This can be a new creative or a new way of marketing to the masses, and every so often, it can mean the change of a brand. For us, its difficult to see these brands become a thing of the past because they mean a lot to us, and some of us are still traumatised by Marathon becoming Snickers.

Recently, we had the announcement that a local institution would no longer exist, and for those of us who know the brand, it is a sad time, but also a time for renewed hope.

Northern Rock has been purchased by Virgin Money, and the deal itself will see the removal of the Northern Rock brand.

Whilst a lot of people will vividly remember the queues outside of their branches, it should also be remembered for the creation of Northern Rock Foundation, which has helped aide numerous charities across the region over the years.

The good news is that the buyout offers stability to the company, the staff it employs and has created a viable alternative to customers across the country, which will hopefully aide the economy in the process.

Colin Brooks joins us as Creative Director and brings a witty repartee to the office, along with over 25 years of knowledge and experience within the creative and design industry, gained with such agencies as Saatchi & Saatchi, Smith Bundy, Universal Records and Robson Brown. He has been tasked with managing the studio and supplementing our creative skills with his own award winning ideas and designs.

Mark Hudson, Managing Director commented. “Colin is a fantastic addition to our team. His award winning Creative Direction and vast experience will ensure our clients get the very best from our talented team. Welcome Colin.”

Colin Brooks said. “Having listened to Mark’s vision for NDC and been witness to his infectious passion the decision to join NDC was a no brainer. I’m looking forward to working with a talented team and building on what is already a great reputation. In addition to that, he promised that he’d make the first cuppa every morning.”

Colin has endeared himself to colleagues already by not driving and therefore not competing for a parking space first thing in the morning. He has a keen eye, strong opinions, a laid-back manner and eclectic taste in music.

We’re still not sure where he stands on coffee and Star Wars (office favourites), but if he doesn’t like them, then we’ll convert him. Quickly.

Welcome Colin, and good luck in your new role!

We don’t mean movie stars or musicians, what we’re thinking about is those who have had a profound effect on people’s lives. We look back through the generations and think of people who symbolise a turning point in life: Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, and wonder if we’ll ever see people like that again.

Steve Jobs was one of those people.

All of us at ND Creative would like to send our condolences to his friends and family who will be struggling through this difficult period, your are very much in our thoughts.

Does anyone remember when cheese and onion crisps used to come in green packets, and salt and vinegar in blue? Some of you may, but the majority of you will be used to seeing cheese and onion in blue and salt and vinegar in green.

 Well, this train of thought was raised the other day in the office when someone mentioned Walkers changing their colours around. However, several people (and a number of Google searches) have thrown the cat among the pigeons by stating Walkers packets had always been this colour.

Now, for me, I’m sure I can remember Walkers initiating a marketing strategy to encourage the sale of different flavours by changing their packaging. At the time, there was a lot of controversy about this because people were used to their potato-based snacks being in certain packaging, but over time it has been accepted as the norm. There are still crisps out there, which use the ‘right’ colours, but Walkers has such dominance in the market that the variation in colours has become the norm.

The other side of the argument is that their colours have always been different to that of other brands to differentiate them, but the issue only arose once they came to the forefront of the market.

Whatever the reason, its still generating conversations to this day, so it is still having an impact on the marketplace, which can only be a good thing.

To commemorate the launch of the new Star Wars – The Complete Saga on Blu-ray box set, 20^th Century Fox recently installed life-size lightsabers in place of handrails on trains in Tokyo.

This is such an amazingly simple yet effective idea that we’re amazed nobody thought of it sooner! The Star Wars films continue to resonate with fans new and old, yet it still continues to lend itself to innovative ideas and creative executions 34 years afters its arrival. The longevity of the brand (for that’s what it has become) is testament to not only to its fans, but also its simple story of good v evil and iconic and memorable characters.

It has almost seeped into public consciousness as an accepted way of life, yet the marketing still continues to this day as it seeks out new fans and new ways of promoting its legacy, and as long these promotional ideas keep pushing new boundaries, so the brand will continue to grow.

We here at ND Creative are pleased to let you all know that Nikki Hudson has once again completed the Great North Run in a rather excellent 2 hours and 42 minutes.

Since the race, she has declared ‘never again’ but we’ll wait and see, as the draw may be too much for her to resist. Nikki managed to raise several hundred pounds for the Willow Burn hospice (http://www.willow-burn.co.uk/)

I’m sure you’ll all join me in congratulating Nikki on her success.

P.s. On the picture she’s 20 in and 15 from the right!

Scottish & Newcastle Pub Company (S&NPC) are one of the most successful pub company’s in the UK.

S&NPC wanted to make sure they established a solid framework for all of their pubs, and asked ND Creative how they could do this. Our idea was to produce an informative design guide that would help pub designers, architects and contractors understand what was required to make a successful pub, and so ‘Design for Success’ was born.

The pack is broken down into three parts:

• – A description of the decision making process leading to the design brief.
• – A series of typical templates showing the basic design criteria.
• – A copy of the lessee retail guide ‘Perfect Bar for Success’ with additional designer notes.

All of the elements are housed in a folder that also contains a leaflet. This leaflet outlines the different styles attributed to diverse bar types, showing the various approaches that can be taken to make a pub stand out from its competitors. Everything, from the layout of the back bar to the position of tills is outlined in the guide.

At the same time, S&NPC realise that each pub should have its own unique appeal and therefore the pack is offered as a best practice guide rather than an enforced style guide. Their aim is to bring together the best design practices in the industry to create pubs that offer consumers the best possible pub experience in surroundings with a distinctive character, and Design for Successes helps them achieve that goal.

Mr. Ainsworth was being sued for £12million for copyright infringement by George Lucas for continuing to sell Imperial Stormtrooper helmets, but the court ruled in his favour, allowing him to continue to sell the helmets in the United Kingdom.

The crux of the matter was how the helmets were classified. Lucasfilm claimed the helmets were ‘sculptures’ which meant that any copying of them would infringe company copyright. The High Court, however, said the helmets could not be described as works of art or sculptures in the UK.

Mr. Ainsworth’s is still unable to sell the items in the United States due to copyright restrictions applied to the designs, but his success means he is still celebrating. Rumours that he is celebrating at Mos Eisley Cantina are unsubstantiated.

The story goes to show just how important it is to make sure that anything you have logged under copyright or registered as a trademark is up to date, and covers everything it should. The case highlights how difficult it can be, even for someone as large as Lucasfilm, to make sure they are completely covered, but at ND Creative we ensure you get this help on all design or brand identity work as standard.

We know how important and valuable these details are for a business, and we’re here to help you through every step of the way.

BPI is the market leader in the field of polyethylene recycling, and the largest recycler of such material in the UK. They approached ND Creative about a new line of recyclable products, and asked us to develop, from scratch, a new brand image and a range of marketing material to support the launch. The product was an innovative new refuse sack, which may not sound very exciting, but it did have a unique selling point: it was made from 100% recycled agricultural polythene. For the environment, that’s big news.

Now, the product is known across the UK, and you may have seen it. It’s called: The Green Sack.

The Green Sack was created and brought to life by ND Creative, who realised it was important to emphasise the unique selling point of the product. To accomplish this, we developed the strapline ‘Thinner, Stronger, Greener’, which also went on to form the shape of the marketing campaign itself. The campaign was reinforced through the imaginative use of visual materials, a creative and colourful design, and a consistent design approach. This was carried across all of the work we produced, ensuring a solid foundation for the new brand, which is now valued at £10 million.

The environment is obviously a very important issue, one which ND Creative are acutely aware of, and we are very proud of the work we accomplished on this project. Our passion and commitment shone throughout the process and the hard work was rewarded when the product went on to become the market leader. Furthermore, we were awarded the ‘Best Marketing Innovation’ award by the Northern Marketing Awards, which really was the icing on the cake.

ND Creative was approached by Heineken UK to help them develop a support programme that would help their customers make more profit through innovative retailing solutions.

Following the brief, we developed STAR Retailing, a bespoke service designed specifically to drive in pub profits.
The current economic climate is continuing to be highly challenging for the pub sector. Offering the best drinks brands is no longer a guarantee to be successful, and Heineken recognised that.  Instead, they wanted to try something different, something that would get people talking and provide their customers with the opportunity to increase their profits.

At ND Creative, we approached this challenge head on and used our extensive experience and knowledge of retail marketing in pubs to develop a complete and comprehensive retail package. We managed additional research and broke down the customer types, and identified what each group would like from a pub.

Once all of the information had been collated and streamlined, we created STAR Retailing, which included a printed guide and a full service website. Not only that, but ND Creative manage all of the back end processing, ensuring their customers are put in touch with the right people when they want to implement an element from the STAR Retailing programme. When we say a full service agency, we mean it! Visit www.starretailing.co.uk