Winter in Pictures

by Miranda Nelham || December 15th, 2011
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The Aspect of great event marketing

by Jason Kelly || December 9th, 2011
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When it comes to making a splash to attract attention, drive footfall or even just to get some local awareness you have to think differently – keep it simply, but make it unique – that’s our view.

This is the approach our team took when they were looking to create awareness for an upcoming event for one of our clients, Spectrum Community Health CIC.

Spectrum provides high quality, specialist advice, care and treatment for substance and alcohol misuse, sexual health and offender health and wellbeing on behalf of the NHS in around the Wakefield area.

The client brief was simple: ‘Attract the attention of healthcare professionals and decision makers and encourage them to attend the official launch of Spectrum.’

To mark the occasion the venue needed to be monumental – a place that was iconic and inspirational. After some discussions the launch took place at the Hepworth Gallery, attracting over 200 key decision makers, policy makers and healthcare professionals from across the region.

Said Jonathan Rayfield, managing director at The Aspect Group: “Attendance at the event proved a huge success and shows that Spectrum can punch well above their weight.

“The creative bods within the Aspect team were fantastic, helping our client promote its services within a grand, but clinically targeted strategy.”

Key to the event’s success was the displays, which were designed to communicate powerful messages, helping to promote all the services offered by Spectrum, while at the same time communicating the challenges the organization has to deal with to those working within the region’s healthcare sector.

Another key factor was the brochure design, which was used and distributed throughout the event. As with the display, the brochure was also designed, written and produced by the Aspect team and ensured key messages were communicated to each of the visitors who attended the event.

So there you go, that is just one ‘Aspect‘ of great event marketing – it achieved its objectives and the client was very happy with the event.

Get in touch if you would like to know more about how we could help your event make more of an impact?

Things to love about winter

by Helen Rayfield || November 29th, 2011
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I don’t love winter. I am a summer person. My life skill is getting an even tan. In the summer I am happy, bubbly and positive; in the winter, none of the aforementioned. However, mind over matter and all that, I have endeavoured to foster a love of winter by producing a top ten, which appear to be:

1. Porridge – wrong in the summer, warm and nutritious as soon as it gets chilly.

2. The lights in the trees on Harrogate’s Stray – many of you won’t have a clue what I’m talking about but believe me – they are impressive. Harrogate doesn’t just do Christmas lights, it does seasonal lights too.

3. Hibernation – you don’t have to go out in winter, except at Christmas. In summer you have to go to every bbq around but in winter when you make an excuse, I’m staying home chopping logs/knitting a blanket, it seems altogether more plausible.

4. Log fires – I know people who say they make too much mess and are too much work. This argument can be applied to nearly everything in life – making curry, having children, blogging – and it is always wrong. An open fire is a joy.

5. Snow – I live in Yorkshire. Snow is no stranger here and it never fails to delight me. Opening the curtains in the morning to see this silent visitor is one of life’s treats.

6. Soup – I make a big batch of soup every week in winter. Soup is not sexy, it’s not going to be anyone’s last meal request but it tastes good and it’s cheap. Soup is good for the economy, farmers and the NHS and could well solve our economic problems given half a chance.

7. Wool – I don’t like winter clothes but there is something splendid about wool. Jumpers, scarves, gloves – wool has to be the fabric of choice for winter. Our sheep industry is experiencing something of a renaissance and it’s a by-product so all us veggies can still feel smug.

8. Winter gardening – it’s great for lazy/busy people because you do as much or as little as you like – rake a few leaves, plant a few bulbs, bit of tidying here and there – then off inside for a hot chocolate.

9. Slippers – these are wrong whereas these are right.

10. Ok, that’s it, can’t think of 10…roll on summer.

A Little Bit Of Culture

by Helen Rayfield || November 23rd, 2011
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As part of a pitch, we have been asked to describe the culture of Aspect. This task, of course, falls to me as chief describer. It’s a bit of a maverick piece for a pitch but I’m hoping it survives uncut. I like it and I thought you might to.

The Culture of Aspect

What a nice question to be asked – ‘give us a feel of your culture’. To be honest, we are rarely asked that because, understandably, clients look at the deliverables and the cost. We are used to presenting our excellent work and our value for money but our culture – well, I’m writing this from scratch.

Aspect has a creative heart. From our inception 20 years ago, strong graphics have led every piece of work. We have expanded and diversified but the creative content of every piece is fundamental to who we are. Our designs are usually complemented by our words – from company straplines to entire websites, we deliver a consistent and compelling message for our clients.

We don’t want to scare you off with the thought of a room full of creatives either brainstorming or in some sort of artistic angst. Aspect is b2b – we understand business, recognise the bottom line when we see it and we are all about delivering profitability through brand investment. We have a collective commercial mind and we know how to use it.

The first person most people meet is Jonathan Rayfield. He’s the boss, the front man and he has an amazing strategic mind when it comes to all things promotional. While he may bring in the projects, the real work, we like to think, is done by the creative team – the designers & the copywriters. We take the brief, do the research and come up with outstanding ideas. We are in-house so we can pool our thoughts and create concepts that flow. We are all involved in client meetings and the developing process of delivery the project. Our web developers know that for us, the design is not negotiable – they work with us to deliver what we intended, colours, fonts, navigation – not a template in sight. Integral to this is our Operations Manager, Liz Beesley, who appears to see and know everything. She will get the job in on time and she will watch your budget.

In the past, we have often described ourselves as part of our clients’ marketing departments – integrated completely into their day-to-day business activity. Marketing departments are a dying breed and we find more and more that we are dealing with CEO’s & MD’s, which also suits us fine. These are busy people, so we try and develop several contacts throughout the company who can answer questions in order to keep a project moving. All of our clients love to visit us here in Harrogate – we do great coffee, nice biscuits and we don’t rush – we want to hear want you want to tell us and bring that into reality.

More than one of our clients has commented on our ability to articulate their thoughts before they have mentioned them. We can only do this by building strong relationships. We are not motivated by pretention or prestige – we love what we do and we love to make you look good. That’s our passion.

Google+ What’s that all about?

by Jason Kelly || November 22nd, 2011
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Here’s a quick insight to help you understand the benefits of Google+

As a social media platform, Google+ promises easier communication between small groups – as its popularity grows so with its marketing and communication benefits –you heard it hear first.

So what does Google+ have to offer?

Some of its features include:

Circles:

Circles allow you to divide your friend list into Google’s Circles and share different information with different audiences – perhaps a “circle” for consumer ‘A’, or consumer ‘B’ – even work colleagues.

Huddle:

Huddle is a text-messaging system, which allows multiple users to communicate all together. It allows you to send one message that will go to all others in the group huddle.

Hangouts:

Hangouts allow you to alert friends that they want to chat by video. You can log into ‘Hangouts’ and chat with many people at once or on a one-to-one basis. Facebook doesn’t offer this feature – yet!

Sparks:

Sparks is a content feed that streams from various interests that users type into a search engine.

For the time being I don’t think Google+ will be a huge threat to Facebook, but it will allow those who are not fans of Facebook or those looking for an alternative to have another option.

It will however, be interesting to see how Google and Facebook compete with each other long-term because it can only be to the benefit of the user.

It’s also worth noting that some of the functions offered by Google+ in particular Sparks/Circles/Huddles would be very useful marketing tools and communication channels – if used correctly that is! Certainly better than the traditional soap box marketing practices.

Marketing No More

by Helen Rayfield || November 16th, 2011
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There has been a shift over the past couple of years in the meaning of the term marketing. It used to be so clear – Mad Men is full of marketers - creatives and copywriters promoting goods or services for a client. When Aspect started out 20 years ago, we were Aspect Graphics – we did the literature, the advertising agencies did the campaigns – the demarcation between above and below the line was very clear but we were all ‘in marketing’.

We switched to Aspect Design and Marketing about 10 years ago. Graphics seemed outdated and marketing was the buzz word – delivering return on investment – joined up campaigns incorporating the web with measurable results. It was all getting a little more business, a little less arty and suddenly everyone was doing a marketing degree and everyone had a marketing manager. We sold ourselves as an in-house marketing department – working closely with marketing managers to deliver promotional materials for the sales team to use. The term summed up what we did perfectly.

Things never stay the same and marketing has been hijacked by the sales department. I was speaking to someone recently who has been hired as a marketing psychologist – he is neither a marketer or a psychologist – he is a motivational speaker who has been hired by a major brand to train their sales force. Marketing now covers every aspect of sales, not just the promotional materials.

This trend can only increase. With customers and employees now seen as part of the marketing mix through the use of social media, engagement is the watch word, with the demand for information that can be shared in order to define the brand. This comes full circle back to us because brand is firmly in our domain. We are not sales people; many creatives would far rather create an idea than pitch it to a client and it’s these big ideas that drive the sales. The brand has to engage on more levels than ever and translate to a global audience but the fundamentals of branding haven’t changed – capture the essence, make it look good, stand the test of time.

Many agencies already use the brand specialist tag. Presenting ourselves as marketing experts is too broad – marketing is the job of everyone in the client company, creating and managing the brand still lies with us. The comfort for us former marketers is that, while our name has been stolen, marketing activity can’t take place without us – with no brand, you have nothing to sell.

Design is the fundamental soul

by Helen Rayfield || November 3rd, 2011
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Much has been said about the late Steve Jobs by those far more knowledgeable than me. Of all the things I’ve read and seen, this eulogy is by far the most poignant, possibly because it was written by someone who really knew the man, his sister Mona Simpson.

Of course, the design fraternity know he was a genius, we were the early adopters of Macintosh technology, in the days when it was seen as incompatible and obtuse. The only thing we use a PC for is web development and accounts – everything beautiful, everything that delights the eye, is created on a Mac.

I’ve blogged before about the downgrading of creativity, so when I  came across this quote today, it resonated with what I’ve been thinking for a long time. Steve Jobs was talking about product design but it applies equally to graphics and, quite simple, it sums up what we’re all about.

“In most people’s vocabularies, design means veneer. It’s interior decorating. It’s the fabric of the curtains or the sofa. But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a human-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service.”

Spectrum gives us the all clear

by Jason Kelly || November 2nd, 2011
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NEWS PIECE:

Yorkshire-based full-service agency, The Aspect Group, has been awarded the design, digital and social media account for Spectrum Community Health.

Spectrum Community Health CIC is a social enterprise organisation, providing specialist advice, care and treatment for substance and alcohol misuse, sexual health, offender health and wellbeing on behalf of the NHS across Wakefield and its surrounding regions.

The Aspect Group, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, is a full-service agency, offering design, marketing, web development, copywriting and public relations services to a mix of clients, and has a lot of experience within the healthcare sector.

The Harrogate-based agency, whose clients include business-to-business, business-to-consumer and the third-sector, won the account after a recommendation from another health provider. Aspect has has been commissioned to develop brand, design and build a new website, create and manage a social media platform and, look after all external marketing communications for the healthcare provider, including patient information packs and launch event management services, which will take place at the Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield.

Said Jonathan Rayfield, Aspect’s managing director: “Working with an organisation like Spectrum is a very rewarding experience. They do amazing work with people who are often the forgotten of society bringing real hope and support. Although Spectrum are a not-for-profit organisation, they still need to use creative communications to communicate with patients, while at the same time educating other community-based organisations, such as the police and local health authority.

“The account team at have already started developing some great creative to exceed Spectrum’s expectations and we all are looking forward to working with everyone at Spectrum.”

Said Dr Lind Harris, Spectrum’s chief executive: “We were already aware of Aspects experience within the health sector, so it came as now surprise when they came up with some great creative to help us communicate and promote our services.

“We deliver our services professionally with respect and dignity and needed a creative programme that could help us reflect these values, and The Aspect Group is helping us achieve this.”

The Department of Health has a programme of active support for social enterprises involved in the delivery of health and social care, and Spectrum is one of the first wave of social enterprises to come out of the NHS.  Spectrum’s specialist teams provide patients and their families with access to a wide array of discreet and flexible support. “Ultimately our aim is to help people who misuse drugs or alcohol to gain education, employment and extend their contribution to their families and the wider community.” Added Dr Harris

The Aspect team has already started working on the account ready for Spectrum’s official launch in November

Read it in The Drum

Which are you, futurist or Ostrich?

by Jason Kelly || November 1st, 2011
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There seems to be two camps when it comes to incorporating social media into the public relations service offering – those who understand it, embrace it and who have already accepted its importance (the futurist – it’s a word, I checked;) and those who see social media as a menace (Ostrich) – a lesser communications tools to the print media and which has no real substance.

I’m firmly located in the ‘futurist’ camp and therefore believe, where appropriate social media platforms, including social networks, have an important part in today’s and tomorrow’s public relations arena.

I’m not saying social networks applications like Twitter or Facebook must be applied to everything – the same creative considerations used when planning a traditional media relations campaign need to be applied when planning social media activity – in some cases you will find social media takes centre stage and in other situations it acts more like a support mechanism, or not used at all.

That said, I still come across people within the industry who have a natural resistance to social media. Why do they find it necessary to create two separate camps – over egging the whole public relations profession – ignorance?

The public relations profession is a mix of services that create, maintain and protect a desired perception – in my view. Public relations is not all about press releases, nor is it all about social media – it’s what ever it has to be at the time!

Ignore the creatives at your peril

by Helen Rayfield || September 15th, 2011
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As much as we’d like to, we can’t pretend that the recession is over and it’s all back to business as usual. There are the obvious signs – like our previously supportive bank manager who has been with us through our 20 year history and has suddenly perfected his ‘bad cop’ persona. There is the constant to and for of price negotiation over the smallest of jobs. The speed of decision making is picking up but lead times are still longer than they were, say, five years ago.

These things may pass (except the bank issue me thinks) but there is certainly a change in attitude towards paying for creativity. In the good old days, businesses didn’t have access to scanner and litho printers were trade only, so work did fall through the door of design studios – there was no alternative if you wanted to look in anyway professional. Rapidly following the advent of desktop publishing came the emergence of the web and a whole new income stream for creatives.

The difference now is that, while plenty of businesses will pay for a logo, some literature and a great website, they then think they can take it from there. We have been asked repeatedly over the last six months to design templates that companies can drop their own graphics and content into – for e-shots, fliers and of course for content managed sites. It’s a short leap from this to a company putting together their own promotional material, using (nearly) the right font, specified with (roughly) the pantone colour of their logo and (almost) high res photos.

It’s understandable – everyone is out to save money. The bottom line is crucial and companies are trying to cover their backs after using reserves in the recession. The sad thing is, what they are losing is creative intelligence. Our designers are brilliant. They are highly trained, quick and can make the most bizarre of products look like it’s a must have item. I can pull out a mean lead line at a push too. So a company will still have a new web page but it’s not like for like – it will not work as hard for them and it will not make visitors pause and read on.

On Simon Mayo’s show last night, Andrew Sissons, a research at the Big Innovation Centre, was commenting on the 2.5 million unemployment figure. (Listen here, about 30 minutes in). What he said about job creation really struck me – we need to export but it needs to be things that the United Kingdom is really good at – management consultants, lawyers, the digital economy, web development, health innovations. Aspect is right in there – our websites are incredible and we have produced them for manufacturers with major export functions, like Hillfoot Multi Metals and Norton Cast. British design has always led the world and we should be showcasing this – starting at home with companies allowing design studios to do what they do best – make them look good. Marketing is not an optional extra that you can bring in-house, it’s an essential part of the sales process. Companies mess with it an their peril.

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