Platinum Jubilee Trifle. No, really!
Platinum Jubilee Trifle, it's a winner!
Every once in awhile we like to take a step away from design and look at the other things in life. On this occasion, arguably, you could say this is still connected to design. Just take a look at the picture of the Platinum Jubilee trifle, those beautiful, colourful layers just sing out. (Just wait until it hits your taste buds). What could be better than Swiss rolls, lemon curd, Saint Clements jelly, custard, Amaretti biscuits, chunky mandarin coulis and jewelled chocolate bark!
So in celebration of our Queen Elizabeth II and by royal decree, let's get making trifle!
Jemma’s Lemon Swiss Roll and Amaretti Trifle really is a winner, literally, and tastes divine. If you are making the Platinum Jubilee pudding over the next few weeks, Jemma’s top tip is that you can use ready-made custard. Try Jude’s Madagascan Vanilla custard or Sainsburys Taste the Difference vanilla custard, available in shops near you!
Congratulations, Jemma, on creating a pudding that’s certain to become a delicious part of Fortnum & Mason's history – and forever associated with Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations too. Discover this extraordinary trifle in the story behind its invention on the Fortnum & Mason website.
Of course if you want a little design inspiration just give Fortnum & Mason visit in person. We promise you you'll be wowed and astonished by some of the wonderful packaging design that they incorporate across their range of products. Doh! And we said we were stepping away from design... Of course we can't guarantee that you won't be enchanted by the wonderful selection of food and drink on offer, while a little expensive the quality is superb.
It's pure self-indulgence, but what the hell, we say go for it!
Enjoy.
Electric Bike Livery Design
Electric bike livery design
Great to see the FareShare Sussex eco delivery van out and about. Delighted to have helped design it along with fab illustrations from Sandra Staufer – looking good!
Vehicle Signage and Livery
If you have a company car, delivery van or better still an Electric Bike then it pays to consider using signage to advertise your services. Think about it, even when the vehicle isn't being used as a mobile billboard and is parked up, it's a constant advertisement for your business or company. No one ever walks up to the driver of a blank van and asks for their business card. A well designed service van creates confidence, trust and credibility among your customers, it also raises your profile and helps you stay in your potential customers minds.
Professionally designed signage helps to give the impression that the business owners know how to take care of their business and have pride in doing so, which in turns builds confidence in customers that they will be well looks after. The most effective wrapped vehicles are those that have solid design and utilise good branding. This may be an opportunity to look at your brand. Does it need refreshed? What could you do better?
When designing your vehicle signage or livery remember so keys points:
- Make sure your branding is consistent with your other marketing outlets, i.e. website, email marketing, social media accounts etc. This will ensure your customers will know they are seeing the same company or business.
- The message should be simple. If it's too text-heavy, for example, it will be hard to read. The most important information should be the largest and very visible; typically this is the company name.
- Don't try to mention everything you do or provide, you'll over crowd the design and layout and it will lose impact. Instead sum it up, what is your core business and what needs do you solve for your business?
- Remember to include your telephone number and website address. Obvious I know, but occasionally they get missed. Make sure they are clear and readable from a distance. If you can't read it when parked across the road no one else will be able to read it either.
- Make your design colourful and eye-catching. You are using your vehicle as mobile advertisements, so don't hold back when it comes to design. Make it fun, exciting, unique and distinctive.
- Remember to check your spelling, even better, ask others to do it for it. There is nothing worse that a typo in the signage, this will paint a bad picture of you in your customers minds.
If you'd like some help and advice about your vehicle signage and livery get in touch, we'd be delighted to help.
About FareShare
Hundreds of thousands of tonnes of good food is wasted by the UK food industry every year. At the same time, millions of people are struggling to afford to eat.
Our work addresses these two issues by redistributing food industry surplus which would otherwise be wasted, to the people that need it most.
We provide food to charities and groups that deliver services in addition to meals, such as advice and guidance, health support, counselling and befriending, to help break the cycle of poverty and use food as a vehicle for good above and beyond alleviating hunger.
Checkout the great work FareShare Sussex are doing in these hard times, if you can volunteer, fundraise or donate, please do.
Gamification in your marketing strategy
Gamification in your marketing strategy
The term ‘gamification’ is is widely used these days It’s also something that we’ve noticed is cropping up in conversation with our clients on a regular basis as they consider creating their own gamification marketing strategy. So, what exactly is gamification and how does gamification fit in to your marketing strategy?
The answer to the first question is fairly straightforward and has been covered extensively on sites such as Wikipedia:
"Gamification is the application of game-design elements and game principles in non-game contexts. It can also be defined as a set of activities and processes to solve problems by using or applying the characteristics of game elements. Gamification commonly employs game design elements to improve user engagement, organisational productivity, flow, learning, crowdsourcing, knowledge retention, employee recruitment and evaluation, ease of use, usefulness of systems, physical exercise, traffic violations, voter apathy, and more."
The answer to the second question has been surprisingly established for some years. Gamification has been embedded into marketing strategies since day 1. Incentives have been central to both marketing and gaming strategies; encouraging us all to better ourselves with the latest products, improve our skills with the most difficult challenge or by simply offering us an escape from reality.
Gamification takes the essence of what makes games so “fascinating and irresistible” and integrate them into non-game experiences, i.e. marketing strategies and campaigns. Adding elements to your site or app like: rewards, challenges and incentives triggers a sense of achievement and makes use of the competitive nature in people, encouraging them to use your app or website even more, because they’ll enjoy it.
Why does gamification work?
- You create a fun experience for your audience, which will lead to a longer and more engaging relationship.
- It motivates your customers to participate: there are chances to be rewarded, to win something or to gain recognition.
- It gives you an emotional connection with your customers, increasing the possibility that they’ll also become more loyal to your business.
- It’s for “all-around” uses since you can add game elements to different areas. Think project management, recruitment, marketing and more.
Gamification can increase the engagement of customers, prospects and partners. Rewarding them (it doesn’t’ have to be something materialistic, it can also be recognition or even valuable content) can increase their loyalty and positive feeling towards your business. It speaks to the sense of achievement & competition of the people. People want to be noticed and get rewarded. Performing better than their peers will leave them with a sense of achievement. It will help your prospects identify each other. Having gamification tools, can help you segment your prospects, so you can make them a more personalised offer.
Gamification in your marketing strategy
- Incentive - Is there a valid reason for introducing gamification and, if so, a strong incentive to ensure it is a success? From rewarding users with improved status, access to new content or just free stuff, being clear about how you intend to motivate your audience is a vital gamification technique.
- Process - Are there existing processes in place that can be adapted and, if not, how will the gamification of your products, services or content be managed? If you can identify activity that your users are already performing and ‘gamify it’ then you can instantly add value. Alternatively, if you’re trying to convert your users to new behaviour then make sure the gamification process is easy for them to buy into.
- Context - Is it the right audience on the right platform? In simple terms, if you want to use gamification as an HR tool, make sure that the technology is accessible to all as a web service and not just as an app. If your target audience are already using a particular device then go with the flow and develop a solution around their technology choices.
- Objective - What do you hope to achieve from the gamification process and is it a short or long term objective? Using freebies as an incentive is a quick win but being able to give your users improved status amongst their peers or giving them ongoing access to exclusive content has the potential to create brand loyalty in the long term.
- Scope - How long will this take and how much will this cost? An obvious question when undertaking any marketing or communications activity. However, if this is something new to your brand or business then scoping out the project properly in the first place will provide your creative and technical partners with a much clearer understanding of your expectations.
Entertainment, education and engagement through gamification can help you to engage with different target audiences and build long term brand loyalty. There are many stablished webinars and conferences that specialise in gamification, such as Gamification Europe and Gamification+.
What ever you decide to do, make it fun!