With Chief Creative Office, Christopher Bailey, leaving Burberry this year and new CEO Marco Gobbetti unveiling his strategy to reshape the brand into a “super luxury company” with new lines at much higher prices, is the famous British fashion house alienating a significant percentage of their clientele? Core customers, and the stock market, have reacted … Read more

In fashion, how do you create brand positioning and differentiate yourself? Competition is tough, especially in the fashion sector. It’s a massive challenge to start a brand, produce at least the first three collections, and watch it take off. Your Brand Positioning, Brand Voice and creating a USP (unique selling proposition) in many cases are … Read more

Naming brands, whether company, service or product, is not an every day part of the marketing mix. Most companies and brands only do it once and established companies don’t have to think about it much unless they are part of a merger or an acquisition. With start-ups being the new way and only about 1 … Read more

Iconic brand Burberry may need its best-known piece, the check-lined trenchcoat, to stave off the rain in the years ahead. When the company’s new CEO Marco Gobbetti announced a risky strategy to “rationalise non-luxury wholesale and retail doors” (read: axe middle-market retailers) just one week after chief creative officer Christopher Bailey announced his departure, share … Read more

Five strategic questions for FE Colleges to ask ahead of merger 1. How do we position ourselves to get maximum benefits from the merger? First and foremost, further education colleges (which mostly serve learners aged 16-18) need students and so a merged college needs a brand that is memorable and attractive. Existing students need to … Read more

The glass entrance of the recently reopened Amersham Museum draws in passers-by, and once they’re inside, the new displays are captivating. The entire space is welcoming and encourages visitors to move from one area to another, learning about the area’s history. The many local stories, some of which go back centuries, come to life and interweave with current … Read more

We recently came across this interview from March 7th 2012 of Grain’s founder Christoph Geppert on LBC Radio. That was just after our tenth anniversary!

Brand Architecture – Maximising Synergies from Complex Portfolios Brand architecture may at first sight seem like the tediously dull end of the otherwise exciting area of new brand development with its creative naming, cutting edge logo design and glitzy launches.  But look at the detail and you’ll see that this is the world of brand strategy … Read more

Mégane Osio is Grain’s intern this summer and is enjoying putting her design skills to use whilst rapidly improving her English. She is a student of graphic design at ECV Creative Schools & Community in Bordeaux, France. She particularly likes all aspects of corporate design and print, including the visual identity of a brand, packaging, … Read more

The guys down at Mortgage Finance Gazette have covered the recent launch of Propertymark. Previously known as ARLA, NAEA, NAVA, ICBA and APIP, we created the new name and the new brand with the focus on increasing consumer awareness of the business. Find out more here.  

Grain is now fifteen years old! Last Friday, clients and friends joined us for a celebration in grand style at Soho House’s Apartment. We’re not just celebrating 15 years in business but 15 years of doing what we love: inspiring companies and helping them to be successful. The party quiz winners are the BEAR team with 17 … Read more

The National Federation of Property Professionals (NFoPP) has rebranded and repositioned as the umbrella brand Propertymark and the changes, developed by Grain Creative, are aiming to significantly disrupt the estate and letting agency market in the UK. Through its membership associations, the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) and the Association of Residential Letting Agents … Read more

Changing a well-established and well-known brand with all its existing brand attributes, brand promises and emotional ties can be like the clichéd oil tanker which needs a very long time to change course. There are still people who call a Snickers bar “Marathon”! It can be a challenge to say the least. But to rebrand the biggest … Read more

Clothes – from many retailers – have become almost disposable: we buy them cheaply, wear them for a few months and then chuck them out. Many people are aware that super-cheap clothes may be manufactured in inhumane conditions, but do we stop to think about the environmental impact of simply binning stretched t-shirts and odd … Read more

We are very happy to welcome our new project and studio manager, Briony Harris, to the team. Briony comes from the world of media, having spent 16 years with the BBC writing scripts, social media content and copy for the news website, and most recently on 12+ hour shifts producing Radio 4’s The World Tonight. At Grain, she … Read more