What we’ve achieved in lockdown
28 Oct 2020
4-minute read
28 Oct 2020
4-minute read
The March lockdown was lousy for so many reasons. But there was one overarching positive.
We gained the time and mental space to think about the Tyler Grange brand.
It made us realise there were so many things we were proud of that weren’t being articulated in the right way. Which made us think: what can we do to change this?
Progress came through working with creative and marketing experts. We reveal how Mike Pye + Co, Flow and Studio 19 helped us rejuvenate our identity, get our message out there and shape an exciting future.
A few years ago, the Tyler Grange team attended a business awards event in Cheshire. One thing became adamantly clear during that evening: our team is a unique and diverse bunch.
We were the first to get on the dance floor and the last to leave. And while everyone else was following the black-tie dress code, we were wearing knitted jumpers and brightly-coloured dresses.
We won the Best Team Award that night. It made us realise that it’s more than okay to be different. It’s something to be proud of. In fact, being different embodies everything we’re about:
● We’re a family, not just colleagues and business partners
● We enjoy working hard and learning as much as we love celebrating
● We give back to the community and help the environment out of desire, not necessity
● We’re don’t hide behind smokescreens and jargon, we’re open, clear and honest
These values had grown and evolved over the last decade but the way we looked from the outside hadn’t. We wanted to use the time productively, laying the foundations for our next chapters: a new decade of growth and our commitment to doing things differently.
The ball began rolling in June, when we connected with Mike Pye + Co, a marketing consultancy comprised of exceptional specialists who work closely and collaboratively with ambitious businesses, helping them grow through structured marketing support.
Mike Pye + Co’s focus was to help us use the values and culture we developed over the last ten years to inform our new identity. Part of that process was introducing us to creative agency Flow Creative and working in partnership with video production company Studio 91.
Flow is a multi-award winning brand communication agency that focuses on creative bespoke content such as TV commercials, websites and animated explainer videos.
While Studio 91 is a video production company run by Ben and Ellie Horrigan. Ben harnesses his six years of experience creating videos for the BBC to help brands and organisations tell inspiring, shareable stories.
Mike Pye + Co, Flow and Studio 19 joined us for an interactive two-hour workshop, hosted by Mike and his brilliant team. Because the workshop was done entirely through Zoom, we could involve our wider team who were all working remotely during lockdown.
The workshop aimed to get our team engaged in the process of:
Mike Pye + Co coached us through a range of fun exercises. They allowed us to delve into what makes Tyler Grange unique, identifying core behaviours and getting into the ‘whys’ behind everything we do.
For example, one exercise asked us ‘If TG were a celebrity, who would we be?’ Answers from the team included Hugh Laurie, Professor Brian Cox and Coren Mitchell. It highlighted what our people loved about the company, giving us direction when thinking about the ways we can channel these fun and eccentric characteristics into our brand.
Flow worked closely with the Mike Pye + Co team to hone down visual brand assets that represented our evolved values. Creative and unique illustrations articulated how we stand out from the crowd, pulling insights from the workshop session to bring the business to life.
Meanwhile, Ben at Studio 91 took a fantastic approach to storytelling, filming interviews with our founders and partners to articulate the business’ legacy: where we have come from, where we want to go, the partnership scheme, the type of people we work with.
It was all conveyed through light-hearted and cutting-edge editing, making the videos not only informative but highly entertaining.
Over at Mike Pye + Co, the team created a brand and marketing strategy, working with us to solidify the core messages and tone of voice we wanted to share.
They then harnessed their best of breed team – social media, brand, marketing and copywriting experts – to produce website content, blog ideas and social media posts. Every piece of content was aligned with our overall strategy, ensuring cohesive messaging to truly reflect who we are.
The magic lied in all three businesses (and teams) joining together to help us evolve. We covered all of our marketing bases while ensuring everything we shared with our clients packed a punch, helping us move forward powerfully.
A lot of exciting things! Our video, brand and content marketing trio will be building compelling case studies for our business to help us share our impact.
Online events and socially-distanced experiences for our team, clients and partners are also in the works.
Meanwhile, the next phase of our ongoing marketing support includes relaunching our partner programme, embedding our employer brand as well as helping us maintain momentum and build a strong brand presence.
Want to keep tabs on all the exciting things we have planned? Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
