What happens when you invite 12 rival design agencies to do posters for each other: Construct and Cubo

We are well underway with our week long reveal of Truce Commission posters created by rival design firms. What is the Truce Commission you ask? Well we invited 12 rival design consultancies to do posters for each other. Why not? They always advise clients not to attempt their own creative work on the grounds they might be too close to certain issues to be objective. And it proved particularly timely as a way of marking the international day of peace – September 21.

We’ve already revealed the posters that rivals SEA and The Brand Union came up with, as well as the creative work resulting from the Howdy and Brilliant Path ‘rivalry’ when they were given each other’s design briefs. Now it’s time to look at what Construct and Cubo thought of each other, you can find the work, briefs and rationales below. And remember, The Drum is continuing the Truce Commission by asking more agencies to get involved. Our first new brief will be published on Friday. Find out more here.Construct's brief for CuboBackground: We describe ourselves as a design boutique. This reflects our small but beautiful size, our clientele and our dedication to the authentic, the specialist and the sophisticated. Central to this is a commitment to carefully considered, beautifully crafted and, wherever possible, ethical solutions. We think that resonant, sustainable brands rely on intelligent creative positioning, refreshing ideas and engaging visual communications.We believe in generosity, responsibility, independent thought, expertise and listening. We help clients achieve their goals through strategic consultation and art direction, as well as the design of identities, packaging, print, online experience and campaigns. We manage every relationship and project with genuine care and obsessive attention to detail. Construct has established an international reputation for our work that has shown real and measurable value creation and growth for our clients, their brands, and their businesses.Hotels and destinations, restaurants, luxury and high street fashion, jewellers and craftsmen, feature on our client list, Claridge’s, The Connaught, The Berkeley, Porto Montenegro, Harvey Nichols, Carolina Bucci, Astley Clarke, Jigsaw and Mulberry among them.Construct was founded by and is owned by Georgia Fendley, brand director of Mulberry.What you would like your poster to say about you? A sense of our personalityWho should your poster be aimed at? Fashion/retail/luxury brands, or brands which are founded in ‘design’ and or high ethical standards, small but really inspired start-ups.What do they currently think of your agency?Creative excellence but commercial realists, fashion and luxury, small and beautiful, lovely people.What you would like them to think of your agency after seeing the poster? They do amazing work for fabulous clients; I want to work with them!Mandatories: Logo, www.constructlondon.com and Twitter: ConstructLondon.

Cubo's poster for Construct

The rationale from Trevor Chambers, creative director, CuboWho can resist a cuddly dog with big ears? The Construct brief asked for “a sense of our personality”, so I’ve tried to convey that through a light hearted visual idea that is connected to a key business approach. The layout suggests the premium fashion brands they work for, with the Construct logo working like a label tag at the foot of the ad.Cubo's brief for ConstructBackground:We are 16 year old integrated agency with 50 staff, under one roof. Our core services are brand strategy, advertising, digital, shopper, PR, social, and CRM. As you’d expect in today’s world, digital is at the heart of much of what we do.What you would like your poster to say about you? That Cubo is a creative integrated agency that is obsessed with reality – brand reality. Brand reality is a philosophy; a relentless search for real human behaviours that inform and inspire our campaigns. For us brand reality is the only starting point for outstanding creative work that gives our clients genuine competitive advantage. Knowing most of the story is not enough. You need to know it all, every facet of it. So we study the real world to create campaigns that fundamentally change how people crave, buy and then love brands.Who should your poster be aimed at?For 16 years, we have applied brand reality to a very specific group of brands – a group that arguably needs a dose of reality more than any other. We call them “pleasure brands” – very simply they’re brands that exist primarily to give people pleasure. So be it hedonistic holidays, premium spirits or todie- for chocolates, Cubo helps pleasure brands grow in the real world.What do they currently think of your agency?Brands that know us, love us. Our client retention bucks the industry norm, with our top fi ve clients staying with us for over nine years on average. The challenge though is our fame is low – not enough people know us. We’ve just got on with creating clients’ comms, and possibly ignoring our own a little. Those that know us, would rate us because of the following:• We’re realists – we tell them how it is and how comms can help them grow.• We’re creative – we use Brand Reality to inspire us creatively.• We’re commercial – our clients’ commercial success drives us every day.What you would like them to think of your agency after seeing the poster?That they speak my language, they understand my world and the challenges I face, and they know how to service their clients, as businesses and individuals. They will give me outstanding creative work that’s grounded in reality and will help me sell more of my product/service.Mandatories: Name, logo, URL.

Constuct's poster for Cubo

The rationale from Ron Cregan, strategy director, Construct LondonBrand Reality was a key phrase in the CUBO brief, and knowing the sector it seemed a pretty unique expression of their story, and would attract and inform potential clients. Good advertising is simple and engaging, so Construct asked our friend artist Paul Davis (engaging, far from simple) to look at how their ‘reality’ proposition might be expressed. We are pleased with the result, let’s hope the client is.