Category Archives: News

We are pleased to welcome FSC^® as a recent addition to our client list. Established in 1993 the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) is an independent, not-for-profit organisation established to promote the responsible management of the world’s forests.

We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with such a reputable company and are looking forward to contributing sustainable print design and marketing solutions to such a worthwhile cause.

We are currently working closely with the marketing team at BIC and were delighted to be selected based upon our proven track record for conceptual design, innovation and creativity. BIC felt we were the perfect choice to inject new life into their marketing communications within the lighters, shavers and stationery categories.

Trade Marketing Manager Sureyya Hilmi comments “SO have delivered some fanstastic print campaigns for BIC. Very tight deadlines have been met on every occasion and the level of creativity has been outstanding.”

Colourful office mural designed by SO and inspired by the long and successful history of BIC

We have not let them down yet and have successfully completed several projects already, including the colourful mural design above displayed at BIC HQ. Based on the great feedback so far we hope to to deliver many more!

We said goodbye to one of our favourite designers this month. Bret Syfert is off to Kigali in Rwanda. Along with his wife, Dorota, Bret is going to a very special place: Les Enfants de Dieu, just outside of the capital. It will be their home for the next four and a half months. It is also a home to many boys, who formerly lived on the streets.

Bret and Dorota have volunteered themselves and their time to this very special cause and we wish them all the luck in the world!

We would like to thank everyone who took part in our competition to win a free taste of our London packaging design agency expertise. We were delighted with the number of entries from such an interesting and diverse variety of niche food and drink brands.

Due to the great response we decided that, along with drawing for the £2,500 first prize, we would extend the competition and offer a selection of runner up prizes to the value of £500 each. Over the next few weeks we will be speaking to the winners below to discuss their brand and packaging requirements in detail.

First prize

Little Devil – We are looking forward to delivering some great creative to Little Devil who currently have two unusual and very successful products in their portfolio: Bloody Spice is an innovative Bloody Mary beverage and Bloodshot Vodka is the world’s first Bloody Mary infused spirit. We can confirm that these two products combined make the PERFECT bloody Mary!

Runner ups…

Bendylegs - Bendylegs Granola is a healthy, award winning breakfast cereal, snack or simple pudding. Granola is traditionally a mix of nuts, seeds and fruit with an oat base that is lightly toasted using various oils, sweeteners and flavouring.

The Chocolatier – Hand-finished artisan chocolates using real ingredients. Truffles, after-dinner mousses, bars, decorations, 3D structures and extravagant chocolate creations made to suit individual specifications. 

Nutshot – Portion control snack packs with 100% natural ingredients: Gourmet Californian Jumbo Pistachios – Malabar Pepper, Gourmet Queensland Macadamia Pieces – Wicked Wasabi and Gourmet Crunchy Jumbo Virginia Peanuts – Cajun Spices!

Mawsons - From 1933 through to the sixties, the most popular tipple was Sarsaparilla or “Sass `n` Soda” as it became known. Mawson’s Sarsaparilla cordial is made from natural ingredients and produced by the same family and to the original recipe.

Sea Island Coffee - Sea Island Coffee imports and sells gourmet coffees from some of the finest, most exclusive coffee growing regions in the world. Their partners are often small estates producing rare, exotic coffees in limited quantities.

Awfully Posh Snack Company – Manufacturers of Great Taste Award winning Anglesey Sea Salt Crackling. Pork rinds from outdoor reared pigs, which are hand fried in small batches and then sprinkled with organic Anglesey sea salt.

Our London creative agency is hungry to help niche food and drink brands communicate who they are. With this in mind we are running a competition to win a taste of our brand and packaging expertise to the value of £2,500.

Whether you are launching a new product or your existing product needs an image overhaul, this is a fantastic opportunity to taste the expertise of our London creative agency and keep your marketing spend to a minimum. Competition closes 31st January 2012.  To enter click here >

Following the success of their packaging redesign for Green’s kids range, London design agency SO Creative were delighted to be asked to rebrand Green’s itself and roll it out over their entire home baking range consisting of 24 products.

SO Creative’s brief was to re-position Green’s in the minds of consumers and increase affinity for the brand by giving Green’s a personality, evoking the heritage of the brand (since 1907), and dialing up the quality cues.

This brief was not without its challenges. The existing packaging design (seen to the left) was quite kidcentric with no quality or heritage cues and in our minds a drastic change was required in order to answer the brief. Initially this caused much internal discussion as we pondered over exactly how we could answer the brief AND retain the required brand recognition.

Creative Director Jo Stedman comments… “we carried out extensive research to identify how far the brand could be moved on whilst ensuring existing customers were retained. The challenge was simplified upon the discovery that the existing green brand colour was enough to aid recognition and was unique to the category. This left the door wide open for a completely new look and feel”.

Inspired by traditional enamel signage the new logo communicates the heritage of the brand effectively, whilst the contemporary, mouth-watering photography against a clean white backdrop gives the brand a modern and fresh look and feel.

Emma Calder, Senior brand Manager for Kerry Foods is delighted with the results….”On the back of the success of the kids range, I then asked SO Creative to look at how we could re-brand Green’s and then roll out new packaging across the entire baking range.  The new packaging has been very well received by the trade and consumers, resulting in increased listings and sales. This project is about to launch – on time and on budget.  I recommend SO Creative with the highest conviction.”

Having completed an extensive re-brand process, SO Creative are pleased to announce Benchmark’s new website launch. Benchmark Studios are a leading web development agency who specifically target the creative industry. With such a discerning audience their new website demanded a very high standard of unique creativity and technical agility. As did their innovative logo design which we achieved with a fresh, modern and fluid design that would not only be strong in print but lend itself especially well to online implementation.

Having worked with Benchmark for over 5 years on the build aspect of many of SO’s innovative website design projects, we have first hand experience of their exceptional skills and meticulous attention to detail and we wanted the design to demonstrate their unique ability to bring design concepts to life.

At the start of the project, whilst looking for inspiration, we came across Nike’s ‘Better World’ site and noticed that they had made the leap from Flash to using HTML5, CSS 3 and JavaScript to create a unique scrolling storyboard-style experience. This easy to navigate concept was something we also set about to achieve for Benchmark in order to showcase their extensive experience and skills. The resulting design is contemporary, clean and colourful with interesting layering and scrolling transitions.

Benchmark’s director Dan Coulthard said….“This was a comprehensive rebrand, and right from the outset SO got to the heart of our business and made us think about what makes it tick. This wasn’t just a case of giving the business a visual identity, but taking our years of experience and condensing it into an extremely strong brand identity.

When it came time to work on the website, SO were extremely flexible and agile. We both wanted to push the boundaries of what was possible in digital design, and SO frequently reviewed the progress of the build and adapted their designs and recommendations according to what the technology allowed.

The Benchmark website simply wouldn’t have been possible without this creative collaboration. SO have the vision and skills to not only produce a very strong brand identity, but to turn that into a website that is a living and breathing mission statement.”

See it for yourself at www.benchmarkstudios.co.uk

Congratulations to our talented and much loved designer, Effie Vrontis who officially became Mrs Effie Keh…Kuh…Kaheeki…Kahooli…oh something like that, on Saturday 27th August 2011. Effie and her fiancé Kerry tied the knot in Cyprus at Agios Lazaros church in Larnaca followed by a fantastic, lively reception and evening party at the beautiful Sandy Beach Hotel where our Creative Director, Jo Stedman shook her ‘bootay’ on the dance floor.

Effie looked stunning in her white Pronovias Fauna gown and here in the studio we are all wowed by her enchanting photographs, taken by David McNeil Photography.

Effie worked tirelessly to design and create all the essential items for her big day and with her usual attention to detail, the wedding stationery, favors, menus, flowers, tables and whole ambience were colourful and sensational.

Here’s wishing you a happy and prosperous future together as Mr & Mrs. Look after her Kerry – where would SO Creative be without her….

London design agency SO Creative is helping much-loved home baking brand Green’s reposition itself. The vibrant and fun packaging design for the kid’s range is now listed in several major supermarkets including Asda and Tesco. With Asda already reporting a 23% increase in sales.

The newly launched range draws heavily on Green’s portfolio of licensed products including Barbie, Tom & Jerry, Dora and Thomas the Tank Engine.

SO Creative’s brief was to redesign the existing packaging (seen to the left) to give much greater visibility to the licensed characters. It was also important to communicate the added value of the packs clearly (stickers and activity sheets) as this was a key differentiator within the category.

SO Creative Director Jo Stedman comments “We understood from the outset that the kid’s range needed to be all about the characters and not the Green’s brand itself. Our challenge was to devise a template that would give consistency and enough flexibility to be effective with any number of diverse character styles. The new look is bold and impactful; designed to grab parents and kid’s attention alike.”

We also worked with specialist children’s agency B3 Creative to make further changes which included character themed worksheets to match the licensed product and collectible sticker sheets in packs which aim to keep children entertained whilst baking.

The re-launch will be supported by in- store promotions and a marketing push over the coming months with the aim of communicating Green’s positioning as a fun family brand that helps bring people together.

Emma Calder, Senior Brand Manager at Kerry Group commented “It has been a real pleasure working with SO Creative who have demonstrated an intuitive understanding for our consumers. They have shown excellent attention to detail and demonstrated tremendous drive to do a quality job under extremely tight deadlines. The new packaging has been extremely well received by trade and consumers alike, with Asda already reporting a 23% increase in base sales.”

Following the success of the children’s range, SO Creative have just completed an overhaul of Green’s adult home baking range consisting of 22 products.

The re-launch will be supported by in- store promotions and a marketing push over the coming months with the aim of communicating Green’s positioning as a fun family brand that helps bring people together.

Emma Calder, Senior Brand Manager at Kerry Group commented, “It has been a real pleasure working with SO Creative, who have demonstrated an intuitive understanding for our consumers and the communication/creative style we wanted to project for our new packaging launch. In particular, they have shown excellent attention to detail and demonstrated tremendous drive to do a quality job under extremely tight deadlines. They are very easy to do business with and a pleasure to work with. Based on the quality of service to date, I will be proactively recommending SO Creative to colleagues in the future“.

SO Creative have just completed rolling out the new brand over Green’s complete range of products. See the results here!

SO Creative are proud to have completed another luxurious design commission. Bound in Nigerian goatskin with inlaid burnished oak veneer, this huge property marketing book is a work of art. Only five have been produced to market two highly prestigious, newly built houses in London.

Our client is delighted with the results, which will compliment their highly targeted sales efforts for the two £64 million homes. See the final property marketing book here…