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Greenhouse PR – Climate Disclosure Report

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In response to Extinction Rebellion’s challenge to the creative industry – to “Declare a Climate and Ecological emergency and act accordingly,” – forward-thinking agencies have pledged to declare their revenues from carbon-intensive business and work to reducing it.

Greenhouse PR has been at the forefront of this movement, with a decade of environmental credentials behind them and a host of clients pushing the boundaries of environmental and socially progressive innovation.

Archipelago was commissioned to design and produce a report highlighting their formidable expertise, experience and commitment in this arena.

You can see their report here on the Creative Climate Disclosure website.

Find out more about Greenhouse PR.

Explainer Animation: AquaSaver

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Did you know that 4-10 Litres of water are wasted every time you run the hot tap and wait for the hot water to arrive?

Aquasaver is a simple device that automatically diverts the cooled water back into the system to be recycled.

Transcript:

When you turn on the hot tap, there is usually a delay before the hot water arrives. The cold water in the pipe goes straight down the drain.

The amount of water wasted depends upon the length of pipe
between the hot water source and the tap.

In a typical house, between 4 and 10 litres of fresh water are wasted every time a hot tap is used. Aquasaver is a simple, inexpensive system that reduces this water wastage.

Aquasaver redirects the cold water back into the system where it can be recycled for toilet cisterns, washing machines or garden water storage.

When the hot water arrives at the tap, Aquasaver lets it through.

Aquasaver works with a range of hot water sources – such as immersion heaters or combination boilers, and can easily be fitted in houses, offices, hotels, boats – in fact, anywhere that hot water is used.

Saving Water is good for the environment, and will save money where water is metered.

Aquasaver – saving water, saving money.

About Explainer Animations

We produced this animation from scratch for Advanced Water Save Ltd, to help people understand the impact of their innovation and to attract the attention of investors and potential customers.

Animation is a great way – sometimes the only way – to show how a system works that would be completely hidden in real life.

It allows you to concentrate the viewer’s attention on the information you want to convey; they won’t be distracted by background detail, like what age the house is or the apparent income bracket of the occupants.

Explainer Animations are a highly effective way to raise awareness of an innovative technology, product, service or process.

Underpin & Makegood Group – Branding

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Complete branding package for group of companies that previously had operated under separate names and visual identities. Our approach was to create a single stylised ‘building’ device, with one ‘floor’ representing each company within the group. Colour coding was used to differentiate the groups in certain instances.

The name “U&M Group” and strapline “Experience and Expertise” were created, following a Business Discovery workshop.

Work included stationery, signage, vehicle livery, staff uniforms and a revamped corporate website.

KING 9 EUROPE – Branded Content

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Archipelago developed a brand strategy, developed visual branding and created initial materials for an Asian manufacturing company expanding in to Europe.

Key challenges included creating visual impact and a clear proposition in a crowded and well-established marketplace.

King 9 – Video #1
King 9 – Video #2
King 9 – Video #3

Content like this is typically used to generate awareness of a new product or player in the marketplace, and to start building an audience through social media.

Design, Development & Content: the Difference

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The difference between Content, Design and Development is not always clear to stakeholders in digital marketing projects – but making sure everyone understands the basics is critical.

In this video I explain it in layman’s terms, in 3 minutes.

Brand Positioning: Archipelago

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OK I thought it would be fun and interesting to share some the process of repositioning Archipelago in 2019. The sketch above was my starting point.

I’ve worked with many different types of marketing people, designers, developers and agencies – from one-man bands, to global names, and all the variations in between.

What’s striking is that, in my opinion, there is NOT necessarily a linear relationship between the the size / scale / prestige of the project, client or agency – and the quality or effectiveness of the work.

Of course it’s true that with more resources you can spend longer on the work, hire more experienced people, do more background research and explore more potential solutions. This improves the odds of finding the best solution, and reduces the risks of screwing it up somehow.

However – at some point there are going to be decisions made that mean the project A/ succeeds, B/ fails, or C/ No-one really knows because success wasn’t ever defined.

These key decisions can be made well: understanding the options, weighing the risks and rewards and taking into account expert advice – or they can be made badly: on an individual’s personal taste, for example, or for internal political reasons.

I believe that good decision making does not require a huge team – in fact, that can actually hinder the process. For SMEs and organisations where resources are limited, it is the quality of the decisions taken BEFORE resources are committed that matter most. I have lost count of the number of clients that have come to Archipelago thinking they needed a new website, for example – when, in fact, their brand proposition just didn’t make sense. Just saying “Ok, we’ll build you a new website”, knowing that it would not solve the problem – would have been a waste of their resources and completely unethical, in my view.

I do believe it’s possible to facilitate the highest quality of decision-making in a way that is affordable, practical and delivers immediate value – whatever the project size or scale.

So my value proposition for Archipelago is this: We help organisations get the most possible value from their marketing/comms budgets – by getting the fundamentals right and focussing on the activities that will deliver real-world results.

To deliver this quality of service without being unaffordable we have to be lean, and as agnostic as possible of any particular tactic or technology. If you’re a dedicated SEO marketing agency, for example – you’re likely to recommend SEO over other activities in the marketing mix. That doesn’t mean SEO won’t work for a specific project – but it makes it hard for you to be objective. That’s why we keep our permanent staff levels low, and bring in the right mix of specialist skills to a project after the strategy has been agreed.