British retailer Tesco has announced plans to makeover its stores and its brand and marketing. The grocery and general merchandise firm has unveiled strategies to review its brand communications, including the advertising slogan “Every Little Helps” which it has had for nearly 20 years.

The chief executive Philip Clarke has outlined what he wants to change about its marketing and renewed focus will be carried out on in-store customer service. The supermarket claims it will be implementing a £200 million investment in training new staff and recruitment.

Tesco is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits. It is one of the country’s biggest advertisers but industry experts claim that none of the adverts in-store really explains to shoppers what the brand stands for. Therefore the aim is the make the advertising better, clearer and more relevant.

W-Co.co.uk specialises in light box advertising for stores like Tesco that need professional in-store advertising. The experts offer a plethora of services and products including display light boxes, illuminated signs, poster frames, and LED light walls and panels.

LED light boxes are ideal in retail stores for illuminating merchandising units and the free standing displays can be positioned strategically around the department to bring products and promotions closer to the browsing customer.

If you plan on revamping your business’s advertising in-store, visit www.w-co.co.uk today and seek expert guidance and help.

Here are a number of ideas to choose from…

Titan Display Light Box

The Titan backlit light boxes are traditional styles of illuminated sign made from high quality aluminium profiles making them very robust and durable. They are often used for shop fascia signs and the supplied wall brackets make them ideal for projection signs too.

Price: visit site for details

Illuminated Signs

An illuminated sign can be perfect to display your business’s logo and because they are custom made they can be virtually any shape or size that you want.

Price: visit site for details

Poster Frames

Available in various standard poster sizes, poster frames are great for shop windows and the lockable poster frames and tamper resistant poster frames make it more secure for outdoor use.

Price: visit site for details

Pavement signs and A-boards

These are a great way to advertising and promotions closer to customers and the free-standing graphic signs are manufactured to the highest quality. They come in a vast array of styles and sizes to suit your requirements.

Price: visit site for details

Digital Signage

Digital signage is the best for promotional and digital advertising and W&Co offer a superior range of Samsung digital signage solutions.

Price: visit site for details

Following a credential pitch, Corven, an international advisory and private equity company, have chosen Liven Creative to develop their brand.

Liven Creative have been tasked with not only creating the Corven Networks end of year brochure, but also with developing the look and feel of Corven across printed literature.

Corven Networks facilitates discussions between leading organisations across numerous industries; allowing them to share their experiences and develop viable solutions to the challenges they face. The advisory and private equity firm specialises in corporate venturing, providing experience and resources to new businesses starting up. The brochure which Liven are creating will highlight Corven’s achievements in 2011, as well as outlining topics and events that are planned for 2012

Liven Creative are a Woking based design and marketing consultancy. They work with all sizes of companies, from start-ups to global enterprises such as Corven, maximising the effectiveness of their printed literature.

Liven Creative create brands and digital campaigns across print and media. Their work spans across branding, digital, print and media, creating brands, brochures, leaflets, websites, social marketing, copywriting, photography, and much more.

Richard Fraser, Director of Liven Creative, said:

“We are very excited to work for Corven. The internationally successful brand will really give us the chance to show off our work to a lot of people, which I know will be impressive. We are proud of the range of services we offer and our brochure design and brand developing skills are second to none”.

Liven Creative is valued by clients for its professional and structured approach to delivering commercially viable solutions. Their aim is to provide a professional and structured approach to organisations’ marketing and design needs, predominantly helping clients within the corporate, education, technology, energy, travel, property and fashion markets. To find out more about Liven Creative visit http://www.livencreative.com/.

Pronta Print & Kall Kwick printing franchises looks to be in trouble.

Print franchises are really struggling in this recession – is it worth having a printing franchise? Does a printing franchise just mean higher overheads, which in turn makes you uncompetitive?

I’ve been in the printing industry since I left college in the 8o’s, had my own business for the last eight years and yes, times are definitely hard at the minute but there is still a living to be made from printing. York Print Company is my own little business, I make the rules and I do all the supplier deals. My feeling is that as a local print company with no franchise costs I’m as competitive as need to be, if I want to win some business, I will. I genuinely feel no one in York or the local area can offer the service or better my prices.

The reasons for this assuredness are simple. I have had 16 years of experience selling and repairing digital print kit so the print machine’s I use in the business are well maintained and run very economically – no leases to pay or service costs, no break downs (I have all the spares on site). In short, I have the business running leanly and smoothly with the overheads as low as I can get them. I believe that a franchise would impede my business as at the end of the day they will want a slice of the profit, that’s what the franchise is in business for .The percentage given to the franchise would have to harm my competitiveness.

So, Franchises! – is it any wonder they are struggling. York Print Company has low prices and offer great customer service, we are local and spend the time getting to know our customers. We are making life hard for big well known printing franchises. Long may it continue as its other local business’s that benefit from not having to pay the franchise percentage that would leak out of the local economy?

My question is this: will there be any franchises that are well placed to ride out the economic storm and if so, why?

The next question, Which industry/franchise will be next to feel the strain?

Or is it better to own your own local print company, like www.yorkprintcompany.co.uk who service the wole of the York area with business cards, leaflets flyers and graphic design.

An ergonomic shopping bag handle which stops you forgetting your shopping has won first prize in this year’s “Designing for the Future” competition run by The Future Perfect Company (www.thefutureperfectcompany.com) and The College of Richard Collyer in Horsham, Sussex.

This popular competition, which is now in its second year, encourages young designers to think about the challenges that an ageing population presents – and to create innovative, attractive and aspirational designs that allow people to continue to live enjoyable, active and independent lives as they get older.

The winning design by Collyer’s student, Alex Francis is an ergonomic handle designed to hold a number of shopping bags with a unique reminder ring which makes sure you never leave your bags behind again.

The runners up were no less ingenious. Mike Davies designed a vibrating pillow alarm clock ideal for deaf people and also considerate spouses not wanting to wake their partner; Isabelle Parker devised an elegant heated back support and Sam Hammant came up with toast tweezers – perfect for extracting annoying pieces of toast stuck in the toaster. Aston Cheesman’s design was a clever chair port with adjustable tray table and Ben Palmer took the idea of long handled back brushes a stage further with his shower aid which is pre-loaded with shower gel.

Comments Philippa Aldrich, founder of The Future Perfect Company: “We are delighted to be running this competition for a second year with Collyer’s. The Horsham district has one of the fastest ageing populations in the UK and there is a real need for designers to think about the challenges that will bring. Alex’s shopping bag handle allows you to carry more than one shopping bag comfortably. And the reminder ring makes sure you never leave your shopping behind. Although designed with older people in mind, this product has universal appeal and would be really useful for Christmas shopping!”

Comments judge Craig Barrow, “The students showed a high quality of research and development within their chosen areas of work producing a wide range of ideas and interesting concepts. Congratulations to the winners.”

The competition was open to Collyer’s students on the GCE Advanced Subsidiary Product Design course and judged by Denise Stephens (co-founder of online design community Enabled by Design), Craig Barrow (former winner of the Designing for the Future Competition at University of Brighton), and Philippa Aldrich (founder of The Future Perfect Company). Tutors Kate Sharp (Faculty leader – Arts and Communications) and Hari Atkins (Subject Leader – Product Design, Materials) acted as advisors to the judging panel.

The Future Perfect Company was born in 2009 when owner Philippa Aldrich was looking for ways to make life easier for relatives and friends facing the challenges of later life. When investigating what products could and should be available to help the over 50s, she was horrified by the many dull, utilitarian products which looked as if they belonged in a hospital. In time, Philippa became increasingly determined to champion the need for thoughtful design so she took the plunge and – after 20 years as a city lawyer – made her passion a reality when she established The Future Perfect Company. Philippa is the winner of the West Sussex County Times Best New Business Award 2010 and was a finalist in the Southern Business Awards 2010.

For further information, please visit www.thefutureperfectcompany.com

Zero-one Design are pleased to announce the launch of a brand new, online database system. This service allows new startup recruitment companies to get up and running quickly and efficiently at a cost that they can afford.

Following numerous requests from their new recruitment clients over the past Year, Zero-One decided to develop the admin system of their start up recruitment website systems.

This new database is attached to the recruitment website packages, which also includes logo design and social media set up and launch PR services. It allows a new recruitment company to have an instant database system, linked from their website. The database system stores all CV registrations and applications and allows them to be fully searchable using Boolean technology. Application tracking and short listings of candidates in a very simple manner speeds up the recruitment process for new companies too. There is a reminder system for both candidates and clients plus a full diary system to manage day to day activities. The website content and social media activities may also be managed via this database system.

Zero-One Design is an online recruitment and updateable website specialist. They specialize in updateable website design, jobs board systems, jobs board software, recruitment agency websites, SEO, email services and e-commerce. They also offer online PR services. They also offer start up and support with online social media networks.

To view the array of services on offer by this highly experienced and enthusiastic web design company please go to http://www.zod.uk.com/

Or to discuss any of the aforementioned then speak to Mr Steven Day on 01827300820.n

In a recent American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) design competition, ie: Designs received awards in two categories, first place for Residential Renovation, and first place for Product Design. This is exciting news for anyone who lives in Florida, and is looking for an interior designer for his or her next project. ie: Designs has a mission to create the most innovative and unique environments to meet every clients’ personality and lifestyle.

ie: Designs works closely with their clients’ architect, builder, and/or contractor or their own established team of professionals in order to make the process of re-designing or building their home enjoyable and stress-free. In order to ensure their clients total satisfaction they have an incredible commitment to every project they do. In addition to meeting all of their clients’ needs, ie: Designs is committed to doing business in an environmentally sound and proactive manner.

ie: Designs is different from other jacksonville interior design companies, because not only can they re-design the interior of your home, they can completely renovate it as well. If the project calls for it, they can create CAD drawings in order to meet all of your needs. With such an extraordinary array of services, ie: Designs offers more than just interior design.

They can help you with your design concepts, color schemes, budget planning, coordination and more. When it comes to remodeling, they can update your kitchen, bathroom, or any other room in your space. They can supply you with detailed CAD drawings, which are provided to your contractors, fabricators and other professionals as needed.

Although ie: Designs is exceptional at interior design and renovations, they can also revamp the exterior of your home as well. ie: Designs can re-design the outside of your home with custom railings, trellises, awnings, landscaping and more. ie: Designs is a superior all in one renovation, remodeling, and design company that can suit any and all of your needs.

ie: Designs owner and primary designer’s name is Veronique Schleef, who was born a French citizen in Casablanca, Morocco into a family of architects. She grew up in Cannes on the French Riviera but immigrated to the United States and subsequently became an American citizen. Veronique has over 20 years of interior design studies and experience in Europe and the US. She has studied at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, the Art Institute in Dallas, the American Intercontinental University in London, as well as the American Intercontinental University in Los Angeles. She is proud to be an Allied member of ASID (American Society of Interior Designers).

ie: Designs is located at 12086 Fort Caroline Rd., Suite 501 in Jacksonville, Florida. The contact telephone number is 904-997-0324 or you can e-mail them at info@ie-designs.com for more information about how they can provide you with their services for your next project and experience for yourself why ie: Designs received two 2011 1st place awards from ASID, one for residential renovation, and one for product design. Give them a call today to find out how they can turn your next design endeavor into the most unique and beautiful space of your dreams.

Great Falls, VA, 03 December 2011 : NCN Technology, a Virginia based organization, has made a mark for itself for designing SEO friendly content managed websites. They specialize in interactive web designing, complex web programming and advance features integration, the capabilities that combine to make user as well as SEO friendly sites, that work on all the browsers. Content Management Systems (CMS) are used to make sites that can be managed easily.

Talking about their web design service, a senior executive with the company stated, “With competent website designers, we create sites with multiple features ranging from credit card verification to automatic account processing, all without breaking your budget. We come up with engaging content managed websites that will keep visitors glued to your site. Additionally, these websites are easy for search engines as well to index.”

Recognizing the importance of SEO, they create websites that make a strong SEO foundation. Content is an integral part of search engine optimization, and use of CMS makes it easy for the webmaster to work on onsite optimization including keyword insertion into content, adding title to pages, navigation improvement, etc. They design websites keeping in tune with the search engines, helping the clients save the cost of redesigning later, in case it does not meet the SEO requirements. Their experts are constantly on the lookout for new trends in SEO so that necessary changes may be implemented in the website design.

Content management systems such as Drupal, WordPress, Joomla and Concrete transform a static website into a dynamic one. These systems enable the webmaster to deal with images, audios, videos, pdf’s and other documents. These systems are scalable enough to deal with e-commerce sites, portals with multiple memberships, a media-rich site or a business blog. Their ecommerce website designers are adept in deploying diverse technologies to produce dynamic sites.

About NCN Technology

Based in Virginia, NCN Technology is a premier company that holds years of experience in providing web development, software solutions and business intelligence services. For more than 15 years, the company has been working with clients to define processes and come up with customized applications that help clients meet their objectives. They provide complete Business Intelligence Solutions Suite that brings them up to the same level as Gartner business intelligence.

Contact Information

NCN Technology
9893 Georgetown Pike, Suite 710
Great Falls, VA 22066
USA
Phone/Fax: 703-757-2209
Website: sales@ncntechnology.com
Website: www.ncntechnology.com
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Lexolution IT Services, an ISO 9001 – 2008 certified company and established name in the domain of web design and development services. With successful launch of www.tokyowink.com, LIT has once again proved its caliber and made its stand even stronger in the domain of value driven web services.

www.tokyowink.com, an online eyelashes & accessories store with wide range of high quality fake eyelashes which can redefine your entire look. By lifting your glam quotient up by adding a mysterious and alluring look to your eyes. The design frame of the store highlights varieties of eyelashes and related accessories available at an affordable price. The visual appeal and technical implementation of the website is in full compliance with scalability for enhancements to back business expansion plans.

LeXolution IT has fully customized open source E-commerce platform Magento for deploying feature rich sophisticated online store. The website provides a comprehensive set of tools for the webmaster to manage & operate the website through a password protected console. Using this console webmaster can easily manage database of products, customers, orders placed, informational contents, etc.

About LeXolution IT Services

LeXolution IT Services, is a top Indian web services company delivering customized e-commerce and web application solutions to its global client base. The company has received many accolades for setting high standards of excellence within its laudable range of web services like professional web designing, web development, e-commerce platform design and diverse SEO services. The customer-centric approach of the dedicated and adept professional team hastens the process of delivering dynamic web solutions to its clients in a cost effective manner without compromising the quality. You can get more information about the company and its services on it’s website:www.lexolutionit.com

Contact Details:

LeXolution IT Services Pvt. Ltd.
WZ 94-B, First Floor,
Tara Complex,
Jwala Heri Market,
Paschim Vihar
New Delhi – 110063

Telephone : +91-11-45665556
India Phone : +91-11-45665556
US Phone : +1 213 814 2708
UK Phone : +44 166 651 1519
Fax : +91 22 66459890
Website: www.lexolutionit.com

Cambridge-based integrated agency Mobas is selected by Novotel to communicate greetings across 90 countries.

For the fourth consecutive year, Mobas has achieved the international brief to create a seasonal greetings card design for global hotel group, Novotel Hotels.

The creative challenge was to convey a relevant message that would translate easily and effectively across all online and offline media. The marketing challenge was to make it appropriate for 90 countries, with differing religious and national events, throughout December and January. Mobas developed a new generation of concepts, which also communicated the group’s commitment to openings for 2012 and evolved the positioning of the Novotel and Suite Novotel brands. The chosen concept – A magical time of year – has been designed for instant brand recognition with a global message for printed greetings cards and as an online e-card with a link to animation: http://accorhosting.com/acf243/ACF243-XMAS_2012-audio-v7.html

This Mobas creative is now being supplied to Novotel management teams across the globe to adapt and adopt as required to reach individual markets.

James Wheatcroft, Brand and Strategy Director for Mobas, concludes: “The Magical time of year message and accompanying visual language is a clear concept that reflects the upscale contemporary feel of the Novotel brand. Concise and relevant is key for global brands right now, and we’re delighted to have worked on the project”.

Mobas: Brand. Design. Digital. PR.
W: http://www.mobas.com
T: 01223 841699

- Ends -

Notes to Editors

• Mobas is an integrated communications agency based in Stapleford near Cambridge. Founded in 2003, its core services include advertising, design, media planning and buying, strategy, PR and digital marketing.

• On a revenue and client-count basis, Mobas is one of the fastest growing agencies in the East of England.

• National and international clients include Accor Group (including, Sofitel, Novotel, Mercure, Ibis, Etap and All Seasons), Bluefin, Bupa, Countryside Properties, Durex, Greene King, Hitachi, Jagex, Loch Fyne, NHS Blood and Transplant, Novartis and Scholl. • Regional clients include Bidwells, The Cambridge Building Society, Cambridge University Press, Care UK, Fitnessworks, Francis Jackson Homes, Life Fitness, Orthomimetics, Knowledge Solutions, Papworth Hospital, Peters Elworthy & Moore, Ranier Technology, Red Lion Leisure Ltd, Signify, Taylor Vinters and TuckerGardner.

• Novotel has over 400 upper midscale hotels and resorts worldwide http://www.novotel.com

Media contact: Hellena Barnes / Suzie Young Mobas PR
E: hellena.barnes@mobas.com / suzie.young@mobas.com
T: 01223 841699 M: 07808 789689

Heehaw breaks new ground again with a series of captivating digital images for the University of Stirling. In possibly the first commercial use of cinemagraphs in Scotland, Stirling also believes it is the first UK university to use them.

Cinemagraphs are a new technique which add motion to still photographs resulting in photographs that move. They were invented by two US photographers to illustrate fashion and news photographs and the first examples appeared early in 2011. They are created by filming short sequences and editing the moving footage into a still image, allowing small portions of movement from the video to loop seamlessly.

Cinemagraphs have an almost mesmeric quality. At first you catch just a slight movement you could easily miss. It causes you to double take and forces you to look closer as Kirsty MacGregor, Director of Marketing and Communications at the University of Stirling explains: “We were looking for something original, innovative and creative to update our website, something that would stand out and ensure people would engage with the content. Heehaw’s answer was something we had not heard of before: cinemagraphs. “Heehaw’s technical and creative knowhow has helped us to achieve our vision and by working closely with our own in-house web team they have created fantastic results. The cinemagraphs are a great achievement for everyone involved and demonstrate our commitment to using visual art to reinforce and express the university’s values.

The series of six images include the pages of a book turning, a bunsen burner burning, a hand moving a computer mouse, wind blowing a woman’s hair, a golf club teeing up and a microscope being focused.

Mally Graveson Heehaw’s Director of Productions comments: “The university provided us with a list of suggestions as to what the pictures were to represent. From there we detailed the concepts and planned each shot. The main thing we had to get right was the movement. It has to be subtle yet in a place people would expect to find motion, and it had to be achieved within the technical constrains of a cinemagraph.

“This is a completely new technique for us and for Scotland and of course we are delighted to be the first to do it!”

Heehaw Digital is a full service digital agency offering web design, video, mobile, social media, e-commerce and online marketing. Working with a broad range of public and private sector brands, from the bluechip multi-national to the SME including RBS, Scottish Natural Heritage, Hopetoun House and the Edinburgh Comedy Festival, this multi-sector experience allows cross fertilisation of ideas.

Heehaw’s strong research and development focus means they work at the cutting edge of digital creativity. They were one of the first agencies in Scotland to start using video and are one of the few to have their own specialist in-house video production team.