Sign of the Times - Elmtree Signs new website launched

Here’s a heart-warming tale of an experienced Southampton signage business that knew how to read the market signs (no pun intended!).

During 2009, Idealogy worked with Elmtree Signs to rebrand, bringing their 25+ years of local and national signage heritage, screaming and kicking into the 21st century. The results were a demonstration of the old adage ‘evolution not revolution’, moving the business gently forward without losing touch with it’s huge and loyal client base, established over a quarter of a century of ‘above and beyond’ customer experience.

And they really loved the results – so much so, that the next step was to translate the new look into a sympathetic web presence, at the same time moving them from their old, static, fixed content site to an editable, open source CMS with ECRM functionality – and that’s a big leap for a local Southampton company.

But here’s where Elmtree’s ability to read the landscape came in – call it wisdom, call it foresight, but whatever you do, call it ‘a good call’. In late 2009 the whole world slid into, arguably, the most painful and far-reaching recession in recent memory. Rather than press on, Elmtree did the smart thing. They pushed the web project onto the back burner, but they didn’t ever stop creating content, generating new case histories, and generally learning about what managing a living, breathing front-line communication platform was all about. So they learned about ECRM, content management and text/image editing, and now, with the site live, they’re good to go. Ready to take over the site management and all the responsibilities that come with it.

See, that’s what more than 25 years in the signage industry does for you. You learn to read the future indicators, and you learn to bide your time. Because there’s no point pressing on when all the signs say stop!

View the website:- http://www.elmtreesigns.co.uk/

Posted by Idealogy

Don’t mention the ‘B’ word! - BrandPrint™

BRAND. How can a 5-letter word trigger so much positive and negative emotion – all at once?

Business people understand the importance of how their products and services are perceived, but often dread the process of fixing something or aligning themselves to make the most of their opportunities.

Why?

Idealogy’s (wo)Man on the Ground (floor)

I love our office in Southampton. I love it so much I had to move in to a flat over the road just so I can see the office when I’m not at work!

It’s a lovely old building, slap bang in the middle of town, with access to all the coffee, doughnuts and posh sandwiches any growing business could ask for. The building has all the meeting rooms we need, our boardroom (nicknamed the squash court) and even our photography studio on floor three, so there’s always plenty going on.

Will the real Algerian Racing Snake please stand up? Oh! You are standing up!

The Urban Dictionary provides it’s own interpretation of ‘racing snake’ – “Someone built for speed. i.e. someone lean, an immensely fast runner”.

In part, that does a fairly solid job of describing our own North African Ectothermic Amniotes Vertebrate, but it’s only a small part of David Birch’s story – itself, a complex mix of survival, tough human spirit, fierce individuality, love of music and movies, but most importantly from Idealogy’s point of view, a passion for contemporary design as a compelling vehicle for successful communication.

Dave shudders at the ‘pink puff’ that seems to attach itself to design - railing at how easily the business falls into media generated traps – he recently cited “design is the froth on top of the cappuccino of commercialism” as an example of how our industry does itself a constant disservice by creating ‘café society’ symbolism to try to ‘up the ante’. But he also accepts that we live in cynical times – he believes clients still don’t really understand the value of good design – unless, of course, their market offer is truly design based.

The Walk the Walk London Moonwalk 2011 - one night, one very good cause and a great sense of achievement

After a pasta picnic for 14,000, some very funny warm ups and a minutes silence all hand in hand, we set off on our 26.2 mile walk through London. Here we were again having first completed it back in 2008, it couldn’t be that tough… could it?

We left the Moonwalk tent at 23.40 and set our pace. There was a real party atmosphere, lots of chatter and nervous laughter and the first few miles went by in a flash. In no time we had passed Buckingham Palace, gone on up through Hyde Park Corner and St James Park and were heading for the Victoria Embankment.

I HATE acronyms!

Ok! It’s a fact.

I have a deep, deep, dark hatred for acronyms that is only superseded by my deep, dark hatred of prunes! Irrational maybe, but it’s a hatred based on two simple and very clear factors. The first is that, in whatever industry, and mine is no exception, acronyms are linguistic laziness. They obviate the need to write a definition in full, and, quite often, render a written piece incomprehensible, sacrificed on the altar of efficiency! CRAP (which stands for Content Reduction After Pontificating) I say!

The second is the delusional, and some would argue, perverse view that it makes the writer smarter or better informed than the audience. But what’s the point of that? Why wouldn’t you want someone to understand, first time, what you’re saying? In my experience, acronyms in articles, blogs, journals or technical communications are invariably accompanied by the expression meaning in full. So why not write the meaning in full in the first place? FUBAR….

The Royal Wedding - what did you do???

So, how did you all enjoy the Royal Wedding last Friday?
Check out the pics below for a little taste of what Idealogy got up to on the day.

Steve Barnes: Stag do in Amsterdam

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Simon Johnson: The Bulldog Johnsons on the day