THE crew at a leading Basingstoke design and marketing agency are riding on the crest of a wave as they work on a flagship title for a major company.

The team at theESCAPE are now working on their first edition of The Flag, which is BP Shipping’s internal magazine.

“The magazine is referred to as the social glue of BP Shipping,” explained the agency’s creative director Ian Mumford, who led the pitch.

“The magazine is for BP Shipping’s land-based staff but also for those out at sea on its vessels, so it’s making sure they are all kept in the loop in terms of what is going on in the organisation.”

The Flag was previously a printed magazine, but given the nature of the BP business, it then was distributed as a PDF.

Ian said: “What they had was still being designed as a printed magazine, whereas people were viewing it on desk tops, laptops and iPads – so BP Shipping realised the magazine wasn’t fit-for-purpose.”

BP Shipping has 52 international vessels ranging from medium-sized crude and product carriers to three very large crude oil carriers.

Worldwide BP Shipping employs around 1,690 people on its ships and offices in the UK, US, Singapore, Australia, Turkey and South Africa.

Delighted to have beaten around six other competitors for the deal, Ian said: “The feedback we’ve had from BP is that our pitch was hands down the best in terms of what The Flag could look like, and we were the best in terms of giving them options for the future and making it interactive.”

The agency, based at offices on the Loddon Business Centre, in Roentgen Road, Basingstoke, has an impressive number of clients on its books including Balfour Beatty Ground Engineering, Honeywell, Hampshire County Council and Sentinel Housing Association.

Upbeat about 2013, Ian said: “We’ve had a lot of enquiries, so business is looking promising – converting them is the next challenge.”