Lizzie Haynes wins Worthing Idol 2011

We can’t believe where the time has disappeared. On 29th August, over a month ago, the second Worthing Idol took place. This time we held the event in St. Pauls Centre in Chapel Road. The atmosphere and acoustics in the place were amazing!

The judges were: Andrew Sparsis – Proto Restaurant Group, Iain Flitcroft – Carabao Thai Restaurant and Steak House and Manhattan Furniture, Tim Loughton MP and Cllr Carol Molineaux. There were 20 acts in total – mainly singers and two dance acts.

The runners up were Jacob Obong – who street danced his way to success; Anna-Smith who had an amazing voice; Rebecca Woods – who has the voice of an angel and also entered last year. And of course, Lizzie Haynes came first place with her Carly Simon record, Nobody does it better. Lizzie won £250 towards developing her talent and the runners up won £50 towards developing there talent.

Vicky would like to thank everyone who helped with the event, especially all the ‘behind-the-scenes’ volunteers: Simon Osborne, Peter Hill, Rebekah French, Sharon Clarke, Liz Malcolm, Bill Cooper, Nikki Thornton, Selina, Dalina and David Sawyer. She would also like to thank everyone who donated prizes for the raffle: Michael Cloake, Pressleys, Food, The Fish Factory, Carabao Thai and Steak House, Brio, Worthing Theatres, Worthing Town Centre Initiative.

Next year, Terry Winstanley from X Factor has kindly offered to be a judge. If you know someone with a musical talent who would like to enter Worthing Idol 2012, then please contact Vicky Vaughan on 01903 824229 or log onto: www.talentwithinyou.org.uk

Worthing Idol is yet another event which is organised and marketed by The Brand Surgery. We design the logo, the website, write the press releases, organise the auditions, arrange the lighting, PA and accommodation, advertise the event by social media (no advertising expenses). If you would your event promoted or organised, please call Vicky on 01903 824229.

Terry Winstanley - WOW FACTOR

Terry Winstanley, Jade Richards and eight other contestants from X Factor 2011 are coming to Worthing (Assembly Hall) for one night only (Friday 4th November 2011, 7-10.30pm) to promote their CHILDREN IN NEED SINGLE and sing their most popular songs from the show.

We met with Terry, from Worthing last week, and talked about the success of Worthing Idol 2011. Terry was so impressed, that he asked us to organise this one-off event. We were naturally delighted to accept. As you may know, we have also organised Worthing Idol 2010 and the fantastically successful Broadwater Royal Wedding Picnic which attracted 3000 people and we raised £1500 towards Broadwater Community Association. We are very excited as this is a national event.

We will be using our combination of design and marketing tools to promote THE WOW FACTOR: logo design, graphic design, social media expertise, website design, PR, and our newly acquired Chartered Institute of Marketing qualification.

Tickets are on sale at www.worthingtheatres.org priced at £12.50 each. If you would like further information, please contact the event organiser – US!! – on 07909 693172.  All profits from the show and the single will go to Help For Heroes.

Check out the new website at: http://www.thewowfactor.org.

Go to the Twitter page: WowFactorEvent and the Facebook page: The Wow Factor

Excellent branding - The Fiat 500

We’ve been looking back over 2010 for the most memorable re-brands. The one that sticks in our mind is the new Fiat 500. Two of our funky friends rushed out to purchase the all-new-singing-and-dancing Fiat 500 last summer – exactly 50 years after the first Fiat 500 was born – and they were not disappointed. A great brand always delivers on brand promise.

The new Fiat 500 car has kept the Cinquecento-silhouette features, fused with a distinctive retro-look just like the Volkswagen New Beetle and Mini but is more competitively priced.

Now, we’re not trying to steal Jeremy Clarkson’s job here …  Instead, we are simply using this re-brand as an excellent case study. If you think back a few years, the Fiat Cinquecento was just another small, economical city car. It didn’t really stand out from the crowd, plus the brand name ‘Cinquecento’ is not only difficult to spell. It is also impossible to pronounce unless you have some knowledge of the Italian language.

The book, Do A Madonna focuses on company names and slogans, and the importance of choosing a name for your business or product which is easy to pronounce and spell. Could you imagine having to spell ‘Cinquecento’ every time someone wanted to visit your website? Sometimes, being too clever can defeat the point of the object. The original name, ‘Fiat 500′ rolls nicely off the tongue.

We think the Fiat 500 rebrand is a massive success. What is your favourite rebrand of 2010?

Is 2011 the year when you should think about re-branding your business or products? We help businesses of all sizes to re-brand. If your business has reached the magic five year mile-stone, why not give it another push in the right direction? It may simply need a tweak. If you look at the history of the Shell logo – it has remained a shell in 100 years – the fonts and colours have simply been modified to keep up with trends.

Give us a call on 01903 824229 for an informal discuss about where you want your business to head in 2011.

Happy new year from The Brand Surgery – the number one branding agency in Sussex.

History of the shell logo

We are over the moon with the boys from Glue! They worked tirelessly to edit 19 contestants most nerve-racking moments into a punchy set of 21 You Tube movies. The movies will soon be on sale via the Talent Within You website. If you would like to see the winners in action – click here. If you would like a full round up of the day, you can visit our You Tube channel.

Thanks again to all our kind sponsors. We already have contestants lined up for Worthing Idol 2011.

If you would like to enter Worthing Idol 2011, please register your interest on Talent Within You’s website contact form.

Click here to read the previous blog post on Worthing Idol.

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.

Like the beautiful back end of a bus

Do you remember the launch of the brand new Coastliner 700 double-decker buses way back in March? Well they’ve now given birth to baby single-deckers!

We’ve been working closely with Stagecoach South to rebrand the new environmentally friendly single-decker buses, and you can see photos of mummy and baby next to each other. Cute!

You can read the previous blog by clicking here. And you can see the set of illustrations by clicking here.

Finally, don’t forget that the new N700 nightbus will be working from 6th June. You can read our blog about it by clicking here. You can travel between Worthing and Brighton up to 3.30am! The bus will also be travelling through areas like Durrington and other areas where it doesn’t normally travel during the day. Click here to find out more and download the N700 timetable.

If you like our illustration work we would be pleased to discuss how illustrations can help project your brand image in a positive way:

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

Call The Brand Surgery team on 01903 824229 and we will be pleased to help you.

Coastliner 700 bus design by The Brand Surgery

New website for Astute Investment Planning

We were approached by Astute Investment Planning last year to create them new brand image which included a logo, stationery, marketing collateral (leaflets) and a website. Astute Investment Planning provides independent investment advice to clients of professional firms. Our brief was to ‘keep it simple’, so in true Brand Surgery spirit, we did just that.

We presented the client our usual choice of six logo designs, using our unique research formulas. You can see the stationery designs by clicking here. After our client chose his logo, we working on his stationery and marketing collateral, and then his website.

We are now pleased to announce the launch of the Astute Investment Planning website.

“I would like to say that I have received a number of compliments regarding my branding. 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.” Robb Harris, Astute Investment Planning.

If you would like The Brand Surgery, Branding and website agency in West Sussex, to look at your business branding, call Vicky on 01903 824229.

Use colours to increase your sales

Used correctly, colours can significantly increase your sales.

Used correctly, colours can boost your sales. It’s all to do with colour psychology and colour symbolism. If you didn’t know this – colour symbolism is to do with association (colour links to traditions and religions). Whereas colour psychology is how light reflects off objects. Both colour symbolism and colour psychology will have a significant impact on the sales of your business.

If you are setting up in business and are planning to go global, then you should think carefully about colour. Positive colours in the UK can be negative abroad and vice versa. Therefore, your colour choice is as important as your company name. For example, in China, black can mean trust and high quality. In Britain we wear black for mourning, yet we also wear black dresses for celebrating.

True Blue
You should never use blue for food packaging, but blue is great for solicitors and accountants. Why? Blue is the colour of mould and poisonous berries. People on diets would do well to replace their refrigerator light bulb with a blue light bulb – the blue light will suppress your appetite.

On the positive side, blue is the colour of nature. Think of the sky and the sea, which is calming and we feel safe when the sky and sea are blue. Police (worldwide) wear dark blue uniforms. Blue is a great colour for people in authority and if you want to evoke a feeling of trust.

Think Pink
You may have noticed that we like the colour pink here! Pink is a great colour and it has even been known to reduce the feeling of violence as it is a calming colour. In Texas, prison cells are painted pink and inmates wear pink to calm them down – and this includes the male inmates!

With the above in mind, you need to pay particular attention to the colour of your corporate branding including websites, exhibition stands and marketing collateral. If you would like to know more about how correct use of colour can improve your sales, call Vicky at The Brand Surgery on 01903  824229.

The bruises and the pain from Worthing Birdman were all well worth it because you can see that we raised a nice sum for Chestnut Tree House! Thank you to everyone that sponsored us, Chestnut Tree House and The Brand Surgery are very grateful.

It seems like an age ago that we were busy designing our costumes and rehearsing our dance routine! In fact it way way back on Sunday 23rd August that Doctor Vaughan, Nurse Neeru and Matron Sparsis dressed up in their naughty nurses outfits.

We are wondering weather to go for it next year – next year we would certainly wear the padded cycle shorts which were recommended by Sharon Clarke, Worthing Town Centre Initiative who organised this great event.

Anyway, that’s all from us for now. We’ve off blogging for some excellent Sussex businesses who we are proud to call clients!

Have a great weekend – and good luck to everyone at Worthing Business Awards. We’re keeping our fingers crossed!

The Brand Surgery team celebrate

We’re celebrating! We received a call to say we had been nominated for the customer care award in the Worthing Business Awards 2009.

We are delighted to have been nominated for the Customer Care award.

We believe that customer care is key and we train all our staff to treat each of our clients with TLC – as though they are our only client. As we grow we are putting systems in place so that our customers always feel extra special.

The Brand Surgery offer creative solutions such as logo design, leaflet design and website design for business setups to full publishing services for PLCs. No matter what size the client is, we remember that each client is a ‘human’ with feelings.

When we help business set-ups, we know having been in their position once, how scary it can all feel, so we try to hold their hand all the way. We try to imagine what it would be like to be in our customers’ shoes. It is so important that businesses recognise that just satisfying a customer is not enough: Exceeding a client’s expectations is our policy.

It is a shame that some huge companies with large call-centres do not train their staff well enough to make their customers feel important. All these companies tend to care about is their bottom line. We have recently experienced poor mishandling from a large business and we had to contact the Ombudsman to get a response. It makes us mad when businesses don’t respond to complaints and they hide away, or pass the buck.

Customer loyalty is key to staying ahead in business, and if you don’t treat your customers well, they will not stay loyal. We have been working with the same clients since 2001 when our business opened which we think demonstrates why we were nominated for the Customer Care award.

The photo above was taken by by Studio IV Photography. We were very impressed by Studio IV and would recommend them to anyone business who would like a staff photoshoot. They have worked with Splash FM and have an impressive World Superbike portfolio.

Call Vicky at The Brand Surgery 01903 824229 if you would like us to give your business some TLC.