled over have won Top 50 foods at the 2014 ‘Great Taste Awards - this had a huge impact in the rate of sales which literally quadrupled overnight. I had to find ways of producing and packaging in an efficient manner whilst increasing productivity at the same time. Toast designed some innovative and creative new labels that cleverly condensed awards stickers and two labels in to one wrap around label, which has helped save a lot of labeling time. I also purchased a labeling machine, which has really sped up the whole process.

What value do you place on your current ‘Brand’?

It’s about great tasting preserves, high quality ingredients and strong branding.

If you could pass on one piece of advice to someone looking to do the same – what would it be?

Always make the best product possible and do this consistently.

What is your role there?

I have a completely hands-on role in every aspect of my business - Owner, producer, distributer and bottle washer.

What was the biggest obstacle you had to get over to establish your business?

My sales nerves! I am not a natural sales person, but I have had to overcome this very quickly and have now a great portfolio of wonderful stockists from Selfridges to Whole Foods and a host of lovely independent foodie shops.

Did you have a detailed marketing plan in place when you started up?

My business was such a micro start-up in 2011, the budget for marketing was tight so I had to be clever and use what I had carefully. After initial feedback from buyers I knew I had to invest in the look and feel of the product to stand out on shelves and promote the growing range. I grew my business through social media, mainly Twitter, that has been fantastic for brand awareness and for connecting B2B, generating editorials with some lovely glossy magazines

Did you follow it? Do you follow one now?

What do you look for in a design partner?

A quick understanding of my business, customers and visualisation of the project brief. Toast Design and Chris Tymon translated my thoughts and ideas so clearly with strong concepts that were so good I was spoilt for choice.

What’s been the most enjoyable surprise in business?

Meeting all my wonderful foodie stockists, every business I supply is unique and individual but all share a great passion for fantastic British produce.

I still don’t have a formal marketing plan as such but I do now have partners I trust and work with, my goal for this year was to feature in some of the high end weekend glossy magazines and we have some great features coming up in November and December.

How do you measure your success beyond the bottom line?

A happy customer! I get lovely emails from customers of our stockists, along with great product feedback at tastings. I truly believe if you make a fantastic quality product, that is consistent in every way whatever product it is, customers will come back time and time again.

If you had to describe Toast in one line, what would it be?

Innovative, imaginative, bold with strong modern design.

Last one – how important is design and branding to your company’s success?

It’s been pivotal - I get so many compliments from producers, retailers and customers on my brand, I know it’s good. I’m not one to stand still though and I will be looking forward to the next branding phase with Toast for future projects.

We would like to thank Sarah for taking the time to answer our questions and share her insights and experiences with not just creating a business but growing it.

Toast lives and breathes by the relationships it has with it’s clients, their growth and success is as important to us as it is to them. Great relationships are precious and we believe in growing and maintaining them. Keep an eye out for other interviews with clients, suppliers and other ‘Friends of Toast’.

SLICE 4 / NOVEMBER 2014 / 11

BRRRRR!

Toast 16 North Bar, Banbury, Oxon, OX16 0TF Call: 01295 26 66 44 Email: hello@toastdesign.co.uk www.toastdesign.co.uk facebook.com/wearetoast twitter.com/toastdesign