Creative/Digital: DS.Emotion; Purpose Media; AMT Group

E-COMMERCE and digital marketing agency Purpose Media and film, video and animation production company A-Star Media are merging.

Katrina Atherton and John Starkie founded A-Star Media in 2008. Both will become shareholders of Purpose Media.

The company, which was previously based in Ransom Wood Business Park, will move into Purpose Media’s offices on Maisies Way in South Normanton, taking the total now employed by Purpose Media to 30.

Having acquired certain assets of Derby based creative design agency Revolver Revolver in October last year, the merger with A-Star Media is part of Purpose Media’s plan to become a full service digital marketing agency specialising in ecommerce and offering creative design, website development, video, PR, social media, photographic and content marketing services.

For a transitional period, A Star Media will continue to use its existing brand, but will ultimately be named Purpose Video as part of a rebrand.

Purpose Media managing director Matt Wheatcroft said: “Given the demand for video content it was vital that we had an in-house resource to offer this service. A-Star Media is a leader in their field and I am delighted that they have agreed to join forces with Purpose Media as it offers growth and development opportunities to both companies and our respective clients.”

Mr Wheatcroft, Tim Lenton and Rob Marshall founded Purpose Media in 2009. In 2015, the company achieved 66% growth, reaching a turnover of £1.2m. The overall aim is to increase turnover £10m by 2020 by adding more new products and the number of clients paying monthly to access digital marketing services and expertise.

::::

LEEDS-based brand and creative agency DS.Emotion has created a new identity for iconic motorsport venue Silverstone, forming part of a rebrand which aims to align it with innovation.

Home to the British Grand Prix, Moto GP, British Superbike and Touring Car Championship, Silverstone hosts the UK’s most high profile motorsport events, attracting broadcasts and audiences from around the world.

Silverstone has retained the brand ‘speedmark’ but this has been sharpened to give cleaner lines and make the logo more three-dimensional.

“The ‘speedmark’ symbol has been under utilised and disappeared from much of the identity application, but this mark symbolises the essence of the brand,” says Tom Heaton, creative director at DS.Emotion. “The first step was to clarify the ‘speedmark’ and how it works with the font we created.”

The typeface has been inspired by the racing line which runs through all of the letters, creating a three-dimensional effect for the typeface complementing the re-worked ‘speedmark’.  

A new website is also being redesigned by DS.Emotion and is set to go live in late spring.

Silverstone Managing Director Patrick Allen says: “Designed with the customer and user journey in mind the new website showcases our complete brand evolution and full product range whilst being an engaging and informative experience for visitors.”

:::

VEHICLE group AMT has launched a website showcasing all of its vehicle divisions to make it easier for customers to find the service they need.

Bringing together its vehicle rental, short term leasing, contract hire and leasing and specialist cars divisions, the AMT website enables customers to quickly browse all makes and models available, whether for business or personal use.

“Whether buying, renting or leasing a car, online search has become hugely important to our customers and is continuing to grow,” said Neil McGawley, managing director of AMT Group. 

“Over the last year, we’ve focussed on building awareness of the AMT brand and we’re now seeing an uplift in web traffic as a result.  In our rental division, bookings requests in March were the same level as those in our peak summer months and in the first quarter of 2016 we’ve seen year on year growth of over 100% in direct traffic from customers specifically searching for AMT.”

Established in 1995, AMT is headquartered in Leeds.