Ideas Made Well

Rodney Fitch CBE founded Fitch in 1972. During a distinguished career, spanning nearly forty years, Fitch has also been active in the evolution of design education and the arts. Indeed when social historians analyse the past 20 years they will be unable to ignore Rodney Fitch; with Sir Terence Conran, he will be acknowledged as a chief architect of the retailing revolution.

Founder and chairman of Fitch-RS, the design group, he introduced the high street to stripped wood, chrome, glass and colour co-ordinates. Leading retailers to have benefited from being “Fitched” include Asda, Woolworths, Ryman, Top Shop, Debenhams and Boots. Such is his record for boosting sales through design that non-shopkeepers have also come knocking at his door; including Lloyd’s of London, Midland Bank, Heathrow Terminal 4, BT cordless phones and the Imperial War Museum.

Rodney came to Start’s London office and spoke about his career in design, and his views on design as an agent of change, its value to society and how design fosters innovation and helps shape a civil society.

Did you know that the fuel efficiency of the Virgin Galactic spacecraft is 60% greater than a commercial airplane? Or that the cost of launching traditional spacecraft into space is eye-wateringly expensive and uses an incredible amount of energy? The thinking that has gone into the technology to enable Virgin Galactic to be a viable business proposition is revealed in the talk that Will Whitehorn, President of Virgin Galactic, gave at Start’s London offices earlier this month. The video reveals the answers to the questions above and gives some fascinating insights into the whole project. Will’s talk is the first in a series entitled Start Talk Tuesdays, where clients, prospective clients and friends of Start are treated to some mental stimulation for an hour or so. We then turn it into a 5 minute video, so that people who weren’t able to make it, can still see the best bits.

Next up we have the retail design guru and ex-boss of Mike Curtis and Darren Whittingham, Rodney Fitch. Enjoy.

This week saw the launch of Start’s latest brand campaign for Barclays, Barclays Ball Kids, at the world’s biggest indoor tennis event, the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals at the O2. As part of Barclays’ sponsorship of the ATP World Tour Finals event, they are launching Barclays Ball Kids, a nationwide search for the most talented Ball Boys and Ball Girls in Britain. The Barclays Ball Kids competition will involve a year-long search to find 30 ball boys and girls to participate in the next ATP World Tour Finals event next year.

The campaign developed by Start includes the Barclays Ball Kids brand identity, brand guidelines, and a wide-ranging on- and offline communications campaign. Start has also created a 60-second animated Barclays Ball Kids film which has been showing at The O2 throughout the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals event, to publicise the launch of the competition to both young tennis enthusiasts and their families.

www.barclaysballkids.com