The Bullion collection brief was geared to highlight the unique features of the product, namely the gold finishing on corners and buttons. In order to instill the essence of ‘pricelessness’ and ultimate value, we constructed a story around the product. Placing the products within a briefcase highlighted that they were precious and the bank vault setting and gold bullion placed either side enhanced this notion. Photography and post production was done in our in-house studio ensuring the result looked authentic and atmospheric.

The Pinstripe collection brief required us to capture how the iconic pinstripe suit, with its sharp and precise tailoring, is still a hallmark of the city. We took an approach that best displayed how the suit/products are intricately and painstakingly put together. Shot in-house on a blanket of a classic pinstripe material (direct from Savile Row), the subtle yet clever use of the material’s pinstripe direction helps draw the eye to the products, creating a stronger, more dynamic image. A few props were added to the scene to tell the story and a backdrop integrated to place the scene within a top London tailors. Post production enhanced the lighting and colour palette to help sell the concept.

Both adverts were launched today. Let us know what you think.

A fresh new look has been applied to the latest brochure suite for Princess Yachts, one of DNA’s higher profile clients. We are always looking to evolve and improve their brand presence and this year have looked to specialist print finishes and materials as well as looking at sizes, design and production. DNA were responsible for helping to save significant costs on print as well as adding a more pro-active and structured approach to this year’s brochure suite. The process, which starts around 8 months before the main boat show season, includes art direction on photography, print management, a lengthy design and artworking process, image retouching and inputting copy for 7 languages. However, the most important part of the process is the concept stage, which involves talking to Princess Yachts staff, customer feedback and looking at industry trends. Once the concepts are approved, the design process begins. The culmination of all this hard work is the printed article itself. This year the V Class and Flybridge brochures feature an uncoated softback cover with accented foil blocking and clear varnish elements to the type. The guts of all three brochure types were printed on a high gloss stock with a gloss coating to help lift and add vibrancy to all the images. The Generic brochure featured a hardback cover with matt laminate and silver foil and used a new lifestyle image photographed in Thailand earlier in the year.

The brochure suite has been well received by Princess Yachts and launches to the general public at the Southampton Boat Show, which starts 16th September and runs through to Sunday 25th September. For your copy, why not visit the show, or contact Princess Yachts directly – www.princessyachts.com

Pictured below: Simon Clare (Marketing Manager for Princess Yachts) at the recent press pass signing off a section of the V Class brochure suite.

Article by Paul Mabin – Managing Director

Following on from our recent rebrand we are pleased to launch the new and improved dna website. It took a little longer to complete than we had hoped but we’ve been very busy getting some exciting client projects finished first. As always, we wanted to take the time to get it just right, so we hope you like it.

Check out the ‘see our work’ section for an assortment of projects from our ever-growing client list, providing a good representation of the quality and variety of our work. On the ‘meet the team’ page you can find out more about the people behind the agency and see for yourself what a good looking bunch we are.

We’ll be updating the site often, so make sure you check back soon, or even better sign up to receive updates using the link at the top of the page. We hope you enjoy looking through the new site and would love to hear what you think of it, so get in touch!

www.dnaadvertising.co.uk

Things are changing here at DNA. We’ve recently taken on some great new hires which have helped to restructure and refocus our business, so we’ve given ourselves a makeover with a refreshed brand identity! It was an exciting process (we took a few snaps along the way, see below), and we’re really pleased with the outcome. Our new business cards arrived today which was very exciting, although we love them so much it’s going to be hard to hand them over! Watch this space for our shiny new website, coming soon…

EMCAS is an established and successful financial services claims management company. Set up to advise and act for clients who think they may have been mis-sold a financial product, like Payment Protection Insurance or an Endowment Mortgage or been mis-advised about an investment or a loan, EMCAS has specialists who can pursue a claim on their clients’ behalf. Beginning with a fresh logo design, DNA went on to create a compelling advertising campaign which is currently running in several national tabloid newspapers. DNA also handled the media planning for the campaign. Enquiries flowing from the ad campaign are followed up with a mailing, consisting of a Welcome Pack containing information relevant to each enquiry. With careful attention to tone of voice, DNA’s copywriting skills came to the fore along with the creation of a suite of accompanying images. DNA have also recently refreshed the existing Emcas website with the new branding.

Read, and see more:

Back in April we won a pitch for an adoption campaign for Somerset County Council. So with a spring in our step we set to work creating a brand identity, advertising, a website and a whole load of marketing collateral. We have really enjoyed the challenge, and with the website going live yesterday we thought you might want to take a look – www.adoptioninsomerset.org.uk. The lead on the project was Somerset County Council’s PR and Communication Officer, Lyndsey Mayhew, here’s what she had to say about the process, “It has been a pleasure to work with DNA on the adoption campaign. Right from the start, I felt DNA really understood what we wanted to achieve and I was impressed with the background research and the ideas that were developed beyond the creative brief. The creation of the site and campaign tools could not have been smoother and the account team were excellent, always on the end of the phone and with no request too difficult!” Thanks Lyndsey! Next up we’ve been lucky enough to secure the Fostering in Somerset campaign too! Watch this space for updates on how we get on.

This is the first advert we’ve produced for our new luxury brand client, Ettinger. The ad was designed specifically around Ettinger’s range of luggage and was placed in the travel section of Country & Town House magazine.

Our initial intention was to photograph the luggage against a fairly plain background, thus focussing the attention on the quality and detail of the product; however, as an alternative, we printed out a large format version of an antiquated world map – not only giving the image some context, but also alluding to the heritage and traditional values of the brand. This was the preferred option.

The advert is essentially a brand builder, although it incorporates clear calls to action – driving potential customers to Ettinger’s e-commerce site and London showroom. Both worth a visit if you’re into English luxury with a twist!

An article that was recently printed in the Herald Express, showed that the campaign run by Torbay Council and designed by DNA Advertising has proven to be a great success. The latest progress report for Fit for the Future, a scheme to encourage youngsters to join a gym, shows it has been enjoyed by 1,112 people.  The scheme, which has been running in Suffolk, Newcastle, Bristol, Manchester and Torquay had a target of recruiting up to 1,000 youngsters per district. Torquay has smashed that target, with three months left to run.

DNA carried out research with a select audience, then presented our initial concepts. This research helped us refine the final design, which we rolled out across promotional literature and banners that were strategically placed around the Bay.  DNA also encouraged the council to use bluetooth phone technology to deliver the message to a wider audience.  The combination of using new technology and targeted design has clearly helped to make this campaign a great success.

[Update: Paul Mabin - Creative Director]

The new Exeter Phoenix events brochure has just hit the presses and it’s the result of a lot of hard work and a completely fresh approach. When we started working with Exeter Phoenix a few years back we transformed their ‘DL’ events leaflet into an A5 landscape booklet, giving much more space to the visiting artists and performers therein. Well, this time we’ve gone one better. Not only have we reviewed the entire Exeter Phoenix brand architecture (always an interesting challenge when working with so many passionate, creative people and departments!), but we’ve also created a new sub-brand structure, we’ve designed a new visual identity and we’ve transformed the events brochure into a quarterly magazine format.

The brochure contents has been reordered to make the information more logical and therefore more accessible, while the clean, fresh style lends itself neatly to the creativity, vibrancy and friendliness of the organisation.

Exeter Phoenix is one of our design team’s favourite clients. Their work always provides an interesting mix of challenge, creativity, flexibility and style, and there was a surprising amount of ignorance, even locally, about all the exciting events, music, art, performance, cinema and education going on within those (slightly imposing) four walls. Since then we haven’t been there once without seeing something amazing! Check our their website for a closer look or better still, download the brochure!

RS Academy is the only supercar club that runs its supercars exclusively on racing circuits – and not just any circuits, RS members have access to the Nürburgring Nordschleife, Spa Francorchamps and the Ascari Race Resort. Nice. Let us know if you’re interested and we’ll put you in touch by clicking here.

Building yachts in excess of 160 metres Devonport requires quality marketing material to match the specialist service they provide. When tasked to create a presentation box intended to house the finer details of the Devonport offering, we set to work and came up with a variety of deigns. We were very happy with the final result – a high quality presentation box, containing a bespoke business card and branded USB stick, sourced especially for the event. The USB stick contained a full-screen interactive Flash presentation with video footage and boat specifications, as well
as a screensaver. Initial feedback is that the boxes have been well received in Monaco; take a look at the photographs and let us know what you think.

So I went out last night for a spot of grub and when ordering at the bar I spotted a small green Buddha smiling at me from the fridge. Of course, being an enthusiast of Japanese and Chinese lager I had to snap-up a bottle of Lucky. Lucky – an Asian style lager, is owned by Barons Brewers of Australia, is bottled in China and consists of rice flake, malted barley and Czech hops. But all of that is insignificant – it’s the unique bottle that sold it for me. With design emphasis on the bottle rather than label graphics (although the logo is pretty vintage-cool),
the bespoke beer bottle features the seated, laughing Chinese character Pu-Tai, holding a large gold ingot above his head. “Many believe this figure of a Buddha to be a symbol of wealth, happiness and life fulfilment. We consider him to be the enlightened good-time guy”. In Eastern culture it is considered good luck to rub the Buddha’s belly, I decided to just take the bottle home instead… is that sad? (No comments on this post please.)

Lucky isn’t a new beer on the market but is apparently quite hard to find, despite it reportedly being sold in some supermarkets. Find out more here: www.luckydrinkco.com

(Opinion: Jon Price – Designer)

RS Academy is a unique track-based supercar club that allows its members to enjoy the world’s best performance cars at three of Europe’s most highly acclaimed circuits: the Nürburgring Nordschleife, Spa Francorchamps and Ascari Race Resort. Our experience of designing for luxury brands and our knowledge of automotive marketing meant we were well positioned to provide RS Academy with their promotional brochure: a brochure that would blend energy and excitement with an air of sophistication and exclusivity.

We began the project with the brochure content – working with RS Academy to select imagery and define the story and key messages, then drafting text which would communicate a professional message in a personal, relaxed, yet not overly familiar style. We then designed and produced a limited run of the brochure, in a format that could either be posted at minimal cost or handed out at events. With in-house brand strategy, copywriting, image retouching, graphic design and print management, we made certain that all contents were as polished as the bonnet of a freshly waxed Porsche 911 GT3 RS!

See a wider selection of the work on our website: www.dnaadvertising.co.uk

The latest Princess Yachts brochure suite is now doing the rounds – here’s a selection of the latest work, released at the Southampton Boat Show (see previous post). As in previous years’ work, DNA revised the design style, art directed boat and lifestyle photography and implemented copywriting and translations throughout seven languages.