The design work was for a community sharing initiative and helped to secure a funding prize of 1 million Euros, awarded to Kirklees by the world-renowned Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Majors Challenge competition. The Engine Room created the name ‘Comoodle’, developed the brand and designed and edited the bid. Kirklees was the only UK finalist and beat competition from 155 cities in 28 countries.

Kirklees Council were one of five winners of the Bloomberg Philanthropies’ 2014 Mayors Challenge, with their idea to create a strong sharing economy through Comoodle. The Mayors Challenge is an ideas competition that encourages cities to generate innovative ideas that solve major challenges and improve city life – and that have the potential to spread to other cities.

Duggs Carre, Comoodle project leader said, “We came to The Engine Room because we knew they were brand experts. We tasked them with fresh and innovative thinking, which is exactly what they delivered.

The Comoodle brand and the communication of the concept played a more than significant part in our submission, standing head and shoulders above the rest in the Mayors Challenge.”

The two-part client and agency trophy was presented to Mr Carre along with The Engine Room team (pictured) at the annual Design Effectiveness Awards, held at the Tobacco Dock in London on Thursday. The DBA is the trade association for design in the UK that builds the bridge between designers and businesses. The awards use commercial data as key judging criteria and aim to set the gold standard for commercial success within the design industry throughout the UK and beyond. The Engine Room was in good company with some of the UK’s leading design agencies topping the bill, showcasing award-winning projects for major commercial brands such as Virgin, Britvic and Twinings.

The team at Kirklees came to us with one clear objective, ‘Turn a great idea into a winning idea’. We think we achieved this and more and were extremely proud to be one of only six design agencies from the north of England in London at the ceremony. The Engine Room delivers real commercial results that can be clearly measured and this is a a great example of how this ethos pays off.

We proved that with a clear strategic brand message, an idea, or indeed a business, we can deliver outstanding returns. In this instance; one million Euros from an investment of just £5k.

Read more about the Design Effectiveness Awards and see other winning projects at www.effectivedesign.org.uk.