We are Australia's leading holistic marketing company

As light begins to emerge at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel, the question of whether we will see a migration from globalisation towards localisation beckons. Will local business move work onshore to protect their supply chains in the future? If Australia’s leading holistic marketing company, IVE, is anything to go by, the answer is yes.

Many publishers who relied heavily on offshore suppliers have begun to come back to local suppliers such as IVE, as they look to diversify their supplier networks during a time of disruption. In fact IVE has seen local colour book production double since COVID-19.

“As the impact of COVID-19 continues, we are seeing some silver linings” explains Cliff Brigstocke, IVE CEO Production & Distribution. “Our local colour book printing capability is one such example. It’s been great to work with Australian publishers to provide an onshore manufacturing capability. Our competitive onshore pricing model, coupled with better service and super-fast turnaround times has started to make local production a preferred production choice for many publishers again. This shift has only been accelerated by the current pandemic”.

Brigstocke continued, “an important outcome of publishers bringing their colour book production back onshore, is that we can keep more Australians employed. Keeping more jobs in Australia is critical during this time and something a number of publishers have responded well to”.

IVE is locally equipped to print colour books such as lifestyle catalogues, cookbooks and Children’s educational and activity books, in short and long print runs. With duplicate printing operations in Sydney and Melbourne they have the flexibility to turnaround print under the tightest deadlines taking days not several as opposed to weeks from overseas; they talk in terms of days not several weeks. This enables IVE to ensure the highest quality printing ensuring near immediate availability, an important factor especially in the current environment.

“Our local printing capabilities aren’t just confined to colour books,” concluded Brigstocke. “From brochures, packaging and publications, to catalogues, flyers, mailers and more – IVE can print and distribute all of it locally,  ensuring our clients achieve maximum impact at the best value. By leveraging our local printing capabilities, publishers located in Australia are able to continue operating and supplying colour books to their customers through this COVID-19 period and beyond”.

For more information contact info@ivegroup.com.au

On February 1 this year, the Australian women’s cricket team made history, becoming the first senior national cricket team to wear a uniform featuring Indigenous designs in a match.

The match was a thriller, with Australia going down to England in a Super Over at Manuka Oval in Canberra.

But for IVE, it marked the culmination of a whirlwind project, which saw Cricket Australia call on the holistic marketing company to come up with the design in just a few days.

“Cricket Australia came to us to visualise and execute. But we only had two days,” IVE creative director Lesley Gilliam told B&T.

Despite the short timeframe, Gilliam was always confident the team could get the job done.

“It was really exciting for us, we knew we could just fly into the deep end and turnaround some really great creative work in the timeframe that was required,” she said.

While other major national sporting codes have played in Aboriginal-inspired uniform designs before, this was the first time a senior national cricket had worn such a strip.

IVE and Cricket Australia first started working together in 2016, with a focus on engaging the community through visual designs and campaigns.

However, IVE had never worked on a Cricket Australia uniform before this.

THE DESIGN

While turning around any project in such a short time frame comes with challenges, IVE was particularly careful not to rush it.

The design is based around the story of the 1868 Aboriginal team that toured England – this first Australian team in any sport to play abroad.

Dubbed the ‘Walkabout Wickets’, the team had to leave and return to Australia in secret to avoid public backlash.

The design used on the Australian women’s uniform earlier this month was inspired by the Walkabout Wickets logo, which was illustrated by Aunty Fiona Clarke.

“We worked around that logo, extracting elements to tell a visual story and that unifies the whole narrative right around the shirt,” said Gilliam.

The design encapsulates colours of the earth and the land and also colours of the cricket team (yellow and green) to tell the story, as well as using symbols around the logo to represent a women’s camp.

Aunty Fiona Clarke and Cricket Australia Indigenous engagement specialist shared the story of the Walkabout Wickets with IVE.

“That first session with Aunty Fiona was the most important part for us,” said Gilliam.

“We really wanted to understand what the story was about, that was important to us to know exactly what we’re trying to convey here and do so with empathy and sensitivity.

“We really wanted to make sure we were being authentic in what we were doing, even though we only had a matter of days to deliver.”

The national men’s team will also don an Indigenous uniform during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup later this year.