We are getting into the spirit of the new season by having a Creative Emporium Fantasy Football league which several of our team have joined in the hope of winning big money! We would like to wish everyone involved the best of luck with their team!

In other football news, the English FA are getting more Premier League teams involved in our bid to host the World Cup in 2018.

The latest legends to get behind the campaign are Sir Bobby Charlton and Sir Alex Ferguson, two Manchester United legends. On Wednesday, they gave FIFA World Cup bid inspectors a guided tour of Old Trafford with Manchester United players Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand on hand to give a players perspective of the stadium. Old Trafford will be one of the proposed venues should we be successful in our bid to host the World Cup in 2018. As well as visiting Manchester, FIFA inspectors are also visiting potential venues in London, Birmingham, Liverpool and Newcastle giving all major regions the opportunity to get involved with the World Cup should our bid be successful.

Football related merchandise is an excellent way to promote your company whilst engaging with your customers on a more personal level. Nearly everyone has an opinion on football from players getting paid too much to new signings to the kit the players are wearing! Most people also have a favourite team. Team colours can be replicated on any football related merchandise whilst still incorporating your logo to create an item that customers will want to keep.

From football sets to baseball caps to t-shirts to bags to office items like football shaped USB’s and stress balls, the list of merchandise available is endless and with football being a main topic of conversation at the moment, now is an ideal time to get involved.

To speak to one of our Account Managers regarding football related promotional merchandise give us a call on 08707 500057 or alternatively send an e-mail to info@creativeemporium.co.uk

On Tuesday, Big Brother fans saw worthy contestant Josie win the final ever Big Brother. As well as picking up a cheque for £100,000, Josie has now been given the opportunity to become the most popular winner ever by entering Ultimate BB, three weeks in the house with some of the most popular and controversial contestants of the previous ten years.

With all the excitement of the final, we also welcomed a new housemate to the Creative Emporium team! Paul Sharp entered the Creative Emporium House last Monday as our new Business Development Manager. Paul has had a successful first week where he has been kept busy with a comprehensive training and induction plan. This involved meeting his fellow housemates and working on a number of tasks to help him achieve full housemate status!

Paul will be developing, managing and promoting Creative Emporium to new accounts so if you’re not already a Creative Emporium customer, expect to receive a call from him soon!

Paul’s background is in the holiday and leisure industry which has involved him travelling the world to a variety of exotic locations including South America, Australia, the Caribbean and even Antarctica! With lots of stories to tell, Paul would have made an ideal candidate for the last ever Big Brother but has chosen the fun and excitement of Creative Emporium instead!

We would like to take this opportunity to welcome Paul to the Creative Emporium team- Let’s hope he doesn’t get nominated by his fellow housemates!

If you would like to contact Paul please e-mail pauls@creativeemporium.co.uk

www.argonpromo.co.uk

Above: The new Argon Promotions website

The website redesign comes at an exciting time for Argon Promotions as they look to capitalise on the success they achieved in 2009.

Since 2000, Argon Promotions has operated purely as a web based distributor. In August 2009, the company was acquired by Creative Emporium.

Darren Cohen, MD at Creative Emporium explains “After the purchase of Argon Promotions, rather than just sitting on the success of an already well established and thriving business, we wanted to develop and grow the business further. We feel that a redesign of the website will not only make it easier for our customers to use but will also integrate the brand with our existing business”.

The website design by Creative Emporium’s in house web design team, has some interesting and innovative additions designed to guide the customer around the site and helps them choose promotional merchandise depending on their requirements.

Tim Bailey, System Developer said “The main objective for the new site was to make it even easier for Argon customers to find what they are looking for. We wanted to give the customer the best shopping experience possible and we hope we have achieved this with our design”.

Visit www.argonpromo.co.uk today. Don’t forget to e-mail us what you think at info@creativeemporium.co.uk or comment on our blog here

Sponsored by Barclays in a £25m five year deal, the scheme sees 5,000 specially built bicycles stationed at a number of different docking bays in central London.

Above: A london docking station

Anyone can hire the bikes either by registering for the scheme online or using a credit card at a docking bay location. Bikes can be hired on a daily, weekly or yearly basis once a membership fee is paid. After becoming a member, journeys under 30 minutes are free.

Transport for London sees cycling to work as one of the best ways to reduce congestion in the city and reduce carbon emissions and are working hard to promote the scheme with the introduction of “Cycle Superhighways”, a series of cycle lanes designed to make cycling easier and safer.

Prior to the launch of the scheme last Friday, 11,000 people had registered to become members with several independent companies already developing iphone apps that allow the user to see live information about cycle location and availability.

As for the future who knows, if the scheme is a success maybe you could see something similar appear in a city near you! Until then consider looking at the Cycle to Work Scheme Creative Emporium are participating in- It really is a great way to help the environment and keep fit!

For further information on the Cycle to  Work Scheme visit www.cyclescheme.co.uk

For further information on the London Cycle Hire Scheme visit www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/cycling/14808.aspx

In Spring 2010 we introduced the scheme to our employees, and our first bike is now on the road after Dave Lister, our Systems Administrator signed up for the scheme.

Look out for Dave on the roads of Leeds this summer!

For further information on the Cycle to Work Scheme please visit www.cyclescheme.co.uk

Its really important that we try and contribute to charitable organisations whether it be by offering money, services or time. At Creative Emporium, we help a number of charities by offering discounted products but also by raising money through events. Keep visiting our website to see who we will be raising money for this year and where!

Upcoming brainstrust events include:

29th July: One of the people brainstrust helps will be hosting a brainstrust “meet up” to celebrate her sons success to date following his surgery three years ago. The event is open to anyone with an interest in meeting more people from the brain tumour community (and having a good time!). If you are interested in attending this event please visit www.meetup.com/brainstrust

4th September: Will Jones, Development Manager at brainstrust will be taking part in the Kielder 100 mile mountain bike race in Northumberland. A true racing event, the course has to be completed in 12 hours making this a real challenge for anyone! If you would like to sponsor Will and his team please visit www.justgiving.com/k100

24-26th September: Big Wight Matter, an annual family walking festival on the Isle of Wight, which takes place in and around a lovely vintage holiday park giving families the opportunity to enjoy the cliff top walks and beaches of the Isle of Wight. Visit www.bigwightmatter.co.uk for further information.

10th October: Royal Parks Half Marathon, 175 people are running the event this year for brainstrust. All places have now been filled for this half marathon through the parks of London but you can still show your support for brainstrust by coming down and cheering the team on!

Above: The Royal Parks Half Marathon

These are just some of the events brainstrust organise, visit their website for further details, www.brainstrust.org.uk

Showing support for Team GB and the London Olympic and Paralympic Games is an ideal way to create a connection with your customers. With so many different events, there really is something for everyone and excitement for 2012 is likely to be nationwide with the Olympics taking place in this country for the first time since 1948!

We are able to source products that are both fun and useful promoting your brand alongside an iconic event. Items such as inflatable megaphones, folding binoculars and mini horns (not quite as loud as a vuvuzela horn!) are fun items that can be used for the duration of the games. Use of these items isn’t restricted to London either. Plans are already in place to have “live sites”. These sites have big screens offering live information, video news and community events as well as live screenings of the events themselves. There are 18 big screens already operating at locations across the UK so its likely there will be one near you!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Live Sites are as follows:

• Birmingham- Victoria Square, BB1 1BB
• Bradford- Centenary Square, BD1 1SD
• Bristol- Millenium Square, Waterfront, BS1 5DB
• Cardiff- The Hayes, CF10 2DP
• Derby- Market Place, DE1 3AE
• Dover- Market Square, CT16 1NX
• Edinburgh- Festival Square, EH3 9SR
• Leeds- Millenium Square, LS1 3DP
• Leicester- Humberstone Gate, LE1 1WA
• Liverpool- Clayton Square, L1 1QR
• Manchester- Exchange Square, M4 3TR
• Middlesborough- Centre Square, TS1 2QQ
• Norwich- Chapelfield Shopping Centre, NR1 3SH
• Plymouth- Armada Way, PL1 1DY
• Portsmouth- Guildhall Square, PO1 2AD
• Swansea- Castle Square, SA1 1JF
• Swindon- Wharf Green, SN1 5AH
• Waltham Forest- Town Square, Walthamstow, E17 7JN
• Woolwich- General Gordon Place, SE18 6EU

We are also able to source more conventional merchandise for the Olympics such as T-shirts, water bottles, key rings, pens, notepads and badges which are items we quote day in, day out so you can be assured that we will be able to offer you competitive prices as well as expert advice on the best products for you.

All our t-shirts are printed in-house offering quick lead times and exceptional quality, particularly useful if you need any last minute promotional items!

To offer a little inspiration, we have put together a PDF document of some of the products available for the Olympics. If you would like a copy please e-mail hannah@creativeemporium.co.uk

Alternatively please contact one of our Account Managers for further information and advice

Donation of T-Shirts to Opportunity Marketing

We provided 50 printed T-Shirts for Opportunity Marketing who were running the Jane Tomlinson Leeds 10K run on Sunday. They were running for the Leeds Childrens Charity. The aim of this charity is to raise funds so that children who suffer from poverty, neglect, abuse or have a disability get the chance to visit the seaside, make friends and  have fun. They do this by sending 300 children each year to their holiday centre in Silverdale.

Above: The Leeds Childrens Charity Team

Ian Kirk, Marketing Consultant at Opportunity Marketing said “A massive thank you to Darren and the team at Creative Emporium who kindly donated 50 branded t-shirts for the Leeds Childrens Charity. We had runners of various shapes and sizes at last weekends Leeds 10K and we may not have been well honed athletes but we looked the part and our t-shirts certainly helped to raise much needed brand awareness for the charity. Thanks again for your support.”

Our Sales Manager Gav even ran some of the course with Ian though we are yet to find out who won!

Donation of T-shirts to Howard Civil Engineering

In a further effort to support our preferred charity, St Gemmas Hospice in Leeds, Creative Emporium recently donated some t-shirts to Howard Civil Engineering. The T-shirts are for a team of people from the company who are running the Great North Run in aid of St Gemmas.

Sean Dalton, Head of Business Development at Howard Civil Engineering said “From the initial consultation, the engagement with Creative Emporium has been excellent. This was consolidated with the delivery of some excellent running tops which were an excellent interpretation of our requirements. Special thanks to Christos who excelled in his design”.

We would like to wish Sean and his team all the best for the run and we hope they enjoy the 13.1 miles!

To sponsor Sean and his team visit www.justgiving.com/HowardCivilEngineering

Above: The team minus Darren and Dave

 Congratulations to the Creative Emporium and Argon Promotions team on completing the Jane Tomlinson 10K Leeds run on Sunday!

Everyone running was able to complete the course in just under an hour- Special mention to Dave Lister, our Systems Administrator who ran the 10K in 48 minutes!

The team were able to raise money for a very worthy cause, St Gemmas Hospice in Leeds.

There are now rumours that the London Marathon is next on the agenda for our running team, we will keep you posted!

 On July 4th, members of the Creative Emporium/Argon Promotions team are running the Jayne Tomlinson 10K run in Leeds. The team are running for St Gemmas Hospice in Leeds. Being competitive is fueling the teams training and they all hope to finish within an hour!

The runners are Darren (Managing Director), Gav (Sales Manager), Richard (Argon Sales Manager), Christos (Graphic Designer), Dave (Systems Administrator) and Jonny (Print Manager).

To sponsor any of the team please visit our Just Giving page http://www.justgiving.com/argon-promotions

For further information on St Gemmas please read below:

St Gemmas Hospice was opened in 1978 in Leeds. It is the 4th largest hospice in England and provides specialist medical and nursing care for people with life threatening illnesses along with support for their famillies.

Facts and Figures on St Gemmas:

• It costs £375 per day to care for one in-patient at St Gemmas
• £200 for a day hospice session for a patient
• £175 for a St Gemmas community nurse to visit a patient in their own home
• £20,400 is the cost for running the whole hospice for one day, thats over 7 million pounds a year

The majority of this money needs to be raised through donations, legacies, fundraising and St Gemmas chain of charity shops so please donate if you can, 80p out of every £1 donated is spent on patient care so your money really is going to a good cause.

http://www.justgiving.com/argonpromotions

Thanks!