The Birmingham LG Arena celebrates its one year anniversary this October following a much needed revamp - costing £29m.
A great Midlands entertainment venue, for The LG Arena has also been recognised as one of the top arenas in the UK by a panel of industry professionals at the Live UK Music Awards this October. The only venue outside London to be recognised has seen 800,000 people attend concerts and events at the arena during the last 12 months.
As well as hosting a wealth of big stars (including Lady GaGa), the LG Arena managed to shift a lot of food and drink - 63,836 bottles of water, 26,179 burgers, 18,545 hot dogs, 10,724 jacket potatoes, 181,713 glasses of wine, 183,889 bottles and pints of beer and 38,485 cups of tea and coffee.
JB
Friday, 29 October 2010
Thursday, 28 October 2010
I wish it could be Christmas every day
It is in Coventry.
First fully decorated, fully deployed Christmas tree seen in the Mount Pleasant pub in Coventry on 24 October.
I wondered if retailers were suffering so desperately in the recession that they have been forced to begin the Christmas sales push even earlier this year. Surprisingly, that does not seem to be the case.
Datamonitor, the self named home of Business Information, are predicting a bumper year for UK retailers, warning them to expect their best Christmas since 2007. They predict that 2010 will see spending increase by an extra £1.6 billion compared to Christmas 2009. Biggest winners will be clothing, food and grocery and health and beauty producing the largest increases. Online sales are predicted to grow by nearly 20 per cent.
First fully decorated, fully deployed Christmas tree seen in the Mount Pleasant pub in Coventry on 24 October.
I wondered if retailers were suffering so desperately in the recession that they have been forced to begin the Christmas sales push even earlier this year. Surprisingly, that does not seem to be the case.
Datamonitor, the self named home of Business Information, are predicting a bumper year for UK retailers, warning them to expect their best Christmas since 2007. They predict that 2010 will see spending increase by an extra £1.6 billion compared to Christmas 2009. Biggest winners will be clothing, food and grocery and health and beauty producing the largest increases. Online sales are predicted to grow by nearly 20 per cent.
Bah! humbug! to double-dip worries it seems...
JB
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
Talking up Talking Book
RNIB, the charity that supports blind and partially sighted people, is continuing its brand development strategy with a campaign to support its Talking Book service.
A fantastic program that helps nearly 40,000 people access books, it costs RNIB nearly £4m a year to run.
Classic brand building you might think but RNIB is incorporating a fundraising element to the campaign. As RNIB's Head of Marketing Vicki Cookson tells Marketing Week "We’re seeing a trend across the charity sector to build the fundraising message into all brand messaging rather than direct response activity."
JB
A fantastic program that helps nearly 40,000 people access books, it costs RNIB nearly £4m a year to run.
Classic brand building you might think but RNIB is incorporating a fundraising element to the campaign. As RNIB's Head of Marketing Vicki Cookson tells Marketing Week "We’re seeing a trend across the charity sector to build the fundraising message into all brand messaging rather than direct response activity."
JB
Monday, 25 October 2010
One year at TBG - one year wiser
"Don't be afraid of change." Well, it's easy enough to say but when it comes to taking the plunge it can be a little difficult.
A year ago I decided to take a leap of faith and leave leafy Cheshire to take a job at The Bridge Group. It was the biggest, and best, decision I've made.
Our job at TBG often involves encouraging people to accept change and make change, and I've found that after a year it's something our team does well.
Whether it's taking steps to embrace social media, launching a marketing campaign or developing a new logo, we aim to help people through every step of the process.
Change doesn't come easy to us humans, but we are all facing challenging times, whether in the spheres of PR, marketing or media, or housing and the public sector.
In my first year at TBG I have had my eyes open to a lot of new ways of working and have seen this as an opportunity for development and growth.
So don't be afraid of change. Or if you are a little scared, find a dose of TBG to help you through it, because with the right people around you change pays off.
Cheers,
Lucy
A year ago I decided to take a leap of faith and leave leafy Cheshire to take a job at The Bridge Group. It was the biggest, and best, decision I've made.
Our job at TBG often involves encouraging people to accept change and make change, and I've found that after a year it's something our team does well.
Whether it's taking steps to embrace social media, launching a marketing campaign or developing a new logo, we aim to help people through every step of the process.
Change doesn't come easy to us humans, but we are all facing challenging times, whether in the spheres of PR, marketing or media, or housing and the public sector.
In my first year at TBG I have had my eyes open to a lot of new ways of working and have seen this as an opportunity for development and growth.
So don't be afraid of change. Or if you are a little scared, find a dose of TBG to help you through it, because with the right people around you change pays off.
Cheers,
Lucy
These are not the toasters you seek
Whilst fast forwarding through the X Factor adverts (is Sky Plus the best invention ever?) I caught a glimpse of C-3PO and R2-D2 on an advert (23/10/10). Intrigued, I went back and saw the Star Wars droids advertising Currys.
Being of the generation that queued outside the local cinema with our dads at least three times in 1977 to see the original film, I am fond of the franchise that launched a million lunch boxes.
Dixons Retail has licensed the characters for a campaign supporting Currys and PC World and is using the characters to introduce the strapline "Discover the greatest electrical store in our galaxy." M & C Saatchi are behind the ads and X Factor fans should get a chance to see them over the next few weeks.
Being of the generation that queued outside the local cinema with our dads at least three times in 1977 to see the original film, I am fond of the franchise that launched a million lunch boxes.
Dixons Retail has licensed the characters for a campaign supporting Currys and PC World and is using the characters to introduce the strapline "Discover the greatest electrical store in our galaxy." M & C Saatchi are behind the ads and X Factor fans should get a chance to see them over the next few weeks.
Will the force be with them? Only Christmas sales will tell.
JB
Monday, 18 October 2010
Tuesday, 12 October 2010
Mind the Gap
Anyone see the new Gap logo earlier in the week? We didn't think much of it and it seems that feeling has been pretty universal. A press release on Gap's corporate site states that Gap has pulled the logo:
"Since we rolled out an updated version of our logo last week on our website, we’ve seen an outpouring of comments from customers and the online community in support of the iconic blue box logo." The full statement goes on to explain that they were experimenting with crowd sourcing.
According to the BBC more than 2,000 people wrote comments on Gap's Facebook page showing the iconic brand has a passionate following. If only the Olympic Committee had experimented in crowd sourcing when they developed the 2012 logo.
JB
"Since we rolled out an updated version of our logo last week on our website, we’ve seen an outpouring of comments from customers and the online community in support of the iconic blue box logo." The full statement goes on to explain that they were experimenting with crowd sourcing.
According to the BBC more than 2,000 people wrote comments on Gap's Facebook page showing the iconic brand has a passionate following. If only the Olympic Committee had experimented in crowd sourcing when they developed the 2012 logo.
JB
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