People who are in the know within Social Media and e-commerce industries should start looking out for Rakuten Inc in the next year or so. Rakuten is already huge in Japan but I get the feeling they are about to become a global name.

First of all let me introduce you to Hiroshi Mikitni, this lovely chap is the founder and CEO of what originally started off as MDM in 1997, which then became Rakuten Inc in 1999.

Rakuten Inc is fast becoming one of the world’s largest internet service companies; although it is not yet a household name, financially Rakuten already ranks up there with the likes of Google, Amazon, eBay and Yahoo.

In 2011 Rakuten’s profits were estimated to be around $886 million and employing over 10,000 workers worldwide.

The reason why I think we are going to be hearing a lot more about Rakuten in the near future, is because of a similar event that saw Instagram being brought by Facebook. Rakuten have just chosen to inject nearly $100 million in to the rapidly growing social media site Pinterest.

Rakuten and Pinterest will work together on the strategies for how to build Pinterest as a brand. The main way they are looking to achieve this is by using Rakuten’s B2B2C (business-to-buisness-to-customer) model e-commerce site Rakuten Ichiba to create and expand Pinterest as a global brand.

Rakuten Ichiba is Rakuten’s online shopping business and is the largest online shopping service in Japan. Due to their massive success in Japan they are now starting to offer international advertising and shipping bringing the Rakuten name to more of a global audience.

Let’s just sit back and see what this Japanese e-commerce powerhouse can bring to Pinterest. Will Pinterest be the best and biggest social media site to become signed up to?

I am sure for a lot of you these words mean absolutely nothing but for a growing number of Gloucestershire business owners and representatives these #Catchups are a great source of business contacts, leads and industry knowledge.

Back to the original question, what is #ThursdayCatchUp?

#ThursdayCatchUp is the younger Gloucester sibling to the ever growing and popular Cheltenham #TuesdayCatchUp. The Catch up events are a FREE open house networking event for anyone who would like to make the journey. They have even have even seen business representatives from as far afield as Birmingham come along to have a good old mingling session.

The whole aim of #ThursdayCatchUp is to bring together businesses from Gloucester and the surrounding areas to chat business and through making more contacts pass work around.

The relaxed structure of the catch up events seem to bring far more positive results than more of the structured networking groups that are around. Instead of feeling pressured to pass referrals and leads, people concentrate more on just building bridges and getting to know people that could be of use to them in the local community. The other USP to #ThursdayCatchUp is unlike all the other networking groups that are out there it is totally free, no memberships and no one off payments. Just turn up as and when you feel the need to do some networking and boost your businesses presence.

We are only moving on to the second Gloucester #ThursdayCatchUp so it is very much finding it feet but to show you the power of the catch up brand within less than a year #TuesdayCatchUp has gone from nothing to on average 50+ attendees at each event. That is 50+ new businesses you could be introducing yourself to for free. On top of that, through getting to know people at the event and using the catch up hash tags on twitter, people continue to communicate and pass work between the events as well (more free marketing for you as you name is being used on a social site).

How do I get involved?

Getting involved with #ThursdayCatchUp of the Cheltenham #TuesdayCatchUp is easy, just simply turn up and off you go, just like meeting your mates down the pub. All you need to do is bring is a hand full of business cards and a couple of pennies for your favourite tipple whilst you are there. We also help support a charity (currently Winston’s Wish), so if you want to you can get involved with the numerous charity events we hold. There are usually some great prizes to be has so it’s well worth it.

So if you are self employed, manage a business or in charge of creating new business for your company then why not pop along to one of our events. You never know what doors it may open for you.

#ThursdayCatchUp and #TuesdayCatchUp details:

The next #ThursdayCatchUp is on 17^th May from 18:30 onwards. #ThursdayCatchUps are always held on the third Thursday of the month. They take place at the Wheatstone Inn in Barnwood, Gloucester which is in the same business park as the Ten Pin bowling complex. There is free parking and food + drink available.

The next #TuesdayCatchUp is on 5^th June from 18:30 onwards. #TuesdayCatchUps are always held on the first Tuesday of the month. They take please at the Exmouth Arms Pub on the Bath Road in Cheltenham. There is also free parking and again, food + drink available.

If you would like to receive any more information or just have a casual chat about the goings on at the catch up events then please feel free to contact the following people.

Adam Le Grand

07879025330 : alegrand@cbfnet.co.uk : @cbfprinters on twitter

Rachel Davis

davisr@bhf.org.uk : @glosox on twitter

Lawson Willett

lwillett@cbfnet.co.uk : @lawsonwillett on twitter

This offering alone is new to our industry, but we take it a level further and can include the online publishing as part of our social media strategy to promote all publications via Twitter and Facebook. This has proven successful enough for us to shout about as a bolt on service that helps promote the publication a sufficient amount for the advertisers to see further returns on their advertising investment. We have also come up against publications that already have an electronic version in place, to this we just highlight the extra exposure by using our tools as an alternative or an addition.

As there are so many variables to print quoting, we have created two simple forms which are; a 60 second print quote for simpler pricing and a full magazine quote to enable the more experienced print buyer to tailor their quote more specifically.

This site will bridge the gap for the publisher that needs a partner to help support their print requirements and one that understands business and their advertising revenue stream. We specialise in small to medium magazines with run lengths of up to 50,000 units, to fall in line with our in-house machinery capabilities. Magazineprintquote.co.uk is your first stage as an offering, with further plans to help all publishers have an independent resource to run their businesses.

We have also looked at the magazine mailing services online and found that they are very mechanical in process and not as personal as they could be, so to address this we offer free advice on how to get the most out of your mailings, how and where to save money on magazine mailing and highlighting the options open to our customers, with all the different mailing options available to them.

As a resource Magazineprintquote.co.uk is the first and only comprehensive magazine portal to help all small and medium size publishers get competitive prices for their publications, but to also be part of a bigger resource that would not be available to them without franchise fees or paid for subscriptions.

As we all know, the production of your magazine comes down to price, but with the added benefits of our unique offering, we have proven customer loyalty time and time again by building relationships with our customers.

It is finally here people!

After months of eager anticipation the #TuesdayCatchUp Winston’s Wish Charity fundraiser Baby Sweep Stake is finally here! It is taking place at the May #TuesdayCatchUp on the 1^st May.

For those of you who have been living under a rock for the last six months or who were unfortunate enough to have been in a Twitter induced coma will know my lovely Wife and I (Adam) are expecting our first child. Naturally, with me being from the Home of Jump Horse Racing and my partner being a Scousser, we immediately decided bets must be taken and money should be made by the fact we are having a baby. Sadly we could not justify making it into a sweep stake where we profited from the event so we made the decision to use it as one of the #TuesdayCatchUp charity events for Winston’s Wish.

I am sure anyone who has had a family member or friend have a baby is aware of the baby sweep stake rules, but for those of you who are not then here is how you play.

To enter the sweep stake we are asking for a small donation of £1 (if you would like to be extremely generous then you are more than welcome to donate more than £1).

You can have more than one entry in to the baby sweep stake but for every entry you wish to make, £1 will be expected to be donated.

What do I have to do?

For a £1 entry you get one chance to guess the Sex, Weight & Delivery date of the lovely Le Grand baby. For example: Boy/7.6oz/6^th June. The closer you are to have the correct answers the more points you get. For example if you guess the sex right you get five points, if you get the due date correct you get 5 points, if you are one day out you get 4 points, 2 days out 3 points and so on.

Once everyone has entered the waiting game begins. The actual due date of our little bundle of joy is 6^th June 2012. When we have had the baby I will return to the estimates that everyone made and calculate the three people with the highest amount of points.

The amazing prizes are being kept under wraps at the moment, but I can assure you that you will not want to miss out on the opportunity to win one. As you all know the main point of #TuesdaycatchUp is to build up a community to help out and bring together local businesses, so all the prizes are being donated by some fantastic local Gloucestershire businesses. 100% of the money made from the baby sweep stake will be going directly to Winston’s Wish.

My wonderful wife will be ‘Waddling’ around with the Winston’s Wish bucket, so you will be able to see her before making your decision.

Dont forget we have our first ever #ThursdayCatchUp being held on Thursday 19^th April at the Wheatstone Inn, next to 10 Pin at Centre Severn in Barnwood, so please all feel free to come and support us there for another great night of #Glosbiz Networking.

I look forward to seeing some familiar and also hopefully some new faces at both the Gloucester #ThuesdayCatch and the Cheltenham #TuesdayCatchUp.

Ta Ta for now..

I know, I know, I can hear you asking, how is it that I came up with such an original name. All I can say is it involved many sleepless nights and lots of brain storming. I don’t know how I keep doing it to be honest, move over Sugar and Trump its Le Grand’s turn now.

Anyway, back to the main article.

Between myself and my lovely assistant Rachel Davis a.k.a @Glosox, say hello Rachel…

Hello its me! Rachel Davis

We are launching #ThursdayCatchUp which is going to be a Gloucester version of the well established #TuesdaycatchUp.

For those of you that have been to a #TuesdaycatchUp event, it is going to stick to exactly the same structure. For those of you who haven’t been to a #TuesdayCatchUp networking event I will quickly bring you up to speed.

The #CatchUp networking group was founded in Cheltenham nearly a year ago. It was set up purely through Twitter to bring together all local businesses that enjoyed networking but didn’t enjoy the early mornings, membership fees and the scary 60 second stand up talks that you have to do.

Hence why if you come to either #TuesdayCatchUp in Cheltenham or the new #ThursdayCatchUp you will never have to pay, never be asked to pass referrals, never be asked to do a minute’s pitch on demand or anything else along those lines. All that is asked from you is to turn up for as long as you can between the hours or 18:30 & 21:30, to mix and mingle as much as you feel comfortable and to bring a couple of business cards or at least a scrap piece of paper with your number on so you can stay in touch with any potential leads.

The other USP for the #CatchUp networking events is it really doesn’t matter what you business background is, at the Cheltenham events we have everyone from Dog walkers, Fashion Designers, Tradesman, Managing Directors, Accountants and even a really lovely print company. So if you’re interested in coming along you really do not have to worry about whether your business is big enough or relevant enough.

Unlike #TuesdayCatchUp #ThursdayCatchUp is always going to be held on the third Thursday of each month. Unless we get booted out for bad behaviour #ThursdayCatchUp will always be held at Wheatstone Inn, next to 10 Pin at Centre Severn in Barnwood. The event will commence at 18:30, but no need to rush as you will not be locked out if you don’t arrive exactly on time.

If this all sounds up your street, then why not join us for the launch of #ThursdayCatchUp on the 19^th April?

Keep an eye out for more blog posts for more information, in the mean time if you have any questions about #ThursdayCatchUp or #TuesdayCatchUp then please do not hesitate to contact myself or Rachel using the information below.

Rachel Davies: davisr@bhf.org.uk Twitter: @GlosOx

Adam Le Grand: alegrand@cbfnet.co.uk Twitter: @CBFprinters Phone: 01242 237 652

We look forward to meeting you all soon.

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I got speaking to a couple of people who work in and around the wedding/events supplier industry.

They were all saying the same thing that they didn’t feel they were getting the Bang for their Buck when it comes to their small marketing budgets at the moment (as we all know people are feeling the pinch a little)..

Therefore, I have come up with a simple idea and knocked some figures together and depending on the specification of the materials we can produce 10,000 A5 4 page leaflets (pic to follow) for around the £500-£550 mark..

If everyone took a business card’ish size slot you could advertise 30 to 35 businesses on this sized material, which essentially means for your 10,000 leaflets you end up paying roughly £16-20 each and you all walk away with 300+ leaflets each.

Individually you can get your 300+ leaflets to distribute how you please but the bigger picture is you have 10,000 leaflets flying around potential customers with your (10% offer or whatever it is advert on it) all for +/- £20!

Obviously the potential is endless: if you end up getting 100 businesses involved you could have a 16 page leaflet, maybe incorporating some wedding supplier newsletter type editorial. You could take a turn each to have a write up or something in it.

To build the brand you could have one produced monthly or bi monthly as an ongoing publication that people look forward to receiving. Just an idea.

The question you have to ask yourself is could you ever get in front of 10,000 + potential customers for £20.00??

ON TOP OF ALL THAT For FREE CBF will even publish it as a Epublication so you could punt it around twitter and Facebook until the cows come home (more FREE marketing for you)..

With regards to artwork, we would be more than happy to set a rate of £25.00 PER ADVERT for a basic advert set up (this would be simply placing the company logo and making the editorial look pretty – no design from scratch).

This would be charged to the individual advertiser.

That said, ideally you would want to approach a local designer to see if they would set the artwork for free is they can have a little advertising slot.

Thought’s please?

Adam

In the most long winded way ever, I am trying to make the connection with my lovely new proverb and helping people to get their print standing out from the rest. Or as I now like to call it, ‘being the ripest apple’.

In this blog post I am going to be using all of my worldly wisdom to help you publishers of Magazines/Brochures to make sure your publication is the one that takes pride of place on the coffee table or is the one that is picked up in the Doctors waiting room.

There are numerous ways that you can make sure your publication stands out from the crowd and not all of them have to cost the earth. It is far too easy to slip in to the trap of just getting a standard A4 glossy publication throw together, just think though, you will now be looking exactly the same as all the other A4 glossy publications on there.

There are some simple questions that you can ask yourself when you are thinking about going to print on your publication.

What is it you are selling? For example if your magazine is advertising the newest sports cars you are going to want to really make the images pop, so a gloss finish would be best with maybe a UV varnish over some of the feature images.

UV Varnish 101: UV varnish is a liquid layer which is added to the paper stock after the printing process. You can have either Flood UV that covers the whole surface of the page of Spot UV which is used to make a curtain logo, image or a piece of text look more rich & vibrant in colour.

Example of Spot UV

Yet again if your magazine is based around gardening then you may want to look into more natural looking uncoated paper stocks. Recycled paper being used in your publication may also appeal to the readers.

Who is the average reader of your publication? Depending on what you are selling and who your average reader is colour and font selections can be extremely important. For example, if your publications are advertising activities for the over 50’s then you are going to want to select softer colours and slightly larger font sizes to make sure those people who’s sight isn’t what it used to be can still see everything clearly.

Where are your publications going to be kept or most frequently viewed? The size of your publication can be extremely important as it won’t only set it apart as looking slightly different but for the practicality of where is it going to be kept. Going back to the example of the activities for over 50’s magazine, chances are they are going to want to take it out with them in the car or on walks. This means there is not point if it’s too big or bulky, it would need to be something fairly slim line and maybe around the A6/A5 kind of size. If your publication is for property, fashion or motoring then is it more like to take pride of place on the coffee table. Because of this you are going to want your publication to have a refined, established look to it. This can be created by using a high quality gloss/silk stock, quality binding (perfect bound) and by being a bit more robust size like A4 or maybe 210x210mm to be a bit different.

Perfect binding 101: As a process perfecting binding involves the inner pages of the publication being trimmed down to size as double sided sheets and then collated into page order. Depending on if the publication is landscape or portrait glue is applied to the left hand edge and a four page cover including a capacity spin is attached creating the finished publication.

Example of perfect binding

If you are lucky enough to be able to splash the cash a little for the production of your publication then there are numerous finishing options that you can look into which can massively enhance the look and appeal of your publication. I shall talk about these finishing options in more detail in another post but some examples are; Flood UV, Spot UV, Foil Blocking, Gloss/Matt laminating, Thermography and many others.

If you would like to learn more about how to make your publication to stand out from the crowd then please do not hesitate to contact us at CBF on 01242 237 652 or email info@cbfnet.co.uk.

When? First Tuesday of every month at 18:30.

Details
#TuesdayCatchUp is a rapidly growing networking group with a difference, recently the events have had representatives of 50+ businesses attending. We don’t believe in having people sign up to memberships or making them stand up in front of people. If you join us for one of our events you will be met by a bunch of friendly like minded people who just want to enjoy their networking experience. With this mentality bridges are built a lot quicker and the referrals are far more genuine. Why not come and find out for yourself and watch the leads roll in.

Venue
Exmouth Arms Pub
Bath Road
Cheltenham
GL53 7LX

Cost
Free! Apart from the cost of your favourite tipple

Event Contact Details
Adam Le Grand
01242 237 652

#TuesdayCatchUp is a FREE networking event for all to enjoy. Known for its buzzing yet relaxed atmosphere people from all around Gloucestershire come along to spread the good word of their business or trade.

To keep up with what going on keep an eye out for the #TuesdayCatchUp hash tag on Twitter.

If you are a regular or somebody looking to dabble in the realms of #TuesdayCatchUp we look forward to seeing you all at our next event.

Adam & the CBF team.

The honest answer is I am not a rocket scientist, or should a say a print scientist. What I will do is explain in terms that all of you should understand and more to the point by using words that I can actually spell.

3D printing or Additive Manufacturing as it is more commonly known as is the process of turning a 3D CAD image (Computer Aided Design image) into a fully functioning working model.

There are actually five or so different methods of achieving this, depending on what material the object is being made out of. The most commonly used method at the moment is called Selective Laser Sintering or SLS for short. This technique involves a high power laser to fuse certain particles of the materials being used to create the object (for example ceramic, plastic or metal).

Using the data from the CAD image, the laser will begin scanning cross sections of what’s call the powder bed; the powder bed is what contains the powder version of the material being used. The laser takes many, many passes over the powder bed each time gradually moving down a fraction. Each time the laser moves down it fuses together particles to create a layer of the material to correspond exactly with the CAD image. What you end up with is an exact physical 3D version of the CAD image.

Most people have barely even heard of 3D printing, but the concept of it has actually been around for nearly three decades. By the year 2020 the Additive Manufacturing industry is estimated to worth $5.2 billion and affecting our day to day lives in ways that you wouldn’t believe. 3D printing will produce everything from house hold materials, cars and even for medical use to replicate organs. You will even be able to purchase your own 3D printed just like you go out and by your home printed now.

To date one of the greatest achievements in the Additive Manufacturing industry was the creation of the body work for what is set to be the car of the future, the Urbee which was unveiled to the public at the end of last year.

Here is a link to watch the unveiling of the Urbee, it is definitely a sexy looking beast and as you will agree it is amazing to think it was created by a laser fusing together particles.

Unveiling the Urbee http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07AQHelb1f8

3D printer in action http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiN8wNyLdTI&feature=related

What the future holds for 3D printing no one exactly knows, but what we can guarantee is it will be extremely exciting and will be making a big impact to our day to day lives.

We need to be on the ball with regards to this because if we ever have any of our clients come to us with a project and our in house designers have too much on, we need to know who is at the top of their game out there.

So, as a little project since the start of 2012 I have been keeping an eye on things that are being liked on Facebook, materials that have been shown on Twitter, comments & recommendations from colleagues and just things that myself and the rest of the CBF team have liked that have come across our desk.

Over the three and a half month’s this little project has been ticking over, there have been some graphic designers that either keep popping up or have just really caught my eye by being innovative.

For all you graphic designers out there or people that just generally have an interest in the industry, I have compiled a Top 15 of the designers that I personally think are making some great noises in the industry.

I have picked the following designers by a very simple criteria including; quality of clients, quality of portfolio, variation in style (as no one likes a one trick pony) and innovation. If I felt the design has not only looked good but sold the product it’s representing and basically if I liked their work or not. At the end of the day I am Joe public and if I don’t like the design work then chances are our clients will not either.

Without any further delay here are my current Top 15 UK based graphic designers.

15). Toast Design @toastdesign

14). Fourleaf @fourleafagency

13). To The Point Design @ttpdesign

12). Rumba Design @rumbadesign

11). Cuco Creative @cucocreative

10). Kerve Design (Sadly no Twitter account but based in Bath)

9). 400 @400_design

8). Jazz Bones Design @jazzbonesUK

7). Bob Design @bob_design

6). Rowe Associates @roweassociates

5). Cheeky Monkey Design @thecheekymonkey

4). Whistle & Taylor @whistletaylor

3). Design Dough @designdough

2). The Drawing Room Design @tdroomdesign

1). Thinking Juice @thinkingjuice

Congratulations to all of you that made it on to the list and as UK representatives in the Graphic Design industry I hope you all keep up the good work.