It's all change in Croydon!

We started working with the team at The Croydon Business Improvement District (BID) back in April. They approached us to pitch for their marketing & communications, website redesign and loyalty scheme launch, having heard from Better Bankside such positive things about our work for them. Revising the brand was not included in the original brief, however we felt it was both achievable and important to incorporate a brand refresh alongside the other deliverables, and after putting our case forward the team at the Croydon BID agreed.

“This is a time of real change for Croydon, not only in terms of what the BID is doing but also with the proposed new Westfield & Hammerson shopping centre on the horizon and developments across the town as a whole. It was important to find an agency who were as excited as us about these changes and Simon’s connection with the town and his experience as a Better Bankside levy payer made it an ideal match.”

Matthew Sims, Chief Executive, Croydon Town Centre BID.  

Old Croydon BID logo

New and improved!

The team wanted to improve the positioning of Croydon BID and promote the benefits the BID has already brought to the town for business owners, residents and visitors alike.

We started off by looking at the BID’s five key pledges to the business community – to make the town safer, cleaner, better promoted, more attractive and more accessible. We kept the original pledge colours, but developed a rationale to ensure consistency and harmony across the brand.

The logo was already established, however it needed a stronger presence. We focused on making the typography bolder and more vibrant, changing the colours in favour of something more contemporary (and a little less Wimbledon-ey!).

With the logo spruced up (and looking very smart if we do say so ourselves!), the core messaging needed to be updated. “All Change! Croydon” lent itself perfectly to the cause. Its subtle play on words not only indicate Croydon’s position as a major transport interchange, but also reflect the positive changes the BID brings to the town. On a secondary level “Making a Difference” concisely highlights what the BID is doing and reinforces its role and the reality of change.

Alongside the logo and messaging, a new website was also needed as it provides a key channel for the team to communicate the positive changes happening in Croydon. The site 'soft-launched' last week and although only a few weeks in, site visits are already up by over 3300% - you can see the new site and find out all about that side of the project here.

This strategy is being rolled out across various collateral from Christmas Banners, their Annual Report and the all-new Check Out Croydon loyalty card.

The Check Out Card gives exclusive offers and discounts in many of Croydon’s shops. The name we conceived, Check Out Croydon, offers a conversational and friendly tone, whilst the play on words also act as a call to action for people to check out what’s happening for themselves.

The card is proving to be a popular addition to Croydon BID’s positive changes, exceeding expectations with the number of sign-ups.

 

 

  

“Our partnership with the team at tothepoint has been great, they’ve produced some really creative, forward-looking work and have demonstrated a vested interest in our cause. It’s been a pleasure to work with the team and we wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them!”

Matthew Sims, Chief Executive, Croydon Town Centre BID.

As they always say (particularly at Halloween) there’s no rest for the wicked – we’ll be continuing our work with the BID. So when you’re next in Croydon, keep your eyes peeled for their influence, as we’ll have new collateral springing up in the coming months.

October scare stories

Eeeek! An Exhibition!

Our client CIPR will be hosting the first dedicated PR show, aptly named PR Show 13 on the 26th of November, and not only did we brand the event and much of the collateral; our good selves will be exhibiting! It's free to register so there are no excuses and throughout the day there are also education streams, workshops, advice hubs and even more. So why not drop by and say hello!


Wicked Wordpress

WordPress, one of the world's most popular website Content Management Systems (CMS) celebrated it's 10th birthday earlier this year. It's rapidly maturing into one of the most flexible and easy to use platforms to build anything from a simple blog to a fully functioning, content heavy website. To date there are over 72 million Wordpress based websites (about 19% of the web) and this isn't slowing down at all.

It's just been updated to version 3.7, bringing with it a few nice new features. Of particular note is the new background update process. Wordpress can now handle automated maintenance and security updates - to keep sites automatically updated to the latest version of the software. Security has been further enhanced with various additional checks – including much improved password recommendations – and the system also supports better localisation for languages other than English. Version 3.6 (which brought with it enhanced media management and a built-in HTML video player) was only released a few months ago, so at this pace we expect the next version to be out by the end of the year.

If you'd like to see some of the rather cool sites we've created using the Wordpress platform, just head on over to our new digital site at: www.ttpdigital.com

» read more (TNW)


Grand Guignol Google

Fresh on the heels of Google Reader’s demise, iGoogle – Google’s browser dashboard is about to close down. If you’re still using the service, it will go the way of everyone’s favourite Monty Python parrot on November 1st.

First introduced back in 2005, iGoogle has been my de-facto homepage for well over 5 years, so I’ll really miss it when it’s gone. This is all part of Google’s so called ‘spring clean’ – and is just one of many smaller projects and services they’re shutting down (here’s a few more) – apparently in order to have greater focus on the things they want to concentrate on.

For those who’ve never used iGoogle and are wondering what the heck I’m talking about – it’s essentially a tool for creating an ‘at a glance’ homepage based around your own interests and needs. So, for instance, it may show you: the latest news or sports results, the weather in your area, your twitter/facebook feeds, your ‘to do’ lists, useful notes or reminders, your email inbox and your online calendar – all on one page and accessible anywhere on any computer once you’ve logged in. You can easily change the layout and add new content whenever you want.

So, if you’ve never tried a dashboard homepage and fancy giving one a go, or if you’re looking around for an iGoogle replacement, here are my top 3 suggestions:

» iGHome

» iGooglePortal

» NetVibes


Whispering wallets

This nifty little creation brings your wallet to life, yes you heard right! The living wallet is paired with an app which monitors your spending habits and hopes to help the user save money. The wallet starts off by running away from you, moving on to crying for help when it's captured and as a last resort it'll send a text to your parents! It's a little spooky, but of course we're so in control of our money, it's wasted on us....(it's pay day soon right?)



Little Print Shop Of Horrors

Now, I know we shouldn't promote the work of a "rival" design agency, but this is all for a good cause! Manchester based Creative Spark have opened their Little Print Shop Of Horrors again this halloween. They are selling limited edition prints inspired by famous horror films, and to top it off, all proceeds go to charity.

Terrifying Tesco

Another month, another Apple product release - this time they've graced us with updates to their iPad range, a new iPad Air (the bigger one) and iPad mini (the smaller one) - both sharing the new iOS7 look and rather spiffy 64bit A7 processor. The iPad mini has had probably the bigger of the two upgrades, not only significantly faster than its predecessor but now sporting a full 'retina' screen too. But with Google, Amazon, and even Argos getting in on the small tablet act - is this the best one to go for?

In short, yes it is, but with a proviso. It's probably the best tablet around right now on everything apart from the price. And at £319 for the base model it's certainly not cheap. For those wanting a email/facebook/iPlayer tablet that will handle most casual demands but won't burn a hole in the bank balance, it's worth checking out the new 7" 'Hudl' tablet from Tesco.

A brand hardly known for its cutting edge hardware, Tesco have just launched a rather nice new entry to the mini tablet market - and whilst it's not the thinnest, fastest or highest resolution tablet around, it probably offers the best value (every little helps right?). At just £119 it's a very decent bit of kit that compares favourably with anything else on the market. Perfect for those who find themselves wanting to try out a portable tablet but put off by the price of an iPad. If you're willing to go up a bit on cost to £189, then the Nexus 7 (2013) is almost on par with the iPad mini - but the iPad still holds the crown as king of the hill simply due to the tablet app support.

» Hudl review

...and while everyone else is trying to corner the 'mini' tablet market, Microsoft... well, they seem to have got their measurements a bit mixed up!


Scary skipping

Business In The Community (BITC) have recently launched a campaign highlighting the difficulties that ex-offenders face in the job market, with their goal being to have the previous convictions tick box removed from applications form. The ad features a clever use of the Skip Ad button to highlight how potential employers will skip over an applicant with a previous conviction, often without a second thought. It's a touching ad, and a very clever use of technology.

Read more (Creative Review) 



And finally...

It's Halloween again, and we had to end with some sort of spooky themed story. Although we tend to associate the carved, candle-lit pumpkins with a more 'American' version of Halloween, it's actually a tradition thought to have started in Ireland during the 19th Century (although using turnpis rather than pumpkins).

Of course, even if they didn't invent the tradition, American's always have to do things bigger and better and this years 'Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze' - a 25 night event held in New York is no exception. Still, they've really outdone themselves this year creating all manner of glowing pumpkin statues - from dinosaurs to sea monsters - see them here.

And if you're like us and feel your pumpkin carving skills could do with a bit of polishing you'll be happy to know that the Telegraph have put together a video to help you do just that!

In fact, if you've got a halloween creation you'd like to share with us – do send us photos of your pumpkins and we'll put them up here on our blog! We may even send you some treats for the effort! No tricks....

Advanced design

The EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) are the main UK government agency for funding research and training within engineering and the physical sciences, and we have had the pleasure of working with them for a number of years.

“We came back to the TTP to help us with this brochure as they had developed the original concept for the series and we had a tight deadline to meet - as ever, they delivered for us, on time and on budget.”

Joanne Enderby, Acting Head of Communications, EPSRC.

Most recently they came back to us for another brochure based on advanced materials and nanotechnology, which would sit in their High Level Position Statement (HLPS) range. This range offers an overview of the strategic areas within the EPSRC portfolio and highlights key investments, along with future priorities and past impact within the area. The HLPS range is aimed at stakeholders within business, government and academia, this one was also used at a recent event, Nanotechnology Partnership for Progress – One Year On.

Both the event and the Materials For A Smarter Future HLPS brochure celebrate the work being done with nanotechnology, therefore a microscopic view of a carbon nanotube was selected as the hero image for the cover and central spread.

The EPSRC are constantly pioneering new research and investing in the future of engineering and physical sciences, so keep a close look out for more of their work in our e-news.