A social media one that is! CuCo, the creative marketing agency based in Bournemouth, are now offering their new and existing clients social media ‘healthchecks’. With their expertise in social media marketing, their healthchecks involve analysing current usage and making recommendations on how to use sites most affectively. CuCo are also able to carry out daily management of social media sites as well as setting up the pages with a tailored design to fit in with existing online branding.

Jo Stapleton, CuCo’s new Marketing Executive comments ‘Social media is now an important extension of any marketing mix and is seen as a valuable platform to interact with current and potential customers. However, most companies find that it’s a timely activity to manage. CuCo can take away this burden and, by working closely with our clients, we can ensure sites such as Twitter and Facebook are updated daily with useful and relevant content.’

To find out how CuCo can support you with Social Media Marketing email email hidden; JavaScript is required

A dramatic surge in web-based commissions has prompted CuCo Creative to launch a dedicated digital website.

www.cucodigital.co.uk runs alongside parent site www.cucocreative.co.uk and focuses exclusively on the comprehensive range of online services offered by the fast-growing Bournemouth design & marketing agency.

“The digital side of our business has grown so significantly that it made sense to create a sub-division devoted to that sphere of operations,” said co-director and senior designer Tony Cook.

So far in 2011 CuCo’s digital team has designed and built websites for a host of prestige international clients including the Harley Street-based London Nail Laser Clinic, sustainable recruitment specialists Allen & York and Platinum Security Risk Management.

Crossbench peer Lord David Owen, the former SDP leader, also commissioned CuCo to create his personal website following the success of the Charter 2010 political campaign site we developed and ran for him through last year’s General Election.

Meanwhile the Merlin Entertainments group has engaged CuCo to produce eNewsletters for some of its biggest UK attractions, including the London, Edinburgh and York Dungeons and the Sea Life Centres.

“Our digital services embrace every aspect of web design, ecommerce, content management systems, domains & hosting, branding, online marketing, search engine optimisation, blog design and so on,” said Tony.

“Every single web project we undertake is designed in a bespoke way, tailored to individual needs. We’re not an agency that merely takes a template and re-skins it.”

“Our digital agency expertise enables us to deliver rich and imaginative online solutions centred on sound strategic thinking and inspired creative ideas. We believe in thinking projects through, generating ideas and creating viable solutions.”

CuCo Creative has produced the official logo and corporate guidelines for a ground-breaking £350M regeneration project in Bournemouth.

The newly-unveiled Bournemouth Development Company is a 50/50 partnership between the borough council and private sector giant Morgan Sindall Investments.

It promises major investment in the town centre over the next 20 years, including new family attractions, homes, shops and business units as well as improvements to public spaces.

The CuCo-designed logo is a stylised image of the iconic Bournemouth pier. It promotes the partnership by comprising two tiers – boardwalk and building – based on “upwardly mobile” arrows that suggest positivity and progressive thinking.

In addition to the full-colour logo, CuCo has produced spot, greyscale and B/W versions along with explicit ground rules on their use.

The detailed corporate guidelines devised by CuCo include examples of how the artwork should be deployed across a range of media including stationery, billboards, posters, brochures, flyers and advertisements.

CuCo’s creative director Christian Cutler says the Westbourne-based agency is “proud and excited” to be associated with a pioneering development partnership. Bournemouth is the first coastal town in the UK to team up with the private sector in this way.

The partnership, which will be pivotal to Bournemouth’s ongoing Town Centre Vision initiative, has been backed unanimously by borough councillors.

Bournemouth design & marketing agency CuCo Creative has unveiled the colourful logo that will spearhead a new drive to keep Boscombe buzzing.

The bright-and-breezy Boscombe Life motif will be at the hub of a far-reaching campaign to promote the 18,000-population Dorset coastal town.

It will be deployed across press ads, street banners, billboards, posters and stationery in an ongoing initiative backed by traders and the area regeneration group.

The campaign aims to build on the momentum generated by the multi-million £ seafront redevelopment and give the entire town a timely image makeover.

“We have designed the logo to be warm, optimistic and informal, but with a hint of retro to reflect Boscombe’s heritage and culture,” said CuCo Creative co-director and senior designer Tony Cook.

“The initial campaign will embrace a number of key themes – food & drink, the seafront, shopping, arts & culture – each of which will adopt one of the logo’s distinctive background colours.

“We’ve also picked out the first ‘o’ of Boscombe in a golden yellow to symbolise the rising sun of a new dawn. It’s a simple but effective detail that lends itself to repeated use across an infinite range of campaign slogans.”

Traders’ Association spokesman Angus Reid believes the planned spring launch of the Boscombe Life campaign is well timed.

“Boscombe has changed so much over the past couple of years that a fresh approach was needed to make people aware that the town is not only an amazing seafront location, but also a vibrant and buzzing social network of shops, cafes, restaurants and bars,” he said.

“There are so many places to visit now that you could spend a whole week here and not get time to sample fully the fabulous lifestyle Boscombe has created.

“Boscombe Life is not just a catchphrase. With its undercurrent of Bohemian artistry and a modern approach coupled with tradition and many independent businesses offering so much for the visitor, resident or the curious, this is simply Boscombe as it is now – a town with so much to offer.”

One of the West’s classiest wedding venues now has a brochure to match – thanks to Bournemouth design agency CuCo Creative.

Historic Athelhampton House & Gardens near Dorchester commissioned CuCo to produce the definitive guide to its prestigious wedding and reception facilities.

The result is Exquisite Weddings, an elegant 16-pager that captures perfectly the classic atmosphere and appeal of the 15th century manor and gardens.

“It looks fantastic – CuCo have done a superb job for us,” said Athelhampton catering manager Owen Davies.

The brochure’s timeless mono design is embellished by judicious splashes of golden bronze on the titlepiece and page headers.

“We think it’s an excellent example of making the very most of a two-colour format,” said CuCo’s creative director Christian Cutler.

CuCo also opted for a spot UV finish on the subtle floral design that graces the matt-laminated covers.

“Some might regard it as something of a gamble to tint a metallic ink, but it has worked really well,” said Christian.

“We’ve also moved away deliberately from the traditional 210mm x 210mm size – which is a bit old hat, to be honest – and opted for a 250mm x 210mm format that does full justice to some great photographs and gives the text pages more room to ‘breathe’.

“Athelhampton’s iconic status demanded a wedding brochure of grace and distinction, with a sense of place and history. We’re proud of the result, and thrilled with the response.”

An initial 1,000 print run has been delivered to Athelhampton, which has been hosting wedding receptions for a quarter of a century and was licensed for civil ceremonies ten years ago.

CuCo Creative’s Westbourne-based design & marketing team is also working on a third successive DL for the house and gardens, now firmly established among Dorset’s top visitor destinations.

Previously CuCo has rebranded the attraction and completed a number of print-based contracts including guidebooks, menus and banners.

CuCo Creative has scarcely had time to draw breath in its busiest New Year on record.
 
The Dorset agency’s co-directors have been working all hours to deal with a surge of new and repeat business.
 
The phones have been buzzing almost non-stop and site traffic at www.cucocreative.co.uk has doubled since Christmas.
 
“It’s been a hectic start to 2011 but we’re definitely not complaining,” said CuCo’s creative director Christian Cutler.
 
“We thrive on being busy and our design & marketing team certainly have plenty to get their teeth into following a series of exciting pitch wins.”
 
So far this year CuCo Creative has been commissioned to:
 
• Complete a prestigious 16-page weddings brochure for historic Athelhampton House & Gardens near Dorchester; 

• Finalise logo artwork for Boscombe Life, a soon-to-be-launched campaign to promote the revitalised seaside town; 


• Devise social and media blogs for Sea Life and The Dungeons, two of the top names among international leisure giant Merlin Entertainments’ portfolio.
 
CuCo Creative is also producing the 2011 visitor DLs for both Athelhampton House and Adventure Wonderland, the big family fun park near Bournemouth International Airport.
 
In addition, press ads have been produced for “no VAT” campaigns by Mazda and Suzuki car dealerships, while the official spring programme for Dance South West is under starter’s orders.
 
Meanwhile one of the South’s busiest animal charities, the New Forest-based Lymington Cat & Kitten Rescue, is benefiting from further improvements to its website and e-newsletter.
 
“All these and numerous other projects give a flavour of what we’re about and how far CuCo Creative has come since 2008,” said senior designer Tony Cook from the firm’s Westbourne studio.
 
“We pride ourselves on versatility and we’re delighted that our current commissions cover the full spectrum of advertising, marketing and branding in both print and digital disciplines.”  
 
Contact CuCo Creative on 01202 911959 or email email hidden; JavaScript is required

A Bournemouth design studio has enabled one of Dorset’s top family attractions to launch the 2010 BBC Children in Need appeal in style.

CuCo Creative’s long and successful association with Adventure Wonderland led to the design and marketing agency producing all print-based advertising for the charity’s regional launch event – Pudsey’s Giant TV Tea Party.

The eye-catching ads were seen by tens of thousands of BBC South viewers in the run-up to the event and drew a record crowd to the theme park, which offered special admission rates and donated the lot to the annual appeal.

Now Adventure Wonderland – based at Hurn, near Bournemouth International Airport – is getting ready to host the big day itself on Friday 19 November, when BBC South will broadcast a fun-packed live show.

CuCo Creative’s designers have been producing work for Adventure Wonderland for the past two years, devising a series of successful branding and advertising campaigns.

“We are proud to be associated with such a top attraction – and equally proud to be producing work towards a great cause like Children in Need,” said CuCo creative director Christian Cutler.

Launched two years ago, CuCo Creative has quickly established itself as an award-winning creative marketing agency offering a full range of communication and marketing services, embracing graphic design, digital, print, advertising, marketing and PR.

• Entry to Adventure Wonderland on Children in Need day will be free after 2pm, with visitors encouraged to donate generously to the charity collection buckets at the turnstiles. Attractions are expected to include an early Christmas panto featuring a number of BBC presenters.

(Designers work hand-in-paw with Pudsey has been picked up by Creativematch.co.uk)

A highly successful second year for a fast-growing Dorset design studio has ended with the perfect birthday present – the award of Recommended Agency Register (RAR) status.

Fewer than 500 of Britain’s 30,000-plus marketing and design companies have earned RAR approval so far – and CuCo Creative of Bournemouth is one of them.

RAR helps companies source, select and engage marketing suppliers. It is an independent organisation which, together with its partner, the Carnyx Group, undertakes extensive research to identify the most reliable and respected agencies across advertising, design, PR and digital specialists. In benchmarking and auditing your existing suppliers it asks them to score us in the following areas:

• Creativity and innovation
• Strategic thinking
• Account management
• Overall professionalism
• Value for money

Firms who make it onto the prestigious register do so exclusively on the strength of recommendations from existing clients.

“To receive unsolicited recognition of this nature and stature is a huge boost,” said CuCo directors Tony Cook and Christian Cutler.

“We thank our clients for their kind words – not forgetting the staff for their hard work and dedication.”

RAR is an independent organisation that helps companies source and engage top marketing suppliers.

It undertakes detailed research to identify the most reliable and respected agencies across advertising, design, PR and digital, with particular emphasis on creativity, professionalism and value for money.

Founded in summer 2008, CuCo has quickly built an impressive portfolio of local, regional and national clients.

Two of the latest to come on board are Dance South West – the inspiration behind Bournemouth’s newly unveiled Pavilion Dance facility – and Sheffield City Council, one of the country’s largest local authorities.

They join an ever-growing list of clients which also includes Sealife, Bournemouth Tourism and the NHS.

During the General Election campaign earlier this year CuCo developed and managed a website for Charter 2010, a political pressure group whose leading lights included former SDP leader Lord Owen.

Other recent accolades include a DesignFirms Graphic Design Award for CuCo’s successful rebranding of historic Athelhampton House & Gardens, near Dorchester.

(RAR coup for CuCo has been picked up by Creativematch.co.uk)

The General Election that nobody “won” has been a landslide victory for Bournemouth-based creative agency CuCo.

Late last year, the Conservatives were so far ahead in the polls that few even considered the possibility of a hung parliament. But CuCo read the runes correctly and developed a hugely successful website for Charter 2010, a campaign group demanding stable government in the event of an electoral stalemate.

Maintaining political neutrality throughout, www.charter2010.co.uk was launched in January, quickly becoming established as a trusted, informative and entertaining web platform. And, as the opinion polls tightened, visitors were drawn in ever-increasing numbers by the site’s dynamic design and CuCo’s smart interactive tools. For example, voters were able to search by postcode for their candidates’ views on hung parliaments and related issues, while a clever Majority Builder widget enabled them to create their own “fantasy coalitions” based on projected and actual results.

Alongside strategic marketing driven by sister company Vicky Kenrick, CuCo has gained national exposure for Charter 2010, commanding top-level media coverage for the website and even earning it a place in the British Library Archives. The project has also resonated loudly with the social networking community, proving popular with Facebook users and the Twitterati.

CuCo managing director Tony Cook and creative director Christian Cutler are delighted to have worked so successfully on such a prestigious and prescient project.

As part of the British Library’s web archiving programme, it is developing a special collection on the 2010 General Election. It aims to download websites relevant to the election in the course of the campaign, store them and subsequently make them available to the public. The British Library works closely with leading UK institutions to collect and preserve the UK web. As a result the charter2010.co.uk website and associated twitter account will be archived for eternity. Cool eh!