“Storms make trees take deeper roots.”
Dolly Parton
EVERYONE HAS A VOICE!
WHAT WE DO IS FUN!
(Deadly Serious Fun),
It’s exciting, it shines a light on everything that is positive and useful and, yes, exciting (again) – about what YOU do…
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But this is also about your business and ours benefitting from a relationship we will have for however long we have it.
SO BEFORE YOU DROP US INTO YOUR PLANS > > > >
let’s get serious for a while – and go straight to this:
READY WHEN YOU ARE!
COMPARING NUMBERS.
In 2026 a London based Marketing Design Company, at our level of experience and expertise, will charge an average hourly rate in a range between £117 and £195*.
As if London is the Capital – When everyone knows the True Capital of the Kingdom is York!
Wyrd bið ful aræd.
In 2026 A “Regional” Marketing Design Company / Boutique Agency, at our level of experience and expertise are charging between £90 and £150* per hour.
In 2026 The current hourly rate at Blue Strawberry Elephant is a flat rate of £96 + vat…
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Don’t let that competitive rate put you off.
While we don’t work from home during your office hours we do maintain reasonably low overheads – there isn’t a brace of Porsche EVs in the car park – savings which we are able to pass on to our clients.
* All figures probably correct at the time of writing.
HERE WE GO!
HOW WE BILL FOR OUR TIME.
Every business operates differently, which is why we structure an agreement that will suit us both in terms of cashflow, schedules and project style:
1) HOURLY INVOICING: Some clients, having known us for a very long time and trusting our time tracking implicitly, are happy to be invoiced simply for the hours performed each month.
2) FIXED MONTHLY FEE: Others – especially where we are managing multiple large scale projects alongside smaller service elements, prefer to pay a fixed monthly fee based on an agreed Schedule of Work (Sow) and estimated time to completion.
2.1) AN ADDITIONAL FIXED AMOUNT is sometimes added by the client for contingencies – mainly urgent reactive turnarounds or work that comes from ongoing discovery of requirements additional to the agreed SoW.
The idea being that whatever unexpected, reactive or unplanned work is required can be carried out without an increase in the monthly fee budgeted for.
2.2 + 1.1) THE ALTERNATIVE is a mix of the two billing formats: Fixed Monthly Fee for the SoW agreed, with no contingency payment, and Hourly Billing for any urgent or further requirements as and when needed…
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Out of habit you may hear us mention “retainers” – but that isn’t what we mean.
A traditional retainer is a specific amount per month simply to ensure availability. Like the breadbasket on a restaurant table – you’re going to be charged for it whether you eat it or not – you still have to pay for the meal on top of that.
While we are open to traditional retainers to ensure our availability, we prefer to work for all the money we are paid on a Fixed Fee: Usually between £1,000 and £5,000 per month depending on the SoW agreed.
A full Design and Creative Marketing Team as a stand alone service or back up capability / capacity for your in house resources, with none of the additional Job Taxes or Pension Contributions.
This isn’t only a cost saving compared to additional full or part time employees, its a quadrupling of talent and resources – typically an available eclectic team of 4 for around the same monthly cost of 1 or 2 full time employees with no further liability than the fee agreed for the period agreed. Leaving your in house team to deal with the everyday marketing management and in house communications.
(More on this in “Process”)
All other details can be found in our Ts & Cs.
WEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
SOFT POWER & THE NO B@S***DS RULE.
EVERYONE HAS A VOICE.
Respect and a positive mutual attitude is never determined by size of contract or size of client.
“Crossing Swords”
As one old and long lived client said, is:
“All part of getting to know each other”.
Just as you would with friends and family, “Least said, soonest mended.”
But better said than left to stew.
This isn’t a policy or “mission statement”
it is who we became over the years; our most memorable clients and greatest collaborations have been with those who have similar ways of interacting with humans (and dogs – usually dogs, sometime cats, rabbits, horses, hamsters…).
So we read in poets and authors, architects and engineers; the CEO’S of global Megadoms in exactly the same way as the one person, sole trader micro business – because all opinions and experiences are just as valid and valued.
AS IN…
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The late, great Body Shop founder Dame Anita Roddick said:
“Being good is good for business”
She was right – not just in terms of the ethical and sustainable policies of her own company, but as actual commercial drivers.
This isn’t a pious, holier than though statement, it’s not a nice to have corporate social responsibility tick box.
It’s a practical policy that adds value, helps to retain a realistic market rate for us, and supports the dedicated partnering you need to achieve an RoI in a reasonable time frame.
For you hard edged, once bitten twice shy business folk; who can find a dozen reasons for scepticism – we know exactly where you’re coming from – which is why we designed the questions the way we do in “Are we what you need”. They aren’t random – they all come from long experience, genuine insight and empathy.
We want you to relax – smile more than you frown – at least over the parts of your life and business we can help with.
For those of you who see business as a Great Game, where your modus operandi is to smile while screwing over suppliers and people who naively thought they were partners in your endeavours; because “it’s just business”
… TRY THIS
Brian Beckford, who must be an old chap now, if he’s still with us, ran a small shop called Rother Plant Hire.
All the trades who hired from him, drank his Yorkshire Tea and used him as a good listener (in the way an unhappy husband might use a late night barman), called him “Uncle Brian”.
Uncle Brian told the complaining young and newly self-employed me; as I delivered his latest POS window posters:
“There are enough nice people out there, you don’t have to do business with the b@s ***ds.”
He said it very quietly – and I’ve never forgotten that advice.
Never forgetting advice doesn’t mean you are protected by unerring adherence, especially when made excited by a project from a new client.
Advice alone doesn’t make you infallible – you can still fall foul of situations again and again – experience – like advertising, needs repetition to learn the lesson or get the message.
So if that’s you – trawling for ideas for others to produce for a lower, thought free fee, or skinning a grape to save a penny – stop reading now.
THE REST OF YOU good folk – let’s give you more highlights you didn’t pick up in “Our Approach”
FLYIN LIKE A BIRDY!
GET THE BEST FROM OUR NEW RELATIONSHIP.
1) Give us Clear Concise Briefs
2) Or give us an Outline and Creative Freedom
3) Or check out the “80/20 IMR”
4) Always make yourself available whenever possible. Nothing takes more time than chasing for answers – that’s not how you want to us to spend our time. One call, one answer, out of your hair.
5) At the outset we need to be aware of all intentions, with a solid understanding – and assurances from a board level champion – even if our day to day working contact isn’t at board level.
6) Most of all – feel free to be transparent – we really are on your side.
We will always be available to help you get your entire project over the line – not just our part of it.
7) Finally – Avoid ripping us off – even unintentionally or under internal pressures.
An example would be:
8) Paying an invoice for studio hours and “assuming” you automatically own the copyright to the work.
(See below)
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We don’t expect this, as the best people in business care about reputational damage, but it does happen.
If you are a large business (or charity) with those deep pockets, it is like kicking a puppy.
Settle your mind to this – and we never have to speak of it again…
WOAHHHHH!
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND COPYRIGHT.
This brings us to a critical legal distinction that we flag up right from our very first meeting.
Note: If any Design or Marketing Company or provider of artwork services, advises you that the assignment of IP in work they carry out is included in the first invoice they give you for studio time – they are either lying to capture your business, or they don’t know the legal statutes that protect their own industry – or the forward protection of your investment before IP is legally assigned to your ownership…
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When you work with or use any other genuine creative company, day-to-day invoicing covers productive studio time to create expressions that can be protected under the IP and Copyright laws. — it does not purchase the underlying Intellectual Property (IP) or copyrights.
From Ts & Cs: Under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended), Blue Strawberry Elephant Ltd retains full legal ownership of the expressions, designs, and assets we produce.
EDIT! Please see our Ts&Cs of Business (footer of every page for latest on Intellectual Property and AI Generated content, copy and images.
ANOTHR EDIT! On August 2nd 2026 New rules and regulations called SIG (Special Interest Groups) the enforcement guidelines on the legal use of AI Generated Content came into force. We have audited this site and the work we carry out for clients and can confirm the new laws agee with the way we work.
Our clients treat our creative output with the respect it deserves – as a valuable, protected financial asset – as we respect our clients need for legal as well as quality assurance.
PROTECTION:
* PRE EXPRESSION – Our unregistered design rights, confidentiality and Non Disclosure Agreements where requested.
* POST EXPRESSION – Our Intellectual Property and Copyrights.
* POST ASSIGNMENT – Legal transfer of Intellectual Property and Copyrights in writing to you, including promisory archive and support for any action you take against any third parties infringing your rights.
• PRE OR POST REGISTRATIONS – If you wish to protect IP Assets with Trade Marks or Design Registrations before Assignment you can enter into a licensing agreement with us. This protects both parties up to the date of assignment. After Assignment a licence is not required, although our moral rights still exist.
If you don’t enter into a licencing agreement before assignment, you can still register your assets as Trade Marks or Regstered Designs after assignment.
If you have never done this before we can point you in the right direction.
At this level of partnership, we are here to help you grow, which means we want you to eventually hold absolute, uncompromised ownership of your brand assets, once we have ascertained and been paid for the value for our IP.
To make the transfer of that property legally binding, it must occur as a separate financial transaction backed by a formal Letter of Assignment (what used to be called, and still can be a “Deed of Assignment” – bit old fashioned now and doesn’t really capture the legal intent of IP assignment – but eethier / either – same result) detailing exactly what Assets have been transferred and the separate fee paid for the assignment.
As follows:
HEY ! YOU LOOK SO WEIRD IN AUSTRALIA!
DISTINCT PATHS TO ASSIGNMENT.
We handle this transition through two distinct pathways:
The Corporate Buyout Pathway: For larger corporate entities or clients preparing for a major investment or company buyout, we negotiate a fair, professional lump-sum fee to cleanly buy out and transfer the asset rights.
The Partnership Pathway (£1 Assignment): For our regular, long-term small and medium sized clients, most prefer a milestone model…
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How this works:
Following the studio hours for initial branding work or original assets being created are paid for, a signed agreement for ongoing work triggers the assignment process. When that amount (financial amount) of work has been executed and paid for, a final assignment fee is added (typically – TBN – reaching £10,000 + VAT) and the IP is assigned in writing.
This full tranche of work is normally ongoing Marketing Maintenance and creative work you would have needed producing regardless, and by Blue Strawberry Elephant producing this work – your brand image is being protected.
Under a 1) Hourly Fee Arrangement there is no fixed time by which the IP needs to be assigned – it will happen automatically when we reach that point.
Under a 2 / 2.1) Fixed Monthly Fee arrangement, an agreed date for assignment is known at the outset.
Under a 2.1 + 1) Alternative Arrangement the latest date of assignment can be forecast but may happen earlier.
Whichever date is the fully paid point triggering the formal Letter of Assignment – we consider the value of our intellectual property to be returned and automatically sign over the full IP rights to you for a token assignment fee of just £1.
With a promise of a backed up archive and pledge to support you in any future action you may have to take against anyone breaching your Copyrights and Intellectual Property.
This approach ensures your brand is legally bulletproof as you scale, while protecting the creative pipeline that makes your business look better than the competition in the first place.
We are open to ANY discussions, feedback or queries you need for peace of mind. We can make available examples of real (redacted) Assignment letters and service level Agreements for Fixed Monthly Fees, for the purposes of pre – creative consultation.
ANY THING you want to discuss or need further clarity on – please don’t hesitate – there are NO wrong questions.
Full Terms and Conditions of Business here.
WHERE’VE YOU GONE?