The 2009 E-creation Finnish Christmas Dinner

The 2009 E-creation Finnish Christmas Dinner

'Possibly the best Christmas Dinner in Bournemouth'

What a gastronomic feast our Christmas dinner was on Wednesday evening. Jan Erik, MD of E-creation, took it upon himself to introduce new members of the team to the pleasures of the Finnish Christmas dinner at his home in Alum Chine. The stunning menu was wholly in accordance with the ‘just that little bit sharper’ philosophy - and was we believe the best Christmas dinner held in the whole of Bournemouth.

With his Finnish roots and the importance of the Christmas meal in the Finnish celebration of Christmas, it was only natural that Jan-Erik chose some of the choicest Finnish morsels. So give you a taste of what it was all about ... here is a peak of the Finnish culinary delights on offer.

Hyva Joulu! - The E-creation team

THE E-CREATION FINNISH CHRISTMAS DINNER MENU 2009

Honey & Balsamic Glazed Ham
Marmalade Encrusted Road Duck
Lanttulaatikko (Swede & Nutmeg bake)
Rosolli (Finnish Beetroot & Pear Salad)
Leek Gratin with St. Agur Blue Cheese

Served with a selection of:

Sides

Cauliflower & Cheese
Goose Fat Roasted potatoes
Cornbread & Caramelised Chestnut stuffing
Giblet gravy with Redcurrant & Mustard

Drinks
Glog (Finnish Mulled Wine with Cardammon & Honey)
Iranian Sour cherry juice
Vodka Creme & Cranberry cocktails

Cheese board
St. Agur blue cheese
Kidderton Ash Goat’s cheese
Blue Stilton
French Brie

It was a small and intimate affair with the designers and coders. An enjoyable evening was had by all and many a full belly was to be found!

Press Release - 11.10.09 - SloughforYOUth website - Communicating with the Digital Generation

SloughforYOUth website - Communicating with the Digital Generation

Slough has historically suffered from a reputation as an undesirable place to live and do business, but a new campaign created by digital communications agency E-creation for Slough Borough Council is revitalising Slough's image to reflect the vibrant activities, culture & business happening in the town.

Slough Borough Council commissioned E-creation, the award winning Bournemouth based digital marketing and communications agency, to develop a campaign across the digital and traditional channels. At the heart of the campaign is an online events directory that is part of the government's “e-directive”.

E-creation was brought in to 'jazz communications up' after the initial site implemented did not achieve the results expected. E-creation introduced urban, contemporary design and functionality in the form of a new logo, directory website, marketing materials for schools, digital adverts and social media marketing.

E-creation started by developing a new brand name and brand mark: SloughForYOUth. The new domain name, www.sloughforyouth.com, was implemented, the website re-designed from ground up, covering details of thousands of local events and activities for young people. Young people are able to plan their social activities, discover volunteering opportunities and access support and advice.

To raise the profile of the website, E-creation created a series of interactive advertisements for schools across Slough, a series of currency tokens that can be exchanged for free activities in Slough such as free swimming and a Flash animation featuring music written by Slough-based rising music star, Josh Cyrus.

In addition to focus groups in young people's centres and Slough’s youth cabinet, E-creation used social networking media sites such as Facebook to access instant, valuable feedback from a wide range of young people in Slough. This enabled the agency to capture highly creative ideas for the design & functionality.

Helen Mason, Project Coordinator for Slough Borough Council said, ‘E-creation facilitated an ongoing dialogue with young people throughout the design and technical process to ensure this resource was designed around the young people’s needs and requirements, delivering an excellent bespoke and efficient web based product that enabled the Council to provide comprehensive, accurate and accessible information on local positive activities and facilities for young people.’

[ENDS]

Notes: E-creation is an award-winning digital marketing agency creating digital business communications using scientific persuasion techniques & research. They offer creative design concepts & graphic design with intelligent functionality in websites, interactive CD-ROMs, digital presentations & online marketing campaigns working with many of the UK’s government organisations, such as the NHS, the Learning & Skills Council, City & Guilds, Transport for London and Slough Borough Council.

For more information please contact Jan-Erik Paul using the details below.

'The Christmas card is dead!' - long live interactive viral Christmas cards, Christmas games & Christmas e-mail marketing tools!

The Christmas card is dead - long live interactive viral Christmas cards, Christmas games & Christmas e-mail marketing tools!

Updated September 2009

Christmas is a good excuse for viral marketing - and every year around October, E-creation starts to receive an influx of enquiries for 'Christmas games that can have our logo applied'. Brand-able viral marketing games at Christmas are a cost effective way to produce a 'different' Christmas card but businesses need to think carefully about how they use viral marketing, even when there appears to be a good 'excuse' in the form of Christmas, to effectively spam people!

Viral marketing has become an important part of the marketing mix but has evolved significantly from the early days when it was possible to e-mail attachments that included 'working' games. Modern viral marketing takes the form of videos on YouTube, Tweets on Twitter, unique micro sites, Facebook games and the simple 'funny' image.

Many businesses see the Christmas season as an opportunity to use viral communications that is justified for existing & potential customers. This can take the form of interactive viral Christmas cards, viral Christmas games & even more the more basic, viral animated Christmas card delivered by e-mail. However, these are marketing tools aimed at either building the relationship with the customer or creating new opportunities with new customers, in disguise, so you need make sure that you deliver value to the recipient.

For this reason, when developing marketing tools like interactive Christmas cards or Christmas games, it is very import to be 'contextual'. In other words, if you business is selling smoked turkeys, then any interactive content created should feature turkeys (though in some humorous way naturally). This builds a deeper connection between your brand (which should feature prominently within the content), your product and the 'positive' feeling experienced by the person experiencing the marketing marterials you have sent (disguised as an interactive Christmas card).

A classic example of this missed opportunity is the 'elf tossing' game, which achieved massive popular presence - most people had played or at least heard about the game - but no one was aware of which company the game was promoting.

For this reason, when designing & developing interactive Christmas cards or Christmas games for our clients, E-creation spends a large chunk of time developing a strong conceptual 'backbone' to the content, that not only makes the content engaging and interesting, but builds the profile of an organisation. This approach is more time consuming (and therefore more costly) than simple applying a company logo and name to a 'pre-prepared' Christmas card or Christmas game - and for this reason - most of our clients tend to be larger organisations with a large database of customers or potential contacts that they can send the content to, reducing the 'cost-per-contact'.

For example, a typical interactive game developed for Christmas costs on average cost £8,000. If viewed by 50,000 people, then the cost per 'contact' is 16p per person - or significantly less than the cost of a second class stamp.