Every business has its own story. Over the next six weeks, we’ll be looking at some of the inspirational, lucky and humorous stories of the world’s best known brands. First up: Volkswagen.

Before 1959, Volkswagen had had a chequered history, tainted by associations with Hitler, and not exactly loved by consumers outside Germany.

In 1950s America, car ads were all about horsepower, glory, the American Dream. How would a small, ugly (or cute) German car named after an insect, penetrate the market?

A small New York agency called Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB) had the answer: a series of simple, witty press ads that completely undermined conventional automotive advertising and how consumers thought about cars.

Headlines such as ‘Live Below Your Means’ and ‘Think Small’ introduced the car buying public to a new way of looking at vehicles. DDB’s strategy was not to sell the brand to an uninterested audience, but to create a loyal following of brand ambassadors who would disseminate messages of economy, reliability and sound engineering which were implied (never stated) in the ads.

The Beetle campaign spawned a whole series of iconic ads, all bearing the humorous, self-mocking tone of voice, and helped VW become the most popular foreign car brand in the US through the 1960s.

At Stratton Craig, we’re professional storytellers. We can help you tell your story, and win new affection for your brand among your target market.

To find out more about what we can do for you, please call us on 0117 937 1383, email storytelling@strattoncraig.co.uk or visit www.strattoncraig.co.uk.

Stratton Craig has made it into the South West’s Top 100 Creative Companies league table.

The league table, published in May, is the first annual roundup of all the leading TV, digital, marketing, design, PR, publishing and animation companies across the region.

Companies are judged on a number of criteria such as turnover, but also best new business wins and best staff take-on.

Stratton Craig has won some major projects in the past year, including a complete web overhaul for British Airways Holidays, a quarterly newsletter for hotel firm Accor, and a recruitment site for KPMG Brazil.

But the best new business win for Stratton Craig was to write the annual report for BG Group, a leading player in the global energy market. In the last year Stratton Craig has also recruited Nigel Cole, formerly BBC1’s first ever Creative Director and the ex-Creative Director of all BBC global channels.

This ranking is recognition of Stratton Craig’s ability to deliver great writing and world-class thinking to clients globally.

For more information about the South West Top 100 Creative Companies visit www.swtop100.co.uk.

To find out how good copy from Stratton Craig could take your business forward, visit www.strattoncraig.co.uk, call 0117 937 1383 or email copy@strattoncraig.co.uk.

LawNet is choosing to maintain its customer communications when others are scaling it down, and continuing to use Stratton Craig for all their editorial responsibilities.

Stratton Craig has worked with LawNet, the UK’s leading network of independent legal practices, for over 10 years. This long-term relationship ensures Stratton Craig understands exactly what LawNet needs, and delivers it every time.

LawNet relies on Stratton Craig to provide constant writing support, including various generations of their website and a monthly press release service.

Stratton Craig is currently delivering a complete editorial service for their biennial Business First magazine and quarterly Right Focus newsletter, including researching and writing all the articles.

These publications give LawNet’s member firms regular client collateral that exceeds in scope and quality that of the largest international practices.

“One of the best things about working with Stratton Craig is their self-starter mentality. They’re constantly coming up with new ideas for articles and press releases. Add to that the consistently high quality of their work, and you have a winning serviceâ€� said George Coombes, Marketing & Research Executive, LawNet.

To find out how good copy from Stratton Craig could take your business forward, visit www.strattoncraig.co.uk, call 0117 937 1383 or email copy@strattoncraig.co.uk.

Once upon a time there was a very big company…

When you hear the term ‘storytelling’, you may conjure up thoughts of The Wizard of Oz or Narnia. But storytelling isn’t restricted to fiction, and is an essential part of corporate communications.

The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) has highlighted the need for corporate reports to return to a more narrative and simpler state. This comes as 93% of its members believe that reports have become more complex.

As well as their complexity, annual reports are getting longer. Deloitte reports that the average report is now 96 pages in length – an increase of over a third since 2005.

This isn’t news. We understand the need for a clear and concise narrative, and have been implementing this for the past 22 years. We’ve recently helped a number of organisations to tell their story including the BG Group, NS&I, the London Development Agency and HBOS.

Whatever your company’s journey, Stratton Craig has the expertise and knowledge to identify your audience, tone of voice and businesses goals, and tell your story in the best and most efficient way possible.

For more information on how Stratton Craig can help tell your business’s story, contact Harriette Hobbs, Director, on 0117 937 1383 or email harriette@strattoncraig.co.uk.

…and they all communicated happily ever after!

How do you turn a good brand into a world-class asset?

Language is absolutely central to how people – both customers and staff – experience a brand.

Not everyone has the budget to outsource all the writing for their brand, so Stratton Craig has launched a new service to help clients harness the real value of words and ensure consistency in-house.

Based on 20 years’ writing experience with some of the world’s best brands, Groundworking is Stratton Craig’s unique tone of voice and brand expression process. It gives clients a solid platform on which to build a consistent style and tone for all communications, regardless of who produces them.

By identifying and establishing rules for how clients use language, we can help clients ensure that any new copywriting aligns with their brand values.

There are two stages to the Groundworking process:

1. Review current communications and align it to agreed brand guidelines. Identify who writes material within the organisation and provide guidance on key copy issues going forward.

1. Develop your own tone of voice using agreed brand values and guidelines as the foundation. A lexicon of brand language will be produced and examples of do’s and don’ts provided.

Stratton Craig can also offer copywriting training workshops to help clients implement the results of Groundworking across the business and the spectrum of media.

To find out how Groundworking could benefit your business, call Stratton Craig on 0117 937 1383 or email harriette@strattoncraig.co.uk

International Business Wales (IBW) has again chosen Stratton Craig to assist with its communications to the growing Sustainable Technologies sector.

IBW asked Stratton Craig to write copy for its second e-newsletter, which contains news and updates on developments in industry and policy to stakeholders across the sector.

The e-newsletter features eight stories about important topics such as the Severn estuary tidal energy consultation, a solar cell technology collaboration between Dyesol and Corus, and the approval of the world’s second biggest wind farm for the North Wales coast. It also included a story on the Rosenblatt New Energy Awards, in which IBW sponsored a category, and profiles of four companies with bases in Wales that were shortlisted.

Stratton Craig’s writers handled all the research and copywriting for the e-newsletter, from interviewing contacts supplied by the client, to writing the draft stories, obtaining sign-off from all stakeholders, and even sourcing images to accompany the stories.

Stratton Craig has also previously worked with the Sustainable Technologies sector marketing team on a suite of renewable energy brochures and web projects.

To find out how good copy from Stratton Craig could take your business forward, contact Harriette Hobbs on 0117 9371 383 or harriette@strattoncraig.co.uk.