A strong case for developing the brand

If ever there was a case study that demonstrates what a revamped brand can do to enhance a company’s image, it is for Optical Record Systems (ORS), a well-established document management company based in Chandlers Ford.

ORS used to store their clients’ paperwork on microfilm/fiche and destroy the originals responsibly; now, although they still do the same – albeit stored on CDs – they can offer much, much more. For instance they can demonstrate in no small way, just how much money can be saved by efficiency in document management. One of their clients, The National Housing Federation, made the comment “who would believe that a paper mountain weighing 4 tonnes could be compressed onto only 100 CD’s and the entire process completed in three months!”.

And if you have a ton of incoming mail to open and sort, ORS can offer their digital mailroom service.

When one of Cradducks’ now famous cows made its way onto Barry Young’s desk (he’s the Operations Manager at ORS) and they happened to be looking for someone to help reshape their image and standardise their promotional branding, Barry remembered little Ermintrude and gave Cradducks a call.

A couple of meetings later, a whole raft of fresh ideas and creative thinking were on the drawing board to transform ORS’s image to bring it in line with their website.

This included:

• An evolutionary new logo – the old one was too thin and dated but nobody wanted to see it scrapped completely. Like a lot of good brand development it was not a case of ‘out with the old and in with the new’ it was ‘let’s see how we can make the existing one look and work better’.
• A whole new range of colourful stationery, including digitally printed business cards. Even the accounts department’s stationery recieved a make-over.
• A flexible series of leaflets, data sheets, newsletters, Powerpoint presentations, downloadable pdf invitations and eblasts which reflect ORS’s fresh approach to identifying their customers’ needs.
• New and upgraded exhibition materials including pop-up stands and roll-up banners. Old systems can have new graphic drops to extend their lives!
• A flock of branded sheep to help promote the business (if it worked for Cradducks, then why shouldn’t it work equally well for ORS?). Although one of these sheep, Shaun, has gone missing, last seen on EweTube, most have found happy homes on clients’ desks, monitors and a few have even made their way into private homes. It’s a mystery why Shaun decided to go it alone, but the search is still on…
• Other promotional give-aways – wallplanners, 2009 calendars, ecologically-sound bags, useful desktop notepads, coffee mugs – and now a herd of (branded) pink pigs to keep the sheep company.

Next stages are to:

• Continue with the series of regular newsletters and data sheets, including more case studies and services.
• A complete review of the ORS website to improve its navigation system, to make it more informative and interactive and, of paramount importance, sort the SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) so that it gets more hits and is found by Google and potential clients alike.

Cradduck Design have played a big part in the metamorphosis of ORS’s image by creating a prominent branding system for ORS and by working closely with the management team there to develop the system as part of their strategic marketing plan. People sell to people it is said, and this is what makes the close communications between ORS and Cradducks such a vital part of the exercise. Of course, we include cows, pigs and sheep in the term ‘people’ as they also sell to people.