Simpson Group ‘brings it on’ for Umbro

Apr 16 2008 by Karen Dent, The Journal

A CREATIVE company has scored a hit with the revamp of football kit maker Umbro’s head office.

The Washington-based Simpson Group – a retail display specialist – and its Newcastle creative subsidiary somethinkelse used Umbro’s new ‘Bring it on!’ strap-line to redesign the whole of the company’s reception area at its head office in Cheshire.

Steve Darke, director of somethinkelse, said: “Umbro wanted their employees to take ownership of the new ‘Bring it on!’ strap-line. The brand illustrations are bold, with red and black imagery we have created a home and away area around the wall, floor and door areas and a visually arresting football pitch throughout the floor space.”

The Simpson Group used Point of Purchase (POP) technology to turn the creative team’s ideas into reality, incorporating keys parts of the Umbro logo such as brackets and diamond, across the reception furniture, display items and even the inside and outside of the lifts. Around 20 people spent almost two months working on the project.

Mark Simpson, chairman of the Simpson Group, said: “The fact that we have shown a company the size and calibre of Umbro that we can offer them a design and implementation capability they can’t get elsewhere is testament to our understanding of branding in our position of as a leading POP specialist. We have invested millions of pounds in the very latest digital printing equipment but we have positioned ourselves as a one-stop shop for big branded retailers who want to make an impact in the ultra competitive world of POP.”

Simpson Group, which counts Sainsbury’s, Sony and Matalan among its client base, has been designing and printing point of purchase materials for retailers and brand manufacturers for almost 35 years. It is now based in a £4m facility in Washington.