Our group art director and manager of messaggio studios is known to most clients. Franck Vasserot leads a creative team that is passionate about its work. Franck and his team have created a new motto for messaggio studios: "say more with less." The team's goal is to generate messages with impact using as few resources as possible. They strive for tighter taglines, more gripping images and highly emotional animations or video. Franck is seconded by a highly talented art director Florence Castaing who, like Franck, has a great passion for illustration. Their creative base is, indeed, a bonus to our clients.

In a recent interview, Franck and Florence answered a few useful questions about messaggio studios:

How does messaggio studios define quality service?

Franck : Every comma counts. And guess what, we change a single comma minutes before a document goes to press at least once a year. That’s the nature of working for international organisations, NGOs and governments who need their communications to be perfect. Every mistake is a potential controversy. I think, in essence, I define quality service as a commitment to accuracy, a respect for intent and an understanding of the realities that our own clients face when producing communications tools.

How far will you go for your clients?

Florence : We go far, very far. This said, we work with what we call a perimeter. We make sure, before the job starts, that the client, the account executives, finance and the creative staff all understand the job's limits: what's included and what's not. We feel that knowing what to expect makes everyone work more efficiently.

How broad is messaggio studios’ range of services?

Franck : I don’t want to sound cliché but we really are a one-stop creative studio. We produce most types of art in-house. We have in-house illustrators, photographers, designers, desktop publishers, 3D artists, camera people, editors, even musicians. What’s more we have all, or most, of the necessary equipment. More pragmatically, our offer covers most, if not all, institutional communications needs including the most basic such as print design or the more complex such as high end television public service announcements or even full-length documentaries. If you want to visit our facilities, just give us a call at +33450889911 and we'll be glad to show you around.

You say you are familiar with the public interest causes and messages. How relevant is this knowledge to your work?

Franck : We do not pretend to understand human rights better than those who work in human rights. But we do understand the issues well enough to present pertinent projects. When a client asks us for a campaign to illustrate tobacco and poverty, we understand the underlying issues sufficiently to prepare the roughs quickly and successfully. This applies to most issues. Admittedly, that's where being in a group has its advantages; our otjiwarongo colleagues are always there to give us the issues guidance.

messaggio studios works for public interest causes, the UN family and civil society. Do you have the references one would expect of a creative team working in this field?

Florence : Every time a new staff member joins the team, one of the things they tell us shortly thereafter is how impressed they are with our list of references. I know that I’m very proud to have worked for major UN agencies, NGOs and governments. But I do want to emphasise that I am equally proud to have worked for the smallest community-based organisation in Namibia. In our case it’s not about the size of the client, it’s about how much change the client is trying to bring about.

Is messaggio studios affordable or is it priced beyond UN or civil society means?

Florence : We are very familiar with the contracting and budgeting restraints of the public interest sector, and are particularly familiar with the UN and civil society contracts. I believe this is part of what makes our creative capacity all the more relevant. Indeed, we strive to “say more with less”. This means we use our full creative capacities but aim to be as affordable as possible.

Creative solutions are great but they must remain understandable. How does messaggio studios do it?

Franck : One of the greatest challenges faced by communications staff in the 80’s was producing art that was a ‘message’. The 80’s were still operating under a 60’s style of free art form philosophy. Artists assumed that the viewer would understand their subtle message. While this, from an artistic viewpoint, is a noble stance, it’s not what clients need. Campaigners need a message that has an impact. That’s our goal. We try to produce messages that have a direct influence on the user. Here again, we are fortunate to have our sister company otjiwarongo consulting to guide us; they keep us on message.

How do you react when a client is not happy with a product or wants to make big changes?

Franck : From the outset, our creative team listens to the client. During the development phase, options are essential; we provide them. Throughout the project we keep in constant touch. In essence, we’re trying to be accurate and proactive. But, inevitably, clients want changes. Whether it be a comma they have forgotten or one of our visuals that they simply don’t like our reaction is the same: let’s make it right. So, how do we react to change requests? As professionals should! And let's not forget that famous perimeter. If both the client and ourselves know how far the contract is supposed to go, what is covered and what is not, they tend to be much happier.

Is messaggio studios ‘green’?

Franck : messaggio studios is a member of the United Nations Global Compact. We do not take this commitment lightly. We are as pro-environmental as possible, our staff policies are as pro-employee as possible and we care about working conditions. For all of our creative output printing needs we go through our sister company natura print , whose 14001 certified green facilities ensure that all out products are printed using ink, paper, glue and packaging that has a minimum impact on the environment. Obviously, in studio we also recycle where possible, and work to manage our electricity consumption. Beyond our creative work we aim to have an environmentally friendly attitude. We avoid travel as much as possible in favor of teleconferencing and many of our staff car-share to travel to and from the studio. This said, we realise we are far from perfect and really do want to go as far as possible in our greening.

How does a small to medium company succeed in a global communications market?

Franck : Thirty years ago, being global meant being huge. Today, being global means being cross-cultural and connected. We are both. As proof, we have clients on all five continents.

Any closing words?

Florence : We've told you a bit about our background and the added value of messaggio studios, but I now hope you will take the time to look at our portfolio to see for yourself the talent in our staff.