The Neale Agency removes letters from logos to support National Blood Week.

Letters are being dropped from the logos of the five individual companies that make up The Neale Agency group, as part of the #MissingType campaign aiming to encourage more people to give blood.

Around 204,000 new donors are needed across the country to replace those who are unable to donate anymore. It has been suggested that younger people are working longer hours and therefore have less time to donate blood during their working week. For that reason the group is encouraging all staff to attend the monthly blood donation session held at Daventry Leisure Centre during the working day. We hope many of our clients, suppliers, family and friends will do the same.

Sonar Design, the web and print design agency which is part of The Neale Agency group, have created new logos for each of the companies which are being shared on social media. The letters ‘O’, ‘A’ and ‘B’ are missing from each of these logos to raise awareness of the lack of donors for these particular blood types.

Martin Neale, managing director of The Neale Agency, said: “The number of blood donors has fallen significantly in the last few years, and it is our responsibility to help and encourage our staff to do their part.”

To find out if you are eligible to donate, register as a donor or book an appointment, visit www.blood.co.uk.

Chris Page, former managing director of Communique and an agency veteran, has joined The Neale Agency as a director.

Chris, whose previous position was managing director of the full-service, live communications company Communique and has a 25-year career in agency management, joins the board of The Neale Agency as it prepares itself for further global growth.

Martin Neale, The Neale Agency’s managing director, commented that Chris would bring to The Neale Agency “tremendous business acumen and an understanding of our industry from every perspective.”

He added: “I am delighted to welcome Chris Page to our board. His diverse knowledge and experience will make a strong contribution as we oversee the delivery of our corporate strategy and business plan in the next phase of our expansion.”

Commenting on his appointment, Chris said: “I am really pleased to be joining The Neale Agency.  It’s an incredibly exciting organisation with a terrific vision for the future. I’m really looking forward to meeting the team and the challenge ahead.”

One team member Chris won’t need to meet is his former colleague Tory Llewellyn, who heads up Periscope Live, which is part of The Neale Agency group. Tory and Chris worked together at Communique for six years, on projects for brands such as Orange, EE, Panasonic and Lloyds Banking Group.

The Proving Factory’s site in Coventry has benefitted from integrated support from the Neale Agency’s group of companies for a variety of projects.

Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Skills, Dr. Vince Cable officially opened The Proving Factory on Thursday 12 February 2015. The event was managed by Periscope Live, part of the Neale Agency group of companies, and welcomed 300 invited guests including representatives from Jaguar Land Rover Limited, JCB and other key figures in the UK automotive industry.

Guests enjoyed guided tours and delicious hot food in the newly refurbished production facility and plenty of time to network and discuss business opportunities with The Proving Factory’s team.

In addition to the opening event, Sonar Design and Torpedo Production, both also part of the Neale Agency Group, worked together to create individual stands with display plinths and graphics for some of the technologies on display.

The Proving Factory bridges the market gap that exists between small high-tech British manufacturers and university departments designing innovative, low-carbon technologies and the requirements of the global vehicle manufacturers. It is a unique initiative that aims to support the British automotive industry, jointly run by its two main partners, Productiv and Tata Steel.

Richard Bruges, chief executive of Productiv, said: “The official opening of The Proving Factory on Thursday was a huge success. The Neale Agency did an outstanding job of orchestrating the event. They deeply understand our business, having worked closely with us over the last year, turning the 20-year-old building into a great place to work.

“The Periscope Live team made all the guests feel welcome and special, ensuring everything ran smoothly,” he added.

Martin Neale, managing director of the Neale Agency, said: “It has been fantastic to be involved with the Proving Factory since its inception, and to create an invigorating working space for them using local British craftsmen. Being part of the official opening last week was the icing on the cake.”

For more information about this bespoke project call 01327 304050 or email info@thenealeagency.com.

Over the weekend we celebrated a huge success with our client The Plastic Soldier Company.

A Kickstarter campaign for the company’s new board game The Great War reached its initial funding goal of £25,000 within 48 hours and has almost reached its first stretch goal.

The design for the board game graphics and website was created by Sonar Design and the promotion of the project was lead by newly formed Nautilus PR. The whole campaign was project managed by the Neale Agency Group.

“Having all the separate elements I needed within one group allowed me to spend more time focussing on making sure every detail was right in time for the launch of the game and less time meeting with service suppliers. The Sonar Design, Nautilus PR and Neale Agency teams got really behind my vision and helped this project smash its funding target in phenomenal time” said Will Townshend, owner of the The Plastic Soldier Company.

The Great War is currently in the top 20 most popular live projects on the Kickstarter website.