Fourum

Fourum

It’s easy to be a creative agency that makes beautiful things. It’s not so easy to add in the business sense that makes our work so valuable.

Four of us direct Fourum: Liesa Johnston, Frank McGrady, Catherine Minford and Gregg Dempsey. We come from different disciplines, but we share things equally. We know every job and influence every project. We are personally responsible for our work; our clients know this and trust us because of it. We keep searching for the best ideas, looking far beyond expected stereotypes, rummaging through history, delving into future technologies, until we find something that’s relevant and really, truly different. It’s like searching for gold. So, when we find it, we feel pure excitement. 

Design is notoriously tricky to explain. Indeed, working with Fourum takes a different form for every client. Some regard us as an extension to their internal marketing department, using our skills to shape and articulate their brands, products or businesses. Some ask us to design and deliver training or workshops, or manage complex collaborative networks. Some engage us to help them deliver digital or physical campaigns to drive sales or create difference. Whatever we do, we combine creativity with practical, efficient delivery.

From retail and sales expertise, to creative design, branding, digital and physical content, Fourum is where the ambitious come to meet their brand future.

 

Process
Process

Typical journeys our clients take with us:

Our tried and tested, in–depth journey is unique to Fourum. Our process navigates you past the challenges of getting new Northern Irish food products all the way to the shelf, saving time by helping you prioritise, saving you money on wasted, ineffective packaging and maximising your chances of success.

Typical skills employed:
  • market insights
  • buyer connections
  • producer connections
  • product creation
  • brand development
  • packaging design
  • brand training
  • buyer presentations
  • production trouble–shooting
  • guidance on access to funding

The world is educated by, excited by, fuelled by stories. Our stories lift brands from names and stylings to simple, sticky anecdotes that beg to be told and retold. Fourum’s signature Brand Futures Strategy gets your whole team on the same page, by plotting the personality of your brand via a bespoke set of brand pillars. We can develop this independently or involve your entire team in this process, gaining buy–in along the way.

Typical skills employed:
  • brand evaluation
  • first and second hand research
  • brand workshops
  • brand position development
  • proposition development
  • storytelling
  • design
  • investor presentations
  • video and animation
  • imagery composition
  • illustration
  • packaging mock ups

Working with or without a marketing director, we can develop and originate marketing strategies. We can help you identify your consumers and target them with specific, customised advertising. We can allocate budgets strategically and create brand–led, sales–focused activities that can really impact a business. We strengthen your brand with consistent on–brand activity, that is designed to maximise your return on investment.

Typical skills employed:
  • strategic marketing
  • cost estimation and budget allocation
  • campaign development
  • design of stands and displays
  • presentation writing and design
  • management of artwork and production
  • promotion implementation

Fourum specialises in the creation of effective campaigns that work across digital and traditional media. Holding the brand and the brand story at the heart of our ideas, we work with media buyers to design and deliver campaigns that treat our brands with the respect they deserve. Our digital team can programme HTML5 digital display ads. We also have a network of trusted partners who we use to film, edit, grade, record VOs and add motion graphics to social assets for YouTube, moving content for Facebook and other social platforms.

Typical skills employed:
  • design and storyboarding
  • HTML5 programming
  • digital audio writing
  • VO production direction
  • brand–led music selection

Fourum is one of very few providers experienced in the formation, facilitation and management of collaborative clusters. A successful cluster is a network that is fit for purpose, meets the needs of its members and is sustainable over the long term. Working largely within the food, drink and tourism sectors, we help stimulate collaboration between stakeholders, large companies, SMEs and fledgling businesses. We galvanise their resolve by working with them to tease out and shape a common vision and value proposition. We identify commercial opportunities in specific target markets, then we help everyone to see how their individual USPs can be part of a more powerful combined approach. Our bespoke series of workshops and mentoring takes learnings from our brand, design and storytelling capabilities, typically creating an overarching proposition and calls to action.

Typical skills employed:
  • training
  • workshop design and delivery
  • funding negotiation
  • budget allocation
  • council & government department engagement
  • business model design
  • business case preparation