Every now and then you come across a business so unique that you’re forced to ask, ‘why isn’t everyone doing that?’. Until we met Neil and Fi from Devonia, we’d have naturally assumed that in the spring water industry, recycling glass bottles would be by far the best way to maximise ecologically sound credentials and operate sustainably.

Not so.

In fact, Devonia’s method (not dissimilar to the classic milk float model) involves bottling locally-sourced spring water from our wonderful county of Devon and delivering it by the crate to hospitality clients across the south-west. The glass bottles are then collected, meticulously washed, refilled and the process begins again.

We have seen the addition of 35 new customers since introducing the Infographic and it has been used to explain clearly what it is we do.”

Incredible impact

This process is so effective that it reduces 94% of the CO2 that would be produced by recycling the bottles and uses just 6% of the energy. Their bottle re-use rate is 82% and on average each bottle is washed and reused eight times!

Upshot were approached to find a creative solution that pushed the cyclical operation to the forefront of their communications.

The problem was, nobody really knew. Their brand identity and labels didn’t showcase anything of the process and who knows what opportunities they’d missed by failing to shout about their truly unique credentials? That’s where we were approached (thanks to a referral from the wonderful people at Food Drink Devon and RAW PR – to find a creative campaign or infographic design that pushed the cyclical operation to the forefront of their communications.

When the perfect idea strikes

As always, we started with a bit of brand discovery – always helpful to gauge what’s important to the client and their audience. And as we began sketching simple infographics to show what we thought was a circular piece, the idea of the infinity loop came to the fore – with delivery and collection both taking place at the same time and place in the centre.

…the idea of the infinity loop came to the fore

Working with illustrator Chris Wharton we depicted three key parts of the process and built these into the infographic design, integrating some of Devonia’s amazing statistics and labelling the stages. The final artwork is ready to showcase wherever they need it. On the side of their delivery van, as a wall mural, in a printed brochure or on their website. And in the interest of responsiveness, a simplified version was also drawn up to be used where space is more limited – email signatures, bottle labels etc.

Fiona explained:

“We reached out to Upshot as we were looking for an effective way to communicate our unique distribution method which puts the environment front and centre of what we do. The problem we had was no one, including our customers, had a real grasp on why our operation was so unique.

“We were entering a growth phase at that moment and we needed a way of telling our story without a full rebrand which would be something we wanted to work towards over the next few years.  We were therefore looking for the creation of an infographic which would become the centre of a campaign that would start to tell our story as well as becoming a key piece of sales collateral as we expanded our business.  

…no one, including our customers, had a real grasp on why our operation was so unique.”

“Upshot’s inclusive and dynamic way of working left us at Devonia feeling enthused and excited about the phase our business was about to enter. After spending a morning with Owen working through various tasks and scenarios, we walked out very excited about the initial concept we had sketched out in front of us. We were both pleasantly surprised at how much fun we had exploring what our business was and where we would like it to be, and have carried a lot of the ideas we discussed that morning forward into other projects.

“The infographic has really allowed us to start communicating who we are in a more effective manner. We have successfully utilised the Infographic in various press releases via RAW PR and Marketing, have vans lined up to have the infographic printed. The Infographic has now become a key part of our sales collateral and we expect the image to become synonymous with our branding as we grow.

…our customers have a great story to tell their end user and the infographic helps the delivery of that story.”

We have seen the addition of 35 new customers since introducing the Infographic and it has been used to explain clearly what it is we do. We have also found that our customers have a great story to tell their end user and the infographic helps the delivery of that story.

“We loved working with Upshot, and with no doubt will be returning customers.“

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We love working with food and drinks companies that go the extra mile, and creating this for Devonia was a fantastic experience. Keep an eye out for them as their profile continues to rise!

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Written by Owen