Bikini-Clad Myleene Klass Stops Traffic in Glasgow

PRESS RELEASE
Bikini-Clad Myleene Klass Stops Traffic in Glasgow
Giant Poster revealed in City Centre

Today Glasgow City Centre was treated to a super-size image of Myleene Klass… dressed only in a bikini.

The 472m sq image, which is set to be seen by nearly 750,000 people over the next couple of weeks, will be on show opposite Glasgow Central train station on Union Street, one of the city’s busiest thoroughfares.

The iconic giant poster, which launches the first swimwear collection designed by Littlewoods’ brand ambassador Myleene Klass, is the biggest in Scotland and is owned by London agency, blowUP media.
blowUP media MD, Katrin Robertson explained ‘This is a stunning image of Myleene and is certainly set to stop traffic – after all, who can miss it!’

Retail Director for Littlewoods, Gary Kibble agreed ‘Myleene is a beautiful woman and this is a beautiful shot. We hope the giant poster brightens the day of shoppers in Glasgow’.

ENDS

For more information please contact Rebecca Hopkins or Angharad Evans at ENS on 020 7934 9030 / Rebecca@ensltd.com / Angharad@ensltd.com

Editor’s Note:  Image attached. blowUP media invented the giant poster 20 years ago and has 35 sites around the UK. For more information visit www.blowup-media.co.uk   

The Football Business Awards Kicks Off Its Second Season

Entries Now Open For This Year’s Awards

Following the huge success of last year’s Football Business Awards, entries are now open.

Various categories recognizing the different endeavours within the business of football are available and will be judged by some of the biggest names in the industry including Karren Brady, Vice-Chairman of West Ham United FC, and Bruce Buck, Chairman of Chelsea FC.

Simon Burton, co-founder of the FBA, said ‘We are very excited to announce that entries are now open for the second year of the Football Business Awards. Last year’s awards were an astounding success and we’re hoping to build on that with so many great sponsors and partners on board. This year’s categories span elements of the sector from best use of technology to best community scheme, which we hope will inspire an array of entries from as many different clubs and organizations as we saw last year. The awards provide a great platform for those working within football to be recognized by their peers and establish themselves as true industry leaders. ’

After the first ever FBA ceremony was held at Chelsea FC’s Stamford Bridge last November, the event will now return to the same venue on 7^th November 2013. This year’s event will be sponsored by Sports Revolution, International Foreign UK, Stream UK, Peachy Productions and Agilysys; whilst also being supported by iSportConnect.

This year’s nominated charity is the Willow Foundation, which provides special days for seriously ill 16 to 40 year olds; Bob Wilson, Founder and Life President of the Foundation, is a member of this year’s judging panel.

All entries for this year’s awards must be submitted before 17.00 p.m. on 15^th July 2013.

The categories for this year’s Football Business Awards are as follows:

Best UK Club Marketing Campaign

Best Overseas Club Marketing Campaign

Best Business Serving Football - up to £2m turnover (non professional service)

Best Business Serving Football - over £2m turnover (non professional service)

Best use of Social Media in Football

Best Football Club Hospitality

Best / Most Innovative use of Technology by Clubs

Best/Most Innovative use of Technology in Football

Best Football Community Scheme

Best Corporate Social Responsibility Scheme

Best Non-match Day use of Venue

Football Brand of the Year

Best Professional Service Business Serving Football

Best Retail / Merchandise Initiative

Club Sponsorship / Partnership of the Year

Football Sponsorship / Partnership of the Year

Football Business Writer of the Year

Innovation Award

For more information, please contact ENS at 020 7934 9030.

Big Advertising Leads to Big Results

From our television screens to public transport, consumer advertising is everywhere these days and companies realise the difference a strong and innovative campaign can make to their product or service. The advertising industry is getting bigger and bigger, quite literally, and giant posters can be seen throughout the UK’s larger cities these days. From Ford in Fulham to Bacardi in Birmingham, these huge advertising platforms are a familiar sight to busy urbanites all over the UK and beyond.

World-renowned companies from all sorts of industries have used giant posters as part of their advertising campaigns. Placing these huge campaigns bang in the centre of urban hot spots, ensuring they dominate their surrounding area, is a proven way of grabbing people’s attention and effectively getting a message across to consumers. One of the leading companies within the outdoor advertising industry is blowUP media. After establishing in the early 90s and specialising in billboard advertising at that time, the company has evolved within the industry and now provides quality giant posters, building wraps and large-scale, digital screen advertising campaigns. The company is a real frontrunner in the outdoor media industry and recognizes the importance of impact advertising in the heart of busy towns and cities. 

With competition fierce and rival companies always trying to produce bigger and better campaigns, business owners understand how important impactful advertising is to building a successful brand. Giant posters are a modern and striking medium that transform relatively simple concepts into impressive and powerful advertising campaigns that command people’s attention. Along with giant posters, other bold advertising methods such as building wraps can also be seen within larger cities. This advertising method sees at least one side or section of a building totally covered by one gigantic advertising campaign. This full-on and striking method works wonders within busier areas where people are constantly on the go and can get wrapped up in the hustle and bustle of city life. Smaller-scale advertising would simply not have the same impact within this sort of hectic environment, which is why these colossal campaigns work so well to grab the attention.

Gone are the days where A4 posters glued to a wall or lamppost are seen as effective advertising campaigns - outdoor media is moving with the times.  Nowadays, it’s all about creating a huge impact and engaging effectively with your audience, ensuring that your brand’s important messages are successfully conveyed to consumers immediately. One thing’s for sure, big advertising can lead to big results.

The Three Secrets of Successful Volunteer Programmes

Organizing any event, however big or small, can be complex and consequently stressful. There are a huge number of factors to consider – from knowing who’s where and when, to allocating specialist teams with specific skill sets; all this is hard enough when you are working with people paid to be doing a job, but dealing with volunteers changes the game completely.

People usually volunteer for two reasons; either they are committed to helping a cause or they will give their free time to be part of something significant and fun. Either way you are dealing with people who are being driven by emotion, so you need to be sensitive to what has motivated them.

When managing this sort of programme, the team at GetScheduled – creators of the latest sports event management and volunteer management software – believes that there are three secrets that will make your project a greater success.

1. Schedule intelligently: The starting point for this is to work out who you really need where and when, ie effective employee scheduling. People are happy to commit their time if they think it is being well used - don’t exploit them by expecting too much of them. However, it is almost worse if they show up with good intentions and high hopes only to find they have no worthwhile function on the project.
2. Communicate and inform quickly: Whilst no one is ever pleased when things go wrong, they are much more forgiving if they are told promptly and kept up to date with accurate information. The onus is on you as an organizer to make sure what you are saying is correct and disseminated quickly. If you achieve this, you will maintain a happy and cooperative volunteer force.
3. Manage more efficiently: You owe it to your volunteers to be efficient. Hit your deadlines (or say beforehand if you are going to be late), send them clear information and don’t change your mind mid-job.  On top of this, remember why they are here – so don’t forget to thank them and show them what a difference their efforts have made.

Sue Payne, GetScheduled’s Managing Director, explained ‘When our software was used by the Team London Ambassador program, we created the system with these three principles in mind. We had to – the team had to manage volunteers working on 46,445 shifts, spread across 48 sites and 8 job roles! Getting it wrong would have been a PR disaster but more than that, we would have let down a team of people who had demonstrated outstanding commitment to the project.’

GetScheduled have produced a piece of workforce management and volunteer management software to make your employee scheduling requirements simple. The team has worked on several high profile, global events in the past so have the experience to advise on your major and sports event management.

The Things Clubs should know before 31st August 2013

The Things Clubs should know before 31^st August 2013

Airton Risk Management Launches Guide to ‘Soccer’s Best Kept Secret’ at Soccerex

Whilst another TV rights windfall is pressing the issue of Financial Fair Play in football, last August saw a change in FA policy that has the power to minimize risk liabilities in clubs – but very few teams appear to know anything about it.

The ‘Bonus Insurance Schemes’ policy is a significant step for the FA as it opens the way for UK clubs to insure bonuses against positive outcomes meaning, for example, that Liverpool could protect their liability for Suarez performing beyond expectations or QPR won’t be liable for Harry Redknapp’s payday if the team avoids relegation.

Not only do too few clubs know about and understand the power of the policy but fewer still appreciate that it carries a deadline; any indemnities pertaining to player bonuses need to be put in place by clubs in time for the August transfer deadline.

Airton Risk Management, one of sports’ leading risk management services and part of Paddy Power PLC, has created an impartial guide to help clubs understand just what the policy could mean for them and will be launching it at Soccerex’s European Forum in Manchester on 10^th April.

Rod O’Callaghan, Director of Airton Risk Management, explained ‘Football clubs across Europe are facing tougher margins in an extremely hostile economic environment, so we find it amazing that a move as significant and helpful as the Bonus Insurance Scheme should go so far under the radar. The FA has put something of real value in place that clubs would probably take advantage of, if only they knew about it. There is value indemnifying against bonuses as low as £50,000 but to take full advantage of the new policy, clubs should be thinking about what they can do now. The August transfer deadline sounds a distant prospect but clubs need to get their act together to take full advantage of benefits the new policy brings.’

Airton Risk Management will be available for interview and comment at Soccerex on Stand 177

For more information please contact Rebecca Hopkins at ENS (Rebecca@ensltd.com / 020 7934 9032) or Rod O’Callaghan and David Lyons at Airton Risk Management (00 959 1902 1309 / 3)

Editor’s Note: The FA issued the new Bonus Insurance Scheme policy in August 2012, too late for the 2012 transfer window. Despite the FA’s efforts with the Financial Fair Play scheme and the Salary Cost Protocol, the Bonus Insurance Scheme has gone largely unnoticed.  Clubs face an increasingly difficult balancing act with the Premier League’s wages to revenue ration now standing at 70%, operating margins of 3% and a decrease of 26% in TV rights income expected by 2014/5 (source: Deloitte’s Annual Review of Football Finance 2012). Additionally, clubs hoping to qualify on-pitch for UEFA tournaments will be expected to comply with its Financial Fair Play scheme.