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Cartoon courtesy of shorelines art Penguin Books has launched an online dating service for book lovers. Book lovers meet online and you can search for potential dates who have similar literary tastes. To achieve this Penguin teamed up with match.com. To meet your new partner visit penguindating Struggling to sort out your bills? A Dutch private bank Insinger de Beaufort has launched a new service. Monthly they send a shoebox to their customers by courier. Customers fill the box with bills, credit card statements and tax returns and return to the bank with the courier. The bank then sort out customers bill. If you like to play computer games but don’t have the time to set up the weaponary for the characteristics don’t worry. About 400,000 in China are earning an average £77 per month setting up the characters and their characteristics for busy Western players. Source the Marketer Back to the Top Internet Advertising Internet users are estimated to number 37 million in the UK. This is 60% of the UK population. However larger food and drink producers generally do not use the Internet for advertising, sticking with traditional TV and magazine advertising. Research has shown that Internet users check and find information on food and drink products. The research further shows that people undertaking these searches felt trust in the food and drink adverts they saw on the internet and went on to buy. Generally larger companies fail to see the Internet as a selling vehicle more as an information source, something generally reflected on their web sites. However some big brands have used the internet to their advantage. Cadburys famous gorilla ad took off after Cadbury’s uploaded the ads to YouTube. Burger King has also used Internet marketing to their advantage, producing a web site on which visitors could command a chicken. The site collected 400milion views in a year and the result was an increase of 9% in sales of chicken sandwiches. Larger food and drink companies are also generally reluctant to use data capture methods to gather information about their customers. There is a perception that people are reluctant to hand over their names and E mail address but offer a genuine incentive and enough people will take part. Online advertising campaigns require longer term planning and are more labour intensive than TV advertising campaigns which might typically run for up to 6 weeks. Web sites and online ads have to change to maintain interest. Site visitors will keep coming back to interesting campaigns and web sites and will expect to see interesting and changing content. Source The Grocer How easy is it for you to buy fine quality wines from family run vineyards? You will not find the wines Andrassy's sell on supermarket shelves. Andrassy fine Wines are a family run business and they buy from family run wineries in France, Germany, Hungary, Spain, Portugal and New Zealand. www.andrassy.co.uk |
Employed or Self Employed? On Wednesday 3rd September this year the high court rejected an appeal from Jon Bessell owner of Dragonfly consultancy Ltd. The appeal was against an tax decision to class Mr. Bessell as an employee rather than a freelance consultant. The decision was based on the work Mr. Bessell had undertaken for one of his clients the AA. He worked on three different projects for the AA from January 2,000 to January 2003 and the amount of tax involved was £99,000. Despite the fact that Mr. Bessel worked for another client and received no holiday or sickness pay did not count in his favour. He said ' I am devastated by today's news: not only does it affect my family and me, but all other freelance professional consultants who are trying to make an honest living. I was never an employee of the AA and I simply cannot understand how the High Court has reached its decision. It's a travesty of justice.' Source PCG.org Back to the top | Girls night in or Girls night Out? Starters and Desserts - A 1 hour demonstration of quick canapés, starters or snacks and desserts which provides your supper * Minimum of 10 £12 per head or Suppers and Desserts - A 1 hour demonstrations and a more substantial supper than above Minimum of 10 £18 per head* Choose from a visit to Harmony House or we will come to you! Harmony house Cookery School Ring 01904 720933 or 07889 808749 |
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Competitions Competitions are one to way use PR to generate interest in your business and products. It's a way of grabbing attention and drawing new interest. The style of successful competitions has changed with buying trends as has the prizes. In 1938 e.g. Kellogs ran a competition where the prize was the honour of opening a new Kellog factory. In the 1950’s popular prizes were refrigerators. Today it is more likely to be a car or a holiday. The Institute of Sales Promotions estimate that are about 30,000 competitions and prize draws in the UK every year. The form of competitions ranges from free prize draws to proof of purchase entries and quizzes. Use competitions to increase sales and to draw people to your web site. Weetabix for example ran a competition where winners were invited to take a virtual tour of a house on the Weetabix web site to choose their prizes. Successful competitions In 2006 Kit Kat offered a golden ticket to be found in a Kit Kat. The prize was a chance to audition for Big Brother. It boosted sales by 2,000%. At one time during the competition sales of cases of Kit Kats on E bay were running at £1,000. During the height of the housing boom, Heinz ran a ‘Win a House’ promotion in collaboration with Crest Houses. Winning cans opened to reveal a cradle device that unfolded to show a golden house. Unsuccessful competition In 1984 Cadbury ran a Golden Egg competition. The winning egg was buried. Unclear competition instructions resulted in people digging up private gardens. The competition was withdrawn. Hoover had a famous disaster with the competition it ran in 1992 which offered two free flights to Europe to anyone spending more than £100 on a Hoover product. Hoover totally underestimated demand and lost £48m. Tips for successful competitions Make sure the prize is appropriate for the customers you are aiming to attract. Make the competition easy to enter and rules easy to understand Make sure its legal Decide on outcomes for your competition. for example to boost sales, to generate enquiries, to send traffic to your web site Internet Farm shop News Enter the Internet Farm shop FREE Christmas prize draw to win a voucher for a cookery demonstration at Harmony House Cookery school and a cookery book worth £20. Simply sign up for the farm shop newsletter. Back to the top Are you looking to create more space in your home, school or office?How much easier would it be for you to have a new space designed from a feasibility survey through design to completion? That’s where Linley Associates come in. They plan, design and project manage building works from your first instructions to finish. Their designs are unique for each of their clients and they aim to provide new spaces that really work for their clients. www.linleyassociates.co.uk |
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And finally........... More DVDs are now sold as consumers opt to stay at home. The British Video Association says sales reached 57.1 million during the third quarter of the year. Meanwhile, fish and chips are becoming more popular, with sales up for the first time in five years. Burger King and McDonald’s have both reported more business than usual. and BT is selling a mile long tunnel under London. During the second world war the tunnel was used as an emergency shelter. The tunnel housed the lines for 6,000 telephones including a government hot line linking Washington and Moscow during the cold war. Suggestions for use for the tunnel include a club and a wine seller. No price has yet been put on the tunnel. Source Reuters | 
