Bonfire becomes DBA PQQ Accredited

pqq_logoShort of blasting you with acronyms, we’d just like to let you know that the DBA (Design Business Association), which promotes the design industry to commerce, has given us a big ‘thumbs up’!

Traditionally when tendering for work with the public sector and some larger organisations, the tendering process can be a long, laborious form-filling exercise.  Many of these organisations now use third party accreditation providers, such as the DBA, to pre-qualify suppliers to speed up the procurement process.

So now we’re all pre-qualification questionaire’d up and listed in the DBA’s Directory of PQQ Ready Suppliers, we’re looking forward to continuing our business growth!

Bonfire CI picks up Bronze at Transform Awards 2011!

TRANSFORM2011Bonfire Creative Intelligence’s excellence in rebranding was recognised at last night’s Transform Awards, with its work winning a Bronze award in the category of ‘Best corporate rebrand following a merger or acquisition’ category.

Now in their second year, the Transform Awards are the UK’s only dedicated celebration of rebranding, repositioning and brand transformation.

In a ceremony at the Grange Hotel St Paul’s in London, hosted by former director of communications and strategy at Number 10 Alastair Campbell, Bonfire Creative Intelligence was lauded for its countdown campaign for the rebrand of Select Education to Randstad Education.

Judged by a panel of branding experts, communications practitioners and academics, the Transform Awards were established by Communicate magazine, the UK’s leading magazine for corporate communications and stakeholder relations, to celebrate creativity, innovation and effectiveness in brand transformation.

Stephen Judge MA FCSD said: “This is a great achievement. Both the campaign and award are the direct result of a great working partnership – let’s not forget that clients play a key role in all our work. It was a proud moment for all the team to see our campaign displayed alongside the creative of leading global agencies such as Interbrand, Landor, Siegel + Gale and Heavenly. Well done team!”

Andrew Thomas, publisher of Communicate magazine said: “We have seen a 60% increase in the number of entries this year, fabulous growth in difficult times. This highlights the importance of the Transform Awards. They are important because whilst still recognising the importance of creativity they also benchmark execution, outcome, and, perhaps most importantly, the strategic input of Europe’s branding consultancies and in-house expertise. It is my belief that Europe leads the way in these fields.”

For further information please contact Stephen Judge MA FCSD on 01525 841079.

Darkroom, The Obsessions of Bob Carlos Clarke

Having worked on the branding and promotions for The Little Black Gallery since its launch 2 years ago we have become great fans of the works of Bob Carlos Clarke. During this time we often thought about whether it would work in film. After working in partnership with The Gate Films and the Directors Bert & Bertie on the wonderful Olympus Voice Recorder TV advert we produced last year it got us thinking about more of this celluloid medium and about taking photography to film.

We had a long chat with Bert & Bertie about the potential of the project and the rest is history. Bert & Bertie have been hard at work and have partnered with acclaimed producer Amy Gilliam (The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus), whilst we’ve been working on the title screen graphics for the trailer and soon to be short film.

Lindsey Carlos Clarke, widow of Bob Carlos Clarke, says ‘We have agreed to the short film route, rather than a TV documentary, because we want to produce a creative piece of work that will last in perpetuity. We also feel that Bob would have loved the fact that two women are making a film about him.’

The Foundation needs to raise a total of £75K to make the film and they are looking for friends and sponsors to contribute to this wonderful project in Bob’s memory. Anyone who donates more than £100 will be listed in the films credits and any donations over £5,000 will carry an Executive Producer credit.

Stephen Judge adds ‘This announcement comes just as our branding work for the The Little Black Gallery is nominated for Best Lifestyle Brand at the Lifetstyle Awards 2011, exciting times!’.

DARKROOM: The Obsessions of Bob Carlos Clarke from Bert&Bertie on Vimeo.

The film entitled ‘Darkroom – The Obsessions of Bob Carlos Clarke’ with hopefully be completed later this year. More information about the project visit.

Wells & Young’s appoints Bonfire to brand export ales

Leading creative agency, Bonfire Creative Intelligence has been appointed by the UK’s largest private brewery, Wells & Young’s, to develop the branding for a range of Young’s premium ales for export.

Wells & Young’s is developing the brand due to meet customer demands and is looking to grow its share of the export market with this new range of export ales.

The range will be launched in August, which includes a presentation to purchasers from around the globe.

Guy Shreeves, Director, Wells & Young’s said: “A new range of beers under one of our key brands is to be developed for the international market. We needed to find a new strategic agency to jointly develop the brands and proposition. Bonfire displayed to us good creativity along with stability and maturity to ensure the brand extensions are created sympathetically. We look forward to working with the new team.”

Stephen Judge, Director, Bonfire Creative Intelligence said: “We’re really excited about working with Wells & Young’s to take this brand forward. It’s a great opportunity to work with a leading local business.”

Wells and Young’s is a major player in the UK beer market, brewing, marketing and distributing some of the country’s most loved cask and bottled beers including Bombardier, Young’s and Courage.