Delightful touches and brand continuity for all in-house presentations
Using delightful touches and visual continuity to leverage a company above their competitors and increase memorability.
Tulchan was a privately owned, medium sized strategic financial and corporate advisory firm with offices in London and Singapore (in January 2023 it was purchased by CVC Group and merged with it’s US PR firm Teneo. It’s was one of the top advisory firms in the country with a portfolio of FTSE 100, FTSE 250 and privately owned companies and trade bodies.
I managed the design department and was responsible for the delivery of multiple presentations, brand development and brand nurturing. During the 4.5 years I worked there I delivered c.260 presentations on time, every time, meeting the high expectations required by the Partners.
Background
When I joined Tulchan were loosing pitches due to their out-dated, poorly designed documents and a reluctance to present digitally. Rudimentary documents were formatted in Adobe Indesign using a dated template and without the skill of a Graphic Designer
I was tasked with improving their pitch success rate through the use of great design. It was also clear that as each pitch performance had a level of high pressure and time sensitivity to it, so efficiency and accuracy from the studio was key to a smooth and calm process
We moved the presentation software from Adobe Indesign to Powerpoint – removing a skills bottleneck in the company and also proved very fortuitous time wise, as we did this just before the Covid lock-downs
The software switch made the process even more agile, as more people could use Powerpoint and amends could be made much later than a printed document
By delivering creative, impactful designs and a streamlined design process (good software knowledge, teamwork and skills training of colleagues plus efficient use of master templates for core credentials). Delivered on time, every time, Tulchan started to win more pitches.
The problem
In a competitive world, especially a pitch process how do you make yourself memorable?
How do you create high-end bespoke assets, quickly and easily for a team to put together – nothing that adds to the pressure.
The parameters: colour-calibrated laser printers available in-house; limited storage; wiro-binding machine (glue binder machine planned); big budgets; premium quality finish
The solutions
Delight: Personalised envelopes
Contains a bound version of the presentation. As this then feels like more of a keepsake, it reduces the chance of the attendee reading the presentation in their hands, rather than watching the presenter.
Continuity: The presentations
Continuity of visual branding and company offering was very important as was using the most recent version of the credentials pages (tricky to manage with multiple people creating presentations and a habit of using old presentations as a base for new ones!).
Presentations were either in-house branded or styled in the tone-of-voice of the brand / company holding the pitch process.
Components and parameters: Covers were pre-printed 2 x colour litho print onto heavy board; Presentations were wiro bound (ugly but very limited on options – copper wiro used as per brand guidelines); we were in the process of purchasing a glue binding machine when Covid hit (much smarter). Internal pages were printed on the in-house laser printers.
We also created bound books by sending artwork out to external printers – more pressured to deliver final book in time to make print deadlines.
Memorability: The leave-behinds
A little keepsake. An A5 booklet with an overview of the company offering, and biographies of the team.
If we had time; printed externally, on uncoated paper. No time; printed internally using the grumpy booklet function on the in-house laser printer. Was working towards building a supply of pre-printed board covers when Covid hit.
