One of Dorset’s longest established media agencies is sporting a new look and name after undergoing a full rebrand.

Studio Global, formerly Global Brand Communications, is using the tagline ‘Your Story, Beautifully Told’ for its services focusing on brand, digital and motion (animation/filming).

Sharon Parker, Managing Director, said: “When we sat down and worked out Studio Global we decided to focus on the things we love, what we’re great at and where we’re giving the client great value.

“We are not the people that you come to for just a marketing strategy kind of plan but we will deliver the plan and make it look absolutely fantastic and engaging.

“Your story beautifully told. That’s us.”

Darren Mooney, Creative Director, pictured left, added: “We’re a beautiful fusion of graphic design, animation and film.

“That’s what I think separates us from every other film and media agency, certainly locally.

“We compete with the big guys in London from a quality point of view.

“That’s why we do a lot of post-production for Virgin Media because they look at the stuff we do for them and say ‘this is amazing’.

“They literally give us a lot of footage, or we go up and help them film and take that footage back to edit for them, adding lots of motion graphics.

“All the kind of stuff that Disney and Pixar do.

“We’ve evolved with Virgin from a graphic design agency to print and production to film and animation.

“That comes from having to evolve as a business and seeing what’s coming around the corner.”

Founded by Darren, at the age of 22, and his then business partner, Ben Pratten, the name ‘Global’ was chosen for a specific reason.

Darren, now 49, said: “We were young and didn’t really know what we were doing but wanted the perception of being huge.

“When people heard the name they thought we were bigger than we were.

“Thankfully it stuck and worked.”

Now employing teams covering motion, web and traditional design, and with an annual turnover of around £700,000, one of the agency’s biggest clients is Hall & Woodhouse.

Its business was secured after a chance approach by Darren.

He said: “They sponsor the Badger Chase at the Wincanton Races.

“We designed an invite that had a donkey with wonky teeth, its face over barbed wire and the line: ‘Not everyone gets a chance to go to the races.’

“They said it was best response they’d ever had.

“That was it, we were in and it grew and evolved from there.

“It was the £4 million postcard if you look at what we’ve turned over, perhaps even more, during the ten years or so they’ve been with us.”

Sharon, pictured left, was previously a freelance business consultant before joining Global as Commercial Director in 2019.

She was promoted to Managing Director in March this year.

The third senior member of the team, Joe Broadbent, Technical Creative Director, is credited by Darren and Sharon for successfully moving Global into film and animation.

Darren said: “We were advertising for a senior designer but nothing to do with film and then Joe walked through the door for an interview.

“He just had a memory stick and said ‘put this in because this is what I do’.

“We knew that film would be the bit that would replace print but said: ‘look Joe, we’ve got no work for a film department’.

“We’ve got no business plan for it but something said that we should be doing this.

“We told Joe we could afford to pay him for a year but he’d have to jump in and support us.

“I think it was four weeks later Ian Girling [Chief Executive at Dorset Chamber] phoned us up and said: ‘Look guys, we want you to be the Creative Partner for our Dorset Business Awards.’

“They had four weeks to the awards and already had the BIC and huge screens but nothing to put on them.

“That was the start and we’ve never looked back since.”

Based in Boscombe, the main sectors served by Studio Global are hospitality, financial services, councils and Business Improvement Districts (BIDs).

Apart from Virgin Media and Hall & Woodhouse other clients include beverage company Molson Coors while the agency is the preferred national supplier for St James’s Place Wealth Management.

Darren said the past 25 years had not always been easy but his sporting background – his dad, Dean Mooney, played for AFC Bournemouth and Darren was in the youth team – had taught him resilience.

Sharon, 42, added: “We were OK as a three-director team but I felt no-one was taking ownership of where we were heading.

“That can lead to a little bit of complacency in what we are doing and why we are doing it.

”For me all those questions have been answered.

“We have a plan and we have a focus and we can do it.

“This year is not going to be easy with everything that is going on but every month it’s getting bigger and better.

“That is all we can ask for.”

• studioglobal.co.uk