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What the
DBA does for me:
N1
Creative
Home
Stocks
Taylor Benson
Rodd
Industrial Design
What DBA
training did for me:
The
Workshop
Wire
Design
Ralph
CIPD
What the
DBA Design Effectiveness Awards did for me:
Elmwood
Williams
Murray Hamm
Wolff
Olins
Felton
Communication
What
the DBA does for me
N1
Creative
Joining the DBA has been one of the best spent 5 minutes of
the last couple of years. I’ve always believed firmly
in working together in an industry but had struggled to find
the right body for us. The DBA was a great match for N1 and
we find that the DBA’s key mission of helping to professionalise
the industry and drive up the standards of professionalism
and consultancy behaviour really match what we’re trying
to do at N1.
The quality of DBA training and business briefings have been
particularly good. Because the DBA only represents design
agencies, we’ve found the information and speakers really
match our needs well. We’ve been to several of the new
business briefings and each one has moved our business development
game onwards. Only last week we had a new member of staff
on Stage 1 of the DBA Professional Practice Programme and
it has proven to be a great grounding in the industry that
I’ve never seen on another course from anywhere else.
As well as training, we’ve made great use of the legal
advice service that the DBA has arranged with Humphreys Kirk
– they’ve been very generous with their time and
have helped us on a wide range of issues – from looking
at our standard terms and conditions, helping to understand
the implications of contracts we already have and even setting
up a new joint venture agreement with a partner.
Overall I think it’s really key that growing agencies
join the DBA, help make it stronger and play an active role.
It’s really important for our industry that we all work
together to promote professionalism in design both in terms
of delivery, management and procurement.
Glenn Elliott, MD, N1 Creative Ltd, London
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Home
We have been members of DBA since 1997 but since 2003 we have
seen enormous change!
At last the new team at DBA are organising events outside
of London. This started with a get together of the Bristol
area members towards the end of 2003. From that first meeting
several of us made some very interesting connections. I know
that two agencies got together and formed a strategic alliance
in terms of offering structural packaging and brand development
under one umbrella.
Our story, is even more intimate, bizarre and trusting. On
talking to Caroline Hagen at Reach we discovered that there
were some similarities in terms of business size, fees charged,
overhead costs, turnover, and ambition etc.
We were both paying external new business companies £2000+
a month for a sporadic and mostly sketchy service.
We had devised a plan. As full-time new business development
managers can be expensive, we decided to share an employee.
Matthew has been with us since September and works half the
week with Reach, then the rest of the time with us. It works,
mainly because the two businesses work in slightly different
disciplines of design, so we are not chasing the same clients.
Without DBA we would never had spoken let alone forged this
unusual link, thank you for making it possible.
Carol Whitworth, Creative Director, Home, Bristol
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Stocks Taylor Benson
Like everyone in a business environment I am interested in
return on investment. On becoming members of the DBA I had
to make sure we utilised the services available to ensure
value for money.
In the last year, the information we have gathered from the
diverse programme of DBA events includes investigating overseas
markets, assessing our public relations, freelancer agreements
and assessing the potential of a new work management system.
The performance ratios and various survey results have even
assisted our decision making for our business.
Perhaps one of the most understated benefits of membership
is the networking platform it provides. Sharing best working
practices with fellow members must surely give all design
consultancies the chance to raise standards for the industry
as a whole and help communicate its professionalism. Furthermore,
as a membership organisation we feel that through our participation
and involvement we can help shape the services offered to
fellow members and thereby the direction of the industry as
a whole.
We also gained a new client, Golden Wonder, via our presence
on DBA’s online directory. It has undoubtedly raised
our profile to potential clients who perhaps would not have
known about us.
And one final thought – in addition to a great return
on investment we also happen to find membership jolly good
fun!
Trevor Flannery, Stocks Taylor Benson, Leicester
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Rodd Industrial Design
Over the last couple of years, we have noticed a huge change
in the DBA. It now seems more active, vocal and keen to build
relationships with its members. As a result, we’ve become
aware of just how much it has to offer.
Initially, one of the advantages of the DBA was its organised
events enabling us to network with like-minded consultancies.
It’s one of the few opportunities we get to meet our
peers, build friendships and realise that we all face similar
obstacles.
Last year, we entered the member only DBA Design Challenge
and were one of five finalists with our design for a more
inclusive vacuum cleaner. As well as the eye-opening focus
group sessions and presentation events, we fostered strong
links with the Helen Hamlyn Research Centre. The Challenge
allowed us to expand our business horizons and, as an extra
bonus, we’ve received a lot of invaluable publicity.
More recently, we were one of ten consultancies chosen for
the DBA/NESTA Business Growth Initiative - a professional
training program that analyses your business and offers strategic
advice. The practical help sessions have been enormously beneficial
- if a little painful in their honesty - and have helped us
identify how to bridge the gap between where we are now and
where we want to be.
The DBA has a huge amount to offer, but it’s a two-way
effort. You really have to get stuck in and use its services
as much as possible; not only to justify the membership but
also to reap the rewards!
David Tree, Marketing & Business Development,
Rodd Industrial Design
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What
DBA training did for me
The Workshop
PP1 was really, really great. I loved it in fact! I think
it has made me a better Junior Project Manager. I was hoping
to receive training/guidance on a range of topics and my expectations
were greatly exceeded. The lecturers were fantastic and I
learnt so much - I have come back to work and been able to
put into practice so much That I learnt over the 4 days (Liz
Lydiate would be pleased to see my desk clear apart from the
'3 file rule'). As someone new to both project management
and design, the lectures on 'time managament', 'the client
perspective' and 'the design business and its commercial context'
were invaluable. The lecturers were wonderful - special mention
to Henry Lydiate who was so passionate and Jeremy Myerson
for confirming my belief that 'design does matter'! I feel
that I have benefited greatly from the course and as a result
I am more confident and productive at work!
All in all, PP1 was not only useful and enjoyable but real
value for money. I can't wait for PP2!
Mattie Lafferty, Junior Project Manager, The Workshop,
Sheffield
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Wire Design
I guess at Wire, we are like most other small design companies,
we loved designing and did what we had to on the business
side to keep us in beer. I looked at the DBA courses but immediately
acted like a tight designer and convinced myself that I pretty
much knew what I was doing. It wasn't until I 'd had another
day of grief with a client who didn't understand what we were
doing and didn't want to pay us much money that I decided
to give it a go.
It's hard to say where I benefited most. I reckon that I took
about two new memorable and practical things from just about
every course. I 'd won lots of pitches and done loads of presentations
over seven years and was really sceptical about the presentation
skills course. I didn't want to learn slick presentation tricks
and be turned into a big agency smarm ball. I was shocked
to learn that you could keep your integrity but present so
that clients completely understood you and your ideas. In
the next month, we went through three, big, difficult pitches
and walked away with all of them. It's massively helped with
presenting initial ideas too once the projects started. I'll
have to accept what Shan said 'good presenters are made and
not born.’
I hate finances and I switch off every time an accountant
starts talking but the simplicity and ideas behind the financial
planning and management courses have changed the way we operate
and monitor our pipeline and growth. The whole experience
has changed my approach to the design business. It's a revelation
to realise that you can get more creative control whilst making
more money. We've now agreed a direction for the company and
we'll be expanding into other areas and a new studio in the
next year and all without financial risk. We're even about
to do our first ever marketing campaign.'
John Corcoran, Wire Design, London
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Ralph
“As a Director working successfully on client pitches
and presentations over the last 15 years, I decided to invest
in the one day course to evaluate my presentation skills and
see if this was training our team should carry out.
As it turned out, I had wrongly presumed that experience,
self-belief and great creative were the key ingredients for
success. I was most impressed with the training provided and
particularly the attention to the physical presentation itself.
A must - especially for those who think they don't need it!”
Matt Button, Director, Ralph, Leeds
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CIPD
'The DBA Professional Practice Course was by far and away
the most relevant and useful course I have ever been on”
Chris Chatfield, Senior Graphic Designer, CIPD
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What
the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards did for us
Elmwood
“We’re
very proud of our ranking in the top three in the DBA Design
Effectiveness Awards League Table. The Awards are the global
benchmark of commercial effectiveness and we enter not just
for the sake of it, but because it gives our clients the proof
of quantifiable results they need.“
Johnathan
Sands, Chairman, Elmwood, Leeds
Williams
Murray Hamm
“Potential clients will queue up to work with a company
that has a few DBA Design Effectiveness Awards.”
Richard
Murray, director, Williams Murray Hamm, London
Wolff Olins
"We judge ourselves by the influence and impact on our
client's organisations. For us the DBA Design Effectiveness
Awards is an important scheme in terms of both exposure and
credibility for our business. Our success in the DBA Design
Effectiveness Awards over the years help us to underpin our
offer and reassures prospective clients that we can deliver
both in the excellence of our ideas but also in commercial
terms."
Steve Richards, Chief Operating Officer, Wolff Olins,
London
Felton Communication
There's no favouritism,
no subjectivity, no doubt with the DBA Design Effectiveness
Awards, just fact - the design solution worked. For smaller
agencies it's good to compete on a level playing field as
well as prove to clients that their work works.
Roger Felton, Managing Director, Felton Communication, London
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