CD_Guide_to_Branding

Everything you wanted to know about branding but were afraid to ask ...

Client Brief

© Chemistry Digital Limited 2006 | Client Brief | Everything you wanted to know about branding ... | www.chemistrydigital.co.uk

The Benefits of Brand

Branding has significant business benefits. Not only in terms of impact on the market place but also the

value of the company, the longevity and sustainability of the business, and staff morale.

A catalyst for change, re-branding is often used as the flagship project to help introduce new working practices,

company restructuring, new marketing campaigns, or in conjunction with key moments or developments of a

business lifecycle.

However, how do you create a successful brand?

Brands have a life of their own. It is down to those who own the brand to make sure it thrives and prospers,

and to know when it needs reviving or replacing. There are three distinct stages in a branding lifecycle:

Audit: This is your foundation stone. Assess your brand regularly in terms of the market, your identity, and fit with your

business objectives. A thorough brand audit and analysis will provide insights about your business and your brand.

It will also highlight any brand issues and disconnects with your audience.

Create: Once you have a thorough understanding of what your brand should be, you can move onto the creative

phase of branding: develop your brand strategy, design a brand that works across all media, and produce artwork.

This is critical to the long-term success and viability of your brand.

Manage: Now that you have invested in your brand – you need to protect it and manage its use, and communicate

what it is effectively. The first logical step is creating guidelines. Brand asset management is vital – particularly when

you have a number of staff or third parties who need to use your brand material.

Build a brand well – and you will build a brand that lasts.

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Why is branding important?

The branding of your company, product or service offer is an essential ingredient to the longevity of

your business. It can influence your success or indeed failure in the commercial world.

It represents who you are …

Base your brand on the idea of transparent honesty. Your people need to live the brand – everyone needs to

understand it, own it, and practice it.

It says where you are going to …

You should be able to quantify, measure and value the key attributes of your brand. These qualities should

communicate the values your business stands for to both your customers and your people. Your brand strategy

should be dynamic and flexible, but also able to grow organically.

It reflects your identity …

You should consider your customers’ perception of your products or services and the perceptions of those inside

the business. How you view yourself and how people view you, are equally important and highly relevant.

It reinforces your values …

Your people should demonstrate your values in their behaviour and actions at all times. This behaviour will ultimately

support your external image providing you with a real personality. In essence, a living and breathing entity that

promotes what your business actually stands for.

It helps you align yourself …

You will only be able to effectively communicate the personality of your company when you align your internal

processes with internal and external understanding of your brand.

Your brand is not a cloak for your company to wear when convenient. It is a genuine expression of its

own unique identity and personality.

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© Chemistry Digital Limited 2006 | Client Brief | Everything you wanted to know about branding ... | www.chemistrydigital.co.uk 3

What makes a successful brand?

You will create a successful corporate brand when every instance of your visual identity is consistently in line with

your core brand. This is not just in terms of the logo or type style but also use of colour, imagery, positioning and

context. A successful brand can fulfil a whole range of key strategic goals when implemented correctly:

• Increase sales [through brand recognition]

• Portray core values [through creative implementation]

• Engage new customers [intrigue and interest them, create a good first impression]

• Improve customer relations [maintenance of a strong brand shows a pride in the company]

• Increase morale amongst employees [shows that the company is interested in its image and its values]

• Add bottom line value to the business [strong brands have equity in the marketplace that can increase

the value of a company]


Branding: To change or not to change?

Changing your existing brand is a sensitive process. You need to think carefully about the rationale

behind changing the brand. It is important to understand the current values and consumer perception

of the current brand.

There are only a few instances where changing the brand can be acceptable: when the brand is failing in its key aim to

be memorable and has no market value; when you need to reposition your brand downwards; or where a slow change

can be tolerated by the market.

No brand will go on forever. It is important to understand how well the current brand is known and what it stands for.

There are situations where there is no choice but to replace a brand – often driven by the market place itself. As new

markets open up and replace old ones it is often better to change the brand straight away rather than try and make

an old or obsolete brand work in this new space.

Branding Lifecycle

There are three distinct stages in a branding lifecycle:

1. Auditing your brand

2. Creating your brand

3. Managing your brand

The following pages provide more detail on each of these stages.


1. Auditing your brand

If you are looking to introduce a new brand, rebrand, or create some control around an existing brand, your first step

should be to undertake a brand audit.

A brand audit encompasses every aspect from marketing strategy, market positioning, competitors, internal processes

and technical issues. It should be undertaken at regular intervals to maintain standards, stop complacency and ensure

the brand is constantly in line with your business model.

It will help you determine whether your brand is working, and a few tweaks are required to make it perform better,

or whether your brand and your customers’ perception of your offer is disparate and confused, and therefore requires

a complete re-brand.

The phases of a brand audit are:

• Analysis and Formulation of Brief

• Brand Audit

• External Qualitative Research

• Internal Qualitative Research


Phase 1.1 | Analysis and Formulation of Brief

This is a consultative phase involving all key stakeholders, the leadership team and influencers within

the organisation.

Get to know your audience …

To communicate clearly with your audiences, you must know who you are and where you want to be.

A strategic analysis should cover your core values, business model, corporate ambitions and desires.

The brief should outline the scope of the project, your specific requirements, and the additional phases required.


Phase 1.2 | Brand Audit

A brand audit will help verify the brief before any other work is undertaken. It involves assessing the current

business, product or service strategy, highlighting those elements that are working well, and identifying areas

of weakness that need to be improved or changed.

Audit current usage …

This is not a small task in most organisations but time spent in this process will pay you back many times over.

Every department needs to be accountable in the process, from purchasing through to sales. An audit of current

usage is particularly relevant when you implement corporate brand guidelines retrospectively.

Assess misuse and incorrect usage …

You will not only find countless instances of misuse but probably a whole range of data used in the wrong context.

This process can be cathartic. Almost like an amnesty, it will help to engage employees in the process of change and

ensure that they are stakeholders in the implementation of the new guidelines. This process is often easier to manage

with the help of an external agency.

CLIENT EXAMPLE

Reflex were looking to relaunch

their service at a ‘solution’ level so

needed to get their brand in order

to ensure they did not compromise

their key messaging.


Check all media …

Today’s successful identities are the ones that work well across all media, in static or animated form.

You need to check your brand against original source data and specifications in all applications.

Logo economy …

Develop your logo data in several directions to explore the best and most economical options for production

and implementation. Use the audit to look at your facilities for producing branded items in-house and make

recommendations about the processes, data formats and equipment used. This can very often lead to significant

cost savings or economies of scale that will easily pay for the cost of the audit itself.

Quality and Consistency …

Is your logo the same every time your target audience see it - across all media, countries, departments,

offices or partners? Are there issues with colour, layout, size or quality?

Very often new applications for logos arise and people try to find a quick solution. If they compromise the colour

or quality, the impact on the brand can be fatal. Say for example every one of your branch offices or country marketing

departments all go and do their own thing - before long you have a mass of different logos representing the company

image that you have invested in. This will weaken your brand over time.

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Phase 1.3 | Internal Qualitative Research

Internal research gives assurance to the leadership team and validation that the brief is correct.

It also identifies key issues and can help to refine the brief further, adding detail and ensuring that

it is as comprehensive as possible.

Use internal answers as a catalyst …

This phase typically takes the form of a set of questions applied to key personnel. The answers should form part of the

questions you ask externally in phase 4. It is vital that you test internal perceptions with the external audience to verify

views and measure the importance of issues.

Tip: Use an external agency to ensure anonymity of the answers and total impartiality.

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Phase 1.4 | External Qualitative Research

External research provides insurance for the whole process of re-branding.

Add to your knowledge …

This phase is usually undertaken as telephone interviews. Ask your customers, prospects and third parties their

opinions and views against a set of relevant and structured questions, based on the results of phase 1 and 2.

The results will determine strengths you need to promote and encourage, which form a key part of the brand

framework document. Identified weaknesses will form part of an internal process for improvement.

From this research, two key areas will become apparent:

• How you view yourself (internal)

• How those you want to do business with view you (external)

Tip: Use an external agency to ensure anonymity of the answers and total impartiality. The scope of this phase

can be quite broad and the nature of the interviewing process means it is often more labour intensive.

Food for thought …

Be consistent

The value of consistency in real terms costs no more than being inconsistent. In fact, you could argue that

being consistent saves money as it means there are fewer decisions to make in the implementation process.

Continuity and consistency of brand usage shows clarity of thought, joined up thinking, healthy communication

skills, processes that work and managerial vision. Misuse of your own brand shows a company that is confused,

unstructured and undisciplined. How do you want your customers to view you?

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2. Creating your brand

Once you have undertaken a thorough audit of the brand, you can move onto the next stage,

creating your brand.

The most important decision to make about your brand is the name. The name is the one thing that will probably follow

the brand for its whole lifetime. The look of the brand may change; the colour of the logo and look of the stationery but

a brand is ultimately a name.

It is vital that it is not a generic anonymous term but is something that sounds and looks great and ultimately builds

its own personality and presence. International considerations are important to consider in choosing a name for a

global or corporate brand.

Associate your brand with a key value or phrase to further build your reputation. When people say the name of

your company or product – what is the next word they would say? That word needs to be positive and position

your product or company exactly. You can create the word in many ways including tactical positioning, pricing or

a strap line.

It is vital that a suitable and effective URL is also available. Web presence has become so important that it has been

known for brands to be named after an available domain name and not the product or company it is promoting,

such as Cahoot, Google or Amazon. Do not release your new brand until you can secure the matching web address

to support it.

The phases of brand implementation are:

• Brand Strategy

• Creative Design

• Artwork Production

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Phase 2.1 | Brand Strategy

A re-brand can help immensely when trying to convince customers that a change to the company’s

direction is a positive thing.

Take your customers with you …

It is essential when repositioning that you bring your key customers with you. A re-brand and new identity creates a great

opportunity to approach your audience and talk about what your company strategy is and how it will benefit everyone.

Draw up a brand framework …

A corporate brand framework document should identify key conclusions from the research phase, and encompass

the thoughts and desires for the new brand.

The corporate brand framework should include:

• Brand vision

• Brand value

• Brand ambition

• Brand personality

• Definition of the company, product or service as an individual person

Keep on brand …

Assess any future marketing or commercial activity against the framework document. This will act as a benchmark not

as a cast iron decision maker, but as an aid in the process.

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Phase 2.2 | Creative Design

The design of the brand is a critical element in the drive to make your brand recognisable.

360° approach …

The colours, the font used for the typography, the proportions and the shape used are all part of the visual

development of the brand. People have natural psychological responses to certain colours or shapes, which you

need to integrate when you develop your brand.

Discover your ‘reason for being’ …

The key elements taken from the results of the qualitative research and the brand framework document will determine

the nature and direction of the design phase. The next step is to create design concepts for the look and feel of the

logo, device, typography and colour ways. By applying colour symbolism and psychology, a ‘reason for being’ will be

evident in all brand elements.

Consider all media …

The brand needs to work across all media, including web and animation. Many organisations create their corporate

identities in animated form first, for TV or web, and use the stills or frames for the static version for print. BT’s new logo

is a good example of this. Review your logo if it is quite old or has been developed for use in full colour applications like

web and not been adapted for economic print production.

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Phase 2.3 | Production Artwork

Once you have sign-off and approval for the chosen brand, you can produce the data and artwork for the logo

and brand elements. This phase is dependent of the scope of the project but normally includes the stationery

layout and logo data suitable for all formats.


Develop a niche

Developing multiple brands across specialist markets leads to more success than expanding one brand. If you have

a product or service that can hold its own in a market place, give it a new name. Keep things simple and make sure

your prospects clearly understand your brands.

Narrowing the focus of your brand enables you to grow it further. Being a high quality specialist will enable you

to dominate a market.

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CLIENT EXAMPLE

Steads stationary.


3. Managing your Brand

Once you have created your brand, you need to manage it throughout its life. Managing your brand is like any

other business process. It is the responsibility of every employee to maintain and respect the values of the brand

and the image of the company.

As your organisation grows and requirements change, so do the needs of the brand, often resulting in logo

compromise or abuse. In today’s digital businesses, these misuses can often spread like a virus and will inevitably

appear on a client’s radar. You should avoid this at all costs.

The phases of brand management are:

• Production of corporate brand guidelines

• Brand asset management

• Communication

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Phase 3.1 | Production of corporate brand guidelines

Re-branding is great for a company and its employees, but how do you manage the implementation

of data across the whole business?

The real key here is to introduce a set of guidelines. The guidance documentation should cover all the main

uses of the brand with sensible and clear instructions on how a logo should, and should not, be used. The scope

of this documentation can vary. The content can however be developed organically once the basic rules have

been established.

Scale to fit your company …

Scale your corporate guidelines to fit your requirements: whether you are an SME, a large corporate, a major

company brand or a product brand you will benefit. Usually organisations use a phased approach to ease the

implementation process.

What to include …

Ensure your corporate guidelines include pantone references of the main logo, with illustrated examples and

diagrams to help communicate this across countries. Most guidelines include logo usage, fonts and document

templates to buildings, vehicles and signage. Some even go as far as copy style, dress codes, telephone manner

and user interface.

Additional logo artwork may be created for some applications, for example embroidery for clothing, to ensure

consistent production methods and therefore quality.

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Consider your users …

It is vital that you provide users with the correct data in usable formats, enabling them to implement the branding

instructions easily. Data is usually provided in a range of formats, including document templates for use in print

production or for online usage.

Share the information …

The creation of a delivery device and an easy to use central reference point will help you to effectively disseminate

the guidelines across the company. This could be via the company intranet, on shared drives, the web or on CD.

Keep control …

Consider integrating approval and access levels into a digital solution, to ensure people follow the correct

processes for implementation of branded items. It will also allow you to track and measure activity within the

application, for management information and reporting purposes.

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CLIENT EXAMPLE

BCS guidelines.


Phase 3.2 | Brand asset management system [BAM]

It is essential that you communicate and manage your new corporate brand effectively.

Control and keep up to date …

Use the latest technologies to control issue states, updates to artwork and documentation. Brand Asset Management

[BAM] solutions for example, allow you to manage the whole brand in a clear and effective way via a web site.

Inform your community …

The content of the site can vary: from logos and collateral to sales tools and presentations. The ‘community’ who are

interested in these items can log on at different access levels. They can also receive up to the minute email bulletins

keeping them in touch with the latest updates to the brand.

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CLIENT EXAMPLE

Avaya SMBS website.


Phase 3.3 | Communication

It is essential that you communicate and manage the introduction of the re-brand effectively.

Involve your stakeholders …

Getting the support of key internal and external stakeholders is vital to the success of the re-brand. Re-branding projects can take

time, and rightly so, but it is essential to keep communication channels open and active throughout the process. People will be

keen to monitor projects that affect the image of the business, especially if they are involved in focus groups or market research.

Enthuse the market …

There are a number of opportunities to get people excited about your re-brand including launch parties, PR and local events.

Do not miss the opportunity to raise your profile and create some media awareness.

Awards and rewards …

Entering your brand into awards is another fantastic way to leverage free exposure and raise your company’s profile. It is also

a good way to benchmark how good your brand actually is when compared to others in a particular sector.


The power of Word of Mouth

Publicity is the way to promote a brand, not advertising. This is great as PR generally delivers far better ROI than advertising.

A brand should gather momentum and create awareness by being strong and successful. Interesting stories and news should

surround a solid brand. The best way of creating publicity is to have a great looking brand and brand story. What other people

say about your brand is more powerful than what you say about it.

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What our Clients say about our Branding Service...

“The new branding has enabled us to reposition this key product in the marketplace with not only our existing

clients but prospects too. Recent feedback from clients has suggested that the new product is significantly out-

performing the old one. The awareness of the product through the roll out of the brand has provided us with

new opportunities, and where the performance of FSS has been benchmarked against our competitors the results

have been extremely favourable.”

Rob Haslingden, Experian Business Strategies

“Chemistry Digital work closely alongside Avaya and are fully conversant with all aspects of Avaya brand management

providing an invaluable external resource to the business.”

Dave Davies, AVAYA Brand Manager, EMEA

“To complete such a huge undertaking in these timescales is an achievement in itself, but to have developed such

a rich brand concept and fulfilled it to such a high degree of quality is incredible, the commitment and skill of the

Chemistry Digital team is second to none.”

Geoff Sarney, Realitis Marketing Manager, Siemens

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About us

Chemistry Digital Limited is an integrated digital marketing agency and has been trading for over 10 years with a strong

client list of blue chip, public sector and SME customers. We have the reputation for being technically innovative as

well as very creative. We are able to add tremendous value at strategic level through new ideas, practices and thinking.

Our services are based on an entirely in-house model in terms of resource, skills and facilities. This allows us to push

the boundaries both creatively and technically to deliver a totally integrated marketing experience.

Our inclusive approach ensures that customers feel comfortable, make smart decisions and can be assured that

projects are running smoothly. We actively listen to and understand our clients’ requirements, as we develop first class

solutions tailored exactly to their needs.

Partnership

Our reputation is based on making you look good. We are as committed as an in-house department, but with all the

creative dynamism and technical expertise you would expect from an external agency. We act as an extension to your

existing teams, complementing your resources and skills.

We provide you with a dedicated account director and project coordinators who are available to you at all times.

The project coordinators will seamlessly integrate our design studio, strategic and technical team resources as

required. The project team will build a thorough understanding of your specific needs, overall strategy, market sector

and the required solution. All activity is tracked and can be reported at any time in line with our procedures.

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Maximising your Investment

In recent years we have developed our expertise to such a level that we can confidently commit to delivering real

results, unlike many traditional agencies. Our top priority is your bottom line. We can develop measurable solutions

that support lead generation and growth strategies, increase brand awareness, improve sales processes with smart

applications and support systems, or create stunning marketing campaigns implemented across traditional and

electronic media.

Our Approach

Our holistic approach to projects is unique. We take a 360-degree view and look at how the project can help you to

achieve your business goals. We recommend ‘best practice’ and often ‘new practice’ processes and wherever

possible we identify cost savings, functional improvements and creative opportunities as projects progress.

Our solutions are smart, visually attractive, easy to use and above all measurable. As we develop all our projects in

house, a truly joined up process is put into action involving creatives, project coordinators and programmers working

in collaboration.

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Our specialisms...

Integrated Marketing Strategies

Our integrated approach to marketing combines our core skills in brand, web, dynamic media and creative thinking.

Marketing in the new economy is all about experiences and story telling, it involves interaction and the sharing of

knowledge. It must be engaging and compelling in the way it is presented, and must be easy to understand and use.

We utilise our position as a thought leader in permission marketing, edgecraft, dynamic media, rich internet applications

and personalisation. We take a closed loop approach to every project, integrating online technologies and traditional

marketing techniques to ensure we deliver totally measurable solutions.

Branding Solutions

The cornerstone of all marketing strategy is brand. It is vital that the brand, whether corporate, product or service is fit

for purpose, used consistently and recognised within the marketplace. As well as having the ability to create brands

from scratch our skills cover all aspects of brand management and implementation. From guidelines, brand audit,

digital asset management to production management. We can also fulfill all your collateral needs as part of an

integrated brand strategy.

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Online Experiences

We have been at the forefront of the Internet and e-mail revolution and we remain a pioneer and leader in this field.

From viral marketing campaigns, data capture strategies, webvertising, online advertising, lead generation, e-newsletters,

emailshots through to search engine optimisation and trackable micro web sites.

The next generation of web sites need to be focussed on individuals needs, functionally smarter and driven by

permission. Permission marketing enables the process of turning strangers into friends, and friends into customers.

Our approach to web sites encompasses this principal and integrates your web sites totally into your sales and

marketing strategy.

Site content, user profiles, tracking data and digital assets are all stored in databases ‘below the website’ to enable the

pages of the site to be created dynamically - determined by user preferences and access levels. Users are pushed and

pulled through the trackable permission levels increasing their exposure to products, services, thinking and knowledge.

Linked to key ‘above the website’ strategies this can also help stimulate lead generation, quickly identifying potential

key customers and accelerating them through the permission layers.

Smart Sales Tools

E-generation sales tools are the basis for implementing a highly effective and powerful sales strategy. From the

generation of sales leads to improving the quality of the collateral, case studies and presentations used by the sales

team. From managing prospects, clients and key accounts more effectively and profitably to getting more from your

sales team. The tools in the portfolio are geared to deliver return on investment, whether it is expanding the reach of

the team, leveraging existing resource, saving time or improving quality. We have also helped a number of clients

improve their bids, tenders and sales proposal processes as part of new business development package.

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Channel Marketing

Reseller channels are notoriously hard work to develop, and even harder to communicate with once the channel is in

place. Our channel marketing solutions are all geared to maximise the relationship between you and your partners –

saving time and money, making re-sellers more effective and helping you extract the maximum revenue from your channel.

We have a specialist understanding of channel marketing through extensive experience with a range of US and pan-

European companies; these organisations rely, sometimes entirely, on a channel marketing model for their sales.

An integrated approach to channel marketing delivers end-to-end solutions across all media. We can offer a full

outsource service on all key elements, or provide the tools to deliver the strategy in-house.

Internal Communciations

Our thought leadership in internal comms represents genuine new thinking which will revolutionise the way people

communicate with internal audiences, transforming a company’s culture. New channels are being developed all the

time and old channels are being used in more innovative ways. If your company needs to retain your talented individuals

[which is becoming more and more critical] you need to take a long hard look at how you manage internal comms.

Serious internal communications is about genuine employee empowerment, personalised messaging and evangelism.

Our integrated solutions cover new technologies and approaches such as RSS news feeds, internal blogs, podcasts,

wikis and SMS, as well the more traditional things like brand, intranet and events, which should all be considered as

elements of a fully integrated internal comms strategy.

Rich Internet Applications

Rich Internet Applications [RIAs] integrate databases, dynamic media, coding and user interface design to create highly

functional dynamic applications delivered online. We pride ourselves on being able to quickly understand customer

needs and design superb applications that deliver measurable returns on investment.

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Our integrated approach

Much of our thinking is unique so we have developed new ways to communicate the principles and plan the projects

accordingly. This enables our clients to understand the key elements and actively engage with the issues. This can

often lead to deeper discussions around sales and marketing and how the ideas fit in to the clients’ business model

and future strategy.

We use diagrams and models such as this to map out proposed strategies, giving the whole team a much clearer

vision of the goals of the project.

INTRANETMEDIA

LIBRARY

TRACKING

EMAILSYSTEM

VERTICALEXTRANET

TRACKING

TRACKING

INTERNALLAUNCH

SITE

EXTERNALMICROSITE

LANDING PAGES[ISSUES / KEYWORDS]

WEBVERTS

LEAD GENERATION

WEBVERTS

WEBVERTS

OVERVIEW CD

TAILORED EMAIL TEMPLATES

EXTREMEDIRECT

MARKETING

CLIENTEXTRANETS

NEWSECTION

ADVERTISING & PR

KEY CLIENTROADSHOW

SUPPORT

COLLATERALS

BRANDING

DYNAMIC MEDIA

PERSONALISED PACKS

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Our clients

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Other client briefs available

• Permission Marketing Web Strategy

• Improving Your Bids and Tenders

• Channel Marketing

• Internal Communications

• Smart Sales Tools

Email [email protected] to request.

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This client brief was written by

Justin Marshall – Account Director

Justin has had a highly successful marketing career, on both client and agency side.

A hands-on approach to strategic and creative marketing has resulted in many

prestigious awards for best brand - as well as dramatic business improvements

and substantial increases to the bottom line.

Justin has worked client side for Fennemores who won ‘best brand in practice’ at the

Managing Partners Forum European Practice Management Awards 2002 and operated

agency side for Smith Partnership who won the MPF ‘best brand in practice’ Award in 2003.


Chemistry Digital Limited

Media House, Padge Road

Beeston

Nottingham NG9 2RS

Tel: +44 [0] 115 967 8555

Fax: +44 [0] 115 967 8033

Email: [email protected]

Web: www.chemistrydigital.co.uk

CD_Guide_to_Branding

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