From left to right – Peter McEvey, Jackie Higgins and Ilan Sheady.

In recent months, the animated twosome Hampson & Hughes have appeared all over the country in various forms  – from appearing in the LFC vs. Cardiff Carling Cup Final 2012 programme at Wembley to being blown up to massive proportions to appear in our outdoor advertising campaign across Merseyside .

We asked the award winning Creative team at Trinity Mirror – creators of the animated characters – to tell us the story behind how Hampson & Hughes came to be.

The scene… it’s autumn 2011 and Liverpool-based personal injury solicitors Hampson Hughes are looking for a fresh approach to their marketing and advertising campaigns.

“How about we create a couple of cartoon characters named ‘Hampson’ and ‘Hughes’, to star in a series of slapstick animations in which a number of painful, yet humorous, accidents befall the pair?”

Such was the response of the design team at Creative North West, Ilan Sheady (Animator) and Peter McEvey (Creative Director) and so warmly-received was the idea that it wasn’t long before a new double act, fit to challenge the knife-wielding tomfoolery of The Simpsons’ Itchy & Scratchy, was born.

Trinity Mirror (TM) Merseyside handles Hampson Hughes’ print advertising from its base at the Liverpool Post and Echo offices on Old Hall Street. It was TM account manager, Jackie Higgins, who had the good sense to get the decision makers at Hampson Hughes into a room with the creative minds of Creative North West.

A few months later, the characters Hampson and Hughes were appearing in their own commercials, racking up internet hits by the thousand and being seen by many more on the big screen at Everton FC’s Goodison Park stadium.

But where on earth did Ilan get the inspiration for his crazy cartoon double-act?

Firstly, it has to be said that Hampson and Hughes, in cartoon form, bear no resemblance to their namesakes from Hampson Hughes Solicitors. In fact it was the design of the Hampson Hughes logo that helped him bring the characters to life – that and a love of retro cartoon stars.

Ilan explains: “I knew the client wanted a more light-hearted approach than your typical solicitors’ advert. I wanted to create a retro style comedy double-act who specialise in slapstick, like Laurel & Hardy or Tom & Jerry.

“The inspiration for Hampson and Hughes actually came from the design and colour scheme of the firm’s own logo,” continues Ilan. “Hughes is tall and thinner, Hampson is thicker set. The ‘thicker and thinner’ idea comes from the style of the ‘H’s in the logo, as does the colour scheme for each character – Hampson is blue and Hughes is yellow.

“The look of Hampson and Hughes themselves is influenced by some of my favourite retro cartoon characters, like Mr Magoo and The Pink Panther.

“They loved it when they saw it,” says Ilan. “We’re all really pleased with the results.”

Injuries are a regular occurrence in the series of animations and designs the characters have appeared in, but the action is very much tongue-in-cheek and played for laughs using the sort of familiar, stylised and over the top violence associated with classic children’s cartoons.

Hampson Hughes wanted something that would directly contrast with other solicitors’ adverts and produce a friendlier, more likeable image for the company. Judging by its popularity on YouTube and at Goodison Park, it looks like mission accomplished.

Looking forward, Ilan says: “Having successfully created these popular characters it presents us with so many more options to bring Hampson and Hughes to life in the future. I can’t wait!”

Starting in March 2012, you’ll notice the cheeky Hampson & Hughes animated characters out and about on some of Liverpool and the Wirral’s high profile billboard sites, courtesy of Primesight (Outdoor).

The twosome are doing their best to put the posters up without injuring themselves whilst juggling an iPad 2 in the design – look out for them coming to a billboard near you soon!

January 2012 marked the beginning of a new phase in the history of Liverpool’s oldest surviving newspaper, when the Liverpool Post launched as a new 100-page weekly title promising to supply readers with the same award-winning journalism and exclusives that underpinned the success of the Liverpool Daily Post.

 By Anna O’Hanlon, Clinical Negligence Solicitor at Hampson Hughes

The Care Quality Commission has reviewed 81 Care Homes in the UK to obtain a brief view of the care afforded to elderly people. The findings have alarmed a number of experts in respect of the care afforded, that being that there appears to be a fundamental problem with a lack of general care for these vulnerable people.

Some of the continuing problems have been highlighted as a result of this review, them being; only staff at 38% of homes reported they got regular visits from GPs, with one in 10 care homes saying they had to pay GPs to get them to visit residents. A further problem stemming from this was getting medication, prescribed by GP’s, to the residents on time.

Professor Finbarr Martin, of the British Geriatric Society, said “It is time health service planners matched their obligations to ensure that the healthcare needs of this vulnerable group are adequately met.”

I think we would all agree that elderly people require a higher level of dependence on the NHS and they deserve to be treated in accordance to their needs. It is a generation that we must not forget and must continue to support and help.

If you feel a loved one has been injured as a result of lack of care in a care home then please contact Anna O’Hanlon at Hampson Hughes Solicitors on 0151 236 1222.

By Kesiena Ovien, Paralegal at Hampson Hughes Solicitors

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2099871/Law-firms-offer-FREE-iPads-shopping-vouchers-tempt-victims-make-personal-injury-claims.html

(above article featuring Hampson Hughes Solicitors in the Daily Mail newspaper & online, Sunday 11th February 2012)

Hampson Hughes offer prospective clients the incentive of an iPad 2, £400 cash or £1000 cash advance incentive.

We’re operating in a highly competitive market & we offer these incentives to show our new clients that we genuinely value their decision to allow us to represent them, and we also want to thank our previous clients for recommending our service to their family members, friends and acquaintances.
Who are the incentives offered to?

Incentives are offered to two groups of clients:

1)      New clients who have instructed Hampson Hughes to deal with their claim directly.

2)      Previous clients who ”refer a friend” to us.

Hampson Hughes is strongly opposed to illegitimate claims.

We are committed to ensuring that we only deal with genuine claims. There is a process in place to ensure that only claimants with a genuine claim are offered an incentive. The requirements which need to be met, in order to qualify for one of the incentives are:

·         Liability needs to be formally admitted by the third party insurance company.

·         The client needs to attend a medical appointment with one of our approved medical experts and the subsequent medical report needs to be on file.

How does the client benefit?

The client receives the incentive once the above requirements are met. A common misconception is that the value of the incentive will be deducted from the client’s compensation, which is completely false. The incentives are offered in addition to the compensation the client is awarded. The only exception is if the client opts for the cash advance payment which, of course, will be deducted from their award.

A lot of clients are unaware that other many other firms pay referral fees to other company’s who pass through claims. A lot of the time the data received can be inaccurate, clients feel pressured and claims can often be delayed given the extended process. Because of this, Hampson Hughes strongly believes in cutting out the middle man and we urge clients to contact us directly.

We absolutely recognise that without our clients Hampson Hughes would not exist and we believe in rewarding our clients by offering them an incentive. We prefer to reward our clients rather than paying a fee to the expendable middle man. Hampson Hughes has a strong “client satisfaction” ethos and we are committed to ensuring that we adhere to this throughout the duration of the process for each claim. We consistently strive to provide excellent client care and complete customer satisfaction.

How do Hampson Hughes benefit?

We thrive on providing a high standard of service and expertise to clients - the firm has grown vastly over the last two and a half years and we intend to expand further in the future.

Our expansion plans depend upon us establishing a strong relationship with previous, existing and potential clients. We are confident that clients will be impressed with the service provided and the high level of expertise the firm offers. We feel that by offering incentives we encourage first time clients to use our service and that by providing them with a high quality service from start to finish we are encouraging them to “refer a friend” or return to us in the future – if they are ever unfortunate enough to suffer another personal injury.

Our own research shows that the incentives we offer to our clients coupled with the impressive service we offer them separate us from our competitors.

You can find out more about beginning a claim for personal injury with Hampson Hughes Solicitors by calling 0800 888 6888 or by emailing