The Diamond Alloys team popped over to the Geneva Motor Show this week to see what’s new in the car industry, especially when it comes to alloys!

The 2012 Geneva Motor Show was an impressive affair, extremely busy, with thousands of petrol heads attending. All the big marques were there, and the guys got easily side tracked as they passed Lamborghini, Porsche, Ferrari, BMW, Rolls Royce, Aston Martin, Bugatti, Maserati…..you get the idea!

Once the guys got back on track, they took some pictures of the latest and greatest alloys on show at Geneva, giving them some great ideas and new contacts. Take a look at some of the pictures here…….

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The layout of the unit has been designed specifically to ensure work flows quickly through the alloy wheel refurbishment process. This starts with the inbound racking area to store wheels as the alloys are refurbished. The alloys then move, following a specific route throughout the unit and process so staff know at all times where any given alloy is.

The oven and specialist cutting machinery has just started to be installed, which leaves final additions of racks to be put into place. Once the racks and the diamond cutting machine are installed, we are ready to roll!

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We are pushing for a speedy turnaround on construction so that we can open the doors to this new business as soon as possible. Walls are in place, plastering has been completed and painting started. You can clearly see the room which houses the oven is in place and pipework connected. Offices are also near completion.

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Although the website and social media is important, we have not forgotten traditional forms of marketing, and have developed the Diamond Alloys leaflet to present our company and services. Once again, a thorough developmental process was carried out to develop a leaflet that suited our purposes. Several different sizes and formats were considered until the final version was agreed upon. The leaflet offers clients a clear overview of our services along with pictures to illustrate each finish. Simply pick up a copy next time you visit us, or contact us and we can post you one.

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Diamond Alloys recognises that social media has a key role in marketing in the 21^st century. It is how many of us communicate today, passing on information, recommendations and the latest news to everyone we include in our social circle. With this in mind, Diamond Alloys welcomes all customers to their social network, so LIKE us on facebook, FOLLOW US on twitter or join our Google circle……..and give us a google +. In return we will keep you updated on all we do and let you be the first to hear about any special offers we exclusively offer our loyal customer.

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Technology is at the heart of every aspect of the Diamond Alloys business, and this started with our custom designed website.

The first stage of development focussed on the look and feel of the website. Design references were taken from the logo and incorporated throughout the site to have a seamless and ‘branded’ look. The resulting design is sleek and modern and reflects the core values of the business.

Once this look was agreed, a layout for the site was established to ensure it was user friendly and easy to navigate, ensuring the customer could easily access all the key information about the business, services available and prices applicable.

We wanted the site to be simple. We wanted to avoid too much clutter so that only what was required was seen. Transparency was also important; so that all clients could see the prices and know there were no hidden costs.

Use of images was also a key factor for us. We wanted customers to see the quality and variety of work we could do, to offer client reassurance and back up the claims we make.

The final stage of the front end website was to add a news page, so we can keep all customers up to date on all that is happening at Diamond Alloys, the development of the brand and refurbishment centre along with any industry news relating to alloy wheel repairs.

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The Diamond Alloys Refurbishment Centre will be a state of the art unit when complete, so it was important to plan and design the unit to allow for our vision of quality and service to be achieved. These images show the initial construction and basic shape of the working space that will be transformed into the UK’s leading alloy wheel refurbishment centre.

The 2000 square foot premises allows for a well-structured design to fulfil all of our design requirements.

Not only is it extravagant in size, but it will boast the latest in Diamond cutting machinery and technology to ensure it is the leading alloy wheel refurbishment business in the industry.

The centre has been ergonomically planned, so that the flow of work from stripping back to finishing is efficient, ensuring that the companies promise of a 24 hour turnaround is always achieved.

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Having a strong brand is very important to us. It defines who we are and is our promise to our customers to fulfil on what it promises, which to us is superb quality on every level of our service. We want our branding to be able to build awareness where people not only recognise our brand, but also understand the distinctive qualities that make us better than the competition. We want our brand to create trust and a secure attachment to our company and the services we supply. Overall we want to build name recognition for our company so we can be recognised easily as market leaders for offering a premium service in the alloy wheel repair market.

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The location of our premises was a key decision, as we wanted to be in a position that had easy access to all our key trade accounts, but also offered great services to the end consumer in and around the M25 area. After extensive searching, we finally found a location conveniently located close to the M25, M1, North Circular, A1, M3 and M4. Situated just next to the A40, the premises is a prime location to access the required road networks and at the same time offering us ample parking space.

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The brand development process was one of the most important parts of the company identity, so it was important to get it right! This involved extensive research on the existing market by an industry specialist marketing company. Diamond Alloys wanted to create a look and feel which represented the core values of the company, whilst at the same time enabling clients to quickly identify the company logo as an alloy wheel specialist.

Early names proposed for the company used a combination of words to indicate the association with alloy wheel repairs. Names proposed and rejected included ‘Rimprove’, ‘Razorim’, ‘WheelForm’, ‘Revolve’ and ‘Refindedwheels’. However, it was felt that these names did not indicate the high levels of excellence the company want to achieve in its identity.

It was a sudden flash of inspiration when a team member came up with the idea of ‘Diamond Wheels’, as this suggested the association of the word Diamond with the prestigious stone. This was in addition to the diamond cutting technique which is the highest level process that we specialise in, so this seemed perfect. However, as the domain name was not available; a key factor for us as we use technology at the forefront of everything we do. After some searching and play with other words, the team were excited to find that Diamond Alloys was available and in fact a much more suitable name to represent our company and values. And so, Diamond Alloys was born.

Once the name was signed off, it was then down to the marketing company to prepare a series of logos to represent the new name. This was a lengthy process with many designs submitted and rejected for a variety of reasons including too abstract, too fussy, no visual identity to wheels, and so on. However, this essential process helped identify a colour scheme and font which was universally accepted by the team. The sticking point seemed to focus around the symbol for the wheel. A late night ensued at the office with the designer playing around with lots of ideas until the final concept of adding a circle and star (to represent the sparkle of the diamond and finish) around the spokes of the alloy was added to create our final confirmed logo. All agreed it had a simple but classy look which well represented the company and all it stood for.

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