You recently decided to take Greensquare in a new
direction, what was your thinking behind this?
It’s something that had been on my mind for some
time. But as many in my position will appreciate, this
kind of process takes a lot of dedication and therefore
time. Having made the decision to do it I literally had
to go into hiding on some days. My main motivation
was one of being different, we specialise in helping
brands to stand out from the crowd, and therefore
I felt we could do more to help ourselves. There are
currently around forty thousand creative companies
in the UK, the majority of these look and sound the
same – they are what’s known as generalist agencies.
I wanted to put clear blue water between Greensquare
and the competition so when you receive the question
“Why should I buy from you?” there is demonstrable
and unequivocal reply “Why wouldn’t you?”
You chose to become specialists in automotive brand communications, why?
Principally there were two routes that we could
have followed; specialise in a design discipline, for
example brand identity or digital, or specialise in a
specific sector whilst retaining the range of brand
communications services we offer. I chose the latter
with good reason. In terms of automotive it was easy,
vehicles have played a major part in our agency since
I opened the doors over fourteen years ago; so as you
can imagine this is a sector we know a lot about. You
could say that we were already specialising in the
sector without actually specialising in the sector.
We possess what I call the “three E’s” – Expertise,
Experience and Enthusiasm, our passion for vehicle
branding runs deep – it’s what drives us as a business
and as people.
So if someone asks, “Why should I buy from you”,
you’ve got your answer?
Yes, without doubt. We are the leading, most creative
and collaborative brand communications agency
specialising in branding, digital and print for the
automotive sector. This means that in addition
to our drive for creative excellence we are in a
unique position to say to vehicle brands we totally
understand you, your customers, your market and
your challenges. We have developed a range of
specialist services and one in particular I’m very
excited about is the “Squareroute”. This is our threestage
branding model developed to support our
clients’ CRM, which follows their customers through
the vehicle ownership experience – we introduce a
range of specialist brand activities during each stage
to build desire, relationships and loyalty. It makes
for a compelling alliance between our agency and
vehicle brands.
Do you have an example of the “Squareroute” in
action?
Plenty, but to make it easy I’ll pick the one on my desk
right now. Bailey Trailers came over to us having seen
our brand work for Fendt. We are currently working
with Bailey on a complete brand refresh following
a workshop. Working to our mantra of “right on
the inside” before “right on the outside” we are
currently creating a brand bible that communicates
brand values and identity. This document will steer
the various stages of the external elements of the “Squareroute” starting with building desire. This
first stage is all about making strong emotional
connections and is rooted in the creation of stunning
content by harnessing the power of words, images,
colour and experience to stimulate desire. We then
move on to building relationships and loyalty; again
we follow a tried and tested model that makes people
feel special across all touch points with the brand.
It’s worth remembering that brands are all about
people, the secret is to keep connecting with them,
keep innovating.
Are you concerned about being too blinkered with
such a specialist focus?
Not at all. I don’t buy into this notion that you have
to work across so many sectors to keep the creative
juices flowing, I believe that’s an excuse rather than a
reason. I think any creative worth their salt is always
on the look out for inspiration, it’s those moments
when you think “hang on, I remember seeing” that
brings the element of magic to an idea and helps it to
flourish. As an agency we’ve always been creatively
led, you could say that as a designer it’s my Achilles
heel, at times I have been known to keep developing
an idea way past the quoted time, I close my eyes
to the timesheet in preference to concentrating on
the quality of the end result. In addition we have
retained our third sector clients as part of our CSR
policy, so we are not without an element of diversity.
In your opinion what are the challenges for
automotive brand managers right now?
It’s an exciting time to be involved in automotive,
we’re witnessing a sea change in the sector with
the quest for alternative fuels, autonomous vehicle
technology or swarm intelligence. For example, think
about how we’ll be selling the “in cab” experience
of a truck in future, there may not be a “behind the
wheel” but instead “behind the joystick” experience
that takes place outside the cab, what’s that going to
look like when branded? I think that it will always be
a case of content is king, whatever the direction the
vehicle sector takes it will be those brands who are
true to their values, are innovative in their approach
and above all courageous enough to dare to be
different that will be the winners. When all is said
and done it’s about nothing more than asking people
to love a brand by finding a corner of their mind for
it, and what’s not to love about that?
