DNA Advertising are again proud to be working with Torbay council, Creative Torbay and Torre Abbey on their latest exhibitions. After the success of TACO 09 (Torre Abbey Contemporary Open) and the Ultimate Day Out campaign, DNA have this year created an identity for ‘TAMED’ and ‘Art on the English Rivera’ as well as designing and producing the advertising and literature for the highly anticipated exhibition. Running from 6th July – 30th August and in conjunction with TACO 2010, TAMED brings the work of renown artists such as Richard Long, Heather Jansch and Damien Hirst to Torbay. See the details above or for more information or see the Torre Abbey website at torre-abbey.org.uk. We hope to see you there!
Working in partnership with US based Dempsey Film Group, DNA have recently completed the soundtrack for the Ranger Z521 boat US TV Commercial. After falling in love with DNA’s bespoke score for the Ascari Race Resort website intro movie, the American speed boat manufacturer Ranger Boats turned to DNA for a soundtrack to match the muscle car power and adrenaline of their latest high performance fishing boat. After a few revisions, DNA had created an orchestral/rock-fusion audio track to match US voice over and compliment the pace of Dempsey’s video work.
The Classic Throttle Connection is a new business – formed from one man’s passion for classic cars. We’re delighted that we’re now designing and placing CTC’s advertising in a range of classic car publications, as well as on the web, and it’s now our role to ensure that generating enquiries is something the team at Classic Throttle Connection doesn’t have to worry about. They can now spend their time finding and purchasing the best vehicles, then ensuring they are in the best condition of their lives before sale. We’re keeping our eye on these guys. They have a track record of making things happen and we’re loving being a part of it.
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!
Between the 5th December (my Mum’s birthday) and the 10th Jan, the new format Exeter Phoenix brochure was download 7,500 times! It’s the first time the brochure has been made available as a download but we think it’s a pretty impressive figure (clearly mostly down to the quality of the design). For the new brochure we’ve refreshed the best aspects of the previous format with a more lively, magazine style – our aim being to keep Exeter Phoenix one step ahead of other, similar organisations around the UK. Click here if you want to take a look or download it yourself.
Since we did the work on segmenting the Exeter Phoenix sub-brands and redesigning the quarterly brochure, the in-house team has overhauled the website and is now preparing to launch its new online ticketing system, which will be live from Thursday 14 Jan. Watch this space!
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.
“Everybody who knows what they’re doing in web development and web design is now pretty much on board [the web standards] train even though not everyone [...] shares exactly the same understanding.” Jeffrey Zeldman.
Anyone thinking of going into web design or development should watch this video of Jeffrey Zeldman, one of the people credited with founding web standards. Click here.
(Si – NOW I understand why you keep banging on about AA this and AA that! Jim)
If you’re thinking of buying a quality second-hand car, but can’t decide whether to go safe and buy one from a dealer (and pay a premium for doing so), or to chance your arm and buy privately (and risk picking up a lemon), we’re working with someone who may have a solution.
UsedCars2U is the UK’s first website that supplies fully serviced used cars directly the consumers’ door, at no extra charge. In so doing, they’re aiming to cut out the middle man. All of UsedCars2U’s cars have had one owner, come with a warranty, full service history, 14-day money-back guarantee and undergo a 120-point pre-delivery check… All the benefits of buying from a dealer but for about 20% less, AND without having to leave your sofa!
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.
After months of planning and preparation, RS Academy, whom we’ve been supporting with advertising, brochure design and email marketing, is launching its first driving days at the Ascari Race Resort in southern Spain.
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.
Anyone familiar with online marketing may have heard of the Google ‘sandbox’ (where Google ‘allegedly’ temporarily reduces the page rank of new domains, in order to hinder SEO professionals stealing a march on established online businesses). But has anyone heard of the Google Beatbox?
If you start watching this, I bet you make it to the end….
I’ve recently set up a new online e-commerce business from scratch and have researched various unorthodox ways of short-cutting to better performance in the Search Engines. There’s a lot of debate about whether or not you can buy a domain name with a page rank and use it to get a head start, but nobody seems to provide a succinct answer. The truth of the matter is as follows (please correct me if I’m wrong):
You can buy a domain with a page rank from various websites. Just Google it and you’ll find them. Some of these page ranks seem to be legitimate and some appear to be falsified, so please beware. Once you direct the domain at your own server and give it your own content, it is likely that Google will reclassify the page rank as PR0. However, if the domain you bought performs well in existing online searches and already has numerous inbound links in place (which you can check before you buy), it is likely that you will achieve a better page rank far more quickly than if you set up a site from scratch with an entirely new domain.
If you want straightforward, professional advice on marketing your website – including whether or not Twitter and other social media will deliver a return on your investment – please give us a call.
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
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.
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.
Has it been a year already? Last night DNA once again attended ECO (Exeter Contemporary Open) at Exeter Phoenix. ECO is a national platform for emerging contemporary artists and aims to reflect themes and concerns in current practice over a broad range of disciplines. DNA were proud to sponsor the New Media category and awarded the prize to Hayley Lock, whose striking work has become the poster image for the exhibition. Congratulations to Hayley and Exeter Phoenix for putting on such an enjoyable event. ECO runs from 17 Sep – 4 Nov, so be sure to drop by if you can. Here’s a nice smiley pic of Rich with winner, Hayley Lock. www.hayleylock.com
Our newest client, MCE Insurance, has just been announced as the new title sponsor to the world’s leading domestic superbike series, British Superbikes. We are currently supporting MCE with their online communications and the new MCE website is due to go live this summer. This sponsorship deal is a major step in MCE’s bid to become the UK’s best and most successful motorcycle insurer and we’re doing what we can to help them make that happen.
MCE Insurance, one of the UK’s top 3 providers of motorcycle insurance, has just appointed us to bolster its online presence and communication style. We will be working with MCE’s in-house design and web development team, providing input on brand personality, tone of voice, copywriting and online marketing.
Our remit is to build better brand awareness and customer loyalty online, and the whole project came from a social media marketing idea we took to them earlier this year. The social media project will form stage two of the campaign, which begins with the in-house team’s redesign of the existing website. We expect this programme to drive MCE’s online leads and sales, and ultimately to reduce their spend on Pay-Per-Click. It’s a great project – particularly for Jim, who loves his bikes (despite having a small ‘off’ earlier this year)!
