Thompson Brand Partners

East Street Arts’ new brand focus and identity helped turn around stakeholder perception of the organisation, leading to an additional £4,842,178 of funding being secured and 13 new jobs created.

Leeds-based enterprise, East Street Arts had been bringing art into the community and the built environment for 20 years. But by 2012, against a backdrop of public funding cutbacks, it was struggling to secure the funding needed to scale its societal impact.

In 2014 the Severfield-Rowen group of companies made a loss of -£0.2 million. Despite being the UK’s largest specialist structural steel group, it had a tired identity and customers didn’t realise that each of the four operational brands were part of a whole, negatively impacting on sales.

To sustainably grow revenue and return to profit, a fundamental part of the new business strategy was to create a clear vision and progressive identity for the business to position it as market-leader.

For every bottle sold, ethical water brand Thirsty Planet guarantees a donation to charity Pump Aid, who use it to enable communities in sub-Saharan Africa to access clean, safe water. In 2016, sales had started to slow. With ambitious targets to increase donations to charity by at least 20%, Thirsty Planet’s owner looked to develop the brand and packaging to drive better performance.

Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation (YPO) is a buying organisation with the purpose of getting better deals for its members – local government and educational establishments.

With the opportunity to trade nationally for the first time, its new board had a vision for it to become the number one public sector buying organisation. But it had to reengage staff and become recognised nationally to have any chance of competing.

Under increasing pressure from China’s low prices, clothes testing products business James Heal was failing to grow. Profits were eroding, and they needed an alternative strategy to better position the business in the market.

The previous branding was old-fashioned and didn’t reflect the quality that James Heal exemplifies. A complete strategic brand review was needed to champion the expertly engineered products and innovative company.

Embarking on a growth strategy in 2013, at a time when trust levels in the financial services sector were low, Leeds Building Society initially were looking for a brand refresh that would leave core visual assets unchanged. However, strategic input from their agency helped develop the brief and widen the scope to a full rebrand, which was subsequently rolled out across the business with fantastic results.

Established in 1884, Arco recorded annual sales of £214 million in 2008 but then the recession arrived. Arco’s customers struggled and performance flatlined.

The distributor of safety equipment, workwear and factory equipment needed to refocus the brand on what they stood for and what made them special, with the brief concentrated on delivering sustainable sales and profit growth.

Clarifying Arco’s purpose was the central aim and by creating new images and a change in behaviour rather than a change in logo, the brand strategy identified them as ‘Experts in Safety’.

By March 2010 Keelham Farm Shop averaged 6,780 customers a week with an annual turnover of £6.2m. Pretty impressive figures for a farm shop, but the Robertshaw family wanted to enlist the power of design to take Keelham to the next level.

The key objectives of the brief were to help drive sustainable growth for Keelham and provide a brand platform to support their future expansion.

Despite being the largest of its kind, the National Railway Museum was starting to see declining interest. However, this had not impacted its aspirations of becoming the North of England’s premier heritage attraction. Facing stiff competition from many other Northern attractions, Science Museum Group turned to Thompson Brand Partners to help them stand out in a crowded marketplace and drive family appeal.

After three years of flat trading, Fontsmith, a type design studio, knew they needed to do something significant to kick-start their next phase of growth. So they contacted Thompson Brand Partners to help them create a buzz to raise their profile and get into a designer’s ‘special things box’.