brand News�The newsletter from Turton Middleton
December 2007

Welcome to the secondedition of Turton Middleton's e-newsletter brandNews™.

If you were unlucky enough to miss our debut edition, brandNews™ is about bringing you up to date with what's going on at TurtonMiddleton, as well as stepping outside the TM box and looking at the bigger picture in terms of what's happening in the wild, wacky and wonderful world of marketing in the 21st century...


Simon and Steve get stuck into
Orchard Toys

Our winning streak continues...
Last time we contacted you, we were excited about new business wins from developer Abel Homes and law firm Hatch Brenner. Now we're thrilled that
award-winning specialist toy maker Orchard Toys
has asked us develop their brand and marketing strategy, while Countrywide Legal Indemnities
recently appointed us to handle their advertising following a competitive pitch against their incumbent.


Fun and games with
Orchard Toys

Anyone for a game of 'Slug in a Jug' or 'Pop to the Shops'?
Hope so, because Turton Middleton has recently been retained
by innovative toy maker Orchard Toys to develop their website, revamp trade and consumer catalogues and transform the company's trade exhibition stands.



Countrywide win is talk of the town
As the leading specialist indemnity provider in the UK, Countrywide needed a national press campaign to maintain their position at the top of the legal tree. Following a competitive pitch against the incumbent agency, our 'witty and intelligent' approach won the day.
> read more


 
New faces
More new business wins means more new faces joining the Turton Middleton team. Why, at this rate we'll need a bigger building...

Gary Davison
Having successfully completed a two-year course at Norwich City College in multi-media studies, our brand spanking new Web Junior Gary is all bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and rarin' to go. Give him six months and he may have changed his tune!

Amanda Parker
Joining us as Production Co-ordinator, Amanda previously worked for 8 years on the Boots account for Nottinghamshire agency, Jupiter Design as an artworker and later as an artwork co-ordinator. Following this came her most important job of all, mother to daughter, Ashleen and son, Frank.


The Gallery!
In The Gallery this month are samples of work done for Terraffirm - the contaminated land policy for commercial property, the Cosmo Group - offering a range of security and maintenance services to the commercial property market and Hamilton Acorn - the professional choice for paint brushes and tools.

No sleep 'til Norwich - Simon's European tour...


  If it's Tuesday, it must be Paris.

Agency partner, Simon Middleton will clock up over 2,000 miles travelling across Europe this year talking to business leaders from around the world. In fact, by January Simon will have taken in fifteen European cities including Paris, Barcelona, Edinburgh, London, Vienna and more; delivering workshops, seminars and lectures on creative-thinking and identity.
  For more details about the Viennese stop on Simon's European tour, click here
 


World Café Day
No greasy spoon, this looks like being a cosmopolitan affair.

Simon has been commissioned by Norfolk County Council to host a 'World Café' event for 50 school governors in January 2008. A radically different style of participative meeting, 'World Café' is based on principles of informality, inclusion and dynamic conversation.

As the name suggests, the event will involve a relaxed, café style setting with the tea and cake flowing as readily as the conversation itself...
> read more

Top 5 brands
of the year
As a Norwich-based agency (albeit one with national ambitions), we couldn't not mention Virgin Money and their ambitious bid for the Northern Rock business. However the world and his wife now knows all about the power of the Virgin brand and in the humble opinion of our resident brand top banana, we could learn as much about great business practice from studying some of the region's newer, less well-known names.

Facts from the front line...

What caught our eye this month from the maelstrom that is modern marketing?
The end of money?
Will the jangle of loose change become a thing of the past? Visa seems to think so, with its new contactless payment system threatening to consign the humble wallet to history for everyday transactions. Remember the early days of the Internet when people were worried about virtual transactions of money? These days £535m is spent every year on auction site eBay alone.
This isn't just any packaging, this is...
According to a survey from the UK's Local Government Association (LGA), Marks & Spencer is one of the UK's least environmentally friendly companies on the high street with only 60% of its packaging recyclable. Sainsbury's and Asda came top with packaging that was 70% recyclable.



The world's biggest outdoor ad!
Passengers taking off or landing at Dubai Airport are now being treated to the world's biggest outdoor ad, measuring 20,000 square metres. Verified by Guinness World Records as a record-breaker for banner size, the ad promotes Sorouh Real Estate, an Abu Dhabi property company.

Wealth Fatigue Syndrome
Are you suffering? Apparently making money is never dull but the spending of it grows old fast. Wealth Fatigue Syndrome affects those with too much leisure time who confuse spending with doing. Each extravagant purchase gives them a buzz, but soon another is required. And another and another and another. Until there's nothing left in the kitty and they have to make another million...


Savvy surfing

What's big and clever online
these days? Here's the TM guide to what's hot on the web...
Far be it for us to 'big up' another design agency, but this really is a great-looking site with original navigation features.
The perfect marriage of form and function; high design, but also highly informative.
Offers the user a novel way to navigate a website; the drag and drop function reminiscent of how you would 'flick' through a physical magazine or other 'treeware'.

Final thought...
Everything changes but the brand
The marketing world, like any other, is subject to cycles, trends, fashions and fads.

Twenty years ago the big-budget TV commercial was everything. Then there was the power of 'direct marketing'. Then we got personal and focused on customer relationship management. Then the internet grew so fast and so powerfully that it seemed to push aside everything in its path. The assumption for a while was that the only way to communicate with a potential customer was online. Everybody was busy trying to dream up amusing viral campaigns, in the hope of spreading brand and sales messages like the common cold.
> TM
Making Brands Work�
+44 (0) 1603 766 888
brandnews@turtonmiddleton.com
Turton Middleton Ltd.
25 St Andrews Street
Norwich Norfolk NR2 4TP