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

DO A MADONNA

The day has finally come. DO A MADONNA!™ has been printed! Hoorah!

The book should be available on Amazon.co.uk within the next two weeks. However, you can pre-order the book on the website by clicking here.

Writing a book has been a steep learning curve. The writing was the easy part! The proofing, liaising with the print company and pre-press was the main challenge – and we deal with pre-press departments every day! I can’t imagine what it would be like dealing with these book printing companies if you had no experience whatsoever.

With the above said, we are looking forward to marketing DO A MADONNA and I am looking for speaking opportunities to launch it. So if you know of a venue or organisation who would like to book an interesting talk, this is the one for them. Guaranteed to stimulate people, even during the graveyard shift!

A little bit about DO A MADONNA …

Keeping your brand alive 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 and it also 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. It’s time to Express Yourself! Soon your business will be good enough to grace the cover of Vogue!

Priced at only £10. Let Your journey to WORLD DOMINATION begin.

5% of all book profits go towards Madonna’s charity: http://www.raisingmalawi.org

Click to launch the full edition in a new window.

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.

Rebranded Coastliner buses are launched

As you may know, we publish the Coastliners Magazine on behalf of Stagecoach, with our sister company Pulse.

We always work hard to ensure the cover of the magazine will not date – especially as the Coastliners magazine has a shelf-life of six months. Although this magazine ran over Christmas, we didn’t want to make the cover too Christmassy as it had to last through to March 2010.

Hidden illustration talent

The boss – and original Brand Doctor, Vicky Vaughan, decided it was time to unveil her hidden illustration talents and created the above masterpiece! Wow! She illustrated the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth and The Brighton Dome, which represented the Coastliner route from end-to-end.  The added benefit of this illustrated cover design, was that the colours Vicky chose, followed the Stagecoach South corporate identity and  branding. The cover was presented to our client, approved, then printed and is actually still in circulation now.

Not long after the magazines were printed, we received a call from Stagecoach South, who were so impressed with Vicky’s illustrations, they commissioned her to illustrate six further landmarks across the south coast in the same style as she created for the cover.

Official launch of illustrations

Illustrations of landmarks along the Coastliners route

We’ve been keeping this work top secret at the request of our client, until now! At last, we have been given permission to tell the world about where the landmarks would appear. As you can see in the photo above, Vicky’s illustrations were part of a design for Coastliner buses.

There are 40 buses in total which will be wrapped in this unique design, and there are four different designs:

• Worthing
• Brighton
• Chichester
• Portsmouth

Vicky says: “I was so proud to see the illustrations in their finished format. The illustrations took a long time, especially the HMS Victory with all it’s ropes, and the Chichester Market Cross with all the fine detail. It was so worth it, so see my illustrations printed so large. I believe these buses will be cruising across from Brighton to Portsmouth for the next few years, and I certainly won’t mind being stuck behind one of the Coastliner buses in future!”

Illustrations can be used for a number of marketing solutions

Now we have unleashed this creative talent from Queen Vic, why not consider commissioning Vicky to do one for you. Illustrations are excellent for:

• Websites
• Brochures and leaflets
• Posters
• Newsletters and magazines
• Books
• Exhibition graphics
• Livery signage
• Packaging

Illustrations of landmarks along the Coastliners route

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.

Talent Within You has achieved Gift Aid status

The Brand Surgery have been working hard to get Talent Within You off the ground so we can start receiving donations. The website will be live very soon and businesses will be able to choose the child they sponsor, and then also check a Gift Aid box which means we can claim tax and more money will go towards Jack Ford and talented children like Jack Ford, Worthing’s potential British ice-skating champion.

The Talent Within You website also comprises:

• A community-style website so talented kids can talk to one another
• Animated banner graphics
• Search-engine optimised copywriting
• Stunning photography taken by our very own in-house photographer
• Excellent graphic design and Talent Within You logo and branding
• Paypal gateway for donations and sponsorship
• Blog writing for SEO

The Talent Within You website is a community-style website with the functionality of Facebook, such as user feeds and group and page creation. You will also be able to create your personal easy-customisable profiles (drag and drop design facility) as well as take advantage of the photo album facility and also add a video onto your profile page.

So, you will soon see what The Brand Surgery (website design company in Worthing, West Sussex) have done for the launch of Talent Within You. Let us help launch your business too.

Call Vicky at The Brand Surgery on 01903 824229 or email vicky@thebrandsurgery.co.uk.

We have an extra special Valentine gift for all our new and existing customers – because we love you! How does 20% off all our design fees for any project designed in February sound?

We may be mad, but the 20% discount is available on our our graphic design work. This includes:

• Logo design
• Website design
• Brochure design
• Leaflet design
• Exhibition graphics design

So now, you’ve got no excuse not to love your business! Don’t delay any longer, let our  branding and website agency, based in Worthing, West Sussex give your marketing collateral the kiss of life, while you enjoy a spot of loving.

If you want something designed which is not mentioned in the list above, give us a call on 01903 824229 or email: vicky@thebrandsurgery.co.uk. and we will be happy to discuss your requirements.

Here is a testimonial letter from our client, Robb Harris, Astute Investment Planning!

Dear Vicky

The invitations for Benn’s party were just perfect. On a business note, I would like to say that I have received a number of compliments regarding my stationery. I have been told that the branding looks extremely professional, fresh, modern and striking. I would have no question in recommending your services to anyone who is seeking either a rebrand or a start up.
Kind regards
Robb Harris

Need we say more?

Astute Investment logo design and corporate identity

The silly season has arrived! We have decided not to send paper Christmas cards this year! Instead, we are saving the planet with these silly video greetings from Jib Jab.

Don’t forget our wonderful pre-Christmas offers. You will have bundles of fun! Click here to see these amazing marketing offers – only valid until this Friday. They include design and print – including posters, roll-up banners, flyers, leaflets, stationery and logo design. You can also add our business website design and development packages to these bundles.

You can always reserve these packages by paying a small deposit now and starting them in the new year when you’ve had a good rest. So if your business could do with a freshen up, give us a call on 01903 824229.

Click on the arrow to see our special Christmas greeting. Enjoy the festivities!