Thousands of lucky Marketing and Design folk will have recently received their copy of The Drum Yearbook 2010, a vital, annual directory for the creative industry. We were invited to create the design for this year’s book and based it on the concept ‘Better Together’, highlighting that our industry is greater than a sum of its parts. What better way to demonstrate this than a beautiful, robot cover image created by illustrator Barney Ibbotson which we then deconstructed to create the internal page layouts.

Schluter have been lovingly exporting African coffee since 1858. Wanting to increase awareness in their B2B market, they asked us (along with copywriter guru Jez Clark) to help them create a visual identity and brand messaging to be applied to their communications. We hit upon the idea of using the distinctive, hessian bean sacks which are renowned for their brightly coloured, stencilled typography. We’re not ones to shy away from picking up a spraycan so it was an ideal opportunity.

Schluter Managing Director, Philip Schluter said:

“We were looking for something that would state clearly and effectively who we are and what makes us stand out. We were looking for a medium which would project the company image and be coherent with the message. We have enjoyed being led through the process of focusing on who our target audience is, and filtering out what the main message they need to hear is. We are very happy with the clarity, simplicity and visual impact of the final result.”

We’ve recently worked with Manchester United TV and Sky on a pre-season marketing campaign. It included Direct Mail with a personalised letter from Sir Alex Ferguson. He’s a huge fan of MUTV but not of stamps, so we put those on the envelopes. We also produced welcome emails and follow-up emails highlighting the programmes to look forward to and provide direction to key sections of the MUTV website.

The Greenwich Festivals: Summer Sessions are a new outdoor concert series taking place this July in the beautiful grounds of the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich, London.

Working with The Cogency, we were tasked with the creation of the four day event’s branding and advertising including flyers, press ads, posters, street banners, a screen advert and a website which you can check out here.

Just a little thank you to the Manchester Metropolitan University: 2nd year BA (Hons) Graphic Design students (pictured above) and The University of Salford: 3rd year BA (Hons) Advertising Design students who both recently had to endure me talking about this weird and wonderful industry we call work. They went easier on me than I expected during the post-talk Q&A and from my perspective not too many eyes glazed over so overall, it seemed to go rather well. I hope that everyone concerned now appreciates Lawnmover advertising more than ever!? Thanks for having me, Simon Rowlands.

P.S. I would love to know whether the young lady with the laptop was taking notes or playing solitaire?

We’ve just teamed up with Dell and NME to help create their Sack the DJ online campaign including branding, microsite and directional advertising. The premise is simple, you create a playlist of your favourite tracks, share it with your friends and try to get as many votes as possible. Each week, the creator of the winning playlist gets a trip to Club NME in New York, Rome, Milan or Berlin to hear it played. Of course we are not eligible for the prize but we couldn’t resist creating our own playlist which you can listen to in all its glory here (Spotify link).

To coincide with the celebration of 100 years of Old Trafford we’ve just produced an MUTV schedule advert featuring legends past and present, including a unique documentary on the king Denis Law.

Mediaburst just launched their brand spanking new website and if we do say so ourselves, it’s a corker. Along with a talented team including web developer Phil Thompson, illustrator Stanley Chow, copywriter Andy White and the Mediaburst team, we helped craft the branding and a website design which showcases their range of mobile services and products in a fun and informative way.

Mediaburst Managing Director, Gary Bury said:

“Creativity in abundance. Stiff Rowlands listened, created and delivered. Not only that but genuinely decent guys to work with. Would recommend them every time.”

As huge coffee lovers there were big smiles when Tank Coffee asked us for some pointers on their branding. Inspired by the movie Black Gold, the collective “who care as much about the farmers, as they do about the flavour” jumped on a plane to Ethiopia and Kenya to meet the coffee bean farmers:

“We wanted to know where our coffee was coming from, who was growing it, how much they were getting, and who else was in the supply chain before it got to us.”

“We wanted to see with our own eyes what each farmer was really getting for their hard work and harvest. To make sure our coffee was as fresh as can be, we also wanted to roast the coffee ourselves.”

Our good friend Jez Clark is part of the collective and has created some wonderful copy and a great tone of voice. Reading about the farmer who grows the bean, its journey and the name of the roaster (Garth), makes buying coffee interesting and rewarding. The website is still in its infancy but don’t let that stop you ordering. We’re currently buzzing on the Ethiopian Sidamo Grade 2. Mmmmmm.

Eating yummy food while watching The Gruffalo with the kids – our response to Matter’s festive photo competition. If you weren’t aware of Matter, they offer a nifty service to subscribers which tailors Direct Mail according to specific tastes. You just tell them what you like and Mr Postie delivers a box full of stuff you’ll be interested in, for FREE! Is this the end of junk mail? The last box to land on our doormat had a bar of Cadbury’s chocolate in it. Yummy!