Chances are that this won’t get used on our clients website/literature but it’s too good not to let the world see.

Need some staff portraits doing? Don’t worry, we also insist of shots with happy, smiling faces too. Contact us for more information.

Post by Ed Lamb

Posted by Edward Lamb. Director/designer at Dupe Creative.

In a perfect world a designer would like to be involved with a brand/business from its very inception.

For Dupe, this seems to be happening more and more often. Perhaps it’s that, now with 3 years’ experience, people are really beginning to trust us with their babies (by ‘baby’, I, of course, mean ‘business’).

Rescue my Pension is the perfect showcase for us in 2011. Working closely with business owner, Robert Bence, we created a brand from the ground up – a brand that is now ‘live’, generating leads and beginning to establish itself as one of the country’s most respected property investment advisors.

In 3 months, following a relatively simple 3 stage process, we created something a little bit special. Work is ongoing, but everything is now in place to create a truly successful 21st century business. Here’s how we did it:

Where to start? Stage 1, of course!

Stage 1 involved designing the basic visual identity for the brand. The brief was fairly simple, ie. ‘make us look good’. Dissecting this (and after asking a few key questions) it became clear that Rescue my Pension was going to be competing with some very big players in the financial game (Prudential, Standard Life and pretty much every bank you can think of). The logo needed to look solid, dependable and thoroughly professional.

Set in good ol’ Helvetica the approved logo is easy to read and (hopefully) rather memorable. There is no shying away from its gentle nod in the direction of HSBC and NatWest, but we hoped that the rather bold yellow/black combination would show that Rescue my Pension is a company that does things a little differently.

Business cards and other stationery followed, before the mammoth task of building the RmP website  loomed. Thankfully, we were dealing with a client that was impressively clued up in modern marketing methods. Data capture was key, and this was integral to every stage of the web design process.

Stage 2: The website to end all websites

The RmP website is built using WordPress. It’s a system that we have become more and more knowledgable with over the past six months. If you come a’knocking in the next year or so and ask us to build you a site (and we hope that you do) then the chances are that we’ll put it together using WordPress. Why? Well, it’s easy to install, easy to build with and allows you to make changes to your site very easily indeed. It’s a no-brainer, basically. Great for SEO too.

Take a look around the site and have a play. It’s highly interactive, with links to Facebook and Twitter, constant blog posts offering free property and financial information, etc. Lovely.

We even put together a dedicated landing page. This is what people are confronted with if they enter the site via a Google Adwords link (more about this later).

Stage 3: Spreading the Word

As you may have realised by now, there’s not much point having a great website if no-one ever looks at it. Oh no. Driving traffic to your business is the single most difficult thing to figure out. Crossing your fingers and hoping for the best will result in almost certain failure.

The team at Rescue my Pension were very clear indeed as to how they would generate traffic, and from that leads. A combination of Google AdWords, consistent blogging on relevant subjects and an intergrated Twitter/Facebook strategy are all being put into practice. The business has been ‘online’ for just over a month, and already the team at RmP have over 100 qualified leads to follow up. In  short, it’s working.

Of course, once you have a potential customer’s interest then it’s best to stay in touch. Email marketing is a great way of doing this and Rescue my Pension, along with Dupe, have built a system whereby regular emails are sent to subscribers – all of this happens in the background thanks to a wonderful system called Campaign Monitor. Highly recommended – I suggest you give us a call about it asap.

In Summary

The Rescue my Pension model of business is fairly incredible, and could so easily be used as a blueprint for many others. We are indebted to the company for trusting us with their plan.

I won’t lie to you; it’s almost certainly the best all-round design project we’ve worked on to date. Graphic design, web design and a healthy dose of marketing all rolled into one. We really hope you like it. There are more images to see on the portfolio page.

Needless to say, if you like what you see and think that we can help you, then give me a call on 0777 332 4265 or email ‘ed [at] dupecreative.com’.

Client Testimonial

Working with Ed has been enjoyable, insightful and a pleasure. He manages to combine a relaxed and patient approach with admirable efficiency. At Rescue my Pension it was important to us that who ever led our design project could really understand our vision and bring it to life, no easy task. Ed not only met the standards we expected but exceeded them, the results speak for themselves a truly stunning portfolio of work.

So many businesses big and small let themselves down when it comes to branding and design. This is such a basic error, customers will judge you on your company’s image so it had best be up-to-standard. We now allocate all of our design work to Ed and look forward to seeing more of his work in the future.

We can honestly attribute part of the success of Rescue my Pension down to Ed’s unique talents. I would recommend any business to engage with Ed at Dupe Creative and see what he can do for them.

Robert Bence, Director
Rescue My Pension Ltd

Full details are below. If you’d like to come along and meet me as well as many more local business men/women then please feel free. It’s taking place at Ashville Lodge in Birkenhead Park, home to the wonderful WSBPS. Your £5 entrance fee will go to a VERY good place …

If you’d like to put your name on the guest list then drop me a quick message via Twitter or send an email to ed@dupecreative.com. All are welcome so don’t be shy about spreading the word far and wide.

Looking forward to meeting you.

Regards,
Ed

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PROGRAMME
5.30-6.10pm
Refreshments and networking. Welcome message from host Lynne Sedgewick of the WSBPS.

6.10-6.15pm
Feature Presentation by Geoffrey Prince, a highly respected local mentor, motivational-speaker, business advisor, author and successful corporate-sales-trainer. Not to be missed!

6.45-7.30pm
Buffet, raffle, networking and tour of Ashville Lodge.

COST and BOOKING
£5 per person – all funds raised will go to the WSBPS. Payment by cash on the night. To reserve a place please ring Lynne Sedgewick on 0151 652 8877 or email ed@dupecreative.com. Places are limited so book early to avoid disappointment. Anyone who has booked a place but is unable to attend must give a minimum of 24 hours notice or the full price will be payable.

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Below are a selection of shots from recent jobs. Work has continued apace for Umbro, whose catalogue of fashion-based items grows by the month.

Other jobs have included some architectural shots for Brock Carmichael Architects, at PR job at Aintree Racecourse and a very special shoot at Wirral Women and Children’s Hospital where we were lucky enough to spend time with the Countess of Wessex.

The design department have been working hard on the Rescue my Pension web site. I’ll upload the project to out portfolio in the coming days. It really does show the best of what we can do – logo design, complex web design and email marketing all rolled in to one.

The Easter break will be a welcome one, but we’re loving our work at the moment.

Ed Lamb

Client: Sutton Kersh, West Derby

Some shots taken yesterday by Matt Goodfellow at Brookside Close, Liverpool. The name might ring a bell.

The famous Liverpool street is under redevelopment, and soon a lucky few families will be able to move in to The Close and live some stories of their own.

The show, which ran from 1984-2003 became notable for its tackling of realistic and socially challenging storylines and was most popular in the 1980s and peaked in the early 1990s.

Sutton Kersh:

“The properties in Brookside Close are available individually to let through Sutton Kersh West Derby. For more information or to book a viewing please call 0151 207 5923 or e-mail lettings@suttonkersh.co.uk“

Jimmy Corkhill was no where to be seen.

Follow Matt on Twitter

2011 is well and truly upon us now. A frozen December has given way to a slightly milder, wetter January full of opportunity.

2010 was a great year for Dupe. New clients, new fields of expertise and many personal highlights for both myself and Matt.

The new year has begun well with a plethora of enquiries reaching us in the past week alone. We generally try and avoid the news, and with good reason. Apparently it’s not a great time to be in business. Many are struggling, and we do sympathise, but the reality is that we must plough on regardless. Opportunity still exists. More than ever, in this writers opinion. So onwards and upwards.

These two beautiful shots were taken by Matt on his way to an aerial photography job on January 20th 2011. Stunning work. Needless to say, if you require his services for a commercial job then contact us any time to talk things through.

Here’s to 2011.

PS. If you haven’t already then please feel free to sign up to our newsletter list for the occasional update and in depth project feature.

From my point of view, it’s been a year to remember in every respect. In many ways Dupe has taken a back seat to the various goings on in the personal life. In April I married. In June I attempted to climb the highest mountain in Western Europe. In July I travelled to California for 3 weeks with my wife. Incredible.

There are some real business highlights in there too. In early June we were commissioned by the Eden Project to make a short film for them. This took me completely out of my comfort zone as I’d never made a professional film. I loved the process, and it’s something we intend to push a little more in 2011.

Another new trick up our sleeves in email marketing. We have sent 10 campaigns for RJW this year and, once again, it’s something that we intend to push far more aggressively in 2011.

Our portfolio of commercial photography clients has blossomed this year, too. The diary has had to be constantly re-jigged to accommodate work. Could we soon find ourselves in the position where we need to outsource work on a more regular basis? Quite possibly.

2010 has been an amazing year but there’s no reason why 2011 can’t top it. Watch this space for details.

@edwardlamb

PS. Kudos to Matt Goodfellow for the above shot, taken on a job for Liverpool Science Park in November 2011.

First of all, I must say a huge thanks to the clever chaps over at Wpshower who have taken the time to build this wonderful framework. Our new site is running on WordPress which means we can do lots of clever things like update the site from virtually anywhere and allow access for mobile users, etc. Lovely.

A lot has gone on since we started out in April 2008, both in ours and the world of design, photography and technology.

Dupe has remained the same in number (myself, Ed Lamb and Matt Goodfellow) but our client base has soared. This is no mean feat, especially as we have apparently withstood the force of arguably the harshest financial climate in almost a century. Well done us.

But what of the future? Well, onwards and upwards. We will of course aim to keep our current crop of clients happy (something we like to think that we’re particularly good at) and, at the same time, head out in to the big wide world and meet new companies and individuals that we can work with.

Working with clients, as opposed to for them is key. You won’t have to go far on the average business blog to be told that the age of the individual is over. 21st century business is more about collaboration. Dupe has amassed quite a collection of partners with whom we work, including printers, web developers and specialist suppliers such as Campaign Monitor, Business Catalyst and WordPress.

I started out as a humble graphic designer but, forced to think of new ways to push myself and the company, can now consider myself an email marketer, web designer and occasional film maker.

So here’s to the future. To keep abreast of the latest Dupe news subscribe to our RSS feed or, for a more personal insight into my world, follow me on twitter here.