CREATIVE LAUNCHPAD SHOWCASE 383 AT MCA MARKETING AWARDS

For several years now we’ve been meeting on and off with Creative Launchpad, a support service for the Creative Industries. As a Birmingham based advice service Creative Launchpad has helped the team at 383 both as freelancers (a couple of years ago) and now as a growing business. We we’re really please to find out that our company had been chosen as a case study for the service at this years MCA Marketing Awards.

Here’s a copy of the text provided by Creative Launchpad about the support we’ve been offered over the last few years…

Grand designs

John Newbold, Creative Director of up and coming design and new media agency 383 Project, is one of CLP’s many success stories. He first visited CLP in his final year of University after setting up his first Limited Company. CLP’s senior project manager David Roberts guided him through a Business Needs Analysis and helped him clarify where he wanted to take the company.

“My first meeting with Creative Launchpad gave me the skills set I needed to qualify what I could do in terms of Graphic Design with a solid understanding of the business side of the industry?” says John.

“Over the next 18 months I freelanced as a Graphic Designer and Art Director, working for clients across the West Midlands. At this time I was working alone. I found the advice I had been given by David, and the resulting points highlighted in the analysis report, an invaluable resource to help bring long term focus to my day to day career.”

CLP were also there to advise John on developing the next stage of his business plan as he teamed up with another graphic designer, Sukhi Dehal, to form 383 Project.

“Creative Launchpad were able to point us in the direction of funding sources, help us find suitable premises and give us the advice we needed to draw up cash flow forecasts to ensure that our ideas could be turned in to a financially viable company” says John.

Since taking those bold steps towards expansion, 383 Project has gone from strength to strength, winning design contracts with leading brands such as Channel 4 and Cobra Beer. In 2006 their designs featured on over 12 million Sprite cans after they won the “Urban Creations” competition and their work has been published in the prestigious D&AD Annual and in Luerzers Archive for Outstanding Advertising.

More recently they were named in Channel 4′s Creative Class for 2006/07 and are currently recruiting a Business Development Manager to help secure further growth.

To find out more about Creative Launchpad, ‘click here’