Tag Archive for 'Marketing'

Sometimes, it doesn’t hurt to state the obvious

Published on May 19, 2010 in Corporate and Design. 0 Comments Tags: design partner, design resources, designers, emailer, Marketing, new client, postcard, Web, wild west design.

We’ve been sending out some postcards and emailers recently. Like this one…

Stating the obvious. Are your design people really up to speed?

Our point, to put it bluntly, is that sometimes design companies get a little too comfortable with their clients.

Perhaps they don’t go the extra mile with a new proposal. Perhaps they don’t always search for the best value. Perhaps their creativity isn’t all that it should be, if only because they’ve done it so many times before.

At Wild West, we know that we’re as prone to these issues as anyone else, and so we work doubly hard to keep things fresh, our standards high, and offer the best value for money we can.

But, just like a country sometimes needs a new government, sometimes a company needs a new design partner. And when they do, we’re here.

What you get with Wild West is a small, dedicated team, with design, programming and copy skills all in-house. You’ll see lots of our work throughout this blog, or go to our main site and download our credentials document.

If you like what you see, then maybe you should think about getting in touch? You’ll find us professional, friendly and very keen to do a great job for you.

World Rally? A bit tame, isn’t it?

Published on April 9, 2010 in Unusual. 0 Comments Tags: Citroen Racing, Cork, Dani Sordo, Donuts, International, Marketing, rally, Sordo, sponsorship, World Rally Championship, WRC.

The following is a link to a You Tube video clip. Just click on the link to view it!

Sordo – In the Car Park!

Just in case you thought that the World Rally Championship was a bit tame for your brand, here’s Citroen’s No2 driver in a car park in Cork….

See the posts below for our links to the Sports Media International agency and to Citroen Racing!

Do-it-yourself identities? Oh no…

Published on February 24, 2010 in Design. 0 Comments Tags: Advertising, branding, business services, Corporate, design, direct mail, Display, identity, Indicus Advisors, investment, literature, logo, Marketing, PR, sales literature, Satya Capital, Secerno, Sonaptic, start-up, Tribold, Vintage Wine Gifts, Web, web site, website.

Our identity for Vintage Wine Gifts, at the time, a new business

DIY has a lot to answer for, notably the stunted growth or premature demise of many promising start-up companies.

Good design isn’t always expensive. (It does though get more expensive the less you are prepared to think through your brief, and more expensive still with your unwillingness to put your requirements in writing).

It is however, an investment, just like the computers and the desks you buy. And just as you wouldn’t think of building your own furniture or electronic equipment, please don’t think of designing your own logo, website, sales literature or advertising. These are quite simply, jobs for professionals.

Most professionals will treat early-stage companies with consideration. They will make it as easy as possible to buy their professional skills, and create the resources that all businesses need in order to grow. They may even postpone some or all of their charges until a company finds it can afford them.

Improvements to the Sonaptic logo included a strapline to show core skills

Because professionals like us like to think that we can build a basis of trust between us. That, as your needs grow, you’ll stay with us, and we’ll grow with you.

That’s good business for us. It gives us a real interest in your future and in the effectiveness of the work we can do for you.

We may not still work with all the companies we’ve helped from an early stage, but we’re certainly still doing business with Alcentra, Brands2Life, Indicus Advisors, Satya Capital and Vintage Wine Gifts among others. We’re proud of our contribution to the success of many more – including Secerno, Tribold and Sonaptic.

All these companies found success by using their own skills to best effect, and also by using ours.

Design isn’t a part-time job. When you need it, talk to professionals like us.

ClearlyBusiness – focus on expansion

Published on January 29, 2010 in Web. 0 Comments Tags: ABN-Amro, Absa, award winner, Barclays, business services, Deloitte technology fast 500, Dunn and Bradstreet, Experian, Financial Innovation Award, High tech, Intuit, Iron Mountain, Marketing, National Business Award, Sage, SME, Web, web site.

The new website for ClearlyBusiness will be a focus for future expansion

ClearlyBusiness is a company that was inspired by a number of good ideas. Getting important and market-leading products and services into the hands of small and medium enterprises, through trusted intermediaries was just one of them.

Now, the company’s ground-breaking (and multi award-winning!) ideas are helping to establish it abroad as well as in the UK. More suppliers are interested in having their products distributed, and potential routes to market are opening up as others see the value of this distinct delivery channel.

ClearlyBusiness already works with a number of very recognisable companies including ABN-Amro, Absa, Barclays, Intuit, Sage, Experian, Iron Mountain and Dunn and Bradstreet. The company expects that list to grow over the coming months, especially as their new web site (designed by Wild West) is now on line. (Go to www.clearlybusiness.com)

You’ll see there some of the important business accolades the company has already received – among them National Business and Financial Innovation awards. Clearly Business is also one of the Deloitte Technology Fast 500.

Now the company’s new website is showcasing its services in a manner that reflects the quality and imagination powering its growth in Britain and beyond.

Direct response – time to forget email and go back to print?

Published on October 13, 2009 in Marketing. 0 Comments Tags: Ariba, citroen sport, direct mail, direct response, email marketing, Flying Pictures, Marketing, senior decision-makers, Sports Media International.

an exclusive dm package

A lot of people are saying to us these days that email is over-used as a marketing medium, that their spam filters have (at last) caught up with sorting out the desirable from the unwanted, and that they are turning back to print in a bid to get response rates back to where they once were.

It’s certainly true that e-marketing is over-used. We all have rafts of spam that is ill-directed and ill-targeted (and not very imaginative either, if it comes to that).

So, could I right now make a plea to all those who want to spam me in Russian or German not to bother? My Russian is non-existent, and my German is limited to asking for a loaf of bread and some onions. So, trying to interest me in your products (whether web-hosting or viagra) in either of those languages probably isn’t going to work.

Email is cheap, quick and available and probably that’s why it often isn’t working. It’s too easy to do without too much thought, and consequently can be counter-productive – sometimes, you’d be better off doing nothing than doing that.

Meanwhile, print campaigns, especially when well thought through, well targeted (ie they are sent to the right people) and thoughtfully followed up, DO work, even in these slightly straighened times.

Our campaign for Citroen Sport last year was a case in point. (In conjunction with our friends at Sports Media International, we helped to find the new sponsor they were looking for). And we’ve done it before, very effectively for Flying Pictures, a company whose business is concerned with hot-air balloons (!), and spectacularly for a software company called Ariba, who really gave us the scope (both budget and time) to do something effective.

Get in touch if you’d like to find out more about that Ariba initiative – it’s not often that a campaign directed at senior decision-makers gets a 60% response rate (and we only cheated a little!)

Ecommerce – solution or stumbling block?

Published on October 6, 2009 in Web. 0 Comments Tags: Activation, ecommerce, eshop, Marketing, start-up, Vintage Wine Gifts, web sales, web site.

Ecommerce (which means, if you’re in any doubt, buying and selling things through a web site or catalogue) can be a solution to the commonest of all problems – how do I get more sales? On the other hand, it can also be a part of the issue that you were trying to solve in the first place – that of the downward sales curve.

How can it be both?

It can be a solution only if you promote your new capability.

We’ve dealt with companies who sit back and wait when their new, ecommerce-enabled, site goes live. Google, they tell us, will do everything. Pretty soon, they’re back. How can I get my site up the ratings? And we have to tell them the basics of web wisdom – that a web site is (or should be) more like a magazine than a annual brochure; that a web site needs to be promoted if you are going to get traffic; that quality of service, quality of product, quality of communications are essential parts of the marketing mix.

If they listen (and invest too, as though this was a new branch of their operation), then ecommerce starts to become the solution they were looking for. They worry about it every morning. They check the statistics every day. If trends go the wrong way, then they do something about that.

If they don’t. it’s just a waste of money, time and effort, and in the end, that waste will drag a company down.

There are so many things that companies can do with and through the web these days. Don’t miss that opportunity.

Vintage Wine Gifts

Web Site Statistics – A New Twist

Published on September 17, 2009 in Unusual and Web. 0 Comments Tags: ecommerce, financial, investment, Marketing, private equity, report, sales information, Web, web design, web site, web statistics, web tracking, web traffic.

Putting privileged information on your web site, probably in a password-protected area, has advantages beyond treating special clients in a special way. Because each password is linked to a particular person or company, you can track very closely statistics like:

- how often did each one visit the site (if at all)?
- what files did they download? (and so what are the hot topics for that individual?)
- what pages did they visit?

These kind of statistics can be interesting when trying to assess how and why shareholders, investors, journalists and others behave as they do, and can be important for your sales and management processes, as well as providing valuable input to a sales team or marketing campaign.

Barclays Home Win

Published on September 11, 2009 in Marketing and Sport. 1 Comment Tags: Activation, Barclays, Barclays Home Win, competition, football, Free to enter, Marketing, Soccer, sponsorship, Sport.

Barclays Home Win is a free-to-enter prize draw which will give 20 lucky soccer fans (wherever in the world they are) to have the Premier League trophy, complete with ribbons, for the day.

What would you do with it? Take it to your kids school. Get you and your friends photographed holding it aloft. Use it as a charity fundraiser. Go on a celebration tour. It’s up to you! Competition opens soon. We’ll let you know how to enter here.

Premier League News

Published on September 7, 2009 in Marketing and Sport. 0 Comments Tags: Activation, Barclays, design, Marketing, Soccer, sponsorship, Sport.

: Standout photography lifts Barclays magazine

Wild West has just redesigned the covers of the Barclays soccer magazine that carries news and views about the Barclays Premier League, widely acknowledged now to be the most competitive, and certainly the most popular, club soccer championship in the world. Barclays is a long-standing supporter of the Premier League and is an active and effective sponsor, helping to widen its appeal internationally, as well as at home. The Barclays Premier League is a key component of Barclays marketing plans which are designed to cement its position as one of the world’s leading financial institutions.

Sponsorship. Now the Work Begins

Published on September 2, 2009 in Marketing and Sport. 0 Comments Tags: Activation, Barclays, football, Marketing, Premier League, Soccer, sponsorship, Sport.

: Barclays are proud sponsors of the Premier League in England

Companies use sponsorship for all kinds of reasons, from brand-building to establishing recognition and status in new geographies.

Whatever the reason though, it’s often how those companies use the sponsorship benefits they’ve bought, that determines how successful they are.

Barclays’ sponsorship of the English Premier League is a case in point. They’re not content just to sit their logo alongside that of the Premier League, or to invite some key clients along to a match. Their programme includes a web site, market research into attitudes of fans, internal displays, a comprehensive PR and journalist program, and a whole lot more. Wild West help Barclays with just a small proportion of these ‘activation’ programmes (in terms of design and print, display, web design and some other things!), but we’re very pleased to contribute our skills to help maximise the commercial value of the sponsorship opportunity on an international scale.