Double take! What happened here?

Great News! The Southbank Centre has announced details of its 60th birthday celebrations, which will take the shape of a homage to the 1951 Festival of Britain. Not so good news though, someone has somehow decided that what the Festival of Britain logo was lacking first time around was bloody great MasterCard logo hanging off the side of it.

It's great that the event is being sponsored by MasterCard. It's important that exhibitions like this should take place, and in these austere times corporate sponsorship should be received gratefully. But that said the balance/relationship between the sponsor logo with the Festival of Britain logo is just baffling.

We can all imagine the scene:  The designer looks at the his customer facing colleague with barely concealed contempt and says 'So, let me get this straight, "you've" agreed with the sponsors that they could slap their logo where?'

But seriously, this complete disregard towards the heritage of the event so that MasterCard can associate their brand with it sends out completely the wrong message for both the event and the Credit Card. It screams "Brazen opportunity to stick our logo somewhere!" rather than a more sober "MasterCard are proud to sponsor this important event".

The more you look, the more it smacks of corporate bullying, as if an argument took place where they threatened to pull the funding if they didn't get it their way. An argument played out in Adobe Creative Suite. That probably wasn't the case, it just looks that way.

However, let's go back a few years to the 1998 World Cup in France, which was also sponsored by MasterCard. We know first hand that they at one point proposed suspending a giant MC logo between legs of the Eiffel Tower  - only to be turned down flat by the Parisian authorities. Our point is, even though MasterCard didn't get their way back in '98, it didn't stop them from continuing to sponsor the event. Sometimes you just have to stand up and say, thanks for the money, but the sponsor's logos go in these allocated spaces.

I think the real explanation is that in this case MasterCard just got lucky with a spineless "Yes Boss!" at the South Bank Centre, and, grateful for the cash, they decided to let MC do what they like, for an easy life.

Which is a real pity.

Bespoke Beer Invitation

We've just completed work on these British Summer Themed Beer Labels that double up as invitations for a  press event on March 1st 2011 to promote beer as a healthier alternative to wine when dining.


PRESS RELEASE

Beer in summer – a perfect match
While many people associate summer with lazy days spent in a traditional English beer garden, people rarely realise beer’s true potential as one of the season’s most refreshing, enjoyable and wholesome drinks.  Alcohol is a flavour enhancer, helping to bring out the natural flavours in food. That’s why chefs use alcohol so often in cooking and why alcoholic drinks are so often paired with food. And, summertime is no exception to this rule. Beer is a naturally good partner for many seasonal summer foods – often even a better ‘match’
than wine.  

Summer eating is naturally convivial, allowing us to not only enjoy the tastes of seasonal food outside, but also to cook outdoors. Weather permitting this summer, people across the country will enjoy riverside picnics, garden BBQs and long lazy lunches - all of which can be perfectly accompanied by beer…

The Sunshine Ingredient 
Not only is beer a wonderfully flexible and flavoursome partner as a drink to ‘wash down’ flame-grilled food straight from the BBQ, it’s also an innovative and tasty ingredient to use as part of summer recipes.
The hops in beer gives it the bitterness to slice through rich textures as well as providing a citrus, fruity character that makes it the perfect accompaniment to seafood. The malt provides sweetness to parry charred and caramelised flavours, while the bubbles are light and refreshing enough to cleanse your palate.
 
In fact, the diverse range of flavours and aromas, wholesome ingredients and age-old brewing processes which characterise our national drink make it the perfect, natural accompaniment for meat, fish and seafood, fruit, cheese and even chocolate. And, as an ingredient in its own right, beer is a great addition for marinades, batters, sauces, salad dressings, breads and sorbets.
 
With more than 50 classic styles and an abundance of tastes and aromas, beer mingles effortlessly with pretty much anything that’s flipped off the grill or packed into your picnic hamper.

Keeping in shape for Summer
If you’re worried that summer beer and a bikini body don’t mix, then you may be surprised to learn that, in moderation, beer is actually one of the healthiest alcoholic drinks you could choose.

According to a new report ‘Beer, the natural choice?’ beer is a rich source of vitamins, fibre, minerals and antioxidants.  And perhaps most surprisingly, it has a relatively low calorific value compared to other alcoholic drinks – putting paid to the myth of the beer belly.  So, a half a pint of lager generally only contains 94 calories which compares favourably to a standard (175ml) serving of wine with 131 calories.  A quick look at the ingredients and processes that go into beer will confirm the logic – beer is around 95% water and the major ingredients barley and hops are both plant materials which contain virtually no fat at all.


Client: Trinity/BBPA

Beer, the natural choice? Part 2

Last year we worked with Trinity PR, the Beer and Pub Association and journalist Isla Whitcroft on a report about Beer and how on balance it is a healthier drink than wine. 

Well, we don't know if American blogger J Wilson - a beer lover - has seen our report, but he plans to live on only a home brew beer for the lenten period. More details are in the link below.

Man vows to fast on beer during Lent | CatholicHerald.co.uk

Café Niko

"Niko Pirosmani is what Georgians are proud about, he was self educated artist, who invented new painting technique not only thanks to his great talent but also out of poverty. He is one of the outstanding primitivism painters in the World. But as it usually happenes to greatests - he lived and died in poverty, never recognized by his countrymen while he was alive."


We've been working with the Barnsbury Community Group who are opening a café themed around the works of Niko Pirosmani and have created the graphic identity - Café Niko, at the Hugh Cubbit Centre, Barnsbury.

New Works this September

We've had had a particularlly productive September with major works going up on the London underground, and the Phoenix cinema East Finchley - as two local projects coincided.

Firstly, the Phoenix Cinema reopened after an extensive refurbishment, and we produced a artwork for their poster campaign on the Northern Line on the London Underground. This Poster was on display at high visibility locations in Camden Town, Kentish Town, Archway, Highgate, Finchley Central and High Barnet. It is also going to be produced as a commemorative poster available at the cinema.

As part of the Restoration of the Phoenix, there we also four light boxes fitted to the exterior of the Phoenix. Each of these contains artwork covering a period of the Cinemas history.

This month also saw the completion of the exterior works promoting the Finchley Society at four key key points at two underground Station. Totalling 11 artworks in all the goal was to create a unifed corporate look to promote the Society and attract a newer younger membership. These works can be seen at East Finchley and Finchley Central underground stations by their entrances and on the platform.

Geoghegan Research

Local Business researcher Olive Geoghegan came to us for a logo and website: Here are the rather pleasing results:

The Beer Report... Cheers!

We’ve been been working together with our PR partners Trinity, The Beer Academy and the British Beer and Pub Association on a report and national survey titled “Beer, the health choice?”.

The goal of the report is to instigate a change in the public perception of beer, and demonstrate that when consumed in moderation, beer can actually be part of a healthier lifestyle: elow is and extract from the coverage of the report in the Metro Newspaper:

“Beer contains vitamins which can help you to maintain a well-balanced healthy diet, fibre to keep you regular, readily absorbed antioxidants and minerals such as silicon which may help to lower your risk of osteoporosis.” The report, commissioned by The Beer Academy, which aims to help people enjoy beer sensibly, found that when drunk in moderation, beer is one of the healthiest alcoholic drinks available.
A survey found that while 68% of people consider beer to be Britain's national drink, some 10% wrongly believe that beer contains fat, and 13% incorrectly believe that beer is made from chemicals rather than malted barley and hops.

The report also explores the psychological and sociability benefits of people enjoying a pint in their local pub - yet pubs are closing at a rate of 39 a week.

If you would like to read more about the health benefits of beer, read the digital edition below as designed by Hughes Design.

And it's just not The Metro that's been covering the report, click these links below to see even more positive coverage...

Press & Journal, MSN, Mail Online, Channel Four, The Metro

Cheers!