Ian Thompson, founder of Thompson Brand Partners gave a lecture about design branding and business. He started freelancing in 1984 but decided to start up a business in the 1990's as he found people who weren't as good as him were becoming more successful.
He is now Head of the DBA - Design Business Association. DBA attempts to tell companies how important design is to them.
Ian spoke about the importance of brand guidelines which need to be worked to show criteria, personality and branding. The objective is to make the client interested. He showed examples of how design can drive sales which included the recent Durex re-design which increased sales 10% in it's first year. This is huge for a company that is already the market leader. Their sub-brand Durex Play became a £40 million brand in 2 years and there was a 290% sales increase it it's second year which is phenomenal by anyones standards.
He then went onto speak about what employers are looking for. This included a desire to learn, freshness, skills, what you can bring to them, willingness to work and to do the boring stuff.
Also to be able to talk about other things in the world outside of design. He sees Wally Olins as a forerunner in branding and feels that a creative project will get peoples attention. He thinks people should ask questions aswell as delivering good work work which gets results. With this you will win. He finally said Quality is the best business plan.
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