Dorset creative agency achieves top status

Justin Barrow of Supreme

Newly formed Weymouth-based creative and branding agency, Supreme, has won coveted industry recognition, with an award of RAR+ status.

By combining years of professional experience with fresh creative perspective and attention to detail for its clients, Supreme has been awarded a place on the Recommended Agency Register (RAR+). This can only be achieved with positive support from very satisfied clients.
Justin Barrow, Supreme founder and creative director, tells us more about the Recommended Agency Register Award and the agency based here in Dorset.

Q: Can you please explain the RAR status and what it means?
A: It now means that Supreme is an Award Winning Agency, and the RAR+ status, in short, defines Supreme as being highly rated by its clients for the work we have done, how we have performed and the results we have achieved. RAR use the following areas – creativity, innovation, client service, effectiveness, professionalism, strategic thinking ability, value and our ability to deliver on time and on budget.

Q: Is this a unique achievement for a local agency?
A: Absolutely – it's an independent quality mark only given to agencies that meet the high standards RAR+ demands, so yes, as a local agency we are really excited and honoured to have exceeded the required level and be chosen by RAR and our clients to receive this Award. It’s also a great start to our 2013.

Q: And what does this mean for Supreme – how can prospective clients benefit for example?
A: Our existing clients already know how good we are, and the majority of our work comes via recommendations from them. The RAR+ Award means future clients will be in safe, experienced hands. We've worked hard to make a real difference for our clients, and now we have been recognised.

Q: What else sets Supreme apart?
A: We believe a there are two sides to branding: strategy and creative. We do both. We also believe that the strategy informs the creative. The constant checking throughout the process enables us to fine-tune our approach and deliver people the most robust, future-proof solutions. We believe we’re developing our trade by putting the hours in, and we also collaborate with other leading professionals to fulfil all our clients’ needs. And of course, we’re also local and have ability proven by our recent Award.

The Supreme creative hub

Q: So, in your opinion, why should a business spend out on branding and design?
A: We believe a company or brand is not simply a logo, a brand is not just a corporate identity system – it's more than that, it’s a person’s gut feeling about your product, your service or company. Because it depends on others for its existence, it is not what you say it is – it's what they say it is.

The foundation of brand is trust, so customers trust your brand when their experiences consistently meet or beat their expectations. In order to make that relationship you need creative people with experience – we have over 15 years in design, branding and management on projects of all sizes and budgets, and we want to work with people who believe that the status quo is not enough, that great work matters and it can affect the ‘who you are’ that differentiation brings to branding.

You can find out more about Supreme at  http://supremedba.co.uk and about RAR+ at http://www.recommendedagencies.com/

Why you should be spending more on marketing

Time to brighten up your marketing?

If you want to grow your business it’s time to boost your investment in marketing.

There’s a rule that generally works: the more you promote your firm or your products, the more you sell.

The tricky bit is finding the sweet spot, where you’re getting the maximum return on your marketing spend. Lots of businesses have lost money through advertising that generated sales, but did not make enough profits to cover the cost of the campaign.

Fearful of losing money, many businesses go the other way, particularly during tough times. They cut their marketing budget to save money, without really understanding the impact the reduction is having on their profits.

Top entrepreneurs spend more on marketing

There’s no shortage of research that describes the success of firms that invested in marketing during earlier recessions. The same message also comes through from practical experience.

Aamir Ahad is one of the UK’s new entrepreneurs. He founded furniture retailer Dwell in 2003, armed with experience from a previous business failure.

Ahad says: “At the start of the recession we had it tough. Like many companies, we cut back on our marketing when we should have been ramping it up. When we realised our mistake, we doubled our marketing spend and investment in new product development and stores, and that saved us.”

Since then, Dwell has grown by 40%. It’s one of the UK’s fastest growing retailers, with stores across the country and turnover of £35m.

Take the opportunity to grow market share

Whether you’re a sole trader, a local company or a regional business, you’ll get more trade if you have a bigger slice of your marketplace. Firms who do more to market themselves during a recession find it easier to grow their portion of the market because many of their competitors are doing just the opposite - cutting their marketing.

Growing your market share during a recession also puts you in a better position to have a large piece of the market in the good times that will follow.

It’s important to remember that marketing is more than just advertising. It’s also about understanding what your customers want from you and building positive relationships with them. Exactly how that works will vary from one type of business.

Finding the right approach to marketing your firm will help you to secure success in the future.

Dorset shop wins top award from wine merchant

Mark Banham and Luke Machin of Palmers

Palmers Wine Store in Bridport, Dorset, has been named as one of the country’s best merchants of South American wines.

The wine store, owned and run by the Palmers Brewery in Bridport, is one of five winners in the third Wines of Chile Independent Wine Merchant Awards.

To tie in with Chile’s National Day celebrations, Wines of Chile asked merchants entering the competition to promote their Chilean range during the month of September.

Retail Manager Mark Banham and sales assistant Luke Machin were judged to have demonstrated real innovation in promoting Chile, by their flair with in-store displays, tastings and events, supported by social media activities and working together with their Chilean wine suppliers.

They have won £500 plus a buying trip of a lifetime to Chile in January 2013 to see the country at first hand and to find new wines for their lists.

Mark said: ‘We’re delighted to have been ranked as one of the top five merchants by Wines of Chile. We promoted wines from Chile during September, with weekly offers on PalmersWineStore.com, instore promotions and a series of tasting hosted by Johnny Bingham of Jackson Nugent Vintners and the wonderful wines of Casas Silva.’

Michael Cox, European Director for Wines of Chile, said: ‘Palmers Wine Store really raised the bar this year. They doubled their range to demonstrate regionality and focused on educating their customers on the diversity on offer from Chile. This faith in premium Chile brought significant sales uplifts with Palmers Wine Store reporting a doubling of their Chilean turnover.’

You can like Palmers Wine Store on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PalmersWineStore and follow them on Twitter at @PalmersWineShop.

Bizoh loves to share good news stories about Dorset businesses. Congratulations to Palmers on their win, and we look forward to seeing the pictures from the Chile trip!