The Brand Surgery - Branding Agency, Graphic Design and Website Design in Worthing, West Sussex

August 2011. The month British thugs rioted, looted, destroyed communities and shamed Britain’s brand in just a few days.

Social media is being blamed for the rapid spread of the riots throughout London and the UK. Social media is a powerful tool but does have it’s pros and cons. The beauty of social media is that most messages are traceable and can help police to track down these thugs.

Saddest moments (so far) from the UK riots

There are hundreds of sad tales from these riots. For me, the saddest moment was seeing a poor injured man being tricked into thinking he was being helped, while thugs raided his rucksack.

Another tragic tale: Having been born in Croydon, the tale of the House of Reeves, a family owned furniture store which has stood up to two World Wars and a recession, was burned to the ground in just a few hours on Monday night. I feel sorry, yet proud of the Reeves family, who have been so brave.

As for the many independent businesses that have been destroyed – there will be weeks of lost trade which will cause unrepairable damage to their livelihoods and families.

Contingency plans

All businesses should have contingency plans written into their business plans, but how many would include riots? Luckily, Nick Starling from the Association of British Insurers says insurance policies will cover most of the damage and the losses felt by businesses. The only problem is that as most of the businesses are being treated as crime scenes, it will take a time for the loss adjusters to do their work. This will be the time when insurance companies will have to practice what they preach. Will insurance companies deliver on their brand promise? Only time will tell!

Brands riding on the back of the Riots

We found an excellent blog in Marketing Week by Lara O’Reilly who is Marketing Week’s digital and telecoms specialist. Lara said: “Let’s place our bets on how long it will be before a home improvement store or garden centre donates some brooms or a supermarket offers their cleaning products to help with the efforts”.

Lara also noted that El Paso Foods had said on its Facebook page this week: “In these trying times I think we could all benefit from a bit of comfort food, and there are few things more tasty and reassuring than baked enchiladas, full of spicy chicken and topped with lots of bubbling cheese”. You can read more amusing stories by reading Lara’s blog.

Can something good come out of something so bad?

Yes. We were watching the riot news updates last night and saw the terrible damage that rioters did to Miss Selfridge in Manchester. The Miss Selfridge logo appeared on our TV screens for hours, on a BBC channel. How much would Miss Selfridge normally have to pay for this kind of exposure? Luckily for this fashion store, they are part of the Arcadia Group which also owns Dorothy Perkins, Top Shop, Top Man and many more fashion retailers, so this damage could be a blessing in disguise for Miss Selfridge (in the grand scheme of things).

Also more good news … a local artist, Dan Thompson, has made national news by setting up a Twitter hashtag: #riotcleanup. Well done Dan for your quick thinking – ironic how something like this can give you more column inches than your art!

Finally, it’s British disaster aftermaths which showcase the generosity, solidarity and community spirit of the majority of the British public. Although the minority (thugs) have caused millions of pounds worth of damage – the way in which most of us pull together in times of hardship still makes me proud to be British.

Win £50! Competition open to all schools, colleges and individuals

Schools and colleges throughout the borough of Worthing are being invited to design a logo for the Official Worthing Diamond Jubilee Celebration which will run along the length of Worthing promenade, from Worthing Pier to George V Avenue in West Worthing on Saturday 16th June 2012 from 11am.

The logo should reflect a celebration, yet have a royal feel about it. The words in the logo should read:

1952-2012
Official Worthing Diamond Jubilee Celebration
Worthing Promenade
16th June 2012

The winner will receive £50 voucher from Talent Within You which may be used for developing creative talent. This prize could be used for to purchase creative book, or perhaps go towards a painting, design, textile or any creative course. Talent Within You terms and conditions apply.

The closing date for the competition is Friday 23rd September 2011. Please send your designs to: Vicky Vaughan, Worthing Jubilee Logo Competition, Talent Within You, 23 Harrow Road, Worthing, West Sussex BN11 4RB or email vicky@talentwithinyou.org.uk with the subject header: Worthing Jubilee Logo Competition.

Design tips:

(1) Your logo may be used on souvenir materials including mugs, pens and programmes so must be clear and easy to read.
(2) Computer graphics software may be used and is encouraged.
(3) No clip-art to be used. We want to use YOUR ideas and illustrations.
(4) Your logo should be able to reproduce in one colour easily and should be easily scalable.

We do reserve the right to tweak your logo to make it usable.
Age limit: 5-18 years. Designs will be uploaded to www.talentwithinyou.org website as they come in.

Good luck!

Contact: Vicky Vaughan, Founder, Talent Within You
Phone 07909 693172

Blue Peter’s competition winner Katherine Dewar’s winning emblem design for the Queen’s official 2012 Diamond Jubilee. The winning design will be seen by millions on everything from posters to commemorative tea cups in the run up to the milestone and during the year.

Inspiration – This is the emblem for the Queen's official 2012 Diamond Jubilee from Blue Peter competition winner Katherine Dewar.

The Brand Surgery has been extremely busy over the last few weeks with logo designs, press releases, magazines, charity work and blogging and we thought it was about time we let you in on what your favourite award-winning branding agency has been up to!

Anyone celebrating the Royal Wedding this year? Why not come to the Royal Wedding Picnic on Broadwater Green?  We have been organising the event as well as promoting it with our fantastic PR, not to mention coming up with a fantastic logo for the day! The event promises to be a special occasion with entertainment from Splash FM’s Simon Osborne and Dave Hunt, Children’s Entertainer Dave Benson Phillips and live music from last year’s Worthing Idol winner, Rebecca Buxton. The picnic and entertainment will be running from 4pm-9pm allowing you to watch the wedding at home and then enjoy the bank holiday in the sunshine with The Brand Surgery, Splash FM and Worthing Borough Council.

Speaking of Worthing Idol, with this year’s competition, The Brand Surgery is in the community again! We were so happy with the way last year’s competition went, we felt we had to get involved again this year! The date has yet to be announced but Worthing Idol is already looking for contestants so visit Talent Within You website (designed by The Brand Surgery) for more information. Make sure you keep checking our website as well, as we have some exciting news to announce in the coming weeks, watch this space!

Do you use the Stagecoach Coastliner buses? Yes? Well you’ve probably seen our work then! Our illustrations are all over the back of the buses and as part of our ongoing relationship with Stagecoach, we produce their magazines, aimed at providing bus users with offers, competitions and information about attractions along the coast. We have been copy-writing, designing, publishing and printing the Coastliner, Buzz East Sussex and Buzz East Kent magazines, covering a massive area from Margate to Portsmouth including places such as Canterbury, Rye, Hastings, Eastbourne, Brighton, Worthing (of course), Chichester and many more places between. You can find our latest magazines from April-September on all the Coastliner buses and in various tourist information centres and bus stops. We have also been putting our web design and development skills to use by launching the  Coastliner 700 website.

Buzz East Sussex

In addition to all of this fantastic and exciting stuff, The Brand Surgery has been continuing with it’s normal high quality blogging services, keeping AVS Fencing and Proto Restaurant Group at the top of Google search results for their chosen search terms.

Does your company need a re-brand? How about a new logo? Maybe a new website? If you answered yes to any of those questions or are interested in PR work, copy-writing, magazine and advert design, SEO or any of our other fantastic services, please phone Vicky Vaughan on 01903 824229 or email us at info@thebrandsurgery.co.uk; as part of our commitment to great customer service, we aim to respond to all enquiries within one working day.

Worthing Idol 2010 is nearly upon us. Wow! What an experience it has been organising a talent show on behalf of my charity, Talent Within You – if you need a launch party organising – now you know who to call: The Brand Surgery!

Worthing Idol takes place at Worthing Lido on Bank Holiday Monday 30th August 2010 between 12 noon and 3.30pm. It has already been pointed out that Lido is an anagram of Idol – so the location was obviously meant to be. We are all doing a ’sun dance’ in the office so that the weather is nice to us on Monday.

The line-up for Worthing Idol 2010 is amazing. You can click here to see it. Simon Cowell would be most envious if he saw the show – it is official – Worthing has definitely got talent!

Here is a movie clip of round 2 of the Worthing Idol auditions.

The Brand Surgery team have played a major role in the preparation of this event.

• Logo design and branding
• Website design and development
• Blogging and Facebooking campaigns
• T-shirt and banner design
• Marketing collateral
• Press releases and all PR
• Event planning

Alt text for the image, e.g. “The Mona Lisa”

Our branding agency based in Worthing, West Sussex, is always on the look out for events which promote creation amongst youngsters.

Worthing’s first ever ‘Urban Arts Day’ will be held on Friday 20th August at Homefield Park Worthing from 11.30am to 4.30pm. This event is just one of a host of summer holiday activities organised by Adur and Worthing councils.

Children and young people aged between 13-19 can enjoy a day filled with exhilarating activities such as:

• Step Up your street dance skills with a dance workshop by T-21 Dance Team
• Spit beats with a human beatboxer including a performance and workshop
• Paint and spray in a graffiti arts workshop with an urban art artist
• Shoot some hoops in a basketball sessions with the Worthing Thunder Basketball Team
• Try Street20 with Sussex Cricket
• Cage football comes to town for 2v2 football all day.
• Skateboarding tricks and mix competitions and many more
• Grab some food with the BBQ
• Hand Sonic Workshops
• Take part in a percussion workshop

A modest entry fee of £2.00 will be applied and registration starts at 11.30am on the day. A completed consent form is required for this event. For more information or to request a consent form please contact Mike Fisher at Mike.fisher@adur.gov.uk or ring 01273 263174.