The voice

ISBA, or the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers to their friends, is the voice of the British advertising industry and has been working with advertisers in various ways since 1891!

Of course ISBA’s offering, and their look and feel, has changed a lot since 1891, but they felt it was time to refresh their marketing materials. Our work started with their Annual Conference, however from the very beginning the plan was to create a contemporary suite of materials that reflected ISBA as the voice of a modern industry.

We wanted to use ISBA’s strapline “The voice of British advertisers” as the grounding for the concept as it embodies their offering perfectly. We created a graphic that reflected a collection of different soundwaves, or voices, using transparency to bring the concept of layers of voices to the fore.

We’ve also tailored the layouts of each document to better suit its audience and use. We’ve used colour and layout more functionally for the schedule based Training and Capability Programme and used shapes and typography more freely to create a more editorial look for the new business focused “Join Us” brochure.

We agreed a square format for the Join Us brochure, which elevated it beyond a standard brochure. We also recommended a change from a coated stock to an uncoated, creating a more premium and contemporary feel, whilst being more environmentally friendly.

Finally, for the Annual Conference, we also created a short animation that could be used on the website, throughout the event and during talks. The use of moving image added a really exciting dimension to the "voice' concept, even if it was a challenge to animate!


ISBA-Animation-sponsors from to the point on Vimeo.

We’ve thoroughly enjoyed adding more volume to ISBA’s voice, and with more projects on the horizon, it’s only going to get louder over the coming months.