Thursday 18 June 2009

C2 Website goes live!

We're delighted with the C2-UK website that we've built - it's just gone live today. C2-UK is an East Lancashire telecoms company that provides services to business customers. We've recently revamped their corporate identity, giving them a fresh, clean new look - we’ve followed this work up with a variety of marketing materials and have now launched their new website (have a look at the link below). The site extends their fresh look and feel, makes them look credible, professional and approachable - acting as a lead generation and sales channel. It's thoroughly optimised to feature very highly on Google and other search engines, so we expect them to see some traffic - but just as importantly, we think it will be pretty memorable when people get there!

http://www.c2-uk.com/

Tuesday 16 June 2009

This week Connectivity will launch their "Mobile Directory Service" 118 800. The service is set to be a landmark in the evolution of information services since the derugulation of the old 192 service in the UK. The difference between this service and other 118 directory enquiries services is that it will be giving out personal mobile numbers, having acquired 18 million UK mobile numbers from data brokers etc. On one level it's a great idea and long overdue. However, the obvious question that will be raised is about the protection of people's privacy.
At BrandSpankin' (http://www.brandspankin.co.uk/), we have a close relationship with a US business called Wireless Directory Networks (WDN) - they developed a privacy proposition which squares the circle, in that it allows mobile users to be available whilst not actually giving out their numbers. Below is a link to an interview in Information Services Monthly that I did with Jeff Strunk, WDN's CEO.
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Every time we're about to get ahead of ourselves, we check out a bit of Bill Hicks - always a good thing for us Marketeers to be put in our place once in a while...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDW_Hj2K0wo

Monday 15 June 2009

I did an interview for BBC Radio 4 on Saturday that goes out on the 15th September. Ostensibly the interview was about the opening of the new ACE Centre (Arts, Culture and Enterprise) in Nelson. The venue houses a recording studio, dance and drama studio, creative arts room, gallery space, meeting rooms and function rooms.

The thrust of the Radio 4 piece is about community relations and I made the point that Pendle (& Burnley) issues really relate to economic matters - so the ACE centre is an excellent addition to local amenities (especially as the arts can be a springboard for regeneration).

The towns of East Lancashire lost their reason 'to be' after the decline of textiles and mining and we're now looking to find a new way forward. That being the case, many of us in the area share a frustration that national media often depict us in negative terms, despite the fact that many of us are actively engaged in constructive initiatives that are inclusive and should have a positive outcome.

BrandSpankin' (www.brandspankin.co.uk) for example, is engaged with local enterprise trusts, I'm also on the community enterprise board and in September we're going to mentor Business Studies students from Marsden Heights Community College. We're not just blowing our own trumpet here - we're aware of dozens of individuals and businesses who are similarly engaged in a constructive fashion.

So, those in the national media should take note - we're not all racists and most of us loathe everything the BNP stand for. And those who make excuses for the disenfranchised and alienated (who vote for the far-right) - should bear in mind that such people are generally thick and ignorant...and there's no excuse for that. There's no excuse for having a knee-jerk simplistic answer to a set of problems that are in fact very complex. And, given the fact that the area needs to see an injection of inward investment, there can also be no excuse for voting in such a way that is sure to drive it away. It's a definite case of turkeys voting for Christmas...

Wednesday 10 June 2009

We had a stand at last week's BeConnected event at Turf Moor, Burnley and as part of the event we gave away a free £500 marketing mentoring session which was won by Chris Hoy, the Technical Director of Securstor24 (http://www.securestor24.com/). We're looking forward to helping Securestor plan how to build awareness, generate leads and ultimately make more money! If you'd be interesting in a mentoring session, give us a call (01282 878 301).

Securestor have got a really good proposition offering secure data storage for SMEs. It's definitely worth checking their site as it gives a very thorough appraisal of what's available and at what price. Secure data storage is an absolute must - a first step that every business should consider as part of their disaster recovery/business continuity plan.

Friday 5 June 2009

I just wanted to thank Kate and the BeConnected team (http://www.be-connected.co.uk/) for an excellent event on Wednesday evening. Besides an inspirational presentation from Helen Colley of Farmhouse Fare, we got loads of interest and several really good leads from our stand. Helen's story and the fact that she's just been bought out by Daniels Food for £10million just go to show what can be done and exemplify the entrepreneurial spirit in East Lancs.


Tuesday 2 June 2009

It's going to be a busy week for BrandSpankin' !! Tomorrow we have a stand at BeConnected - the East Lancs networking event that takes place at Turf Moor. We're giving away a FREE £500 marketing support course, plus we're still in the mood to celebrate Burnley's promotion to the Premiership, so we're giving away a bottle of Bubbly at our stand.

Here's an eshot we issued yesterday to promote our presence at the event:-

http://tiny.cc/G0F5A

On Thursday Jacqueline and Camilla will be attending the Chamber's women in business event, so look out for them there.

And in-between those events there's a meeting of Pendle Enterprise Board - now called Enterprising Pendle.

We've got a number of projects coming to fruition at the moment - and with 2 client websites going live in the coming few days we should have some excellent links to post up here very soon!