Tag Archive for 'Web'

Sometimes, it doesn’t hurt to state the obvious

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.

Inflexion – Buyout House of the Year

Inflexion Private Equity (a Wild West client for many years, ever since we designed their new logo) have triumphed at The Private Equity Awards, hosted by the BVCA (the British Venture Capital Association) and Real Deals, being named Buyout House of the Year.

The judges praised Inflexion for its outstanding performance in what was a challenging year for the private equity industry.

Key achievements included the market beating returns on the exit of Viking Moorings, the ability to raise a co-investment fund and securing new investments in exciting growth businesses.

Winning against prestigious competition, including HgCapital, LDC and Charterhouse, the judges said their decision was unanimous.

More at www.inflexion.com, the web site also designed and programmed by Wild West.

Becoming experts in MS Sharepoint!

Well, anyone who knows us will know that we like open source software, but now we have a very big job ahead, made even bigger by the fact that they need to use MS Sharepoint 2010 for the web design and the application development behind it. Made even bigger by the fact that the software hasn’t all been released yet!

ClearlyBusiness – focus on expansion

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

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.

Everyone wants to take the trophy home!

Everyone wants to take the Trophy home!

Everyone wants to take the Trophy home!

There’s good news and there’s bad news.

The good news is that Barclays are extending the entry period for the Barclays Home Win prize draw.

The bad news is that there are already over 12,000 entries which have been logged through the prize web site, so you’re going to have to be pretty lucky to win that prize.

The prize (let us just remind you) is to spend a day with the Barclays Premier League trophy.

Get your team photographed with it. Let your kids take it to school. Use it as a charity fund-raiser. What you do with your prize is (within reason!) up to you. The trophy comes with its own security staff too, so you don’t need to worry what might happen if it got stolen. Remarkably, too, the prize is available wherever in the world you are – Azerbaijan or Zambia – Barclays will (somehow!) get that trophy to everyone who wins.

Modesty forbids us to mention who designed the web site for this competition, which Barclays are hosting to celebrate their Premier League sponsorship contract being extended for another three years.

For more information, go to www.barclayshomewin.com

What more do you need from us?

We’ve implemented a new web site. At the moment, it’s a simple holding site – in line with our bold new look. You can reach it on our old address (www.wildwildwest.co.uk) or on our new one – www.designwildwest.com

The pictures which you view through the WW device are samples of our work – from the ribbons on the Barclays Premier League trophy, through to our web site for Stock Spirits.

It is just a holding page really, but you can check our address, view or download our (very smart!) new credentials document or (of course) link through from the site to this blog (and we’ll be updating our blog header very soon too).

If you would like to see more from us – either on the web site or on this blog – then please let us know. At the moment we’re debating what we feature on the web site – our past award-winning work, case studies on topics as widely different as corporate naming or annual reports, or simply the kind comments we’ve had from our clients over the years. Please do get in touch if you have suggestions or comments!

And if you’ve not dealt with us before, maybe now is the time to think about whether we can help you? As you’ll see – in corporate design, in web and electronic marketing, and in sport sponsorship activation – we have a pretty good track record. Why not go to our web site now and take a look at our brand spanking new credentials document? We hope it will convince you to get in touch.

Please bookmark our address now: www.designwildwest.com

Consistent International Presence – Rule One for Growing Brands

When we were commissioned to design and build the corporate site for a rapidly growing branded drinks manufacturer, Stock Spirits Group, we were concerned that international sites (the company had several overseas companies) should have the same look and feel. The company agreed and now we have implemented not just a corporate site, but sites covering international sales, US, Italy, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Some of these sites are in three languages too, just to add to the complexity, but each one has a standard (though flexible) format. If you visit any one of them, you’ll be in no doubt that you are in a Stock Spirits Group site.

Working with Stock, we made the decision early on that it was important to give countries full flexibility in terms of marketing in their home territories – so we would link out from the corporate site to any brand sites which they had built and maintained for their particular markets.

That immediately defused the ‘not invented here’ syndrome and demonstrated that what we wanted was corporate consistency, but not a corporate straitjacket.

Stock keep on expanding, and as they do, their network of sites grows too. Bosnia and Herzegovina is the next territory to be covered, followed by Croatia. And the brand promise offered by Stock Spirits products and the reputation of the company both continue to strengthen and develop.

www.stockspiritsgroup.com