Accelerate your brand
elevate your business

The two most common scenarios that our new clients are experiencing when they come to us are where their brand isn’t working for them, or their website needs a reboot. These are symptoms of a business and brand that are out of sync. You can’t resolve one without tackling the other: if you address the brand, you’ll need to update the website; and in order to replace the website, you need to first address the brand.

That process takes six months to do well.

However, updating your brand identity doesn’t mean people will automatically be more aware of your business. Launching a new website doesn’t mean that new customers will suddenly start knocking on the door.

Our holistic approach supports your business strategy by establishing and curating your brand across multiple channels – including outbound content, finely targeted at your chosen audience.

The main thing not included in our programme is web development, and that needs to be factored into your budget expectations. More on that below. 

We can’t include licensed media, such as Royalty Free images, videos and music, or fonts due to copyright law. This doesn’t mean you can’t acquire the licenses for yourselves though, which will then enable you to lawfully use the media anywhere you choose. Incidentally, this is true for all designers. 

And we do not provide editable origination/artwork files.   

The reason we don’t include development is simply because we don’t know how large or sophisticated your web presence will need to be ahead of the process. If we claimed that, we’d be lying, and you’d be buying into a template site that won’t deliver to your brand’s best interests. 

Another reason is because some of our clients have in-house development capability or use platforms outside of our expertise (such as Hubspot for instance). Our development partners are proven experts in WordPress development, but you are certainly not obligated to use that facility. Either way, it doesn’t affect our design approach.  

The idea with Brand Accelerator is to catapult your brand to a higher level with a period of intensive, focused strategic and creative work. At the end of that time, clients have the brand momentum and tools they need to crack on by themselves…for a time.  

However, we have ongoing relationships with many clients going back years. Of course we want you to continue to use us, but the nature of that requirement won’t be clear at this early stage.  

Besides, that’s for then, and we’re not taking anything for granted – it’s incumbent on us to make you want us around for longer. For now, we want to focus on making a big impact on your brand. 

Misunderstanding of what terms like brand, brand identity, logo, wordmark and lock-up actually refer to is very common.  

If you’re foggy about these yourself, you’re certainly not alone, and we’ll help you get to grips with it all of course.  

But to answer the question: no, logos are like a visual shortcut to identifying a brand – a bit like a jingle on the radio. They trigger recognition. Your brand is what comes to my mind when someone is ‘triggered’ by that logo. If I say ‘Porsche’, what comes to mind? What would you expect from a Porsche product? How would you expect to be treated as a Porsche customer? What would people think of you if you drove a Porsche vehicle, or wore Porsche branded clothing? 

Your logo is a critical part of your brand’s ‘identity’, in context with colours, fonts and all sorts of other elements, which might include taglines, sounds, music, animations and personalities (like Sir Richard Branson and the Virgin brand, for example). 

Your brand is the philosophy of your business. The big difference it aspires to make, and how it goes about doing that. Your brand estate (all of those items I listed above, along with website, writing and social media presence too), are representative of your brand.  

That’s why it’s critical that your business and brand are ‘in sync’. 

Design Thinking is a creative problem-solving methodology that focuses on users’ needs in order to deliver truly effective solutions. It is commonly described as comprising four phases: Discover, Define, Develop, Deliver, which alternate between divergent and critical thinking. 

Design Thinking came to prominence through the work of people like David Kelly, founder of international design agency, IDEO. The Design Council helped to visualise the process with their ‘Double Diamond’ model. 

Our founder, Si Ellis, trained as a product designer, and consequently brings this powerful methodology to brand development and strategic audience engagement. EllisJames has a rich track record that demonstrates the efficacy of this approach including big defence primes, technology start-ups and NHS Trusts.  

Because our approach makes sense, and we’ve got the track record to back that up.  

We have three main tenets: 

• ‘Design Think’ before you ‘Design Do‘
• Clients must have direct contact with creatives 
• Be nice, be decent, be kind. 

We are focused on B2B SMEs and have worked with dozens of SME founders across our 21 years, so when we say we understand your pain, we really, really do. 

We have a rare level of knowledge of the aerospace and defence sectors, as well as technology, engineering and healthcare. 

And lastly, bang for buck. As a team we are straining at the leash for the right client to come along and set us loose on their behalf. Brand Accelerator is fixed price so the admin is out of the way up front, letting us fulfil our proactive, committed, creative calling, and delivering a world of difference to your business, your brand and your people.