Mewburn Ellis 150

BRIEF

Mewburn Ellis has been at the cutting edge of Intellectual Property for 150 years and continues to be today. As part of their 150th celebrations, an anniversary party was held at London’s Royal Banking Hall for 150 of the firm’s clients, colleagues and wider stakeholders. Infinite Global had already been appointed by the firm to deliver a total firmwide rebrand; now we were tasked with designing a concept and identity for the 150th event that would showcase the firm’s rich history and its exciting forward trajectory.

APPROACH

During their 150 years, Mewburn Ellis has been instrumental in protecting some of the most innovative products and materials coming to market globally. We intended to bring this idea to life by showcasing some of the innovations and clients Mewburn had worked alongside. In doing so, we seeded the concept of Mewburn as having been, and always being, ‘the IP law firm for the future’ through the announcement of its new brand proposition.

We worked closely with the Mewburn Ellis team, led by Chief Marketing and Business Development Officer, Maria Hall. Throughout several collaborative workshops and creative design concepts, the visual identity and event running-order was agreed. The concept was an ambitious but exciting one – to theatrically split the evening into two halves: a celebration of the past 150 years, and then a look forward towards the next 150.

OUTCOME

After a full afternoon installing lighting rigs, curating model exhibits and stretching printed banners over wooden frames, the evening arrived. Here’s what happened.

Guests entered the Banking Hall, greeted with drinks and canapés, and were immediately able to browse life-size models of significant IP innovations and events over the past 150 years (a walking space suit, a Model T Ford), alongside 4-metre printed panels revealing information about key trends and IP developments in core industries.

Stephen Carter, Partner at Mewburn Ellis, gave a short speech reflecting on the past 150 years of firm success and thanking clients and employees alike for their contribution. Then, suddenly, the hall lights all went off. Only ultraviolet floodlights remained, illuminating the printed panels, on which we had printed in UV ink overlaying content that reworked the existing information with a future-gazing twist.

A single spotlight welcomed the night’s keynote speaker, futurologist Mark Stevenson, who stirred the room with his thought-provoking perspective on the role of IP and innovation, which sparked debate among guests around what the future of law firms could look like. Video interviews were then conducted with members of the audience to document the evening and gain valuable feedback from partners and guests.

Further to delivering an impressive celebration for Mewburn Ellis and their guests, the event enabled us to showcase our creativity and explore experimental brand articulation techniques. For example, the ambitious UV printing stage required careful planning and multiple test workshops. The innovative approach we carried through the planning and production stages of the event truly strengthened Mewburn’s new brand positioning as ‘the forward-looking IP firm’.