The Mo Bros here at RJ are breathing a sigh of relief today, their faces are less itchy, but more chilly, as Movember has drawn to an end and we bid farewell to their menacing moustaches and grisly goatees.

A massive THANK YOU to everyone who donated to our Mo Bros’ campaign, you contributed £138 to help raise awareness of prostate and testicular cancers, and ultimately save lives.

Mo-ve over Magnum!

The air is filled with testosterone at RJDA, as this month we’re shunning our shavers, binning our beard trimmers and relegating our razors for MoVember!

The campaign has been helping to raise awareness of prostate and testicular cancer since 2003, and Mo-Bros around the world have so far raised £106million.

Despite the precision air-brushing skills of our design studio, none of these ‘taches have been digitally enhanced… and I’m sure you’ll agree our Mo Bros can give the likes of Magnum PI, Hercules Poirot and Charles Bronson a run for their mo-ney, so please show your support and click to donate to this worthy cause.

http://uk.movember.com/donate/team-details/id/336894/searchTerm/RJ+Moustache+Associates

Every year Ecobuild attracts more & more visitors and for Stancliffe Stone this years event at ExCel proved no exception.

The combination of careful planning, and the launch of a new range of tactile marketing collateral has given Stancliffe an edge within the stone industry, something which Marketing and Communications Manager, Beverley Hill reflects on with a great deal of positivity.

“Working closely with RJDA’s creative team our Box of Stone branding was born”

“Packaging and distributing natural stone samples can present its own unique challenges. RJDA’s creative team, through their expertise and sheer perseverance delivered a winning formula.

The box of stone brand is both practical and versatile and has proved an overwhelming success.”

Understanding and communicating the essence of a fledgling business is the key to successful branding, none more so when the positioning required is one of a high-quality, sophisticated look and feel.

When a touch of class was required for Chesterfield based Klasse Vibe and Klasse Spa for their mind, body and well being business rebrand, RJDA distinguished themselves from the competition by delivering the complete marketing solution.

A new suite of logos and the launch of 2 newly created websites will herald a much improved web user experience, utilising social media feeds, data capture, and customised Google maps.

Both sites have been built with valid HTML/CSS techniques and significant improvements to the content have also been made through using the latest SEO-friendly design techniques.

View our web design portfolio.

The race is on for this years RJDA annual staff charity event – The British 10k London run.

Up to 10 RJDA staff members, 25,000 runners and 40,000 spectators will be assembled along part of the route used for next years 2012 Olympic Marathon.

Join the RJDA team on the start line at Hyde Park corner on July 10th at 09:35 as the race winds its way past London Eye, Big Ben, Downing Street and other famous London landmarks.

Confirmed RJDA race goers as of going to press include Andy, Ross, Lee & Studio Manager Chris Reynolds aka Rocket Renner the road race veteran.

Will Chris’ knee hold, Billy’s stag weekend materialise or Lee’s ankle actually mend in time to even start training?

Please help us to help our chosen charities, as always your donations are always very gratefully received.

When RJDA were briefed on their latest web based assignment it certainly whet the appetite of RJDA’s multimedia team, Matt Underwood & Kat Wesley. The task ahead was to create a content managed, database driven, interactive map for Balfour Beatty Rail to infinitely link locations across a range of group companies.

Six months on and after hours of development work the Property Locator is live and more than surpassing its original brief.

Speaking on the functionality the new site delivers, Corporate Services Property Manager Rob Harrison enthused: “The Balfour Beatty Rail locator map is a digital asset to centralise our estates portfolio across a range of group companies. It provides key information at the click of a button and can be frequently updated with the functionality to password protect sensitive data as and when required.”

Adding Value

“What has impressed me particularly working with RJDA’s multimedia team is their ability to add value and deliver over and above our original expectations. The locator map is hugely versatile and I am confident we now have a powerful resource in place to drive the different areas of the business forwards in the coming years.”

RJDA are delighted to announce their recent success in a 3 way creative pitch to Warrington based Environmental Protection Group (EPG) for a new logo, corporate ID and content managed website.

The combination of a clean design, classic typeface, revitalised colour palette and a bit of web WOW formed the basis of RJDA’s pitch winning proposition. EPG’s corporate rebrand will be finalised with the launch of their new look website www.epg-ltd.co.uk, which goes live later this month complete with a content managed news section.

The pitch marks the second success in as many months for RJDA, following the East Midlands Agencies appointment to manage the marketing and PR activity for Carbon Composites Manufacturer Atlas Composites.

Following the hugely successful launch of www.idealheating.com earlier in the year who else would Hull based Ideal Commercial turn to redevelop their B2B website rebrand than RJDA – particularly after the aforementioned website ranked no 1 with Google after months of Organic Search Engine Optimisation (Organic SEO) by the RJ-DA team.

The start of August heralds a new beginning for www.idealcommercialheating.com.

The SEO friendly site has been redeveloped with a CMS system, database driven product search tool and social media widgets.

The Ability to register warranty and request project quotation online adds to the browsing experience and there are further plans to include a servicing and training DVD over the coming months.

“It’s not everyday we finish such a big project with such lavish praise”, enthused Web Development Manager Matt Underwood, referring to the thumbs up received from Tom Anderton, Marketing & Product Manager for Ideal Commercial.

“Thanks so much for all your hard work on our new website. RJDA’s technical expertise was only superseded by their friendliness, openness and willingness to make all the amends needed. I truly believe this is one of the best websites of it’s type in the B2B sector and I’m extremely proud to be associated with it.” enthused Tom.

Click here to view the new www.idealcommercialheating.com website.

Click here to find out more about RJDA’s web design services.

Sunday 25th July at 15:26 signalled the end of a tantalising wait for RJDA’s skydiving quintet.

The moment had come for Andy, Ben, Chris, Lee & Ross to finally climb aboard Langar Airways, a true no frills airline, destination 13,000 feet with no seats or landing card!

It was time to put up or shut up and it seems most of the team, notably Rocket Renner, did just that. With barely a word spoken the in flight entertainment was severely lacking and the required altitude was reached all too quickly.

A tap of the shoulder and with rolla shutter doors up there was no backing out now…awaiting our Guys in the Skies the first part of their jump, a 45 sec, 120 mph adrenaline fuelled freefall. Gasping for breath, pulses racing and with ice particles in their beards from a band of thick grey cloud (well Ross at least!) the first 7,000 feet was negotiated with dignity mostly still intact.

With parachutes safely deployed things got a little more sedate and the majority of the team (sorry Renner you did look to be suffering there) could savour the remainder of the experience as they wound their way down over the Nottinghamshire countryside.

With feet firmly back on solid ground the Guys in the Skies would like to say a massive thank you to all of you who have pledged your support and we hope the pictures were worth it.

We’re all agreed Skydiving was an awesome experience but we still have a way to go to hit our sponsorship target of £2,000.

If you haven’t already it’s not too late to sponsor the team…

http://www.justgiving.com/RJDAskydive

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Fast, furious and adrenalin filled…

…that was the team at RJDA last week when they hit the race track for an unforgettable go kart racing experience!

Fast karts, hairpin bends and super speeds were the order of the evening as the five teams battled for pole position.

The Green Team kicked off and Digi operator Phil ‘Schumacher’ performed an excellent overtaking maneuver totally taking out Rocket Renner from the Blue Team, leaving Renner in a top class temper which brought the first crash of the night followed by the first black flag of the evening!

But it was game on and the track roared as Ross sped round in the fastest time of the day, an impressive 24.4 seconds.

Guess who won??

The Boss and his team mates Luke, John & Zac!

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RJDA never do anything by halves and on 8^th June we celebrated our 10^th birthday with the biggest all day party we’ve ever hosted.

Clients large and small, old and new, potential clients, local businesses, DNCC members, marketing Derby bond holders, suppliers, friends and the team at Rj joined the party to celebrate a DECADE IN DESIGN.

We kicked off bright & early at 8am by hosting a DNCC breakfast meeting. Visitors were given a tour of the print & production facilities, followed by barbequed bacon & sausage cobs out on our balcony overlooking the golf course. Luckily it’s a covered area so we were protected from the onslaught of the summer rain!

Visitors poured in all day long to join the celebrations, taste the delights from the BBQ and join in the fun, games and competitions in true party style. The skalextric racing challenge with a top gear style leader board was the most popular and a remote controlled car delivery challenge tested the driving skills of our visitors. But it was the old photographs of our team at 10 years of age that provided the best entertainment!

Our welcome plasma screen in reception showcased video footage from our recently launched Creative Sauce Competition and a team building Go Karting evening from last week with commentary by Murray Walker!

Everyone left the party with their own little black party bag filled with goodies and we were left to toast Rob and eat cake!

This week we helped Ross to celebrate his birthday – with a drum roll and a cake!

Ross is a designer in our studio of 10 creative’s and has been with RJDA since leaving Derby University 4 years ago.

His lively personality and imaginative flair make him popular with both clients and work colleagues alike and he frequently uses the drum kit in the corner of the studio to help let off steam after pursuing tight studio deadlines!

Happy Birthday Ross!

Trusted to deliver just so happens to be the trademark for Babcock International Group and RJDA have taken another step to achieving precisely that with the recent delivery of a range of eye catching exhibition collateral for the Annesley based Networks Division.

Babcock is sponsoring the Technology Zone at the B2B Spring 10 exhibition at Norwich City Football Club as part of their strategy to bring broadband connectivity and internet enabled solutions to towns and rural environments, such as Norfolk.  Babcock has been working with Norwich and Norfolk based digital services application and solution providers to develop new opportunities and services for the business community as well as looking to enhance tourism, retail and local community services through web based hand held devices.

“The first stage of this next generation network is scheduled to be live in summer and will be the first step in ensuring that Norwich is at the forefront of Digital Britain.” commented Chris Turner Executive Director for Strategy and Business Development.

Commenting on RJDA’s involvement Marketing & Communications Manager Emma Attwood added “”RJDA completed the design and print of Babcock’s B2B exhibition collateral well within the timescale agreed and were extremely efficient in responding to last minute changes.  The finished designs were exactly as desired and the quality of the collateral produced was of the usual high standards.  Myself and the Next Generation Networks team are delighted with the end products and would like to thank the RJDA team for their continued efforts”.

That was the cry from ACDC UK – and of course we have done!

Help for Heroes raises funds for the wounded in Britains current conflicts……….

“It’s about the blokes, our men and women of the Armed Forces. It’s about Derek, a rugby player who has lost both his legs, it’s about Carl whose jaw is wired up so he has been drinking through a straw. It’s about Richard who was handed a mobile phone as he lay on the stretcher so he could say goodbye to his wife. It’s about Ben, it’s about Steven and Andy and Mark, it’s about them all. They are just blokes but they are our blokes; they are our heroes. We want to help our heroes.”

And so do we – which is why RJDA have designed and printed all of the leaflets, flyers and outdoor banners required to advertise this great event free of charge and wish everyone involved good luck in their fundraising event. If you would like to donate to this wonderful charity you can do at www.helpforheroes.org.uk/donations.html

February 18th saw Nottingham’s East Midlands Conference Centre play host to Balfour Beatty Rail Safety Challenge Awards 2010.

The annual awards ceremony is a key date in the calendar for Balfour Beatty Rail Operating Companies in recognising and rewarding innovative and creative safety applications across its businesses. The Safety Challenge Awards form an integral part of a group wide goal to make safety personal and achieve Zero Harm by 2012 – values which are now firmly rooted in the mind of RJDA Director Lee Day.

Safety Challenge Awards Event Organisers Sue Sawyer & John Tidyman commented “RJDA have earned a much deserved reputation within Balfour Beatty Rail companies for delivering quality Zero Harm marketing collateral on time, every time, and perhaps more importantly by taking the time to understand the importance of our initiative and the valuable positive impact it is having on all Balfour Beatty stakeholders. RJDA’s work ethic is very much a combination of going the extra mile, taking the time in making things personal which is why RJDA continue to secure referrals and repeat business from key decision makers within Balfour Beatty Rail.”

“On behalf of Balfour Beatty Rail we would both like to say thank you to RJDA for all of their help, ideas, effort and support over the Safety Challenge Awards planning and preparation period. The attendees were extremely impressed with the Zero Harm pillars and overall branding of the conference and I would have no hesitation recommending RJDA.”

Fast forward a few months and a select few dare devils amongst the RJDA team will be free falling at 120 mph, 10,000 feet above the Nottinghamshire countryside.

Lee Day, Chris Reynolds, Andy Gilmore, Ross Ballinger and Ben Edwards are our high flyers that have chosen to stand at the edge of an open doorway in an aircraft flying at 10,000 feet with the noise of the wind and the engines ringing in their ears with only the outline of distant fields below. They will then lean forward out of that doorway and fall forwards into the peace and quiet of the clouds, diving down through the air free falling at over 120 miles per hour. Their canopies will then open and they will begin their descent steering themselves back down to the ground below ………. Well, that’s the plan!

For the guys to head to the skies we need your help! Our aim is to raise £2,000 for the national road safety charity BRAKE that campaigns for zero deaths on our roads.

Every week 49 people are killed on Uk roads. Traffic is the biggest killer of 15-24 year-olds, and the third biggest killer of children aged 5-14, after cancer and diseases of the nervous system.

Please help us to help this worthwhile charity. Its very quick and easy to do – Just log onto http://www.justgiving.com/RJDAskydive - your donation will be very gratefully received.

Thanks!

RJDA teamed up with Globalkey Translations for a day with a difference at Loughborough University’s Holywell Park Conference Centre recently.

Russia Day was organised and hosted by East Midlands UK Trade and Investment (uktiem) to showcase Russian culture, business trends and openings and provided the perfect opportunity for companies hoping to tap into one of the worlds fastest growing markets.

A wealth of industry experts and guest speakers were on hand to deliver workshops and advice to companies across many sectors such as transport, energy, engineering, automotive, media and pharmaceutical.

Working in partnership with a linguistic professional certainly broadens RJDA’s offer and Russia Day delegates were impressed by the fact that RJDA can now combine translation with marketing collateral and web solutions to provide multilingual localised marketing material.

The start of February signals the launch of Creative Sauce, an exciting new design competition bringing together RJDA’s creative professionals with road safety charity Brake and the burgeoning talent from the regions 4 main universities.

Creative Sauce is a vision for student opportunities and an opportunity for RJDA’s graduates to give something back to their university roots according to Studio Manager Chris Reynolds who will be appraising portfolios of the competitions 5 best entrants.

Encouraged by its already successful graduate recruitment program Chris envisages Creative Sauce as a fantastic opportunity for students to showcase their design potential to one of the East Midlands fastest growing and most successful agencies.

This years inaugural competition will see RJDA team up Road Safety Charity Brake to deliver a brief for “WATCH OUT THERE’S A KID ABOUT! A NATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR CHILD ROAD SAFETY.”

Check out all the entries on our new website www.mycreativesauce.co.uk to see who is in the running to win the 21″ Imac first prize and a host of runner up prizes.

RJDA have began the new decade in spectacular fashion with the announcement that they have made the shortlist for Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire Chamber Business Of The Year 2010 Award.

The event is the showcase for the county’s most talented entrepreneurs, executives and successful business models and provides a widely recognised mark of quality. For those lucky enough to make the awards night there is a platform to celebrate their achievements before an audience of peers and prospective customers.

This years event will take place on Friday 26th February 2010 at Derby College’s newly opened Roundhouse site – a venue the RJDA team are all too familiar with having already worked on the external branding for the site.

The Awards are the liveliest and longest established in the area and the evening promises to be a glittering occasion compéred by a well known figure.

Only the winners will be entitled to proudly display the award emblem on their stationery, packaging and advertising, so RJDA staff wait with eager anticipation and their digital and litho presses at the ready for a possible stationery reprint!

RJDA have added yet another feather to their cap by recently qualifying with flying colours to become members of RAR (Recommended Agency Register)

RAR work to identify, qualify and evaluate companies in the marketing sector and RJDA were rated ‘excellent’ gaining 85% in client surveys.

RAR realise the importance of helping company’s source, select and engage the right marketing supplier so their system enable clients to make an informed and efficient choice of agency by viewing key data such as where the company are located, what their skills areas lie and their levels of customer satisfaction.

So if you are looking at reviewing your digital marketing, thinking of adding Direct Mail to your marketing activities, searching for a PR strategy, planning a new integrated campaign or just want to have a fresh look at your creative options you now know you’ve definitely come to the right place!