News
Awards final No 5 for Ocean health mag
Ocean has once again been recognised at the Chartered Institute of Public Relations PRide Scotland Awards for its creativity in producing quality publications. Dialogue, which the agency designs on behalf of NHS Ayrshire & Arran, reached the final of the Best Magazine category for the second year in a row, at the CIPR's prestigious black tie event in Edinburgh. It's the fifth time the publication has caught the eye of the judges at various award ceremonies in the past six years, with previous accolades including the Association of Healthcare Communication Awards.
Posted November 2010
Ayrshire & Arran brand launched
The regional brand which Ocean created for Ayrshire & Arran has been launched at Ayrshire Business Week. It's the first ever brand for the whole of Ayrshire & Arran and will be used to promote business, investment, leisure, tourism and lifestyle in the area. Ocean won the job following a five-way pitch with other agencies and from here participated in a lengthy consultation process with funding partners. This began with a branding workshop with VisitScotland, the three Ayrshire authorities, Ayrshire Chamber and Scottish Enterprise to determine the creative brief. Reflecting the brand essence of fresh, space, connected and active, the 'Swoosh' of the new branding represents the coast, land, sky and connection. With a generic strapline 'just be here', the team also devised a series of eight variations for use within the different target sectors, including 'just be enterprising' for business and inward investment, 'just be energised' for lifestyle and 'just be active' for leisure and tourism. Companies and organisations across Ayrshire & Arran are now being encouraged to adopt the new branding which can be downloaded, together with a full toolkit on how to use it, from www.ayrshire-chamber.org
Posted October 2010
Welcome aboard, Clair
Clair Donachie has been appointed as Ocean's new Studio Manager. A trained photographer, Clair has several years experience in customer services and administration, bringing a valuable combination of skills to the Ocean team. With responsibility for ensuring the smooth running of the agency and providing full support to the design team, Clair will be managing workflow through the studio, implementing systems and liaising with clients to fulfil expectations and requests. With her first week safely under her belt, Clair commented: "I've really enjoyed settling in and getting to know everyone. I'm looking forward now to getting more involved in all Ocean's projects, meeting suppliers and helping provide a first class service to our clients."
Posted October 2010
So long, Sharon!
This month we say a fond farewell to our Studio Manager Sharon Baillie. After three years with Ocean, Sharon is heading back to college to fulfil a long-held ambition of studying for an environmental degree. Sharon, who'll be greatly missed by all the team, said: "Although I'm really looking forward to starting my course at the Scottish Agricultural College, I do feel sad at leaving Ocean - it's been like a wee family here and I'll definitely keep in touch with all the gang." Good luck, Shaz.
Posted September 2010
Sky mag hits the mark
Ocean's relationship with Sky continues to flourish, two years on from first winning the account to produce the company's employee magazine Digitalk. With readership on the up and the volume of staff contribution rising steadily, Sky has asked Ocean to increase the size of the monthly publication, allowing more articles and responses to be included. Ocean produces Digitalk entirely inhouse, providing copywriting and editorial support, design, photography and print management, as well as organising fulfilment. The team has been working with Sky, the UK's leading entertainment company, since 2008 and in January 2010 celebrated with them as Digitalk was shortlisted at the prestigious Communicators in Business Awards for Best Employee Magazine.
Posted August 2010
Fifteen years of Mo Magic!
Ocean’s Senior Designer Maurice Hynds has been celebrating 15 years service with the company, giving the team the perfect excuse to party. Maurice was the first ever person Derek employed when he began expanding the business, known then as Artista Design, back in 1995. It’s fair to say our Mo didn’t have the best of starts - at his interview he left a trail of tar on the studio’s brand new carpet and on Day 1 almost crashed his Corsa into Derek on the road home. However over the years Maurice has proved to be an invaluable right hand man, with his creative talent impressing countless numbers of clients. He says: “When I first started as Junior Designer, there was just myself and Derek delivering graphic design with the help of a couple of 14” monitors, some floppy discs and a fax. Now there’s a whole team of us, providing a full range of creative services using all the latest technology. It’s been a real journey and it’s great to have contributed along the way and still be working for some of our original clients all these years later.” Good on ya, mate!
Posted July 2010
In business with Ayrshire Chamber
Ocean is delighted to become a partner for business with Ayrshire Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the leading organisation representing the business community in the whole of Ayrshire.
Ocean is just one of a handful of companies to have a partnership of this kind with Ayrshire Chamber, and is the only creative marketing agency represented. The new partnership will undoubtedly raise the profile of Ocean in the area, through publicity in Chamber communications and at events.
Posted April 2010
School hired!
Members of the Ocean team have been sharing their expertise with secondary pupils in the Business Challenge Schools Project, an Apprentice style workshop organised by Ayrshire Chamber. The project involved 6th year Business Studies students from across South Ayrshire devising a strategy to promote their school to families relocating to the area, following the recent opening of the National Ayr Traffic Services at Prestwick. Anji took the students through the various stages of the branding process to define the creative brief, while Derek followed up with a presentation on how this brief is then used to create designs which match the brand essence. The students used this information to develop their campaigns, which Derek and Anji scored along with "Alan Sugar" in the dreaded boardroom. Ayr's Belmont Academy took home the trophy.
Posted March 2010
Ocean sails into business awards
It's red carpet time for the Ocean team following a nomination for one of Scotland's most prestigious business awards. 'Digitalk', the glossy magazine which Ocean produces monthly for Sky, has been shortlisted in the Best Employee Magazine category of the Communicators in Business Scotland Awards. The Ocean team has been producing Digitalk for 18 months, providing copywriting and editorial support, as well as designing and print managing the publication. Winners will be announced at CIB's glittering black tie event to be held in Glasgow in February.
Posted January 2010
