My 10 Years of Truth. Passion, Love and Relentless Tenacity…

#1 The Idea.

It’s the summer of 2005 and I return from a girly weekend in Madrid to my husband and soon-to-be founder of Truth. I’ve been happily working in client services, learning my craft at McCann Erickson before a two-year stint at what became Gyro International. Darren is currently senior designer and head of typography at McCann Erickson. He’s at the top of his game and respected industry-wide.

As I put down my case and plonk on the couch he tells me that he’s leaving McCann, where he’s been for the past 10 years… going to freelance for 12 months and then set up his own agency. That’s a lot of information in five minutes when you’ve just arrived home – but his passion for what he’s about to do is unshakeable, and in August 2006 Truth is born.

#2 Reebok UK.

I can whole-heartedly state that 2008 was a critical turning point for Truth, both commercially and creatively. A long-standing friend and photographer, Jon Shard had referred us. We won the brief to deliver branding and associated visual identity for Reebok’s sporting asset, Amir Khan (Amir is still using our logomark to this day). Working with Reebok would last until 2015… and my love for the brand still remains to this day.

Reebok is in my top 10 for hundreds of reasons, but the photography shoot with Amir Khan, whilst Darren and I were 10-weeks into expecting our first child, was probably one of the greatest moments (aside from feeling as sick as a dog). It launched our little business into a respected agency creating global branding.

#3 Versus Cancer ‘09.

Our second year running supporting this amazing charity founded by Andy Rourke (ex-Smiths) and Nova Reman (ex-tour manager to Ian Brown, to name just one). The visibility we received from VC was again phenomenal, leading onto numerous in-bound new business opportunities.

The 2009 campaign sticks in my memory the most. Cue Darren sending me a text message watching Noel Gallagher’s full set rehearsal, whilst sat next to non other than Paul Weller. You couldn’t script it.

#4 Lisa and Fi.

What started as a casual conversation over lunch in 2010 with my ex-colleague and friend at Pret-a-Manger with Lisa Margis (not yet French), ended up being what is now one of my proudest moments in Truth’s history.

A frantic phone call from France (there’s a lot of French references here, which is complete coincidence!) brought Lisa and Fiona into the Truth family as partners and directors of what has become an incredibly successful PR and Digital Outreach operation.

I’m proud to call them my partners, my allies and my close friends.

#5 The Unexpected Call.

One referral Darren and myself never expected arrived in 2011. I remember his face of disbelief when he came to tell me that ITV had just called with a brief out of the blue.

The call turned out to be an identity brief that would showcase the on screen brand of Coronation Street, off-screen for commercial opportunity. Those kinds of calls don’t happen too often!

#6 NYC – Baby!

Having worked with UK parenting brand Bounty for a number of years, the business decided to look at international markets to grow its commercial opportunity. In 2012 their parent company, Treehouse Group, invested in a bedside baby photography business know as Mom365.

I joined the UK marketing team in 2012 on a trip to New York, culminating in one of the most memorable strategic proposition and branding presentations I’ve ever given.  I don’t think anyone since has given me a round of applause when I finished the presentation…. I LOVE New York!

#7 The Big One.

I remember quite clearly sitting in the PZ Cussons reception with Darren in 2012, waiting to go in and pitch our thoughts on their global corporate identity. It felt huge for Truth, but we knew our strategy and brand creativity was solid.

We were pitching against the big boys and we didn’t think we’d win for a second. But we did – and we continue to work with the business to this day, it’s an organisation we’re both incredibly passionate about.

#8 2014 Transform Awards.

We’ve never been an agency for entering awards, Darren’s cabinet is pretty full so our reward comes from seeing brands grow and happy clients.

So when we transformed both corporate and operational brands for GC Aesthetics and our client wanted to enter, we were thrilled to win!

#9 Robinsons’ Internal Launch.

Having developed the corporate identity for Robinsons Brewery and re-invigorating the 176 year old brand, we were invited to launch it to the entire business in December 2014.

As Darren and I stood in front of the board, management and employees to reveal the new identity, we were met with gasps, silence, then laughter and smiles. It was a proud moment I’ll never forget.

# 10 Top Three.

Three weeks before our agency turns 10, I travel to London to the annual event hosted by the Drum – the UK’s Independent Agency Census. I’m thrilled to discover that Truth is voted by its clients and the Drum as not only an elite agency, but in the top three UK agencies. Wow.

It’s at this moment that watching my business partner and husband realise his dream, being by his side to create this fantastic agency, and seeing how far we’ve come, that I don’t think I could be any prouder.

Written by
Jo Scott, Managing Partner.

Has Instagram killed the art of photography?

I love photography and I have an enormous amount of respect for the people that are good at it. It is an incredibly hard craft to learn and near impossible to master. It is a beautiful crossroads where science meets art, and the great practitioners of the art are as much skilled technicians as they are creative artists. They capture spirit and emotion and freeze it in time as an everlasting testament to that precise moment in history. They manipulate light and shadow to evoke mood and create atmosphere. This takes not only great skill but a great awareness of the world and a finely tuned creative eye. They are also so in command of their equipment that it has become an extension of their eye, they no longer have to think about the technicalities anymore - it’s simply intuitive. They are automatic reactions to the situation, the subject, the light. The ability they have to capture a perfect image in a fraction of a second still amazes me every time.

Not too long ago capturing professional-looking images was a elitist pursuit of those with an expensive SLR and later a DSLR. Then the iPhone came along. And yes, there were digital compact cameras long before, and there were even other camera phones before the iPhone. But the first iPhone changed everything, particularly the apps, and more specifically Instagram. Instagram combined the basic human instinct of showing off on social media with the ability to turn an average shot into a masterpiece. 

Lomo had already started a pre-iPhone trend called ‘Lomography’. This involved taking quirky ‘shoot from the hip’ images of everyday nonsense on cheaply made, expensively priced Soviet analogue cameras. These highly revered ‘toys’ were very basic, and hard to focus as this consisted of a choice of ’near’ or ‘far’ and then you had to pay to have your film developed which took days. All this, only to discover your shots were blurred and unusable. If by some small miracle you had a useable shot you then needed to scan it to share it digitally via the web.

Instagram captured the spirit of Lomography and the iPhone put it in everyone’s hand, and more importantly their pocket. You no longer had to drag around large conspicuous and costly equipment. You no longer needed to understand aperture, depth of field and f-stops, the iPhone took care of all that. You just had to point and click.

Suddenly everyone became a photographer and could freeze moments in time and keep them in their pocket forever. They could share them instantly on social media and print them at home on there desktop printer. Instagram’s nifty little filter effects meant users could adjust their shots to look professional and change the composition by cropping it. It made people more aware of the skill set of a photographer without needing to have them yourself. 

The beautiful thing that Instagram does is it makes people look at the world differently. You see supposedly ‘non-creative’ people change as they begin to see the world through the eyes of a photographer, and they start to look for the beauty in everything. They start to appreciate light, form, texture, they consider the composition before pressing the button, they begin to think creatively. They experiment to explore what works and what doesn’t. It really opens your eyes and makes you really look at what is in front of you.

Six years after its launch some argued that Instagram has ‘devalued’ or ‘debased’ the art  and made the captured image disposable. I would argue that it has brought photography to the masses and heightened people’s appreciation of the art form, making it more revered than ever before.

Many of the world’s best professional photographers have now embraced Instagram as a platform to showcase their work. Steve McCurry one of the most celebrated photographers of his generation is an ‘Instagrammer’ (@stevemccurryofficial) and currently boasts 1.3m avid followers.

That is why in my opinion to say Instagram has changed the world maybe a bit of a stretch, but it has certainly changed the way its 400 million active users look at it. And I believe the great photographers of the past like Ansel Adams the landscape genius or the posthumously discovered street photographer Vivian Maier would approve too.

Written by
Darren Scott
Creative Director – Truth Creative

Follow Darren on Instagram: @darrenexplores

Do clients get the design they deserve?

Do clients get the design they deserve?

I strongly believe that great design is achieved by great people collaborating towards a common goal, and great clients get great design because they are part of that great team. The point I am making is that clients should see themselves as the facilitators of great design. A great client values design and understands its role within a business, it empowers progress and inspires people along the way. A great client can really affect the process in a positive way, with the decisions they make shaping the strategy and defining the journey. 

Insight

The ability of a client to provide valuable insight into their business and the market is an essential part of the briefing process. Obviously, a good design agency will endeavour to research and understand both your business and its potential market. However, they will never know it better than someone who lives and breathes the brand, so a great client will add real value to the design process.

Freedom

A great client demands great design, but at the same time is also very open minded to what that design might be. They come to you with a problem to be solved, not a solution to implement. They will also give the team the freedom and time to explore possibilities and evaluate their potential impact on both the business and the consumer. They then interrogate the outputs through the eyes of the target audience, disregarding personal preferences. 

Vision

A great client has to be a visionary, they need to see past barriers to the potential success and its eventual rewards. There will always be barriers to creating groundbreaking design, it is how you overcome those barriers that can define the success of a project. If you are ahead of the curve you are always going to have to knock a few walls down along the way to make structural changes, shift the perception of new technologies and systems, or change habitual or cultural behaviours. 

Some of the most influential design in history is the output of one passionate visionary with an idea and a dream. For example, Steve Jobs launched Apple out of his garage in California with a vision to create the world’s first affordable personal computer. He had no big R&D team (just Woz), he didn’t have a fancy office or a big budget, just a great idea and the drive and determination needed to implement it well. Jobs later proved with the iPod, iPad and iPhone that this visionary approach can be scaled up effectively with a great team of like-minded, talented people and a great captain to steer the ship.

Relationships

One of the most important things in any team process is relationships and great clients understand this. Great ideas are built on trust as much as anything else. If a client doesn’t trust the team appointed to deliver, then it will cloud judgement and the relationship will ultimately breakdown. It is really important that you feel comfortable enough in the relationship to have open and honest dialogue about what does and doesn’t work. This is why getting the fit right when appointing your agency is the first step on the road to great output, and ultimately great results. 

Quality

The quality of the output is a direct result of the input. But it is also the ability to identify what quality is, a great client can spot a great idea from across a room. However, not all agencies see quality output in the same way. Quality output can be defined in several ways depending on your objectives, and it depends on the brief. Some value aesthetics more, some emphasise the value of the idea, some are only concerned with results, but the great agencies blend all three perfectly.

If you have a great team, a great brief and a great insight then the output should be great, right? You would hope, but it is not always the case. Particularly when budgets and timings are thrown in to the mix too.

Budgets

‘I don’t have the budget for good design so just knock me up something quick’. This all too frequent comment really sets the scene for bad output. This popular misconception that good design is born out of a big budget isn’t really true, a good idea doesn’t care how much money you have. 

A good idea takes the same amount of time as a bad idea, that simple electrical impulse in the human brain is not restricted by budgets. What money does buy is more brains with bigger offices and bigger expenses. I believe a good idea can be born out of any budget if the environment is right and the insight is good. Granted, a bigger budget will buy grander executions and more exposure, but no amount of exposure will make a bad idea better. You’re just buying bad exposure. 

In fact sometimes the best ideas come straight away and might be scribbled on a beer mat in a moment of inspiration, whereas you can labour for weeks trying to get a bad idea to execute well, this is often because of bad initial input.

Bad design will always cost a business more time and money in the long term, as Apple discovered during their ill-fated, ill-designed rudderless years when Steve Jobs was exiled in the nineties from the company he founded, only to return to, well you know the rest…

Time

Great clients plan ahead and put processes in place to facilitate good design. Finding the time for research and workshops to gain insight and test outputs. Making sure there is adequate time for designers to absorb themselves in the problem and challenge the obvious solutions. Time is always tight, but it is possible to change the company culture to accept that, great design can take great planning and great patience.

So, do clients get the design they deserve?

Sadly, not always. There are lots of great businesses out there that don’t maximise their true potential by harnessing good design. Where they are failing is hard to tell as a outside observer, but what is clear is that a lot of great clients don’t get the great design they deserve. Equally there are probably lots of great agencies that have really frustrating clients I am sure. 

The truth is that clients must demand great design and inspire the team to deliver it, only then will they get the great design that they deserve. 

Written by
Darren Scott
Creative Partner / Founder – Truth Creative.

The importance of thought leadership?

The importance of thought leadership?

A thought leader is an individual or firm recognised as an informed opinion leader, and the ‘go-to’ person in their field of expertise. They are not only the trusted sources that move and inspire others; they turn ideas into reality and know how to replicate success.

In the context of brand strategy, this is an incredibly powerful tool. Once the solid industry term of corporate PR: today’s multi-channel opportunities enable any brand to drive end-user and consumer engagement through challenging the equilibrium.

For any brand to harness the power of thought leadership it must run deeper than a press release or social media campaign. It must be an integral culture of a business. Why? Because the competitive advantage most brands are vying for is not easy to achieve in an ever-changing, sceptical world. Nor should it be. True thought leadership must breed innovation from the foundations of a business and the collective individuals who make it happen. Only then can a business project its thought leadership to a wider, external audience.

Great thought leadership challenges the norm; it doesn’t simply provide commentary. It is driven from the individuals behind a brand who ask why? Or, what if? And, more often than not thought leaders, who inspire an organisation, aren’t necessarily the right people to communicate it, internally or externally.

So how can a brand truly harness thought leadership?

A brand can really engage its users by embracing a differentiated brand proposition, enabling the business individuals to live it in everything they do. This breeds innovation, new product development and above all, brand advocacy through distinctive, campaign-able conversations.

The best way to understand this is to cite the brands that do this well.

First up, the obvious one. Apple Inc.

You might argue some of the thought leadership has waned since we lost the brilliance of Mr. Jobs. But my view is, he did more than enough to launch Apple into a position of thought leadership for years to come simply by breeding innovation throughout the veins of his business. The result? A plethora of brand advocates who genuinely love the familiarity they get from the intelligence of intuitive products from the very first time they pick them up, to the ‘nothing-is-too-much-trouble’ in-store experience.

Second, SAP. Yes – I’m being serious.

As a business software powerhouse that wants to show how your business can leverage the latest innovative technologies to solve problems, SAP is a thought leader in its own right. The content provided by SAP is about leading and helping, not simply selling. SAP is thinking of its brand as a media outlet producing content that is relevant to its target audience. It does this by establishing itself as a bright mind that can help your business solve problems. It also provides a great showcase for its internal leaders to position themselves as experts in their field. IBM’s alignment to implement its intelligent systems on the ground, is not without piggy-backing innovative thought leadership…

Third. It’s TED.

TED is a brand built on thought leadership. The nonprofit organization’s talks and conferences represent the world’s most relevant and influential thinkers, and the ideas distributed through videos and blog posts impact a widening range of industries and disciplines. 

The organization’s actual target audience is made up of individuals representing decision-makers in every aspect of business, education, technology and other industries. Now TED is branching out to create conferences centered on a range of subjects and locations; 2014’s TEDMED is serving as the brand’s first conference dedicated to one discipline. This is how TED is able to influence industries and audiences in ways that most brands only dream of.

A final thought…

All three of these brands operate as thought leaders by moving their audience in a very pertinent way. They engage, innovate and stretch once they’ve mastered what they’ve been doing thus far. Thought leadership isn’t commentary, and it isn’t PR – it is about communicating a brand’s ability to deliver results to help improve both lives and business.

Written by
Jo Scott
Managing Partner – Truth Design.

Designed for mass production

Rewind 4 years and I'm leaving uni with liver on the brink of failure, but a head filled with ambition, I'm leaving uni with 89 other communication design graduates, from a university that's one of the 130 higher education establishments in the UK. A few quick sums tell me that's a hell of a lot of competition for a coveted design role, a role that I've just spent more money than I've ever seen learning how to do… 

It's nearly four summers later and I've been doing said coveted role for every summer since - somehow amongst all this fierce competition for jobs and mass design production I've made it stick - phew!  Now there's a fresh crop of talent on the horizon, champing at the bit, with the same shaky liver and more importantly the same lofty goals that my four years younger self set out, and as bleakly discussed earlier it's tough out here - but with a will there's a way! 

Every budding designer will approach the industry differently and landing a great role is always part talent, part determination and a little slice of luck - but promising, hungry designers will find success. So enough of the negativity, I want to share with the new breed a few nuggets of advice that helped me land the roles I've wanted so far:

Be selective.

There's a lot of fresh talent scrambling around to land a prestigious spot around this time of year - but don't succumb to desperation. Your portfolio will become your lifeline in industry, it's your access key to the roles you want, and the truest reflection of the skills you can offer. So starting at a studio that you don't have an appetite for will lead to a lack of conviction in your work - a conviction that you won't easily be able to shake when you show your book. Target the agencies you want to work at and believe in yourself.

Get noticed in the physical world.

Having an online folio is pretty much essential, but can you really make your website own-able, does it truly reflect something of your personality without compromising the integrity of the work that's on it - it's a hard task. Make something physical because a lovely piece of print, showing an investment of time and skill is a hard thing to discard. Get yourself out there, poking your head in your favourite agencies. Why? Because people buy into people, you become more than just another website tab waiting to be closed, you’re creating a greater interaction between yourself and your chosen studio.

Don't try to be the finished article.

If you feel you’re a fully rounded designer don't bother looking for a job, set-up your own studio! But like the other 99% you probably have strengths and weaknesses, try to identify these and pull out your best assets in your book. As a young creative, experienced heads will be looking forward to shaping you into a refined product, you don't have to be complete, you just have to show that what you do best really adds to the agency.

So good luck to the next crop, don’t be anxious, there's a fair sized mountain to climb ahead, but like every peak it's not just the climb that's rewarding, it's the view once you reach the top.

Written by
Chris Ebden
Designer (and former intern) – Truth

Brands as religion

Thou shalt worship false idols!

Many modern brands have become mini-religions or achieved cult status. Social media has allowed brands to offer themselves up to be worshipped.

Brands have followers, fan pages and every retweet effectively makes you a preacher for your brand of choice.The passing of the collection plate has been replaced by subscription fees, and baptism by loyalty schemes as brands encourage consumers to commit and to spread the gospel of their brand. 

Brand values have become the new commandments, the foundations every brand scribes to define their faith. A recognisable brand mark adds value to what you offer, it allows you to stand out from the crowd, and it can build relationships with your customers. But it doesn’t stop there, consuming a brand has become an experience, a lifestyle choice, a way of saying this is what I am all about, I believe in this.

Consumers tend to align themselves with like-minded brands. It says:
“Hey, I believe in what you’re doing, let’s do it together”.

Apple has achieved this by constant innovation and projecting an über cool attitude towards design innovation and customer service. They believe they can change the world, their believers think they can change the world, some believe they already have. As a result their customers are loyal and freely share their love for the brand, they are Apple ‘disciples’ if you like. They wear the brand like a badge of honour, with sense of pride and belonging.

This trust and loyalty allows Apple to drive the brand into new areas applying the same Brand philosophies as they go. The consumers now automatically believe their products WILL be better and WILL be cooler.

This blind devotion is THE ultimate in brand loyalty, it is the promised land.

Faith.

Like any religion, brands want people to have faith in what they have to offer. This faith leads consumers to have a life-long devotion to the quality of their brand. This leads to a sharing of beliefs and a growing following of devoted disciples.

Omnipresence.

The most successful brands try to be visible everywhere and to everyone. Many of the world’s most recognisable brands have achieved this. For example, the ‘Golden Arches’ of McDonald’s are arguably more widely recognised and prominent in modern society than many religious symbols.

Deities and Iconography.

Endorsements are big business, many icons of sport and entertainment align themselves with brands they believe in, or not. In fact, many of our modern ‘icons’ like Tiger Woods (fallen icon) and David Beckham have become global brands in their own right.

The Place of Worship.

You may have noticed that people still worship on the Sabbath day, just not in the same place anymore. The buildings still tend to be tall and instantly recognisable by the iconic signs and symbols. But, these temples are no longer made of grey stone and covered in crucifixes. They are the brightly coloured monolithic structures of B&Q and IKEA. These are now the weekend pilgrimage for many consumers.

Miracles.

Many technology brands perform what many would consider modern ‘miracles’.

When Sony launched the Walkman in 1979, people were able (for the first time) to carry music around in their hand. Many doubted it, but it changed the music industry and went on to become the biggest selling electronic consumer product in history. This made Sony a global super brand. Apple performed a similar miracle when the late Steve Jobs (God bless his soul) turned the muddied water that was portable music into the fine wine that is now iPod and iTunes.

A Sense of Community.

The unstoppable rise of social networks has seen brands like Facebook become the worlds fastest growing ‘religion’, it is the already the biggest and most diverse community on the planet, it transcends race, language and geography. It brings more people together more than any other faith. It is so high and mighty that even the biggest brands worship it, even to the extent where they display their faith proudly in the form of a LIKE button.

So if new ‘religions’ are merging, talking, sharing values and faiths, is the world heading towards one divine super religion called the internet?

To discover the secret to brand worship for your business, let Truth show you the way!

Written by
Darren Scott
Founder / Creative Director – Truth

Should Tesco rebrand?

On a recent car trip my six year old son, Dylan, recently pointed out to me that he recognised a Sainsbury’s store, ‘because Sainsbury’s is orange’. Being a brand whore this intrigued me and I decided to quiz him further on other brands, and more specifically supermarkets. What colour is Waitrose I asked? ‘Green daddy, dark green’, he replied.  ‘And Morrisons?’, ’Yellow daddy, and green too, but just a bit’, he replied. Asda? ‘Green’. Marks & Spencer? ‘Dark green as well, I know because grandma goes there’.

He adds that ’Netflix is red’ and that ‘Sky believe in better daddy!’. He also adds that ‘Ocado doesn’t have a colour, it has fruit’, (his knowledge of the Ocado brand is purely based on the vans that deliver to our home). Then I asked about Tesco, his reply? ‘I don’t know daddy, is it black?‘. Now, I know that I have taken him to a Tesco store on several occasions, but for some reason the branding had not registered with him. 

I know that six-year-olds are not the target demographic for Tesco, but I guess that they are not exactly top of the list for the other supermarket brands either. Maybe what the others have, is more brand presence or a better connection with consumers. Tesco is often criticised for being a faceless corporation, trying to take over the world, and as the second largest retailer in the world (based on revenue), you could easily argue they are. However, they are often accused (sometimes unfairly) of single-handedly destroying our high streets and squeezing the life out of our farming industry. For this reason alone they should be on the charm offensive, they should work extra hard on getting their personality right, and addressing the negativity through brand experience. Many of our other large supermarket chains are equally guilty of the same practises, but deflect it with brand experience, mask it with personality, and offset it with high profile CSR activity. 

Obviously a six year old is unaware of the negative (or positive) press a brand might receive and all that surrounds it. A six year old is free to simply judge branding at face value and purely as a cosmetic solution, which is fascinating. Sometimes we could all benefit from looking at the world through the eyes of a child – that simple clarity, free from the white noise of our busy lives and corporate spin voodoo. They don’t over think things, they just say it as they see it, and it is beautiful to witness.

So, is it the branding?

A company’s branding is not only the delivery mechanism for their personality, but also the cosmetic veneer that envelops the brand experience and the company’s culture. Tesco has several aspects to its brand that buck the trend of most supermarket branding rules. But are they really faceless? I would say no, but as the brand is so sterile it is borderline generic, and so their face is forgettable. Bland would be a more accurate description, over brand. Now, this may be a deliberate ploy, based on market research or focus groups, but Tesco do little (visually) to make you warm to them as a consumer. This is bad news when you consider that branding is usually an all important first impression a company has on a potential customer.

Feeling blue.

Tesco has traditionally always used red and blue on white as their brand colours. Patriotic as this is, it feels sterile and cold. The blue headlines on white feel corporate or medical, not enticing and welcoming. As a brand, it lacks the warmth of Sainsbury’s orange and the tradition and prestige of Waitrose green. In fact, all it communicates is blandness and almost a lack of effort to connect with customers in a meaningful way. A warmer colour would go a long way towards injecting passion and warmth into their frosty appearance, and maybe even make them more emotive and human in the eyes of potential customers.

The clothes that their words wear.

The expanded serif typeface is overly spiky and angular, it feels tired and dated (not traditional), more appropriate for the signage on a medieval castle carved into stone, rather than a family supermarket. The use of capitals is SHOUTY, and it doesn’t have the warmth and personality of many of the other supermarkets. Ironically the softer Clarendon typeface that Tesco traditionally used is now embraced by several supermarkets, mainly because it has personality and a certain bounciness to it, that softens the message it is communicating. Competitors like Sainsbury’s use serif typography but it is softer and more flowing with its rounded bowls and tapered serifs, the use of lowercase is more personable and friendly. Waitrose use an elegant and rounded sans-serif that feels minimal and elegant to underpin their premium positioning. That is why the choice of typeface is a key part of any branding project, it is the accent with which your words speak, and it speaks volumes about your brand.

Personality check.

Tesco lacks a face or a recognisable personality that we, as consumers, can associate with, and align ourselves to. Jamie Oliver made Sainsbury’s feel like a friendly, food-focussed company that had your best interests at heart. Jamie brought passion and creativity to their customer experience. Tesco would benefit from a shot in the arm of celebrity juice from an appropriate brand ambassador (think Jamie Oliver, not Kerry Katona). Aldi has developed a cult-like status by having great personality and a sense of humour that people warm to.

Obviously a company is much much more than simply how it looks. It is about culture, experience, product and most importantly people. I am not claiming that the negativity surrounding Tesco is because of their branding, far from it, but I don’t think the branding is doing enough to win customers over and shift the perception of the company. In summary, Tesco is getting a lot of little things wrong, adding up to a dysfunctional brand experience, which consumers are failing to connect with, other than simply convenience of location and price. As Tesco claim ‘Every little helps’ but in this case, every little hurts, particularly in the eyes of a six year old.

Written by
Darren Scott
Founder / Creative Director – Truth

SEO – it’s easy, isn’t it?

Somebody asked me recently if their website should have SEO in it. (Or ‘Essy-Oh’ was actually what was queried). My answer was of course ‘Well, yes’ (obviously). After all there’s little point having a website that isn’t optimised (or Essy-oh’d - a term I am now rather fond of); it would be rather like writing a book and not putting it on Amazon.

But the question led me to wonder about the myth behind SEO and if there is a way to explain it simply. My pondering, unfortunately, resulted in the conclusion that actually there isn’t, because it’s rather a complicated process. Which isn’t a bad thing in all honesty because it keeps people like me in a job.

The good news is that there are some simple techniques that anybody who owns a website can adopt to improve their organic listing in search results.

The first point to make is to clear up any confusion between SEO and PPC. SEO = Search Engine Optimisation. PPC = Pay Per Click. They are two separate things and either one, or preferably both, should be taken into consideration in any decent search strategy.

The second point to make is that Google handles around 96% of search traffic in the UK, so if your audience is solely or predominantly UK based, then stick to Google’s algorithms and you can’t go far wrong.

5 tips to help improve your SEO:

Content.
The phrase ‘content is king’ is nothing new, but it is true. Content on a site is one of the first things Google will look at and rank it in terms of writing quality, keyword inclusion and user engagement. There are several things to consider; Google is very clever at noticing overuse of keywords, so make sure they are there, but don’t overdo it. Keeping content across your site fresh and topical will engage visitors and reduce bounce rate, so if you have a blog or a news feed then make sure you are updating them regularly.

Build quality.
This will have a definite impact on how high, or low, your site is listed. This is down to the developer and best practice dictates certain requirements. Firstly, a site description is a must but all too often missing on poorly built sites. Pages should be titled sensibly and given meta description tags, and headers and subheads should use header tags with relevant keywords.

Architecture.
Google needs to be able to ‘crawl’ web pages easily so attention should be given to site architecture. Load time and individual page URLs should also be considered, and a responsive site for tablet and smartphone users will rank higher than a desktop-only build.

Links.
This is important because things can go horribly wrong if dealt with incorrectly. Links to other pages on your site is good. Linking to other, credible sites that your visitors will also find interesting and useful, is good. Linking to random sites and allowing same random sites to link to you, is bad. Overdoing links is also bad. Be careful, Google is far more intelligent than you or I!

Social.
Engaging in social media can positively affect your SEO. Whether you use Facebook, Twitter and/or LinkedIn, make sure you have easily accessible links from your website. Encourage your users to engage with you on these platforms as Likes, Shares, Posts and keyword Hashtags will impact on your site’s trustworthiness and your reputation.

I wish I could tell you that was all there was to it, but the truth is that there’s a whole lot more. And a lot more ‘do nots’ as well, but we’ll save those for another blog!

The Death of Typography?

As a creative director I get to cast my eye over my fair share of portfolios from fellow creatives and I am often asked for my opinion on the contents. Lately I have found myself increasingly at a loss for words as I attempt to sugarcoat my response. The reality is; I am often left deeply saddened by the amount of students and young designers that simply neglect typography and don’t actually know an ampersand from their elbow.

As a Typographer and Type Designer myself, I am always naturally drawn to the intricacies and nuances of the way designers set type and the reasons for their choice of typeface. I believe this detail speaks volumes about the way a person approaches their work and problem solving in general. Interestingly, it isn’t the lack of detail that concerns me – these are skills you learn over time with experience – it is the lack of the basic knowledge of typography and its rules that are most alarming. Many students fail to understand basic terminology such as leading, kerning, ascenders, widows, orphans and counters. And one didn’t even know what an ampersand was!

I’m not saying everyone should know what colour tie Max Miedinger was wearing when he designed Haas-Grotesk forEduard Hoffmann at the Haas’sche Schriftgießerei in 1957. But the basic anatomy of our alphabet and its application surely isn’t too much to ask from any human being, let alone a design graduate.

As a young designer, I was always led to believe that if you want to be a rule breaker and rock the boat, you first need to learn the rules and understand them. The difference between incompetent and incredible is knowledge.

My greatest fear is that the traditional rules and typographic techniques that were drilled into me as a young graduate are being lost forever. Students today are either not being educated correctly or for some reason are not interested in this essential design skill. I know that the years I spent hand drawing letterforms and pestering experienced typographers for tips and advice were not wasted. I know this because they have made my life as a communicator a simpler one.

Of all the design crafts, typography has to be the most important. As a designer it is the most powerful tool at your disposal and one you will use every day of your life. The ability to set type and control the connotations of the message is to control the minds of the reader. An appropriately chosen typeface can make copy appear sad, happy, aggressive, exciting, modern or traditional.  In fact, when used effectively, it is without doubt THE most powerful communication tool available to a graphic designer. That is why in my humble opinion; the most influential designers in history were also typographers, typesetters or type designers.

A long time ago, I was taught to choose a typeface based on how it made you feel – not because you have seen it somewhere else. A lot of students no longer want to create and discover techniques for themselves; they would rather replicate ideas found on one of the many design compilation blogs. These ‘hipster’ blogs have become a short cut to thinking for many students – they don’t want to go out on a limb and experiment anymore. Instead, they create disposable design and judge its success based upon appearance on a blog. They should be creating real long lasting solutions to real problems for real clients. That is successful design.

If these skills are not passed on correctly, the future will be bleak. It will consist of generations of designers who believe that it is ok to set an email in Comic Sans!

Written by Darren Scott
Creative Director

Why is client servicing so integral to agencies?

There’s no denying the importance of the  your customer has. So as an agency that creates brands and the experience of them, our own customer know-how is paramount to any level of success.

Many agencies often miss the importance of client servicing, but to enable a high level of client retention, it must be an integrated aspect of any agency offer.

There are a number of key elements that help create a positive client experience with an agency, here’s a run down of my top five…

1. Relationship, Relationship, Relationship.

This doesn’t mean you need to invite a client to your wedding reception, but it does mean that you should nurture a client relationship. Take the time to make a call on Friday afternoon and wish them a good weekend, give empathy about their excessive workload and make genuine offers of how you can help them. Over time you’ll find common ground and turn the relationship into a lasting one.

2. Making Life Easier.

A good account handler will strive to make their client’s job easier. It’s how we add value, and it’s how a client can start to trust your capabilities over time. Never assume a client thinks you’re great without proving it. At higher client level this might be a great piece of insight, or thought provoking competitor activity. It might just be helping out with pulling information together or reporting on levels of activity. It should be relevant and timely, and ultimately make your client’s life that little bit easier.

3. Managing Expectation.

Valuing a client is critical to their perception of you and your agency. If you commit to a deadline then stick to it. Remember that if you’ve promised a client they will have something, they may well have promised it to someone else; so if you can’t deliver it on time (and it must be a good reason) then manage the expectation and give the client plenty of notice. More often than not, clients will accept the delay if they are presented with a contingency at the same time. It shows that you and your agency have done everything possible to get the job done and this shows commitment to the relationship.

4. Show Genuine Interest.

Marketing professionals can be incredibly time-starved and as a result, they often don’t have time to stop and reflect at achievement. If you know they’ve got a board meeting to present results, then make a note and follow it up by asking how it went. Give genuine enthusiasm when things go well and your client took the time to tell you about it. Similarly, show support for when things don’t go as planned and how you can help to improve it next time.

5. Be The Epitome of Calm.

Agencies are stressful. They are fuelled by last minute demands and last minute changes without any movement on the deadline. Great client servicing is about communicating the challenges of short deadlines but that you will do everything you can to deliver it (making life easier again). Regardless of how busy you are, never show a client you’re stressed. It makes them nervous that you’re incapable of delivery. Mumble all you like in the office, but before you answer the phone, breathe and smile. They won’t even notice, but they will think you’re an agency in control.

Reputation Management.

In summary, client servicing should be about protecting your agency reputation and your personal one. As the face of the agency, client-servicing teams are the first and last point of contact, integral to the success of the client’s brand experience.

Jo Scott
Managing Partner, Truth Design.