Well, we can assure you that it absolutely is. Despite new technologies making their way into the market and many brochures now being available in digital forms, such as interactive, i-brochures or flip brochures, print brochures still hold an important place in most school’s marketing.

The rise in new technologies can make a prospectus seem less important, but in reality, a well presented and informative prospectus has the potential to make a huge impact on your school’s marketing campaign, and most importantly draw in students from your competitors. The benefits of printing your prospectus really shouldn’t be overlooked, as a well-presented prospectus allows readers to really grasp how the school ‘feels’ and what kind of message they like to portray. Furthermore, people tend to turn away from their screens and look to print to digest important information i.e where they’re going next on their education journey.

The purpose of a school prospectus is to give students a feel of what life is like at your school and getting that right can prove to be challenging for those tasked with putting it all together.

What to consider when creating your school prospectus?

Keep it visual

This is arguably the most important part. When designing print, less is often more, we would recommend using graphics and imagery as a visual aid for text where possible, making the information easier to digest. Create a visual led prospectus tailored around your School brand personality, to showcase your USP’s to your target audience.

Copy:

Much of the information required will already be led by Ofsted guidance and key content from your website. It is important to carefully consider the copy used throughout, in order to tell a cohesive story that ultimately highlights what your school is all about and links together included sections.

Don’t try and cram too much in:

We would also recommend using the Prospectus as a signpost to the website and your social media channels where appropriate, instead of overcrowding pages by ‘cramming’ in too much information.

Print/Finish:

The look and feel of a prospectus can be a key detail to consider when it comes to printing your school prospectus. It’s one of the first details someone who picks up your prospectus will notice, so you want to make an impression. Whether you want it to have a soft touch feel, be glossy and shiny or have more of a matte effect, you need to consider how your brochure will ‘feel’ in the hands of a prospective parent.

Case study: De La Salle prospectus

Other blogs:

• A prospectus revolution
• Creativeworld goes international with education
• You no longer need to print 200 copies of your prospectus

If you want confidence in a service that will showcase your School or College, contact us!

Dan Palmer: dan@creativeworld.co.uk

David Bennett: dave@creativeworld.co.uk

Who are the Simply Bees?

Simply Bees is a voluntary organisation, they share facts and tips about bee preservation and offer educational sessions to schools and organisations throughout the community. All of their great work is not- for profit with all the proceeds they raise going back to the hives, the bee park and the local community.

What we did

Creativeworld was approached by Simply Bees to design the promotional material for the event which included the creation of banners, banner stands and leaflets. Team Creative was thrilled to be able to support such a great cause within the local community.

What is World Bee Day?

The purpose of World Bee Day is to raise awareness of the importance of bees and beekeeping, inform the public of major beekeeping events around the world and celebrate World Bee Day. In the long-term, the protection of bees and the beekeeping sector can help reduce poverty and hunger, as well as preserve a healthy environment and biodiversity. Scientific studies have proven that bees have become increasingly endangered.  It is only through joint efforts that we can ensure the protection of bees and their habitats, so World Bee Day is a great opportunity to raise awareness of this huge issue.

What on for Buzzin Bee Day?

There’s lots in store for Buzzin Bee Day at Ightenhill Park to celebrate World Bee Day, such as the welcoming of Simply Bees’ new hives and raising funds to support the Bees and ongoing park improvements. It will be a fun day which will also feature appearances from Lancashire Care’s HARRI, The North West Ambulance service and of course the new Simply Bee Mascot, Bertie Bee. There will be plenty of activities to participate in, as well as food and drink to enjoy, so if you’re in the area and want to support a great cause, make sure you get down.

Check out the great work the Simply Bees team gets up to over on their Facebook page.

For more about our marketing support, get in touch with Dave Bee-net over at dave@creativeworld.co.uk 

Whitespace is also known as ‘negative space’. It’s an area of your design that is not – I repeat NOT – filled with content. Furthermore, tt’s also a majorly important design element as it grants your design the breathing room it could need, it will also help your designs that are looking clumsy and overly complicated. My main point is that whitespace can make designs look CLEAN, so please don’t let clients, account handlers, managers ruin your designs with the old saying “Can’t something go there?”

Can you not put something there? – Dinosaurs to every designer ever

What is Whitespace?

Whitespace is the portion of the page left blank; it can be the space between images, graphics, margins and borders. It’s also the space between columns, between lines of text or numbers that provides visual breathing space for the eye.

It’s super-duper important!

Whitespace is an important element of design for good reason, not only for readability but for all those design snobs out there too, who like to focus your attention on the more intricate parts of the design.

Negative Space? – Trust me this is a positive!

Negative space is, quite simply put at best the space that surrounds an object in an image. It is just as important as that focal point of the object itself, negative space can help define the boundaries of positive space (the image/artwork) and brings a healthy balance to the overall piece of artwork.

All in all, don’t be afraid of whitespace. It’s your friend, not your foe.

Article by Marketing Manager Adam Wood

About the Quit Squad

The Quit Squad is the Lancashire wide Tobacco and Nicotine Treatment Service with the aims of helping members of the public to “quit” smoking. The aim is to encourage smokers along to local sessions which take place across the county. With the help of the Quit Squad, smokers attend these support sessions, designed to help them through their journey to quit smoking.

Storytelling

As part of the campaign, we will be looking at various case studies from the past and present all of which have their own unique story. One of our favourites being Mohammad who accidentally contacted the Quit Squad and now leads a healthy smoke-free life and encourages others to do the same.

Gareth Beck Team Manager, Lancashire Tobacco & Nicotine Addiction Treatment Service (Quit Squad) told us why he chose Creativeworld.

‘I chose Creativeworld for a number of reasons, not only do they specialise in Health campaigns, they have a track record in delivering results. The energy and enthusiasm of the team comes across in the visual delivery of the campaign resources and they embed their team into the project to enable the Quit Squad to reach our objectives by reducing the number of smokers in Lancashire and therefore improving healthy outcomes for all.’

Here’s what our Health Communications specialist David Bennett had to say about the appointment.

‘This is a fantastic opportunity to make a real difference within Lancashire but also as a company, it is allowing us to really show what we are capable of. The campaign features “real” people who have benefitted from the Quit Squad support to help them improve their quality of life. We have utilised video, displays, print and social media to tell a story about quitting and about those who have and the changes that the #QuitSquad has made to their lives. We’re incredibly excited to see the story of the Quit squad unfold and most of all the impact on people’s health across Lancashire.

See the story unfold and follow Lancashire Care on Twitter and Facebook 

For social media and marketing support get in touch with our team at info@creativeworld.co.uk 

Or fill in our social media slider 

We were commissioned by Heckmondwike Grammar School to deliver a full brand consultation and implementation. As part of the branding process, we had to ensure we understood the needs of the audience whilst maintaining the profile of the School.

The initial brand discovery stages (which involves a trial and error phase of what works and what doesn’t) included a full consultation period with all stakeholders, including Staff, Parents, Communities, Students and Alumni. The process was carried out through focus group work, interviews and written feedback from all groups. This involved gathering information about what the stakeholders felt about the Heckmondwike ‘brand’. From this feedback, we developed a new brand strategy which best represented the institution.

The Concept

Our concepts were inspired by various key indicators made in the initial insight and engagement work carried out; this was then passed back through the various communications channels and concluded in a new evolved brand. The new branding enabled the School and Sixth Form to utilise it internally and externally. A set of Brand guidelines and a toolkit have been created to cover the main aspects of the school’s communication channels, including signage, digital media, prospectuses, stationery, presentations and internal communications literature. This has assisted the School to become more joined up with their branding across all formats.

David Bennett, our Educational Consultant added, “it’s been an exciting project to work on with such a prestigious School as Heckmondwike Grammar School. They worked well with us to ensure all stakeholders were involved in the process of the brand development and how important the brand was for the tradition of the School to continue”.

Is stakeholder engagement and brand evaluation on your list of objectives? It’s important for your audience to have their say in how they want you to communicate with them. Contact us to find out more about how the team can assist your organisation. dave@creativeworld.co.uk

What is the ‘Prospectus Revolution’?

As technology changes, printing advances and we progress, what is a big part of that is how you market yourself. Institutions have to be smarter and more conscious about how they deliver their message through print. This change, David calls the ‘prospectus revolution’. Schools and Colleges are now challenged to deliver more effective solutions when communicating to their prospective parents and students. They are being influenced by more than just the Ofsted results or hearsay, they want to see and feel how good the School is, it’s all part of their decision-making process.

What’s changed? 

In my role as Account Director, I have had the same conversations…

“Should we print a Prospectus again, but with a few tweaks, as we always have done?”

“We still have 500 left from a couple of years ago, let’s just use them up”

“We only need a PDF of our prospectus for the website”

Times have changed, not just with the digital revolution, but at Creativeworld we have witnessed a revolution in print. We now offer a brand new printing technique that is a perfect solution for Education. High quality print, stunning finishing techniques whilst only printing as many as you need, and most of all within a budget to meet the financial demands on most schools. Coupled with this we have various options to deliver your Prospectus electronically.

Electronic solutions

• I – brochures, a mini microsite that delivers the content of your Prospectus through an engaging interface.
• Page flip Prospectus – as it says, a digital page flip, that can be housed on your own web portal
• And finally, an interactive e-brochure, that brings video, movement and image galleries into the content for a more interactive and engaging solution.

The times have changed. No longer do you need to print 2000 copies, no longer do you need to accept a PDF as your “Digital” prospectus. There are several avenues in which you can approach your prospectus, you can afford to be creative, think outside the box and make your institution look the best it possibly can do. Have a look at our portfolio and see for yourself what our clients say, but most of all take a look at the quality of our work and of course the client base that we call our partners.

If you want confidence in a service that will showcase your School or College, contact us!

David Bennett,

Business Development Manager,

01282 858200

The Housing Group had one key objective, to get a better understanding of their customer. This, however, would be no small feat and would come in the form of an animated creative campaign. Together Housing Group needed an agency who could provide several services all to a very high standard and within a strict timescale. Team Creative set to work on their mission to make Together Housing Group’s vision a reality.

What was the brief?

Together Housing Group decided that an internal communications campaign would be the best way to assist the Housing Group in understanding their customers. This required them to be able to identify their needs and aspirations so that when they are dealing with their tenants (clients), they can understand what motivates them. This would then help in communicating with their customers and the likelihood of their lifestyle.

So, what did we do?

After a creative theme was developed and agreed, we then created a brochure which features an excellent overview of the characteristics of their tenants. We created seven banner stands and a display system to showcase the customer base in one high-impact visual. Alongside the printed material, we also produced a full video animation to bring the findings of the customer research to life. The idea behind this was to make the material more engaging to the employees which would help deliver the message more effectively. Ultimately, the material produced by the team was all used to educate the staff across Together Housing Group in order to meet the needs of their customers in a quicker, smarter and in a more efficient way.

Leah Smith, the Marketing Manager at Together Housing Group, had this to say about the project:

‘At Together Housing Group, we undertook an exercise to understand our customers better. With 1,300 staff members across a wide geographical spread, we needed a solution which would enable all colleagues to access the information in a user-friendly way.

Creativeworld provided us with an excellent solution to our internal communications challenge. The combination of materials was perfect at getting the message to our colleagues and we’ve received excellent feedback from staff across many areas of the business.’

Creativeworld’s Business Development Manager David Bennett added:

‘This was a fantastic campaign to work on as it included a variety of projects and allowed us to really showcase our capabilities as a fully-fledged marketing agency, utilising many of the different services we offer here at Creativeworld’.

If you need some assistance with your marketing strategy and for more information about the services Creativeworld has to offer, contact us.

Creativeworld has been delivering bespoke digital marketing solutions to businesses of all shapes, sizes and industries for over 15 years, and this year has continued to work with their old friends at Steadplan – another of its stellar list of clients.

New Steadplan Corporate Website from Team Creative

Following a meeting in July, Team Creative set to work developing an all new digital identity for the company, who were looking for a site with a stylish, more contemporary feel.

On the recent collaboration, Creativeworld’s David Bates commented “Having worked closely with Steadplan for a number of years, they know we always go the extra mile when it comes to service. It was a real pleasure to collaborate with them once again, this time to create a completely new look digital presence that puts Steadplan firmly in the driving seat”

As with any new website development, the new Steadplan site was created with functionality, design and mobile optimisation in mind… after all, recent studies show that mobile visits are now exceeding desktop visits for the first time.

“One of the biggest things to consider when designing any website, besides usability, is seamless accessibility across multiple devices.” added David.

The newly developed site also gave the Steadplan Team a fully functional content management system, empowering their marketing team and making life a whole lot easier for them, whether they want to make updates to product listings, post News articles or simply tweak text and imagery anywhere on the site.

New ‘REVO’ Brand Identity

Lancashire based creative agency, Creativeworld, was officially appointed to design and develop a new brand identity and marketing collateral for leading foam experts Vitafoam, as they looked to deliver their new 4th generation sleep technology to the market.

As with any new product launch, Vitafoam needed to decide on a unique product name and brand identity. With over 30 years of corporate identity design and development experience, the team was perfectly positioned to work hand in hand with Vitafoam to create something that was both original and on brand.

As marketing trends and techniques continue to evolve, the art of developing a unique brand identity has become ever more important for brands who are looking to stand out from the crowd.

The exciting new 4th generation foam technology developed by Vitafoam was christened ‘REVO’, and has been specifically developed as a Revolutionary Cool Sleep Concept which is set to provide ‘the perfect night’s sleep’.

Vitafoam corporate website

As part of Vitafoam’s global REVO launch, the Creativeworld digital team also conceived and developed a fully animated bespoke CGI video which incorporated a professional voiceover. To complement the video, the team also designed a range of printed literature and branded memory sticks for use at dedicated events and pitches.

On the recent collaboration, Creativeworld’s David Bates commented,

“Working closely with the Vitafoam team was a pleasure as always, especially as they had a clear direction and message that they wished to convey to their target audience.

New and Innovative product development keeps Vitafoam at the forefront of their industry and this time ReVo looks set to revolutionise mattress construction for years to come by offering a ‘Cool’ nights sleep.”

You can visit the new Vitafoam website by Creativeworld at Vitafoam.co.uk and watch the full video for yourself.

MendIT website home page

Creativeworld was officially appointed by UK leading IT repair and warranty organisation MendIT, in late 2014, to create a brand new website and social media presence to help develop the company’s new digital ambitions.

With our expert team of digital creatives at hand, we were perfectly placed to advise, develop and fulfil MendIT’s requirements in order to achieve their long term goals.

These goals were focused predominantly around a new digital marketing strategy as MendIT looked to gain more of a presence in the digital arena, in order to promote the brand’s service offering and ultimately generate new sales leads and brand recognition in the process.

Team Creative designed and developed a brand new custom built website to spearhead the new digital push, along with a uniquely branded social media channel presence to match. MendIT wanted a clean, contemporary site that delivered an enjoyable user experience and which had an emphasis on the highly specialised services they offer to customers.

As an IT repair centre, MendIT employ fully trained and accredited engineers who repair everyday IT devices. This means every repair is undertaken with the greatest care, efficiency and quality of workmanship, which is exactly the ethos our team employed when developing the new MendIT website.

MendIT social media accounts

Commenting on the recent work, Creativeworld’s David Bates added “Here at Creativeworld we love nothing more than working closely with forward thinking Lancashire based businesses and MendIT most certainly fall into that category. They identified from the offset exactly what markets they wanted to target and the direction they wanted to move in, which made it easy for us to develop a unique plan of digital action around it.”

Creating a strong digital marketing strategy that will stand the test of time isn’t something to be taken lightly and takes great consideration and planning to get it just right.

With MendIT looking to develop its client base not only locally, but on a national level, our team created a selection of new social media accounts which targeted specific demographics.

Both Creativeworld and MendIT are finalist in this year’s Lancashire Business View Red Rose Awards 2015.