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

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

The magicman rebrand included new logo, brochure, website and livery.

We are very proud of our latest achievement – the magicman® rebrand!

Way back last year we created a stunning new look for magicman®. Our brief was that they wanted to move the company onto the bigger things, and hence they required a new corporate look. The brief including a new logo, brochure, website and livery, plus signage for their new executive offices.

We created the magicman® logo in a variety of formats, all which can be used in various mediums eg. for press advertising (black and white version of logo), white logo for placing on dark backgrounds, blue logo for placing on white backgrounds. The accent colours are a warm lime green and stone colour. This client didn’t require a branding toolbox, however branding toolboxes are part of our platinum brand consultation service and are excellent to send out if you are having adverts designed, or to promotional product companies.

You will see we kept the dark blue for the rebrand, plus we kept the ’star’ as the ‘dot’ on the ‘i’ of magicman® – just a tadge more tasteful.

The new magicman® logo, just like The Brand Surgery logo, is a registered trademark and we recommend that if you want your company to ‘go large’ you should also do the same.

We are now well on the way with the website, and hope that before long we will be blogging about another magic success.

Branding tips

We always recommend that a business rebrands every four to five years as fashions change and old logos look stale. It needn’t be a total evolution. Perhaps just a simple font or shape modification will do in many cases. In my new book, DO A MADONNA!™, I show you some of the larger companies that have successfully rebranded – and in some cases the change is minimal. It is important that when you rebrand, you are still attractive and recognisable to your target audience. CONFUSION = MISTRUST. If you want customers to invest in your services, you must gain their trust and loyalty.

In case you are new to our blogs, you may not know that that we do have a new online brochure service if you are worried about the cost of print – a rebrand need not cost the earth.

Call Vicky at The Brand Surgery, branding agency serving Brighton, Arundel, Chichester, Crawley Horsham, Littlehampton, Worthing, and the rest of West Sussex on 01903 824229.

Happy branding!

Magicman rebrand included logo, brochure, website, livery, signage, uniforms

Worthing Idol 2010Worthing Idol 2010 - Only 36 places available.

A brand new talent show in the style of Britain’s Got Talent is coming to Worthing soon! Talent Within You are launching Worthing Idol 2010 which takes place on August Bank Holiday, 30th August 2010 in South Street, Worthing (just down the steps from the Guildbourne Centre).

Talent Within You helps children and young adults to develop their talent and to take it to the next level by raising funds from local businesses. You may remember Jack Ford, Olympic hopeful who with the help of Talent Within You, danced with Todd Carty on Worthing’s annual ice rink in January. Worthing Town Centre Initiative have kindly funded Worthing Idol 2010 which takes place from 12pm to 3pm, with prize-giving from 3.30pm.

This talent competition is open to anybody up to the age of 18. Talents can range from singing, dancing, magic, comedy. Anything that will entertain the audience! All contestants will receive a Worthing Idol 2010 medal, and the main winner will receive £250 towards taking their talent to the next level. Terms and conditions do apply to the prize money.

HURRY UP AND ENTER! THE POSTERS HAVE ONLY BEEN UP FOR FIVE DAYS AND WE HAVE HAD LOTS OF ENTRIES.

The judges are three well-known local Wor-lebrities: No Simon Cowell to be seen anywhere!

• Tim Loughton MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children and Families
• Amelia Regnante, Regnante School of Performing Arts
• Andy Sparsis, Proto Restaurant Group

Contestants need to book soon as there are on 36 places available. The stage is covered in case of bad weather, and will be 12’ x 16’, so small groups are allowed.

Download an application form from the website: www.talentwithinyou.org.uk.

Talent Within You is the idea of Vicky Vaughan who wanted to reduce street crime and violence by giving kids a purpose in life. The Brand Surgery has designed the logo, the website and all the promotional material for Talent Within You. We have also worked on all the PR. We are working hard to make Talent Within You a registered charity and we need £5000 in total to do this. Once we are a charity, we can apply for grants and help more children develop their talent. Please help us by fundraising, so we can help more children and make the streets of Britain a safer place to live, work and play.

The Coastliner N700 Nightbus - The Official Pyjama Party!

As you know, we recently worked on the illustrations for Stagecoach Coastliner 700 buses, and we can now reveal that our lovely buses are now going to be working hard throughout the night as night buses between Worthing and Brighton. They are running up to 11.30pm Sunday to Wednesday, and up to 3.30am from Thursday to Saturday. What’s more, the cost is only £5 a ticket from Worthing to Brighton, and if you already have a Stagecoach ticket valid for that daytime, you can take advantage of this fantastic service for only £1 extra.

Jody and myself were pleased to be asked to be part of the launch, and we coudn’t wait to get dressed up in our PJs! Of course I had to wear our trademark brand pink pyjamas.

Do you have a brand or product to launch?

Do you have a new brand or product to launch? The Brand Surgery, branding agency in Worthing, West Sussex are a dab hand at getting maximum exposure for your business. If you would like us to organise the PR for your company, or you need a hand getting your brand ready for a launch, call Vicky on 01903 824229.

DO A MADONNA website designed by The Brand Surgery

At long last, the original brand doctor, Vicky Vaughan’s book, ‘DO A MADONNA!‘ is complete. DO A MADONNA! is being printed right now!

DO A MADONNA! has had it’s first review.

“Everything in DO A MADONNA! is so true! I’ve read many other branding books, but DO A MADONNA! looks at branding in an entirely different way and it is so easy to digest. I work as part of the sales team for the Shropshire Star and I shall be recommending this book to all of my sales colleagues.” Debbie Marks-Rumble, Shropshire Star.

DO A MADONNA! focuses on keeping your brand alive. Vicky says: “It takes much more than plonking a new logo on a new brochure or website. You are your business and this ten-step book will help you on your way to business success. DO A MADONNA! is a handy-sized book which will help you discover the ten secrets of successful branding.

When you buy my book, you will also have access to the DO A MADONNA! toolbox which contains tips on colour psychology, plus much more! You will learn that even well known companies make branding blunders. DO A MADONNA! will teach you how to learn from their mistakes.

It’s time to get your business Into the Groove and Express Yourself! Once you’ve read the book and discovered the secret to branding, your business will be good enough to grace the cover of Vogue! Buy my book and let your journey to WORLD DOMINATION begin.”

DO A MADONNA! is very reasonably priced at JUST £9 and 5% of all book profits go towards Madonna’s charity: http://www.raisingmalawi.org

Go to www.doamadonna.com to pre-order your book. There will shortly be an e-book version of DO A MADONNA!

If you would like to have some personal branding advice, call Vicky Vaughan at The Brand Surgery, branding agency in West Sussex on 01903 824229.

Get your branding in tip-top shape

Three beauty treatments for your brand, from The Brand Surgery, branding agency based in Worthing, West Sussex

Lite branding package: Non-surgical treatment package!

This package is ideal for smaller businesses who may simply want to ‘freshen’ up their logo. What is included: Our award-winning designers will refresh your existing logo and bring it up-to-date through a secret blend of font and shape evolvement. No research is included. Only £585 incl. VAT. Upgrade to Lite Design & Print Package: lite logo design, roll-up banner, stationery, flyer design and print, all for only £2350 incl. VAT

Rejuvenation programme: Heavy detox!

Our award-winning designers will give your business a complete re-brand which will include five logo designs and web-based research on your competitors and target market. This package includes two set of client amendments. We currently have very good discounts on brochures and leaflets to complement your logo. Phone 01903 824229 for further details. This package starts from £1200 incl. VAT.

Intensive care package: Stretch marks and scar removal!

Ideal for established businesses who have brochures so old that the moths fly out! Our award-winning team will look at your entire business image. This package includes branding consultation including focus group advice, research, logo design. Corporate branding toolbox add-ons available. Call 01903 824229 for further information. Prices start from £2500 incl. VAT.

Proto Promotions Team jackets designed by The Brand Surgery. Photography by Studio IV.

It’s official! The Brand Surgery are now designing clothes and teamwear!

Our client, Proto Restaurant Group commissioned us to design some jackets recently. The design brief was: Proto Restaurant Group wanted a Formula One feel for some corporate team wear for their promotions team. The jackets would be worn at events such as the Splash FM Awards 2010, and other sponsored events. They asked us to brand the jackets with their logos and awards. We also designed some hats, t-shirts and chocolate boxes. We are very proud of this latest extension to our design services.

You can read about the Proto promotions team on their website blog, which we also design, develop and write. Click here to read more about the Proto promotions team and to read our blog writing.

When you have a logo designed, why not advantage of promoting your brand. We produce a number promotional products. Do you remember our Beat the Recession, Make an Impression packs? If not, click here to read about them.

If you have a logo that simply needs refreshing, this can easily been done, without breaking the bank. Call Vicky on 01903 824229.

Vicky is studying an NVQ Level 3 in Management courtesy of Train as you Gain at Northbrook College. This has been excellent for The Brand Surgery as we have been revising our business plans which includes our mission statement.

We all know that in marketing we should use the KISS method – Keep It Simple Stupid! or Keep it Simple & Straightforward is the more polite version. We have applied this theory to our new Mission Statement which is:

The Brand Surgery brings branding excellence at affordable prices to all businesses in Great Britain.

You can’t get much clearer than that! We bring the same jargon free business ethics to all of our services. If this is the first time you have discovered our blog, here is a little more about The Brand Surgery.

The Brand Surgery is a branding agency and offers services such as: Branding consultancy, logo design, design for print, website design & development, PR services, e-marketing services, blog writing services, copywriting services, photography, Illustration and SMS marketing
The Brand Surgery believes in the principle of Givers Gain. We give branding advice and give help to businesses by offering high-end branding services at realistic prices. Our tried-and-tested formula to marketing is HONESTY and HELPING OTHERS. We help businesses and we put ourselves in their shoes. We believe that using honesty when helping our clients with their marketing and promotions is the way forward.

Clients we have helped are so pleased with our expertise that they have passed our name to other businesses that also want to grow. We have advised all of our clients that good branding, marketing and promotions is the key to standing out, especially when the economy is tough. Customers are going to buy from businesses that look professional and established. The customers that have taken our branding advice have thrived throughout the recession.

Everything we advise our clients to do, we test on our business first – from customer care to the envelopes we post our marketing packs in. Give as you would like to receive is our motto for helping businesses to grow.

If you like our business philosophy, then we would love to work with you. Visit our website on www.thebrandsurgery.co.uk or call 01903 824229. We hope you enjoy looking at the rest of our website.

Viking passengers experience 39 hours delay

I don’t know … I’ve been gone for two weeks and the blogging has just stopped. Luckily I came back when I did …

It is actually a major miracle that I made it back after my Egyptian adventures. Drift snorkelling isn’t for Vicky Vaughan. Especially when one’s face mask doesn’t fit. And double-especially when one is extremely short-sighted. Treble-especially when there are twenty identical looking boats which are 200 metres apart, with a strong current and you can’t remember the name of your boat. I have to say that my drift-snorkelling experience was pretty scary, and I am not sure if I still want to swim the channel to raise funds for my charity, Talent within You next year.

Bad Branding Experience

The swimming was just one adventure! The second was my delay coming home. We were delayed by 39 hours and 40 minutes no thanks to Viking Airlines. The worst part about our delay was that Viking couldn’t be bothered to communicate with its 200 passengers in person. They faxed a letter to Sharm airport to tell us the plane had been cancelled. I was travelling alone and if I hadn’t been so well travelled, would have been very frightened. To Viking’s credit, they did provide accommodation for two evenings. If they had of been honest and said we would be staying another two nights, we could of relaxed. Instead, they had us check-in and check-out of the hotel three times. We had four departure times conveyed to us via an Egyptian rep with pigeon English.

The above experience has left me with a bad memory and is what I call BAD branding! Viking should be sitting on the naughty step for a long time. They have broken their brand promise which is (according to their website): Our experienced team has a philosophy of excellent customer service to ensure your flight experience is exemplary.We look forward to being of service to you! LOL!

The last bad experience was with Breo watches. I purchased a Breo Roam watch on the outbound Viking flight, and it was supposed to be water resistant to 10m. Well trust me, Breo watches  are not water resistant. And what’s more, they will not give me my money back because I have no receipt, thanks to Viking Airlines! Answer from Breo to my request for a replacement or refund: Apologies for the experience with the watch. Unfortunately, In accordance with our Returns Policy (http://www.breo.com/customerservices.php) “Returns and exchanges will only be processed if accompanied with proof of purchase. This includes all airline purchases and items bought through resellers”. What an utterly useless response when Viking couldn’t even send a plane to take me home so I could get a receipt!

Good branding experience

Good branding though is the service I received from HSBC holiday insurance, which comes free with HSBC banking. They refunded £25 per 12 hours (OK a bit stingy I know), but they did it by BACs on the phone. It was so easy. Thank you.

So after all of this, I did have a great holiday. We stayed at Three Corners St. George in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. The weather was gorgeous. I had great company with my friends who I met at the hotel. I would go to Sharm El Sheikh again – it’s great to be able to trust the weather in March.

While I’ve been away sunning myself, my brand doctors and nurses have been busy working on three websites, brochures, rebrands and adverts. We are also writing a number of press releases for businesses on a national level. Plus the long awaited book, is back from the proof reader, and we are just about to send it to the publisher.  Go to www.doamadonna.com for a sneak preview! Watch this space!

Call Vicky at The Brand Surgery (best branding company in West Sussex) on 01903 824229 or email vicky@thebrandsurgery.co.uk if you would like to give your business some urgent branding medical attention.

TalentWithinYou is now officially LIVE!

Visit our brand new website to find out more about Talent Within You, and how we helped Jack Ford. If you’ve got a talent why not register on our new website and chat to other talented kids, add applications and widgets to your profile page, upload pictures, videos and much more!

To contact us about your talent you can use our online form.

To register for Talent Within You click here.

Talent Within You finds, helps and cares for children who have a special talent. We believe that every child has a talent no matter what. It is our job to unleash that talent and help to develop it.