Trident Vision - Spring 2024 Edition

STAY IN THE LOOP WITH TRIDENT MARKETING

Welcome to this special St George’s Day edition of our newsletter.

Peruse our latest projects, read our marketing insights and get a behind-the-scenes glimpse.

HAPPY ST GEORGE’S DAY

At Trident Marketing, we think it’s a real shame that St George’s Day doesn’t hold the same clout as St Patrick’s Day or St Andrew’s Day – so we actually class it as a bank holiday and take the day off!

Three fascinating facts:

1. St George wasn’t English and never even visited England. He was actually born more than 2,000 miles away in Cappadocia (modern day Turkey) and is thought to have died in Lydda (modern day Israel).

2. He also wasn’t a knight, as is often depicted. It is much more likely that he was an officer in the Roman army, who was executed for refusing to make a sacrifice in honour of the pagan gods.

3. St George’s reputation for virtue and holiness spread across Europe and his feast day – the 23rd April – was celebrated in England from the 9th century onwards. Celebrations also take place in Venice, Genoa, Portugal, Ethiopia and Catalonia.

WELCOME TO TRIDENT

Say hello to two gents who have recently joined our team...

LUKE LENTELL

Role: Graphic Designer

Likes:

Watching the UFC

Dislikes: Tuna

Favourite joke: What do you call Cardi B on a treadmill? Cardi O!

RALPH BESWICK

Role:

Chief Morale Officer

Likes:

Going for runs and chasing rabbits

Dislikes:

Being told off Favourite joke:

Why are dogs such bad dancers? They have two left feet!

THREE CHEERS FOR JESS!

Our Sales and Projects Administrator Jess ran 29 miles throughout February in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support. Here she is on the first day of the challenge, joined by Carl, Luke and Chris. The sun was shining, but it certainly wasn’t as fair-weathered for the rest of the month – yet that didn’t stop Jess. “It was more than just a personal challenge – it was a journey of support for a loved one who is currently undergoing treatment. I wanted to do everything I could to support her and others facing a similar journey.”

Jess smashed her £150 target by raising £700 –and we’re really proud!

OUR SURVEY SAYS SUSTAINABILITY UPDATE

We have a monthly meeting, where the Trident team are treated to a delicious cooked breakfast. So, we had to ask: It’s not a full English without…

Undoing the top button of your jeans

*Don’t worry, you’re not the only one astounded by this answer.

It’s been a busy few months! Most importantly, we passed our ISO 14001 Surveillance 1 Audit with flying colours. This was the first of our yearly audits after our initial accreditation in 2022, and it shows that our Environmental Management System is working effectively and in line with ISO standards.

We have also purchased more electric cars, all staff have completed additional sustainability training, and we’ve got lots of initiatives and ideas for 2024. Watch this space!

RECENT PROJECTS

Weston Homes Tayfen Court Brochures

Tayfen Court in Bury St Edmunds has an interesting past, having been the site for gas works from 1834 to 1964. The pattern created by our Senior Graphic Designer Elin gives a subtle nod to the history of the area, whilst making sure the development branding has a contemporary aesthetic. Our team designed and produced a 36-page host brochure and a 24-page floorplan brochure for Weston Homes’ collection of 1-2 bedroom apartments.

CBRE Brigade Court Reels

Brigade Court is a collection of studio, 1, 2 and 3 bedroom apartments and duplexes at the former headquarters of the London Fire Brigade in Borough. The agents, CBRE, reached out to us for our marketing expertise. As part of our work, we’ve created a number of Instagram Reels celebrating the apartments, location and history. The initial video has had 26.5k views and counting!

Marst Agri Branding WElink Homes Paid Advertising

Agricultural business Marst Agri is just round the corner from us and it was our pleasure to help the team rebrand their business. We designed a new logo, which went hand-in-hand with brand guidelines and social media assets. We’re also in the process of launching a brand-new website (stay tuned!) and have designed various marketing assets, such as business cards and promotional flags.

We recently kickstarted two 12-week paid advertising campaigns across Facebook and Instagram for WElink Homes, for their new-build developments in Ely and Worcestershire. This includes schedule planning, copy generation, social media graphics, our robust approvals process, and analytics reports. We’ve utilised carousel-style posts, giving us the opportunity to promote individual plots – a perfect accompaniment to ‘final homes remaining’ messaging.

London Contemporary Reels

London Contemporary is an architectural interior design studio, delivering a full interiors service to clients in London and beyond. We’ve redesigned their website and are now managing their marketing, which includes social media. Recently, our team created six Instagram Reels to coordinate with the brand’s case studies, featured on the website. House envy guaranteed!

Hopkins Homes Chediston Place Brochure

This 8-page host brochure – plus covers and a die-cut capacity pocket – promotes Chediston Place, a collection of 2, 3 and 4 bedroom homes in Halesworth. We managed the research, copy, design and production. Accuracy is paramount, especially when drawing the development layout and stating travel times. Our favourite part? The cover features a painterly illustration of apples, reflecting the nearby community orchard.

JC Decorations Branding & Business Cards

Our graphic designers recently finalised the rebranding for JC Decorations, a professional painting and decorating company based in Suffolk. The logo is more stylish, modern and eye-catching, with versatility across different mediums –which is all helpfully stipulated in the accompanying brand guidelines. We also created new business cards for the team, and there’s a website and brochure on the way!

Churchill Retirement Living Showreel

Churchill Retirement Living offer retirement homes across the UK and our latest work for this client was a showreel for their Hartismere Mews properties in Diss. This included creating a storyboard, confirming the script, organising and running the video shoot, and all the post-production work. We loved meeting resident Joan and Lodge Manager Gail – they were a joy to work with!

CONGRATULATIONS ON 34 YEARS OF SERVICE

Richard and Yvette – our founders, directors and ship-steerers – retired on 26th January. It was an emotional day, with plenty to celebrate and reminisce about. Our Managing Director Victoria delivered a beautiful speech, some of which we wanted to share with you…

When thinking of how to sum up a combined working life of 103 years, I decided it might prove difficult. But here goes.

My mum and dad have always had a very strong work ethic and believe that hard work and perseverance will pay dividends. My dad started work at 15 years old as an apprentice at Romford Press, after working with his grandad in his garage on his printing press – where his love for print started. My mum started work at 16 years old at the local council. After their engagement, the main aim was to own their own house, as nobody in their family ever had. They saved as much money as they could – saving all of my mum’s wage and sharing my dad’s – until they finally had £1,000 to put down as a deposit on a house in Acton, Sudbury.

Dad started work at Jackson Press as a fully qualified printer, whilst my mum did various jobs including packing work, shift work and book-keeping to make ends meet. When my mum was 33 weeks pregnant with my brother

Martin, my dad told her that he’d packed in his job and was going to start up his own business. My mum being my mum, she was fully supportive of his decision and hence their first business – Arena Press – was born.

My dad worked ridiculously long hours and was often away, working as hard as he could to make the business a success. Mum did the books by hand and spent her evenings collating and packing stationery sets – using her ironing board as her workstation. All whilst looking after Martin and me.

I have very fond childhood memories of being in the printing factory – the smells, learning how to hold and collate paper, watching the guillotine machine, riding around on the pallet lift and forklift, and working on my favourite machine when they had a finishing company – the shrink wrapper!

I also have a very clear memory of sitting on my mum and dad’s bed at the age of five and them talking about their new business that was going to be called ‘Trident Marketing’ – it would have a red logo and a devil’s trident underneath, obviously inspired by my dad’s love of Manchester United.

Trident Marketing started as a print management business. My dad would go out and sell and project manage, and my mum

would do everything else in the background, from helping project manage, finding suppliers in the yellow pages, organising deliveries, and the accounts – which were still done by hand, with letters typed on the typewriter. I remember her excitement when she got her first electric typewriter, which had a delete button that whitened out mistakes… then onto the highly technical Amstrad computer with the joy of floppy discs!

Back in September 1990, when Trident Marketing was first conceived, my parents wouldn’t have dreamt that they would build the business to where it is today. Having our own office (designed by my brother and built in February 2021) was one of our greatest achievements. It’s enabled the business to develop and it’s somewhere we can be really proud of.

Mum and dad have spent 43 years working together, which is a remarkable achievement. They have built a business from a two-man band to what it is today and have provided the foundations for us to continue to develop and grow. Happy retirement!

What are Richard and Yvette most looking forward to?

• More time with the grandkids

• Time to themselves and with each other

• Lounging around the pool

• Time in the garden – Richard making a golf hole, Yvette with her veg patch

• Exploring the whole of the UK

Fear not, they aren’t 100% retired!

THE THREE PILLARS OF WEBSITE DESIGN

You know what really makes a website stand out? It’s all about that smooth user experience. You land on a site and everything just flows, buttons are where you expect them to be, and you can easily find what you’re looking for without feeling like you need a treasure map.

Plus, a great website doesn’t just look pretty – it’s got substance too. Clear, concise content that tells you exactly what you need to know without making you read a novel. And let’s not forget speed! Nobody’s got the time to wait around for a site to load. When a website nails all of that – usability, content and speed – that’s when you know you’ve hit the jackpot.

Our team can create a website that ticks all those boxes and more, whether it’s a microsite or an all-singing, all dancing website. We’ve been especially busy lately, with sites for London Contemporary, Studio Fogg, All Saints Developments and Agrii all going live. Check them out!

Website design checklist

Purpose and goals: define the purpose of the website

Target audience: understand their needs, preferences and behaviours

Content: create high-quality, engaging content that’s relevant

Navigation: design intuitive navigation menus with a clear, logical hierarchy

Responsiveness: ensure the website is responsive across all devices

Visual design: create a visually appealing layout with consistent branding, readability and accessibility

Images and multimedia: make sure it’s all high-quality with fast loading times

SEO: think about Search Engine Optimisation from day one

Forms and interactivity: design user-friendly forms for collecting information

Performance: optimise loading speed and leverage caching

Security: implement HTTPS to encrypt data and regularly update software and plugins

Accessibility: ensure the website is accessible to users with disabilities and provide alternative text for images

Testing: test the website thoroughly across different devices and browsers

Analytics: enable the tracking of website traffic and user behaviour, so you can make data-driven decisions for improvements

Legal and compliance: ensure compliance with GDPR and relevant regulations, including necessary legal pages such as a privacy policy

‘FAKE’ OOH ADVERTISING… YES OR NO?

If you’ve not heard of fake or faux OOH (out of home) advertising before, let us explain. In 2023, an abundance of CGI OOH ads popped up across social media –sparking a genuine “wait… is that real?” reaction. Perhaps most memorable was Maybelline, which saw the brand’s Sky High Mascara seemingly coat giant lashes stuck on London’s tube trains and buses.

There have been some naysayers criticising the movement and advocating for real OOH, but we’re all for it. Why? It’s a bit of fun – and the numbers speak for themselves.

Recently, Hilton teamed up with The Brit Awards. In the run up to the ceremony, Hilton’s social feed showed a giant Brit Award statue next to their hotel, unrobing a Hilton dressing gown. The day after the awards, a giant ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign is hanging off the hotel. These Reels saw 1.6m views and 1m views respectively, compared to a Reel in between with 15.2k views. @hilton

THE IMPORTANCE OF ANALYTICS

Testing, tracking, tweaking… three Ts we like to live by! It’s important to analyse all forms of digital marketing, from social media to email campaigns. It all starts with the right software, which enables us to monitor what needs to be monitored. Then come the questions – why did that perform so well? What made the bounce rate improve? Which hashtags did we use in that really successful Instagram post?

All of this data leads to more informed decisions, which helps to drive a business forward. But there’s no denying it – it can be time-consuming. At Trident Marketing, we can oversee your digital marketing, including analytics and reporting. Better still, we can help you make sense of the numbers and discuss their impact.

OUR SERVICES

Graphic Design

Our team of highly creative professionals are dedicated to producing the highest quality bespoke graphic designs for use across multiplatform.

Web Development

Our in-house Web Developers offer the complete website build process, including web design, domain setup, hosting, CMS build, training, and analytics.

Photography & Videography

Our experts show your business in the best light by capturing photography and videography either internally, externally or by drone.

Signage

We offer a complete signage service, including site surveys, design, production and installation for any projects to help you capture your audience’s attention.

Advertising

We offer a complete advertising service. We can research, book, design and manage the implementation of your advertising across all platforms.

CGI

Our CGI artists continually aim to maximise latest technologies to produce stunning photo-realistic images of internal and external properties and products.

Digital Marketing

Trident’s Digital Marketing team can assist with your entire online strategy and digital presence, utilising the latest technologies and platforms to market your business.

Copywriting & Proofreading

Make sure you’re giving the right message! Our experienced in-house Copywriting and Proofreading team will help your copy stand out from the crowd.

Events & Exhibitions

We can book, design, produce, install, coordinate, and even fully staff and manage your event or exhibition needs both in the UK or abroad.

Shops & Sales Suites

First impressions count! We create optimal sales settings, including all design and installation, to display your product or business to potential customers.

Print Expertise

With vast experience in the print industry, we can advise on the best materials, processes, finishes and most cost-effective solutions to achieve wow factor results.

SEO & PPC

We can help you to improve your search engine ranking/ presence, stand out from the competition and attract new visitors with our in-depth SEO knowledge and PPC campaigns.

Social Media

We can help with social media growth, strategy, analytics or provide an all-inclusive platform management including design, captions, scheduling and posting.

Promotional Items

Your branding is more than just your logo; it’s a representation of your core values and identity. Having promotional products (such as pens, lanyards and more) increases your brand awareness, recognition and, therefore, sales.

Marketing Strategy

Any marketing activity needs to be planned and well-considered. We work closely with our clients to help create awareness, engagement and leads.

Apps

Our in-house team can design, build and publish apps on IOS or Android devices for both B2B and B2C. Incorporating the latest CGI and Virtual Reality technology.

PLAY OUR CROSSWORD

As part of our St George’s Day celebrations, we thought we’d share a rather British crossword – enjoy!

Down

1. The RMS Titanic set sail from here on 10th April 1912

4. The ______ Tower is the official name for Big Ben

6. What is the name of the character played by Colin Firth in the Bridget Jones movies?

8. What is the surname of singer Adele?

10. Who released the song Waterloo Sunset in 1967?

12. _____ Walpole was the first British Prime Minister

Across

2. The pasty is typically associated with which English county?

3. Which monarch bought the Osborne estate on the Isle of Wight?

5. Which Brontë sister wrote Wuthering Heights?

7. What is the longest-running TV series in the UK?

9. What is the name of the fictional sport created by JK Rowling in the Harry Potter novels?

11. Eton Mess usually consists of strawberries, whipped cream and...?

13. What word came after the Emmerdale title until 1989?