Dan Barber

Managing & Client Director.

My earliest memory within this industry was being handed a set of brand guidelines for Agrevo, a company formed from Schering Plough another Agrochemical organisation. I joined this brilliant industry 21 years ago as an apprentice within an artwork and reprographics department at one of the UK’s most innovative printing companies. Denny Bros Printing were the innovators and patent holders of Fix-a-Form - a (then) unique on-pack media solution for companies seeking to include multi-page information on-pack.

I am particularly proud of my ‘clean’ CV, having spent the best part of 10 years with the same company I left to start my agency and build what today is Standout Design & Marketing Ltd.

In my first year of business as a single operative, I was working on brands such as Astra Zeneca, Agrevo and Du Pont. Being exposed to the largest blue chip brands and business from an early age has shaped my career and I am very proud to have attracted clients to Standout such as PepsiCo International, Triumph International, IBM, Ricoh, Greene King, Waterstones, Lindt & Sprüngli and Kallo Foods.

I work very hard and I aim to instill the same work ethics within my team (currently at 22 – but with a recruitment growth plan taking us to 35 people within the next 36 months). From an earlier age than 16 I was fortunate enough to be influenced by incredibly hard working people such as my Father, my first Market Stall boss (Fred Keeling) and my long term market stall boss Tommy Bond. The influence of hard work and commitment was then further honed by the Managing Director of Denny Bros Printing, Barry Denny – a tireless and dedicated individual with a vision that matched his commitment.

I am truly grateful to these influences as they have shaped me and they have shaped my Integrated Marketing Agency.

Today we work hard across those brands I have already mentioned. We are often asked what our specialism is and my stock answer is that we provide FOOTFALL, SALES, TRAFFIC AND CONVERSION. The only way to provide those things is to create point of difference and cut through marketing tools that clients can easily implement and measure. We are an integrated marketing agency that designs, creates, implements and measures online and offline marketing tools.

Here is a quick glimpse of some of the work that our teams proudly produce:

- Exclusive Helena Christiansen John Lewis instore and above the line launch for Triumph International.
- Incredibly effective Digital Data capture game for Lindt Chocolate’s Easter campaign.
- Copella Fruit Juice’s digital strategy.
- Exclusive House of Fraser 125 years of Triumph International Lingerie instore launch.
- Quaker Oatober instore and point of sale campaign creative.
- Waterstones online sales digital strategy.
- Monster Munch’s retro packaging that delivered a record breaking return on investment.

What don’t we do? We do not buy media and we do not provide PR services. Other than that we do it and we do it really well.
From Art Direction to advertising campaigns, from Packaging to Point of Sale, from Digital Strategy to E-Commerce.

I am very proud of my team at Standout. They are all bloody decent people. No nonsense, no pretentiousness and no politics.
My aim is to grow an agency that is recognised as a global benchmark and I can only do that by attracting and retaining highly talented people.
It is my job to keep them motivated and provide a working environment that allows them to do great things.

I am completely excited about the future of our company and the industry as a whole.
We have a clear plan to grow our agency to 35+ over the coming 36 months and we will work tirelessly during that time for our clients whilst attracting further clients along the way.

We currently work with 19 clients and our aim is to attract a further 14 clients to Standout over the coming 36 months.

The industries that we already work in are: Lingerie, Fashion, FMCG, Furniture, Manufacturing, Brewery & Alcohol, Luxury Hotel & Hospitality, Retail and IT. Your industry may not appear specifically within this list – however – I am adamant that nearly all business and brand objectives, of any organisation, are very similar.

Standout can apply clever thinking to any industry. This is generally the approach we take:

- Gain a full and comprehensive understanding of the industry, competitors, customers, clients and consumers.
- Provide clear strategy and thinking.
- Scope the relevant Marketing ToolKit™ that we believe will help to achieve the brand and business objectives
- Create those marketing tools.
- Implement those marketing tools.
- Measure the effectiveness of the tools we have helped you implement.
- Report and remain accountable for the results of those marketing tools.

I would be very keen to discuss your brand and business objectives. Please call me directly on 07931 362061 or dan.barber@standoutuk.com

Sincerely, Dan

Relevant Links:
Boomerang: Dan’s vision for companies being able to actively give something back.
Dan’s Blog: Infrequent, but hopefully engaging and with interesting opinion.