Case Studies
We’ll be adding more case studies in the next few weeks, but in the mean time, here’s one to get us started!
Carratu International: from frustration to real focus
Carratu transformed their web and print marketing with Silverleaf, enabling a pro–active, dynamic relationship to develop, with great results.
Many of our clients ask us to work with them after a difficult experience with another agency. Carratu International Plc asked Silverleaf to work with them when existing agencies had failed to consistently deliver quality print and online communications. Carratu are an Intellectual Property Specialist who rely on their professional reputation and brand image to be delivered at a level where their many blue chip clients take them seriously to work with them on key business issues.
Although Carratu had some brand guidelines previously created by another agency, they bore little relation to the company’s key marketing drivers or how it approached its clients. Even the directors of Carratu were dismissive and jokey when 
talking about their brand identity. We looked at the initial projects – a web site revamp and company brochures – as an opportunity to develop something their clients (and potential clients) would really be impressed by and interested in, and Carratu could take seriously as an asset in their Marketing Campaigns.
Brochure design
We wanted to create a structure around their marketing materials, so devised a hierarchy for their branding – a general look and feel with connected all their communications, with common
photographic style, colour usage etc, but more restrained with general ‘company wide’ materials, but bolder with more direct messaging and stronger visual impact for individual services – in other words more marketing lead.
The two examples below are the corporate brochure and the IT Investigations brochure, giving character to the IT services division, whilst fitting within the overall Carratu brand – the main Carratu blue was replaced by a spot Pantone silver, with the Carratu red retained, and bolder use of key photographic imagery.
Web design and development
In discussion with Carratu, the key drivers for the web site was how we combined the new approach to the brand communications with the careful structuring of the information of the many discrete services Carratu provided – many of which fell within one or several of the different service categories. In addition, we wanted to make sure SEO was maximised and it was easy to update internally (important for visitor loyalty as well as SEO).
The solution consisted of a strong, simple animated ‘slider’ on the home page highlighting the main service areas, a carefully structured site with a comprehensive index page to aid navigation and SEO,
and a simple CMS (content management system) which would require little training for everyone to be up and running with as soon as possible). The brand consistency was maintained visually with colour and photography, and consistent downloadable pdf brochures. We also implemented a filtered news feed on the home page that was automatically updated from various data feeds, enabling the home page to be always relevant and up to date.
Achievements
The key thing we achieved with all these projects with Carratu was the consistent application of a core set of standards – quality of presentation, clarity of information (when the structure was complex),
and appropriateness of approach – some brand activities were reputation driven (longer term, corporate brand) and some marketing driven (short–medium term results driven). These principles were translated into other projects afterwards – advertising, stationery, marketing and events – making a consistent and effective Carratu brand that they had lacked before.