Front cover image: Mediafleet has serious ambitions to reduce its carbon output to help with climate change initiatives. Read more about our progress and initiatives on Page 6.
Keep in touch
www.mediafleet.co.uk info@mediafleet.co.uk T: +44 (0)1993 772525
CONTENTS 04
Introduction from Barnaby Barney welcomes you to this edition of Inside Track Magazine.
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Mediafleet & The Three Pillars of Sustainability We explain the initiatives behind Mediafleet’s sustainability policies in this business report.
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Now this is a great design for Evander Mediafleet provides consultative approach to Evander vehicle branding designs.
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Octopus Energy Vehicle Branding Partner Demonstrating why customer satisfaction is generated across all aspects of the supply function.
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The Golden Age of Branding Introducing our regular feature with our first instalment, we dig deep into the archives and comment on the most iconic liveries over the decades.
INTRODUCTION FROM BARNABY Onwards & Upwards… Mediafleet achieves 26% growth in revenue, 48% growth in profit during 2020-2021. I don’t need to tell you that last year had its challenges to say the least – not that we are out of the woods yet! The pandemic is still affecting automotive supply chains forcing companies to adapt in some cases. At Mediafleet, the management team here had to think hard and fast to maintain efficiencies in our supply chain and operations management - to hit the output targets we set at the beginning of financial year. Yes, we’ve had some issues, especially with absenteeism through illness and isolating, in itself creating a new set of management challenges – but we got there…in fact we even surpassed our targets. It seems to me that, and I would be interested in your opinion, that the supply chain issues generated a market demand larger than the actual pandemic impact called for. There’s probably some high-level business term for this. I am, however, tremendously proud of the team here at Mediafleet…nothing seems to phase them, taking the ups and downs of automotive supply with equal grace. Their efforts have resulted in Mediafleet becoming the largest dedicated supplier of vehicle graphics to the UK LCV market. Last year, we branded 12,500 vehicles, more than any other UK livery provider.
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I’m hearing more conversations around sustainability, and I’m being asked about Mediafleet’s approach to this. The management team here has always been focussed on cost reduction and managing unnecessary waste. Our targeted use of lean methods leads to long term sustainable cost reduction. This has always been the Mediafleet way, but we have decided to ‘formalise’ our approach regarding sustainability. I invite you to view our new section on the website where you can read more on this rationale and the ‘Three Pillars of Sustainability’ for Mediafleet. I would like to think that Mediafleet is leading the way in providing ‘green branding’ for our customers. If you are a motor sport fan, then you’ll be pleased to hear that we are starting a series of articles looking at iconic motor sport branding over the last few decades. This month’s edition of ‘Inside Track’ features the first of these articles written by our very own Rob Rudd. If you have a particular motor sport livery close to your heart, then let Rob know. I hope you enjoy this edition of Inside Track.
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6
The Three Pillars of Sustainability
L
ike any ‘ethical company’, Mediafleet
But some businesses are trying to find
has serious ambitions to reduce
a balance and the creative studio at
its carbon output to help with climate
Mediafleet is here to help organisations
change initiatives as set out in the goals
maintain vehicle branding effectiveness
of the ‘2030 Agenda for Sustainable
but perhaps with simpler vehicle graphics
Development’ by the United Nations
– meaning less vinyl used. Sustainable vinyl
General Assembly in 2015.
is also an option with more manufacturers releasing this type of recyclable vinyl.
This process for businesses, however, is challenging. There is no single definition of sustainability, and the act of introducing new ‘green’ initiatives could be viewed as a contradiction to what a branding business actually does. For example, supporting real sustainability means encouraging customers to consume less, and that goal stands in direct contrast to many companies’ business models, which is to expand and sell more of their product. For Mediafleet, this could mean a request for more complex vehicle graphics.
Mediafleet maintaining brand effectiveness Mediafleet recognises that the benefit of implementing sustainable business practices
can
build
goodwill
with
increasingly environmentally conscious customers and it is this business plan that will maintain our business growth whilst attempting to minimise the amount of vinyl used. 7
Mediafleet has a built its reputation on delivering excellent products and services for its customers against
market
leading
service
levels.
Plus,
customers need their vehicle branding to be priced sensibly, be impactful and long-lasting, after all this is an important marketing communication channel. We also recognise however, that our customers wish to engage with organisations that take climate change seriously and are taking the proper steps to reduce their carbon footprint as well as behaving ethically. This means buyers of services interrogating the service provider’s supply chain. For example, some suppliers outsource certain aspects of the supply model, but this means that they lose control of certain important green initiatives. For instance, it is very difficult for one business to dictate to another business the type of vehicles they use. You may operate a green fleet, but you cannot easily impose that policy on a subcontractor or third party.
The Mediafleet approach to sustainability is the same approach we adopt to all aspects of our business. The initiatives we have created are real, deliverable and measurable. We identify the most important aspects and define procedures to enable us to achieve our goals. Although sustainability is a vast topic with many initiatives, Mediafleet has focussed on three important areas that significantly improve sustainability.
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Balancing customer branding o with real world sustainability ini 10
objectives itiatives
Mediafleet Energy Initiative Energy management is a rapidly growing business agenda item due to aggressive environmental initiatives concerning climate change and global carbon reduction. Mediafleet will endeavour to meet or exceed the following energy management targets: • Reduce operating expenses by actively and responsibly managing energy consumption • Demonstrate commitment to public safety by reducing pollution associated with energy use • Reduce energy consumption in existing buildings by 30% over a 5-year period • Acquire, and/or construct all new buildings to achieve 30% energy savings via building energy codes • Reduce carbon emissions associated with energy consumption by 40% by 2025. We endeavour to meet or exceed the following energy management targets:
REDUCE ENERGY CONSUMPTION BY
REDUCE CARBON EMISSIONS BY
30%
40%
Mediafleet has to date: • Implemented department training initiatives on energy saving techniques • Installed energy saving light bulbs and strip lights • Installed door closers • Improved building insulation
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Mediafleet Waste Initiative Mediafleet adopts the principles of the ‘best practical environmental option’ in the delivery of its waste management and will reduce, reuse, and recover waste products in preference to the disposal of waste to landfill. The Mediafleet initiatives include: • Waste Reduction – Also known as waste minimisation, to reduce the amount of waste materials being produced. • Re-utilisation of waste – To continually re-use an item in order to eliminate the use of resources in buying/making new items. • Recovering Waste – Waste produced off site is recovered and disposed of correctly on return to the Mediafleet complex. • Waste Disposal – Waste is collected via a responsible waste services business for proper disposal
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Adapting Procedure Mediafleet has to date: • Contracted
with
Veolia
waste
Management for the collection of waste • Mediafleet vinyl applicators collect all waste whilst on a third-party site and return it to Mediafleet for proper disposal • Vinyl packaging is re-used for the shipment of finished graphics
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Mediafleet Transport Policy The general aim of Mediafleet’s transport policy is to reduce environmental impact and improve performance by minimising pollution and noise to improve vehicle efficiency. Transportation is one of the weakest links for many organisations when it comes to carbon emissions. According to figures from the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, in 2018, transport accounted for 33% of all CO2 emissions in the UK. Transitioning
to
electric
transport
makes
environmental and business sense. This initiative supports our sustainable working targets to reduce our environmental impact.
Embracing New Initiatives The Mediafleet transport initiatives include: • As part of our fleet vehicle electrification, Mediafleet has committed to a phased integration of electric vehicles into the fleet that we directly control. • We are aiming for the fleet to be 100% ‘alternative fuelled vehicles’ by 2025. • We have a fleet of approximately 40 company vehicles. The car fleet is now fully electric. • Our aim is to electrify the van fleet (16 vehicles) and we are planning the integration of AFV’s based on the nature of the work to be done by these vehicles. This will be a phased introduction. • In addition, when needed, we will choose to partner with car hire and taxi companies who offer or use electric vehicles. • We have installed charging points at the Mediafleet complex in Witney, Oxfordshire. • Careful consideration is give to journey planning to minimise fuel usage. 14
Mediafleet Transport Management Targets 100% ALTERNATIVELY FUELLED COMPANY FLEET BY
NUMBER OF FULLY ELECTRIC VANS ON OUR FLEET BY 2025
2025
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NOW THIS IS A GR FOR EVANDER
Mediafleet provides consultative approach to Evander vehicle brandin 16
REAT DESIGN
ng designs. 17
All eighty-one vehicles have now been completed and have joined the Evander fleet. 18
Now this is a great design If you’re a regular reader of the Mediafleet
supply, until they were happy…and the end
articles, you will have gathered by now
result is really impressive. I enjoy providing
that we are hugely enthusiastic about
this consultative approach when there is
vehicle graphics and, more to the point,
such a determination to get it right.”
their design. Not everyone gets it right, but Evander and their marketing team certainly have with the new tranche of vehicles. Back in January, Mediafleet was contacted by Emma Collen, marketing manager for Evander. Evander is the UK’s leading provider of glazing and locksmith services for
the
facilities
insurance,
home
management
emergency,
and
property
sectors attending over 120,000 domestic and commercial properties every year. The new additions to the fleet were due for delivery in April and Emma was eager to secure the supply of the production and application of the graphics. This first tranche of vehicles consisted of a mix of Volkswagen vehicles from Greenhous Group. Evander’s marketing team and branding
“We’re absolutely delighted with the new fleet livery and the professional, quality job that the team at Mediafleet have delivered. The new designs look great, they are impactful and exactly what we wanted.” Emma Collen - Marketing Manager, Evander
agency supplied the designs. As James Parry, head of design at Mediafleet said, ”The Evander marketing teams demonstrated massive attention to detail, adjusting the position and other details on several occasions using the visuals we 19
OCTOPUS ENERGY BRANDING PARTN
Mediafleet - Demonstrating why customer satisfaction is generated ac 20
Y VEHICLE NER
cross all aspects of the supply function. 21
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Demonstrating why customer satisfaction is generated across all aspects of the supply function. The Mediafleet team was very pleased and incredibly proud when Octopus Energy Services – Part of the Octopus Energy Group, selected Mediafleet as their ‘vehicle branding partner’ for their new fleet of electric vehicles. Barnaby Smith, managing director of Mediafleet stated, “The Octopus Energy Services ‘raison d’etre’ is to provide sustainable services in a professional and fair way, and I like to think Octopus Energy saw these same attributes in Mediafleet. It’s the reason we maintain long standing customer relationships in a very competitive market.” “The term ‘good value’ is overused and misunderstood as it is often used to mean inexpensive. Something cheap is not always good value as there are many aspects of supplying a product or service that need to combine to create ‘good value’.” Rob Rudd, head of development at Mediafleet explains, “At Mediafleet, we ensure every aspect of service supply is analysed so that the end result is delivered to customer expectations. Every process from material procurement through to vehicle logistics through to vinyl application is investigated constantly to see if any improvements can be made. It is this attention to detail that gives Mediafleet the competitive edge.”
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The Octopus Energy Services vehicle branding utilised many of Mediafleet’s specialist services; the wrap design and application were of a fairly technical nature, vehicles arrived at port and were immediately transported to Mediafleet’s facility at Witney utilising Mediafleet’s logistics ability, and once wrapped, the vehicles were transported to Modul System for the final conversion. The process highlights the high level of supply integration available to customers. Once converted the vehicles were delivered to the customer. Rob said, “Value chain analysis is important for any business so the profit can be maximised, but businesses often forget that the same process diligence benefits the customer in terms of high levels of satisfaction.”
“The Octopus Energy Services vehicles provided a platform for Mediafleet to demonstrate the breadth of our scope of service. The vehicles look really striking and were all delivered on time, in full. I look forward to working with Octopus Energy on the next tranche.” Barnaby Smith - Managing Director, Mediafleet
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25
The Golden Age of Branding.
T
here are now more ways than ever for
The birth of modern branding happened in
businesses to promote their brands
the 1950’s when companies really started
and ‘speak’ to their customers, but the
to understand brand management and
history of branding goes back centuries.
developed divisions to handle this – what we would call the marketing department
It could be argued that ‘branding’ has
today. What brand managers realised was
been around for at least 35,000 years. The
the effective use of ‘emotion’ .
simple cave painting of hands discovered in caves all around the world could be
By aligning the company’s product with
representing any number of messages
an aspirational vehicle, marketers moved
or even signatures. Even then, these
from ‘info’ based advertising to ‘personal’
early ‘marketers’ were creating distance
advertising. I remember when I was a
between themselves and the rest of the
kid passing a Gulf petrol station and
tribe.
immediately thinking of Steve McQueen in the film Le Mans. I had an affinity with
Over time, brand teams have learned
the Gulf brand, not because I had shares
how to stand out from the masses, grab
in Gulf or even bought their petrol, I just
attention and convert the public into
thought it must be the best because Steve
customers. One communication channel
McQueen uses it and has the brand on his
that has proved remarkably effective in
Porsche 917.
achieving this is ‘motor-sport branding’.
Caves in the Maros-Pangkep karst (Sulawesi, Indonesia). Hand stencils estimated between 35,000–40,000 BP.
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Iconic racing branding lives in the memory
striking designs, colours, stickers, and
of every motor racing fan. The spectacle
names with businesses paying top dollar
of the event combined with the thrills of
for the privilege. It sparked the vehicle
the racing, the noise from the cars and
branding revolution.
the crowds, the breath-taking designs of the cars, and the personalities of the
But, for me, as a motor racing fan,
drivers, all combining to create lasting
the branding became a recognisable
memories – and immediate recall of the
signature, allowing to me to pick out my
branding! Whether it’s the decal shapes
favourite driver or team from the fast-
or the colours used, just a mere glimpse is
moving action taking place in front of
enough to evoke powerful memories and
me. So, let’s take a closer look at how
emotions.
these branding teams achieved such tremendous marketing feats.
Racing cars were slowly being transformed into
mobile
billboards
adorned
with
What does 3707 Zenith Blue, and 3957 Tangerine mean to you? What about ‘Equiluminance’?
Claude Monet’s early demonstration of equiluminance. Impression. Soleil levant. Av Claude Monet. Lisens: Falt i det fri (Public domain).
Equiluminant colours have long been used by marketers because they deliver special properties that cause the brain to retain that information. They do this because they appear strange and can even conjure up the impression of motion. Artists have recognised this for years and the great exponents of this technique include Claude Monet, Piet Mondrian and others. It’s all to do with colour saturation and how the eye works but, to be honest, it’s far too technical for me, it’s enough to say, it works. 29
But one of the greatest examples of this effect was created by Grady Davis, Executive V.P. of Gulf Oil when Gulf became the sponsor of the J.W. Automotive team of GT.40s. Davis said the cars had to be powder blue and orange, which were the corporate colours. The most famous example being the three time, Le Mans winning GT40. Then, the coolest man on the planet at the time, the so called ‘King of Cool’, Steve McQueen starred in the 1971 film, Le Mans, as Michael Delaney. Steve drove one of two Gulf branded Porsche 917Ks painted in the instantly recognisable ‘Blue and Tangerine’. This secured the Gulf branding as one of the most instantly recognisable brands. In the ensuing years, Gulf race cars, including models from Audi, McLaren, Porsche, and Aston Martin, have competed for titles on worldrenowned circuits. Many special-edition, Gulf-livery derivatives have decorated cars like the Lotus Evora 400, Ford Mustang GT Premium, Ford GT Heritage Edition, and more recently the $1.7-million, 804-horsepower McLaren Elva.
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Company Information Mediafleet is one of the country’s leading fleet graphics and branding specialists. With an expanding central printing and manufacturing facility at Witney, Oxford, and a graphics application team with perhaps an unrivalled level of experience in the industry, the company has developed an advanced range of vehicle branding products and services to cater for all large national fleet networks, whatever their requirements. Building on Mediafleet’s core vehicle graphics expertise, the company has grown its vehiclerelated business by learning to understand the complexities and requirements of every unique fleet. By listening to prospective clients’ needs, Mediafleet provides a bespoke approach
to
each
new
customer.
The
company’s adherence to that basic principle has enabled it to develop successful vehicle branding campaigns for nearly 20 years. For further details, please contact Barnaby Smith or Rob Rudd at Mediafleet on 01993 772525.
Keep in touch
www.mediafleet.co.uk info@mediafleet.co.uk T: +44 (0)1993 772525 33