Pixel8 Art Director Angelina McPherson talks about designing the Warner Estate’s Christmas campaign:

“We started with a photo shoot which included the winners from the children’s ‘Face Off’ competition from each shopping centre. I then began sketching ideas on how the children will pose for each individual photo based on the creative/marketing messages and requirements.

I then Art Directed the photo shoot, setting up the photo shoot scenes, working with the photographer and coordinating the running of the shoot to make sure we covered all shots.

Next I designed the concepts based around an illustrated Christmas tree icon which had three separate colour schemes, Ruby, Turquoise and Purple. Each colour reflects a different part to the campaign. For example, the ‘Win/Competition promotions will always feature on the turquoise design, Santa/Gift promotions to feature on the purple design etc.

The campaign also required a ‘Kids’ fun element to it. So we created a character called ‘Elfis’. The kids will be handed a Trail form where they have to find Elfis hiding in various shops. Once the children have found all 6 hiding Elfis’ they win a sticker and some sweets. We will also be coordinating and organising the Santa’s Grotto event, skating baubles and Elfis.

There will also be a competition running at each shopping centre for shoppers to enter to win Christmas hampers, Nintendo’s, PS3’s etc. We have also designed all the Outdoor Media. This consisted of rear bus advertising, inside bus panel advertising, train station posters and press advertisements.”

To see more graphic designs by Pixel8 see our grahic design portfolio. For more information please visit graphic design, corporate branding or call Pixel8 in Manchester on 0161 228 6489 – 0845 230 1336 or contact us by e-mail

Warner Estate Holdings Plc., which manages almost £1.5 billion of property around the UK, has appointed Pixel8 in Manchester to provide complete design and marketing services for five of its North West shopping centres.

The Manchester design and marketing agency’s brief includes managing graphic design for both print and online, promotions, event management, advertising, PR,  website redesigns and Facebook sites.

The five shopping centres Pixel8 will be working with are Market Place Shopping Centre, Bolton, Fishergate Shopping Centre, Preston, Middleton Shopping Centre, North Manchester and The Grange and Pyramids Shopping Centres in Birkenhead, Wirral. Pixel8 will report to Jennifer Morris, Group Marketing Manager at Warner Estate Holdings Plc.

Pixel8 has already recruited a retail marketing manager to work across the five centres, has launched an Autumn fashion campaign, and redesigned and redeveloped the five shopping centre websites, and deployed a Facebook site for each shopping centre.

Pixel8’s joint MD Jamie Watson, who formerly held marketing roles with both Sainsbury’s and Iceland, said, “This is a particularly exciting win as it allows me to get back to my roots in retail.

“Given the tough environment, it’s an exciting time to get involved. There’s lots of uncertainty given the increase in VAT from January, but we relish the challenge and look forward to driving both footfall and spend in the centres.

“We are looking forward to bringing a new creativity and focus to the centres’ marketing strategy in the run up to Christmas”.

For more information please call Pixel8 in Manchester on 0161 228 6489 – 0845 230 1336 or e-mail

Manchester design and branding agency Pixel8 has helped to bring premiership footballers including Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes closer to their young fans.

football4football.com is an educational website aimed at players and fans of all ages and offers exclusive video footage of interviews with top stars, who talk personally about their lives in football.

Pixel8, which has two former members of the Manchester United Merchandising creative team amongst its personnel, was appointed to create the football4football logo and branding, then to design and build a fully content managed website featuring media rich content.

Video clips on the website include Ryan Giggs talking about football boots and supplements, Manchester City’s Nigel de Jong encouraging kids to finish school and revealing his love of pasta, and Manchester United’s Darren Fletcher talking about the importance of his dad’s support.

The website will regularly be updated with new video content from big name footballers, coaches, sports dieticians and physios. football4football.com also features sections on nutrition, training, injuries and equipment.

Jamie Watson, joint managing director of Pixel8 said, “football4football.com offers young players, parents and fans a real insight into the professional sport. We have created a brand and built a website that is easily accessible to everyone from the six-year-old who plays for his primary school, up to parents and grandparents of footie mad teenagers.”

Former Ajax and Feyenoord midfielder Dean Gorré, who has been involved from the start of the website’s development, added, “football4football.com offers a unique platform for top players and other participants in the game to give something back. Visitors to the site will see the top names in football talking candidly in exclusive interviews about subjects important to young fans, players and their parents.”

football4football.com was launched at a star studded party at Hanson Hall in the footballer belt of Nether Alderley in Cheshire. In attendance were Everton forward Louis Saha, Stoke City midfielder Salif Diao, Gabriel Obertan from Manchester United along with Manchester United first team coach René Meulensteen and retired players Steve Watson (Newcastle United, Everton, Aston Villa, West Bromwich Albion) and David Thompson (Liverpool, Wigan Athletic, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers etc).

Visit the new website now at www.football4football.com

When Business Review Europe asked the question ‘What is your true Brand?’ in its September 2010 issue, the answers provided detailed insights into the breadth and importance of effective commercial branding.

Branding is thought of by some, as little more than a logo design but successful branding goes a lot further in defining the proposition; essentially what constitutes how a product or service is perceived by its intended market.

Think for example of Saga Holidays whose corporate image changed in recent years from unadventurous holidays for elderly people to exotic expeditions offering exciting diversions such as scuba diving and horse riding. The change in public perception has not been achieved solely by advertising but was the result of a complete commercial rebranding exercise. Rebranding properly undertaken can transform any company.

Business Review Europe asked Jamie Watson, joint Managing Director of Manchester Design and Branding agency Pixel8 about the value of a brand. With a varied international client list that includes InterContinental Hotels, Manchester United and Kellogg’s, Pixel8 is a branding agency that’s well placed to answer this question.

“Your brand is the key element that sets your company apart from all its competitors” explained Jamie. “It forms the non-tangible part of your offer; the ‘reasons to believe.’ ”

Jamie went on to observe that companies with correctly targeted branding can charge a premium over non-branded products because of their association with the target audience.

Business Review Europe was shown how, frequently, a company does not fully understand its own brand, with a gap forming between where the company wants their brand to be and how the customer perceives it. In addition to initial perception, it needs to be recognised that a brand is like a living organism, in that the ways of reaching the target audience will be constantly changing.

Sometimes, the personality of a brand may need to change and care must always be taken to ensure that the brand stays close to its customer base.  Jamie Watson emphasised the importance of this, pointing out that “Branding increases the emotional appeal of a product or service to a particular group of customers.” Agencies such as Pixle8 help companies to have a fuller and more effective understanding of their customers.

The article also explored how, depending on how well or not a company knows its target market, rebranding can work for or against a company. Jamie showed how using an experienced branding agency like Pixel8 can ensure that rebranding definitely works to a company’s advantage, and ensures that a brand is strong enough to adapt and survive in constantly changing market conditions, customer tastes and media opportunities.

To read the complete article, please visit Business Review Europe.

For more information please visit corporate branding, company rebranding Q & A or call Jamie Watson on 0161 228 6489 – 0845 230 1336 or contact him by e-mail

Manchester design, marketing and branding agency Pixel8 has had a busy summer, welcoming two new full time staff and moving into larger premises.

Art director Angelina McPherson has joined from Xerox and new Pixel8 office manager Susan Berkon was formerly employed in the same role at law firm Kennedys.

Angelina, who has 10 years agency experience, was previously lead creative designer for northern accounts at Xerox, with blue chip clients including Morrisons.

Angelina said, “The office move went really well and I’m already working on several new accounts, including a brand redesign for a group of international hotels”.

The new Pixel8 offices are located on Little Lever Street in Manchester’s creative Northern Quarter, just a short walk from their old Houldsworth Street studio.

Joint managing director Jamie Watson said, “With so many new appointments over the past year, our old office was bursting at the seams. Although our clients loved it for its quirkiness, we think our new offices retain the charm, whilst adding plenty of room to expand even further.”

Watch Pixel8’s latest animation www.pixel8ltd.com

Paul Leybourne is head of sales for Greater Manchester-based Vodat International, a supplier of managed networks and IPT solutions to the UK retail market.

Vodat’s clients include Jaeger, Beaverbrooks, Fat Face, White Stuff, Karen Millen, Lush, Reiss, Dune, 99p Stores and B&M Bargains. Vodat has not lost a client in more than seven years.

Paul started working with Pixel8 in Manchester 17 months ago…

“I think truth, honesty and really engaging an agency to understand the goals and core objectives of your business are the most important things in a great client-agency working relationship.

“The more an agency understands, the more they can give. I think too many sales and marketing people keep agencies at an arm’s length out of fear. They don’t want to lose control of any aspect of the business. And I think insecurity can play a part too – if your agency is coming up with all the ideas, then what is your role?

“We see both Pixel8 and our PR agency as business partners, and that’s not just rhetoric. We have bought into Pixel8 and they have bought into our business vision.

“I think poor client-agency working involves the client being too directive and the agency just running around to their orders. But we brought Pixel8 on board for their design and marketing expertise, so we’re not going to just leave them with the donkey work. Pixel8 adds value to our company and they do a lot of the creative thinking that we just don’t have time for. They allow both me and our MD Mike Bielinski to concentrate on running the business and generating sales.”

Jamie Watson, joint managing director of Pixel8 said, “Vodat are excellent communicators and invite us to a monthly meeting which is always very productive. They are honest with us about any issues their company is facing and encourage us to really get involved with ideas and solutions.

We originally started working with Vodat’s MD Mike Bielinski then as their company expanded Paul took over the sales department. We are really pleased to have developed an excellent working relationship with both Mike and Paul.”

For more information please visit Vodat International.

Manchester Design and Marketing Agency Pixel8 have won an international pitch to work with the largest hotel group in the world.

Pixel8 was the only UK agency on the four-strong pitch list, beating competition from top USA branding agencies for the six figure contract from InterContinental Hotels Group.

The contract is for a brand refresh for InterContinental Group’s international boutique brand Hotel Indigo, ahead of three UK hotel launches in 2010.

The six figure win has led to the appointment of three new members of staff for Pixel8, which was founded 11 years ago by joint managing director Nigel Daws, former lead graphic designer at Manchester United Merchandising Ltd.

Pixel8, which is based in Manchester’s creative Northern Quarter, will report to Ed Thorne, Director Global Brand Management for Hotel Indigo at InterContinental Hotels Group’s Atlanta offices.

Speaking about how a small Manchester agency ended up on a pitch list with three major US players, Pixel8 joint managing director Jamie Watson said, “Ed Thorne was previously a Global Brand Manager for InterContinental Hotels & Resorts based in London, he was impressed with our portfolio but at the time there was no immediate need for our services.

“Four years later, we got a call from Atlanta asking us to pitch. We didn’t know at the time that we would be the only UK agency on the pitch list.”

On selecting Pixel8, Ed said, “Hotel Indigo is an international brand and it was vital that the agency we chose could think globally. Pixel8 demonstrated a more outward looking focus than its US counterparts and gave us greater confidence that they could align our brand all over the world.

“Pixel8 has a proven track record in design and branding and was able to demonstrate a greater degree of flexibility than the larger agencies. Their ability to tell the brand story of Hotel Indigo through identity design was exemplary, and their reasoning for making the branding changes was a clear winner.

“I have a personal preference for smaller branding agencies as they offer better access to the senior figures. Once I showed Pixel8’s proposal to the Atlanta-based senior management team, I had no trouble convincing them that this Manchester agency would deliver the highest calibre of work.”

Pixel8 joint managing director Nigel Daws said, “Pixel8’s background in working for well known brands was integral to demonstrating that we fully understand the guiding principles behind brand development.

“Working with InterContinental Hotels Group gives us the credibility we need to engage with other global brands. This win has already led to more work from other US companies and will lead to other exciting opportunities within the InterContinental Hotels Group.”

In addition to defining the brand identity, Pixel8 has been contracted to prepare guidelines for all in-hotel materials and develop tool kits to help deliver the look and feel across the internationally franchised brand.

The other competing agencies on the pitch list were Boston and Los Angeles-based Design Continuum, San Francisco’s Marshall Strategy and Brand Logic, which has offices in New York and Los Angeles.

About Hotel Indigo and InterContinental Hotels

Worldwide 33 Hotel Indigos have opened since 2004 and most of the hotels are pet friendly. Several Hotel Indigos host Canine Cocktails events where local residents, hotel guests and their pets get together and enjoy treats for all! Cocktail selections for pet owners may include “Salty Dogs” and “Greyhounds”, whilst the four-legged visitors get to grips with canine bacon treats.

Hotel Indigo offers boutique accommodations in an unconventional and unpretentious setting. Cozy, airy and inviting guestrooms with oversized beds, plush bedding, pillow top mattresses, throw pillows, area rugs, signature murals and spa-inspired bathrooms with walk-in showers, vessel sink, hair dryer and Aveda products.

London’s Paddington is home of the UK’s first Hotel Indigo and three more UK hotels are scheduled to open in London, Glasgow and Liverpool in 2010. A further seven hotels launches are planned this year including Vancouver and Shanghai, and additional hotels in New York and Atlanta. One night’s stay in a Hotel Indigo costs between £110-£170.

InterContinental Hotel Group’s other brands include Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express, Candlewood Suites and Staybridge Suites. Its portfolio currently offers over 621,000 rooms worldwide.

For more information please visit Hotel Indigo on Facebook, twitter or at HotelIndigo.com

The Pixel8 Design and Marketing Agency in Manchester, UK is proud to present “Powered by Smarter Pixels”, a short animated video showcase of our services.

See Powered by Smarter Pixels now on our home page at www.pixel8ltd.com

If you like our animation, please visit YouTube and click on the “Like” button to vote for us at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Kl4Dwz9lmY or tell us what you think by contacting us.

The animation was originally hand designed on storyboards by Pixel8’s creative team to showcase our top level service categories, called WOMGE…

	Web Design
	Online Marketing
	Multimedia
	Graphic Design
	Exhibition Services

Powered by Smarter Pixels also shows the high levels of creativity that Pixel8 consistently delivers.

As a small agency our clients get immediate access to our senior creative, technical and management staff. Our in-house design, development and production teams regularly deliver fast turnarounds because we’re not a 9 to 5 agency. We don’t clock off till your work is done.

Pixel8 is working smarter so your company can get all your design, branding and advertising requirements from one agency. We manage the complete process from concept to completion.

Whether you’re a small business that needs a new logo design or an international hotel chain that’s looking for creative corporate branding, call Pixel8 in Manchester because we’re Powered by Smarter Pixels!

Pixel8’s WOMGE services:

Web Design: Website design and development of SME and PLC websites, eCommerce and CMS websites, database development, blog designs, online brand guides and mobile websites

Online Marketing: Search engine optimisation, SEO copywriting, online press release distribution, social media marketing, email marketing, mobile website marketing and Smartphone applications

Multimedia: Animation, video, virtual tours, 3D page turning magazines, Adobe Director and Flash presentations and recyclable corporate PowerPoint presentations

Graphic Design: Logo design, corporate Branding, brand guide design and development, graphic designs for calendars, sales collateral, leaflets, brochures, business stationary, packaging design and product mock ups, t-shirt design and printing

Exhibition Services: Exhibition stand design, build and removal, light boxes, pop up and pull up banner, in-house large format printing for exhibition stands, vehicles and building exteriors.

If you want your advertising and marketing to work smarter in 2010 and beyond, call Pixel8 in Manchester on 0161 228 6489 – 0845 230 1336 or contact us by email today.

Manchester design and marketing agency Pixel8 has been selected to take part in a £10million high growth programme which aims to generate 2,000 jobs in the North West of England over the next three years.

The northern quarter-based agency was chosen because judges believe Pixel8 has the capability to expand by at least 20 percent a year. As part of the programme, Pixel8 will receive intensive coaching from an experienced mentor, high growth workshops and networking opportunities.

Pixel8 has already demonstrated its strong growth potential, increasing sales by over 30% during the recession of 2009 and taking on three new fulltime members of staff.  The agency is also relocating into larger offices in the northern quarter this summer.

Working with both multinational global brands and small business owners, Pixel8’s new clients include 2ergo, the Global Mobile Technology Provider, the Vertex Group of International Outsourcing Companies, and SME’s such as portrait photographer Rebeka Fiona, and the motorbike lawyers at SorryMate.com

Joint managing director, Jamie Watson said “the high growth programme offers us the chance to take an outside view of our business, considering longer term goals and how we can best work towards them”.

For more info please visit www.Pixel8ltd.com or the www.HighGrowthProgramme.co.uk

The Pixel8 design and marketing agency in Manchester are pleased to be working with Vertex, which has over 8,000 employees in the USA, Canada, UK and India.

Vertex is a global Business Process Outsourcer (BPO), providing Customer Management and IT Outsourcing services to over 200 clients worldwide across many sectors. Vertex clients in the UK include bmibaby and The National Trust.

Vertex were interested in our email marketing design, broadcast and reporting services which allow design templates created from initial HTML emails, to be integrated into their CMS system. Future email marketing campaigns can then be authored by clients themselves, giving them full control over the content.

Pixel8 has recently broadcast two initial email marketing campaigns for Vertex.

The first campaign was for the Vertex V-Zine – an email sent to their Utilities client base in the USA and Canada. Designed with graphics to match Vertex corporate branding, the email displayed several snippets of news articles related to Vertex and the North American utilities sector; with links to the full news articles hosted on the Vertex website.

The second email campaign was a simple newsletter broadcasted to their UK client base, updating them with new, additional benefits of outsourcing.  The aim of the email newsletter is to have a Vertex branded email which focuses on a specific news article, which can be sent out in-between the more comprehensive Vertex V-Zine.

Both of these email marketing campaigns were delivered using Pixel8’s email broadcasting system, which has design and spam testing features as well as a detailed analytics reporting system. This allows Vertex to analyse how many people have received the email, which links were clicked on, how many times and specifically who clicked on which links.

For more information about Vertex please visit Vertex.