We have just had the packaging back from Mushroom and Co the ethical children’s toy retailer and have to say we are very pleased with the results. Foundry34 have been working on a complete rebrand for the company over the last few months and developed a wide range of branded material and digital work, including brand identity, packaging, presentation materials, advertising and ecommerce store. They have just returned from several trade shows and we think the 100% natural rubber, hand painted toys are going to go down very well. We will be getting more images of the work onto our folio pages over the coming weeks.

With the start of the new year well underway and everyone back to work the time of the year for planning, resolutions and getting everything ship shape for the coming year is upon us. We thought we would send through our top five quick and easy tips to promote your business this year to get things off to a flying start

1. Maximise your resources. Before you go out and buy lists or start complex data collection look at any existing resources you have – think email lists, phone numbers, referrals or existing website users. Think creatively (or get someone to think creatively for you) about how you can utilise these contacts in a cost effective way -which leads us to…

2. Get most bang for buck. E-newsletters (like this one) are a great way to keep in touch with your customers without the effort needed by other digital marketing methods and are much cheaper than conventional mailing, think about cost vs results across all of your marketing efforts.

3. Show your products and services in the best light. The death of print has been definitely been overstated- in a digital world a well designed printed brochure can give you the edge over your competitors and make your products and services seem much more special.

4. Get with the times. Try out some social media. What’s not to love about social media and digital marketing? Low cost and easy to use- if you carefully manage your time and develop a social media plan you will really start to see results.

5. Refresh your website. Remember that website you had designed in 2002? It is looking dated and in desperate need of an update. Your website is the primary research tool for anyone wanting to find out more about your business, Make sure it is current, looks fresh and communicates the key information your customers are looking for.

December sees the launch of one of the major projects we’ve been working on over the last few months – Jap-Central. Again, ‘content is king’ is the mantra for the project and the company are currently going through a soft launch of the site with trusted businesses and users.

The intention of the soft launch is twofold; one to build up real content on the site in a live environment and get some very useful usability data. We think with the right take up Jap-Central is going to be a huge success.

The guys behind the company are passionate about the product and completely understand their target market and know what makes them tick. The coming months are going to see this online brand really build into a major player in this market.

Like many creative agencies, Foundry34 did it’s fair share of free work in the early days, trying to build up our folio or simply trying to get our work out there. Unfortunately free work does usually generate more … requests for free work.

The problem tends to be that rather than clients having an appreciation for the service they are getting for free, the service becomes devalued and we guarantee if you are going to have client relationship problems, it is always with people who do not value your service.

Fast forward a few years and we don’t have to offer work for free but, as always, the team have discussions about the direction of the company and our ethical policy. Although we work with charities and social enterprises on a commercial basis and make donations to charity (our chosen charity is the British Red Cross) we have discussed the idea of helping an organisation out with their advertising on a pro bono basis.

Step forward James Hirst who is about to do a worldwide cycling tour in the aid of Cancer Research. James is a friend of one of the team who mentioned it in one of our discussions and the timing seems to be about right. So James will be off on his tour next year and Foundry34 are going to be helping him out with his website (The Ride Round) and marketing to raise the profile of his undertaking. It gives us a chance to do some experimental work, help out with some great causes and show advertising isn’t the root of all evil.

August sees the launch of management consultancy Ascend Twentyone’s new website design and branding. Foundry34 were approached by Director Mandy Sandhu to develop an umbrella brand for the company and sub brands for each of the company’s service areas; Strategic Management & Planning, People Management, Business Development and Public Funding and projects

The brief was to present a professional, competent persona for the company yet maintain an approachable and clear message through the corporate communications and language.

After research and discussions and in negotiation with the client, Foundy34 designed a crisp minimal brand using a strong colour scheme to differentiate the service areas.

Once the core branding was established the look and feel was carried through to the website design and direct communications.

Results? A very happy client and a start-up business that instantly has the professional look and feel to compete with the established competition.

Check out the ascend twentyone website here

Last and by no means least August sees a great client win in the shape of global consultancy blackswan. Foundry34 have been selected to design and develop their new online presence and work is already well underway. We see this client as a great coup for Foundry34 and shows that Foundry34 continue to go from strength to strength. More on this brief soon

So it‘s basically an open-ended brief, which is far too tempting for us! You can find our entries below, mocking the iPhone’s versatility as there is an App for almost everything (even for dealing with classic villains such as Darth Vader), and Greggs’ hard-to-hide irresistableness even to celebrities such as Gordon Ramsey and Tiger Woods.