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How Pokémon Go can play into your marketing strategy

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past week, you will have heard the chatter about the revival of the Pokémon craze following the launch of the new augmented reality app, Pokémon Go. Now in over 26 countries and with over 30 million downloads, it has become a real phenomenon. It hasn’t taken long for businesses to realise that they can capitalise on it. With the first ‘sponsored location’ -which turns the location into a hub for Pokémon- launching in Japan yesterday, it is easy to see  how larger companies can pay to have Pokémon Go users flock to their establishments, but smaller businesses might have to get more creative with their marketing strategy to capitalise on the craze.

By offering free wi-fi and phone charging, businesses can allow weary Pokémon hunters to replenish their battery, and take the strain off their data allowance, and in doing so earning their patronage. This is a particularly great strategy for restaurants and cafés lucky enough to be located near the in game Pokéstops, which allow users to collect rewards, and gyms, where trainers can use the Pokémon they have caught to fight other Pokémon. This means users are likely to stay in one place for longer, and maybe stop for a drink or a bite to eat in the process. Once the aspiring Pokémon trainers have refuelled, encourage them to tweet about the Pokémon they’ve caught (the rarer, the better) during their pit-stop –even get the staff involved – the prospect of a rare Pokémon is bound to get trainers to come running.

Some businesses have been offering discounts to users who belong to certain ‘trainer teams’ or who have caught certain Pokémon. Others have been utilising nearby Pokéstop by using in-game ‘lures’ to attract Pokémon to the area and, by default, players to their business. You could even advertise the ‘lure’ as an event and let people know when you will be welcoming an influx of Pokémon.

Over the next few weeks, we’re sure we will see a few of these Pokémon Go related marketing strategies popping up around Birmingham and our home in the Jewellery Quarter – but only time will tell whether or not the Pokémon Go effect will be a lasting one.

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A Day in the Life of Big Cat’s Junior Designer

We take a closer look at what it’s like to spend 24 hours in the life of Big Cat’s Junior Designer, Lizzie Owen.

6.30 – 8.30 – These two hours are a bit of a blur as I slowly wake myself up to reality. I spend around 20 minutes drawing (usually for my 100 day project https://www.instagram.com/lizjowen/) on my commute to work, just to get myself into gear. I find this really relaxing and the day always seems a bit better once I’ve done some sketching.

8.35 – Flick through my emails and have a look at the morning’s intel. I love reading Creative Bloq, Design Week & Fast Company… Twitter is also creatively entertaining so I have a peek at that too. I jot down a to-do list and check on Asana what needs working on (an online tool that my colleagues and I use to keep track of client briefs), prioritising those with tighter deadlines.

8.59 – Time to get cracking on some “real work!” I start working down my to-do list, but I keep a close-eye on my emails just in case a client contacts me with any urgent amends or with a new brief that may need to take precedence.

10.00 – Snack time where I usually devour a packet of mini cheddars, a banana and a chocolate bar. Resume working with renewed energy.

10.30 – Meeting with my director and the printer to discuss paper finishes, perspex blocks and metallic inks for a brief I’m currently working on. It’s so good to see the samples in real life – it’s exciting when considering good quality finishes and how much it boosts a design.

11.00 – I email the client with what I’ve learnt from the printer and suggestions for the ideal paper stock, and then it’s back to designing.

13.00 – Woohoo, lunch time! My lunch time varies depending on how busy I am but I generally aim to have a breather around this time. Food really does fuel the brain!

14.00 – Have a quick look through the work I’ve done so far and then carry on working. I regularly have to pester my design director on any artwork that has to be sent off to clients or publications as his schedule is often hectic.

15.00 – By this time everything that needs to be sent off is delivered, so I start working on my other projects and tick them off as I go along. I usually try to do this all before lunch-time but sometimes it gets pretty busy around here and I’m often juggling quite a few things at once.

17.00 – Today’s my lucky day as I am finished on time, so I head home and catch up on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram during my commute home.

18.30 – Kick off my shoes & slip into some pyjamas, and spend the rest of the night in front of the TV with my fiancé, forcing him to watch Sailor Moon.

20.00 – Finish off on any sketches/artwork, snap it, and upload it onto Instagram.

21.00 – Crawl back to the sofa just in time for Game of Thrones.

22.00 – Rant on Facebook about how amazing/terrible Game of Thrones was before heading to bed.

Watch this space to find out which member of the Big Cat pride will be in the spotlight next month.

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Keeping the buzz going – Big Cat’s 12 tips for marketing your restaurant

Here at Big Cat we specialise in restaurant marketing, having previously worked with Turtle Bay andSan Carlo, to name a few. Using his vast knowledge and experience in this sector, Big Cat MDAnthony Tattum, highlights 12 top tips for maintaining interest in your restaurant after the launch.

Make your busiest times even more busy

A crowd attracts a crowd! If your lunchtimes are busy, work on making them even more of a hub. You want the ripple effect: people telling other people what a great place they’ve been to. Word of mouth recommendations are the most powerful form of marketing, and they’re free!

What’s your second busiest time? Market that next

After maxing on your busiest time, move on to the next successful slot. You’re best to work with what’s already working well.  This second time period should be highlighted to customers during the busiest time via point of sale (POS) offers, as well as pushing it out on social media channels

Where are all my customers?

If a timeslot – say weekend evenings – isn’t performing, then consider doing a relaunch. Build buzz, host an event and invite friends, well-known local people and the press, promote with exclusive time-bound offers

Get out and about

Don’t lump your leaflet with the pizza and Chinese takeaway menus that get stuffed through the letterbox! Create a good looking and well-thought out offer, employ engaging – and well briefed and branded promotional staff – and blitz the area around your place. There is still merit to be had from direct marketing (DM) and a good return of investment (ROI).

Hand out leaflets announcing a compelling and time bound incentive. Get staff to engage recipients in conversation, help them with a script, and highlight the top messages to get across, and then after each session, gather their detailed feedback. Monitor how many people are redeeming the vouchers each day thanks to your physical presence out of the shop.

Show people why they should come in

Offer up free samples to whet people’s appetite and heighten awareness about your offering. Choose samples that are portable, look great, and that will deliver an experience reflective of your offer.

Select nearby businesses and hand deliver delicious ware to make them talk. Platters, tailored snacks or hampers will expose your brand to this potential new customer base.

Email why they should come in

But don’t just send one email – send a number as part of a campaign. People might overlook one email, but they’re less likely to claim ignorance after receiving 3 or 5 from the same company.

And make sure you monitor the success too. Have a separate email address or phone number, or put in a code for people to redeem. Over the course of an email marketing campaign you should also look to improve “indicator metrics” like the open rate and click-through rate. While these metrics alone don’t increase the number of restaurant bookings they do indicate incremental improvement in brand awareness, email design and lay-out

Engage local journalists

PR during the launch phase of a new restaurant is very powerful and cost effective. Unlike advertising, PR is about third party endorsement, often by well-respected foodies. Good PR tells stories, conveys provenance, mixes in key messages, highlights points of difference, shares gorgeous pictures and most importantly, earned articles are more believable than paid for advertising

Look vibrant online

Use social media to share daily menus and specials, and create an aspirational brand. Upload behind the scenes info, interiors shots, reviews, and beautiful food and drink photos. Show off your personality, and encourage visitors to share their experiences as well. Get bloggers and influencers to share your message and shout about your offer. Social channels are like a virtual mantel piece – so show off your restaurant’s best bits!

It’s never going to have people queuing around the block, but social activity is a great tool for showing your ‘flavour’ to people who might be checking you out

Make your website look smart

Your restaurant’s website is arguably your most valuable marketing asset. It’s a 24/7 shop window and one that by continuous low level maintenance (after the initial investment) will increase in value over time.

There is no such thing as a perfect website design but a few points of note. Make sure it looks great on mobile phone or tablets. Customers generally like to know about your brand, the owners, your background, your inspiration, the provenance of the ingredients and your unique cooking style. Great photography is a must. A busy blog or news section is a bonus. Menus, directions and a highly visible means of booking a table or asking a question is essential.

Get to grips with Google

There is lots you can do to improve the visibility of your restaurant when people are searching for their next place to eat. Search engine marketing is all about keywords. Be clear on the type of restaurant or eatery that you are. If you’re a Spanish restaurant in Bristol then that should be the corner stone of the content on your website. Here is a beginner’s guide to search marketing.

Get creative with advertising

But in the early stages of your restaurant, avoid booking anything. Most restaurant advertising isn’t well targeted and is ad hoc – “if we’re quiet and an advertiser calls then let’s book an ad”. The majority of advertising is ineffective and overpriced. We’ve found that designing unusual ads, placed in surprising locations, is the best combination – but this is hard to achieve. An ad simply saying what and where you are doesn’t cut it.

Maintain a competitive edge

Know what your customers like and don’t like about you, as well as where else they go and why. Visit places yourself to review successful competitor offers, or get people to visit and give you feedback. If your place is too cold, or Joe Bloggs down the road offers an after dinner cake for free, or plays better music then it’s very helpful to know – and it will ensure that you can make changes to your business that are based on customer preferences and the competitive landscape.

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Creativepool Launch Party

On 10th March 2016, Creativepool hosted their Annual Launch Party in Covent Garden. This exclusive gathering reflected the amazing talent of the global creative community found on Creativepool by bringing together the shortlisted companies and individuals. Thanks to his hard work, Rohan Farrell, our Design Intern here at Big Cat, attended this year’s event and here’s what he had to say about his experience.

On Thursday, I was lucky enough to be invited to Creativepool’s launch party. It was a private event exclusive to those who had entered to win the prize of being in their 2016 annual and had been shortlisted.

I had a great time at the event so much so; it has taken me until now to to fully articulate my experience.

The event highlighted great work from around the world from agencies and individuals, creating a platform where talent can receive much deserved recognition from peers in the creative industry. Fairly recent awards such as “Newcomer of the Year” and “Influencer of the Year” are a testament to that fact.

I was lucky enough to be shortlisted for work I entered into the Packaging Category (see below).

I felt extremely privileged to have my work knocking boots with some of the creative industries’ best pieces of work. Being fresh faced from my studies and a newcomer to the working design world, my main objective was to pick the seasoned brains of those within the industry at the event.

Fabio Seidi

Group Creative Director at 360i

Nominated winner of Influencer of the Year award

Nicola

Creative Lead & Colourist at Nicolor

Nominated for Newcomer of the Year

Blair Bennette

Product Designer and Art Director

Winner of Newcomer of the Year

I also met Aaron Sylvester, Head of Business Development at Infogr8, who was there to support his colleagues who had work shortlisted in the Graphics Category.

Ais London – I wish my son was a dog

Advertising Print Winner

Eiko Ojala – Gun Violence

Illustration Winner

Jones Knowles Ritchie -  Budweiser

Packaging Winners

Bjorn Van Den Hout – Charge board

Product/Industry Winner

Going to the Creativepool launch party in London allowed me to see what it takes to win and what I need to do to improve. The whole atmosphere of the occasion, the people and the reunion I had with old friends going to the event has motivated me to make entering an annual occurrence. My aim next time is to enter not as Rohan Farrell, but under the Big Cat banner, as other agencies did at the event - showcasing an array of team effort and talent from the whole of their agency.

I see meaningful work being done everyday for meaningful clients that portray and epitomise the family ideology, values and purpose we all share at Big Cat. It would be very cool to show that in an event like this, which celebrates excellence.

Posted by Rohan Farrell, Design Intern at Big Cat

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Business books that have shaped my thinking for 2016

Being a small business owner I have found it invaluable to gain insights and ideas from global problems and the challenges faced by other industries and how they overcame them.

As the traffic on roads steadily gets worse and I spend more of my time on the train to London, I have taken to listening to audio books to pass the time but mainly so I don’t feel like I am wasting my life.

There are three books that have affected me the most and have helped shape my thinking for 2016. Naturally I am employing insights and ideas from them at Big Cat. My challenge has been interpreting the theories, ideas and methods to apply them to my agency processes.

My goal is to better integrate creative, marketing and communications strategies as well as services that best serve my team, clients and investors.

Matthew Syed, author of Blackbox Thinking suggests that making mistakes is good. We learn the most not from success but from failure. When error is taken as an opportunity to learn and there isn’t a culture of blame in your organisation then a culture of continuous learning, refinement and improvement can flourish. Blame kills transparency and leads to people focus on covering their backs rather than delivering business objectives.

Even near misses and close calls should be explored and mined for learning opportunities. Blaming the process and not the person is a way to look for the root cause without the emotional baggage and not directly at the failure. Matthew shares insightful examples ranging for air travel to healthcare and criminal justice as well as business.

In The Lean Startup by Eric Ries, the author shares his vision to create a growth framework for successful new enterprises based on learning rather than just burning through piles of cash.

Eric describes new business ideas as leaps of faith: audience A will buy product B. The Lean Startup method explores ways of testing your "leaps of faith” business ideas through small batches, rapid iteration and creating a list of actionable metrics that drive continuous improvement. He calls this the build, measure and learn loop. By launching, testing and improving products you can create learning milestones that ensure your new enterprise stays on track.

Data from your "actionable metrics" should be developed into a simple to understand dashboard that everyone buys into. Eric discusses ‘pivoting’ your business if the metrics are showing your business assumptions aren’t delivering the expected results.

Whilst this may sound like failure in fact some of the best business ideas come from a pivot: for example Groupon started out as The Point and set collective philanthropic goals but didn’t get enough sign ups to get off the ground before pivoting into a collective buying platform.

Eric suggests that whiteboard strategising or asking focus groups will not give you the answer. They will give you hypothesise to test but the answer is iterative learning by interpreting and acting on the right data, that will lead to validated learning and sustainable growth.

The final book that has helped shape my thinking for the year ahead is Exponential Organisations by Salim Ismail. In it he discusses 10 attributes that are common to businesses that grow exponentially - from Uber and Airbnb to Google and Tesla. All ExO’s employ many but not all of these 10 attributes but what they all have in common is an MTP or Massive Transformative Purpose. An MTP binds collective aspirations, attracts top talent and enables agility and learning.

Many have an attribute that is central to their scaling. For example Uber and Google Ventures is the algorithm while Waze and Github key attribute is leveraging their community and crowd.

Innovation means that the cost of technology such as drones and 3D printing have reduced by more than 250x in 7 years. In an environment of uncertainty, change and disruption new business and product development models are needed. We live in an age of abundance or easily available assets and a lower marginal cost of supply.

The book discusses exponential growth in small companies and how it can be achieved in large ones too. Dozens of disruptive ExOs are already in operation in every industry from finance to insurance. 

Exponential Organisations, The Lean Startup and Blackbox Thinking affirmed some of the things we are already doing such as continuous learning, using staff on demand, looking for small tech companies to partner with. They have also helped me explore and introduce new ideas like dashboards, actionable metrics and leveraged assets.

So there you have it. A quick breakdown of the three business books I’ve read recently that have helped shape my thinking for 2016. I often ask people to tell me about the best book they’ve read lately so, I welcome your insights and recommendations.

Posted by Anthony Tattum, Managing Director at Big Cat 

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How does advertising affect mental health?

Having recently worked on three sexual health awareness campaigns for University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust as part of their ‘Umbrella’ service, and assisted the Children’s Liver Disease Foundation to boost involvement in their Big Yellow Friday campaign, we like to keep up to date with what’s happening within the third sector.

As such, we were taken aback when it was recently reported that three-quarters of people with mental health problems don’t receive any support, with mental health care often being referred to as the “Cinderella service of the NHS” due to its neglect. With the government promising a £1billion investment into the mental health service last week, it got us thinking about what we as a country have done, or can do, to end the stigma of mental health.

A recent study in the ‘Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology’ notes the correlation between social media and mental health issues such as depression and low self-esteem, and highlights that a common psychological momentum “social comparison”, comes hand in hand with the likes of Facebook. Advertising often works to represent the best possible version of something, whether it be a product or an ideology, which may lead to consumers feeling depressed when comparing their ordinary lives to that displayed in an idealistic representation. Of course, before the rise of social media, people could just switch off the TV or flip past a page in a magazine when confronted with an unreachable representation. But with social media channels so widely used today, it’s easy for those ideals to infiltrate our everyday lives – through our peers as well as from advertisers. The pursuit of ‘happiness’ is now perhaps defined through peer-to-peer comparison more than ever before, as we scroll through the pages of family, friends and friends of friends, wondering how they could afford that new car, or that luxury holiday.

And it’s not just material goods that we make comparisons on. How often to people post about negative feelings? I’ll bet those status updates get far less ‘likes’ than the positive updates articulating love, success and happiness.

Interestingly, the global vice-president of creative connections and digital at Coca Cola recently expressed that the company has scrapped its eminent ‘Open Happiness’ tagline, replacing it with ‘Taste the feeling’ instead. He clarified "Everything is about happiness – there are so many books about happiness, there’s Pharrell’s ‘Happy’. Happiness is an over-utilised word in current, contemporary culture”. With many adverts actively depending on happiness to sell their brand effectively, Coca Cola may start to set a new trend when it comes to advertising and marketing.

Perhaps this will help pave the way for advertisers to start focusing on the real and the achievable, rather than relying on people being conditioned to only recognise happy thoughts and happy people. Watch this space…

Posted by Nicolette Georgiou, Marketing Intern at Big Cat 

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A day with the PRCA – Writing effective press releases

On Thursday 11th February, The PRCA came to the Big Cat office to host a training session on writing effective press releases. Being a PR Assistant I hadn’t had as much experience as some of my colleagues when it came to writing releases, so I was eager to go on the course and learn some tricks of the trade.

The day was led by Lorraine Forrest-Turner, a copywriter and freelance communication skills trainer, who told everyone that the training would be a prime opportunity to really get to grips with the different styles and structures which would enable us to successfully sell our stories into the press in the future.

We began the day by discussing the media, taking a closer look into what news is and what it isn’t. After studying Journalism at University for 3 years, it was nice to have a bit of a refresher, and the information I’d previously learned started flooding back to me as Lorraine discussed the ways in which the media work, their news values and what makes news.

One important skill I took from the training session was to make sure ‘TRUTH’ is used- this may seem like an obvious concept, however I don’t mean tell the truth (which you always should do!) – I’m talking about the acronym that gives the foundations to making your story interesting. It’s crucial to find an angle that will attract the specific Journalist/Publication that you are hoping to sell in to. Using TRUTH can help you find that angle:

T- Is the story TOPICAL or TIMELY?

R- Is it RELEVANT to its readers, viewers and listeners?

U- Is there anything UNUSUAL or UNIQUE about the story?

T- Is there any TROUBLE, TRAGEDY that would add TENSION?

H- Where is the HUMAN interest?

Once we had discussed the media, Lorraine went on to explain the importance of structuring your press release correctly. She suggested following the classic inverted pyramid, using the most eye-catching information at the top. This makes it much easier for Journalists to read and also allows them to easily cut out any parts they don’t think are relevant starting from the bottom and working their way up.

The Inverted Pyramid writing style

GRAB THEIR ATTENTION

Journalists receive hundreds of press releases every single day, so what makes yours stand out from the rest? Lorraine asked us this question when we read out our releases – you’ve got an interesting story, SO WHAT?! Journalists are busy people, they aren’t going to read through every single press release they see, however they will read the press release which pretty much sums up the story perfectly in the headline. Lorraine explains that when writing a headline, it’s essential to highlight someone doing something.

WRONG Press release from Big Cat

RIGHT Big Cat secures a string of new business wins across the Midlands

The training taught us that no matter which publication you are sending your press release to, you must use the 6 w’s. I found that this made writing the release much easier, once I had written the information for each point it was actually a very simple process to piece it all together. The 6 w’s are easy to remember; Who, What, Where, When, Why, hoW.

Every writer has their own style. Some are better at producing press releases for B2B, others are more consumer-focussed, but it is important that you ensure the delivery of your release is suitable for the publication you are sending it to. We were told that the general style of a release goes as follows;

Write in 3rd person (1st person for quotes)

Write to inform, not to impress

Keep sentences and paragraphs short

Repeat words if you can’t find a better alternative

Minimise jargon, marketing-speak, adjectives and Latin based words

Write in the ‘active voice’

By this point in the day, we had all written our press releases and Lorraine suggested that we read them out, so that we could offer each other advice on how and where we could improve. Although this may seem like a bit of a daunting task, it was extremely helpful and I definitely wasn’t the only one that came away feeling surprisingly confident with what I had written.

During the last hour of the day, Lorraine gave us some handy hints and tips about selling in our stories to the press. It was interesting to see what methods others in the room used – some would ring the Journalist before sending the release to give them an insight and to gain an understanding of what angle they would be more attracted to using, others used social media as a way to sell in the story. We were told that the most important part of selling in is following up. Why would a Journalist care about the story if you’re not showing that you do? Call them, email them, tweet them – do what you can to not only show your commitment to your client, but to also prove to the Journalist that this is a newsworthy piece that deserves coverage.

A huge Big Cat thank you to Lorraine for coming down on behalf of The PRCA, the training definitely helped to develop my skills and writing for future releases. Having the opportunity to participate in training days like this, will certainly be a step in the right direction for my PR career.

If you would like to learn more about our communications strategies and what Big Cat can do for you, get in touch.

Posted by Sophie Coley, PR Assistant at Big Cat 

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Premier League rebrand

The Barclays Premier League has redesigned its logo for the 2016/17 season. The new branding is a collaboration between DesignStudio and Robin Brand Consultants. The logo has come under fire from many promenade faces with football and those within the social sphere of the Internet. 

There’s been a lot of negativity towards it so I have decided to share my unbiased opinion, starting with the positives.

Change is good; we are an evolving society where everyone is trying to lessen the number of steps we take, making tasks less complicated. The new visual identity above, does this by filtering the old design and leaving you with what’s important. There is no doubt in my mind that the premiership logo (below) is outdated, with new money and new audiences, now is the perfect time for them to launch a new design. 

My only criticism of the design is that it focuses solely on the future. This could be the reason why there is such a backlash towards the design. Old heads like me are used to the logo’s prestigious crest like feel. The new design takes away the nostalgia and leaves me with a feeling of loss. It makes us feel old and reminds us just how quickly the game is changing. Personally, I do think the logo should change as ‘change is good’ but with this design, the Barclays premiership have jumped the gun in terms of evolution. Minimalism is the future; less is more but the premiership have changed the genetic make up of the logo too quickly; going from monkey to human, most of us seem to look at this logo thinking, what is this? 

What we would have done differently…

What do you think of our rebrand?

Posted by Rohan Farrell, Design Intern at Big Cat

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Stuff you! How to deal with negative reviews online

You’ve got the dreaded 1 star rating – now what!

Answer: Do not ignore negative comments. Get on TripAdvisor, or Facebook and interact with your dissatisfied customers.

Because people will be very interested to see how you react. You want your communication and handling of the complaint to impress both the offended person and others who are watching.

In fact, these are golden opportunities to improve your business and you should thank people for their comments, and for sharing their honest experience.

Apologise openly for any issues and ask for their email address or phone number so you can discuss the complaint with them further and provide a full refund or free meal by way of recompense.

People will almost always give a restaurant a second chance if their issue is dealt with quickly and professionally. And then they will tell their friends and family about how efficiently and politely it was all sorted out. The counter is also true. If dealt with badly friends, family, colleagues and social media network might all steer well clear of your joint.

Turn each low rating situation around for a win, getting people back on board, and if the same thing keeps on coming up - use the feedback to flag up anything in house that needs to be addressed.

At the end of the day, the customer might have had a bad time, but it’s more than likely that it was a one off - so make sure you’re monitoring any channels where customers are talking about you so you can nip any bad feelings in the bud.

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My Type of Night

Last Thursday Big Cat had the privilege of being entertained and educated by none other than Seb Lester at Type Talks. Via his engaging presentation we witnessed his creative evolution; from his very beginnings as a teen obsessed with BMX and it’s rad graphics to the calligraphy maestro (with 1.5 million Instagram followers) he is today. Inspirational to say the least, he made us fall in love with our craft all over again leaving us chomping at the bit to achieve our full potential.

On learning he is a fellow Brummie we soon adopted the self-effacing phenomenon, eagerly hanging on his familiar tone as we learnt that he started out primarily as a Type Designer at Monotype, but despite producing typefaces that were embraced worldwide by numerous brands and campaigns he felt that he wasn’t really well-known. His typefaces were popular, but no one knew the designer behind them. He wanted recognition for his work which he finally found through his exquisite calligraphy. This is something he had always felt passionate about but thought there was no future in exploring it, until his partner fell ill and Lester had to give up working for a year in-order to care for her. With no client work or briefs to focus on he turned his attention to his sketchbook where he dedicated all his free time to developing his skills with passion and vigour.

Calligraphy seems like a strange choice, an old art form that isn’t inherently a huge money maker. Hardly anyone practices this elegant craft anymore but Lester saw a way to transform it with a contemporary and relevant twist. Soon, people of all ages, races and interests were checking out his work, not only designers or the creative industry. With his videos setting social media alight he began to land his dream clients such as NASA. He mentioned being overwhelmed by this sudden popularity in his work, and when someone in the audience asked how he copes he candidly replied that he isn’t too sure, he’s still taking it all in.

Throughout his captive talk he shared not only his final pieces (which were incredibly mind-blowing) but his thought and design process; the sketches, the ideas that he discarded and the ones he saw through to acclaimed fruition. It took him a long time making many mistakes before perfecting his work process - something he isn’t afraid of admitting.

As his inspiring and contemplative presentation came to a close, he left us all with this simple yet sincere advice… Believe in yourself. I can speak for the whole studio that we all left feeling content in making the right choice to follow such a rewarding and fulfilling career.

Posted by Lizzie Owen, Junior Designer at Big Cat

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What Big Cat Has Taught Me (So Far)

I’m not too sure how we got onto the subject but one day my fellow designers and I got onto the subject of how long we’ve been a part of Big Cat, and that’s when it hit me that I’ve been here for almost 10 months. I was like, “holy mother of pugs, nearly a year?!” I just couldn’t believe how time flew by. It felt like only the other day I was walking through these doors and having my interview.

Big Cat has taught me so much during my time here so far. Like that quote from Lewis Carroll (Alice in Wonderland), “I can’t go back to yesterday because I was a different person then,” and I can’t believe how much I’ve developed to not only a better designer but a better person. Here are some of the most important things I’ve learnt from being a part of Big Cat’s graphic design studio.

1. Design isn’t just about designing There’s more to the creative industry than just designing; sometimes it involves reading through articles, writing up blog posts, or watching tutorials… Each day I am doing something different, and that is the beauty of it. I was a bit surprised at first as I painted the picture in my head that I’d be rebranding every company in the world but it taught me how to be more connected with the industry. I am more up-to-date than I ever was at university. It’s crazy because I can’t think of how I didn’t do these things back then.

2. Not everyone is a happy bunny Clients aren’t going to be happy with every piece of creative design. It’s never as easy as you doing something and it’s approved right away and BAM, done! It’s more of a roller coaster ride than being a human cannonball. The main thing is to never take things personally; it’s not because your design sucks, it’s just not what they’re looking for.

3. Take responsibility for your mistakes The first time I messed up was the worst day of my life; I can’t remember the exact details but I messed up pretty bad (well, it was probably 1000000x worse in my head than it was in real life). Telling my boss was equally terrifying because I hate making mistakes, but I felt so much better for taking responsibility for it and in a few moments everything was cleared up and I carried on with my work. The worst-case scenario in that sort of situation is to sit back and watch the world burn… And that isn’t doing any good for anybody.

4. It’s good to have other interests Outside of Big Cat I’m a hand-lettering enthusiast, and it's amazing when others pick up on that and actually encourage me to incorporate it into my work every once in a while.

5. Get those ideas down I was a bit of a perfectionist when I first started and only wanted to sketch/design things that I thought was 100% on point, and disregarded all of these other ideas that had potential. This is bad, really bad, because it stunts idea growth, and now I tend to get everything down because they could always be put aside later on. My art boards are always filled with ideas even though I’d only be happy with a handful of them, but they’re there if I want to pick them up and experiment a bit more.

I could go on about everything I’ve learnt here but then this post would go on forever and no one wants to read an essay. I can’t say enough how nice it is to have that feeling where you enjoy doing what you’re doing and that you’re surrounded by people who are awesome. Sure there are days that aren’t so great, but you need those days to learn and develop as a designer.

Posted by Lizzie Owen, Junior Designer at Big Cat

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Strategy by Design

Though Design is often thought of as how something looks, or functions, there isn’t as much talk about how it affects the rest of a business: its environment, its long-term strategy, or how it interprets and acts upon useful metrics.

Whilst the world is largely aware of companies that promote and advocate design proactively, such as Apple, there are many more companies where design is treated not as a function, tacked on at the end, but rather as a way of thinking.

Research by Warwick Business School on behalf of the Design Council studied several businesses from SME’s to large multinationals to see how they were using design-thinking within their businesses, and the resulting benefits, monetary and otherwise. You can read or download the original report in full on the Design Council website.

Challs

One of the businesses studied was Challs, a household product manufacturer based in the UK that own the Buster brand. In 2003, they went through a process of redesigning their packaging, but also of using design to determine how the product was presented to the retail industry.

Graham Burchell, the owner of Challs, is a big advocate of design, going as far as to say it should be embedded in everything the company does, and help to determine what the company will be in the future.

Whilst the company was having troubles several years ago, engaging with design helped to streamline the product, make it stand out on the shelf, and contribute to increased sales, which are over 2.5m per annum for the Buster brand.

Burchell comments that whilst the runaway success of the redesign was increased sales, the process also revealed how design could be used elsewhere within the business. Not only the graphic, but the product strategy and company culture.

At Big Cat, we work together to tackle problems creatively, saving time and money for our clients, and ensuring they receive the maximum possible return on investment. We ensure that our workplace and our culture informs and supports the way that we work, and we never stop learning how we might do things even better.

If you want to discuss the way we work, or give us a problem to solve, get in touch.

Posted by Craig Frost, Digital Designer at Big Cat

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New Year, New BBC Three

BBC Three have recently unveiled their new logo to mark the beginning of a new era; in February BBC Three will become an online-only channel, with their most successful shows being bumped over to BBC One and BBC Two.

Like many others before them, BBC Three have taken a minimalist approach and have completely stripped out the “Three” by replacing it with three bars, with one of them in the form of an exclamation mark. These bars signify the three principles that the channel is founded on: “make me think”, “make me laugh” and “give me a voice”.

However, the new logo hasn’t received a lot of positive feedback. Several comments were made pointing out that the new logo is similar to one shown in a sketch in W1A, and BBC Three retaliated by creating a humorous short video on the comparison.

This was just one of the many criticisms online - others have pointed out it’s irregular alignment and that it looks more like roman numerals with an exclamation mark. Even Greggs chipped in with their amusing logo design:

Nikki Carr, BBC Three’s head of marketing, however isn’t phased by the criticisms online:

“What is most striking is the new logo and the fact it doesn’t actually say three. It’s easy to belittle the importance a logo has in supporting a brand, and I’m sure the usual critics will have their say – ‘It looks like Adidas’, ‘it looks like a “hamburger menu icon,’ ‘it doesn’t even say three’, ;are they Roman numerals’ – but If I’m being honest I’m not worried.”

Source

Here at Big Cat we’re inclined to agree with the critics, being such big fans of the previous one (and sticklers for good graphic design). However, at the moment we’re just seeing a solitary logo, so it will be interesting to see it in context e.g. Supporting graphics, as well as their concepts behind it.

What do you think? Are you a fan of their new logo?

Posted by Lizzie Owen, Junior Designer at Big Cat

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Branding: Visual Identity trends from 2015

Here at Big Cat we closely follow the latest developments in the world of branding, and have shared our thoughts on many of this year’s major branding stories here on our blog. As 2015 comes to a close we have reviewed some of the year’s most high profile branding projects in an attempt to identify some of the key trends that shaped visual identity design in 2015.

Logos lost their serifs

In what was undoubtedly the most talked about rebrand of the year, Google replaced its iconic logo with a new sans serif one. However, Google was not alone in doing this; several other big brands, including Electrolux (designed by Prophet) and Lexmark (designed by Moving Brands), also unveiled new sans serif logos.

One possible reason for this is the ever increasing need for logos to retain their legibility when viewed at small sizes on smartphone screens. Detailed serif fonts can lose legibility when viewed at small sizes, making simple sans serif logos a better option for brands such as Google that communicate primarily through digital channels.

According to Electrolux, the aim of their rebrand was ‘to build an identity that would appeal to consumers on an emotional level.’ Many brands are now shifting their focus from merely selling a product, to establishing a deeper, more meaningful relationship with their customers, and how a brand presents themselves through their visual identity is a key factor in achieving this. A sans serif wordmark, such as the new Electrolux logo, with soft round curves and monoline strokes can help portray a friendly and approachable brand.

Big brands got simpler

Almost as divisive as the new Google logo, was the new visual identity for telecoms giant Verizon, designed by Pentagram’s Michael Beirut. Beirut took the old Verizon logo and simplified it down to its core components: a simple black wordmark and a red tick. According to Verizon: ‘a visual statement that honours our history and reflects an identity that stands for simplicity, honesty and joy’

Another brand who took a similar approach was KFC, who released simple red and white stripped packaging (designed by Grand Army) and simplified the iconic Colonel Sanders portrait to just his head and necktie. ‘We simplified and stripped back the legendary Sanders, mixing heritage with a modern, flattened rendering of KFC’s iconic founder.’

The new Eurosport logo by Pentagram replaces its classic ring of stars with a single large star merged with the ‘E’. ‘Recognisable, distinctive and relatable, the new identity will propel Eurosport into the 21st century while acknowledging the proud heritage of innovation and expertise.’

This visual simplification appears to be a way for established brands to acknowledge their heritage by maintaining the core visual identifiers of their brand, whilst simultaneously re-inventing themselves as a modern, forward-thinking brand.

A visual identity energy boost

Early in 2015 Freeview unveiled a new identity designed by DixonBaxi. Described as a ‘Kinetic Logo’ the F monogram is made up of a single dynamic stroke containing a gradient comprising several shades of red and orange: warm colours that suggest vibrant energy.

The logo for task management app Asana, by Moving Brands, features triangle of three gradient dots coloured in ‘an empowering, warm coral, with a glow that conveys the active energy between the team’. This is taken beyond just the logo though, becoming a key feature of the app’s interface.

Speaker manufacturer Sonos released a new visual identity this year, by Bruce Mau Design which utilises lines and a coloured gradient, shown in perspective to create an optical illusion; appearing as pulsating sound waves emitting from the core of the logo.

Other brands who have used flowing shapes and colour in a similar way this year are Irish telecoms company Eir (by Moving Brands), whose new kinetic identity positions them as a ‘dynamic and progressive organisation’, and web browser Opera (by Anti).

In todays digital world, logos are no longer limited to the static confines of print, and brands have an increasing need to integrate motion into their graphic communications. Utilising flowing shapes and colour gradients in this way can communicate movement and pulsating kinetic energy, even when used in static applications, portraying these brands as modern, progressive and relevant in a fast-moving world.

Infinitely flexible identities

The days when visual identities were governed by a fixed set of strict guidelines are long gone and in 2015 brand identities need the ability to constantly adapt to different applications and situations.

In their new visual identity, released in September, Channel 4 broke apart its iconic ‘4’ logo, and used its composite pieces to make a seemingly unlimited number of shapes and patterns: ‘Our core concept was to strip the channel of its iconic logo and find hundreds of unconventional ways to introduce and animate the famous Lambie Nairn (designer of the original ‘4’ logo) blocks.’

On-demand TV service Now TV unveiled a new logo this year, designed by Venturethree which features ‘a distinctive 'O' device that emphasises the awesome content at the heart of the service.’  The O is replaced by an illustration or icon specific to the particular program being advertised, resulting in a logo that has the potential to be different in every application.

The new MTV visual identity, released in June, is a constantly refreshing visual toolkit featuring ‘300 different backgrounds, hundreds of animations and our own emojis’ based on content currently trending online, that MTV’s designers can use to create graphics and idents. 

These brands are all TV broadcasters, however other organisations that launched infinitely flexible identites this year included recruitment agency Craft, whose logo (designed by Elmwood) has 10 billion different variations and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, whose logo (designed by Anti) features the name of every member of the orchestra.

This year at Big Cat we have produced successful visual identities for clients including Children’s Liver Disease Foundation, Caffiniti, Transtherm and Imune, and we’re very excited to continue developing exceptional brand identities for our clients in 2016.

Some of the brand Identities produced by Big Cat in 2015: (top-bottom) Children’s Liver Disease Foundation - Big Yellow Friday, Caffiniti, Transthem, imune.

Posted by Joseph Lovelock, Designer at Big Cat

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A Year in Social

What a year for Social – it’s now the UK’s favourite activity online, accounting for almost a fifth of the two hours and 51 minutes a day people in the UK on average spend on the web.

2015 was definitely the year that social media enabled shows of solidarity. From writing ‘Je Suis Charlie’ back in January, to changing your profile picture to a rainbow-coloured photo after the Supreme Court of the US ruling, social has seen the simplest of actions become the post powerful.

We’ve recapped on what a year in social it’s been.

Social Campaign of the Year

So many great campaigns to choose from this year, but Dove definitely cracked it once again at the early part of this year with the ‘Choose Beautiful’ campaign.  A video showcased women who were given the choice to walk through doors labelled either “average” or “beautiful”, with the focus being on reinforcing self-esteem in women. Appealing directly to their core audience, the video highlighted how real woman should see themselves as beautiful; as those who choose “average” then decide they should have opted otherwise.

The content was kept simple and the emotional connection that related to the target audience was incredibly effective.  The video of course went viral, and Dove got massive exposure from it.

Emerging Trend

2015 will definitely be the year of the emoji.  The small yellow pictograms have rapidly replaced the use of acronyms to express emotion (e.g. ‘LOL’ or ‘TTYL’). Brands have even got in on the act creating their own unique emoji’s and subsequently, the Oxford Dictionary has actually selected its ‘Word of the Year’ as an emoji – the little picture of a smiley face crying.

The power of the hashtag

The power of the hashtag has grown massively this year.  Twitter revealed at the start of December that this year’s most talked about subject on the social platform was the Paris attacks. Tweeters used the hashtag #JeSuisParis to show their solidarity with Parisians after last month’s terror attacks as well as the attacks in January at the headquarters of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

We also can’t forget the internet debate that surrounded #TheDress back in February - people were divided over whether it was black and blue or white and gold, with over 4.4 million tweets discussing the “optical illusion”. I’m still not sure to this date what colour that bloomin dress actually is!

Platform of the Year

With new social networking platforms appearing from behind every corner, this is a touch one – Real-time video sharing has been massive this year with many users more likely to create and share videos from their smartphones. We’ve seen Periscope launched which offers great things for live events and news-streaming but this year Snapchat has exploded, with over 400m users and a valuation of US$19 billion already. Snapchat has enabled brands to communicate far more effectively with audiences in the 14-28 year old demo – which we all know have previously been very hard to reach.

For brands and businesses it can be hard to know exactly where to commit your time and resources but investment in social media is definitely a necessity, not a luxury. Next year we will definitely see even more companies either hiring social media strategists or employing agencies to become full-time social media managers for their business.

Social Media Fail

Starbucks ambitiously launched #RaceTogether in March, following the killings of unarmed teenagers Michael Brown and Eric Garner by the police and subsequent rioting. The campaign aimed to spark a national dialogue about race both in-store and on social media, which unknowingly catalysed a negative Twitterstorm.

Unsurprisingly, pushing the brand into such an emotionally charged issue of racial inequality was considered superficial by most consumers,  and so the campaign ended a week later.

The majority of the social media conversations about #RaceTogether were either not about race, or were negative reactions to the campaign and brand. More than one-third of social conversation was categorised as “hate” directed at the brand, the Race Together campaign, or Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz.

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Big Cat’s Christmas Wishlist

Christmas is just over a week away, so we thought we’d get in our requests to Santa...(we’ve been extra good Big Cats this year!)

Kelly, Marketing Account Manager

This Christmas i’m asking for...

French lessons – I miss learning another language and have set myself the target of being fairly fluent by December 2016

Grapefruit perfume from Jo Malone – because it smells divine!

Surprises – because I love them!

Oliver, Account Manager

Scotch - because...scotch

Books (mostly Batman graphic novels, to be honest!)

Rugby shirt

Lizzie, Junior Designer

Plane tickets to Japan! :D And maybe a tiger or snow leopard…(can you tell I love big cats?!)

Hannah, Marketing Director

A helicopter to fly me into Big Cat from Stratford-upon-Avon everyday…

 Keshia, Marketing Account Executive

I love a good ‘deep & meaningful’ (especially after an Old Fashioned or two), so this year I’m asking Santa for Carlo Rovelli’s ‘Seven Brief Lessons on Physics’, which will hopefully give me some answers to all those big questions I have!

Greta, Marketing Executive

The Picto watch by Rosendahl in green/red is top of my list this Christmas. I love the minimalist form and how the steel dot marks the hour- the rotating dial is said to present the illusion of the earth moving and time passing.

The only dilemma is co-coordinating my outfits to match (I might need a new wardrobe also!)

 Nicolette, Marketing Intern

Am I allowed to ask for a Chanel bag AND Harry Styles?

Joe, Design Intern

I have a pretty ancient Sony Xperia and I can’t deal with it anymore so I desperately need an iPhone…

 Christie, PR Account Director

As this year is the first year I am cooking for 8 people on Christmas Day, I wish for Santa to bring me Jamie Oliver and then he can do it all for me….and my guests will be none the wiser! 

We hope Santa brings you everything you ask for. Wishing you a very Merry Christmas from the Big Cat Pride!

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Our Top 3 Healthcare Campaigns of 2015

Here at Big Cat, we’re extremely proud to work alongside healthcare organisations including Umbrella, The Clatterbridge Private Clinic, and Nova Healthcare.  When it comes to healthcare campaigns, 2015 has seen some of the most effective and influential to date, so we thought we’d put together three of our favourites to remind our readers just how powerful a great campaign can be.

First of all, we’d like to congratulate The British Heart Foundation for winning The Thinkbox award for TV ad creativity with this emotive advert.

As you can see, the ad features a young boy at school, who unexpectedly receives a visit from his dad who tells him not to expect him home that night, or in fact, ever again. Slowly, the truth is revealed when he’s called to the headmaster’s office, where his mother tells him that his father has passed away. Carolan Davidge, the Director of marketing at BHS explained “We want to give people a wakeup call, showing them that heart disease can rip people away from friends and family without warning”.  We love the carefully crafted campaign that highlights the unexpected despair that heart disease can cause in a powerful and emotive way.

Another campaign close in the running is ‘The Lump’, from Cancer Research. The advert focuses on a busy high street, where commuters and shoppers regularly walk past and even drive over a growing lump within the tarmac in the road. With the words “It’s easy to ignore something when we’re busy, but spotting cancer sooner could save your life” appearing on screen at the end, the advert takes a surprising and effective U-turn. It is here that we discover the correlation between the bump in the road and cancer.  The ad proceeds to highlight that the obvious gets lost when we’re blinded by busyness, and the unanticipated outcome serves to jolt a reaction from its viewers.

The final campaign that has caught our attention this year is brought to us from the Alzheimer’s Society, giving us an insight in to the symptoms of dementia. 

This is actually the first time ever that the Alzheimer’s Society has run an advertising campaign, and it is designed to make people aware of how the society aims to support individuals affected with dementia.  The viewer is drawn in through the use of a classic storytelling structure, in which the protagonist is seen relaxing within a happy family scenario before finding himself upset and facing a problem. Eventually the status quo is restored, when the Alzheimer’s society serves itself as the solution.

So that’s it! Those were our favourite, and what we believe to be the most thought-provoking healthcare campaigns of 2015. Here at Big Cat, we feel that all of these campaigns showcase powerful creative concepts that are insight driven and educational. We were drawn to each of these ideas because they reflect the strategic and creative values that we look to employ in every campaign we run for our clients – something we look forward to continuing and developing on in 2016.

Posted by Nicolette Georgiou, Marketing Intern