Everybody at Workhouse is delighted to welcome a new Account Manager into our team, Nicolas Kendall. Nic joins us from The North Space, and this is what he has to say by means of an introduction…
I’m 28 years old, ‘just married’ and live in Barnoldswick. Although originally from Leeds, I have formed a fondness for the Lancashire life and especially the rolling hills of the Ribble Valley. Having graduated a few years ago with an English degree in Liverpool, I started my career in marketing and design firstly at Splinter Communications (18 months) and then The North Space (5 years). In that time I have worked closely with many clients including Silentnight Beds, NHS, Liverpool Mutual Homes, Tullie House Museum and Oldfield Group, delivering creative and results-driven marketing communications solutions.
I was immediately attracted to the role of Account Manager at Workhouse Marketing and have been made to feel very much at home in these first few weeks since joining. The team has lots of personality, creativity and a great track record of delivering tangible results and I’m looking forward to working with all clients, existing and new, on a broad mix of projects.
Away from the studio I enjoy captaining a local football team (to recent promotion!) as well as playing a bit of guitar in a local band.
Nicolas.
This brings the total number of staff in the Workhouse Marketing team to 23. Nic’s pic was shot by in-house photographer Andrew Woodhouse in the infinity cove at Workhouse Photography Studios.
We really like the new Enki brochure we designed and shot for CP Group….and so does our client!…here is what they said…
“Just wanted to thank you and the team for a great Enki brochure…..perfectly targeted and definitely a move on from the Pure, especially bearing in mind the tight timescales involved. The response here has been excellent!
Please pass on the thanks of all the team here – standards have been set which we need to maintain!”
Here is the cover and a spread to peruse…!
The brochure was designed and photographed entirely at Workhouse Marketing and Workhouse Studios.
Really like these shots taken at Workhouse Studios by our in-house photographer Andrew Woodhouse on behalf of client CP Group. The hero of the shots are the gorgeous tiles, just some of their fantastic range of wall tiles.
One of the aspects of our photography studio I am asked most about is the infinity cove or cyclorama. Just what is an infinity cove/cyclorama and what benefit can it have to your product photography/photography.
An infinity cove is primarily an all white space with no corners (sometimes they can be painted other colours such as grey), this is designed to make the background of an object look like it goes on for infinity. Photographing on an infinity cove is very popular in commercial and advertising photography.
Shooting on an infinity cove also makes it very easy to cut out a product for use in brochures and on the web.
A basic infinity curve can be created out of seamless white paper supported from a background stand. This can be good when you are photographing a small product or single person, but for larger items or groups it can be problematic. This is where a proper infinity cove comes into its own.
Workhouse Studios has a large corner infinity cove, which measures 6m x 6m by 4m. This is one of the largest infinity coves in the North West and makes Workhouse Studios a very versatile shooting space.
The cove is plenty big enough for car photography – we’ve had a Ferrari F430 and a Bentley Flying Spur on it amongst others and can also hold large groups of people – fitting 30 people of for a large group photo is no problem.
Andrew.
Check out some images taken on the infinity cove at Workhouse Studios below:
The Workhouse Infinity Cove is big enough for automotive photography.
At Workhouse Marketing and Workhouse Studios every job we do for our clients is important, but the first big one for a new client is extra special, as there’s a lot of focus on it at both ends. They’re asking themselves ‘were we right to give the job to a new agency’ and we’re asking ourselves ‘have we done our new client justice’. So when the new brochure for CP Group landed last week we opened the boxes with a bit of trepidation. New range, new design, big set build, difficult photoshoot, sexy print job, so many things could go wrong….but….
…they didn’t! And both client and ourselves are chuffed to bits with the job…a brilliant new range of luxurious tiles called PURE from the CP Group.
Jen, who is the Senior Account Manager on CP, sent round the following internal email which I’m happy to share with the world….
We’ve finished the national launch of the new CP Group range and it’s been a long, hard summer to get here but if you haven’t already seen the brochure then have a look, it’s a beauty.
Client is well happy with it and hopeful the range will sell well so we get more work!
Thanks to the team;
Trig – for the branding, name, logo and strapline – bang on brief
Grez – for mind-blowing, amazing art direction and design work, and for generally being himself
Woody – for some of the best photography we’ve produced to date
Claire – for being a brill right-hand man throughout
Jamie ‘The Rear’ Brown – for modelling in the shower shot
Me – for making it happen in the first place
and everyone else who’s helped, advised, carried furniture, offered ideas, lent props, showed an interest. You’re legends.
Really like these images. Our in-house photographer Andrew Woodhouse took them. As he says on the Workhouse Studios blog, we’re blessed with fantastic photo opportunities in the wonderful county of Lancashire, whether it be city, seaside or countryside. These are of St Annes Pier at sunset on a beautiful October evening….
The cherry blossom at Workhouse Marketing this year is amazing! We have two trees with pink blossom and then three with white blossom which bloom a bit later. Here’s some pics of the pink.
In business there is little better than hearing your customers say how pleased they are with you. ‘Case studies’ is the usual terminology, and in b2b marketing especially they are a common tactic. However, showing a static picture, and a bit of text does not have the same impact as hearing it from the horses mouth.
A few months ago Business Link who have helped us with advice and consultancy, and been a client of ours in the past, asked me to be in a video case study for them. The filming was done at Workhouse Studios, our photography studio, and the clip was to be used on the Business Link website. It is now on You Tube, I’m not saying it is a Steven Spielberg classic, but for a quick, low budget 1 minute 20 seconds, it shows how effective a video clip can be.
Unfortunately, the greying, ageing, fat bloke in the video is not the person that resides in my head!
Today is my half ‘blogday’ which means I have been doing the Workhouse blog now for 6 months. During that time I have written 85 blogs, this being my 86th. As a self confessed expert I wondered why my wife handed me the latest copy of Nat West Business Sense pointing at an article entitled ‘How to Blog’ encouraging me to read it. I noticed she had circled a small paragraph which said ” ….don’t spout off any old spurious rubbish; think about what your readers want to hear….” Hmmmm.
So I checked out the most popular search on my blog to discover what my readers want to hear ( I’m getting up to 4 hits a day on my blog now….) and it’s…….Ribchester Calendar Girls! Which reminds me that on Friday we’re exactly a third of the way through the year, so in an attempt to sell the remaining 25 calendars in my possession I can legitimately offer ” Ribchester Calendar Girls 2010 Calendar, now ONE THIRD OFF!…..was £7.50 now only £5…..and when they’re gone, they’re gone…don’t miss out!…”. Just let me know if you want one. And if you’re interested, here’s the four brave ladies who have already had their month in the sun!!
Miss April
Miss March
Miss February
Miss January
The calendar was shot at Workhouse Studios in our photography studio, even though I say it myself, one of the best photographic studios in Lancashire, certainly the newest and most purpose built photography studio. Andrew Woodhouse our in-house photographer who shot the semi naked women (and never been the same since), has been doing some really nice portraits recently which you can see on our other website http://www.workhousestudios.co.uk/Staff-Portraits/menu-id-96.html
The 6m high corner infinity cove at Workhouse Studios
Another anniversary occurs later this year, it being the 25th anniversary of Live Aid 1985. It seems only minutes ago that they brought out the DVD to celebrate 20 years of Live Aid. July 13th 1985 was Live Aid day and I remember it well. As much as I’d have loved to have been there I was working as a Product Manager for Visionhire Ltd, the TV and video rental company, and we had a store opening in the middle of Sheffield. We had a giant balloon race, I dressed as Father Christmas (in July?!), the Mayor showed up and it was a boiling hot day. We had all the TV’s tuned in to Live Aid and the music full on, it was a good opening. A heavily pregnant Nita and I were living in the South and I dashed back from Sheffield in time for us to attend a dinner party at friends of ours in North London, and stayed up to watch the Philadelphia leg after Wembley had finished. I’ve always been fascinated by the event, and via eBay I have the souvenir programme of the day. I am still gobsmacked how Bob Geldof managed to organise such a big event in such a small time, without a mobile or a laptop!
Back to the present day, and my son Tom (who was in the heavily pregnant Nita and was born 12 days after Live Aid) has just completed the first full week of trading for The Whalley Wine Shop. He has a final bit of training on his new EPOS today and hopefully we will have good and accurate stats showing his sales performance every which way. I know he’s happy with the way the week has been but it will be nice to see that reflected in the figures. He has a double page spread in the next issue of LIVE RIBBLE VALLEY magazine, and that will have a positive effect on sales.
And what a joy it is to see the sun shining and the blossom on the trees….and if you’ve got this far, you may as well listen to Status Quo opening Live Aid in 1985!
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