Williams&Crosby

We develop and implement big ideas

Big ideas for design, big ideas for marketing and most importantly big ideas that deliver success and without the big price tag!

No matter how large or small your requirements might be we’d love to hear from you.

Our wide ranging expertise, creativity and consistent level of delivery is equally matched by our passion and desire to deliver the very best results. Whether it’s for a multi-national, SME or dynamic start-ups, our focus constant – to deliver the very best results possible. These skills, dedication and desire to succeed enable clients to engage our services on a diverse range of challenges in the knowledge we’ll always provide exceptional solutions that deliver tangible results – within budget and on time.

We’re passionate about what we do; we listen to what you want, investigate your market and review your competitors…

…only then do we set about creating innovative solutions to meet your objectives, give you a competitive edge and really work in a competitive markets.

With over 25 years of delivering successful solutions for clients from local SME’s and start up to National brands, we are well versed in meeting the challenge, whether its scoping out, designing and installing a mock hospital, brand repositioning to the supply of a share price cake! We may not be bakers by trade, but we always meet the challenge, delivery on time and in budget.

Branding & Brand Identity

Branding is much more than creating a logo.

It’s about positioning, creating perception and building brand loyalty.

They say perception is reality, if you believe it’s true, then it becomes your reality.

It’s therefore important your brand creates the right perception, positions you where you wish to be and reflects your aspirations.

Even established brands need refreshing from time to time so they remain fresh and relevant to their market and ahead of competitors. Williams&Crosby specialise in brand creation, positioning and development from local podiatrists to multi-national recruitment consultants and healthcare providers. The challenge remains consistent – Innovation and relevance.

Brochure & Creative Print Design

Good design pays for itself many times over, and gives you the flexibility for future expansion.

Defining design since 1986.

Creativity and solution creation should never be about making pretty marks, it’s about the intelligence behind the marks. This is what distinguishes good from outstanding.

We take clients’ objectives and use our creativity, knowledge, expertise and intellect to advise, develop and deliver excellent results, turning objectives and concepts into tangible reality. Based in Macclesfield, Cheshire we provide graphic design services not just to local clients but all over the country and even as far afield as Denmark and Dubai.

Brochures, Catalogues and Support Materials

There is something magical about a superbly designed piece of literature. We love printed materials, the change of scale, format, weight, feel and smell, all the elements create an impression and therefore influence the viewer. They say never judge a book by its cover, but we do.

In the ever increasing digital age, sure there is a need for speed of deliver, to view on mobile devices and across platforms – hang on a moment, isn’t that a brochure? Plus you have weight, texture, interaction, it somehow feels tangible and permanent and it doesn’t go offline on the train!

Not everything can be replaced by digital media, and the tactile nature of a beautifully produced brochure can communicate more about you than just the information contained within it. Using specialised spot colour inks, metallics, foils, texture and embossings can enhance the product/service offering, making your message stands out from the crowd.

Of course the digital age has created the ability to provide and communicate quickly, to the masses and with the ease of editing. But it’s about creating the right balance and right solution for the target audience.

Signage, Packaging & Point of Sale

If you need external or internal signage we can help. We can provide wall panels, posters, pop up banners and all types of office signage based on your own corporate branding.

Packaging can make or break your products. Get your packaging or point-of-sale wrong and your products stays on the shelf whilst your competitors forge ahead. Get them right and you can become the product of choice, both for the retailer and the consumer.

Packaging is about presentation, enticement and communication. The “shall I, shan’t I” decision making process is blindingly fast and therefore getting it right is absolute.

At Williams&Crosby we listen, collect and evaluate and discuss before even considering a potential solution. Then we design, test, evaluate, readdress (if required), test and present. This structured process creates eye-catching solutions that meet the objectives and deliver results.

We work closely with all our clients to find the best solution for point of sale display and promotional items.

Point-of-sale materials help products fly off the shelf. From food, electronics and car care to property and new vehicles launches, through to window stickers, gondolas, counter top and wall mounted dispensers, point of sale is all about presentation. Something we understand well at Williams&Crosby.

Direct Mail & Advertising

Advertising opportunities can become a minefield of choice and decisions.

Gone are the days whereby advertising was restricted to magazines, trade journals, directories, billboards, television and radio.

Today’s advertising world now includes all this as well as all the online, social media and digital channels that now surround our everyday lives.

The essence of advertising remains the same: Concise and engaging messaging, targeted, relevant, well executed and engaging calls to action.

Choosing the correct channels depends on your target audience, products and services, timeframes and objectives. There’s little point in advertising on social media to the over 60’s, or under 20’s via trade journals; it sounds obvious, but you’ll be surprised how many get it so wrong.

At Williams&Crosby we evaluate your objectives, target audiences, products and services and budgets. Once these details are established we propose the right mix of advertising channels and then set to work on developing innovative, creative campaigns that are highly targeted, deliver results and are aligned with agreed objectives.

The power of direct mail is back!

Back in the 80’s and 90’s we were all inundated with direct mail and coined the phrase ‘junk mail’. Then along came the digital age and the birth of e-marketing. It was great, fast communication with no postage costs and we could even track delivery etc. so we moved away from ‘junk mail’ and created ‘e-junk mail’? Well not really, direct or e-mail only becomes ‘junk’ when it’s not relevant to the receiver.

A well targeted, creative and engaging direct mail piece is a winning formula to communicate and generate increased sales opportunity and that’s what good direct mail should be all about. Add to this the huge drop in ‘junk mail’ due to the increase in ‘e-junk mail’ and the opportunity to stand out has never been better, as we have proved for clients with recent projects. The power of direct mail is back!

SEO & Social Media

Are you struggling to be seen on the world wide web?

With so many websites out there and new ones appearing every day it can be difficult to get your site noticed.

We can help get your site noticed by Google and other search engines. The way that search engines work is constantly changing and being updated, but we can help to get your website ranked to its optimum position. Increasingly Google is being influenced by Social Media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and the hundreds of other sharing networks available. So if you want to gain a good ranking position it is imperative you have a strong Social Media presence.

Content Management and Article Writing

With our bespoke Content Management Systems, you can easily and quickly update your own website with only a few hours training. However, it’s all well and good knowing how to update your site, but you need the content to update it with!

Having up-to-date, fresh and relevant content on your website is absolutely vital, for SEO purposes, to increase traffic to your site and help to improve your Google ranking. Your main focus, however, should be on user experience. If you know anything about SEO, then you know that the use of keywords that are relevant to your business is vital. But you should also know that the over use of keywords, or keyword stuffing, is not something that Google looks kindly upon! The word to keep in mind here is relevance. Does your content offer answers to customers’ questions? Does is it provide useful information? Or is it just a jumble of buzzwords? Quality over quantity is always the best policy.

As well as providing information, if you want to drive customers to your site, then a regularly updated blog is an indispensable SEO tool. Customers want information, but they also want to be entertained! They want to hear about your business, projects and what goes on behind the scenes. A blog can help them put a face to the name and make your business seem more personable and more approachable. It’s a great way to get customers to engage with your business and get a conversation going. It could be a light-hearted article about an office team-building day, or perhaps an informative piece offering helpful hints and advice related to your sector, or a short case study of a recently completed project, it all helps to drive traffic to your site and improve SEO.

This can of course all be very time consuming; writing content, articles, sharing and staying active across social media platforms, there’s no denying that it all takes time. That’s where we come in! At Williams&Crosby we offer social media management and content writing, with everything from blog articles to web content, to a fully managed social media calendar.

Exhibitions & Events

Whatever the event we’ll make sure all eyes are on you.

We have over 30 years experience in providing award winning exhibitions of all sizes.

If you are looking for an exhibition stand that will give you stand out and attract more we can provide a solution to meet your budget.

As exhibition stand designers based in Macclesfield, Cheshire we've create exhibition solutions for the UK, Europe, US, Middle and Far East for over 30 years. Whether you require a bespoke design, build and install that’s fully managed, a modular rental with integrated screens, literature racks, reception, storage and comms rooms etc. or a simple pop-up self install solution, Williams&Crosby provide solutions that really make a difference, are designed and installed to your specification, meet your budget and to set you apart from your competition.

Whatever your budget and objectives, we’ll manage the solution every stage of the way, from dealing with the organisers, booking electrics, data, design to on-stand refreshments, staffing, delivery, install, demount, removal and storage ready for the next event in the UK, Europe of further a field if required.

At Williams&Crosby, we provide a full turnkey service when it comes to exhibitions and events; we don't just provide all the parts and leave you with an instruction book and an Allen key! We provide a full management service, from the organisation, planning and design, to the day of the event itself and the packing away and storing afterwards; we are with you every step of the way. Our aim is to take away any of the stresses of organisation and leave you free to focus on generating business, safe in the knowledge that everything is running smoothly... We even take care of promotional give-aways, literature, on stand refreshment and flower displays if required!

Bespoke Modular Stand Design

Our bespoke modular stand designs mean that you can maximise your budget across multiple events, reducing on-going costs and capital outlay. The modular solution means that the stand can be scaled up or down to adapt to the space and event as necessary, from 3x1m to 10x20m and everything in between. Canopies, columns, screens, cabinets and displays can be integrated to suit you needs. The structure and graphics can be utilised again and again across multiple events, reconfigured to keep it looking fresh.

An exhibition should be your opportunity to generate new business, not to worry about its construction, delivery and storage. At Williams&Crosby, we make sure that your business is your focus; leave the rest up to us!

Everything else

There isn’t much we haven't done.

Being established for over 30 years we’ve developed skills to help all businesses of all sizes: web, brand development, promotional materials, exhibition design and management, video and animation, advertising campaigns, livery, interiors and more.

If you have a specific requirement then please get in touch and find out what we can do for you.

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C&O Powder Coatings
Responsive Website and Supporting Materials


Client

C&O Powder Coatings

Sector

Architectural Coatings

Project

To create a new, responsive website. It needed to be easily updated in-house via an easy to use content management system (CMS) and to form a platform for improved marketing presence and activities aimed primarily at architects and property specifiers, but not exclusively.

Approach

To take a step back and to reflect if this was going to meet requirements or be a missed opportunity.

We felt that looking at the website in isolation would indeed be a missed opportunity and wouldn’t do justice to the business or enable objectives to be fully met. We therefore requested we be given the opportunity to present our recommendations of what we believed they should consider. We felt so strongly about the potential missed opportunity we undertook the initial works without commitment or payment!

The proposed solution was to reposition C&O so that they weren’t seen as just another powder coaters. We wanted to position them as the people who would add value and turn a client’s vision into reality through the use of colour via powder coating. We therefore created: “Bring colour to your vision”

Our rebranding solution is all about colour, combining bold type and a range of inter-changeable sheet colours to create distinctive impact.

The use of inter-changeable colours was used to great effect across various stationery items, support materials, brochure and e-communications. The branding could now be applied to the original brief, to create a new content managed Umbraco website that did justice to C&O’s skills, knowledge and high standards.

Additionally, we created a series of ‘free’ mobile billboards that travelled the length and breadth of the country. In effect, we identified that C&O had a fleet of vehicles with very little curb appeal. As a result, we extended the interchangeable brand colours to these as well, with each vehicle carrying it’s own unique image of coloured powders exploding across its side-curtains. We then also matched these to the cab unit, creating impactful mobile billboards that were instantly recognisable, memorable and ‘on brand’.



Black Ops Campaign
for Isover Saint-Gobain


Client

Isover Saint-Gobain


Sector

Building Materials

Project

Create a campaign to launch of a new black foil fire insulation material. Targets: Specifiers of fire insulation materials for commercial extraction systems. Objective: Create awareness of a brand new product that provides the ultimate fire protection of it's type in the UK.

Approach

During our briefing we were informed the black foil insulation materials was uniquely black apposed to the competitors being silvers and this black coating produced the ultimate fire insulation protection on the market in the UK. Fire insulation isn't the sexiest of subject, but we decided we should build the campaign story around the product's unique black foil appearance and ultimate protection qualities. Combining black and ultimate protection we developed a campaign around the theme of 'Black Ops' (SAS). The campaign needed to educate specifiers there was a new and improved material in the market, create sufficient interest for them to consider change and invite engagement. To do the we create the Black Ops Technician. We undertook a set of dark, moody photoshoot of a technician in the pose of an SAS black operative, replacing the Black Ops automatic, arms belt and helmet with a power drill, tools belt and hard hat! These images, combined with various Mission Impossible inspired references invited targets to take the challenge and find out more about the ultimate in fire protection... should you decide to accept. We purchased the domain www.blackopsmission.co.uk where we hosted a series of pre launch and launch micro sites pages. We then obtained contact details of known/potential targets and created a teaser direct mail campaign consisting of a black envelope sent to named recipients which contained an unbranded black t-shirts printed with 'Your Mission Should You Choose To Accept It' on the chest and accompanied by a black cards inviting them to collect their mission details at 'www.blackopsmission.co.uk' When they visited the teaser page with a mission count down and invited to log in using their secret agent number on the card to register their interest to receive a 'mission pack' which contained a number of Black Op freebies along with their mission details and watch out for further mission details. Anybody who didn't register on receipt of the direct mailer received 1 of 3 teaser e-shots, spaced 3 days apart giving them further opportunities to register. On mission launch day everybody received a final e-shot with a link to the launch animation video we'd created which introduced the benefits of black foils Ultimate Protection qualities with calls to action to arrange a visits or a phone call to find out more. The black foil launch coincided with trade advertising and exhibition stand with on stand 'mission' envelope containing product literature and a lead generating prize draw to enter a free prize draw to to win the latest Apple Watch (in black of course!).

Result:

The pre-launch campaign resulted in a 68% response rate, with the post-launch activities gathering further leads.

Our mission was definitely a success, and the project was held up as an example of the best integrated launch campaign by the Saint-Gobain Group international marketing manager.


Full Brand Audit


Client

Evolution Time Critical

Sector

Logistics

Project

Whilst the existing brand had gone through a number of minor evolutions and changes it was felt it was time to take a more holistic approach, to undertake a brand audit of all existing materials so it was better aligned with the changing market and the business.

Approach

Whilst reviewing the brand it was surprising how well it had stood up to the demands and changes both of the market and businesses as a whole. It had become both respected and recognised in the market as an industry leader. Evolution rather than revolution was agreed to be the order of the day. We were to refresh and modernise the logo, but there was no requirement to make radical changes just for the sake of it.

Whilst the logo style was to be an evolution, it was felt there was opportunity to further develop the supporting materials, which included:

The creation of bespoke photography for the client that they owned and could use throughout all materials, rather than purchasing the typical library images used by most of their competitors. But this was no ordinary photo shoot! The shoot was to incorporate a real live project that involved the hiring of two Russian Antonov aircraft that were bringing in business critical machinery from China. This involved gaining airport clearance for vehicles and staff, working closely with the client on time critical logistics, storyboarding the images required, planning secondary locations, the hiring of vehicles, production of livery graphics and dressing of the vehicles, purchase of appropriate clothing for drivers and planning the processes weeks in advance.

Design and production of a 24 page corporate brochure and x2 6 page service brochures, including full copywriting, a series of schematic process diagrams and utilisation of the bespoke photography. To give the brochure the edge over competitors we not only wanted the content to be pertinent and design to look great, but we wanted it to stand out from the moment it was received. To do this we used a heavier cover board than usual and finished this with ‘touch’ velvet lamination and spot UV varnishing on key elements on the cover and throughout the brochure – It looked stunning, gaining admiration from their parent company in Canada.

The creation of x2 content managed, fully responsive open source websites for their UK and Germany operations. Umbraco was selected as the preferred platform as it is more secure, robust and requires less day to day maintenance than the more commonly used Wordpress platform.

A new modular exhibition stand to be used throughout Europe.

Sales and Corporate presentation templates.

Trade advertising.

Signage.

Result:

Evolution are seen as market leaders, setting new standards in the industry which has resulted in positive tendering and new business wins. Additionally, their Canadian parent companies were so impressed they asked Williams&Crosby to review and develop their brand logo also.


“W&C take quality of service to another level – their approach, outputs and response times are without equal. They care about your business at least as much as their own, which is as much as anyone can ask”

Simon Woolley – Managing Partner, EOS Law LLP