Footy Tips
Designer: David Lancashire VIC.
Stock: Wild 450gsm (invite) and Wild 150gsm (envelope).
Printing specs: Blind emboss, foil and letterpress.
Printed by: Watermarx Graphics (blind emboss, foil and letterpress). Envelope printed by Social Printing. Both in NSW.
This story comes in two parts and is really, mainly, about the great man himself David Lancashire. Not only can we thank David for the doggie branding he created in the 90s waaaay back when MC Hammer pants were cool and bum bags were an accessory of choice, he also custom illustrated our Christmas card this year. Being our 40th year in the paper biz, we thought it fitting David designed our Christmas card.
Each pooch represents one of the Doggett’s that work in the business today. Ken (Director), John (Director), Simon (Managing Director), Nathan (National Sales Manager), Heath (Sales Manager, Victoria) and Catherine (National Marketing and Sustainability Manager) holding the star.
We used Wild for the card, a 35% cotton paper combining softness with strength, a luxurious feel and very high bulk. The 450gsm card is printed with a blind emboss and foil on the front, letterpress on the inside. The 150gsm envelope features a blind emboss of ‘poodle and fatty’ (more of our doggie branding). Embellishments and Wild go together like brandy sauce and Christmas pudding (cue tummy grumbling).
A conversation with David:
We wanted to celebrate David’s history and career too, so we sat down and had a bit of a chin wag. Here’s how it all started…
A young David Lancashire came to Australia as an 18 year old 10£ pom in search of sun and adventure. At first he found work on the factory floor and production line of Weyland Motors. Hardly adventurous for him! David soon realised that he was not cut out for such a repetitive job and after two long weeks quit in search of something ‘creative and stimulating’. He found his way to Claret St Studio, in Vogue House in Sydney. He stayed there for a few years before a driving trip back from Adelaide saw him pass through Melbourne. He decided Melbourne was a pretty good place to try. He drove in his Land Rover straight from Sydney to the doors of Art Associates, brushed off his folio and walked in and asked for a job. He started that day.
Flash forward 10 years and David started his own studio and began working for lots of big names including Spicers and Daltons paper. Ken Doggett saw the great work David had been doing and approached him to revamp the Doggett branding. At first David said no due to a conflict of interest! But Ken persisted and David eventually came around to see the potential.
He pitched the idea that our funny name should be highlighted to create a memorable campaign. Ken and now John were NOT keen. Names like dogs body, dogs s**t were commonly thrown around at school and they didn’t plan to bring more attention to it. But David presented the concept of ‘Doggett’s take the lead’ and illustrated our first dog. It was a big hit with the staff and customers and from there the concept took off.
The purple, green and orange corporate colours came next. “The other merchants all had very traditional branding, Doggett’s were the new kid on the block and we needed to stand out. Purple certainly did that!” said David.
“The swatch kit came next, based around the theme of ‘the dog ate my shoe’ with each one representing the different papers. We sourced some great old shoes from the powerhouse museum and included even some of my families old shoe.”
And of course there’s the 266 PMS purple iconic doggie trucks. We thank our lucky stars that David pitched the idea to wrap our trucks and often when we tell people where we work they say: “Oh you work at that place with the purple trucks.” They’re hard to miss!
That’s a wrap. Thanks to everyone for your continued support in 2015 and we wish you a joyful and festive summer.
Ho, ho, ho and woof!
Love us.