News just in…Our redesign of (what was previously Prospect Magazine, now) Urban Realm won Best Magazine Design (Business & Professional) and Scottish Magazine of the Year at last night’s PPA Scotland Magazine Awards.
More images and a bit of background on the redesign to follow. Watch this space.
We’re looking for an ambitious Account Manager to join our team here at Stand.
With a minimum of two years’ agency experience you’ll already have a good grounding in how an agency works, the key processes used, how to manage projects and work with clients to deliver great results.
You may be a super-keen, talented Account Executive looking for your next move up the career ladder; we’re not fussed about job titles. Talent, passion and a willingness to learn is what counts.
If you want to find out more about this opportunity then drop us a line, saying in no more than 100 words what you could bring to the role.
The email address is studio[at]stand-united[dot]co[dot]uk
I’ve just watched this fascinating talk from the lovely John Grant at this year’s PSFK conference. In it, he discusses a more interesting, and frankly plausible, explanation for how innovation really comes about.
It’s simple when you think about it: innovation comes about from looking at what might seem like an ugly, difficult or ‘unworthy’ issue from a different perspective.
He cites examples as varied as eBay, the Grameen Bank (the micro-credit institution founded in Bangladesh in the 1970s), The Discovery Channel, The Big Issue and IKEA as ways of illustrating the value of asking ‘what’s neglected?’ when looking for innovation. Taking McKinsey’s latest list of tech-enabled trends as an amusing starting point, John Grant explores a more interesting and more human approach to innovation which starts at the bottom of the pyramid with something ugly and neglected not, as might be expected, at the pinnacle with the question ‘what’s next?’
The points he makes particularly resonated with me because of a really interesting project that we’ve been working on with NESTA, (the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts), the independent body with a mission to make the UK more innovative. Through a two-year pilot programme called Age Unlimited Scotland, NESTA wants to work with people in their 50s and 60s in Scotland who have the spark of a great idea to improve their community. This alternative approach to social entrepreneurship takes the value of the life experience people aged 50+ have gained and marries it with the need to address the implications of an ageing population.
So, if you know anyone over 50 who could put their skills to use in order to help their community then let them know about Age Unlimited Scotland.
Tut, tut. Naughty Stand haven’t been very good at updating our blog recently. Lots of exciting news to fill you in on: some new people, some new clients and some lovely new work. Just busy trying to get it all finished before we share it with the world. Watch this space, soon, promise.
After a three-way pitch, Stand won the project to create and apply a new brand identity for Columba 1400.
Columba 1400’s purpose is simple; to help young people from tough realities realise that they already have the inner greatness and confidence to transform their own lives.
Columba 1400 has been established for ten years, working from its headquarters in Staffin, Skye, and has recently added a second centre in a truly inspirational setting at Ardoch, Loch Lomond. They offer programmes for children and adults from the corporate world, sometimes working alongside to benefit each other.
Stand were present at the opening, along with the charities patron HRH The Princess Royaland a wealth of trustees, sponsors, supporters and graduates from the programs.
The new identity looked fantastic flying in the wind, and we look forward to rolling it outacross their website and other corporate materials in the coming months.
We thought this was a great, interactive way of engaging music lovers in a rock bar. The concept is from Almap/BBDO in Brazil for Billboard Magazine. The Flickr collection can be seen here:
Billboard Magazine video instalation from Marcos Kotlhar on Vimeo.
Why do Japanese DJs just make everything look instantly appealing?This engaging piece of film is to promote Nike’s new Free Run+ shoe which claims to be so flexible that it’s as close you can get to barefoot running.I’m off to Achilles Heel tomorrow to invest in a new pair of running trainers before the Women’s 10k next week. I’ll see what they say about these bad boys.Oh, and I love how they had to put this caveat on the endframe:
Spotted here by our in-house Japanophile, Mr Paul Lambert, check out the dedication of these Lady Gaga fans en route to her gig in Tokyo. You gotta hand it to them, they know how to dress up for an occasion don’t they?God, I miss Tokyo, and feeling so plain and boring every day.
…whilst taking a stroll outside on this fine sunny day, we stumbled across this peculiar and mysterious place called Vestiges Park, an outdoor exhibition full of surprises, and worth a visit!
Our new designer Colin celebrated his first (31st) birthday since starting at Stand.Following Stand tradition we all helped him eat cake, and wrote mildly humorouscomments in his card…Happy Birthday Colin!
Well, Colin and I have had a whirlwind trip to Skye and back to visit the spiritual home of our newest client, the wonderful Columba 1400. It included:
…and finally, a refreshed perspective on life and what really matters. Happy days. View Larger Map
Time to move back to our old/new/own office. Much as we’ve enjoyed the delights of lunch at WTMS and easy access to the shops at lunch time, we’re all looking forward getting back to normal, and to the charms of the team at Piece.
Hopefully there will be no more floods. But given the track record, who knows.Anyway, we’re celebrating the return to our own place with a couple of exciting new client meetings on Tuesday and Thursday. Life is good. : )
We’re like the littlest hobos these days with all these office moves. But since our flood(s) have ruined our new office we are having to move out completely so they can take the ceiling/walls etc down so they can make sure it doesn’t happen again.Anyway, we’ve found a lovely new temporary place to ‘live’, at 126 West Regent Street, Glasgow. It’s a serviced office in the Griffin Business Centre so it’s a nice, central location.We hope we’ll only be out of our own place for 4 weeks but watch this space for updates.The main telephone number will just be redirected to our new place so 0141 222 2999 is still the best way to get in touch.
The lovely Paul Lambert passed this round this little peach from the wonderful David Shrigley. It’s more commercial than I would have expected from him and more edgy than I would ever have credited Pringle with.
I love it. See what you think.
Email’s working again. The main phone line’s been rerouted to Athene’s mobile too so you can get through to us on the usual number.
Just trying to work out what damage has been done to the rest of the office. : (
Our lovely, new office has been flooded (AGAIN!) so for the moment our mail server is down. If you need to get a hold of us then please use the old fashioned telephone to call us on our mobiles.
Handily, our main phone line comes through our broadband connection, so helpfully when you dial 0141 222 2999 at the moment the lovely lady from BT says ‘the number you have dialled has not been recognised, please check and try again’.
We’ll let you know as soon as we’re up and running from the office again. In the mean time, we’re all working from home.
