Matt Kay of piction.co.uk
How long have you been at The Watermark?
Three years.
Where did you come from?
Although we’re known as Piction Media now, we began as K Dimension with a loan from The Princes’ Trust. Originally we were based in the East End of London, round the corner from Spitalfields Market and the famous Brick Lane. This gave us an explosive start to our business life. It was great being in the heart of the London art-scene, and our location also gave us access to the big-brand client list which we have brought with us when we migrated to the North West. The Watermark has been integral to our continued success.
What sort of work do you do?
We have a very diverse portfolio, but at its core there are two distinct areas to our work: Visual Media and Content Media. The former combines design technology know-how with targeted illustrative techniques, and draws on our background visualising for brands. We work closely with art directors and project managers to deliver very high-end design solutions for the high street and online markets. Piction Content Media provides design, branding, web development, content creation and content management for the arts, charity and education sectors.
This arm of the business supports individuals and organizations to engage their target audience through appropriately pitched text and visuals, whilst retaining the integrity of research, brand or message.
Who are your clients?
You’ll find a lot of leading branding agencies from both the UK and rest of the world (Anthem Worldwide, Interbrand, TurnerDuckworth) on our client list. So we collaborate on the branding of some really well known products – the likes of Head & Shoulders, Relentless & SUSO drinks, Mr. Kipling, Glenffidich and other on-shelf brands. We also work for TV companies (BBC, Channel 4), marketing agencies (Armadillo Medical Communications); interpretation departments (ZSL London Zoo, Whipsnade, National Portrait Gallery); and a whole range of creative small to medium sized businesses (SMEs) that need direct access to high-end visuals and content creation.
What do you feel was your best piece of work?
That’s a tough one. Our recent work with Glenfiddich had great results. We collaborated with the London agency PURPLE CREATIVE (art direction by Gwyn Edwards). The challenge was to create some very rich ‘look & feel’ brand elements that could work on different scales and in different markets. One of the final pieces was a 5-meter-high illustration of a bronze stag head. The client loved this so much that they immediately shipped it to the Asian headquarters in Singapore!
If you could have one ‘work wish’ what would it be?
Our work goal is to bring a bit of London design spirit to the North West and encourage agencies, companies and brands to see the creative sector here as truly cutting-edge. We want to stimulate the creative community in Preston and the North There’s a lot of talent here – both in The Watermark but also coming out of UCLAN too.
What do you most enjoy about being based at The Watermark?
We really couldn’t have made our relocation such a success without The Watermark. It isn’t just a studio space. It’s a collective of people and businesses who all want to promote and support the creative sector. The people in The Watermark are all on the same page. We all want to have a work culture that is inclusive and ‘cross-pollinating’ in nature so that we can all benefit from each others success rather than being in direct competition. The more exposure any of us have, the better the overall prospects for the whole Northern creative sector. The Watermark is a creative resource.
What is your strategy for surviving the current climate?
We’ve recently re-branded and extended our skill-set because it’s important to keep moving forwards. As the needs of our clients change, we need to keep pace with that. Content creation using digital tools is essential for us. So many websites, product launches and so on have interesting design but are ruined by unprofessional text and visual messages. Clients are really cottoning on to this. Businesses and organizations pay for logo design and general branding but forget that their customers are also reading their websites and newsletters and forming opinions as to how professional they are based on this, not just the design.
Finally, small to medium sized companies can do really well in a tough economic climate. When clients start to watch their budgets, smaller suppliers like ourselves are their first choice. We deliver successful branding, excellence in execution, deadline fulfillment and of course value.… What we don’t offer is ‘cheap’ work. We offer the high-end service but we’re a smaller outfit. So, as we plan to keep delivering fantastic work over the next 12 months and beyond, we expect to continue expanding and increasing our turnover.
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