The French Riviera’s best kept secret has just been revealed – Welcome the Ellisium Partners.

For all of you who haven’t yet heard the whispers and gossip in the luxury market circles here on the south coast, the Ellisium Partners are taking the Côte d’Azur by storm. The idea behind the company started bearing fruit towards the end of 2009 within the luxury market circles – having already signed up some of the areas finest (in the luxury property sales, rentals, technology, finance and architecture markets) the list of companies wanting to join the partnership is growing…

The Ellisium Partners have a bold mission statement:
“We understand that our clients have exacting standards, at Ellisium Partners, so do we.”

Pure Design are delighted to reveal their partnership with the Ellisium Partners as their preferred and recommended supplier of website design and graphic design materials. We will also be on hand to supply luxury printed materials and offer excellent rates to the partners. Working together with MMMarketing, the Ellisium Partnership’s future looks bright…

Welcome to February 2010… 6 days into the month, 37 days into the year… better late than never!

The year has started off at a similar pace we finished 2009 with…. we’ve already signed a new website deal with a luxury yachting company, launched the best kept secret on the French Riviera – Ellisium Partners will be the next big thing on the Cote d’Azur.  We’ve even rebranded Maria McLean Marketing, Cote d’Azur Villas, Ellisium, Town & Country Property France, BELLISSIMA, ISI, French Dressing and the Yacht Café.

Our web projects have been as impressive too – in the next few weeks we will be launching the new website for MZArchitecture, on the back of their new marketing campaign.  The Ellisium Partners website is up and running and already bringing in some impressive traffic analytics.  Elite Estates and Luxury French Property are two websites we are happy to showcase this month as well as the brochure website Photolumiere for photographer Pat Denton.  The BELLISSIMA Babe website is a developing monster – launched on the 1st January 2010 we are constantly updating pages with new content.

Our largest project in January was the franchise launch of Envirocare Maintenance Solutions.  An established Grounds Maintenance company based in the UK, from the 1st Feb 2010 they opened their doors to the Franchising world.  We worked with Envirocare hand in hand on their online marketing, printed material, nationwide press advertising and rebrand.  All the best to David and his team with this new venture.

We even opened a new office in Provence to cater for the growing website design and advertising needs over in the area – our clients now range from Monaco to Nice, Antibes to Cannes, Mougins to Grasse and now St. Tropez to Cotignac.

On a more personal note, 2010 has started well.  We have our second baby due in 3 weeks although complications mean we might be seeing Collison N˚2 sooner than expected.  Moving house has allowed us to spend more time together as a family and experience a new area of the south of France.

Apologies for the radio silence over the last 5 weeks… its great to be back!

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printers french riviera

Following our recent post featuring some brilliant business card designs, our team have researched the lengths you can go to regarding brand identity and business card presentation.

The following photos show edible  business cards, useful business cards and amazing concept planning….

Well as we pack our final box of cables and mouse mats I thought I’d leave you with a couple of brilliant business card designs.  I’d love to say they were designed by our creative department, but they were sent to me by a partner agency, and I thought I’d share them with you.

Pure Design are proud to announce the release of the French Buying Process. Designed and printed for Home-Hunts – the luxury search specialists – the guide explains some of the pitfalls to avoid when purchasing a property in France and gives advice on finding your idea property and other related issues.

Contents:

- The professionals involved – Who are they?
- Working out your price range
- Finding your ideal property
- Purchasing your property
- Property taxes and related issues
- Life Assurance 

The French Buying Process:

  

Get your own – Open publication

One of the hardest questions for designers to answer is ‘how much does a logo cost?’ I would say its like asking ‘how much does a car cost, how much does a holiday cost?’ It all depends on your budget, your dreams and whether you want to holiday in the Bahamas or on Canvey Island!

After 4 years of running an advertising and marketing company here on the Cote d’Azur, I still find it amazing when people ask me ‘do I NEED a logo?’ Visual identity has a huge impact. Think of companies like Apple, Nike, Microsoft and BMW. Their brand is so well known that they don’t even have to say who they are, we just know!

The BMW logo, was created and registered in 1917. It is one of the most distinctive logo designs in the world and has been rarely altered, maintaining its original look throughout the company’s history. So getting your corporate identity (logo design) right from day one can prove to be one of the most important marketing decisions you have to make.

A well designed logo gives your company a recognisable look. The style of your logo — warm & classical, neutral & modern — allows you to communicate some subtle characteristics of your company.

So to help you with your search for a logo design company here are a few questions (and slightly biased answers):

Should I Create My Own Logo?
Honestly? No! Working WITH your designer will be the most effective way forward. Go to your meeting with the marketing company with ideas, preferences, do’s and don’t's, and take a range of logos and colours you’ve found that you like and sketches you’ve made – you will be blessed with warm mugs of coffee and cakes.

Where to Start?
Many years ago, people weren’t very literate so shopkeepers would use symbols to promote their business – red and white stripes to denote a barber shop, a pair of scales for a lawyer, snake around a pole for the chemist….and we still see that in modern day design. A well trained designer will be able to advise you on whether to use icons, elements or images with your logo.

Corporate Colour?
The corporate colour doesn’t just apply to the colour of your logo. Consider how the colour might extend to your stationery and marketing meterial. The KULER website might help you chose which colours work together and how to create a corporate colour swatch.

Chosing your logo
I always encourage my clients to take their time and show their logo to anyone and everyone! Your logo design should make you want to use it enthusiastically! If not, go back to the drawing board. Take all criticism and praise of your logo as good advice – there is always time to tweak, change and redo your logo before you launch your company – a rushed and badly designed logo can make or break your company’s future!

So how should I choose my logo design company?
In the south of France, and Cote d’Azur especially, there is a fair share of marketing and advertising companies. Some charging 15€ an hour, others charging 300€ an hour. Does cost necessarily mean quality? No! Since January 2008, Pure Design have signed up 6 new clients, who have all moved their marketing accounts away from well known english advertising and marketing companies to our new business account department. The reasons? Value for money, customer care, budget, service (being just a few of the reasons stated).

So before chosing your marketing company here in France, do your research, get references and make sure EVERYTHING is agreed in writing otherwise your advertising budget could end up snowballing out of control.

For a no-obligation, logo appraisal, email or call our sales department for more details: 04 93 60 05 28.

Home-Hunts are one of the south of France’s leading luxury property search specialists.  They teamed up with Pure Design back in 2004 and since then have built up a close working relationship with our marketing and advertising department. Creating adverts for well known property magazines such as résidences and French Property News we deal with Home-Hunts external advertising and in-house stationery requirements. To view the latest advert we have created for Home-Hunts please click here.

Pure Design have been working with GreenThumb for a number of years and have recently helped launch their national newspaper campaign in the UK.  Working closely with the GreenThumb marketing department, our staff at Pure Design have designed all the direct marketing and point of sales media as well as in-house newsletters and stationery. Our design team deal with campaigns for the franchising, national, franchisee and direct sale departments of GreenThumb.  Being the UK’s largest and most successful lawncare specialists, GreenThumb are one of a number of Pure Design’s blue chip clients and will continue to be so in 2008.

One of Pure Design’s most recent clients is that of Monaco based Azur Productions. Kevin, the managing director, approached us in August 2007 to deal with all their print based marketing. Everything from menus, posters, invitations, advertising is undertaken by our design studio as well as website management by our web development team. We look forward to working with Kevin and his team in 2008.

Finding a reliable, trustworthy and high quality printers can sometimes be as difficult as finding a good mechanic – and dealing with a printers ‘en francais‘ can bring up several potential problems.

So here are a few words to help you through your first call to the printers:

Business Card – Carte de visite
Letterhead – Tete de lettre
Flyer – Flyer (easy eh!!)
Leaflet – Dépliant
Folder – Chemies à rabat
Brochure – Brochure
Poster – Affiche

Pure Design offer several print packs.

Economy Pack
1000 Full Colour Letterheads + 1000 Full Colour 2-sided Business Cards = 209€ HT

Prestige Pack
1000 Full Colour Letterheads + 1000 Full Colour Prestige 2-sided Business Cards (including matt laminated cards and selective spot UV) = 339€ HT

Ecological Pack
1000 Full Colour Letterheads + 250 Full Colour Prestige Business Cards (printed on recycled paper) = 309€ HT

Office Pack
1000 Full Colour Letterheads + 1000 Full Colour 2-sided Business Cards + 1000 Full Colour Compliment Slips + 1000 Envelopes = 595€ HT

Commercial Pack
1000 Full Colour Letterheads + 1000 Full Colour 2-sided Business Cards + 500 A4 Company Brochures = 689€ HT

Event Pack
5000 Full Colour 2-sided Flyers + 500 Full Colour Posters = 515€ HT

Contact us for our Monthly Offers and special deals. The above prices are for print ready artwork, disk or email supplied. To have one of our designers create you a design contact us for a quote.