Brochures let small firms have designs on big jobs

Media&Marketing:The glossy brochure used to be the most important marketing tool for most companies. The internet has changed all that; now the look and feel of the company website is more important for conveying a good impression.

However, printed brochures still have a very important role to play where companies are trying to get on the radar of potential purchasers or partners.

Two brochures that achieved results were singled out at the recent Irish Design Effectiveness Awards (Idea), an annual event organised by the Graphic Design Business Association. The first was created by Creative Media, a design studio with offices in Omagh and Belfast.

Creative Media's client Glazing Design Systems is a small firm in Banbridge, employing eight people. The company is active in glazing manufacturing, a huge market estimated to be worth in excess of €700 million in Ireland.

With rapid advancements in building technologies and the drive for energy efficiency, there has been an increase in demand for specialised glass units and advanced aluminium frames.

However, due to a lack of marketing and having never utilised design as a direct way of gaining business, Glazing Design Systems was a relative unknown. So the company turned to Creative Media to try to make its products stand out.

According to Marcus Isherwood, managing director of Creative Media: "Architects and specifiers tend to have large libraries of professional publications and suppliers' brochures. The aim was to make the Glazing Designs Systems brochure the one they could find easily and that was most visible when considering glazing. In a world of A4 brochures on A4 bookshelves, this was achieved by using good design and photography to create an aesthetically memorable brochure and by simply making the brochure slightly wider than A4. While it still fitted on the shelf, it was literally the one that stuck out."

The brochure was sent to 100 architects and specifiers and produced immediate results. Isherwood explained: "Previously contractors were not aware of GDS's expertise.

"The new brochure was a clear remedy and resulted in the company being invited to tender for jobs with some of Ireland's biggest contractors."

The GDS example is a case study in how a good brochure can make a small firm look bigger than it actually is. The other Idea award winner in corporate literature was Dublin agency Baseline, whose clients Ascon, Durkan Homes and Newlyn Developments have no problems raising their profile.

The construction firms were pitching to Dublin City Council for a housing and park development at Oscar Traynor Road in north Dublin. The contract to design and build an appropriate development was put out to tender and four consortiums qualified to develop submissions.

Ascon's consortium decided the key deliverable was the park and Baseline developed the theme for the submission on this basis. A logo was created and a bank of imagery assembled to emphasise the message that a world-class park would be provided.

According to Baseline partner Nick Cloake: "The decision on the parklands theme had a very positive effect. It gave a more focused direction to all aspects of the tender as it was clear to everybody what we were trying to achieve. The influence of the design process on the whole project was very significant."

Ascon and its partners won the tender. The bid document promoting the consortium's scheme looked good, but Cloake insisted that design effectiveness was not solely about visual output. "It is the journey to get there that is equally important."

Bucking the trend

This week, Starbucks launched its first national ad campaign in the US as it was revealed US sales had fallen for the first time. But Starbucks has never advertised in Ireland and doesn't plan to, according to its director of marketing, Brian Waring. That's despite increased competition from local chains such as Insomnia and Café Sol. Waring says Starbucks's deliberate strategy is to build the brand through the customer's experience.

Starbucks plans to open at least more 100 outlets across Britain and Ireland in 2008 - 25 per cent more than this year - taking the total to 725. This week, Starbucks is introducing a card in the Republic, which customers can load with amounts from €5 to €250 and then use to purchase coffee. It can also be used in the UK, the US, Mexico, Canada, Hong Kong, Australia and Thailand.

[  siobhan@businessplus.ie ]