CTRLmedia

A design studio near Manchester that began in the Flash era

CTRLmedia started out in 2005, when Flash still ruled web design and social networks were an experiment, and the studio says its aim since then has been good design that gets a client's customers engaged. Its address places it in Oldham, in Greater Manchester, and most of the clients it lists are in that part of England, though some trade across the UK and overseas. The studio describes its process as strategic and itself as passionate, and it says plainly that it is not the right choice for someone after a cheap and cheerful job. It prefers to listen first and then build a bespoke solution with current technology.

What it makes

The services span branding, websites, digital marketing and print. Clients come to it to raise sales, build awareness, launch a new strategy or simply give their own staff more confidence in the brand they work for.

Examples of the work

The studio's case studies show how this plays out:

• A children's footwear start-up needed a brand concept and a website to launch. The studio says that, three years on, it has become a busy online shop reaching customers throughout the UK.
• A fire and rescue service wanted the public to return feedback forms. The campaign, built around a hose-themed idea, led to an 80 per cent rise in returns, giving the service a clearer picture of the area it covers.
• A community leisure centre site was redeveloped alongside a Manchester marketing agency, aiming at easier use and more community involvement. The proposal included on-site advertising across several screens.
• A national construction company has been supported since it began, with the studio helping create a recognisable brand and marketing that helped it grow into a large civil engineering contractor.
• A group of engineering firms has relied on the studio under a contract of more than ten years, with materials made to reach new markets worldwide and grow share steadily.
• A city park that won lottery and heritage funding to become a community hub asked the studio to help build its website, and the park now runs on a self-sustaining basis.
• A music public relations company was given a site that gathers its artists and their social media accounts in one place.

Together the examples show a studio working for retail start-ups, public bodies, charities and industrial firms, usually over a long relationship rather than a single project.