Simon and his team have the awesome job of bringing creative concepts to life in the real world. Whether that’s working alongside our internal studio or directly with agencies that need an experienced production resource. We spoke to Simon to find out more.
How do you get from a creative render to physical reality?
Renders are an important part of the process as they create an expectation of what the concept will look like in real life. My job as Operations Director is to make that vision come to life in the physical world, ensuring that the final result matches the client’s expectations and reflects the concept that they originally bought into. Our studio is able to go one step further and create motion walkthroughs for clients to help visualise the physical elements.
Our Production Specialists benefit from being involved during the creative process, and when working with isin’s in-house studio are able to assess and consider options to optimise reality as the concepts evolve. We have the certainty that what has been designed and visualised is achievable in reality.
When working with agencies to deliver their creative concepts we can either develop the design for sustainability, quality, cost and durability purposes before activating the production process or produce directly from the creative that’s provided, if that’s what is required.
Can you talk us through the topline process?
The process starts with the Design Development team who review the creative concept and break it out to consider the sustainability, cost and durability aspects. Once the materials and costs are signed off, we work with our approved supply chain who uphold our quality and environmental standards to deliver the campaign. Next, we work closely with our trusted Installation partners to ensure they are briefed with the detail and our Production Specialists are on-hand to ensure any snags and issues are handled as they arise. This is a very simplistic view of what can be a complex and fast-paced process.
Our team has a wealth of experience in this industry which means we are constantly ready to adapt and overcome. When there’s manufacturing, transport and a fixed launch date – you need to have anticipated and mitigated problems and delays. The way we do that is through a robust production process.
Sustainability is key to brands, retailers and consumers – is that a challenge?
The use of environmentally friendly materials and sustainable processes are fundamental to our business but we still need to do more for our planet. And help our clients to do more too – whether that is a brand or an agency. With consumers being influenced by environmental and sustainability issues, brands and retailers need to know that these aspects are being genuinely considered when commissioning displays that they know are temporary.
When talking about sustainability, many people focus on whether materials are recyclable but true sustainability is about the entire lifespan of a material – the way it’s produced, where it’s sourced from, can it be reused and repurposed, how can you maximise its output. A fundamental understanding of this has to be at the core of what you’re doing so that you can adapt to nuance, budgets and requirements while still maximising the opportunities. This informs every decision that we make from the design process and manufacture all the way through to installation and de-rigging.
We like to work in partnership with our clients to understand their projects over time and how we can either develop the design to be more sustainable and cost effective, or, to evaluate what props, furniture and tech hardware is already owned by a client or agency to recycle or reuse those items. We store these items for our clients for use in future campaigns or new store openings and we have an additional library of props and specialist digital equipment that can be rented. There’s a lot we can do when we put our heads together.
We offer Modular Design that optimises the cost, quality and “effectiveness” of a series of campaigns. The Modular Kit contains a range of standardised designs that are manufactured in bulk and can be mixed and matched or enhanced within each location to deliver a bespoke solution. Not only is this more cost effective, it delivers a more sustainable long-term solution as these elements become a flexible kit of parts that can be re-skinned and re-purposed for the next campaign without the need to re-manufacture.
We help our clients to get the most out of the options that they have, particularly balancing budget limitations with sustainability goals. In our experience it’s absolutely possible to make sustainable choices and maximise value – as long as you can understand these nuances.
It’s not just production and build, what about transportation and installation?
These are important aspects to consider as installation is critical in achieving visual reality and both have an impact on the environmental and sustainability aspects. For campaigns that require multi-city or country rollout, we group installations into ‘Milk Runs’ (where possible) meaning that we take one van and install over a week, rather than making multiple trips. Not only does this reduce emissions, it delivers better value for our clients as it limits cost and results in a more consistent campaign aesthetic as the team gets familiar with the execution within a concentrated period of time.
What’s a typical project that you handle?
There isn’t one, is the short answer. The projects we manage vary in complexity and scale so it’s difficult to compare. We’re living in a world on-demand and that’s reflected in some of the tight timescales we work to which as a business we thrive on. We handle production of simple FSDU’s to EMEA roll-out of experiential experiences. The largest roll-out by number of doors that I can remember was over 350 across the whole of EMEA which consisted of Special Executions to hanging banner kits and instore POS.
This industry is all about people in some way. It’s as much about having open communication with clients, strong relationships with suppliers and that overall vision as it is about having a robust process in place. This is what helps you to anticipate and overcome the challenges as they arise, no two days are ever the same. When I see the physical reality of what was just in someone’s head and on paper, it’s a great feeling of achievement. We just need to keep pushing the boundaries to ensure we keep delivering the wow factor that keeps the consumers coming back.