February 27th, 2009
This year sees the the British Fashion Council taking the 25th anniversaries of their own inception, London Fashion Week and the London Fashion awards to celebrate what makes Britain’s stylists and fashionistas so unique. The coming year will see various initiatives launched to encourage new, emerging talent – one of the key qualities that allows London and Britain at large to retain its cutting edge take on fashion. Just take a look at the style that’s emerged from London Fashion Week and their is an air of confidence that it’s relevant whatever the social context throws at it.
Source: British Fashion Council
February 27th, 2009
One industry to see the positives of the recession is one close to my heart – film. Figures published from the Cinema Advertising Association indicated that cinema admissions had in fact increased by 1.1% in 2008. As an industry measure it would appear that those who believed the cinema experience to be dying may have perhaps cried wolf a little too soon. Whilst people may be increasingly tentative in their attitudes towards parting with large sums of cash on cars and holidays right now; the idea of luxury is one central to our society so questions of what can be judged to be affordable treats arise. Film in all shapes and forms seems poised to take advantage of this shift in customer behaviour. The positive impact of this is two-fold for both consumer and industry.
For the consumer, recent research published from psychologists at the University of San Francisco indicates that choosing an experience based purchase over a possession based one is likely to make you happier. You just have to look at the increasing popularity of experiences like Secret Cinema for exciting new ways to experience film. The social impact of this may in fact roll over into the film industry itself. The prevalence of genres such as chick-flicks is likely to remain popular; great for advertisers – you only have to look at the Sex and the City film positioning in 2008 and the tie-in opportunities. However (and not to overly bog myself down in the mire that is high vs. low cinema) the cultural questions that have been thrown up may have an interesting impact on the subject/format (ad infinitum) of film itself. And unlike the depression of the last century, British cinema is actually in great shape to take advantage of this. Beyond national cinema, 2009 is shaping up to be a great film for both blockbuster and arthouse – roll on Watchmen for me. I await the results of the next few years with interest….
February 25th, 2009
If you were to believe everything you read in the papers, the whole of the United Kingdom should be an obese mess by now. Sales of chocolate are up, KFC can’t find enough chickens to keep up with demand and our social time is apparently being spent at the cinema….
I beg to differ. Every time I visit the gym, it’s rammed. And gym goers in Streatham don’t appear to be the only ones looking after themselves and spending money on their wellbeing. Guernsey based vitamin and supplement supplier, Healthy Direct have just announced an online record for January, with their sales up 12% on this time last year. It would appear that their 1million+ customers place their health and wellbeing higher than ever before on their list of priorities.
This downturn has tested whether or not focus on health and wellbeing is a fad or ingrained in our culture. It would appear from these results that maybe the latter may be true.
I’m off to “think” about going to the gym
D.Killick
Healthy Direct, Recession, Supplements, Vitamins
February 25th, 2009
Confectionery firm Cadbury posted a 30% rise in annual profits after its key brands of Dairy Milk, Trident and Halls saw strong growth, reports the Press Association this morning.
They report a rather tasty set of results all around:
Dairy Milk global sales up by 11%, Halls cough sweets up by 9% and Trident chewing gum stretching to another 11%. And although the business was predicting some impact from the current climate, they were still expecting at least 4% growth in revenues.
Other highlights were the relaunch of the Wispa bar, which kicked off with sales of some 1.2m bars in the first week alone and a new range of Diary Milk bars (including Cranberry & Granola for the more healthy minded and Apricot Crumble for the more pudding minded).
And the EMEA division is reporting underlying profits of 13% more.
All leading to a 2% rise in shares today. Sweet.
February 24th, 2009
Always time for a bargain?
Primark’s increased sales show that consumers ARE prepared to get their money out of their pockets – as long as they see they’re getting a good deal.
In a heartening sign for those of us looking for signs of growth in the current market, the discount retailer reported a like for like sales growth of 5% in the last six months.
At Greenshootsblog.com, we take pains to point out that just because times are tough, doesn’t mean that business stops. In fact there are some for whom it’s positively booming. The challenge, it would seem, is to show the cautious consumer that they’re getting a good deal. Easier when you’re offering the lowest prices, admittedly, but there are plenty of other brands doing well at all levels of pricing. And we’ll keep sharing them with you.
February 19th, 2009
In an attempt to get the “yoof ” of today off their social networked bums, the arts council has teamed up with Metro to present “A night less ordinary”. Targeted at anyone under the age of 26, they are offering up to 500,000 free tickets across more than 200 venues nationally. Just click on the link below where you can enter your postcode and you’re away. For those who miss out on free tickets, they’ll try and provide info on discounts.
Source: Arts Council
February 19th, 2009
I have been asked a number of times to write something for this blog. Not because my offerings are particularly deep, but simply because I have been promising to make a contribution since the idea of the Green Shoots Blog was first discussed but have failed to deliver. There is a reason for this. Despite the fact I absolutely agree that it is high time somebody (the press) attempted to write something positive about what is going on in the world and despite spending the last couple of weekends trying to find something uplifting, there is so little to grab hold of. I see the army is sending gaff prone Prince Harry on an equality course and Jeremy Clarkson has apologised for his comments about Gordon Brown’s ability to see things clearly. Maybe this should raise a smile but all I can take from this is that the country has gone beyond political correctness to a new era of “gagging just in case”. What else is there? The gaff prone bankers have been made to apologise to a committee of self-righteous MPs and have shown some degree of remorse – although I am not sure they showed signs of accepting any blame. There where some green shoots in England’s performance against Wales at the weekend – although they lost and did not slow down Wales’ march towards a second Grand Slam. Come on the Irish. But none of this really does the job, so I decided to do what I always do when I need information and can’t be bothered to dig it up for myself – ask Google. And I found something there – there is a website called the Good News Network which offers a little bit of a lift but third on Google’s top ten is a 6 year old article from BBC.com which tells us that research in Australia has found that masturbation can reduce the risk of prostate cancer. So there you have it, even the great Google can only offer some light relief from the gloom but I suppose with so many merchant bankers having too much time on their hands, any news is good news, even if it is a bit old.
Author: Matthew Brown
BBC, Good News Network
February 19th, 2009
Sky news reports that Fast food chain Domino’s Pizza has announced pre-tax profits of £23.4m for 2008, up 25% on the previous year.
It puts the success down to people in their 30’s taking their pizza habits with them as they get older, and working people relying on prepared food.
Author: Jules
Read the full article or if you’re a hungry working person relying on prepared food, then click here.
Source: Sky
domino's, pizza, profit, working people
February 17th, 2009
In direct marketing we talk about looking after your most profitable customers, well aware of Pareto’s 80/20 rule; something I was reminded of when I heard about the re-opening of a profitable ex-Woolworths store, under the nifty name of Wellworths. Unfortunately for the retail group as a whole, Woolies may not have been able to spot their top 20% of stores in time, but for the Wellworths employees in Dorchester they have still been able to benefit.
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Business/Woolworths-Closure-Manager-Reopens-Woolies-Store-In-Dorchetser-And-Calls-It-Wellworths/Article/200902215221159
Author: Sarah Fitzgerald O’Connor
Source: Sky
February 17th, 2009
According to the Britsh Retail Consortium there was an unexpected increase in retail sales in January. Retail sales rose by 1.1% in January compared to the same time last year.
The increase was largely attributed to the high level of discounts and sales in January.
Author: Louise Isaacs
Source: BBC News
