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December 23rd 2011
Merry Christmas from Photolink!
T’was only two sleeps before Christmas and Santa’s most excited fans gathered in Photolink’s creative grotto to eat their body weight in cake and chocolate, spread the joy of sticky fingers on walls and compare notes on extensive Christmas wish lists.
Oh, and their kids came in too!
From everyone at Photolink Creative Group – elves, imps, gremlins, scallywags and fairies alike – we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
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December 20th 2011
University of Salford fashion students present to Photolink
A week ago Friday sixty BA (Hons) Fashion students from the University of Salford were packed into the gallery and briefed by Group Creative Director John Whalley to design and create a fashion garment to promote Photolink and in-house brands Little Black Dress and HT&E to the outside world. Last Friday they came back with their work and we have to say we were taken aback by what they had to offer.
The groups presented their work, and the ideas behind them, to Photolink founder David Walter, as well as Little Black Dress editor Nathalie Gibbins, Charlie Haworth and Sophie Needham. The diversity of creative ideas the students employed in their designs was staggering and demonstrated the wealth of talent the university has enrolled on its courses. We were very impressed.
From T-shirts to knitwear, bags to dresses, the designs incorporated elements and values from each brand and took them to a whole new level, exceeding even our own high expectations.
To see for yourself the great work the students did for the project, have a look at the BA (Hons) Fashion Presentations gallery on our Flickr account.
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December 16th 2011
Photolink produces SPS Promotional Gifts Catalogue 2012
Hot off the presses is the latest piece of creative artwork from Photolink; the 2012 Promotional Gifts catalogue for SPS.
Produced by Photolink's artwork, photographic and production departments, and lead by senior designer Brian Bent and Ben Carter, the product features four fantastic alternate covers and 184-pages of sleek creative.
We not only designed and created the entire catalogue but shot some of the still product photography within too. Have a look for yourself in the photo gallery above.
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December 6th 2011
Photolink briefs University of Salford students
Last week the halls of Photolink HQ were buzzing more than usual during a visit from a sixty-strong group of final-year fashion students from the University of Salford. They were invited to take a brief from group creative director John Whalley as part of their degree and showed just the kind of enthusiasm we like around here.
As part of an on-going collaboration between ourselves and the university, the Fashion Design and Fashion Styling & Image Making students completing the BA (Hons) Fashion degree were also given a chance to see first-hand the kind of work we do on a daily basis, and, specifically, what it takes to produce multichannel ad campaigns from start to finish.
So they came, they saw, and they left with a hefty brief which called upon them to design three different garments representing Photolink as a whole and the in-house brands Little Black Dress and HT&E (more about this one very soon...). The idea behind the creation of these tees was to develop a unique way in which to communicate our work and where we work to the outside world.
This regular and rewarding creative exchange between the University and ourselves began in earnest over a year ago, but our strong links to the institution go back even further. We've already employed some of their finest graduates across a range of courses who now fill a variety of different roles within the company, from client services to design, including Charlotte Bradley, Rachel Bolton, Kylie Gore and Amy Eltringham.
We're expecting the students back in Photolink on Friday to showcase their work and we're incredibly excited to see what they've come up with. We'll put up images of the results once they do.
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November 24th 2011
Photolink shortlisted for Insider International Trade Awards
We are very pleased to announce that we’ve been shortlisted for Insider Media’s International Trade Awards in recognition of our successful expansion into Mumbai. The awards take place on 7 December at the Lowry Hotel.
Insider Media is one of the UK’s leading business news and information publishers, producing specific magazines for seven regions of the UK. The awards themselves celebrate the success of UK companies involved in specialised import and export, and in overseas businesses investing in the Northwest.
We’ve had design and photographic studios in Mumbai since 2007 when we were asked by one of our clients to look into the creation of a commercial photographic studio big enough to deliver India’s first large-scale home shopping catalogue. We looked into it. We really liked the team we found. We delivered what we promised. We stayed.
This skilled and dedicated team in Mumbai have an integrated workflow with our team in Manchester so we can deliver unbeatable cost-efficiencies – as well as a round the clock production service – to clients who require high volumes of high quality work delivered with the usual Photolink efficiently but with added speed. Check out the Photolink India website here
We are among twenty-eight companies and two universities shortlisted for the award which is split into nine categories. Our category Media and Creative see us up against two other shortlisted companies, so may the best agency win!
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November 22nd 2011
Photolink throws a pyjama party for Children in Need
As much as we would like to say this was a normal day at the office, Friday was of course the day of Children in Need, and we all (well, almost all) slid out of bed and straight into work wearing our finest nightwear to raise money for children and young people across the UK.
We raised over £410 and had a thoroughly good time doing it! So well done everybody. Continue reading
November 10th 2011
Photolink gets in the Christmas spirit for Argos
Christmas always arrives a little early to Photolink – in June to be precise. This year it was down to the latest project we’ve just completed for client Argos. The Argos Christmas Gift Guide 2011 is a 272-page catalogue showcasing the retailer’s best seasonal offers and has just hit the stores.
We’ve been designing and producing a third of the retailer’s bi-annual catalogue since 2004, so being asked to create the entire gift guide was a good chance to apply our end-to-end 'Big Book' production skills and experience to a new challenge.
The project was creatively directed by Senior Creative Mike Griffiths and coordinated by Senior Account Executive Sally Thomas, and thanks to their fluid communication with the client a page completion rate of dizzying speed was accomplished.
Take a look at the guide online here if you need a little early Christmas inspiration.
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November 7th 2011
Introducing… Ryan Kent!
It gives us great pleasure to introduce Ryan Kent who joins us as our new social media executive! Experienced in all aspects of social media and digital marketing, Ryan is also a seasoned copywriter adding to his already strong creative foundations gained from a degree in Film and Cultural Studies and MSc in Marketing Communications.
Some of you might already know know Ryan as co-founder of the Creative Cup; an annual charity 5-a-side football tournament for Manchester’s digital and creative agencies, which has since developed into a weekly league of three divisions. Some of us here, on the other hand, know him as the staunch defender with a stinger of a shot. Here's hoping he'll come and play for us (as opposed to against us) on the Photolink 5-a-side team at next year's tournament.
Ryan's other interests include film, photography and art, and he edits and contributes to Kubrick on the Guillotine; an online film journal of reviews and articles on world cinema.
We're very much looking forward to putting his creative mind and marketing talents to work. Welcome to Photolink Ryan!
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November 7th 2011
Photolink adds ‘Locks Rock & Load’ to Regis Salons’ Emma Willis launch
We’ve been letting our hair down after the completion of some characteristically integrated creativity for client Regis Salons. To coincide with the launch of Emma Willis as the new face of Regis, our social media team, headed by social media manager Joanna Halton, came up with the ‘Locks Rock & Load’ Facebook competition.
With the enlisted help of some of the UK’s top mummy, fashion and beauty bloggers, we coordinated the upload of a specially created welcome video (shot by us) featuring the lovely Emma, which prompts viewers to enter the ‘Locks Rock & Load’ competition via a specially made Facebook app.
Providing a unique way for Regis Salons to engage with their clients online, the competition asks participants to upload their favourite hairstyle onto Regis' Facebook page. The top 11 will then be chosen by a panel of judges, including Emma Willis herself and Regis Salons’ UK Creative Director, Guy Cammarano, and the overall winner will be decided next year.
Not only are we proud of our own entries to the competition (try and spot them here), we’re also very chuffed with the ‘Locks Rock & Load’ brand ident we designed which has been carried across onto in store marketing collateral, neatly dovetailing with the current Emma Willis re:veal campaign.
The 'Locks Rock & Load' campaign, the first of its kind to be implemented by a hair salon brand, is currently being supported by email, display and Facebook ads, as well as a vibrant in-salon promotion and really represents what we do best: truly integrated creativity.
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November 7th 2011
Photolink re:veal Emma Willis for Regis Salons
Last week Regis Salons launched Emma Willis as the new face of their brand. As Regis’ creative partner we'd been sworn to secrecy over her identity until now, so we are delighted to finally reveal her and the part we played in the production of the campaign. We were tasked with both the art direction and photography of the Re:veal shoot and of course had the pleasure of working with the lovely and super professional Emma Willis.
We have a well established creative partnership with Regis Salons, having helped reenergise their brand identity with the successful ‘Regis Promise’ campaign, and currently provide the creative direction and creative collateral for all their marketing campaigns in print, in store and online.
The imagery produced from the Emma Willis shoot, for example, has already been translated into an array of posters, print adverts, point of sale and mirror clings to help publicise the campaign, and behind the scenes footage from the shoot has given Regis content for their blog and Facebook page keeping the campaign consistent across channels.
As part of the launch we also created a Regis Blog for Emma Willis and a unique social media campaign to engage audiences on line and drive footfall to the salons. Take a look at the ‘Locks Rock & Load’ campaign on Facebook here.
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