brandopus

Fresh back into the office from our company weekend away we were greeted with some great news. BrandOpus were ranked thirteen in marketing magazine The Drum's list of the Top 100 design agencies.  We were delighted to rank amongst some of the most exciting creative agencies in the UK, and particularly proud to note that we are the youngest to feature in the Top 25!

We've been working with Willie's Cacao on a design project that takes the premium chocolate brand, and 'the adventure of real chocolate' to a wider audience.

Willie's Cacao, made famous by the Channel 4 series Willie's Wonky Chocolate Factory, is the only premium chocolate maker in the UK making cacao from 'bean to bar'.  The redesign sees a big expansion in the range, with the introduction of seven new variants, including milk and white chocolate for the first time. We have also refreshed the brand identity, heroing Willie Harcourt-Cooze, the man behind the brand. 

Willie himself says, "The BrandOpus redesign will be critical to help new people discover and understand the brand".  

The new design is hitting the shelves of Waitrose and top-end independents right now. Check it out for yourself, see if you agree with Willie, and remember to let us know your thoughts!

We picked up three awards at last night's Design Effectiveness Awards, hosted by the Design Business Association.  Our work with Twinings landed two silver awards, whilst our redesign of UK's leading honey brand Rowse scooped us a bronze in the branded packaging design category.

We also celebrated making a massive jump forward in the effectiveness league tables.  We are now among the five most financially effective agencies in the UK, meaning that when clients choose to work with us they know that they are getting the all important return on investment that great design strategy can achieve.

For those not in the know, the DBA's annual Design Effectiveness Awards are the most prestigious accolade in design, being the only award scheme that uses commercial data as a key judging criteria.  We're particularly proud of the wins, which are the design industry's equivalent of the advertising industry's IPA awards, because all entries had undergone two stages of rigorous judging by business leaders, including company directors from Lloyds TSB, Sainsbury's, Samsung and GlaxoSmithKline.

In terms of results Twinings Florals, the limited edition range of four fragrant blends that we created, overachieved first year sales forecasts by 157.7%. Whilst Twinings Earl Grey became the number one selling Earl Grey blend across all retailers following our redesign, allowing a 29% increase in the rate of sale of Twinings Earl Grey and helping the brand to achieved it's highest weekly share for three years in both the speciality and Earl Grey markets. Rowse honey benefitted from 11% increase in distribution across major accounts and a 28% increase in consumer brand awareness following relaunch with new designs created by us.

For more examples of our award winning work, take a peek at a few case studies, if you want to find out more about how BrandOpus can create effective design for your brand drop Avril Tooley a line avrilt@brandopus.com

We were approached to give our thoughts on 'Green Messaging' and when it should be used, as part of an article published on Marketing Week today. See a little excerpt of the larger article below.

'Using sustainability to bolster a brand can only be successful if it is grounded from a consumer perspective and not as the lead message, according to Nir Wegrzyn, managing partner at BrandOpus.

The London based branding agency cites its recent work with Rowse Honey as a strong example of sustainability branding that hasn't alienated consumers with a radically different message. 

It redesigned all brand touchpoints from the core packaging to stationary, including wooden USB sticks for internal use, to put environmental needs and consumer wants on an even footing. 

"Core to the Rowse brief was getting across the brand's passion for honey, and by extension protecting the environment that honey is created in," says Wegrzyn. "We overhauled the structure and design of the Rowse jar, incorporating recycled glass. The eco-approach worked because it was believable that the brand would act in this way."'

Excerpt from a larger article published on Marketing Week.