Barnsley business Image Works is benefiting from World Cup fever.

Image Works director Mick Mitchell with Carol Forrest of Barnsley Development Agency

Image Works won the opportunity to produce the photography for ASDA's football themed in-store promotionl material.

Specialising in marketing, photography, design and print production, Image Works was established in October 2005 by Mick Mitchell. Originally from Barnsley, Mick trained at Barnsley School of Art and then worked for marketing agencies in London and Leeds. However, recognising the growth potential of Barnsley’s creative and digital sector, Mick returned to his home town to set up Image Works at Barnsley Business & Innovation Centre (BBIC). The business incubation services offered by BBIC have proved to be exactly what Image Works needed to establish itself within a competitive industry.

The World Cup has presented fantastic opportunities for Image Works to demonstrate its creative expertise. The agency has produced photography for a variety of ‘Love the game’ football themed point of sale and promotional items for ASDA stores across the UK. The photography used for the signage and posters was even taken by Mick and his team at Oakwell where Barnsley FC’s red and white conveniently matched the England flag colours. Additional photography featuring other World Cup team colours was also taken, for use in ASDA stores in Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Continuing the football theme, Image Works has also collaborated with fellow BBIC company Side Effects Studio to produce internal ASDA videos of the supermarket chain’s Kids’ Cup – a popular football competition. The two companies were able to demonstrate their ability to provide quality material within extremely short lead times by shooting one stage of the competition at Oakwell on a Saturday then editing and producing the video for an ASDA board meeting at 3pm on the Monday.

The items produced for the Kids’ Cup also included images of man of the moment Wayne Rooney – photographed by Mick. Both Rooney and girlfriend Coleen McLoughlin are also currently faces of ASDA’s George clothing range and Image Works’ photography of the couple has been used in-store and within magazines throughout the country. Mick even took some images of Rooney in a Manchester store – to the surprise of shoppers!

Whilst the majority of the agency’s work is for large retailers, Image Works’ client list also includes a major wine importers (for whom Image Works produced World Cup themed wine boxes – available in ASDA) and an international group of patent attorneys. For a recently established business, Image Works’ clients include several well-known organisations such as Proctor & Gamble, for whom the agency is producing photography, point of sale signage and posters promoting the new Gillette Fusion razor.

Image Works has been assisted by Barnsley Development Agency (BDA) which provided Image Works with a Single Regeneration Budget grant via the Creativity Works scheme. The funding enabled Mick to purchase state of the art direct digital imaging software (which enables camera functions to be controlled via a computer), an extra large computer screen and other equipment including a camera and lens. Mick commented, “The funding provided by BDA has enabled me to acquire new equipment which has made a real difference to our capabilities and has generated a great deal of income as a result.”

Carol Forrest, Economic Development Projects Officer, BDA added, “Image Works has demonstrated creative flair in addition to commercial acumen and we were delighted to provide assistance”.

For information about the Creativity Works programme, contact BDA on 01226 784444 or visit www.barnsleydevelopmentagency.co.uk.

For further details about Image Works, call 077884 111548, email mick.Mitchell@designandimageworks.com or visit www.designandimageworks.com.