Singing the praises here of a very modest client who has quietly been on a mission these past three years to help patients with debilitating conditions and the ordinary public alike. I can report that these past few weeks James Leinhardt CEO of Levitex has donated more than 100 pressure relieving pillows to North West NHS Hospitals which has given immediate benefits to ICU Covid-19 patients. Levitex Medical Director, Dr Ilan Lieberman is tackling the virus head-on after re-joining ICU staff on the front line at Wythenshawe Hospital.

Pillows are playing an important role across the UK right now because patients that are struggling to breathe need to be put into the prone position, which is only achieved with the support of pillows. They help to position the patients in a way that promotes easier breathing whilst still considering pressure build up and stability for the patient. One patient saw an improvement of oxygen saturation levels from less than 80 (dire straits) to plus 90 (within the normal measurement) in just five minutes of prone positioning.

Latitude’s marketing involvement started in 2018, initially as a 6 month project to deliver a brand, website, content and social media – we are now in year two, working month in month out as a trusted partner and the story is evolving and growing. We previously documented on Linkedin the top 5% successful Kickstarter campaign completed last October and ‘Sleep for Sport’ initiative engaging with Sale Sharks, Surrey County Cricket Club, Preston North End, paralympic athletes to name but a few. We feel privileged to become part of the family when we’re so involved in the progress of a business and delighted to call our clients friends.

Latitude Studios help Manchester Science Park start-up – Levitex – grow from initial brand to Kickstarter Success

Delighted to be invited to celebrate the opening of our clients Walmsley Wilkinson Associates new offices this morning. The official ribbon was cut by the CEO of Blackburn Rovers, Steve Waggott. Linda Walmsley and Taryn Wilkinson formed the specialist recruitment business last year and are fast approaching their first anniversary. Latitude completed the branding, website creation and other marketing material for the new business. They are delightful to work with and we wish them our very best for continued success.

And not just any old award but a BAFTA no less. Two years ago we designed the branding and packaging for a range of Make-up artist’s products, OSCA. The brainchild of industry MUA’s Val Ackrill and Beverley Binda, who’s years of working on TV and film sets had led them to devise a range of products specifically for make-up artists. Belinda was key make-up artist on the film ‘The Favourite’ responsible for Olivia Coleman’s appearance. Her work was recognised this last week with a BAFTA for Best Hair and Makeup. Our warmest congratulations to her.

Latitude are delighted to continue their support of the Lady Taverners charity, part of the Lords Taverners, by supplying design work free of charge. Lords and Lady Taverners are famous for their green minibuses and sensory rooms , which are supplied to specialist schools up and down the country; giving mentally and physically challenged children and young adults a sporting chance.

We are delighted to unveil the first ‘Collection box’ which will be rolled out initially by the Lancashire branch.

Latitude are working internationally with the completion of a marketing project for clients based in Sydney, Australia. The task was to create a new brand for ellect, a global networking platform with gender equality. An aspect of the project was to write and create a Pitch Deck for Investment and full roll out for stationery, website, social media, and literature going forward. One challenge was to encapsulate in a strap-line or one sentence the complex concept of gender equality, supporting women in business and companies who want to work ethically with gender balance whilst awarding contracts. The strap-line EQUALITY MEANS BUSINESS proved perfect.

Our branding solution focused on the many elements and individuals coming together as a whole and had associations with Ikigai, the Japanese concept that roughly translates to the “reason for being.” The choice of purple reflects wealth, dignity, peace and ambition. The selected brand was the first presentation shown and the supporting design assets again were approved without change.

It’s not every day you get lucky enough to photograph someone’s pride and joy, and what a beauty this one was. We’ll struggle to shoot anything more iconic than this Vespa. In the end it was a prop for a wider shoot but we captured some cameos to send to the owner whilst we were at it.

Delighted to be asked into Oakhill School, Whalley to talk to the pupils about a career in Design & Marketing. We make it a priority to offer pupils from all the local schools an opportunity to have a weeks work experience at Latitude, which can be significant in making that difficult decision of which career to follow.

A recent instruction by the owner of a Funeral Directors presented an unusual marketing enquiry recently. Lianna Champ, Director of Champ Funeral Services, needed a Training Manual to accompany a Seminar and potential Lecturer tour aimed at helping carers in Care Homes tackle difficult conversations around grief and loss.

Lianna has just published her own book entitled, ‘How to Grieve like a Champ’ a truly valuable book covering the many aspects of living and coping with grief and loss. Springhill Care Homes were so impressed by the book they called on Lianna’s expertise to help and invest in their teams’ development. Latitude translated the book into a Training Manual and Powerpoint presentation, editing the original book and applying to this new audience. The manual acted as a ‘take-home workbook’ and included areas for personal observations, timelines and notes.

The whole project was thought provoking and working with Lianna and Carl inspiring.

Between 25th July and 8th August I embarked on a 12 day business mentoring trip, entitled ‘I Ching Adventure’ to China and Japan, taking in the breathtaking cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Kyoto and Tokyo.

It all started on 1st February 2018 when I attended an Entrepreneur Institute seminar, hosted by international business mentor Roger James Hamilton. That was the most inspirational day and I signed up to a year of business mentoring. Through regular webinars to Singapore, conventions in London and the highlight trip to Asia, I have absorbed a wealth of knowledge, re-thought many aspects of business, new approaches, markets and of course extended by business contacts globally.  Crucially, it is providing ‘continuous professional development’ for the strategic marketing advice we deliver to clients, providing tried and tested methodologies.

The’I Ching’ aspect that underpinned the trip, also known as the Classic of Changes or Book of Changes, is an ancient Chinese text and the oldest of the Chinese classics. The I Ching is an influential text read throughout the world, providing inspiration to the worlds of religion, psychoanalysis, business, literature, and art. Roger Hamilton has created his own business application of I Ching through his programme Wealth Dynamics and Vector cards.

Throughout the trip the Eastern approach to business was examined and we met many entrepreneurs who have created exponential businesses. In Shanghai, the fastest growing city in the world, we met the founder of Co Work whose business is only 3 years old but has already created 20 co-working spaces. In Kyoto we met Ikko Kobayashi, who has built 500 successful businesses. His seminar ‘Core Business Spirit of Japan – the secrets of never ending prosperity’gave fascinating insights. Whether it was the Samurai, Ninja, Kung Fu, Tai Chi or business master that we met, the universal answer of all was that the power lies within and the key is to slow down to speed up.

In addition to the business aspect and incredible sights, I had the privilege of meeting 65 entrepreneurs from all over the globe and listen to their business approaches and experiences. I know have friends from Australia, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa and Seattle and the wider community on line have the view that if you need to ask for help, advice or business it’s a given!

Sarah Clemson

Never ones really to jump on a sporting success bandwagon, this time we’re making an exception. One of our directors, Andy, has live next door to Para-swimmer Tom Hamer for the last 10 years. So he’s been in prime position to help give advice to Tom as his international career has flourished. This week Tom broke the 200m freestyle world record on his way to winning a Gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Australia. Andy has been responsible for his social media up until recently when Tom, now 19, has been confident in taking responsibility himself.  It’s been great fun in the last 24 hours watching the hundreds of tweets and mentions flood in. We now need to update the website we built for Tom at www.tomhamer.co.uk – everytime he wins or breaks a record it goes out of date!

Every year we organise a Charity Golf Day on behalf of our long standing client – Trevor Dawson in aid of Blackburn Youth Zone. Whenever the event falls on a year with one of the major football tournaments they ask us to produce a wallchart as a giveaway. This year with the World Cup taking place in Russia we based the theme on Russian Constructivism style graphic design from the 1920s and 30s. They even allowed us to adapt their logo, so in return we featured one of Blackburn’s favourite sons Alan Shearer.

Latitude were delighted to market the Pro Manchester ‘Trailblazing Technology Conference’ held at the Lowry Hotel, Manchester on Friday 23rd March, 2018.

200 delegates attended the event on the future impact of AI and Tech on the city. Latitude created the graphics and artwork for the stage screen display, folders and brochure. We look forward to the next events we shall be working on, the Annual Dinner and Big Social Media Conference.

Having a gallery in your studio means we come into contact with creative people on a daily basis. We change the artwork in the gallery every two months so over the last four to five years we have met many of the North Wests best professional artists. One of the very best in our opinion is Oldham born artist Chris Cyprus. We’ve struck up a good friendship with Chris and have enjoyed his rise in fame culminating in a recent appearance on the BBC One Show. He has completed a series of 250 paintings depicting the sodium lights of the North of England at dusk. We heard he was hoping to produce a book to chronicle his 10 year body of work and jumped at the chance to design and help publish it. Encased in a solid blue box with the title picked out by the light reflecting off a spot UV, this 120 page book turned into a labour of love for both of us.

You can order a limited edition copy from his website or if you ask Andy nicely enough he’ll bring you his signed copy to show off.