We weren’t at all spooked when the Air Ambulance came to us looking for help branding and promoting their Haunted Hike event.

The fundraising evening commences with a 1 mile children’s trick or treat walk and is followed by a 10 mile moonwalk for adults. The event hopes to be an exciting, fun filled evening packed with spooky surprises and tasty treats.

The evening is aimed predominantly at Walkers, Ramblers and supporters of the Air Ambulance, however it is predominantly women that tend to participate in charity moonwalks, therefore it was important for the literature to be appealing to males and females of all ages. It also needed to be exciting and attention grabbing to passers-by when in public view.

It was essential that the new styling fit within The Air Ambulance brand but also ensuring the event has its own community feel and is distinguishable from the main branding and literature.

With over 1,000 paranormal sightings and spooky goings on, Derby certainly deserves its title ‘ghost capital of the UK’. And with Vernon Gate residing at the heart of it’s activity, the brave Vernon Gate members turn ghost buster’s at night to learn more of its dark history and seek out any paranormal activity with non other than the famous historian and renown ghost hunter, Richard Felix.

Stories of ghostly activities span generations. In fact it’s difficult to turn a corner in the city without hearing a tale of things going bump in the night. And you don’t have to go too far to find one such tale for Vernon Gate!

“So many things have happened, so many people have passed though these gates, even the last hanging in England happened here,” explained Richard.

The curious employees learnt more about the brutal murder of P.C. Moss in 1879, by Gerald Mannering and the many bodies that we laid to rest at the foundations of the magnificent façade after they were hung.

After the history of The County Gaol, the group of hopeful ghost hunters, visited The Derby Gaol in the basement of 50/51 Friar Gate, that was used as a prison from 1756 to 1828, where all viewed the actual cells where prisoners were kept and investigated artefacts that were retrieved during the excavation of foundations for the offices which now stand behind the Vernon Gate façade.

Derby has been quick to respond to the many tourists and ghost hunters, providing a variety of ghost walks, and with a passionate Richard Felix and a committed Vernon Gate Management Team, the employees of Vernon Gate are making sure that Vernon Gate becomes a major hot spot for future tourists!

Brief: Create an acquisition campaign to recruit new donors for WNAA and DLRAA in the form of a direct mail campaign sent out to 50,000 households.

Solution: The DM pack included a personalised letter speaking directly to the recipient informing them of the need for donations, as well as a lift devise to uplift response, a simple to fill in donation form and reply paid envelopes.

We included a case study to demonstrate the great work that DLRAA and WNAA do and also to engage the recipient emotionally with the cause. The campaign landed in the run-up to Christmas so emotionally highlighted the fact that lots of people would not be enjoying Christmas with their family this year if it wasn’t for service the Air Ambulance provide.

With this campaign we wanted the recipient to think the following… It is great that the local Air Ambulance we have in this area is so good… The Air Ambulance is a vital service that I must support… I would want the WNAA / DLRAA to be there if my family or my friends or I were to ever need the help of an Air Ambulance. We wanted them to feel proud that the local area has such a good Air Ambulance service and feel inspired by the great work of the crew.

In keeping with percieved best practice when creating charity direct mail, there was be a direct ask for donations within the initial paragraph of the letter and that was repeated throughout. The pack asked the reader to “Donate £25 today so your air ambulance can save more lives tomorrow.”

The objective was to convince people to make a donation to their local Air Ambulance today by filling in and returning the attached donation form.

12►

The Air Ambulance wanted a fresh design for their corporate brochure,

AproTec were looking for a suitable supplier to enhance their brand and create and embrace their marketing strategy moving the company forward not only visually, but also operationally within the marketing discipline.

AproTec has been utilising a company logo of similar design since its inception some 23 years ago.

AproTec are looking to develop their logo and brand identity. The AproTec brand has become a little stayed and dated, in response we suggest a ‘brand refresh’ through design we will give the AproTec brand a breath of fresh air whilst maintaining the core values as described in the initial brief.

To design a new look and feel for AproTec’s corporate website offering a contemporary design whist not diminishing AproTec’s technical competence.

Bound with the identity development, the design of the website will start. Working both on the architecture of the website and the look and feel of the website, InsideOut will provide AproTec with a solution that is both representative of AproTec as a ‘forward thinking’ company and integrates all the platforms that AproTec have invested development time into.

Initially we will undertake a small amount of initial research; competitors sites, the current site, new ideas and customer needs will all contribute to the ‘ideal’ new website. It is this stage that allows us to identify new pages, obsolete pages, and functional additions (for example Live chat). From this we develop a ‘website architecture’, that will illustrate the pages we believe the website will require. The architecture is a ‘framework’ for the design brief within the studio. Through this process we interpret the architecture into creative solution.

This September the Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre (DCHC) unveiled its new persona with a launch of a supporter campaign thanking their lifetime donors and supporters who have helped the Charity… all facilitated by yours truly, InsideOut Creative!

Established in 1891, The Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre in Skegness provides over 450 disadvantaged Derbyshire children with holidays each year. Giving children an inclusive caring experience with an emphasis on their well being within a ‘holiday family atmosphere’ embracing the development of social skills and self-esteem as an additional education experience. It was back in January this year when we were recommended to DCHC as a local agency with an eye for Third Sector work.

After a couple of initial meetings, cups of tea, biscuits, heart to hearts and of course research it was recognising that their current brand was a little tired, and no longer communicated in line with the new way of thinking – The branding challenge presented by DCHC excited the team so much a decision was made to sponsor the re-brand.

Initial concepts were put to the board early this year and were refined by InsideOut in the weeks to follow. A test pamphlet was successfully distributed in March. After an encouraging response the research provided enough confidence for the Charity to commit to its new positive look.

The new identity has four children of various ages represented by vibrant coloured silhouettes, some active, whilst others more reserved conveying the mixture of characters and ages provided for at the Centre.

Although the former identity has been much loved and recognised throughout both Derby and it’s Shires, it was identified quite early on that the new brand needed to communicate the happiness and excitement at the Centre.  There was a real need to educate Derbyshire about the joy the Centre brings.

The new brand is already making positive steps in engaging the Charity with their supporters via a recent Direct Mail Appeal which was launched in September reaching out to their loyal donors, supporters and fundraisers thanking them for their hard work and support over the last year and has to date raised a significant amount of money securing holidays for disadvantaged children in 2012. 

We are sure the new brand will continue to be a strong factor in evolving the Charity commercially, assist them with engaging new donors and retain the support of their loyal donor base, inadvertently allowing them to continue the vital work they do in Derby.

We’re proud to have been a part of this bold move by DCHC and are sitting with our mugs of coco feel great about the greater good we’ve assisted in delivering in our community… thanks DCHC for letting us be a part of it!

http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/New-image-charity-sends-kids-holiday/story-13349514-detail/story.html

Bill Tomlinson, The Trust Chairman, said, “Seeking to better reflect the quality of the holidays it provides and to present the charity as a Centre of excellence the Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre in early 2011 requested PR & Design company InsideOut Creative to present rebranding proposals to the Board of Trustees. InsideOut were briefed to develop a rebranded image for the Centre with a new logo incorporated within a total rebrand and marketing strategy. Reporting to the Chairman of the Trust that directive was developed through 2011 with the subsequent launch taking place on the 12th September 2011 with a press release and mailed distribution to all friends, partners and donors. The launch was a success on all fronts.”

Footnote: DCHC owes its continued success to gaining an excellent reputation for delivering a vital and life-changing service to those children it serves. With over a 120 year pedigree the Charity works with local authorities and schools driving to ‘Bring happy personal development to children enjoying DCHC holidays’; the rebrand is the start of this work – You can learn more about DCHC here.

After initial concepts were put to the board early this year and were refined by InsideOut Creative over the following months, DCHC have officially launched their new look with a Charity Appeal Direct Mail Pack in September.

A positive step in re-engaging the Charity with their supporters, the Appeal Pack included a number of items that are designed to convey and confirm the great work that DCHC do in bringing happiness, joy and personal development to children of Derbyshire.

The DCHC newsletter, broadcast on an annual basis, was the starting point for developing this regular communication into an appeal pack that would encourage a donor to dig deep in support of their cause. The newsletter benefitted from a review of both the content and the design of the publication, and emphasis was placed upon the need for continual support in the life-changing work that DCHC do at Skegness.

Supporter fundraising stories, events information and of course the news of the latest rebrand were injected into this publication to connect and inspire the donor base to help, by way of providing donations, undertaking a fundraising event or simply to attend one!

A compelling covering letter thanked the donor for their support and outlined the need for their ongoing support into 2012 via a case study of a Child who had recently benefitted from the service DCHC provide.

The case study was supported by the letter of Sarah who had written and thanked DCHC for the rest she had received “… to all the Staff, thank you for such a brilliant holiday it was so nice to have a break for once. I loved it there, Skegness is a beautiful place. I hope to see you soon. Lots of love Sarah. x x x”

To date the Direct Mail Appeal Campaign has raised a significant amount of money securing holidays for disadvantaged children in 2012.

Bill Tomlinson, The Trust Chairman, said, “I have been most impressed with the creative flair and dedication of InsideOut.  Effectively they became an integral part of the DCHC team working with me to produce a cost effective design solution and brand that has been created to give a single totality within the DCHC ethos.  Thus they fulfilled their brief. Furthermore that ‘cost effectiveness’ never impinged on their time commitment or their furtherance of theme and quality. I and the entire Board are assured that we reached the right decision in handing them the brief and instruction.  Indeed they are now engaged to work with the team on the 2012 Marketing Programme.”

Well it’s Friday, the best day of the week, unless you’re working tomorrow that is! We wanted to share some Friday spirit in the guise of Operation rico star, Intels latest product placement/advertising initiative with the upcoming film Madagascar 2. The ‘Mission Crazy’ Madagascar penguins will immerse you with their performance of a 2nd Gen Intel Core i5 processor. It has the whole zoo rocking and we’ll think it might just make your foot tap too!

Every now and then we come across a Company that will really push the parameters of not only the brand but also the application. Kulula (South Africa’s low fare airline), demonstrate interesting creative thinking applied to their aircraft livery. They called their concept “Flying 101”. Each part of the aircraft is labelled with humorous captions such as “Loo (or mile-high initiation chamber)” and “The Big Cheese” for a placeholder for the Captain.

Taking this to another level they’ve also created an ‘interesting’ (…or brave – you decide) dialogue with their passengers…

“Please pay attention to the safety announcement, because you will be completing a test shortly”.

“If you are caught smoking, you will be asked to leave the aircraft”.

“You could be fined up to R7999 for smoking on the plane, and for these prices you could be flying South African Airlines”

“Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve reached cruising altitude and will be turning down the cabin lights. This is for your comfort and to enhance the appearance of your flight attendants.”

and …“Welcome to Johannesburg, if this is not where you were intending to go then you have a bit of a problem.”

What’s more, we hear the design work and concepts are developed by Kulula’s in-house design team – nice work!

After we were recently engaged to develop the ‘Wear it yellow’ concept for the DLRAA and WNAA’s Air Ambulance week, the biggest fundraising week of the year for the Charity, we only though it right that we spread a little Mission: Possible spirit to all our readers.

Mission: Possible is DLRAA and WNAA‘s brand new concept for fundraising for National Air Ambulance Week (17th – 25th September 2011). Mission: Possible challenge’s you to create your own fundraising mission in support of YOUR life saving crew.

Developed so that it was an all inclusive fundraising concept that schools, community groups, companies and individuals could become involved in, Mission: Possible seeks to encourage individuals to challenge themselves, through any activity they feel would test their limits.

Go on – push your creativity to the extremes and think of thrilling, adventurous and amusing ways to raise money! Whether it’s a skydive, scuba dive or nose dive into custard, wearing a banana suit to the swimming baths or simply a ‘wear it yellow’ cake morning – it’s all for a fantastic Charity who save lives each and every day.

You can register your Mission: Possible here, and the team will send you a pretty decent fundraising pack that will help you on your mission! We’re thinking of extreme ways here – so feel free to send your suggestions in, who knows it might get you a mention!