Superglue saves baby boy

Toddler Dafi Edwards owes his life to some skilled surgery and a blob of superglue!

Using a revolutionary technique just hours after he was born, doctors used Histoacryl (a medical equivalent of the humble superglue that we sell!) to plug a leak in his brain that would otherwise have killed him in a few days....

Postcards were the 'original' Twitter

According to a report by Sky News, twittering is not a new up-to-the-minute technological advance, but a natural extension of an old product - the postcard.

In the days before micro-blogging, text messages and social networking sites, the Edwardians were using the humble postcard to abbreviate their thoughts and opinions to one another.
Introduced in its present form in 1902, the picture postcard, containing an image on one side and room for writing on the other, became an instant hit, according to a study by Lancaster & Manchester Metropolitan universities.

Almost six billion postcards - an average of 200 per person - were sent in Britain between 1901 and 1910, reveals study authors Drs Julia Gillen and Nigel Hall.
The cost per postcard was a ha'penny, instead of the usual penny for a letter and, with up to 10 postal deliveries a day in the big cities, users could write and answer notes quickly and cheaply.

Like Twitter, which restricts users to 140 characters per "tweet", postcard writers only have a limited amount of space to pen a message. So I guess not a lot has changed really! Except the postal service has got slower and more expensive!!!

not just delivered, but delivered with love

We believe that getting the goods delivered on time just isn't enough.

Many organisations promise a next day guaranteed service but how many really keep that promise and include not just getting it there, but getting it there with the right attitude?

We know that the vast majority of our clients (who are serviced by our very own UOE drivers in the their shiny black vans) have been given a first-class service but we have found the courier options we have sometimes employed for some regions to be...lets just say, less than helpful on every occasion.

I guess it comes down to the individual driver and the pressures put upon them by traffic, targets and tickets but why does it seem that so many couriers seem to hate their job or feel delivering the goods to the client is just too much to ask? We do find the odd driver who goes the extra mile (excuse the pun) but more often they just don't seem to be bothered.

About a year ago we began a review of our next day courier service and our search has ended with the selection of a new carrier - UPS. As couriers go, these guys are as passionate about doing it right as we are. Their brand and client retention is build on REAL service not just delivery statistics. Their focus on control of everything UPS ensures the client experience is a positive one. This focus and professionalism opens a host of opportunities for us to be greener, more efficient and most importantly give our clients - wherever they are - the same quality service we expect from one of our own drivers.

We go live with UPS during the second half of September 2009....we cant wait and would love your feedback on the service once it goes live.

Dont be a Spanner!

Rarely do a cause and a supporter go so neatly together as Screwfix and it's support of Everyman's campaign to raise awareness of testicular cancer.

With a very high proportion of male, 20-50 year old buyers - it is perfectly placed to communicate with the demographic most at risk. But the coup is in the marketing...selling t-shirts to raise money is nothing new....but putting the tag "Don't be a Spanner, Check your nuts" is just ace. It is witty, funny and irreverent and the type of statement you can wear and get away with!

Screwfix's goal is to raise £100,000 this summer for the Everyman charity - we wish them every bit of luck...well, we'd be nuts not too wouldn't we?

Wasps of the Parking World

Last Thursday I opted to pay by text message for parking in Islington. A simple process (once registered) that I think has really made parking a whole heap easier in London (no more scrabbling for coins etc!) but thanks to the over-zealous nature of a Civil Enforcement Officer (or Traffic Warden as everyone else would call them) on behalf of Islington Council, I was given a ticket despite having paid!

Why? Because the CEO (to abbreviate their glorified title) decided to wait less than 60 seconds from when I parked! It takes their own systems 2 minutes to confirm the payment so...how does this behaviour help anyone? All it does if frustrate honest, tax-paying drivers to despise once again the wasps of the parking world and condemn a Council for creating paperwork for their appeals department (cost to the tax payer), waste my time (cost to my business), print a needless ticket and associated paperwork (cost to the environment).

If drivers could hand out tickets to the councils for wasting their time when they've done nothing wrong, then Islington Council would be getting one from us today. Come to think of it, what a great idea that would be....!

Hijacking the Union Jack!

Yet again a multi-national (and ironically one of the less eco-friendly of energy companies) have hijacked 3 great things - the concept of a greener Britain, the brand identity of a properly green business and the most nationalistic of all things, our union jack!

Whilst I wholeheartedly support the concept of a greener Britain and all things that that may encourage that possibility, the reality is that EDF is neither green nor British. EDF is French -Electrcite de France -so why are they pretending to be British? Why are they not flying a french flag and making it green? And most importantly why have they hijacked the brand equity of a PROPER green energy company (Ecotricity) for their own benefit...why because try as EDF might, they are not and never will be green at the core!

Ecotricity has used the Green Union Jack for more than 2 years as a clear symbol of being a TRUELY British and TRUELY Green organisation - a fact that will hopefully not be lost on the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The ASA confirmed it had received more than 80 complaints accusing EDF of confusing people by using Ecotricity's imagery and a further 23 complaints accusing it of being "unpatriotic" in its presentation of a painted Union flag.

A spokeswoman for the watchdog confirmed that an investigation was underway into the use of material similar to that used by Ecotricity, although complaints that the use of a green Union flag is insulting to the UK have been rejected. Do you think such a comment would be made by a French government agency or an American one for that matter - why do we not protect our flag for use by our countries great companies?

EDF attempted to downplay both the threat of legal action and the complaints to the ASA but they are just one of many who are stealing the Great from Britain. We wish Ecotricity success in defending their brand identity against the greenwashing multinational that is EDF.....after all if EDF can get away who will do it next?

The Greed of AEG Live - Michael Jackson Ticket Refund Fiasco

The unrivaled greed of AEG was revealed today as they have proposed that ticket holders for the (sadly) cancelled Michael Jackson Tour at the 02 next month should have a choice of a refund (less transaction fee charges) or could swap their payment for the 'actual' ticket!

Give me a break! Many people have booked flights, hotels and made a host of other arrangements, other companies have lost thousands or millions in revenue and the good-for-nothing scrooges at AEG are trying to con people for their full ticket price for piece of paper they've already printed.

I would have thought the very least they could have done was give people the ticket as a memento to show some regard for their loss!

Interestingly, and perhaps more creatively, would it not make more sense to say to ticket holders we'll give you 50% of your ticket price back and invite you to a celebration of Michael's life - with the dancers, the music - the whole gig and have Michael on the video wall behind it - that way everyone still gets a chance to enjoy the music, atmosphere and 'be there', the other companies involved don't waste their money, sales of memorabilia will be off the scale and everyone comes out with a little of something to remember a legend by?

Beats paying full price for a scrap of paper? What do you think?