Gavin Martin brochure

Hot off the presses this week is another brochure project. This time, the presses it's hot off are the client's own, because it's for Gavin Martin Associates, printers extraordinaire.



I've known their work for a while - you often see their name on very beautiful pieces of print - and we were introduced by 300million, who asked them to help on my folding mailer. In return, I helped with the copywriting on their brochure, designed by the inspired Magpie Studio.

The theme of 'London's local printer' was picked up in an introductory page...



... and then followed through in a series of Cockney rhyming phrases, shown photographically. No prizes for guessing this one:



I also peppered the copy with some more rhyming slang, and we included a little glossary at the back.

The type on the cover is in a lovely silver foil block (I think that's the term), and the grey A-Z forms a nice background texture. So you really need to see it in the flesh. But until you get that chance, here's a link to a PDF version (4.7MB).

To see what Gavin Martin thought of the copy, click here.

ThinkTank website

I've been writing website after website at the moment. Just seems to be the thing right now. And the first one to emerge into the light is for ThinkTank Media.


ThinkTank is a creative production company that works with lots of interesting clients on a whole range of projects - from the quick and easy to the weird and wonderful. For example, they put together this lovely CD packaging for Thom Yorke's The Eraser, featuring Stanley Donwood's famous illustrations:



From their roots in the music industry, ThinkTank has grown to work with clients in fashion, film, TV, FMCG and telecomms.

They decided to reinvent their site from scratch, with the help of the Bureau of Visual Affairs and yours truly. But as often happens, the copywriting job had wider implications: it was really about finding them a fresh tone of voice that better suited the character of the company.

This turned out to be one of those lovely jobs where client and creative click straight away. I felt I knew the sort of tone that would be right for them, and as soon as they saw some samples, they agreed.

From there, we just got on with what may be the smoothest roll-out of creative work I've ever done. There were lots of bits and pieces to be done, but pretty much every time I did one, the feedback was 'Great! Thanks. Here are some more.' I think they may have changed about four or five words along the way. (Which is not bad when I was chucking in words like 'Eeeaarghhhblurghhrrrg', and making the odd rude joke.)

I'm very proud of the results. The voice is fresh, informal and full of beans, if I do say so myself, and seems a good counterpoint to the cool, sharp visuals of the site. And now the site's up, we're looking forward to producing a whole load of other stuff together.

The best retail address in London?

It's got to be up there: the huge space directly underneath Piccadilly Circus's famous illuminated advertising hoardings. A space currently occupied by Burger King, but which is soon to become vacant.

This whole building, Piccadilly Lights, is owned, almost inevitably, by my client Land Securities. With Burger King's lease up, they're looking to let this unique location to a leading international brand. So, naturally enough, they turned to Hat-trick - and me.


Together, we've created a brochure and a website (beautifully realised, as ever, by Bounce) that reflect the location's glitz and gloss. In fact, the brochure's so incredibly glossy, slipping it out of its clear envelope for the first time released a pungent bouquet of ink and varnish: an unexpected, but rather wonderful, olfactory bonus. Mind you, I'm one of those people who loves the smell of creosote.


In this location, retailers have a real shopfront on the world, not just London. So the copy focuses on the site's potential to enhance any international brand, tying it to one of the globe's great city icons.


The images, reminiscent of the towering billboards themselves, are pixelated with tiny little shopping bag pixels, which tie in to the numbers of people seeing, passing and visiting the site.


You can read all the copy, and see more of the imagery, at the One Piccadilly Lights website.

Land Securities brand values book

As part of the launch of its new identity, Land Securities produced this little book explaining its core values.

The book, designed by Hat-trick and written by yours truly, sets out and illustrates the philosophy that sets the company apart. It's also a good demonstration of the flexibility built into Hat-trick's deceptively simple identity.

The little corner marks have a life of their own, picking out the relevant elements in visuals, type and just about anything. It's very neat - suitably corporate, but with a wit and charm that lifts it well above the run-of-the-mill.

To download the full book as a PDF (1MB), click here.

SoCo: the big picture

This is one of the first pieces of literature for SoCo, the Edinburgh development between South Bridge and Cowgate.

The piece is an A3 introduction to the development, including CGIs and maps of the area.

It also shows off 300million's identity for the project very well, but at this size you don't get to read much of my copy.

However, the headline shows the 'riddle' campaign (see my previous post) developing nicely.

Helping create a new food brand

Pioneering Foods is a new brand, bringing together two frozen foods businesses under one inspiring umbrella. Elmwood were given the job of creating the new identity and launch materials, including this brochure. And I was delighted to be asked to help with the words.

Elmwood's identity includes a very nifty mark, in which a cap P tips on its side to create a creamy-topped mountain peak, and a bank of witty images in which food takes on a new, appropriately pioneering, appearance. On the cover (left), for example, some tasty chocolate desserts are transformed into the sort of place Captain Kirk would boldly go.

The brochure also introduces Pioneering Foods' two constituent businesses, Icefresh Foods and Heaven Made Desserts. Elmwood has created identities for these subsidiaries too, including the one shown (below) for Heaven Made, in which a plate becomes an ill-deserved halo for what are actually extremely naughty, but delicious, frozen desserts.

If you'd like to read some of the copy, you can download a PDF of the hot-air balloon spread and a PDF of the Heaven Made spread.