Archive for the ‘CSR’ Category

Winter Wonderland Window Wins!

Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012

Bonfire CI xmas window 2011As a team we’ve been raising money for a local charity, Keech Cottage Hospice, for the past year. Our Christmas fundraising idea was to open up the entrance of our offices to the public on the day that our town’s Christmas lights were switched on to help raise some more funds. We made cakes, painted faces, sold mulled wine and more. For those of you familiar with our entrance, it’s quite a large, empty space.

We got creative. The whole entrance was decked out as a winter wonderland to attract passersby, with the designers and creative team producing some amazing cut-out creatures, including deer, bunnies, birds, foxes and owls. A snow filled forest scene was printed on the back wall and adorned with hanging snowballs, stars, enormous Christmas gift tags showing the logos of each company in Bonfire CI xmas window background 2011the building hung in the front windows, and it was all topped off by being lit up by fairy lights after dark. It was a sight to behold!

DSC_0463Imagine our delight when we found out we’d caught the eyes of Ampthill Chamber of Trade and Commerce! They popped in with a certificate telling us that we’d won the Ampthill Christmas Window Competition for a stunning design skilfully executed.

What a great positive way to end 2011, and wonderful start to 2012!

Font master gets creative for charity!

Saturday, August 20th, 2011

Peepz AF fontKeech Hospice Care, our chosen charity for this year’s CSR programme, is set to benefit from an increase in our donations, thanks to the creation of a new font.

Bonfire CI graphic designer and illustrator Andrew Foster has created Peepz AF, an illustrated-style font where every key stroke is a different illustration of a child’s face. On sale for $29, the profits are all due to go to the charity.

Andrew has already been successful in designing and selling fonts online in the past and thought he’d put his talents to good use. One font, Spud AF, has been used by Gourmet Burger Kitchen and on the book sleeves of the Biff, Chip and Kipper series. This follows Andrew’s previous success with the same font Spud AF being published in the book ‘How to Design a Typeface’ by the Design Museum in November last year. To buy a copy visit Amazon here.

To support Keech Cottage and by the Peepz AF font click  here. Thank you for your support!!

PrintKeech Hospice Care is a UK charity that runs two hospice services – one for adults and one for children. Its aim is to help patients enjoy the highest quality of life, while providing vital support for their family and friends throughout their loved one’s illness and in their bereavement. All of the charity’s services are offered free of charge, every single day of the year. For more details about Keech, visit www.keech.org.uk.

On your marks, get set, ho ho ho!

Monday, December 6th, 2010

Santa_Run_2010Whilst everyone else was Christmas shopping and indulging in a mince pie or two, the Bonfire team gathered at Bedford’s embankment on Sunday 5th December in support of local charity Keech Hospice Care. Donning Santa suits and beards the team, including family, warmed up before braving the winter weather and running 5k.

Keech provides free specialist care for young people diagnosed with a life-limiting illness. Their aim is to help patients enjoy the highest quality of life, while providing vital support for their family and friends throughout their loved one’s illness and in their bereavement. All of the charity’s services are offered free of charge therefore the support of the local business community is crucial.

Jason Pearce, Bonfire’s Director, commented, “This is the second year Bonfire has supported the Keech Santa run and we were incredibly impressed with 100% staff participation. All Bonfire employees were invited to an away day earlier this year as part of Bonfire’s corporate responsibility commitment and staff were incredibly passionate about this local charity, this is clearly reflected in their attendance and fundraising efforts.”

The charity aimed to raise £50,000 by attracting 500 runners. Bonfire were delighted to be able to contribute over £1,000 and plan to continue to support Keech Hospice Care in 2011.

A miracle in the making

Tuesday, November 16th, 2010

MiracleChildren_Event_BThe Bonfire Creative Intelligence team proudly supported the first ever Miracle Children fundraising event on 12th November 2010 in conjunction with The Beds Downs Syndrome Association. The evening, hosted by Paris Taylor, proved a resounding success with over £7,000 raised through ticket sales, donations and charity auction.

Miracle Children were identified as a local charity partner as part of Bonfire’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative. Bonfire Directors gave each member of staff the opportunity to help shape the company’s CSR policy by recommending a charity to support at an away-day in Woburn earlier in the year. A key focus this year was to support a charity whose services could be transformed by our support.

MiracleChildren_Event_AKeeley Farrar, Admin Support, moved staff as she introduced Maisy-Anna Roberts. A close friend of Keeley’s, Paris Taylor, had a vision of launching her own charity after her experience following the news that Maisy had been born with Down’s Syndrome. We were all quite shocked to hear how little support and advice was readily available to Paris at this life-changing moment.

Following Keeley’s presentation, and a democratic vote, Miracle Children were adopted as a charitable partner and Maisy’s parents were invited to meet the Bonfire team. Following an initial consultation with Paris a fundraising event at The Swan Hotel in Bedford was highlighted as a core activity. Bonfire delivered over £1,000 of creative support (which included creation of a brand identity for the initiative and design and invites/tickets), £160 of printed collateral, £780 of management support and purchase of 10 tickets for the big night worth £350.

Despite the large venue, tickets to the event were snapped up. Lorraine Ballantyne, Business Support at Bonfire, added, “In addition to the creative, Bonfire managed to secure a number of prizes for the evening’s raffle and auction. Donations were kindly made from clients including Argos, who supplied a number of Chad Valley toys, and The Little Black Gallery, who donated signed copies of Terry O’Neills ‘Celebrity’ book. The support from the Bonfire team, clients and the local community has been incredible.”

With over £7,000 profit raised the evening proved both fun, emotional and a significant step forward for Maisy and her family. Bonfire will continue to support Paris who now aims for Miracle Children to become a registered charity in its own right.

Who said fun run?

Monday, December 21st, 2009

Well it’s that time of year again when we all add a few inches, watch a whole host of television that we would have otherwise missed,

The Bonifre team at the 5k Santa run for Keech Cottage.

The Bonifre team at the 5k Santa run for Keech Cottage.

and wonder what happened to the year. December has come around so quickly and this is a short note to advise you of a few things.

Firstly we would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and as those of you who received our Christmas mailing will be aware this year’s competition question was ‘In total, how many gifts were given in the song The Twelve Days of Christmas’. The correct answer is 364 and congratulations to Paul who is now the owner of a new Orange iPod Nano. There were a total of 35 entries, of which 10 were correct and entered into the draw.

This is a popular, well known conundrum and the answer is calculated using the following formula. On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me a partridge in a pear tree, on the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me two turtle doves and a partridge in a pair tree. If you read it literally, on the second day there were 3 gifts given – both a partridge in a pear tree and two turtle doves. Then if you follow this logic throughout the song your total will reach 364. Easy.

If you missed the mailer but would still like to view the festive microsite and learn a few tricks you can click here, but please note that the draw has now closed!! We would also like to thank all our clients, suppliers and contacts for their donation choices. You raised £110 for Keech Cottage and £30 for the Forest of Marston Vale.

The Bonfire team also collectively raised £865 in the Keech Cottage 5k Santa Run on the 6th December 2009 (well done John for coming second!!) and we would like to congratulate Steve on his silly beard antics that ended on the 30th November, as seen in the Mail on Sunday, raising a further £670 for Keech Cottage. A time for giving indeed, and a very worth cause so thanks to everyone who supported us. On another note Gemma also completed a sponsored swim (22 miles in 12 weeks – distance of the channel) raising £430 for Aspire – so at least one of us will be in shape for the Christmas calories!!!

On a slightly more serious note, and for your reference, we will be closing our doors at 1pm on the 24th December 2009 and reopening them on 4th January 2010 to start another exciting year – our 10th!!!

Once again have a great break and a wonderful New Year!

All the best

The Bonfire Team xx

Remember, remember…

Friday, November 6th, 2009

Remember, remember indeed. As many of you will have noticed our new site finally went live on Thursday 5th November 2009 – nearly 2 years after we took the previous site down. It has been the busiest 2 years in our history and you’ll have to bear with us for a little while yet while the case studies are completed, we polish off a few areas of copy and finish the photography.

The Bonfire 5th November elephant...

The Bonfire 5th November elephant...

There are still quite a few exciting case studies to come including the 2009/2010 International adult and young learner course prospectuses for Bell International, the delivery of a 2 year brand transition for Select Education (soon to be Randstad Education – this is halfway through and we are entering the final phase to be completed in January 2011), Central Bedfordshire Council’s senior management conference and staff roadshows following the unitary status of Bedford Borough Council, Improvement East’s stakeholder event held in Harrogate and many more. We have also had the pleasure of working with Wells and Young’s recently on a number of corporate and brand projects as well as Argos – but more on all of that in a few weeks.

On another positive note we will be moving into the new year with more great news and larger premises as the company expands following a recent acquisition and a merger in Q1 2010.

Anyway back to 5th November. This year we celebrated with an integrated campaign developed with students at Bedford College consisting of a limited edition origami elephant paperweight, limited edition T-shirts, a paper based origami direct mail piece, an origami video posted on our youtube channel and promotion through the social advertising experiment iwearyourshirt.com. The elephant itself was a bespoke commission designed in partnership with international origami expert Nick Robinson who was a pleasure to work with. To find out more about this campaign click here.

Due to popular demand we will also be uploading the flat artwork this week. This will be up by Wednesday 18th November – and remember to send photos of your attempts in for a chance to win a real elephant (adopted)! Alternatively we do still have a few printed copies left so email in your details to sparks@bonfireci.com and we’ll mail them out while they last.

You will also now find us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn for those that use these channels.

A big thanks to everyone for their support on this campaign: our dedicated staff, suppliers, paper merchants, Jason Sadler at iwearyourshirt, Kayte at Goodthings and last but by no means least Jeffrey Tribe and all the students at Bedford College. It has been a long time in the making – keep coming back for more news and views!

One last thing: Congratulations to Mark for winning the Lexon radio from October’s email newsletter – a design classic on show at the Design Museum in London, UK.

Bonfire picks up a Highly Commended Payroll Giving Award

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

Bonfire Creative Intelligence has picked up a ‘Highly commended’ in the category of ‘Best

Awards scheme 2009.

Awards scheme 2009.

SME Campaign’ at the National Payroll Giving Excellence Awards 2009. The judges were very impressed that a small consultancy had an CSR Policy and actions plan. They also thought it innovative to take staff to see their nominated charity, leading to 100% staff take up.

The National Payroll Giving Excellence Awards have been established in conjunction with the Institute of Fundraising and the Payroll Giving Centre and are designed to showcase the best Payroll Giving schemes in the UK.

Any employer who has achieved a Bronze, Silver or Gold Quality Mark Award in that year is eligible to submit an entry to the National Payroll Giving Excellence Awards.

Having been granted a Gold Quality Mark Award earlier in the year Bonfire had been shortlisted for 2 categories, ‘Best Launch of New Scheme’ and ‘Best SME Campaign’. Each category had levels ‘Highly Commended’ and ‘Overall Winner’.

Within these categories Bonfire were up against the likes of Beaverbrook’s, Flight Centre, Kellogg’s and Haygarth. Other winners included Think Money Group, Aviva, Whitbread Group PLC, Howdens Joinery Co, Henderson Group, London Borough of Islington, Police Service of Northern Ireland and The British Heart Foundation.

Bonfire congratulates all the winners and those shortlisted for the awards; and also all those companies and staff out there taking part in the Payroll Giving Scheme – keep up the good work.

To find out more about Payroll Giving click here.

To find out more about the National Payroll Giving Excellence Awards click here.

Bonfire Director awarded Fellowship of Chartered Society of Designers

Friday, August 28th, 2009

Stephen Judge, Director of Bedfordshire-based design and branding consultancy Bonfire Creative Intelligence has been recently awarded Fellowship of the Chartered Society of Designers.

The Chartered Society of Designers currently awards around 40 fellowships per year to those it considers have made a contribution to the Society, profession or their own area of business and expertise.

Stephen began his design career as a student at Bedford College completing a Foundation Course in Art and Design in July ’91. He continued onto the University of Central England, now Birmingham City University, graduating in 1995 with a BA Honours, PgDip and an MA in Visual Communication. Stephen and co-director Jason Pearce founded Bonfire on the 5th Nov 2000. Bonfire Creative Intelligence will be entering their 10th year this November and continue to move from strength to strength. Bonfire were the first consultancy in the UK to be accredited by the Design Association, an initiative of the Chartered Society of Designers.

Bonfire CI go global with social media!

Saturday, August 8th, 2009

On Friday the 21st August Mario Cacciottolo, founder of the website

Jason's SOTM

Jason's SOTM

www.someoneoncetoldme.com, was invited by Bonfire Creative Intelligence to visit Ampthill in Bedfordshire.

www.someoneoncetoldme.com has a global following and has enjoyed much media coverage. Like all good ideas, the premise is simple: the site invites people to share something that someone once told them and lets them to tell their story. One picture per day is shown, and all are compelling.

Over 9 different organisations took part and Mario took away 14 new pictures for the website. The organisations that took part were Bonfire Creative Intelligence (an Ampthill-based branding consultancy) Leon Pearce (a Luton-based photographer), Ampthill Fireplaces, The Cooks Collection and Antiques Emporium (all in Ampthill), The Bedfordshire Humanists, Clarity in Communication Consultancy, Goodthings, Crisp Solutions, Panic, and the chef from The Prince of Wales! As for the pictures from the day – you will have to wait and see!

It was a fantastic day. The shots from the day will feature on the site over the next few months. This shows that small Bedfordshire businesses are up for taking part in community creative projects.

Do take a look at the site, and perhaps submit some of your own photos.

Steve’s SOTM
Jason’s SOTM
Rachel’s SOTM

And watch out for Gemma’s still to come…

Bonfire Design give Masterclass in Branding at Bedford College

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

Bedfordshire-based design agency Bonfire Creative Intelligence led a Branding Masterclass for HND Graphic Design students at Bedford College on the 30th April 2009.

Students deliberate big brands.

Students deliberate big brands.

30 students took part in the session led by Stephen Judge, Strategic director of the Bonfire and former Bedford College Student. He said of the day “We get a real buzz from linking our current business with the education of new talent. The students were really engaged with the session and we were happy to be involved.”

The Masterclass is being followed by a number of portfolio surgeries throughout May in which students will receive professional feedback on their portfolios from both Directors of Bonfire.

Jeffery Tribe, Head of Graphic Design at Bedford College remarked “This was a unique opportunity to underpin and challenge our brand awareness teaching with a series of fun and engaging activities delivered by truly dedicated professionals”.