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A night to remember at the Transform Awards Europe
Blog / Brand Culture

A night to remember at the Transform Awards Europe

Find out what went down when Pull headed to the Transform Awards Europe 2018
Whatever you do, every industry has its superstar organisations. Leaders in their field. Innovators. Movers and shakers! They are the teams that the rest of the industry watches, follows, aspires to be. Not because we are all sheep – we’re all busy staking our own claim and establishing our own ethos and vision - but there is no escaping the fact that their work is often inspirational, their opinions thought provoking. To keep abreast of their activities is to keep on your toes. These are the guys to compete with for anyone who wants to be anyone.
 
The creative/brand industry has more than its fair share of these stars, it’s a particularly competitive and talented arena! So, to find yourself in the company of some of best is daunting but rewarding. To be competing with them for top industry awards is validation of your approach, quality and progress. That’s exactly where we found ourselves on 26th March at the London Hilton, rubbing shoulders with the best, and to our delight holding our own!
 
On our ‘about’ page we say, ‘We relish the unconventional and dismiss boring; always fighting for what’s right,and delivering game-changing solutions that transform our clients’ businesses forever’. Business transformation is at the core of what we do, so there are no better awards for us to enter than the Transform Awards Europe. These accolades recognise excellence in rebranding, brand development and the journey's brands make. Companies and agencies that enter have their work benchmarked against their peers across Europe and stand out amongst their competitors. In their own words ‘Rebranding and brand development is not only commendable because of the impact it has on an organisation’s perception, but also its tangible impact on business’. Something to be championed and at the route of our ethos.
 
So, we entered a project which has been a labour of love for the past 18 months and has challenged a majority of our service lines from inception to implementation – the Andertons Music Co. branding. We’re hugely proud of the work we’ve done across multiple touchpoints and of the relationship with a fantastic client.

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We’re not regulars at this (yet!) so we decided to dip our toe in the water and enter three categories:
 
  1. Best implementation of a brand development project
  2. Best brand development project to reflect changed mission, values or positioning
  3. Best visual identity from the retail sector.
 
These were the categories that seemed to fit the project outcomes best. We took a punt and tried to forget about it. That was until we discovered we had been shortlisted in all three!
 
One of the key aspects of the Transform Awards that make them so special is that they are judged not just by other designers, but by brand and marketing managers, brand directors and strategists within business. This means the work is being selected not just for its beauty, but also for the thinking behind it and its effectiveness. Work is only elevated to the shortlist if it is worthy, regardless of the numbers, resulting in a couple of categories containing only a single entrant. The criteria is tough, so to be shortlisted alone is remarkable. The agencies on the list were stellar. Cream of the crop.
 
So, to the awards. We were playing it cool, content to simply be taking part, but underneath we knew that a win would be a massive boost for the team back in Guildford. To our amazement the first award we were in contention for was announced and we’d won gold! This was swiftly followed by two silvers. The kind of projects we were competing against were airline identities, bank branding and the London 2017 anniversary games identity. Huge, high profile pieces of work, yet we had outperformed our expectations beyond words.

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Agencies that joined us in winning Gold includes the likes of SomeOne, SuperUnion, Prophet, Taxi Studio, Elmwood and DesignStudio – industry heavyweights and serial award winners. To rub shoulders with those teams fills us not only with massive pride, but a huge determination to keep it going and maintain a place at the top table.
 
But it's only possible with the support and trust of brilliant clients (of which we're lucky enough to have a few!). It’s only through their faith, understanding and belief that there is a platform available for us to create magic. And we intend continuing to do so!
 
Read what the judges had to say about our work
 

Posted 28 March 2018 by Darren Cornwall

 

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