WHY STUDIO 18?
In a world where taking great photos, shooting video and creating media has never been simpler, it’s funny how standing out has never been more difficult.
For growing brands & SME’s who recognise their need for a high standard of creative media whether for their websites, Social Media, Point of Sale or Print advertising without the resources for a dedicated in house team.
Studio 18 Newcastle offers the quality, attention to detail and expertise of a professional in house creative department, without the cost commitment.
In short, we are a complete outsourced creative team.
The skill sets required for building the level of marketing assets even small brands now require can be quite extensive. Photography, videography, editing, graphic design and more.
Despite the amount of apps and Ai generated materials available, the skill sets needed to truly operate them effectively gets more complex in many ways, not less. But the biggest obstacle to effective media marketing in the modern world is not really to do with asset production, it’s all about clear brand strategy and effective delivery.
In truth this is the difference between Studio 18 and many other content providers. There are many great designers, photographers and videographers out there. Studio 18 doesn’t just create great media, it can also provide effective and objective brand strategy if required.
Whilst we can provide isolated services in any of the creative fields we work, we can also assist on a strategic level and give growing brands or businesses insight on high level media strategy which in turn will realise their vision for their brand.
Message from our co founder Alex..
We started Studio 18 Newcastle out of sheer necessity.
After many years in brand building, advertising and marketing, I was challenged by a client of the digital marketing agency I worked for, he said: “If you guys are so good at building brands, selling merchandise and advertising then why are you not just doing it yourself?”
I’d been in the world of advertising and marketing for a decade, I sat back and thought about it. He was right, it was an inconvenient truth that we spent our time telling others how to market their businesses but we had never done it, so in 2009 I left the agency and I founded my own E Commerce website & Combat Sport brand named Fightstore MMA.
Time to prove the theory, I used everything I’d learned and put it into practice. I invested a tiny sum, £5000 into the startup, it had to cover everything from the website to initial stock. By the end of year one we had turned that £5k sum into six figures and doubled year on year for the first three years from incorporation in 2010.
By 2014 we moved to quite a big, modern industrial unit. Unit 18, Forth Banks, Newcastle. We had myself a brand strategist, my then partner, now wife, Rebecca, a highly talented photographer and videographer, Graphic designer Scott and excellent copy writer Craig , all working on this project.
Fight store was one of the first online MMA superstores in the UK. From day one we elevated our look and feel by shooting all our own product photos, promotional images and video content. In no time at all two things happened. Firstly, other companies in the space started stealing our work and using the amazing photos of the brands we were stocking, and secondly other companies (Often in the Combat Sports space) started asking us to work with them. What we had done was exactly what I had envisioned, we set ourselves apart at the time, by creating not just a store but a brand of retail store.
Over time, Studio 18 became the unknown creators behind brands. We were always found by word of mouth in the industry.
So, It’s kind of ironic for me, that after assisting so many brands and businesses with their media, after contributing hundreds of photos, video and copy to countless websites, and filming for brands in both the UK and the USA. We had never needed our own website or even a proper online portfolio!
People in the space had literally looked us up and connected with us, often via personal social media. But after 15 years we thought it was about time we had a website. We really prefer to work closely with a few projects we are really interested in as opposed to taking on multiple projects, strongly believing in quality over quantity.
I keep my own blog The Anarchist entrepreneur, a site dedicated to helping young entrepreneurs, usually pro bono. We love working with brands into sports, cars, gardens and coffee….But who knows what tomorrow will bring.
talk is cheap…
Send us a quick note and we’ll get in touch, usually within 48 hours.