Saturday 21 June 2008

Tighten your belts

With the re-structure at Photolink complete we have been hard on the new business trail selling mainly for 2009 and I'm pleased to say that our efforts are starting to prove fruitful. As a business that has typically grown through networking and word of mouth it has been a little strange to focus on attracting new clients, but then hey, our role is to attract new customers for the majority of our own clients on a daily basis. What's also great is that we have recently finished a number of projects where our creative talents speak for themselves, so it makes the sales process that little bit easier.

For example, we have now starting shooting some great fashion photography for John Lewis, we have completed a series of global events for Astra Zeneca, we have produced for Simon Jersey both their new catalogue and a fantastic new eCommerce website http://www.simonjersey.com/ and although not an instantly recognisable brand we have developed a new website for http://www.sportinglodgeinns.co.uk/ which I think looks fantastic. Sporting Lodge is currently a small hotel group but they clearly have ambitious plans and needed a scalable website to reflect their aspirations. As we are also responsible for driving traffic to the website I would be interested in your views if you get a second to take a look. I'm also pleased to say that this week we have commenced a social media strategy for a new company that retails quality nursery and kids bedroom furniture. So for those of you who do revolve around the world of social media sites keep an eye out for http://www.scribbletree.co.uk/ and give it some support when you do.

This hunt for new business has resulted in travelling significant distances over the last few weeks, resulting in lots of journeys to the petrol pump. Whilst the credit crunch has been a much discussed topic over the last few months I can't say I had been directly affected to date, but five trips to the petrol pumps in a week have left my wallet feeling violated. I simply cannot believe the increase in prices this year and without question we will feel the knock on effect, in addition to the increases we are all already experiencing in household bills and food. So why when we are all really starting to feel the pinch do Manchester want to commence consultation on a daily congestion charge for travelling into the city? In a normal climate I think it would be difficult to generate support, but when we are all feeling aggrevated with the current rate of inflation they must be bonkers to present us with another weekly bill to contemplate. I find this absolutely ridiculous.

I must finally keep you updated with my new love affair with reading. After being captivated with the Kite Runner I purchased a Thousand Splendid Suns as soon as it hit the shelves. For me it's simply not as good as the Kite Runner but I thoroughly enjoyed it never the less. I've then just had a week of Spanish sunshine to re-charge the batteries and managed to digest the entire Jeremy Clarkson series of books. I like Clarkson a lot but after the publications I've read this year they simply didn't hit the mark. However, it has primed me for the new series of Top Gear that starts on Sunday, I just hope they will review a sports car that uses less fuel than mine.