Minale Tattersfield

Poland, a dynamic powerhouse for energy drinks

2012-02-02T13:35:00.001Z

Energy drinks have for some time been associated with extreme sports including rally car racing and Formula 1 motor sports so it comes as no surprise that Polish fuel retailer Lotos has started selling its own-brand energy drink, Dynamic.

Fuel retailers now see a cash cow when previously they saw only Red Bull. Whilst the leader charges ahead with category sector sales topping 15%, the Red Bull brand now faces stiff competition in a global market which has seen significant growth since 2003. This is particularly the case in Poland; its energy drink (ED) market is valued at over €210m and today saturated with over 100 brands.

The Dynamic Energy Drink is named after the Lotos premium fuel 'Dynamic' and already has close ties with the rally championships, for example its sponsorship of the 68th Polish Rally at Mikolajki.

Dynamic is cast in black and mirrors a number of other energy drink brands in this respect including V-Power (Shell's first iteration), Boxer Energy (Germany), Monster (USA), Rockstar (USA) and Battery (Finland).

In respect to Polish ED brands the main domestic player is Tiger Energy Drink, a brand owned by FoodCare. Other brands include XL, XY, ADHD, Freedom, ishot, xrace, GreenGo, Control, Izo go, Pitbull, Phoenix, TruckPet… There is even a Polish energy drink called Black.

Why choose black with its symbolic association with gasoline fuel? Energy drinks sales enjoy particular success within c-store roadside sector and the association with petroleum may appeal to the male sense of machoism. According to Mediamark (2008) market penetration amongst women drinkers is just 22.5%.

Both Dynamic and V-Power capitalise on the ED market to communicate the power and high performance aspect of the fuel brand identity. Lotos takes it further with a white italicised wordmark on black background, lending it a sporty edge that sits well with its association with Rally championships.

We will be watching closely how the Polish ED market develops in 2012. If global trends are anything to go by, we will see a growing importance in the use of natural ingredients to qualify the health benefits that energy drinks are purported to offer, and there may be some up-branding (from energy drink to energy beverage) as competitors jostle for market share.

As a side note, Minale Tattersfield designed the packaging for the energy drink brand Shark (Case Study PDF, 659 KB) and its work resulted in a Gold award for Creative Excellence in the Beverage Packaging Global Awards.

MOL promotes eco-sustainability with solar tree petrol station

2012-01-24T19:31:00.000Z

Opening a petrol station on 'God's Mountain Road' sounds like a dumb move but Hungary's leading energy provider MOL has allowed a local Budapest firm to branch away from conventional forecourt design and adopt a radically green initiative.

The approach taken by Zsolt Zombori and his team at Európa Stúdió was to produce a flagship design to demonstrate Mol's commitment to eco-sustainable solutions and visually present the MOL brand as a leading innovator in fuel retail and green energy.

The result is a solar tree and canopy design solution with a functional if slightly dubious aesthetic quality. From a functional perspective, I see the design working as both a marketing tool to reposition MOL's brand identity and as a visual marker to attract passing motorists from Budapest.

Unlike some eco-designs, for example telephone masts disguised as trees, which blend into the natural environment seamlessly, there is a clear distinction with this design to maximise the visual impact of the elevated signage which carries the MOL logotype. You can see how Zsolt Zombori has incorporated multidimensionality into the design, having fun with architectural plains of view produced by the canopy's angled projection and the adjacent MID (Major Identification Sign) which looks like a green Rosneft version. Of course from a ground-level and driver perspective, the positioning of the signage takes on added significance.

For the solar panelling to be as efficient as possible, the column structures have to stand at some height to be functional, adding to the overall cost. The hefty price tag on the project, claimed to be over $300 million is twice that of a regular filling station, and raises a considerable question mark over the return on design investment (RODI).

Strategically questionable greenwashing?

The pump's design has rather over-the-top detailing which might put more people off than than on. The 'air to water' heat pump system means that the forecourt building is self-sustainable, but only on a sunny summer's day. The facade and the roof is an evergreen colour with the hope of merging with the "mountain" environment but this is counteracted by the green totem.

Mottled evergreen facade and side canopy shot

The forecourt shop, Fountain Green, is built using recycled construction materials. Inside, Fountain Green provides a customers with a range of organic and bio-friendly products.

It would appear that the Mol is delivering on its green promises but consumers are savy enough to appreciate truly green design and policy over green veneer.

By Marcello M. Minale

Design review: Orlen Polsce Meeting Point Stop

2012-01-20T16:06:00.001Z

I like how Polish design team Kaniewski HauteDesign break the mould in roadside design with this quasi-futuristic look for Orlen Polsce Meeting Point Stop Cafe. PKN Orlen currently operates hundreds of coffee bars and bistros at petrol stations in Poland, Lithuania and the Czech Republic but this is a first of its kind concept designed to attract business professionals in the Gdańsk catchment area.

The bright red neon sign, a reference to a car's headlights works particularly well in associating the chain with Orlen's logo and complementing the fuel retailer's brand identity.

Stop Café Meeting Point takes inspiration from the automotive sector, in particular from car showroom design. Trendy and upmarket, its design helps position Orlen as a premium retailer.

The interior architecture is a blend of executive car showroom, Formula 1 sports and private club/bar aesthetics. Red leather couches and carbon-fibre patterned structures used in Formula 1 help to associate Orlen with high performance motor racing and ultra-modern engineering.

Some of the internal structural forms you see reference the curvilinear shapes found on the brandmark and lend coherence to the overall design, thus creating powerful synergies for the brand.

The quality and craftsmanship that has gone into the design is commendable and clearly demonstrates Orlen's deep intent to develop its brand as a premium fuel retailer. Although this is a flagship site, the budget must have been sizeable and at this point I am a little concerned whether Orlen can reap the benefit from this beautiful design. I am also doubtful whether the design can be replicated across Orlen's network in a cost-effective way. We will have to wait and see...

by Marcello Mario Minale

a1 European roadside sector to target mobile workers

2012-01-17T15:57:00.002Z

A co-venture project between Regus and Shell will see a network of new business lounges opening at Shell petrol forecourts on motorways across Europe. If you are a mobile worker like me, this scheme could be of real benefit.

Business lounge within existing forecourt building

The first business lounge has already opened at a Shell station just south-west of Paris on the A10 autoroute, at the Limours-Janvry service station. To access the Regus business lounge, individuals must buy a day pass at the Shell checkout or swipe a Regus Businessworld card.

Drivers can drop into the lounge to access the internet;  scan, copy or fax documents;  print from their laptop, smartphone, Blackberry or tablet;  get help from a virtual concierge;  arrange courier deliveries; and,  combine stopping for fuel, food or forecourt services with using professional work facilities.

"The segmentation and targeting of roadside users is continuing to be exploited and will result in new wave of forecourt designs and integrated solutions", says David Davis, roadside design strategist of Minale Tattersfield.

"At a very early stage we predicted the trend away from traditional fuel products towards niche services with a social community benefit. We are already seeing growing experimentation across the forecourt sector with omni-channel retail and locker banks which cater for new shopping habits."

In this instance Shell is extending its offering to cater for workers on the move who still need a moment of respite. Mark Dixon, CEO of Regus says: "By opening Regus business lounges at motorway stations, Shell and Regus are bringing vibrant business hubs right to the roadside."

The glass panel and side panel branding
gives customers a glimpse of what is on offer

The interior design is quite basic in terms of branding and design, but is still adequate as a trial concept. It will be interesting to see how well used the space proves to be and how other fuel retailers might look to improve on its design and implementation.

Little chef, big mischief

2012-01-12T18:17:00.000Z

The roadside chain Little Chef has been in decline over recent years, its former owners went into administration in 2007. To counteract the interminable decline of the brand, TV chef Heston Bluementhal was drafted in to spearhead a media campaign including a Channel 4 documentary – Big Chef takes on Little Chef – resulting in efforts to raise the quality of the menu, customer service and a redesign of the interior and company branding.

I had an interview with our designers David Davis and Peter Brown to find out their impressions regarding Little Chef’s updated design.

DD: You need to be careful if you are not going follow the established colours for rest areas, the typical chocolate coffee colours. Blue is a cold colour and can give off an air of hospital like clinical-ness. ARD (Ab Rogers Design) have clearly devoted plenty of time to sky blue thinking and hats off to them for trying something radically different. However I am a little concerned how the brand will fare across the whole network.

PB: The red vinyl upholstery and pendant lighting adds a bit of warmth, however overall the design looks cool in both senses... it's a very modern European look.

DD: It’s quite a departure from their previous branding. I agree with you about the warmth factor. You would assume an everyman’s chef like Jamie O. would have been more appropriate.

PB: He was probably booked up David. Heston can get up people’s noses.

DD: Agreed. I do wonder how costly the rebranding project has been and whether they overspent on Heston. He's not going to go down well with the white van man types.

PB: It’s all a bit fussy and, erm, cute. I can see this design working in the more wealthy corridors of England… that kind of informed pop nostalgia…

DD: They opened 10 new stores across the UK, it’s quite a wide spread, not just the wealthier regions.

PB: Probably test marketing. I hear that Venture 3 did the rebranding.

DD: Very colourful. Very POP.

PB: But look at those people, they’re a little on the obese side?

DD: Which ones?

[PB points to photo, top right]

PB: Their branding strategy seems a little muddled. It looks like they are aiming to Europeanise roadside restaurant sector bringing style where there used to be British stodginess. The interior now stands in complete contrast to the menu offering which according to Delicious review is a somewhat meaty affair.

DD: I really wonder how this brand strategy is going to fare whether they plan to replicate across their entire network. We're just into the beginning of the year and I hear 67 Little Chef sites have closed. Whether this is prudent consolidation or cost-cutting to pay for the rebrand, it looks like there are some turbulent times ahead.

a4 Beyond just words: bringing substance to eco-designs

2012-01-06T13:47:00.000Z

Over the years Minale Tattersfield has designed a range of branded interior environments from unique retail spaces, like La Maison des Maîtres Chocolatiers Belges through to museum spaces and innovative petrol forecourts designs. When designing for a specific environment, our 3D design teams need to continually update their knowledge of the latest trends in surface design technologies including flooring and interior surfaces,

while our lead project manager will be evaluating the cost/benefits of incorporating a completely new material, and how it might implicate across signature style and brand personality.

It is always on our minds to incorporate sustainable materials where possible.

I discovered recently an interior design product called Re-Y-Stone by a company called Resopal. It consists entirely of regenerative raw materials, and appears highly stress-resistant and tough thanks to its innovative bio-resin properties. We think the biocomposite material has good potential as the resin as it is not petroleum-based but comes from sugar cane.

The product has been recently launched and we will be keen to look more into bio-product adoption in the year ahead. Fuel retailers are increasingly looking to position themselves as environmentally concerned and in order to remain competitive they will be looking to substantiate their eco-brand credentials.

by Marcello Mario Minale

a6 Courting controversy

2011-12-16T16:44:00.001Z

Have you tried the new Facebook Timeline or dipped your toes into the new YouTube user interface?

I've been looking at these redesigns – particularly YouTube as I was uploading our new promotional video last week. The YouTube redesign follows its acquisition by Google and takes it one step further towards becoming the world's largest socially connected TV network. To introduce the new site, YouTube ran a promotional campaign “Get More Into YouTube”

but within hours of its launch, users were venting their anger: "Why change something that already works well?" citing the new 'digital lacquer' as more business-like but loosing its original personality and eclecticsm.

Sometimes new designs take time to get the public on board, the visual identity for London 2012 a case in point.

From a design point of view, I like how the 2012 logo breaks with tradition – from the free spirited brush strokes and dashes of colour (Barcelona 1992, Sydney 2000) and lightly illustrative styles (Athens 2004 and Bejing 2008) to a more structured block-style that mythologises London as young and street-smart, we see Wolff Olins taking cues from the likes of graffiti artist Banksy, hip-hop act Gorillaz and possibly even Tracey Emin.

The visual identity "behaves well" across the gamut of online and offline media, capable of being tightly integrated within a sponsor's particular branding and colour scheme, and I've also heard how easy the logo can be implemented across signage – the tell-tale signs being the jagged lines and angular forms.

Designs that get it right straight away then lose it

Step back further into the past and cast your mind over the Mk 1 Volkswagen Scirocco design.

Scirocco Mk 1 model

The curbside classic was launched circa 1974 and was a sharp looking car conceived by Giorgetto Guigiaro's team at Italdesign. The updated Mk 2 model promised so much but never really succeeded in the same way, commercially or aesthetically. The new Scirocco Mk 2 moved away from the earlier wedge-shaped rear hatch design to allow a larger passenger and luggage space, thus taking on a rounder look. A unique feature was a spoiler halfway up the glass on the rear hatch but many people view the enhancements as forgettable gimmicks.

The same could be said for certain petrol stations designs that have been redesigned over the years but have lost the essence of what was originally good. Take for example the old Caltex design that was rolled out in 1997 and compare against the revised design created circa 2010.

I would be most interested to hear from anyone who has an example of a redesigned forecourt that has somehow lost something of the original design, whether it be on functional, economical or visual terms

By Marcello M. Minale

a4 Eco-friendly technologies take root

2011-12-01T15:02:00.001Z

With emission reduction high on the agenda of governments worldwide, titanium dioxide based technologies offer a glimpse of a greener future. From pavements to tunnels, buildings, petrol stations and skylight glass applications, new titanium-dioxide coated products offer the world a potential way of alleviating the effects of harmful pollutants.

Examples are springing up from around the world of new architectural designs employing titanium dioxide based technologies – one such example is the Iceberg project in Aarhus, Denmark where a product called Eco-clean has been used extensively.

According to manufacturer, Alcoa, a 1000 m2 of 'Eco-clean' cladding will disperse as much smog as approximately 80 trees or the equivalent to the daily emissions of four cars.

Acting as an air purifier, titanium dioxide can reduce smog levels when applied to outdoor surfaces such as roads and buildings and reduce maintenance cost savings by up to 50% as the material reduces the need for cleaning products and labour.

In built-up cities this is extremely good news. In the Philippines capital Manila, for example, where the average 24-hour nitrogen oxide level is over 4½ times the health limit set by the World Health Organisation (WHO), an innovative paint manufacturer Pacific Paints (Boysen) Philippines has incorporated titanium dioxide to provide the world with the first air-cleaning paint.

Self cleaning mural spanning 24 kilometres along a major route in Manilla

The company is spearheading an advocacy initiative One Wall One World supported by Shell to reduce pollution in the city. Shell is participating in its own way by painting its petrol stations with the specially-coated paint. Its buildings are routinely exposed to high amounts of vehicle exhaust.

This is good PR branding initiative by Shell and offers considerable potential for replication elsewhere.

Petrol station review: Damilano Studio, Cuneo, Italy

2011-11-30T01:27:00.000Z

Italian practice Damilano Studio has produced a visually arresting design for a new petrol station forecourt in Cuneo, Italy. Gazoline petrol station is a sleek and ultramodern piece of architectural design that communicates a sense of luxury through form and minimalistic style. But under closer scrutiny how does this design stack up?

Forecourt design for petrol station in Cuneo, Italy

This petrol station is clearly decorative and exudes class but, on the basis of these images, it looks like Damilano Studio has neglected to consider some practical and commercial issues.

The canopy is small and does not provide decent shelter. If it rains then fuel spillages become a hazard.

The uplighting is visually impactful but could prove insufficient at night. Also some of the external surface walls appear highly reflective and under natural sunlight might produce unwanted glare, especially during the summer months.

From a branding perspective, there appears to be too little attention to commercial considerations, such as where the fuel retailer's identity and branding could be projected. If this was intentional then how might a fuel retailer react? If it is an afterthought then we expect the overall design will be compromised.

Moreover, with petrol prices so high across Europe, what sort of signal does this forecourt design send off to cost conscious fuel consumers? It may attract a throng of road-hugging sports cars and executive saloons but is the design right for the times?

Angled structures – spot the inverted trapezoid

The structures are visually entertaining though and you can gaze for some time at the various geometric shapes the architects have incorporated.

Upon the shiny red fascia there is a primal looking image of a wolf sitting on a lavatory. We love this injection of humour and against the grey and silver this is immediately visible from entering the forecourt. Noting also the red fuel pump, there is a coordinated use of colour, rather like an Antonioni film that plays on colour as a narrative.

Taking the ****? wolf on toilet

Interior bar/restaurant area

Apart from the canopy section and petrol pump, architects Damilano Studio have left it to mostly to our imagination the specific functional form the interior spaces might occupy, and when they do provide an answer, we get the impression that their ideas have not been thought through – you can just see in the image above a few alcoholic beverages for sale.

In sum, this is a pretty design but as a petrol station design, it is hard to see this working without some major revisions.

a6 Prototypes and how not to polish a turd

2011-11-29T10:28:00.001Z

As designers and brand strategists, we are constantly working with ideas, toying with visual metaphors and facilitating greater knowledge sharing through new technology.

During the initial stages of a design project, our design team will adopt the use of a prototype of one sort or another.Since Minale Tattersfield works across 2D and 3D design, there are a number of different routes and tools available to us in prototype methodology, but usually it is helpful, when I am involved, to scribble some thoughts, and conceptualise an idea, the old analogue ways are often the best.

Caspian lube sketches

by Marcello Mario Minale
For complex projects, our designers might produce more detailed concept drawings, or transfer to more technologically-driven prototyping tools.

Caspian lube concept designs

Detailed cross sectional prototype

This is especially the case with our work across 3D design where we might adopt solid modelling and visualisation tools; if the budget allows, we might opt for a life-sized prototype, this is often helpful to get the client on board and involved at an earlier stage.

Making a life-sized prototype mould

Sometimes I will confer with the client for feedback using a design prototype to clarify some aspect of the proposal.

It is so easy these days to allow right-brain thinking to take over because of all the technology at our disposal. Sometimes we need to get back to basics, allow creative stimulation and a more balanced workflow. I believe in sharing information early on in a project to allow our teams to assess the problems from different angles and pool together their cross functional knowledge. Design teams need to communicate like never before to produce excellent work, and never compromise on the exchange of ideas and opinions.

Prototype designs that offer too much too early on can stymie progress or worse negate a successful design outcome. I've witnessed this before, and have seen the conflict and resentment when ideas have been integrated too quickly into a prototype model.

Our motto is always to explore the problems our products needs to solve before jumping in bed with solutions.

Eco-friendly bus that runs off champagne

2011-11-16T15:28:00.001Z

A 3 month test project is currently underway in the town of Reims, the cradle of champagne, to trial an ethanol-powered bus. Interestingly, the biofuel is produced from grape pomace, waste matter during the champagne production process.

Two partners Veolia-Transdev and the manufacturer Scania developed the idea, and if the trial proves successful, the project will not only benefit the local economy but also spur innovation and development by companies elsewhere in Europe.

This presents a good opportunity to drive awareness of the waste-to-biofuel sector and ethanol fuel as a credible alternative to petrol and diesel.

The Reims project coincides with the recent launch of Ecomobilité Ventures, a 30 million euro investment structure to support young and innovative European companies seeking start-up advice and financing for launching sustainable mobility products, services and clean technologies.

The venture is led by a coalition of major French companies including Total, Peugeot, SNCF, Orange and Citroën who are looking to build up their 'green' credentials. The group will acquire minority interests in these companies at the start-up or development stage and will support them over the long term.

Marcello Mario Minale:

"It is great to see different industries coming together to trial sustainable approaches to help solve economic and environmental difficulties. As brand specialists for clients in the roadside fuel and sparkling wine industries, we are monitoring progress very closely. "

a6 Imperial War Museum

2011-11-15T12:15:00.000Z

The latest identity for the Imperial War museum was launched in October 2011 by Hat Trick, with the updated concept developed by brand strategists Jane Wentworth Associates.

The design concept plays on the "fragmentation" war metaphor – the notion that war creates displacement, disjointment and a jarring tension. It also employs the "window treatment" used before by Hat Trick in its work for the National History Museum. The transparent lettering affords us a dynamic window in which the viewer can get a notion of the breath of the museum's collection and subject matter.

Whilst the new design may be versatile and translate sensibly across online platforms, my personal opinion is that the new design does not have the same depth, what we call a stretched concept that works on different levels and which stands the test of time.

The new identity has immediacy and may speak in a contemporary voice but I find the overall effect to be bland and not iconic enough to represent such an important institution. It is sad to think the design could just as well be used for any company from a firm of accountants to a logo for a cake company.

When we designed the logo back in 1985, we won the first DBA design effectivness award and a nomination for D&AD Silver Award. I do wonder whether this new design truly pushes the boundary in creative design and if it proves to be effective piece of design, if submitted today. However, I'm always happy to be proved wrong so I'll keep an eye out to see what others, more qualified then myself, may think.

by Marcello Mario Minale

McDonalds withdraws from Iceland

2011-11-14T17:04:00.001Z

McDonald's backs out of Iceland amidst a global economic crisis that has left the company vulnerable to soaring costs.

The closure, this month, of the fast-food chain's three restaurants, means Iceland will become one of the few European countries with no Big Macs to sell.

The company opened in Reykjavik in 1993 as a franchise operation run by a firm called Lyst. Owner Jon Gardar Ogmundsson said it made no sense to continue the business.Despite growing demand, profits have plummeted.

McDonald's sources ingredients from Germany and importation costs have almost doubled in the last 18 months as a result of a severe depreciation of the Icelandic krona and high import taxes.

Geographically isolated, Iceland is a difficult market to operate in and its economy is still suffering from the banking collapse at the height of the global credit crisis.

And the unique conditions of Iceland, a small and isolated country of just 300,000 people makes it hard for the company to justify a continued presence at a time when import costs are prohibitively expensive.

The closure of its restaurants casts a wider shadow over the ability of a multinational food retailer to quickly adapt to economic fluctuations, and particularly in its flexibility to reorganise its supply chain to buy local produce at low cost.

The globalisation trend has allowed companies like McDonald's to exploit economies of scale but this model doesn't always fit as in this case with Iceland. Fast-food joints operating in Reykjavik can operate at lower cost, and with relatively stable production costs, the smaller firms can considerably undercut McDonald's prices.

Retracting from the Icelandic market represents a watershed moment for the McDonald's empire and a portent to the world at large of the fallibility of even our most powerful brands.

Although McDonald's has adapted its product lines to suit cultural differences and taste, its brand remains faithful across continents thanks to consistently high standards of production and service. A switch of supplier could inhibit McDonald's from delivering a guaranteed level of quality, and at this juncture, might be too risky a venture to contemplate.

Our first Tour de France

2011-07-26T19:16:00.002+01:00

What a great event the tour de France was this year. For the first year everyone at Minale Tattersfield’s London office followed it with great interest and fever passion. With our British staff having Mark Cavendish to cheer for, our Australian guys, Cadel Evans to support and not to mention our French, Italian and Belgium staff all having their own national hero’s (Voeckler, Cunego and Gibert) cheering to bring home the glory. It really was nail-biting stuff right up until the last time trail on Saturday 23rd where the yellow jersey was still up for grabs between the very likeable and talented Australian rider Cadel Evans of BMC and the two Schleck brothers (Andy and Frank) riding for Leopard Trek.

Our Australian office in Sydney, have been celebrating the fantastic win of Cadel Evans, since Sunday, making him the first Australian to win the Tour de France. However our Benelux partners on the other side of the Channel have also been celebrating with a glass or two of Champagne for both Andy and Frank Schleck who finished second and third respectively. The Champs Élysées podium image of Cadel Evans and the Schleck brothers standing either side of him with the imposing Arc de Triomphe in the background has a special meaning for the Minale Design Strategy team.

This is because our Paris and Brussels office where responsible for the design and branding of the Leopard Trek team. The logotype, colours, uniform, livery, website and design communications all created to project a team ready for business!

How close did they (Leopard Trek) get to achieving the top honours! Everyone at the London office want to thank the whole Leopard Trek team, for giving us a great team to support and cheer on in one of the best Tour’s ever! (at least in the last years). We look forward to supporting you again next year and wish you the very best for the rest of the cycling season.

Cause for celebration

2011-07-21T16:40:00.003+01:00

2011 is an important year in the history of Santa Margherita. It was 50 years ago that they became the first company to produce Pinot Grigio, a white wine which is vinified without the skins from the pink grapes. Since that time Pinot Grigio has become one of the best loved of all the Italian wines and the variety has been introduced by many Italian wine producers. Of course being the first Pinot Grigio means that the Santa Margherita brand has achieved legendary status, particularly in the Italian home market and the United States where it is brand leader in its category.

Santa Margherita has used the occasion of the 50^th anniversary as an opportunity to promote the brand in order to maintain its premium positioning. Minale Tattersfield has been working with Santa Margherita to develop and design limited anniversary editions of the wine as well as a number of promotional items.

Meanwhile over in Friuli

From a small vineyard planted 80 years ago just outside Corona in Friuli has grown a major wine business that exports its products worldwide. It has been done through the sheer hard work, dedication and above all passion of the Luisa family. Tenuta Luisa now has 185 acres under vines and produces over 350,000 bottles of quality wine a year.

The wines have been critically acclaimed and won many awards in international competitions. Minale Tattersfield has been working with Tenuta Luisa over the last two years to update the design of the wine labels to reflect their premium status and to give them more presence on shelf.

The winery is located near the village of Corona which means crown. A crown formed the original visual identity of the Tenuta Luisa brand. Following the major brand overhaul undertaken by Minale Tattersfield the crown has taken on a whole new meaning. The three points of the crown are formed by the second and third generations of the Luisa family who have put so much of themselves into every aspect of the wine making process.

As well as redesigning the brand visual identity we also refreshed the main body of the labels. The new designs have been enthusiastically received by the trade resulting in a number of new listings including Waitrose.

Another classic

Luna dei Feldi from Santa Margherita breaks away from the company policy of producing single varietals. This wine is a blend of Chardonnay, Muller Thurgau and Traminer. The result is a complex multi-faceted wine with hints of flowers and fruits from the Chardonnay, green apples from Muller Thurgau and roses and grapefruit from Traminer. The three varieties of grape are grown at Rovere del Luna in the vineyard called Feldi. It’s a fairy tale name for an exceptional wine.

An exceptional and distinctive wine calls for a very distinctive label. The new label design from Minale Tattersfield has risen to the challenge and created a label design that is interesting at first glance but a closer inspection is rewarded by the unravelling of a complex pattern of vineyards made up from words describing the provenace and terrior of the region. A fitting tribute to a complex wine.

a4 Shopping while waiting for the next train

2011-07-07T09:36:00.043+01:00

a4 Eco Pak uses 75% less plastic

2011-07-04T15:56:00.005+01:00

a1 Great name poor design

2011-06-03T16:10:00.020+01:00

New Zealand’s channel 3 aptly describes Greenstone’s $695 million acquisition of Shell’s 226 strong retail network as ‘Audacious’. To dump the probably the world’s most prestigious energy brand and create your own makes slightly more sense when you realise Greenstone will avoid having to pay Shell $10 million a year licensing fees…..(once of course the rebranding fees in excess of $35 million are paid plus say $3 -$5 million in annual advertising support.

The solution ‘Z’ cleverly responds to a very thorough consumer research programme revealing New Zealanders wanted Shell’s replacement to be local but of international quality. Unfortunately the graphical and architectural representation of the name lacks ingenuity and confidence and falls well short of the hype promising to revolutionise the way people buy petrol.

Greenstone’s CEO Mike Bennet describes 'Z’ as the 'First letter of the last word of the country to which our business is solely committed' which is so clever and yet beautifully simple. Why not then just a bold unfussy sans serif Z, why the contorted twisty Z that is trying too hard and somehow tries to infuse other meanings such as ‘Infinity’ which are totally irrelevant to the offer and serve only to distract? Similarly the graduated yellow / red is confused and lacks the clarity of the core idea. Creating a continuity with the past red and yellow of Shell was no doubt in the minds of the design team but why cling to the past when you are supposedly trying to create a revolution?

An interesting parallel case study exists in the telecom sector when Orange boldly discarded any 'net', 'com' or 'phone' from the name and confidently said 'Hey we're about actively connecting and engaging with people's lives rather than being a lowly throw away commodity' To do be credible Orange could not allow any distraction or confusion of their message and correctly decided that in this instance less was more. They resisted the temptation to over embellish and chose just the now famous orange square on a black background, no superfluous graphics, textures or shapes that may dilute the singularity of the message, we're different, and we’re new, come and try.

The message to others thinking to acquire a major company retail network is that effective branding is about having total belief and conviction in what your stand for and having the vision and strength to say no to anything that is not on brand, (however nice it sometimes feels to add more to the mix).

a1 Totally Grey

2011-05-16T19:45:00.021+01:00

All that can be said about the new Total petrol station in Hamburg Germany is ‘Grey, grey and more grey’. Gone is the instantly recognisable red brand statement.

It’s hard to know what has motivated such a move since market research globally tends to supports a clean statement of colour. Germany may possibly be different since with a strong support amongst consumers and planners of ‘Green’ policies, a less bright, more subdued design that blends in with the environment may have been deemed preferable. Has Total followed McDonalds lead in ditching red in favour of a neutral colour (dark green)?

If Total are on the verge of abandoning ‘Red’, a tacit invitation for others to seize red is invited….. and what an invitation and that. Of all the colours red is the most obviously synonymous with the car. A red Ferrari the most brazen example. Red also means confidence, is highly visible, great for food and with no major negatives apart from being just too loud. Ironically a red and white balloon is seen in the background to shout that a new station has arrived and yet the station itself rejects red in favour of grey.

Perhaps a driver of the change has also been cost since a very minimalist style has been adopted with virtually no decorative cladding and illumination. Again the irony is any savings here would be countered by extra columns and clear roof panels. Is the hand of an architect more obvious than that of a branding agency?

To summarize Total may have thrown the baby out with the bath water in an attempt to be more environmentally friendly. We say being 'Green' is nothing to do with painting yourself red, green or grey, it's about deeds.

a1 Logos explained

2011-04-11T19:58:00.014+01:00

A review of Deconstructing Logo Design by Matthew Healey,
published by Rotovision

For nearly 40 years Rotovision has been recognised as the publisher of choice for books on the visual arts, graphic design, photography, illustration, digital design and craft reference. Their mission is to highlight innovation and excellence in all these areas of design and to explore the process, creative techniques and inspiration that make the work stand out.

Matthew Healey has just written the latest book on design to be published by Rotovision. The book entitled Deconstructing Logo Design follows a number of other books from the same publisher on the intriguing subject of logos. Matthew Healey is a brand consultant, graphic designer and lecturer who has worked in advertising agencies in New York and Prague, is a member of the Design Management Institute in Boston and has lectured on branding, advertising and marketing throughout Europe and the USA.

The book gives an interesting insight into the ways that leading designers from around the world create the logos of today to communicate the values of a client’s brand. The challenge of today’s designers is to always create an identity that is original and will make their client stand out from its competitors whilst ensuring the result is functional and comprehensible. Designers must therefore be forever pushing forward the boundaries to provide client satisfaction. In this multi-media age a good visual expression of a brand , beginning with a logo seems to be more critical than ever.

The concept of a logo as set out in the book is to work on a number of levels:

• On the most basic level the logo needs to refer to the brand’s name

• On the next level, it may impart the offering behind the brand, although this is often not done, either because the offer is too complex or else the stand out is provided by the ethos or vision

• On a higher level, the logo needs to advance the broader strategic goals of the organisation to a specific audience

• Finally the logo ought to convey an implicit sense of the values, aspirations and promises the brand lets its consumers embrace.

300 international logos are presented and analysed as to how they meet the four objectives set out above. It is interesting that the logos are picked from the work of small agencies and individual designers as well as from such established and distinguished agencies as Fitch (10 examples), Interbrand (16 examples), Minale Tattersfield (9 examples), Landor (4 examples) and Siegel & Gale (10 examples). The designs featured had a certain universality about them and a number of design techniques in common, no matter what the country of origin which is probably not surprising given that organisations now want to communicate to a world audience and that all designers are able to keep abreast of design developments from around the world via the internet.

The book is an invaluable guide to all those designers who work within the realm of corporate identity design and for those who seek to sell their services as well as to corporate communicators and marketeers who need to promote their own organisations.

Minale Tattersfield takes gold!

2011-04-08T11:30:00.007+01:00

Minale Tattersfield and Trentino Marketing win gold at the 2011 transform Awards!

“It’s not just about winning awards, it’s about creating effective design and branding solutions that help our clients build successful brands. But having said that, a bit of a ‘jolly’ once in a while has its merits, especially when it can be shared.”

At a ceremony in London last night Minale Tattersfield’s work in rebranding the Trentino region of Italy was recognised with winning gold in the Transform Awards in the category of Best Rebrand of a Region.

Now in their second year, the Transform Awards are the UK’s only dedicated celebration of rebranding, repositioning and brand transformation.

At the event at the Grange Hotel St Paul’s in London, hosted by former director of communications and strategy at Number 10 Alastair Campbell, Minale Tattersfield was lauded for its work with rebranding Trentino, the mountainous region in the north east of Italy. Judged by a panel of branding experts, communications practitioners and academics, the Transform Awards were established by Communicate magazine, the UK’s leading magazine for corporate communications and stakeholder relations, to celebrate creativity, innovation and effectiveness in brand transformation.

The work was commissioned by Trentino Marketing SpA which is the organisation responsible for ensuring that Trentino competes effectively with other regions for tourism, investment and sales of its produce and manufactures. Trentino Marketing found that the existing brand was not understood by stakeholders and the identity did not communicate the essence of the region and was difficult to apply. The brief was to create a new identity that would have some elements of the old to ensure continuity but be versatile, bring the region to life and communicate its uniqueness.

Marcello Minale, Managing Director of Richmond, Surrey based Minale Tattersfield says, “We are delighted to have received such a prestigious award for our work with Trentino. We have been working with Trentino Marketing for several years now so we have really got to know the region well. We were able to set out the proposition and understand all the elements of Brand Trentino. We think our new identity for the region communicates very clearly the diversity, harmony and vitality of the landscape, its people and its nature.”

Maurizio Rossini, Marketing Director of Trentino Marketing SpA says of the new identity, “A key measure of its effectiveness is that it has been immediately and enthusiastically taken up by all interest groups. Our promotion is now immeasurably more powerful and provides the focus for us to communicate the advantages of our region.”

Andrew Thomas, publisher of Communicate magazine said: “We have seen a 60% increase in the number of entries this year, fabulous growth in difficult times. This highlights the importance of the Transform Awards.

They are important because whilst still recognising the importance of creativity they also benchmark execution, outcome, and, perhaps most importantly, the strategic input of Europe's branding consultancies and in-house expertise. It is my belief that Europe leads the way in these fields.”

a1 Food Drives Fuel Sales

2011-03-25T09:33:00.006Z

To develop a competitive food offer at a petrol station makes sense not only because the profit margin is much higher than on fuel sales. According to Steve Tremlett of UK supermarket brand Somerfield a third of customers at petrol stations come for fuel, a third come for food and a third come for food and fuel. So for the food and fuel customers, having a proper food offer also drives fuel sales.

This more or less coincides with research undertaken service station analyst Datamonitor who reckon that 50% of visitors to a service station buy a food to go product, the remaining 50% just fuel. With an average sales per store of £550,000 in the UK this equates to 11.5% of total sales. Datamonitor see a greater potential to capture some of the 50% of customers who do not make a shop purchase.

Anecdotal evidence from around the world suggests that the market for food sales at service stations has increased across the board due to more established brands entering the market such as Tesco. It seems that in the same way as smaller brands profit from the presence of major anchor tenants at shopping malls, a similar dynamic works with petrol stations where the likes of Tesco have educated us all that a petrol station is not such an unlikely place to make impulse food purchases at the very least.

Despite the international oil company brands making considerable advances in developing their own brand C-stores they still have not managed to make as credible a food offer as the major supermarket chains. For the oil company brands such as Esso’s ‘On the run’ clearly the focus has been transient customers evident from the predominance of snacking and food to go offers inside. Somerfield feel the potential is greater and see much opportunity in offering a higher proportion of top-up purchases and food for later aimed at local neighbourhoods. Not helping the oil company brands is the large proportion of dealer owned sites who may differ in the range of products sold and consistency with which the brand is applied and presented. The prize for oil companies who get it right is attractive with Statoil reportedly achieving 25% of gross retail profits attributable to the convenience store.

Name creation for TfL

2011-03-16T14:05:00.016Z

Creating a name for a scheme that will change the way we think about moving around London.

Source London is a new London-wide electric vehicle charging network initiated by the Mayor of London with a view to promote the widespread use of electric vehicles (EV) throughout the capital. From Spring 2011 there will be a phased installation of 1,300 public charging points on residential streets and off-street locations such as car parks, supermarkets, shopping and leisure centres.

It is a very important initiative, designed to change the way we think about getting around London. We worked with Transport for London, one of the principal partners and the organisation that will run the scheme, to develop the new brand.

The challenge was to create a name that would apply not only to the network but also to the charging points themselves. Since the charging points would be located across London and in many public locations, the views of the London Boroughs and other organisations had to be taken into consideration in the naming process. Our usual naming process perfectly fitted the bill.

We held a naming workshop to which a diverse group of stakeholders, including representatives of the London Boroughs, were invited. Those present at the workshop participated in a series of exercises designed to elicit the most favoured brand names already in use and to generate suggestions for name candidates and types of names that would be relevant for the scheme.

Such workshops do not always produce a suitable name but are invaluable in providing direction as to the type of name (common usage, made up name or hybrid), the meaning behind the name, sound of the name etc. Following the workshop we had a clear sense of direction and were able to generate a good number of name candidates for the long list. In due course the long list was whittled down to a short list which included the word Source.

Already there are more electric drivers in London than anywhere else in the UK and when the scheme is complete there will be twice as many charge points in London as there are petrol stations. Transport for London has offered the Source brand to other cities in the UK so we shall no doubt be hearing this name many more times in the future.

Naturally we are supporters of the initiative and personally some of us are looking into the possibility of changing our preferred form of transport to EV.

To find out more visit https://www.sourcelondon.net/

a5 Artoil opens in Ufa

2011-02-28T15:31:00.008Z

The second Artoil station has opened to much aclaim in the Urals city of Ufa. The first station in the wealthy Moscow suburb of Rublevka caused quite a stir but not as much as Ufa where retail is still a few years behind. Ufa customers were very pleasantly surprised that an oil company had finally decided to present its offer up to the standard and beyond of any other major shopping centre retailer. See russian tv story.

Minale Tattersfield head of retail David Davis comments that it was great to see that such a city as Ufa should benefit from outside investment dedicated to bringing some colour to a normally dreary and functional retail sector. It was also a personal milestone for owner Rishat Safin who is native to this region.

Photo and construction courtesy of Etalon.

a1 Repsol Solar Water Heating Car Wash

2011-02-15T16:16:00.006Z

Outside Barajas airport in Madrid can be seen solar panels on top of the Repsol jet wash bays. Look closer and it’s clear that these are not solar PV electricity generators which have appeared on petrol station canopies over recent years but water heaters for supplying warm water at the jet wash nozzle.

By using solar water heaters in this way Repsol will gain from offsetting the cost of either a gas fuelled heater or an electricity fuelled heater. Savings will be manifest not only as reduced energy bills but reduced maintenance costs for conventional heating apparatus.

...but why not communicate the environmental benefits more obviously?

Some big ideas just keep on getting bigger

2010-12-16T12:48:00.007Z

In July 2008 we were asked by Harlequins Rugby Club to create a brand for what would be the biggest event in their calendar.

Their idea back then was to stage a match just after Boxing Day which would take place at the country’s largest rugby stadium, Twickenham. Instead of their usual crowd of 13,000 at their home ground they would have to attract a crowd of 50,000. (Twickenham actually holds over 80,000 but due to the lack of public transport over Christmas they were not allowed to sell more than 50,000 tickets).

So the challenge was to put together a campaign that would sell four times more tickets than was usual for a club match.

A big challenge calls for big thinking, and big thinking led to the big
brand. So it was that Minale Tattersfield created the Big Game brand
as well as all the promotional material. The event was highly successful
with all tickets sold. Its success led in 2009 to Big Game 2 and Minale Tattersfield was tasked with producing an even bigger campaign with promotional material including a short film, posters for buses and train stations, newspaper advertisements, leaflets etc. This time the authorities relented and allowed 80,000 tickets to be sold so the challenge had got bigger. The campaign obviously hit the mark because virtually all 80,000 tickets were sold.

Now in the run up to the end of 2010 the Big Game is still going strong. Big Game 3 is being promoted throughout London and another full house is expected. The original Minale Tattersfield promotional material is being updated for this year’s campaign. Although the updating is not being carried out by Minale Tattersfield, the brand template has already been clearly established. The look and feel, brand values, colour palette, layout and photographic style have been set out so precisely that it is easy for the club to now insert the latest details.

The Minale Tattersfield ethos is to build brands on firm foundations.
The foundation is to understand fully the client’s objectives, the customer motivation and the competitive set. So the customer motivation was all about getting out after the Christmas blowout to something that could be enjoyed by all the family that would be different and special. The big idea to communicate this was the idea of a Hollywood blockbuster or epic.

We think the Big Game will run and run.

A look into our archives

2010-12-07T15:10:00.053Z

On the 8th of November 2010 we were pleasantly surprised to read on Design Week a letter from Patrick Argent about why are clients choosing to change their identities from identities that were loaded with meaning and personality to ones that appear anonymous and lacking in any creativity.

As examples that showed creativity, with layers of meaning and a strong idea behind them where three identities, of which two where ours, The Royal Armouries Museum and The London Transport Museum. The third identity mentioned was The National Grid by John McConnell.

This article tempted us to a bit of nostalgia (typically a bad word with us) and we took a look at our archives to remind ourselves of these two identities we had created during the 1990s.

The London Transport Museum identity was commissioned between 1992 and 1993. The art director responsible was Alex Maranzano, (retired from Minale Tattersfield in 2009) and the senior designer was Jon Unwin (today he is Graphic Design Programme Leader at Falmouth Collage).

The brief was to develop a new identity as part of the London Transport Museum’s refurbishment programme. This needed to be compatible with the classic London Transport identity and expressive of the relationship between a great urban transportation system and the people using it – past, present and future.

Our solution was selecting different people from different times travelling on London Transport. From a top hatted Victorian gentleman to a modern passenger time appears to be speeding up as we reach the present day. A case of travel, traveling through time…

In our opinion the solution had an elegant idea at its core (what strategists today prefer to call a ‘big’ idea). The London travellers traveling through time was a versatile concept with a symbol that could be adapted and brought to life through a number of different applications. The visual identity could easily be applied to banners, event invitations, membership cards, posters, brochures and internal signage. The identity came in different versions depending on colour restrictions, which included a multi-colour version, a black and white version and a version that could be reversed out of a single colour. It proved to be very versatile and loaded with meaning. However, the identity was never animated, which was a pity seeing its potential.

In 2008 the London Transport Museum went through another major refurbishment and the identity was dropped in favour of the famous TfL roundel. However powerful and iconic the roundel is we feel that the museum has lost its own personality as a place of transport enlightenment and delight and now resembles more the depository of Transport for London’s decommissioned transport vehicles. The London Transport Museum website is www.ltmuseum.co.uk.

The Royal Armouries identity was commissioned between 1995 and 1996 and was the last project Brian Tattersfield, one of our founding partners, art directed and personally worked on before retiring.

The brief was to design the visual identity and signage for the then newly built Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds.

The solution was to base the identity on one of the most extraordinary objects in the collection – a grotesque horned helmet, all that remains of a suit of armour made for King Henry VIII. Visually startling, elegant, beautifully crafted but slightly sinister, this helmet embodied all the qualities inherent in the collection. E.g. Weapons with the purpose of maiming and killing which are, yet, so beautifully crafted and fascinating to look at.

Outside the main entrance two granite columns presented the mask in 3D to greet visitors as they enter. Because of the simplicity of the building there was no conventional sign system required, instead a secondary set of symbols where created to identify the main areas of the museum, from the horrors of war to the thrill of the tournament. Visitors would then be directed to these areas by huge banners which would hang the full height of the internal street.

The identity could be easily reproduced big or small, in one or two colours which made it incredibly versatile and applicable to a range of different applications and gift shop merchandise. One particular gift item we thought particularly ‘creative’ was a mask of the actual identity itself.

At the time of presenting our design concepts to the museum’s curators we also highlighted that the name Royal Armouries Museum, could eventually be abbreviated to RAM, an appropriate anagram seeing the famous helmet used ram horns which are symbolic for confrontation and warfare.

Sadly over the last years the identity has slowly diminished to near oblivion and replaced by a somewhat anodyne and rather boring identity. The Royal Armouries Museum website is www.royalarmouries.org

a1 Lukoil look alike

2010-11-23T12:03:00.001Z

Deep in the far east of Russia near Vladivostok lies a red and white petrol station. At first glance the station appears to be of the market leader Lukoil. Look a bit closer and you realise it’s Oktant. When we asked the attendant if they were a branch of Lukoil we got a ‘Nyet’ and would we mind leaving (not so politely). Ironically the shop offer was far better than any you would find on a real Lukoil site. Why not develop your own brand guy’s!....and as for Lukoil, is your brand of such little value to you that you allow imposters?

Logos explanied

2010-11-11T14:05:00.009Z

A review of Deconstructing Logo Design by Matthew Healey,
published by Rotovision

The book gives an interesting insight into the ways that leading designers from around the world create the logos of today to communicate the values of a client’s brand. The challenge of today’s designers is to always create an identity that is original and will make their client stand out from its competitors whilst ensuring the result is functional and comprehensible. Designers must therefore be forever pushing forward the boundaries to provide client satisfaction. In this multi-media age a good visual expression of a brand , beginning with a logo seems to be more critical than ever.

The concept of a logo as set out in the book is to work on a number of levels:

• On the most basic level the logo needs to refer to the brand’s name

• On the next level, it may impart the offering behind the brand, although this is often not done, either because the offer is too complex or else the stand out is provided by the ethos or vision

• On a higher level, the logo needs to advance the broader strategic goals of the organisation to a specific audience

• Finally the logo ought to convey an implicit sense of the values, aspirations and promises the brand lets its consumers embrace.

a1 If you’ve got it – flaunt it!

2010-10-12T11:55:00.002+01:00

In my childhood in the 1950s and 1960s the oil companies were among the most visible brand advertisers – especially on the new medium of television. Challenge a baby boomer today to sing for you “The Esso sign means happy motoring” or “You’re going well you’re going Shell” and most will be able to oblige. But the quadrupling of oil prices in the early 1970s put a stop to all that and whilst there have been occasional flurries of brand advertising in this sector since there has rarely been a period of determined product differentiation advertising. So how should we see Shell’s current UK campaign to promote a new fuel, Shell FuelSave which offers drivers improved fuel efficiency of “Up to one litre per tank” – you can see the TV Commercial here?

Let’s go back to first principles about brand promotion – rules that apply to any sector at any time. There are essentially three components/stages to the putting together of a successful brand differentiation campaign:

1. Design or develop a distinctive product or service
2. Find a creative way of communicating the brand benefits
3. Allocate sufficient media funds to reach your target group effectively.

Let’s review Shell’s new offer against these criteria:

1. In a market in which petrol is seen as a commodity and where the only differentiator is price then Shell’s offer is distinctive and relevant. It is not particularly original in a historical perspective – students of advertising or aging juveniles like me will remember Super Shell with ICA in the 1960s – Super Shell with Platformate in the United States? Take a look at this TV Commercial from 1962. The proposition is identical to that of Shell Fuelsave fifty years later and there is nothing inherently wrong in that. There are really only three fuel differentiation options – Performance, Economy or Environmental benefits. The last named requires an unlikely degree of altruism on the part of the buyer and few will be prepared to pay extra to be green. Performance is a hot button for some and Shell has often had performance advantages as one of the elements for a differentiated fuel (they still do with the premium-priced Shell V-Power). But the real killer proposition should be, as it always has been, economy. If you can get more miles per gallon for the same price you should have a winner - and that’s what Shell Fuelsave offers.

2. The man in the white coat creative treatment is about as old as advertising itself and Shell’s latest version of this is pretty clichéd and predictable. It is supported by other media – including this promotional video which rather cleverly personalises the technology breakthrough. But it is intriguing that Shell fell back on the Scientist representation rather than getting a direct customer endorsement. Maybe the later is planned for the second phase of the communications – if there is to be one. Alternatively Shell could have created a much more metaphorical advertisement without the strong rational reason to believe that they have in their chosen creative. They have done it before – for example in this ad from the United States. The world of TV advertising is so diverse and cluttered these days that the challenge to be distinctive creatively is a considerable one – and to secure client approval for an attention getting creative idea may also often be difficult – especially if that client comes from the rational/scientific world of an oil company. One suspects that the “man in the white coat” Shell FuelSave ad was what the client wanted – even though the Agency creative department must have known how corny an idea it was! I doubt that it will win too may creative awards – whether it wins advertising effectiveness awards relies on something else – its reach.

3. The reach that any brand advertising has is a direct consequence of its media selection and budget. True fine creative will have impact even if the budget bucks are limited – but in most campaigns the more you spend the more reach you will secure. And this is where I fear that Shell FuelSave may fall down. That there was any TV advertising at all for a differentiated fuel product was something I suppose but ask yourself how often you personally have seen the TV Commercial – if at all. I haven’t seen the figures but my guess is that Shell’s media budget for the launch campaign of Shell FuelSave was quite modest and that there has been a real danger of the ad getting lost amongst the all the other strongly funded FMCG and other consumer advertising that is around. And given the frankly pedestrian nature of the creative I doubt whether the brand has really established itself top of the mind with the motorist. The on-site promotion and signalisation has been good and motorists will certainly have seen the brand on site or when they pass the site by. But have the distinct advantages of the brand really lodged themselves in the mind of the buyer? That will be seen from research and, of course, from the ultimate test of sales revenues.

Paddy Briggs
October 2010

A legend in their own tea time

2010-10-03T16:03:00.021+01:00

Rome is one of those cities that everyone visits at least once in their lifetime. With its mix of ancient ruins, baroque architecture, renaissance art, fashionable shops and restaurants to say nothing of the grandest churches in the world, Rome is a hard act to follow. All those who pass through on the tourist trail will surely walk either up or down the Spanish Steps. It is almost the epicentre of tourist Rome. A place where crowds jostle to sit on the steps to rest awhile, to meet with other travellers, to listen to the guitar strumming itinerants trying to pay for their trip round Europe or just to soak up the atmosphere. Yet few know that the area at the bottom of the Spanish Steps now largely inhabited by chic fashion boutiques was for many years an area best known as "little Britain".

When the wealthy British visited Rome as part of the Grand Tour in the mid 19th century they would congregate around the area. Over time an array of services grew up to meet the needs of the travellers. A library, pharmacy, hotel, cafes, shops all catered for the needs of the English grand tourer. Interestingly, it was the pharmacies at that time that served the tea. Then in 1893 two English ladies Anna Maria Babington and Isabel Cargill decided to open a tea room in Piazza di Spagna to serve tea the English way. It very soon became the place to meet for not only the English but for Italian writers, actors, politicians and artists. Luckily, it survived the war intact and still stands in the same location today.

Babingtons Tea Rooms is still a family business run by descendents of Isabel Cargill. The present owners have recently begun a programme of updating the menu and introducing new products into the gift shop. Minale Tattersfield has been a key part of the process. A new positioning has been developed centred on the eccentricity of the English and the notion that in England everything stops for tea.

A new range of teas have been introduced with each pack featuring a different but very bizarre Victorian invention. The menus covers and press advertisements also feature the theme of English eccentricity. There is a new range of merchandise available in the gift shop; attractively packaged home produced jams, decorated place mats, shopping bags, aprons, dish cloths and tea caddies all feature modern stylish designs yet with a Victorian twist to them.

The new approach and the new products really add to the experience. So when in Rome do as the Romans do (and all the tourists) and visit Babingtons Tea Rooms.

Photographs courtesy of Babingtons Tea Rooms.

a1 Artoil

2010-09-24T16:35:00.009+01:00

New to the streets of Moscow is the Artoil Petrol Station which was opened in the smart Rublevka district on the 8th of July this year. According to David Davis of designers Minale Tattersfield, the new design ‘Was intended to provide the Russian motorist with the highest level of service within a bright and cheerful environment that clearly put the motorist first’.

As a market Russia has matured to a level where western levels of presentation are becoming expected and even exceeded in certain cases. BP and Lukoil set the standard in the late 90’s and from 2000 onwards and more recently Rosneft and Gazpromneft.

The Artoil brand was conceived to raise the bar further and was created collaboratively with owners Ilona and Rishat Safin to be credible for technological products such as fuel and car wash whilst be equally applicable for the highly profitable convenience and ‘Food to go’ sector. The Artoil name communicates the quirky boutique nature of the positioning plus is derived from the old Kartoil stations which in past years provided a venue for Cart racing enthusiasts.

Artoil differentiates itself within the market with a bold use of colour which is designed to be both highly visible and provide a welcome refuge during long, cold and grey winters. Colours feature inside the store too with a sit down and ‘Food to go’ offer named Kraski Kafe (colours cafe). The ubiquitous downmarket white grid tiled ceiling was deliberately rejected in favour of a more characterful and atmospheric design where a large timber elliptical lowered ceiling feature makes a dramatic and differentiating statement.

Artoil’s management were aware that they were totally new to market and were naturally anxious that they could attract customers from leading brands such as Lukoil. In the event trading figures for both fuel and C-store are significantly higher than the previous Lukoil station that the Artoil design replaced. Local office workers especially are happy to spend break times in the ‘Art Market’ drinking coffee or topping up their weekly shopping.

So far the Artoil design has picked up the ‘Best design 2010’ from the Moscow Oil Association but perhaps the best measure of success comes from the banks who are happy to finance a further 75 Artoil stations by 2015.

Construction of prototype station by Etalon

Photographs courtesy of Etalon

Trentino identity evolution

2010-08-20T14:47:00.005+01:00

Earlier this year Minale Tattersfield completed the new visual identity for the northern Italian region of Trentino. Having worked with the region for nearly a decade we have developed a very close relationship with the people that promote and communicate this very special part of Italy. When asked to present the new visual identity and its usage guidelines to the rest of their team, we thought it would be nice to start the presentation with a short animation, capturing the nature of the evolution. Here it is...

D&AD executive election!

2010-08-06T18:10:00.022+01:00

What came first the pencil or the scribble?

Winning a D&AD (Design and Art Directors) award for creative excellence is the aspiration of nearly every creative agency in the world. It is the ‘benchmark’ to which all designers, young and old look to for justification, reward and recognition – it defines who they are, what they do and why they do it.

The association was founded in 1962 by a group of London-based designers & art directors that included David Bailey, Terence Donovan, Alan Fletcher and Colin Forbes (who designed the original D&AD logo).

In 1962 Marcello Minale Snr and Brian Tattersfield (our founding partners) met at Y&R (Young and Rubicam). In 1963 they joined D&AD after winning their first D&AD award (a certificate). The following year Marcello Minale Snr and Brain Tattersfield decided to leave Y&R and start their own agency, appropriately called Minale Tattersfield. Their first commission was to create an identity for themselves (the Scribble) and shortly afterwards they volunteered to design a more prestigious award for D&AD. What they created was a beautiful ebony pencil box, which contained a pencil with silver lettering. It was a thing of beauty but too delicate, so in 1966 Lou Klein designed the more durable yellow pencil we have today.

Today, D&AD has grown in membership and reaches out across the world. Although the day to day running of the association is handled by a dedicated team, they take their leadership from an appointed executive of leading design and advertising practitioners. The executive is elected by the association’s members every 3 or so years.

This year, in 2010, Marcello Minale’s son, also called Marcello Minale has stood for this year’s election. It’s a bit like history doing full circle and perhaps if appointed, we will finally find out if it was the pencil that inspired the scribble or the other way round.

If you are a D&AD member and want to cast your vote, you can do so by visiting http://www.dandad.org/category/about/

Thanks for reading!

Clocking a docking station

2010-08-06T18:00:00.011+01:00

Last week I was walking out of Liverpool Street station to meet a friend at one of those 'trendy' Shoreditch bars and I walked past one of the newly installed docking stations for the Mayor’s new cycle scheme. I stopped a while to look over this new piece of street furniture since it has received so much publicity in the press and not least because our agency did a lot of the preliminary design work. I was not alone in giving the bikes and the pay box the once over. Other people were walking round the bikes and pointing and prodding as well.

Having lived with the scheme over several months, as one of TfL's (Transport for London) design roster agencies, it was a real joy to see the scheme in the flesh. Since our work the scheme had obtained a sponsor, Barclays Bank, and the cycles were standing there resplendent in their new Barclays' blue livery. The cycles themselves look very robust. I understand they each cost a few hundred pounds.

This scheme is just what this traffic choked city needs and I am sure it will be very successful. When I walked past, several of the docking points were empty so several of the bikes were already being used. I was very tempted to take one out myself and impress my friend of my green credentials by cycling to the restaurant but then again I am not sure that there would have been a docking station at the other end. I made a mental note to get a map of where all the docking stations were.

Thanks for reading!

You can see the TfL Cycle hire work we did by visiting our site: http://www.minaletattersfield.com/

a1 Disa Rebrands Petrol Stations

2010-07-26T23:37:00.005+01:00

Spanish company Disa (Distribuidora Industrial, S.A) has recently rebranded using the humming bird symbol and yellow and blue flag colours reflecting its origins in the Canary Islands. Previously Disa had run petrol stations under partner brands Cepsa, Repsol YPF, BP or Shell and therefore it's previous black/blue rather industrial looking identity was not very visible.

The need to rebrand petrol stations resulted from a ruling from the Spanish Competition Authority. Disa clearly felt that to enter the retail sector a softer approach was more appropriate. The humming bird gathering nectar is a charming metaphor for the refueling process without any reference to the 'Dirty' side of the oil business. By communicating environmentally friendly values in the new identity Disa are obliged to deliver on the promise which the 'Sustainable Development' programme launched by Disa goes some way towards.

a1 New models give higher value to oil companies and their retail brands

2010-07-19T15:33:00.011+01:00

Location, location, location - the oldest cliché in the book about Retail. Get the right outlet with the right products in the right place and the customers and the profits just roll in! And in the petroleum sector it has to be even truer surely. Right road, right traffic flow, well positioned petrol station - Bingo! Well yes of course location is vital - that's why the real estate costs so much when a site on a busy highway or on a motorway is released or sold. But as every retailer knows the trick is always to maximise the returns - to secure volume and income which exceeds expectations and provides business higher than the "case" assumption (the assumption that underpinned the original investment). This article is about that extra, that bonus level of return that can turn a good site or network into a great one.

One of the basic rules of retail is that it has to be process driven. Securing and maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction does not happen by chance – especially in petroleum retailing. This means that the “offer” has not only to meet the customers’ needs but also to be consistent over time. Any fool can get a consumer to try a product or service once – but to bring them back time and time again you have to repeat the quality, and precisely replicate the purchase experience, every time. This requires performance standards – standards which cover every aspect of the motorist’s visit to the petrol station. Where, as is invariably the case, sites are part of a branded network your standards must cover the network as a whole. Most oil companies have some flagship sites in prime locations on which they lavish special care and attention. There is nothing wrong with this – providing that the minimum standards which apply elsewhere in the network meet, or preferably exceed, customer expectations. Consistency of the marketing offer is vital.

Vertically integrated oil companies, those that operate all the way along the supply chain from the wellhead to the motorist, are driven by processes. Technical and performance standards apply at every step in the chain – so it is not surprising that there is generally, in principle, an acceptance of the need for standards in their retailing operations as well. I say “in principle” advisedly because my personal experience in Shell, and my observation of other oil companies, is that particularly in recent years there is an unwillingness to make the financial commitment in retail that would facilitate the achievement of consistently high levels of customer service. The principal reason for this is that whereas other retailers are customer obsessed – the success of a Wal-Mart or a Tesco is built on the foundation of a fixation with customers – this hardly ever applies to traditional oil companies. This is part of the reason that supermarket and hypermarket chains have made such inroads into petroleum retailing. When the board of a supermarket giant meets virtually every subject discussed is placed in the context of its effect on customer preference and consumer choice. When the boards of Shell or BP or ExxonMobil meet there retail business is low down the agenda – if it is there at all – and the customer rarely gets a look in.

This brings us to the question as to whether retail is or should be a core competence for a vertically integrated oil company. Back in 1996 I moved, with Shell, to the Middle East – based in Dubai. My previous job had been as project manager for the re-imaging of Shell’s more than 40,000 petrol stations around the world – so I considered myself something of an expert on branded retailing in the petroleum sector and I thought also that Shell had created a new, distinctive and customer-driven set of design and operational standards. What immediately surprised me in Dubai is how high the general standards of petroleum retailing were - and all the brands were local brands. For example Emarat, a Dubai company, had a new design and associated forecourt standards which were, frankly, just as good as what we had just developed for Shell. The key point about Emarat is that they are first and foremost a consumer focused marketing company. Of course in a country like the United Arab Emirates, with its huge oil reserves, there are also major upstream companies but the nation’s oil marketing brands are decoupled from their upstream activities. Like Tesco or Wal-Mart, Emarat and their competitors are 100% focused on their motorist and other customers. This I believe is also the model for the future for the multinationals like Shell and BP.

The reality is that the main raison d’être of a vertically integrated oil major these days has to be the upstream. Most of their investment and almost all of their energies are focused on this sector – particularly at Board level. Although the marketing businesses of these companies are large, and their brands have traditionally been strong, whatever advantage there once was has gradually been whittled away by the supermarket chains. The consumer brands are also damaged by completely unrelated issues and problems in the upstream – as BP has recently seen to their cost. So the crucial decision that Shell and BP and the rest must take is whether they do still see marketing, and especially retail, as a core business and if so how they should restructure to give it far more emphasis than it can receive when most of the corporation’s efforts are on the upstream. Core businesses demand the development of distinctive core competences – peripheral businesses, however notionally large, wither on the vine because the core competences are absent or insufficiently developed.

There is a window of opportunity for Shell, BP, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Total etc to focus on what they do best – the upstream – and realise the value of their marketing businesses and brands. There are plenty of models which could be followed to do this of which probably the best would be the one chosen some years ago by British Gas plc when they formed two separate companies, one essentially upstream (BG Group) and the other a marketing business - Centrica. If there is residual value in the brands such as BP, Amoco, Shell, Total, Texaco, Esso, Mobil, Elf and the rest then the creation of dedicated downstream companies to manage these brands entirely separately from the upstream is essential. The question as to whether retail is a core competence would then never need to be asked. Retail would be the main business, the public face and the raison d’être of these new companies – and their management would have to be just as customer obsessed as their supermarket competitors!

Paddy Briggs

July 2010

© Minale Tattersfield

The chocolate masters!

2010-07-01T12:16:00.046+01:00

Belgium is world famous for the quality of its chocolate so when 10 Belgian masters of chocolate join together to showcase their art you know that something impressive is about to happen.

Best Belgian Chocolate of the World is a non profit making organisation dedicated to protecting and promoting the expertise of Belgian chocolate making. They decided to set up a retail outlet where the art of the Belgian ‘chocolatier’ could be experienced at first hand. It was to be a place not only where chocolate could be purchased but where one could see the chocolate being made and witness the skills of the chocolate masters.

This temple to the art of chocolate making was to be sited on Brussels’ Grand Place, right in the centre of Brussels and right within the tourist circuit. Ten masters of chocolate would provide daily demonstrations of their art. They would also showcase their particular chocolate specialities for

visitors to purchase.

Minale Tattersfield design strategy created the branding from the name “La Maison des Maîtres Chocolatiers Belges” right through to the interior design.

The visual identity design was expressed very simply in line with the whole concept itself. A light blue and a brown were the colours used in the identity and this was then followed through in the design of the communication material and the in-store point of sale. The simplicity of the design and the use of brown throughout really emphasise the purity of the recipes and the ‘love’ of chocolate.

Just opened, the visitors are starting to flock to experience the delights of the master chocolate makers and to take home the delicious treats they create. It is already proving to be a very effective way in promoting the superiority of Belgian Chocolate. Bon appétit!

Our brussels office along with our web developers Explose, have just completed and launched “La Maison des Maîtres Chocolatiers Belges” new website. The site follows the brand's 'look and feel' with dinamic content and an intuitive navigational system.

You can click this link to visit the new site http://www.mmcb.be/

Gas Powered Everything 2011

2010-06-29T18:15:00.000+01:00

a3 The Parramatta Justice Precinct

2010-06-24T06:54:00.013+01:00

The Parramatta Justice Precinct

The Parramatta Justice Precinct provides a significantly improved community access to a wide range of metropolitan based justice services. Effective signage is extremely important in assisting the public to locate the various services.

An external signage strategy was developed to provide an integrated family of signs addressing the needs for wayfinding, orientation, building and precinct identification and for the dissemination of information within the precinct.

The signage conveys excellence of design and implementation. It reinforces and contributes to the context and identity of the precinct and it’s setting. The signage is prominent and easily identifiable, but not visibly intrusive, taking cues from the surrounding architecture.

a3 Montpelier

2010-06-21T10:45:00.005+01:00

Design and project management by Minale Tattersfield Design Strategy Group.

a3 The University of Sydney

2010-06-21T10:38:00.011+01:00

The University of Sydney is Australia’s oldest tertiary institution, and with a student population in excess of 46,000 is one of the largest in Australia. It is ranked among the world’s top 40 universities.

Minale Tattersfield undertook the planning and design of a comprehensive wayfinding system. It complies with Australian Federal law on equality of access, thus setting new standards for a campus wayfinding system.

The Information signs feature tactile and Braille information, directions and maps. They feature intercom services and visual components such as an LED display, illuminated event poster and brochure dispenser. The primary and secondary directional signs feature Braille and tactile messages.

Project Tasks

Strategy and design for DDA (Disability Discrimination Act Commonwealth of Australia) with certified Access Consultant and Stakeholder Group Guidedogs Australia.

The key objective of the study was to develop a complete and integrated network of signage types that are required to address the various needs for wayfinding, orientation and information dissemination across the campus.

Of particular significance was the need to comply with the Australian standards on signage for visually impaired.

The consultancy involved the documentation of location drawings and coordination with the landscape architect;

Preparation of industrial design and graphic design for the signage package;

Development of options for and coordination of integration of information technology.

Coordination with civil, structural, mechanical and electrical engineering.

Preparation of a cost plan.

a3 Home City

2010-06-21T09:44:00.003+01:00

Design and project management by Minale Tattersfield.

a3 Sydney 2000 olimpic way finding

2010-06-21T09:31:00.007+01:00

Sydney 2000 olimpic way finding

Pedestrian wayfinding in the central Sydney area during the 2000 Olympic Games was aimed at providing an Integral system of Olympic wayfinding.

The message system was to combine existing signage symbols and message relying on standards pictograms.

Our aim was to maximise the efficiency of the signage programme by reducing and standardising the different criteria for the types of signs, the proportion, method of fixing, height above ground, structure and hierarchy of information, grouping and layout of messages, clarify the trichotomy of direction through arrows, destinations, text and recognition through pictograms.

a3 Darling Harbour

2010-06-21T02:38:00.005+01:00

Darling Harbour

Darling Harbour was created in 1988. Since it’s opening, Darling
Harbour has been a place of celebration for the people of Sydney, as
well as a hugely popular tourist destination, that attracts more than 28
million visitors annually.

The relationship between Minale Tattersfield and Darling Harbour dates back
to 1991 when the firm conducted a wayfinding audit and subsequently
produced the wayfinding strategy and design for the precinct.

In 2003 Darling Harbour commissioned a review of the signage taking
into account the considerable developments and changes in and
around Darling Harbour that have occurred over the previous 12 years.

This resulted in the recommendation of additional and improved layers
of signage ranging from identification to information and direction. The
new signage program reflects the Darling Harbour brand in its vibrant
red and white colour scheme.

a1 McChange

2010-06-17T12:07:00.004+01:00

Chances are there is a new dark ‘Hunter Green’ McDonalds near you by now. As a response to negative market research, critical city centre planning authorities, declining sales and fierce competition from the likes of Starbucks, the famous bright red frontage has been replaced by green in order to communicate to customers that McDonalds had changed some of its much publicised unethical ways. McDonalds appears now more of a restaurant than the petrol stations they frequently cohabit. The interiors too are less brash and feature modern art and subtle lighting showing that McDonalds understands the masses have become more discerning and sophisticated.

Delivering on the green promise includes a pledge that delivery vehicles run on recycled chip fat, packaging is recyclable and refrigerators run on non-ozone depleting refrigerants. To quote Jamie Oliver, gastro campaigner and entrepreneur ‘Being commercial and caring can work. Actually it’s the future’. Even Greenpeace have praised McDonalds for moving in the right direction (although it’s doubtful the charge of complicity in making the world obese will ever diminish).

a1 Star Mart Star Man

2010-05-24T12:17:00.007+01:00

Caltex’s Star Mart was in need of refreshment having warn the same red/turquoise wave identity for at least 14 years. The designers Hulsbosch rightly claim that the new logo shows “Warmth, personality and fun” is which is befitting of an offer which makes no great claim over and above providing speedy refreshment for the motorist. But whether the new ‘Star Man’ identity is truly contemporary as declared by the designers remains a question according to comments posted on the Australian media website mumbrella.

If mumbrella’s readers are as we suspect hyper critical graphic designers tired of such a familiar ‘Star Man’ visual pun then no doubt they would explain that using the Caltex star from the symbol and name was too obvious a starting point for the refreshed identity…..which is possibly why the previous designers avoided such a ‘gift’ in order to communicate the innovative nature of the offer in the mid 90’s.

Things have moved on, others are offering equal and superior offers and possibly required more thinking ‘Out the box’….see ‘Picknpay’, ‘On the Run’, ‘Wild Been Café, ‘Mesra’, 'Bonjour', ‘Sainsbury’s Local’, ‘Marks and ‘Spencer Simply Food’ and ‘Tesco Express’.

As ever it’s not what graphic designers think that matters and actual trading figures from 500 Australian sites will determine whether the rest of Caltex’s network in Asia and Africa will see more of the same.

a1 Reputation Management

2010-05-18T15:33:00.003+01:00

The maintenance of a good corporate reputation in today's febrile multimedia age is no easy task - not least because the needs of a company's various stakeholders are all too often contradictory. Investors may seek cost efficiencies which boost earnings and dividends whilst employees seek job security. The need to boost the resource base, especially for oil and gas companies, will often conflict with the needs of local communities and environmentalists. And in some industries, like tobacco, the very nature of the business activity itself can be hard to defend and virtually incapable of being painted in a positive light. So does that mean that there are no firm guidelines that can be established to help companies manage their reputation - is it all too difficult? This article will argue that the reverse is the case - so long as companies understand that brand management and reputation management are the same thing - and so long as they have an imperative to integrate what they say with what they do - and then tell the truth. And as long as they have the confidence not to have their reputation management decisions taken by lawyers!

Let's start with the key premise that there is really no difference between a company's corporate brand and its reputation. This is not semantics - the need to understand this principle is an essential condition before we can go on to put a reputation management plan together. But first lets clarify what we mean by corporate identity or brand. In a company like Unilever the corporate brand is the company name and it is the multitude of product brands that comprise the consumer offer. Lipton and Lux and Persil stand alone as distinctive brands and although there is some measure of endorsement from the Unilever parent brand this is not crucial to the product brands' success. When Unilever experienced some problems with the reformulation of their Persil brand back in the 1990s it did little harm to their corporate brand or to their business performance. It was a costly error - but it was confined to one product line - albeit an important one.

Contrast this with the now largely forgotten furore over Formula Shell back in the 1980s. Formula Shell was launched as being the "first new petrol for fifteen years" and the advertising made extravagant performance claims. However within months of the launch it emerged that in certain vehicles and in certain circumstances the additives in Formula Shell could actually damage a car's engine. In this case there was no possibility of distancing the brand of the corporation from the product brand - they were the same. The revelation that Shell, a company previously believed to be highly technologically advanced, could make such an error damaged Shell's reputation - and not just in respect of product formulations.

In the petroleum sector most companies, and all the multinationals, manage what Wally Olins calls a "Monolithic" brand structure - essentially their corporate identity runs as an identifier through the whole of their vertically integrated business from wellhead to the petrol station. There are some exceptions to this (BP has kept the brand integrity of its Castrol lubricants subsidiary for example) but in the main the monolithic structure prevails. The implications for the company in respect of brand and reputation management are both positive and negative - and need to be understood. On the plus side is the endorsement that the corporate name can give to new products and new ventures. Shell's latest differentiated petrol product Shell V-Power is very definitely a Shell endorsed sub-brand for example - just as Formula Shell once was. On the other hand Shell's overtly corporately branded and largely unsuccessful moves into some renewable energy areas such as "Shell Forestry" and "Shell Solar" were ill advised - at least with hindsight. There was never a satisfactory corporate fit for Shell to be in these businesses and the internal will to make them work never existed. These failures damaged Shell's overall reputation and credibility - something that might not have happened had a less Shell-branded option been pursued. The other real risk for monolithically branded corporations is of course the collateral damage that can be done when one part of the business fails or under-performs - or is perceived to have done so. In Ireland Shell's difficulties with its large Exploration and Production project Corrib in County Mayo led to protests from the local community and from environmental activists - including on the wholly separately managed and unconnected Shell-branded petrol station business. This brings us to BP's brand challenge in the light of the Deepwater Horizon rig disaster.

The Deepwater Horizon tragedy, in which a dozen workers lost their lives and which is causing major environmental damage, will no doubt become a reputation management case study in years to come. If ever there was a case of the need to manage perceptions this is one. The facts of the case will no doubt eventually emerge after the investigative enquiries are completed. But few would disagree that the public perception is one of corporate failure both in respect of the fact that the accident happened at all and in respect of the unedifying initial blame shifting between the various parties involved: BP - the commissioner of the rig, Transocean, its owner and operator and Halliburton who provided, on a sub-contracting basis, some of the rig-based services. It is also necessary in this case, as in so many others, to point the finger at the legal elephant traps that lie in the way of open and truthful disclosure. If BP had acknowledged right from the start what most observers, including the US President, believed - that they, BP, were ultimately responsible for the disaster and its consequences - then the legal penalties could have been punitive. They may still be of course but there is little doubt that as in so many of such cases in modern times the dead hand of the lawyers can be seen to have played a disproportionately strong part. To BP’s credit, current communications at the time of writing this article regarding Deepwater Horizon seem straightforward and truthful.

After Shell's scandalous failure to disclose the truth about their hydrocarbon reserves back in 2004 there is no doubt that virtually no moves are made, and certainly no significant public statements are issued, by the company without the lawyers being central to the process. If you look at Shell's most recent Annual Reports, for example, you will see a document full to the brim with obfuscating legalese - the contrast with the far more open and self-confident Reports of ten or fifteen years ago is marked.

So for a monolithic brand like Shell or BP there is no escaping the fact that problems in one part of the business can damage brand approval in other substantially unconnected parts of the company. Look, for example, at this report from the Daily Mail last year when BP's profits fell. The illustration is of a customer in a petrol station - but in truth BP's retail business had virtually no impact on the profit fall. The problem is that Roadside Retail, for the oil companies with downstream businesses like Shell or BP, is the most visible manifestation of their monolithic corporate brand. And the media will always illustrate stories about almost anything to do with the company with images from a branded petrol station.

In Roadside Retail it is not just the monolithic oil majors who operate in a brand environment in which their Corporate Identity is synonymous with their retailing brand. The same applies to the ever more important hypermarket and supermarket operators - but in these cases the coalescence of brand and reputation is nearly always a benefit. Although on the face of it for Tesco to run a network of petrol stations, previously the preserve of the oil companies, may have initially seemed curious in fact there was an inescapable and consumer-driven logic to the move. The Tesco corporate brand conferred a high degree of respectability - their reputation as a professional company was high. And their retail brand (synonymous, of course, with the corporate brand) was almost unchallenged in their sector. So for Tesco to offer fuels and lubricants on forecourts was credible not because they were an oil company but because they were a multiproduct retailer. Of course they had to understand the special mechanics of running petrol stations - but that was not a problem. And the corporate brand conferred reasons to believe and reasons to prefer from the start.

One of the reasons that reputation management has proved difficult for so many huge corporations is that it is all too often seen as being the same thing as lobbying and PR - especially in the United States. PR is often perceived as being at best just providing a positive gloss on reality, whilst ignoring harder truths, whilst at worst it can be characterised as systematic lying. I would argue that in the same way consumers see through false brand promises stakeholders soon see through mendacious PR and misguided attempts to built reputations through selective and slanted corporate advertising. To build a positive reputation companies must above all do the right things in the right way. Where health and safety is concerned there is no alternative but always to go the extra mile and if a project becomes marginal as a result they must have the courage to walk away. If good behaviour on HSE (etc.) is inculcated into corporate behaviour throughout the company then risks will be reduced substantially. And if the operational risks are reduced then potential damage to corporate reputation is reduced as well. Finally it is essential that reputation management plans, especially when it comes to corporate communications and other stakeholder engagement, tell the truth. The challenge is not to present the company in a positive light and to ignore the negatives. It is to present the company in a positive light because there is a positive story to tell - that it's not just PR hype but that you really can say that everywhere it operates the company "walks the talk".

Paddy Briggs

May 2010

© Minale Tattersfield

a1 Solar Energy Review

2010-05-16T23:55:00.003+01:00

Italy
Agip’s part solar PhotoVoltaic (PV) powered petrol station is a particularly attractive green energy proposition since Italy has moderately high solar radiation but also high energy prices where conventional energy source prices and solar energy prices are roughly equal per kW/hour.

Spain

The Repsol car wash outside Madrid airport features flat plate solar thermal panels which preheat the water used for washing cars. Using this relatively low tech, low cost solar thermal energy collecting device, Repsol are able to save the cost of heating the water by conventional means (electric or gas) and therefore also reduce carbon emissions and as a bonus gain a valuable PR advantage. How simple and effective but also quite obvious for a nation famous for its sunny climate.

Spain have also invested heavily in solar PV as illustrated above with a sophisticated solar tracking device on a Galp petrol station.

Gulf Nations
Gulf nations with plentiful fossil fuel resources and resulting low energy prices have to date seen little motivation to install solar energy despite the highest naturally occurring solar irradiance. Abu Dhabi’s Masdar ‘Sustainable City of the future’ may be an encouraging portent of the future and even the wind turbines at the centre Bahrain’s world trade are a further sign of renewable energy at least entering the consciousness. BP Solar calculated that a solar PV array the size and location of the Arabian peninsular could produce all the world’s energy needs.

China
At first glance it may be surprising to discover that China with an only moderate natural abundance of solar radiation is by far the largest user of solar energy with 60% of world use. Of this amount, the relatively mature and low tech solar thermal variety comprises a large proportion with either flat plate, or evacuated tube collectors becoming a familiar site on Chinese rooftops which provides the ‘Low grade’ energy required to heat water. As an energy hungry nation, China clearly sees solar amongst other renewable energy sources as a valuable component of their overall energy portfolio which saves valuable conventional fossil fuels for power stations producing ‘High grade’ electrical energy for industrial and domestic consumption. China’s commitment to invest £34bn (source Joss Garman - Independent) in clean technologies shows they too take the view expressed by US president Barack Obama’s that ‘The nation that leads the clean energy economy will be the nation that leads the global economy’ Could there be a parallel that the companies that lead with introducing green technologies such as Tescos will also lead their sectors?

UK
Sunnier climes such as Spain or Italy have an annual solar energy density of around 200 w/m2 compared to around half that amount in the UK, nevertheless a domestic solar thermal installation in the UK should be able to provide half the yearly requirement for hot water according to Everest, one of hundreds of accredited solar installers in the UK. The fact that such a well know name as Everest, UK’s largest double glazing provider now offers solar thermal shows this technology has reached a certain level of maturity. Unfortunately solar salesman are gaining a bad reputation for miss-selling by overstating the potential gains.Solar Century may be a more trustworthy port of call being one of the longest established suppliers.

Government encouragement of the renewable electricity generating sector includes a range of guaranteed buy back schemes known as ‘Feed in tariffs’. For example renewable energy supplier Segen, is offering a 3.9 kW system (domestic users may use between 4kW/h and 10 Kw/h per day) comprising a rooftop solar PV array of 22 Sharp 180w panels costing £17,000 fully installed (after a £2,500 government grant and including the reduced 5% rate of VAT). The feed in tariff for renewable energy systems up to 4kW is 36.1p per kWh which Segen calculate would give a return of approximately £1,600 per year guaranteed for 25 years. (Note that the average annual amount of energy produced by a solar PV panel is typically only 10-25% of the ‘Rated’ output of the solar panels which is calculated according to their performance under a standard test irradiance of 1000W/m2 which corresponds to the maximum irradiance expected on a clear day in summer at moderate latitudes).

Germany with a similar sunshine level to the UK has long since been offering feed in tariffs giving it the world’s biggest installed capacity of solar PV with 5.5 GW compared to the UK’s 0.021 GW and a total worldwide total capacity of 14.8GW capacity. The money for these government subsidies is not as free as the energy source itself and has resulted in Spain drastically cutting back their commitment to renewable after perhaps too heavy an initial surge. Greece who are old hands with solar thermal have long since announced the intention of similar government PV/ wind incentives but will no doubt have to review such ideas in the wake of enforced austerity measures. Solar it seems will have to thrive more on its own merit alone helped not so much by governments but rising conventional energy rates.

The future
According to Dr. NJ Ekins-Daulkes physics lecturer at the Grantham Institute for climate change, Imperial college, solar PV technology is likely to continue to improve.

Most of the installed solar PV to date is first generation technology which offers 20% efficiency at a cost of $3.5/W. Costs have come down to around half of what they were 15 years ago but have struggled to reduce at the same rate due to a shortage of microelectronics industry grade silicon and the complexity in making silicon wafers themselves.

Leading second generation ‘Thin film’ technology manufacturers such as First Solar can offer 10% efficiency but at a very attractive cost of $1/W due to a more efficient production process and the use of Cadmium Telluride. The ability to apply the basic semi conductor material to glass, plastic or metal foil offers the possibility of integrating PV into the fabric of a building as opposed to panels ‘planted’ on top.

Third generation PV promises both double the efficiencies and half the cost once satellite grade technology is mass produced which comprises multi junction solar cells which can capture a broader width of light emitted from the sun. The Australian company Solar Systems has produced a concentrated PV system where a lens or mirrors focus light on a small but highly efficient (40%) multi junction PV cell.

Hybrids
Heat reduces the output of Solar PV which was no doubt the driver behind an erstwhile little known hybrid solar panel manufactured by Solarus in Sweden which comprises PV panels with water cooling which outputs both electricity and hot water. Per square meter costs of Solarus panels are competitive with non hybrid varieties. The advantage of the Solarus hybrid is that it can achieve more total energy collection from a given area. The disadvantage of any hybrid system is the added complication and the fact that if one component of the combined system fails the whole system may fail.

It should not be overlooked that PV panels require a significant amount of energy to manufacturer which should ultimately be factored into the actual environmental friendliness of the technology. So too the use of the finite and toxic resource of Cadmium. Fortunately the cadmium for PV comes from the bi product of other mining processes.

Passive Solar
The idea of ‘Bolt-on’ solutions such as solar power and wind power to lower our fossil fuel consumption are attractive to a society that has become dependent upon a ‘Plug and play’ mentality where we can use any energy consuming device anytime day or night. Solar and wind are of course intermittent so the option exists to either store energy via a trans national boarder grid or get used to the idea of managing local consumption in tune with what the elements throw at us.

Much more senbsible would be to rely less on so much ‘Bolt-on’ technology in the first place and rely more on properly designed buildings that did not waste so much heat through the walls, had built-in natural light sources, shade structures for summer or other on ‘Passive’ solar features that may cost no more than an ill considered building to construct but offer huge benefits in terms of running costs.

Solar in Retail
Apart from a few demonstration schemes, retail in general has been slow to see the opportunity of ‘Free’ solar energy that comes with a significant initial investment that depending upon circumstances may not pay back for a number of years. On a positive note major supermarket brands such as Tescos, have made a commitment to solar as part of their plans to decrease their carbon footprint (see Terry Leahy’s environmental credentials) Is it cynism or realism to suggest that the positive PR opportunities associated with environmentally friendly energy sources such as solar are the real drivers of change that tip the economic balance in favour.

a2 Meantime in Greenwich

2010-05-06T06:00:00.012+01:00

It has just been announced that following a competitive tendering process, Minale Tattersfield has been appointed to the design roster of the National Maritime Museum. Situated within the Greenwich World Heritage Site, this is the largest maritime museum in the world and one of the top visitor attractions in the UK.

The National Maritime Museum is developing an ambitious four year plan that will see the redevelopment of the existing heart of the Museum and its surrounding galleries as well as the initiation of a regular programme of major temporary exhibitions.

Marcello Minale, Managing Director of Minale Tattersfield and Partners says: “We are truly honoured and excited to have been appointed to the NMM roster of this great museum and we look forward to working with the team at NMM”.

To find out more about Minale Tattersfield click here:
http://www.minaletattersfield.com/

a2 National Horseracing Museum

2010-05-03T08:37:00.007+01:00

The National Horseracing Museum is moving to the palace of Charles II in Newmarket. We have completely redesigned the layout and exhibits with a large number of objects in showcases and a small amount of audio visual and on screen interactive material. We are lead consultants and provide 3D and 2D design, branding and project management. The museum interweaves the history of horseracing, breeding and training and the life of jockeys.

a2 Thiepval Museum and Visitor Centre

2010-05-02T09:46:00.008+01:00

The Museum is located adjacent to the Lutyens Memorial in Northern France, erected in memory of over 72,000 British and Commonwealth troops missing in action as well as the graves of 600 British and French war dead. It is designed to give those who visit the context and understanding of all who died in the Battle of the Somme. We were the lead consultancy and provided all 3D design and layout as well as project management, film making, and graphics. There is a small amount of objects in glass cases and a large amount of graphic and audio visual interpretation.

a2 Hayward Gallery – Undercover Surrealism

2010-05-02T09:44:00.004+01:00

The Undercover Surrealism exhibition at the Hayward gallery was the first major survey of DOCUMENTS, the radical surrealist magazine published in France in 1929 and 1930, and edited by the avant-garde philosopher and novelist Georges Bataille. DOCUMENTS combined an eclectic mixture of art, archaeology, ethnography and popular culture, drawing in many of the greatest writers, poets and artists of the time, including Carl Einstein, Robert Desnos, Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró and André Masson.

The aim of the design was to recreate Bataille’s two-dimensional and monochromatic vision in a glorious technicolour pop up show, bringing together much of Document’s original material in order to create a three-dimensional vision of surrealism. The layout and the exhibition’s structure with walls punctuated with openings, created unexpected views and vistas that encouraged the viewer to really look. This was a full-frontal assault on the senses, intended to bring DOCUMENTS to life. We designed the layout, the interior architecture, the showcases and the display.

a2 Museum to the Memory of the Camp of Drancy

2010-05-02T08:58:00.005+01:00

Drancy outside Paris was established by the Germans in 1941 as an internment camp for Jews prior to deportation. We are lead agency providing both 2D and 3D design and project management. The exhibits shows statements from survivors, portraits of the victims. A feature is the frosted glass walls behind which are portraits of the victims, these walls representing enlightenment and the expression of truth.

a1 The new world of Marks and Spencer retailing

2010-04-30T11:17:00.007+01:00

I bought a pack of canned draught Guinness in a supermarket this week. Not, I grant you, earth-shattering information usually worthy of sharing with the world. Except when I tell you that the supermarket was a Marks and Spencer food store. M&S is one of the most interesting brand case studies around because, almost uniquely amongst retailers, they only ever in the past sold products under their own brand names. So until recently had I bought a Guinness-type beverage in an M&S shop it would have been rebranded something like “M&S Irish Stout” and there would have been no mention of Guinness (or Murphy’s etc.) anywhere on the bottle or can.

Marks and Spencer built up their market position with a clear and uncomplicated approach to branding – everything in their shops carried the “Marks and Spencer” parent brand and the “St Michael” sub-brand. It was a slightly curious and certainly individualistic brand positioning, but for a hundred years or more it worked well. Things began to change when designer clothing brands became so popular in the High Street and M&S and St Michael started to lose out – notwithstanding the quality of their products. For clothing Marks and Spencer introduced their own proprietary brand names (like “Blue Harbour” and “Per Una”), dropped the outdated “St Michael” completely and tried with some success to compete with the distinctive high street brands like Next. But for their increasingly important food shops everything stayed M&S branded – until now.

Marks and Spencer food stores are gradually introducing famous name food products in these products normal packaging and without any attempt to distinguish (for example) the Marmite in M&S from the Marmite in Tesco just down the road. The logic is clear. If Marmite, or Kellogg’s or Guinness have spent decades building up brand value in their products, and if they support these brands with extensive adverting and promotion, then Marks, as another retailer, can surely have a share of the cake. Why not? And there are good consumer-driven reasons, as well as cost advantages, for this policy as well. As a consumer I know what I will get with Marmite – whereas “Marks and Spencer’s Yeast Extract” would be an unknown quantity! And surely M&S can source the real Marmite rather more cost effectively than if they had to commission a manufacturer to make a similar product for them.

For Roadside Retail there are some talking points arising out of M&S’s new strategy. One of the most interesting is to speculate whether the current imperative by which an Oil company (BP in the M&S case) will continue to be the parent brand on a petrol station with the M&S food store being the franchise brand on a BP site. Why not the other way round? Under this different model Marks and Spencer would own the sites and it would be the M&S brand that would be dominant throughout the site and of course in the roadside signalisation and branding. Then M&S, just as they now do with Marmite and Guinness in the shop, would retail BP branded products (mainly fuel and lubricants) on their forecourts – with appropriate branding and signage. The attraction of this approach is that as income streams are increasingly from the shop rather than the forecourt the M&S brand would confer on the site a quality retail endorsement. But instead of selling their own branded petrol (as Tesco and Sainsbury’s do) they would sell BP petrol – a perceived premium product with a whole serious of potential reasons to believe in it attached. And, just as they do in a food store with a branded food product, M&S would benefit from whatever advertising and promotion BP does for its own branded network and product range as well as from BP’s proud history.

Paddy Briggs April 2010
© Minale Tattersfield

a2 Porthcurno Telegraph Museum

2010-04-30T09:30:00.004+01:00

From 1870 to 1970 Porthcurno was the hub of international cable communications. During World War II Cornish miners dug secret tunnels to house the entire telegraph operations underground in order to secure them from enemy attack. The centre was subsequently classified as a heritage site and granted lottery funding to enable the tunnels to be restored and converted into a museum, part of which houses the Cable & Wireless collection of historical communication equipment.

We were the lead consultants providing concepts, feasibility study and fundraising presentation followed by design of gallery, exhibition layout, display structures and showcases, interactive design, and graphics. We then provided the 3D detail package, tender documentation, project management, cost control, risk assessment and health and safety and supervision of production and installation.

a2 The Refinery

2010-04-30T06:37:00.003+01:00

The Refinery is London’s premier one-stop grooming emporium for men. Barbering, skincare and treatments are available in its two retreats in Mayfair and in Harrods in Knightsbridge. Combining the comfort and atmosphere of a gentleman’s club with the vitality and sense of well being of a health spa, The Refinery provides an environment for relaxing, unwinding and revitalising.

Minale Tattersfield created the name and the identity and designed the interior for the original premises in Mayfair. The materials used were natural and traditional but given a contemporary twist. Dark oak doors, marble floors, granite tiling and stone coloured grey or deep blue walls work together to create a space which is stylish and luxurious.

a2 Imperial War Museum

2010-04-30T04:54:00.003+01:00

The Museum has the difficult task of shedding light on the grim art of war while avoiding being seen to celebrate it. Minale Tattersfield was commissioned to create a new identity for the Museum which would convey its purpose while taking account of the wider considerations.

A symbol was created which incorporates the initials W and M in the form of searchlights against a background of land, sea and sky. This identity is not only implemented across murals, promotional literature and posters but is also modified for special events such as VE and VJ day.

Signs were designed for different parts of the museum such as the shop and café and a wayfinding system was developed. We also designed a suite of literature and produced a guidelines manual to ensure the identity was applied correctly throughout.

a2 Royal Armouries Museum

2010-04-30T04:35:00.002+01:00

Minale Tattersfield designed the visual identity and the signage for the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds. The identity is based on the horned helmet , the remains of a suit of armour belonging to Henry VIII.

Visitors are directed around the galleries by huge banners hanging from the very high ceilings to the floor and ranging along the length of the internal street. Directions are in the form of gigantic open books made of laminated beech and standing on a tripod inspired by Renaissance carpentry.

We also designed a suite of literature and produced a guidelines manual to ensure the identity was applied correctly and consistently throughout.

a2 British Museum – Parthenon Gallery

2010-04-30T03:58:00.001+01:00

Our senior designer Graham Simpson left Minale Tattersfield in 1993 to work full time as an exhibition designer at the British Museum and worked there for five years. He later rejoined Minale Tattersfield where he now leads our team of interior designers. Graham says, “Working for one of the world’s major museums for five years has added immeasurably experience in the processes and management skills required when working with priceless works of art and cultural heritage”.

In the following major exhibition Graham and his team designed the layout, the interior architecture, the showcases and the displays.

The Parthenon Gallery comprises two separate rooms providing an introduction to the Parthenon. One room displays original stone fragments with an AV presentation on the construction methods including a realistic walk-through of the interior. There is a full size reconstruction of one corner of the Parthenon, using one of the original stone columns.

The second room is specially designed to accommodate disabled visitors, employing a number of hands on sensory experiences to explain the design of the frieze and the building’s decorative details. A special graphic system was developed to provide visually impaired visitors the opportunity to understand the detail of the perimeter frieze, parts of which they can touch.

a2 British Museum – Greek Bronze Age

2010-04-29T03:57:00.001+01:00

During the early part of the Greek Bronze Age, the people of the Aegean islands known as the Cyclades began to produce items made from copper, silver, lead and fine white marble.

The Mycenaean period of the later Greek Bronze Age was viewed by the Greeks as the 'age of heroes' and perhaps provides the historical background to many of the stories told in later Greek mythology, including Homer's epics.

We designed the layout of the gallery chronologically to enable the visitor to travel through 1700 years of early Greek history. For the interior architecture we used natural stone for the floors and plinths to reflect the building materials used in the great palaces and civic architecture. We designed the showcases to display the pottery, bronzes and stone vases of the period.

a2 British Museum – Mysteries of Ancient China

2010-04-29T03:56:00.002+01:00

In the following major exhibition for Mysteriers of Ancient China, Graham Simpson, Minale Tattersfiled's senior exhibition designer created and designed the layout, the interior architecture, the showcases and the displays. This was The British Museum’s largest and most successful exhibition since Tutankhamen and achieved critical acclaim and a Design Week Award.

The unique collection of recent tomb discoveries, ranging from small pieces of jewellery to large bronze and terracotta castings, were being shown outside China for the first time. The exhibition covered the period from about 5000BC to the end of the Han Dynasty in 200AD.

Traditional Chinese architecture linking public and private space with courtyards and openings in structures influenced the orientation of the layout and the design, enhancing the visitor’s appreciation of the objects on show.

a2 British Museum - Vases & Volcanoes

2010-04-29T03:55:00.001+01:00

In the following major exhibition for The Britsh Museum, Minale Tattersfield's exhibition designers created and designed the layout, the interior architecture, the showcases and the displays for the private collection of Sir William Hamilton.

Sir William Hamilton’s collection, was formed whilst he was the ambassador in Naples during the 18^th century. The collection included objects from the ancient past, Greek and Roman, as well as natural specimens from the slopes of Mt Vesuvius. The exhibition bought together this substantial collection as a celebration of the period and the life and times of Sir William.

The visitor was transported back into the period of the 'Grand Tour' with the staging of the exihibition in a setting of 18th century interior design, using architectural forms, detailing and colours evocative of the period.

Trentino new look

2010-04-20T13:27:00.015+01:00

The region of Trentino has to compete with other regions of Italy for its share of the tourist market and its share of inward commercial investment. It also needs to promote the sale of its produce and manufactured goods. Trentino felt that in order to increase their market share they needed to make the brand work harder. The existing identity had a rather cold feel to it and did not adapt well to different media.

The brief from Trentino Spa, the development organisation was to evolve the existing identity to support a more powerful brand proposition.

The design solution was to maintain the typography of the previous identity in order to give it a more lively appearance. Thus the letters are placed at different levels to give it a more lively appearance and to mirror the mountainous landscape. New colours are introduced to convey the greens of the pastures, the blue of the lakes and the brightness of the skies. The butterfly motif which was a feature of earlier logo was retained but placed comfortably within the Trentino name. The outline shape of the butterfly mirrors that of the region itself and in the new identity the butterfly is more stylised and lends a sense of harmony and movement.

The new identity has been extremely well received and we have also been selected to work on other branding projects within the Trentino region to promote its wines (Trentodoc), tourist hotspots (Lake Garda) and its agricultural produce (Melinda).

We continue to work with Trentino Spa to design their brand communication material. We are also working with the organisation to develop a guide to assist businesses in the region to work together and to promote themselves under the new brand umbrella.

April 2010 © Minale Tattersfield

a1 Big isn’t always beautiful when implementing a roadside retail design project

2010-04-19T16:32:00.003+01:00

When I was the project manager for Shell’s global petrol station re-imaging project in the 1990s one of my key tasks was to work with Shell Brazil where we had nearly four thousand Retail outlets. The Brazilians ran one of the most creative and energetic of Shell’s marketing businesses and they were always keen to embrace new opportunities to enhance their already strong competitive position. So when after a couple of year’s work we had codified the design standards in a comprehensive manual it was with eager anticipation that I flew to Rio de Janeiro to see how the company’s first re-imaged site looked.

I was not disappointed - it was a superb upgrade of a fine station situated in the lee of Corcovado hill in one
of the city’s most prestigious districts. The opening was carried out with typical Brazilian style – it was carnival time and wonderfully well done. The following day I had a meeting with Shell Brazil’s retail management and top of my agenda was the implementation programme for their huge network. It transpired that so much energy had been put into the first site that no time at all had been allocated to creating a project management plan for the remaining nearly four thousand! We had to start from scratch to get something in place!

The point of this anecdote is that whereas it is a necessary condition for companies to be creative and have a sensitive feel for new design this right hand side of the brain activity has to be combined with left hand side of the brain organisation and planning – especially when the overall task is complex and extensive. Art and science need to be combined you might say. As we shall see big companies like Shell have a built-in advantage when implementing huge programmes – above all they can get economies of scale from bulk purchasing. But smaller companies can also achieve excellent results because they can be much more hands on a site by site basis and be more flexible in respect of materials and implementation methods. One of the best realisations of petrol station design projects I have seen was in the United Arab Emirates where the two main players across Dubai and the Northern Emirates, Emarat and Eppco, have only around 250 sites between them but they are all sites which are elegant and customer-focused manifestations of the two companies brands. Similarly one of the best implementations of the Shell “Retail Visual Identity” design I saw was in Hong Kong where even though Shell had less than one hundred sites, they not only adhered to the design standards authentically but also by using some innovative materials ideas – mostly locally sourced – kept their costs under control with a site by site approach.

The essential difference is between projects where size demands that they are carried out with a sophisticated project plan and hard-nosed bulk purchasing (like Brazil or Europe for Shell) and smaller scale operations where far greater flexibility in the practical aspects of implementation, like materials choice and sourcing and installation methodology, is desirable. Where these projects co-exist for one brand, usually an international brand with businesses in dozens of countries, then this aspect needs to be understood at any early stage in the design development. There is little point in a designer creating a design element that has to be mass produced in modern factories if some of the implementation areas will have to rely on lower tech and more labour-intensive fabrication methods. Similarly a design element that requires a high degree of hand manufacture or finishing would clearly be unsuitable in projects where tens of thousands of units have to be upgraded.

Even a company as large as Shell can permit and even encourage small scale signage (etc) production in certain markets. I remember seeing exceptionally high quality elements being made in, for example, The Philippines using local materials and highly labour-intensive fabrication methods. Compare this with say Japan and you realise that the challenge is to get the right balance between capital costs and labour costs. In sophisticated markets with a tradition of high tech manufacturing and relatively high labour costs, like Japan, then an upfront investment in scale production equipment is preferable. In less sophisticated economies with lower labour costs, like The Philippines, then a more “craft” based approach is desirable. So long as the end result meets the design standards, is durable and cost efficient then how you actually get there doesn’t matter that much.

The adage that “All Markets are Local” applies to most things in a marketing business – including to some extent procurement - the challenge is to make the right judgment about the “extent”. There is little point in exporting factory-built components around the world if some countries can achieve the same quality, at lower cost, using local suppliers and methods. On the other hand concentrating production to a relatively small number of suppliers in Europe proved, for Shell at any rate, to be advantageous both in respect of consistency of quality and cost – the economies of scale were considerable. A small and highly skilled team was set up by Shell in the mid 1990s to manage procurement across twenty-five countries in Europe and for more than 12,000 petrol stations. The key to the success of this project, which achieved cost savings of around 40% compared with original estimates and delivered exceptional quality components, was commitment from the top. Not only did the senior Shell management in Europe support the project but they also allocated very senior and experienced executives to run it. That decision ensured both highly competent management and, crucially, that the exercise would in the end have credibility with the top brass in the European operating companies. This did not come easily as there was then a tradition of local autonomy in Shell and in some cases country managers took delight in doing their own thing – even if the end results cost more and were of inferior quality. A strong dose of dirigisme from the centre was necessary to achieve “buy in”! One of the key early decisions in Europe was to divide the elements of the re-imaging programme into separate parts and to use industrial manufacturing methods, not necessarily by traditional signage companies, where appropriate. It was also decided not to allocate any of the components to just one supplier – the size of the project required this for both security of supply and logistical reasons.

A roadside retail re-imaging programme is one of the most significant strategic investments that any brand can make – but it is not to be undertaken lightly. As we have seen it is essential that elegant and customer-driven design solutions are, as far as possible, “future-proofed” in visual terms – we are not talking “fashion” here! But it is also essential that the implementational and economic aspects of the project are considered from the start. Prototyping should reveal design flaws which can be both aesthetic and practical – a design solution might be rejected in consumer research or it may turn out that a particular element just cannot be built at an acceptable price. Whether the project is on the huge scale of a multinational brand or is much smaller in scope, perhaps only in one country, communication between those who create the design and those who will have to build and install it should start almost on day one of the project.

Paddy Briggs
April 2010 © Minale Tattersfield

The great emotional appeal of the John Lewis TV commercial

2010-04-14T12:46:00.000+01:00

One of the problems with having spent most of my career in the oil industry is that it was a far too rational world – or liked to think that it was. There were lots of engineers, geologists and accountants to explain to you that managing was about input-process-output. In other words you came to proper business judgments by making sure that you had the right resources (the inputs); handling out them properly (the process) and doing the right thing with the products of all this effort (the outputs). Business was a machine and the better designed and oiled and maintained that machine was the better you would do. But my world, the world of brand management, was less certain – much less actually. In promoting a brand you are only partly appealing to rational man – you are also appealing to emotional man and emotional woman. As David Ogilvy once memorably said “The consumer is not a fool – she is your wife”.

So it is in the context of these thoughts that I commend to you the latest John Lewis TV Commercial (click on the link). There is nothing at all for rational man here – no reason to believe or hard-nosed benefits. True the tagline at the end is John Lewis’s familiar “Never knowingly undersold” – but this certainly isn’t a price comparison ad. This is 180° opposite from PriceCompare.com and their like (sites that rational man would love). The John Lewis commercial is unashamedly emotional – tugging at the heart strings if you like. It is beautifully conceived, wonderfully executed and totally focused in its target. It is nonsense to criticise the commercial for saying it is middle-class. Of course it is – but that is John Lewis’s customer base! The commercial has a reassuring panoply of images which pretty overtly convey the message that John Lewis will be with you from cradle to… well not quite grave (they don’t have a funeral service) but certainly your twilight years.

Retailing is about delivering fit-for-purpose products at competitive prices in comfortable surroundings and in a customer-responsive way. Retail is detail – always. But it is also about creating subliminal reasons to believe and reasons to prefer – and the John Lewis TV commercial does that with style. Bravo!

Paddy Briggs

© Minale Tattersfield

May 2010

Wine branding a never ending story

2010-04-12T12:45:00.035+01:00

Branding extends way beyond products and services, I believe. It’s about adding value to meet changing consumer needs. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Shakespeare captured the essence of branding in his tragedy, Romeo & Juliet, written in 1595 and set in Verona. To paraphrase, what matters is what something is, not what it is called.

Fast forward five centuries to VinItaly 2010, the International Wine & Spirits Exhibition in Verona, and Shakespeare’s understanding of branding still has strong currency - wine producers can add value to their businesses by communicating the essence of their brands.

At Minale Tattersfield, we have 46 years’ experience working with major blue chip clients and global brands to design and develop brands and brand strategies, which create and add value for the medium- to longer-term.

The first step in adding value is to understand the company’s objectives and the nature of its business, in particular the way in which it has changed as a result of a flatter, more interconnected world. Growing globalisation has driven five key trends:

• Increased competition

• More informed and knowledgeable consumers

• More product choice

• A global village where the world is regarded as a single community

• The importance of value and values

Learning how companies have evolved and dealt with these trends is crucial because a brand must address all of these points.

Phase two is to create and define the platform to address these trends, summarised in a brand. But brand owners should beware. While brands are largely manifested through products and services, companies which ignore communication or give it a secondary role, do so at their peril.

Businesses who focus solely on the day-to-day marketing of products ie sales, and have no clear focus on the brand’s objectives, will begin to dilute the core design and the value of the brand to the consumer. Brand owners must strike the right balance. If they continually drive sales by reducing cost, they will devalue the brand and eventually there is nowhere else to go.

A case in point is the Costa Blanca in Southern Spain. After 15 years’ of aggressive growth through budget marketing, the area has become so unattractive and has lost its initial charm. Affordability has destroyed its unique characteristics and, once destroyed, it is very difficult to win them back.

Conversely, we are working with the Trentino region, in north east Italy, on a regional branding project, which is not focused on selling any specific product or service but taking responsibility for the businesses and enterprises from the region and helping to guarantee them a future. We are creating and defining what Trentino is and one objective is to capitalise on the mountains (dolomites), a very predominant feature of the region, to attract winter activities. However, natural resources have a limit and must be managed, so these cannot be too successful in the short term.

Trentino cannot rely on one source of income either so with them we are looking at activity in the summer and how to promote different attractions to tourism such as light commercial industry, cultural and agricultural aspects to appeal to a different audience and/or spread the audience. The aim is to promote today and add value in the medium - to longer - term. It’s about creating a sustainable, well managed brand for future generations to enjoy as well.

Similarly with products like wine, if a brand owner is solely focused on sales and talking to one consumer, the consumer will only be interested in having a good product for less. But it is not just about pleasing the consumer through price, there are other means. In the wine sector, competitions and critiques are important.

Provenance and people play a critical role too - the history of the production of the products. These are the stories and emotions that give a simple product perceived and real value. Which leads back to territories such as Trentino and the aim of branding the region as a pristine, natural environment, which is respected and protected by the people in the communities who live there. That branding transfers back into products from the territory, which are consumed; stories are shared, the value is enhanced and the circle continues.

This symbiotic relationship is expressed in Trentodoc, the new brand name for Italy’s oldest Classic Method sparkling wine, created by Minale Tattersfield in 2007. The brand represents more than 35 producers from the region of Trentino, including Ferrari, Rotari and Cesarini Sforza. Ferrari (not to be confused with the racing cars of Enzo Ferrari) was the founder of the production of Classic Method sparkling wine in Italy in the early 1900s. Guilo Ferrari set up a winery in the Trentino region at the beginning of the last century after studying viticulture in France and working in the Champagne region. Ferrari, along with other established brands, has adopted the Trentodoc brand, which was created by joining the existing words Trento and Doc in order to capture the brand’s heritage, provenance and terroir and be easy to pronounce in English and Italian.

The brand’s visual identity conveys the action known as ‘remuage’, where two bottles are rotated simultaneously during the second fermentation process. The logo is independent of the wine label to avoid confusion and create consistency across all the producers. Verbal and visual branding are designed to reinforce the category in the short term - building awareness in five versus 50 years - and the visual identity in line with the verbal is more powerful than the verbal on its own. Consumers associate Trentodoc with Trentino, which raises awareness and enhances the value of the product.

In a similar vein, Santa Margherita, the number one Pinot Grigio in the US in volume terms, has built value by consolidating a clear brand message. Despite being a respected and established brand, it had begun to lose some appeal among younger consumers. The identity was weak and inconsistent and the history and story did not align with what customers were presented. Santa Margherita engaged Minale Tattersfield to overhaul the design, retain the heritage and take it forward.

We created a uniform design for the brand’s visual identity, represented by the Marzotto Villa, one of the stately homes of the Marzotto dynasty. Developing the visual identity is key in communicating what the brand is and what it stands for. The identity provides consistency and ease of recognition leading to memorability, while the label design can change to match the different need states or expectations of the brand’s loyal consumers.

This concept is clearly demonstrated in a subsequent design project for the exclusive Luna dei Feldi wine from the Santa Margherita stable. Here, the label is key in communicating the story behind the wine’s production - the importance of the vineyards and terroir and the fact it is produced in smaller quantities. The label addresses and meets the needs of a more discerning consumer while the Santa Margherita, mother brand, provides an endorsement of product quality and assurance.

While globalisation provides increasing consumer value by squeezing choice, there is a parallel search for authenticity in food and wine products. We are working with Tenuta Luisa, a small, family-owned vineyard from Friuli Venezia Giulia, in north east Italy, which produces about 400,000 bottles of wine a year. Here, the key factor lies in developing and exposing an authentic brand, rather than pretending to be something it is not, that many smaller wine producers believe they have to do to get noticed. In this case ‘small is beautiful’ and has great resonance with consumers looking for something different that expresses both quality and care. For the large and smaller wineries the same rules apply to building brand awareness and loyalty. However, where the smaller wineries lack financial means they abound in empathy, one of the most important ingredients in building long lasting relationships.

As a third-generation winery founded by Francesco Luisa in 1927 with a small plot of land but heaps of passion, Tenta Luisa has taken this to heart. Now run by Francesco’s son, Eddi, and Eddi’s sons, Michele and Davide, the trio are actively involved in the running of their business, production and presentation of the wine. As a result, they are utterly in tune with their buyers and customer needs.

In order to express the company’s empathic approach Minale Tattersfield created a ‘family crown’ featuring a silhouette of three key family members in an embrace. The design chimes with the family involvement in the business and its approachability versus a crest, which would suggest nobility and a more distant, hands-off enterprise.

The care and nurture the family give the brand is captured in the design and those elements are expanded in company literature, brochures and online.

Whether a small, large or co-operative business, it is the stories behind the brands that matter and it is our job to help organisations tell them. An organisation that invests in telling its brand story well is an organisation that is investing in its future. This adds value and translates not only into sales but also provides reassurance and continuity for the brand, thus maintaining and increasing shareholder value.

VinItaly 2010 is billed as ‘Another love story in Verona’ - I will look forward to hearing more of your stories at the event.

Marcello Mario Minale
April 2010 © Minale Tattersfield

a1 Austerity Brands

2010-04-05T09:41:00.002+01:00

Owning the premium sector in prosperous times has been good business for Shell whose branded fuel ‘V-power’ is the fuel of choice for drivers who aspire to the F1 Ferrari dream. In times of austerity however real world realities set in and have resulted in the new ‘Fuel Save’ 95 petrol grade.

Look at how discount grocers Lidl and Aldi have grown in times of recession with low cost own branded products it becomes clear that Shell’s strategy with Save’95 makes total sense. If Lidl and Aldi are role models then will we see their trademark austere exterior and interior designs being applied to other familiar roadside brands? Will Mercedes and BMW drivers accept such an imposition? According to Lidl UK director Martin Bailie as reported in FreshPlaza.com such ABC1 customers are a growing market segment for discounters whose associated brand stigma ‘has all but disappeared’.

Will we see the rebirth of the failed Save brand of petrol stations and Price Watch initiatives?
Ask any of the petrol retailers at the March 2010 PetroForum in Kuala Lumpur you would find that achieving lower running costs was no 1 on their agenda. General Abd el Salam chairman of Watania Petroleum in Egypt for example explained that any incremental improvements to a petrol station design could not exceed his existing budget. SeaOil too in the Philippines were preoccupied by the impossible task of how to apply their canopy decoration to galvanised steel sheet as opposed to the silky finish that can be achieved with an Aluminium Composite Material.

It’s not just the fuel and grocery market where we are seeing the save mentality, for example KFC’s budget $9.99 meal deals for four proves ‘Food to go’ is very much in line.

This is not to say that the premium sector is dead. Mid to premium grocer Waitrose in the UK is bucking the downmarket trend but perhaps it’s a market reversal that sees the saver sector grow to become the overwhelming market segment and mid to premium shrink to a niche….and as a significant footnote, not all markets are creating austerity brands as its the more mature markets that have been most hit by the current recession.

a5 Architect designed petrol stations

2010-03-31T16:35:00.005+01:00

If a petrol station can ever be said to respect its location Iseppi-Kurath’s award winning design surely does with the irregular angularity mirroring the mountainous Swiss backdrop. But why no branding apart from the station name and a red stripe on the pump? No doubt the tough Swiss planning laws would have played their part but a distinct lack of branding inside too suggests it's more to do with the architect's disdain with such 'Ephemera'.

Why taint such a crafted building with tawdry graphics? If that was in Iseppi-Kurath’s mind then surely provide us with more to please our senses than such utilitarian materials as profiled steel sheet. Is such 'purity’ honesty or just plain ugly? Is the interior restaurant spartan minimalism or just one level above institutional?

The world certainly does not have to be painted McDonalds red or Shell yellow to be beautiful but in rejecting retail vernacular at least engage with the customer through thoughtful ergonomic considerations, imposing lighting, and sensual materials. Why is the utopian world architects would have us live in so devoid of texture? Is architectural utopianism another word for elitism and snobbery? Do architect’s balk at graphics because it is unashamedly mass market?

The great contemporary architects Calitrava and Foster have both designed a petrol station but neither would lower themselves to apply graphics. At least Foster applied colour in an ingenious way for Repsol’s mushroom canopies but Calitrva only gave us pointless and gratuitous arches superimposed on to a regular petrol station that serve no function than to waste material and money, a familiar criticism of Calitrava’s work. Come on guys, cannot graphic design live elsewhere than the printed and virtual world?

Texaco’s highway site outside Antwerp and BP’s ‘Eco’ site in Los Angeles are further examples of noteworthy architect designed petrol stations that have sought to push the boundaries of accepted physical forms but totally reject branding in favour of silver /grey.

The counter argument is that great buildings do not need graphics, they speak for themselves. A well designed building is a collaboration of form and function and should to an extent express to the user how to interact with the building, where to enter, where to exit where to circulate and so on. But here’s the key, a well designed building is here to last, a 100 years or more, a good 50 more years more than the most robust petrol station that will be outdated technology and fashion wise before the steel rusts away or the plastic disintegrates.

So are petrol stations buildings at all? Perhaps petrol stations are just a three dimensional sign to which you just apply a logo and coloured stripe. This would explain why petrol stations were predominantly 2 dimensionally 'designed' by graphic designers and they all looked very much the same which is no doubt why architects saw it as their duty to redefine petrol stations according to their own sensibilities. More accurately petrol stations are mass produced lego sets to suit different site sizes so in some ways they are more akin to the cars that visit the petrol station rather than a conventional building. It's no surprise therefore neither graphic designers nor architects design the most successful of the current petrol station designs but product designers who have the most appropriate skill set.

a1 Total Relais Moto

2010-03-31T10:49:00.004+01:00

Total’s latest motorbike dedicated stations have many features that should please all 2 wheel users including a wash feature that gets into the wheel’s spokes. Should appeal especially to Parisians, Romans and all over Asia.

a2 Science Museum - Launch Pad

2010-03-28T12:15:00.002+01:00

Launch Pad is the most visited gallery in the Science Museum and offers a real hands-on way to experience a variety of mechanical and scientific activities. Children can play with a two way mirror, check out electrical currents, spin on a platform to experience centrifugal force, walk along a suspension bridge, pump water into a high level cistern, move grain around a circuit with cogs, wheels and pulleys and project their voice across the gallery with giant sound dishes.

We were the lead consultants and designed the layout, display structures, interiors, display cases and the outward appearance of the interactive exhibits.

a2 Science Museum – Space Gallery

2010-03-28T07:35:00.001+01:00

The gallery was created to update the story of space exploration including the latest technical development in long distance space probes. A circular imprint in the floor traces out the diameter of an Apollo rocket with an actual propulsion unit displayed nearby. Large space vehicles previously held in storage were put on display for the first time, suspended from the upper floor slab in a setting which was designed to represent a space highway. A new interactive mission control centre with roll playing activities such as ‘launch a rocket’ were formed in the centre of the gallery.

We were the lead consultants and designed the layout, display structures, interiors, display cases and the outward appearance of the interactive exhibits.

a1 Just Look for the Star?

2010-03-27T23:30:00.001Z

The black colour statement at the Texaco stations of the 70’s and 80’s has all but disappeared with the last 2 reimaging programmes which have sought to diminish black in favour of red, possibly in response to market research that tends to equate black within the oil industry as a non environmentally friendly colour. Consequently the new Texaco stations that are being rolled out may be confused for red Esso/Exxon petrol stations. Architectural features of the new Texaco design match sister brand Chevron allowing savings in terms of rationalising components and maybe set the stage for Texaco disappearing altogether in favour of Chevron?

Coincidently, Chevron Texaco’s strategy of sharing is also apparent with their competitor Exxon Mobil whose two brands are architecturally identical except that Esso is red and Mobil is blue. Esso/Exxon also share the same ‘On the Run’ C-store which clearly adopts the philosophy ‘Why go to the bother of creating 2 C-store brands when 1 will do it better’ Which incidentally begs the question, ‘Why maintain 2 or 3 petrol station brands when 1 will do it better?’ With cost cutting the name of the game in petrol retail now perhaps we shall see more brands culled within the foreseeable future.

The new Texaco image is clearly more modern and retail but more visually fussy than the previous designs. The canopy fascia is internally illuminated which will increase energy and maintenance costs unless LEDs are used as a light source.

Surprisingly the Texaco star does not feature as strongly as previous designs on the spreader given Texaco’s slogans ‘Just look for the star’ and ‘Trust your car to the star’. More so since Caltex the other Chevron Texaco brand located in Asian markets features the angularity of the star to great effect on its stations and within the C-store name ‘Star Mart’.

(Old texaco black image)

Ironically while Texaco are moving away from black, other food retailers such as Marks and Spencers are seeing black’s virtues as providing both a contrast with the colour of the merchandise and background for graphics. Black floors however are problematic in that they tend to soak up light that is normally bounced back up.

The top photograph probably features a dealer owned site but what happened to 'Start Mart' which led the way in convenince retailing in the early 90's? If Texaco and Caltex will ultimately morph to Chevron then perhaps there will be no point looking for the star any more.

a4 Corporate Social Responsibility - what it really means

2010-03-25T15:29:00.000Z

In my previous article in this series I argued strongly that the main determinant of a company's reputation was its behaviour not its rhetoric. The ongoing calamity of BP's Deepwater Horizon continues to put corporate reputation as a subject very much in the spotlight and, hardly surprisingly, many commentators contrast BP's past attempts to claim the moral highground on environmental matters with the stark reality of what is happening in the Gulf of Mexico.

The idea that corporations should be "socially responsible" whilst fashionable is not new - and it remains an extremely controversial concept. In this article I will try and delve into what Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) really means - and argue that all too often CSR has been just a tool of a company's reputation management/Public Relations activities rather than something that sets strict behavioural norms. In all too many cases CSR reports are selective, partial and glossy window-dressing - leading to charges of "Greenwash" - rather than true reflections of a corporation's actual non-financial (Health, Safety, Environment etc.) performance.

It is no exaggeration to say that that over the past two hundred years or so virtually everything that we value - even take for granted - about our way of life has happened because of the operation of regulated free markets. I put the adjective "regulated" in this statement not to over-emphasise the need for laws, rules and controls but to suggest that whilst the principal driver of progress and change has been the action of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial corporations a measure of regulation has always been necessary. If the first half of the nineteenth century was the age of untrammelled industrial growth the 150 years since then has been no less spectacular - but there has been, as there needed to be, increasing legal restraint on corporate behaviour.

There has always been the same dynamic underway between free-enterprise companies and regulators - mainly governments. The companies from Standard Oil through Philip Morris to Microsoft always argue that any regulation of their freedoms will inhibit their business to the disadvantage of their customers and, most important of all, their shareholders. They harp back, in spirit if not always in rhetoric, to Adam Smith who said:

"Every individual endeavours to employ his capital so that its produce may be of the greatest value. He generally neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it. He intends only his own security, only his own gain... [but] by pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than he really intends to promote it". Adam Smith in "the Wealth of Nations". 1776

The argument of Smith was that the pursuit of self-interest is inevitable and desirable and that an unintended consequence is that society is thereby "effectually" promoted. This theory is a bit like "trickle-down economics" - let us entrepreneurs get on with running businesses and benefits will cascade to all - even the worthy poor. Well not long after Smith his theory was tested as the nineteenth century Industrial revolution took hold in Europe and the United States. Before the century was out a raft of legislation was enacted to restrain industry as it became abundantly clear that whilst industrialisation brought many benefits it brought horrendous unintended consequences as well - from child labour to exploitation of workers to unsafe working conditions and monopoly power - and more. The break-up of the monopolistic Standard Oil in 1911 was amongst the most dramatic of instances where Government saw the need to restrain business in the public interest - but there are hundreds of other examples. It is no exaggeration to say that each successive wave of legislation was resisted by business - and that companies often claimed that self-regulation would be sufficient and that laws were unnecessary. In more modern times we have seen the tobacco industry fighting tooth and nail not to have to restrain the promotion of their brands and products - and we have seen self-interested bodies like the International Advertising Association (IAA) supporting them. To this day the IAA says, in respect of tobacco advertising, that they "…believe in the right to truthfully and responsibly advertise legal products to appropriate audiences and oppose efforts to restrict such advertising." The "Mad Men" live on!

The reason for this lengthy preamble on the history of regulation is to put the modern-day CSR debate into a historical context. There has always been a battle between legislators and businesses and one of the business defences has always been "Trust us - what we do is in the public interest and we accept the responsibility to police ourselves". However that most free-market of all economists, Milton Friedman, poured scorn on the idea that companies could or should be self-regulating over and above their legal obligations. Here is what Friedman said in 1962:

"The doctrine of "social responsibility" [is a] fundamentally subversive doctrine in a free society … in such a society there is one and only one social responsibility of business – to use it resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud." Milton Friedman in "Capitalism and Freedom" 1962

Whatever else he might have been Friedman was no hypocrite and he abhorred obfuscation and window-dressing. Whilst he would no doubt have had no problem with the idea of lobbying to influence legislators he would have resisted any "voluntary codes" and overblown statements of "Business Principles". What, for example, would he have thought of this statement in the 1999 Annual Report of a major American corporation "Our philosophy is not to stand in the way of our employees, so we don't insist on hierarchical approval. We do, however, keep a keen eye on how prudent they are and rigorously evaluate and control the risk involved in each of our activities"? Whilst Friedman might have applauded the broad sentiment he would not of course have condoned any illegal behaviour and lack of internal controls. When the true story of Enron (for this is from their Report) emerged then Friedman's general position was vindicated. Enron did not stay "within the rules of the game" and broke the law in almost everything that they did. Whatever self-policing there was (and most of it was in reality non-existent) failed abysmally.

Enron lied about most things so it is not surprising that they lied about their internal controls. But much less venal companies fall into a similar trap in some of their rhetoric - not least in their so-called commitment to the principles of Sustainable Development. Here, for example, is what Mark Moody-Stuart said on the subject when he was head of Shell: “[Sustainability] is a three-legged stool balanced between economic, environment and social considerations”. This type of rhetoric has been common amongst those who believe that companies' commitments to CSR really are meaningful - it is par for the course. Milton Friedman would have been horrified at the underlying premise of the "three-legged stool" - that there is a precise equivalence between a company's economic driver and its social and environmental behaviours. Note that there has to be equivalence if the metaphor is to work. If one leg is longer than the others the stool is unbalanced and falls over! In reality, as we see time and time again, the economic driver is far, far more important than any incidental social and environmental obligations that a company may propound. The line of questioning that BP CEO Tony Hayward faced recently in the U.S. Congress was substantially about whether cost and profit issues (Economic) had outweighed Environmental considerations in BP's decision making regarding Deepwater Horizon.

So history teaches us that we should be deeply sceptical about any corporation's claim to self-regulation or allusion to "Principles" over and above their legal obligations. Not least because the directors of corporations have a statutory and fiduciary duty always to act in the interest of shareholders - and shareholders interests are monetary above all. A shareholder wants stock prices to perform well and dividends to be good - and that's about it! And the directors want the same thing - their bonuses, stock options and performance-related remuneration rely on it! So the more self-righteous and superior companies seem to be in their CSR statements the more sceptical we should be! Some companies make their position on social responsibility matters crystal clear and with a pleasing lack of hype. The often-vilified Ryanair is one. In their "Code of Ethics" they say:

"Ryanair is committed to conducting business in an ethical fashion that complies with all laws and regulations in the countries in which Ryanair operates. As employees and representatives of Ryanair, we must consider how our actions affect the integrity and credibility of the Company as a whole"
Contrast this frankness (Friedman would have been proud of Ryanair!) with the page after page of "Business Principles" bombast and self-congratulatory hype in the Annual Report of British American Tobacco which includes the following two "core beliefs" (there are a dozen or so more of these platitudes):

• We believe our businesses should uphold high standards of behaviour and integrity.

• We believe that high standards of corporate social responsibility should be promoted within the tobacco industry.

This from a corporation that actively seeks to promote its brands and noxious products wherever it can - especially in the developing world! If ever there was an oxymoronic statement it is the idea of "corporate social responsibility …within the tobacco industry". Mad Men again!

Multinational corporations sometimes claim that their commitments to Corporate Social Responsibility are such that they always apply their own global standards of behaviour - which means that their own CSR standards will override local standards where those local standards are lower. BP, for example, says "We’re proud to set universal standards of behaviour across our entire operation…developing our own set of rigorous guidelines - [which are] often more rigorous than local laws and regulations". Intellectually, of course the logic of this is inescapable. If your CSR commitment is absolute then even if you don't legally need to apply your standards you will do so anyway - because that is what you believe in. Sadly, however, this is all too often a chimera. As The Guardian's environment correspondent John Vidal put it recently in respect of BP's Gulf of Mexico problems "If this accident had occurred in a developing country, say off the west coast of Africa or Indonesia, BP could probably have avoided all publicity and escaped starting a clean-up for many months." Vidal is right. Similarly if Shell had been treating an oil field in the U.S. or Europe in the way that it has its assets in the Niger Delta, where 2,000 major spillage sites have never been cleaned up, then the political and media fallout would be similar to what BP is now struggling with in the United States.

So what does Corporate Social Responsibility really mean? It is not about putting a favourable gloss on a company's activities and drawing a veil over its less salubrious actions. It is not about being a generous donor to charities, however commendable that may be - you cannot buy yourself a good reputation by making donations to good causes. It is not about a re-branding or stakeholder engagement programme - however useful such things may be from time to time. What it is about is first and foremost obeying the law - and then, if you believe it is necessary and in the interests of shareholders, going the extra mile in respect of your health, safety, environment and community relations behaviour (etc.). It means respecting all your stakeholders - especially including those, like suppliers of goods and services and often employees and sub-contractors, over whom you may have the whip hand. These commitments have to be codified, managed, funded and rigorously and consistently applied. In my view there are few if any big companies and perhaps no multinational corporations that have such a commitment and act with such integrity - although some of course are better than others. Which is why it is only by regulation at a national and international level that society at large can be protected - history teaches us nothing less!

Paddy Briggs
June 2010
© Minale Tattersfield

a1 How to treat a damaged retail banking brand - the RBS dilemma

2010-03-23T12:58:00.015Z

Brand issues should play a big part in Royal Bank of Scotland recovery plans.

Britain’s largest casualty of the international turmoil in the banking sector was the Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) which only survives at all because it has been bailed out by the British taxpayer with Government ownership now at 84%.

The grotesque mismanagement of this huge concern by its discredited CEO Sir Fred Goodwin and his cohorts is one of the business scandals of modern times – but what can be rescued from this modern day bonfire of the vanities? I’ll leave others more qualified than I am to look at the financials of the RBS mess. But in Brand terms there is both a serious problem, but also an opportunity.
The problem is that the RBS brand is probably fatally damaged. True it may be possible if the RBS Group gets back on an even keel for its retail subsidiary of the same name eventually to re-establish itself as a valued brand in the eyes of the consumer. But that will take time and some smart brand and reputation management. RBS may eventually recover its brand equity – but it will take many years for it to do so.

The opportunity comes from the fact that one of the earlier acquisitions in RBS’s shopping spree was the old established British Bank “National Westminster” (NatWest). NatWest has a network of over 1,500 branches in the United Kingdom and more than 7.5 million personal customers and 850,000 small business accounts. It is a significant player in British retail banking and, more importantly, it has a brand identity and reputation undamaged by the turmoil and reputation disaster of its RBS parent. It could be and perhaps should be cut adrift from RBS and allowed to be re-established as a strong principally retail bank unsullied by the RBS disaster.

The new management of RBS, including its majority shareholder the British Government, should see the separate stockmarket floating of NatWest as a real opportunity to start the long process of returning RBS to the private sector. In doing so there is also an added benefit to accrue by ensuring the newly independent again NatWest can be established as a truly sound enterprise, unblemished by any residue of toxic debt and unsullied by any other uncommercial liabilities. There is no reason why the relative strength of the NatWest brand shouldn’t deliver shareholder value in excess of its fixed assets value – the classic definition of a strong brand.

Paddy Briggs
March 2010 © Minale Tattersfield

How to treat a damaged retail banking brand - the RBS dilemma

2010-03-23T12:58:00.011Z

Brand issues should play a big part in Royal Bank of Scotland recovery plans.

The problem is that the RBS brand is probably fatally damaged. True it may be possible if the RBS Group gets back on an even keel for its retail subsidiary of the same name eventually to re-establish itself as a valued brand in the eyes of the consumer. But that will take time and some smart brand and reputation management. RBS may eventually recover its brand equity – but it will take many years for it to do so.

The opportunity comes from the fact that one of the earlier acquisitions in RBS’s shopping spree was the old established British Bank “National Westminster” (NatWest), whom we worked for as their design and branding agency between 1986 to 1997. NatWest has a network of over 1,500 branches in the United Kingdom and more than 7.5 million personal customers and 850,000 small business accounts. It is a significant player in British retail banking and, more importantly, it has a brand identity and reputation undamaged by the turmoil and reputation disaster of its RBS parent. It could be and perhaps should be cut adrift from RBS and allowed to be re-established as a strong principally retail bank unsullied by the RBS disaster.

The new management of RBS, including its majority shareholder the British Government, should see the separate stockmarket floating of NatWest as a real opportunity to start the long process of returning RBS to the private sector. In doing so there is also an added benefit to accrue by ensuring the newly independent again NatWest can be established as a truly sound enterprise, unblemished by any residue of toxic debt and unsullied by any other uncommercial liabilities. There is no reason why the relative strength of the NatWest brand shouldn’t deliver shareholder value in excess of its fixed assets value – the classic definition of a strong brand.

March 2010 © Minale Tattersfield

a1 Brands that endure…When to revolutionise and when to evolve

2010-03-18T11:50:00.001Z

In the twenty-first century we are accustomed to the idea that many products, as distinct from brands, have very short life cycles. Take for example the car shown right in the photograph. It is a BMW (the “parent” brand) 3-Series (the “sub-brand”) from around 1975. If we compare this vehicle with the latest version of the same brand, shown on the left, about the only point of recognition is the BMW logo on the bonnet. We find nothing unusual or exceptional about the evolution of a product over thirty years with that product retaining, over all of this time, exactly the same brand descriptor. There have been five different versions of the BMW 3-Series since 1975 each of which was an evolutionary leap forward from its predecessor but all of which have been aimed at precisely the same target market – the successful professional who wants a combination of performance, comfort and prestige. The product life-cycle is about six years – the brand life-cycle much, much longer than that. Each successive iteration of the 3-Series brand offered the consumer new benefits - both practical and emotional - it is never enough just to update the features of a brand, the styling for example. What BMW offer every six years or so are benefit enhancements which give the consumer more – the cars become safer, more economical and easier to drive as well as conferring more self-esteem on the buyer from their appearance and their novelty.

Petrol retailing

The extent to which brands should change, and the ideal frequency of change, varies considerably with the product category. In the petrol retailing sector a major brand relaunch for an established brand every twenty years or so seems to be the norm with a less radical refresh every 10 years or so. This is a very long cycle compared with consumer durables or fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) brands – a reflection mainly of the substantial costs involved in the re-imaging of thousands of

petrol stations across many national networks. But whilst the timescale may be very different from durables and FMCG brands the principles are the same. If a brand radically changes the appearance of its networks these changes must be consumer driven and provide the motorist with real benefits. I was the global project manager for Shell’s new “Retail Visual Identity” (RVI) project in the early 1990s – the scale was enormous with more than 40,000 petrol stations in over 120 countries. Research around the world told us that Shell’s image was becoming dated compared with our main competitors (see brand map) – but also that we had, at that time anyway, an enviably high rating on the “hostile/friendly” axis. BP had recently updated their networks with a new image that was a step change from every other design in the market – and it was working. The time was right for Shell to change as well. Crucial to the design brief, its development and its execution was to ensure not only that the new design offered real consumer benefits but that it was as far as possible “future proofed”. No brand, least of all a major oil company brand, wants to go through a billion dollar re-imaging campaign too frequently! In fact the new identity endured well and it is still at the heart of Shell’s offer to the customer – the recent changes that have been made to the original design have been evolutionary and have built on that major change that we introduced back in the 1990s. But whilst that original new design solution worked, taking Shell towards the “modern” end of the “modern/traditional” axis on the brand map without foregoing any of the “friendly” characteristics, the changes were not cosmetic. Every element of the redesign, from the improved lighting and signage to the ergonomics of the pump island, was consumer driven and based on research.

Evolution of logos and brand symbols

In the popular press the change of a brand’s logo, symbol or emblem can often be headline news – usually accompanied by a “shock horror” story about the cost – especially how much the designer was paid! When, a few years ago now, the symbol for the London Olympics was announced it caused a furore – and rightly so. The furore was justified not just because the logo was demonstrably unfit for purpose but because investigations revealed that there had been no proper quantitative research into it - and no comparative consumer research (comparing one design with alternatives) either. This was a major error because research not only helps you get the right outcome in such a project but statistically significant results are a neat way of disarming tabloid press critics! When BP changed their symbol from the latest version of their traditional shield (introduced in 1989) to a new abstract design in 2001 it was not universally welcomed - but there was no doubt that BP had done their homework, that behind the logo change there was a clear strategy and that a major change was competitively necessary. Sometimes logos evolve very gradually over time – the Shell emblem is a classic example of this. Sometimes, however, as was the case for BP, a much more dramatic change is necessary – and the only way to find out what to do is to carry out rigorous consumer research and to be clear about your strategic brand objectives. A mistake could be very costly indeed!

The super value of design innovation

The American business guru Dan Pink recently said that “…the most important thing in design is empathy: the ability to understand some thing from the other person’s perspective”. He also said “…we have to meet a new emphasis on improving experiences instead of objects, and we need to improve the flow of interactions between customers and service providers.” Anyone involved in managing brand change over time, especially in the service sector, would be well advised to think about Mr Pink’s words. We are quite used to the idea that consumer durables improve all the time and that the life cycle of a product/brand like Apple’s iPod is measured in months rather than years. I recently asked a senior marketer from one of the big mobile phone companies how long the cycle was for his products and he said “…around four months”. He did not say that all of the implied changes were purely consumer driven – technological advances and the need to respond to competitors’ innovations are obviously also crucial. But he did say, as Mr Pink would no doubt hope, that it was the customer’s perspectives – his/her needs and wants – which are at the heart of the process.

So the simple answer to the question as to when brands should change and whether such change should be revolutionary or evolutionary is to listen to what our customers tell us – and hopefully they will tell us before they leave us and go to the competition!

Shell, in the example I have given, was a tad reactive – it was BP’s changes which were the original stimulus rather than initially the analysis of research. Today it seems to me that the petroleum sector is crying out again for a renewed “emphasis on improving experiences” as Dan Pink calls it.

There are some positive signs – such as BP’s “Wild Bean Café” – a response to the Starbucks/Costa Coffee/Caffè Nero coffee shop revolution. This is a rare serious attempt by an oil company to create its own proprietary in-house food/refreshment brand. It is the kind of “out of the box” thinking that Wild Bean Café represents which can rejuvenate brands by improving the customer experience. Above all marketers, and especially oil companies, need to spend less time examining balance sheets and P&L accounts and much more time listening to customers and trying to meet their needs. If they do this, and innovate in design terms at the same time providing valued benefits to meet identified customer needs, then their brands will prosper – and the bottom line will take care of itself!

a1 Nice LED lights but............

2010-03-16T19:02:00.002Z

LED lights promise significant energy savings.....but not if you leave them on during the day! Seems an obvious statement but that's exactly what the filling station in the photo is doing despite what seems to be a light sensing device below the fitting which should automatically switch off the lights when dawn arrives. Presumably there is a manual override allowing staff to manually switch off the automatic controls or the controls are wrongly set...all of which begs the question should staff have full edit control of the building management system (BMS)

On a more positive note, the LED canopy lights do a great job at night proving that LED lights seemed to have made the jump from neon replacement light lines for decorative purposes to full blown task lighting. There are now LED fluorescent replacements from the likes of Argonic. There are LED halogen replacements from the likes of AlphaLED and there are LED metal halide replacements from the likes of Philips. Despite a generally higher initial capital cost, lifetime costs should be much lower due to lower energy consumption (depending on light source to be replaced) which fits nicely with the company Corporate Social Responsibility commitments (if linked to automatic controls) cost savings should result from not only lower energy costs but lower maintenance costs too due the long life characteristics of LED.

a1 In-house or Outsourced Project Management?

2010-03-10T10:00:00.001Z

If outsourcing’s prime function is to increase efficiency by enabling a business to focus on core competence then it would be clear why a food business may for example outsource the management of constructing their restaurants / stores. By the same token if an oil company is at its core, an organisation that manages and invests in sophisticated physical assets and processes then why would the construction of filling stations be outsourced as it is surely a core competence?

The fact that filling stations are customer facing and refining /extraction are business to business should not make any difference. It may also be said that retail may comprise just a small fraction of an oil companies revenues but surely the managing of an up to $400-700 million per annum budget to build and refurbish sites is a significant investment by anyone’s standards, especially when the retail outlets in question are the most visible manifestation of the brand.

Nevertheless BP who have led the oil retail industry in both architectural standards and business practices since the Horizon reimaging of 1987 are a noteable example of outsourcing the project management of constructing and refurbishing filling stations. The particular outsourcing model chosen by BP is perhaps the key of its success since the ‘Global Alliance’ between itself and Bovis Lendlease is a hybrid where staff are seconded or reassigned to eachother’s organisation to ensure smooth running and knowledge sharing. New build costs reduction by 25% and reduction of time on site are just two examples of the success of the Global Alliance since its inception in 1997 which spans 10,000 sites in 14 countries.

Ironically, businesses one thinks as focused on food such as Tescos opt primarily for in house project management of the construction and refurbishment of outlets. Perhaps, managing costs is Tescos core competence rather than exclusively food.

a2 London Transport Museum

2010-03-10T04:09:00.002Z

As part of the refurbishment programme for the London Transport Museum, Minale Tattersfield was asked to design a new identity and signage. The idea was to create an identity that would evoke the classic London Transport identity and commemorate the relationship between a great urban transport system and the people using it – past, present and future.

The symbol that we designed showed three different ages of London Transport travel. From a top hatted Victorian gentleman to a modern passenger, speed is communicated through movement lines which increase through the ages. We also designed a suite of literature and produced a guidelines manual to ensure the identity was applied correctly and consistently throughout.

a4 Sir Terry Leahy Environmental Credentials

2010-03-08T13:14:00.000Z

Sir Terry Leahy, environmentalist extraordinaire or tough CEO of a global fortune 500 company driven by increasing shareholder value? Listen to Sir Terry's speech at the Politics of Cimate Change Conference ahead of the Compenhagen Earth summit in Nov 09 you may think the former option. Look at Sir Terry's track record at managing cost at Tesco you would think the second.

Could it be that the two versions are compatable and that because Sir Terry is watching the bottom line in everything Tesco does the environmental measures Sir Terry has initiated such as Eco-stores are more relevant? For if Eco-stores are just a marketing stunt then it will provoke a backlash from the very consumers Sir Terry is wooing, but if Eco-stores are a real step towards a more sustainable future then the influence this will have on a still sceptical business world will be massive.

If you believe that it's corporations and not governments that wield the biggest power to change our world to towards the goal of sustainability then perhaps it's the influence within the reatil sectior which is Sir Terry's biggest achievement. The message is clear 'If Tescos of all companies thinks green makes economic sense then so should we'

It must be said that Tesco's target of a zero carbon business by 2050 is sufficiently far away to not put too much pressure on Sir Terry to deliver on the promise but if the seed Sir Terry is sewing in the business world at large grows to become a 'race for green' then we may see substantive change sooner than the cynics or even Tescos themselves had foretold.

a4 Ecosheet

2010-03-05T22:38:00.000Z

Ecosheet is a new UK manufactured product that claims to be a recycled alternative to plywood or foam board for use in exterior applications in the building and sign industry. Interior use approval is awaited. Available currently in black 8’ x 4’ x 18mm panels Ecosheets are made from 100% recycled plastic that would otherwise go to landfill. Plastic waste is ground into fine particles and then remoulded into sheet. The surface can be easily painted or otherwise decorated.

For a proven interior recycled panel material, Dufaylite has existed since 1955. The strong but light honeycomb sandwich panel is made from recycled paper

What others say:
greenwisebusiness

a1 Roll on Spring!

2010-03-05T11:32:00.002Z

Photo courtesy of Reuters / South China Morning Post.

At first glance it looks like an exceptionally heavy snow fall has initiated the collapse of a Petro China canopy. On closer inspection it does seem surprising that the column bases have apparently sheared from their footings. Further it appears from the photograph that there were orginally only four columns making the span between columns around 12 metres which seems quite optimistic for a lightweight spaceframe structure.

source from: XIAMEN
Read more »

a3 Sydney Institute

2010-03-04T10:21:00.006Z

TAFE - Sydney Institute

TAFE NSW, Sydney Institute is one of the largest and most innovative vocational education and training providers in Australia with 70000 students. It required a radical update of it’s visual identity and wayfinding program for eight colleges.

In consideration of the institute’s location in the city amongst two universities and it’s enhanced status in the education sector, a solution was found by Minale Tattersfield to communicate the institutes objectives clearly and distinctively. This was achieved by the process of transforming complex issues into a modular system of a branded language.

The signage system was developed over a period of five years.

a1 Pretty logo

2010-03-04T10:09:00.002Z

The new Statoil identity is certainly ‘Pretty’ and an expression of modernity but why is it only corporate business to business users get to see it? Why is it retail customers who are by far the biggest audience have to put up with the old oil drop that says ‘We are an old fashioned, uncaring oil company’? Logic would point more to the reverse, i.e. ever more demanding retail customers are according to market research and actual trading figures choosing to place their custom with brands more aligned with their own values.

No doubt there are many compelling reasons to update the corporate identity of Statoil, to herald the dropping of Hydro from the name, to galvanise the workforce, to communicate dynamism to investors and so on but as Statoil admit, it is the $100,000,000 required to change the retail identity applied to 2000 filling stations that is the real problem. If that is the case then a Statoil may have been better advised to opt for BP’s strategy when changing from the shield to the helios sun symbol where expensive physical changes to the retail outlets was minimised in some cases to just changing the logo panels and not the fascias. This option is not immediately open to Statoil since the new identity is a pink / red colour which is totally at odds with the orange blue existing colour palette.

What others say:
andrewkeir
dianhasan

a1 Roadside Retail is Born

2010-02-27T22:47:00.004Z

Petrol Station Design has been totally revamped and relaunched as Roadside Retail in order to capture the monumental changes within the industry over the last ten years, namely food overtaking fuel as the primary mission for customers and food providing the primary revenue generator in many markets. Further, petrol / diesel is no longer the sole fuel source on sale with bio fuels entering the market, electric hybrid cars common place and hydrogen around the corner.

Roadside Retail is on the one hand an overgrown Minale Tattersfield blog but on the other a shared on line resource for all industry practioners ranging from brand managers to designers to engineers, project managers and store managers. Content will primarily be sourced from Minale Tattersfield archives but key topics from others are included and will eventually form the greater proportion.

a1 The Russians are coming?

2010-02-27T22:46:00.002Z

Lukoil USA

Is it sinister that Russian oil companies are expanding westwards or are they merely following the same business model as their western counterparts BP, Shell and Esso? When Minale Tattersfield redesigned the Lukoil retail identity in 1999 it was implicit that it should have international appeal, be customercentric and be able to compete with the best of the west. So too when the same agency designed retail identities for Rosneft and Gazprom Neft. If that's sinister then so too are all the multi national western oil companies. According to Minale Tattersfield's David Davis, creative director for all three programmes, 'We as consumers can vote with our feet. If we approve of what oil companies serve up both in decorative and more substantive terms, then we should give them our custom. Is that not true democracy?'

Read more »

a4 Honda Begins Operation of New Solar Hydrogen Station

2010-02-26T13:47:00.000Z

Honda began operation of a next generation solar hydrogen station prototype at the Los Angeles Center of Honda R&D Americas, Inc., intended for ultimate use as a home refueling appliance capable of an overnight refill of fuel cell electric vehicles.

source from: Honda
Read more »

a4 Bloom Box - Silicon Fuel Cell Technology

2010-02-25T21:50:00.000Z

Bloom Energy Server provides 100kW of power, enough to meet the baseload needs of 100 average homes or a small office building... day and night, in roughly the footprint of a standard parking space. It is working it's magic at eBay's north campus.

See the full story at 60 MINUTES

a1 Brand Audits

2010-02-25T10:47:00.002Z

Minale Tattersfield Client

Ask any oil company or other chain store regarding the state of their network and you would be surprised to hear how little they really know especially when the network in question spreads across different continents and will include many decades of acquisitions, sales, re-brands, refurbishments further complicated by dealer owned sites, company owned sites and co branded sites.For this reason brand auditing is a necessary activity if a brand is to be effectively managed.

With larger constantly evolving networks all that is practical within a short space of time is a series of snapshots containing typical cross sections. As a designer commissioned to undertake remedial work, the prime fucntion of a brand audit is to see at first hand the good the bad and the ugly. There are many other secondary functions including the opportunity to get to know the in house brand managers, engineers, dealers and suppliers with whom you will be dealing with for the next few months / years. Let's not forget that navigating political minefields is all part of a brand/design consultants job! Its amazing how much you can glean about the real issues during informal discussions whilst travelling with the host client. Other secondary benefits of frequenting actual sites is the creative spark that can result as opposed to just brainstorming within the confines of the studio.

An audit is nothing without a conclusion and therefore a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis is required to summarise the findings. Certain findings within an analysis may seem like telling a client the time with their own watch however within a big organisation it is frequently necessary for an outside neutral consultant to achieve a consensus view.

Where a brand / design intervention has been decided upon designers would at least participate within an auditing exercise personally for the above reasons however where remedial work is not necessarily the outcome there also exist dedicated brand auditors such as newly set up 'The Brand Scout' which have in the past given the likes of Shell and Chevron the necessary insight to make more valued judgements on how to proceed.

David Davis
February 2010 © Minale Tattersfield