Origin blog

Welcome To Our Wonderful New Site

2009-11-23T23:06:00.000-08:00

If you're reading this, you will now doubt have realised we've completely overhauled our website. Whilst it's about bloomin' time, we think you'll agree it's been worth the wait. It now features a lot more of our up-to-date work, an improved blog, a Corporate Responsibility blog and a rather spiffing twitter feed. So stop reading these words of wisdom and get over here to check it out - but please remember to wipe your feet first.

Every Second Counts

2009-11-20T08:56:00.000-08:00

Another day, another award. It was off to the swanky Ramada Hotel for the MIN Awards last night where we were nominated for Design Team of The Year. A fine night was had by all and we walked away with a commendation (in other words we came second).

All of which set us thinking about people for whom coming second was really a victory:

• G4 came second to Steve Brookstein in X Factor. G4 went on to have double platinum, platinum and gold selling albums, Steve Brookstein went on to drive minicabs (probably).

• Susan Boyle came second to Diversity in Britain’s Got Talent. Susan Boyle went on to become Amazon’s best-selling album ever. Diversity went on to drop that little bloke on his head outside number 10.

If you can think of other examples, do drop us a line. As Avis Car Hire used to say “Because We’re Second, We Try Harder ”

Anyway, congratulations to Cuckoo Design who won, you can see their great work here.

Bringing The Blur Into Focus

2009-11-12T08:22:00.000-08:00

This week we were asked by Design Week to comment on the blurring boundaries between advertising, design and what ever lies in the middle as part of their Creative Survey feature. It makes sense given our recent integrated campaign for Merseyside Police and several other clients. It's only available as a print version right now so snap up a copy at your local newsagent and devour our words of wisdom.

Species of the Origin - New Website on its way!

2009-11-04T07:10:00.000-08:00

Visitors to our website will notice things are looking a bit different - here's why. We've decided it's time to reflect the agency we've now evolved into through a new beautiful-looking website. It promises to be a pretty comprehensive beast and something that accurately reflects what Origin are doing these days.

Who better to have as the inspiration for the new site that the man who began the whole Origin thing- Charles Darwin. November 24th will be the 150th anniversary of the publication of On Origin of the Species and a day declared Origin Day. On Origin Day, we look forward to unveiling the new site and begining another exciting chapter in the origin of Origin.

It may have taken some time but (as Charlie D will tell you) evolution doesn't happen overnight.

To find out more about (the other) Origin Day go here

Ice Work If You Can Get It...

2009-10-28T05:52:00.000-07:00

Following a creative pitch in August, we've been appointed by Salford City Council to promote their fantastic Christmas Ice Rink. The ice rink (now in its third year) is the only one in Salford and offers an alternative to the rink in Manchester’s city centre. This year, the event's got a whole load of of discount offers and brilliant events to draw in the crowds.

Having recently been appointed to Salford’s creative roster, we’re delighted to kick off the relationship with such an exciting project. It promises to be a fantastic series of events and we’re really glad to be playing our part in its success.

Lindsey Hebden, Tourism Marketing Manager, Salford City Council, said, “We’re really excited to be working with Origin Creative and are looking forward to rolling out the campaign for this year’s Ice Rink. The creative features an ice skating snowflake which residents and visitors alike can expect to see all over the city during the next few weeks. We’re sure the work we are doing with Origin will lead to record numbers of skaters enjoying the Salford Ice Rink this year.”

The festive fun runs from 4 December 2009 – 6 January 2010 at Salford Civic Centre, Swinton. For more information go here.

More Awards News (Can We Sustain It?)

2009-10-22T13:20:00.000-07:00

I'm really glad to say we've been Highly Commended in the prestigious PricewaterhouseCoopers Building Public Trust Awards. The awards which took place earlier this month recognise excellence in corporate reporting. Our commendation was for Sustainability Reporting in the FTSE 250 for our client SEGRO. It's a cracking recommendation for the major achievements we've made in Corporate & Social Responsibility.

We've got another major announcement in this area coming soon so keep your eyes peeled.

The Guys On The Board

2009-10-19T07:59:00.000-07:00

As part of our work with Quiksilver on their Just Snowboard Camps, we've produced these rather cute boarder dudes to support their fine work at the The Metro Ski & Snowboard Show. Why not drag yourself down to Olympia this weekend and check them out? Although undeniably cute in a Jamie Hewlett stylee, we're all agreed that they're not the kind of cartoon characters you'd want to bump into on a dark slope (especially the guy at the back).

Brawn & Brains

2009-10-19T07:47:00.000-07:00

We were all more than a little delighted when those lovely Brawn boys finally got the victory they so richly deserved at Sao Paolo this weekend. It's been a pleasure to help cultivate their merchandise range; we look forward to working with them on 2010. In case you're interested, there's a Brawn Champion's clothing range just come out. It's available here.

A Duncan Disorderly Blog

2009-10-08T02:23:00.000-07:00

Our erstwhile New Bizzer Duncan Slater (does anyone know what erstwhile actually means?) has been chosen as one of 5 weekly bloggers for the creative industries magazine The Drum.

It will contain (we are assured) pearls of wit and wisdom from around the worlds of design, branding and marketing. It seems more likely it will contain a collection of personal grievances, a smattering of swear words and more than its fair share of rubbish jokes.

check it out at your peril here

Stars Of The Silver Screen Win Gold

2009-10-01T00:09:00.000-07:00

More great awards news. We trekked off to the Odeon last night armed with popcorn and fanta for the coveted Fresh Awards in dear old Manchester. I'm pleased to report we were stars of the screen with a luverlee Gold award in the Print Design category.

Mr Bottomley was on hand to pick up the exquisite perspex rectangle (hem hem) then we all sloped off to Tiger Tiger where we drank beer and talked cr*p - I mean partied the night away with vintage champagne and A-list celebrities.

Fantastic photo of the suave Mr B by the way...

Design Consultancy of the Year...We like The Sound Of That

2009-09-30T09:04:00.000-07:00

I'm very glad to report that (following a detailed submission in August) we've been shortlisted as 'Design Consultancy of the Year' in the upcoming prestigious Marketing Industry Network Awards. The awards aim to identify the best design, marketing and communication agencies and teams across the whole of the UK.

It really tops off a great year for us with great wins like Henri Lloyd, Brawn GP, Wedgwood, COI, Salford, Merseyside Police, Manga and great people like Matt Casey and Ed Blamey joining us.

The awards (sponsored by The Daily Telegraph) will be held on 19 November in the Ramada Jarvis Hotel in Manchester. So if you hear some raucous shouting coming from that way, it'll be us celebrating another fantastic victory.

For those desperate to know more, full details are here

Time To Get Crafty (Again)

2009-09-30T01:13:00.000-07:00

The Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair has again appointed us to handle this year’s event. Building on the commercial and creative success of our campaign for the fair in 2008, the fair has now expanded with funding from The Arts Council and National Lottery. It now boasts the latest works from 140 of the most talented designer-makers in the UK and a new venue in Spinningfields, Manchester's shiny new business quarter.

As some of you may remember, last year’s campaign was an integrated through the line thing encompassing advertising, literature, web and wayfinding. It proved very successful for us, producing a host of glittering gongs including Fresh, Roses and a best in class at the Design Week Awards.

It’s fantastic to be working with the these guys once more. Given the success of last year’s event, we’re only too happy to be linking up with them again – even more so given their rather posh new surroundings.

Quiksilver Site Goes Live!

2009-09-28T06:01:00.000-07:00

Having won the snowboard camps business for Quiksilver earlier this month we're delighted to announce that their rad and gnarly new site has gone live. The site features most excellent animation, some utterly tubular flash work and a most righteous design concept.

When asked for a quote, the client said they were "like, totally stoked".

Be completely bodacious like them and check out our stuff here

It All Adds Up...

2009-09-21T08:21:00.000-07:00

Merseyside Police, the UK’s second largest police force, has chosen little old us to communicate their considerable successes over the last twelve months. It’s a big old 18 month campaign taking in outdoor and ambient media, building wraps, mobile exhibitions as well as social media and websites

The whole campaign (which breaks today) is all co-ordinated around the central theme ‘It all adds up’ - stressing the cumulative impact of Merseyside Police’s commitment to finding out what really matters to people at a local level.

We’re so pleased with this win - not only is it the largest co-ordinated campaign ever undertaken by Merseyside Police it’s a really creative one too. It’s an immediate, accessible, versatile and immersive creative campaign that’s works well regionally and locally. One of the great things about the campaign is the amount of ambient work it uses – people aren’t used to seeing Police messages in such places so it reaches them where it really matters - literally at street level.

Stay tuned for the work – we’ll post it here as soon as we can

Quiksilver Gets On Board (And Lodgings)

2009-09-04T02:07:00.000-07:00

Quiksilver, those surfwear and boardsport gurus, have handed us an integrated campaign for their new venture – Just Snowboard Camps

Quiksilver are putting their weight (and latest kit) behind the launch of snowboard camps in the French Alps. Working under the brand Just Snowboard Camps, the camps will offer an experience that includes not only food, drink and accommodation but also professional instruction and access to Quiksilver’s cutting edge hi-tech equipment.

It all kicks off with a spanking new website that goes live at the end of September. After that we'll be working with them to help with awareness and bookings (including a load of activity at the upcoming ski shows) throughout this and next year.

We’re delighted to be working with such a fantastic brand and especially on such an exciting new venture as this. Given the consolidated growth we’ve enjoyed already this year, it’s a real bonus to be adding Quiksilver to our client list.

Cor Blamey! - More Sustainable Growth

2009-08-03T04:16:00.000-07:00

We're delighted to welcome on-board another great new signing with the appointment of the really-rather-wonderful Ed Blamey as our Associate Sustainability Director. Ed's brief is to help reinforce our fantastic record in corporate responsibility so it's a double delight that he's a real expert in that field. Not only does he join us having served four years at Interface Flor as European sustainability director he also did five years with Toyota GB, where he was UK environmental affairs manager.

Were that not enough, he is also a fellow of The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce RSA, a board director of the UK Sustainable Investment & Finance Association and a member of IEMA.

For us to get such a well-known and respected expert in the field of sustainability is a bit of a cool thing and (to those that were in any doubt) demonstrates our commitment to growing the CR & CSR sectors of our business.

We Built This City (Council)

2009-08-03T01:06:00.001-07:00

Another great win to improve a good year for wins…we’ve been appointed to Salford City Council’s roster of creative design agencies. We’re one of the 6 agencies on their design roster, which lasts for 3 years.

Salford’s got a fine reputation for creativity in their design and we really look forward to playing our part in evolving that reputation. It’s an exciting time to be involved with Salford with the completion of Media City and the ongoing regeneration of the whole Salford area.

So if you thought it was all Lowry, Corrie and Hazel Blears, get ready to think again!

Planet Earth Is Blue...

2009-07-08T02:08:00.000-07:00

Worldwide electronics giant (and long-standing Origin client) Brother International have appointed us to handle a global environmental branding campaign.

The campaign emphasises the really-rather-impressive Blue Angel environmental award Brother gained recently. Although it might sound like an aftershave, Blue Angel is in fact a global standard awarded only to the greenest of the green products around the world. Brother were the first company of their kind to receive Blue Angel accreditation across each and every one of their multi-function copiers.

We created a campaign that forms a brand language (capable of working in 17 languages across 21 countries). This brand language was then rolled out as a brand communications campaign pack crammed with goodies like press campaigns, web banners, a microsite and exhibition support stuff.

Full credit to Brother for understanding our 'vision thing' and trusting us to come up with the goods (especially considering the logistics and timescales involved ).

Worra Lorra Bottle

2009-07-01T09:14:00.000-07:00

Whilst this may look like us taking out the empties after another day's heavy liquid 'inspiration', it is in fact a snap from the shoot of our latest client. We can't say anything about them right now but the headline is a bit of a clue...

Stay glued to these pages for yet another fab name to join our client list!

Matt's The Way We Like It (Uh Huh)

2009-07-01T02:31:00.000-07:00

We're delighted (and in no small part chuffed) to welcome on board Matt Casey as our new Creative Director. Matt joins us from TBWA Manchester where he was previously Design Director. He'll be helping us out on Henri Lloyd, Brother, Brawn GP, Manga, Wedgwood....well just about everything let's be honest.

His joining also means there'll be something of a shuffle elsewhere too. So...Mark Bottomley will now concentrate on the role of Managing Director and Senior Designer Simon Allman moves to become Design Director.

Commenting on the move, big boss Bottomley said “Matt joining is the perfect compliment to an expanding team. With the consolidated growth we’ve recently enjoyed, it’s a pleasure to be taking on someone of Matt’s calibre. It’s great to be recruiting in these challenging times and it certainly bodes well for our continued growth”.

Everyone's still sitting in the same seats (apart from Matt of course who'll be sitting in a new seat - new to him that is, we're not splashing out valuable money on a new seat no matter which fancy-pants agency he's joining from).

The Brawn GP Range Goes Live!

2009-06-23T07:52:00.000-07:00

The Brawn GP merchandise line launched over the weekend and we were there to ensure a smooth sailing. At Liverpool and Manchester there was the Brawn F1 car on show, competitions and a general carnival atmosphere (if a car and a competition are all you expect from a carnival). We were there to witness the whole event and keep things calm.

At Silverstone, our erstwhile New Bizzer Duncan Slater was there to assist the launch (although to the uninitiated it may have looked more like having red snapper in miso sauce in the Brawn motorhome).

Anecdotal evidence is that the range is selling like hotcakes. One account claims the queues were six-deep when the stall opened at 5.30am (yes that's AM as in morning). Certainly on the evidence of our eyes it seemed as if everyone was wearing a white Jenson Button cap. Whilst the result wasn't everything we hoped it could be (well done Rubens!), we couldn't have hoped for a more enthusiastic reception to the launch.

Manga Kimono To Our Place

2009-06-16T07:17:00.000-07:00

We’re delighted to say ‘konichiwa’ to the leading Japanese animation film company (and high priests of all things cool) Manga Entertainment as we’ve been appointed by them to handle the design and marketing for 16 of their new releases.

The company, often credited with bringing anime to the masses has aggressively marketed Japanese animation for over 10 years releasing over 200 titles on DVD in addition to major big-screen releases including Akira, Ghost In The Shell 1 and 2, Blood The Last Vampire and Ninja Scroll.

The work we’re doing covers packaging, advertising & promotional support materials. Speaking on the win our very own Duncan Slater said “For many, Manga is a brand synonymous with bringing Japanimation into the mainstream. We’re delighted to play our part in developing their success story”.

As soon as the new work appears we’ll get it posted up here.

China In Our Hands

2009-06-16T06:35:00.000-07:00

Another great day for new business as WWRD Holdings, the new company encompassing Waterford, Wedgwood and Royal Doulton, appoint us to look at their their integrated Christmas campaign. The campaign (which is for all three brands) is going to emphasise their shared values of craftsmanship and durability. Anyone that's ever owned any of these brands knows that they last for ever. We'll be doing sales literature, POS and retail support stuff.

We're delighted to be working with brands so associated with quality and longevity. In crunched times like these, we all need reminding that when you buy quality not only does it look better, it also lasts longer. That's especially worth remembering around Christmas-time

The Myth.....And The Reality

2009-06-12T05:42:00.000-07:00

Judging by the calls we've been getting here at Origin Towers, it's clear that people now believe we're on the receiving end of Jenson Button's salary and all have our own Lear Jets to land on our private yachts.

OK so we (or at least some of us) went to the Monaco Grand Prix for the Brawn GP shoot and OK Jenson Button and Rubens Barichello WERE involved but any ideas we have expense claims like an average MP end here - with photographic proof. On the left you have yer actual Monaco Harbour and the image that springs to mind when you think of Monaco. On the right you have the harsh truth - which involved pushing clothes rails through sweaty backstreets and smelly underpasses and dusty racetrack for bloomin' miles (OK so that's not us in the photo - it's Graham from Henri Lloyd - but you get the point).

These trips abroad to playgrounds of the rich and famous are not the funfest they're cracked up to be - in fact, they're blinkin' hard work...and no we don't expect any of you to believe us.

A Winning Formula

2009-06-08T07:07:00.000-07:00

Henri Lloyd, the market leader in technical sailing and lifestyle apparel, has appointed us to their account. The really rather fabulous win means we're taking on the launch marketing for the Brawn GP clothing range – including a flagship brochure, a lifestyle advertising campaign and integrated merchandise and retail support materials.

As well as sponsoring Brawn GP, Henri Lloyd is also the official supplier of clothing and footwear technology to the Brawn GP Formula One Team who are currently kicking ass and taking names in Formula One, with Jenson Button leading the Drivers’ Championship and the team themselves leading the Constructors’ Championship.

Were that not enough, we've also been awarded Henri Lloyd's UK retail account too. This means we'll take on responsibility for designing and branding promotional campaigns in-store and providing retail support for UK retail outlets.

Henri Lloyd's Commercial Director Graham Allen was generous in his praise

Henri Lloyd operate in fast-moving environments so we need an agency who can understand briefs quickly, and provide immersive creative solutions quickly too. We were very impressed with Origin’s creative standards and quick thinking. We look forward to working with them.

Mark Bottomley, Creative Director at Origin, added

It’s rare that an opportunity arises to work with either of these fantastic brands. The fact that we’re working with both of them is a testament to the high standards we’ve set ourselves lately

Bring on the next win, I say!