We have just completed a pocket-sized Little Book for FEAST, the fantastic charity supported by ourselves and our parent company AJS Labels. FEAST (For Education And Social Transformation) is a grassroots charity that helps transform the lives of some of India’s neediest people through education.

Founded in 1998 by Fr Jeremias, FEAST supports the poor children of the fishing families in Tamil Nadu, a neglected and bypassed area of southern India. This support has been extended to serve the poor, irrespective of caste or religion and now includes Hindus, Christians and Moslems. FEAST is a great power for good in the very difficult lives of these people who receive no social security, sponsored health care and only limited opportunities for basic education.

 ‘I’ve visited the charity five times now and I’m more impressed with the work it does each time I go,’ said Jayne Scrimgeour, co-owner of AJS Labels. ‘We wanted to produce something to tell people about the fantastic work that FEAST does, and what better way than with a Little Book. Little Book is so unique and compact, I know that people will want to read it then keep it to read again or show to friends. It’s a brilliant way of making sure that the FEAST story gets across.’

Because 100% of money raised goes to the poor with none being spent on administrative costs, it was important to enlist the generous voluntary help of a number of companies. Thanks must go to; Skylark Communications for writing the content. Brand New Day Consultancy Ltd for marketing advice. David Wooster (AJS Labels) for design work and L&S Printers for donating the print. The FEAST Little Book was then produced here at AJS Labels at no cost to the charity.

‘I’m absolutely delighted with the result,’ said Jayne. ‘I’m looking forward to showing Fr Jeremias the finished result when he visits next week. This pocket-sized Little Book will really help us to find sponsors and raise money for FEAST. I’m very grateful to all those who have helped to make it happen.’

Little Book and AJS Labels  MD, Andrew Scrimgeour, caught up with some of the Little Book re-sellers on the continent last week.

‘We work closely with a number of re-sellers in different territories and feel that it is a very important channel for marketing the Little Book products,’ said Andrew. ‘Little Book is a very tactile product and this is an excellent way to get it in front of buyers. Once they’ve seen it they love it!’

Little Book re-seller reunites with MD

Andrew reunited with Michael Swannenberg near Eindhoven in Holland. The two last met in Arundel when AJS Labels first took over the sole licence to produce Little Book. This was a great opportunity for Andrew to hear about the Little Book projects that Michael is working on, including an exciting European contract.
Michael confirmed that his customers love the innovative Little Book format and stressed that they opted for Little Book ahead of other media formats when they had an important message to get across.

First Little Book production site

Whilst in Eindhoven Andrew also met up with Bas Burmanje. Bas was General Manager for Uden, the site where Little Book was previously manufactured under global media packaging giant, AGI. Andrew discussed the product range together with some of our latest jobs. He drew Bas’ attention to the card holder Little Book for Dublin Airport and some of the multi-page cover versions that we have produced for the charity sector.

MD meets first Little Book re-seller

It was also a great chance to meet up with Little Book’s first re-seller, Rene Fischer. Rene worked closely with inventor Patrick De La Hunty in the early days of Little Book.
Rene stressed the tough market conditions that are affecting all marketing spends, but concluded that those marketing agencies that are investing are able to take advantage of the more competitive prices in a less crowded market. This was confirmed by Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WWP, one of the world leading marketing and advertising agencies, speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme he noted that those companies who are spending on marketing are getting a double whammy.

We are delighted to announce that Kate Davies, Project Manager for Harmony creative web agency, has won the Little Book bubbles blog!

Little Book worked with Harmony to produce their ‘Pocket book of Creativity, a guide to making sure today is different’.  This Little Book is packed with fantastic challenges and ideas to inspire out of the box thinking. It features famous designers such as Arthur Fry, who invented Post-its and Percy Shaw, the designer of cat’s eyes. It really is a great Little Book full of amazing facts and figures.

‘We carry these with us when we go to places; it’s something a little more special than our business cards, and a little more memorable. We would much rather share our creativity and inspiration than just fill pockets and minds with yet more dull business cards and leaflets. We also make it available for free on our website  should anyone want to engage with us even on a passing whim’ said Project Manager, Kate Davies.

Kate posted her comment on the Little Book blog in response to the question ‘Should they stay or should they go?’ Her post was picked out as the winner & she received a bunch of red balloons from Little Book, together with chocolates and a bottle of champagne delivered to her door on Valentine’s Day. 

‘Thank you ever so much for the three red balloons, champagne, certificate and Celebrations chocolates. I never thought I’d be picked to win the prize just for commenting about the bubbles in your branding, so this was a very pleasant surprise!’

Kate, along with the majority of bloggers, voted to burst the red bubbles and give Little Book a fresh, new look.

Thanks to everyone for your comments & watch this space!

It’s almost three years since AJS labels took over sole rights to produce Little Book and it’s time for a new look. We’re currently working with a top website design agency to produce an exciting new site for Little Book. It’s going to be easier to navigate and will show case our very latest products and clients.But we have a conundrum…

Should we keep the Little Book bubbles?

The bubbles have been very much part of the Little Book branding for a number of years. They started life as orange bubbles with the global media design company AGI, but were changed to red by AJS labels to tie in with their own red and blue logo.

So, should they stay or should they go?

Please scroll down this page and have a look. It would be great to get your thoughts on the Little Book bubbles!

Thanks

 Triathlonscotland is the national governing body for triathlon, duathlon and all multi-sports in Scotland. It provides a range of services to over 2500 members across 43 clubs and represents the sport on the National Governing Body, The British Triathlon Federation.

Triathlon is a tough discipline which combines swimming, cycling and running across varying distances from sprint right up to long distances. As we approach the London 2012 Olympics, Britain is in a very strong position with both male and female world champion triathletes. Alistair Brownlee and Helen Jenkins  took world titles at the recent Bejing event and Alistair’s younger brother, Jonny, came second.

Triathlonscotland approached Littlebook for the fourth consecutive year to produce their race calendar. The annual Little Book features a comprehensive listing of all triathlon clubs in the region together with dates and venues for competitive events in 2012. Contact details, advertisements and testimonials complete the package.

The pocket-sized Little Book features 42 panels and is perfect for communicating this detailed information to the athletes. What’s more, the pocket media format ensures that information is at hand and doesn’t get thrown away unlike so many other traditional booklets.

Little Book has played a major role in a variety of health promotions and education campaigns, among them diabetes, weight loss, addiction, smoking, pregnancy and alcohol consumption, as well as healthy living and personal wellbeing. We were therefore delighted when MSD Pharmaceuticals approached us to help promote safe contraception to 50,000 university students.

MSD Pharmacueticals is the second largest pharmaceutical company in the world. It is committed to improving health and well-being around the world through the development of new therapies that treat and prevent disease. Contraception: The Options is the second Little Book that MSD has commissioned, the first being Get Gutsy, an information guide encouraging sufferers of IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) to visit their doctors.

MSD chose the smaller credit card option for their second project but with the unusual 5 panels across and 5 panels down format. This Little Book format results in an extra 4 pages which is ideal for larger projects that have lots of information to pass on to the end user.

Contraception: The Options, is an excellent guide to the 12 methods of contraception that are commonly available. Students are encouraged to ‘check out all the options’ before they talk to their doctor. It provides some invaluable basic advice but is the first of our Little Books to include a QR code that directs users to the MSD website for more detailed information.

Little Book provides the perfect answer for sporting clubs and organisations that have a multitude of messages to get across to their members; fixture lists, venue guides, club directories, membership information, to name but a few.

Scottish Hockey were looking for an engaging way of developing hockey and attracting new players to the game. Scottish Hockey is the recognised national governing body for the sport of hockey in Scotland. A key objective is to directly support clubs and increase participation in hockey and it was with this in mind that they approached Little Book.

Scottish Hockey chose the 42 page pocketbook for their Club Directory. It features a comprehensive list of all local hockey clubs together with contact details encouraging players to get in touch. Information on Hockey Camps and Leadership courses is featured on the reverse. In addition Scottish Hockey has allocated key advertising space to major sportswear suppliers – a great way to help funding with voluntary-run sporting organisations.

‘Thanks for this, we are really pleased with the results. Many thanks again.’
Bill Robson  Hockey Development Officer

AJS Labels, the sole producer of Little Book, beat off stiff opposition to be crowned Label Printer of the Year at the 2011 PrintWeek Awards earlier this week (24th October). PrintWeek’s annual awards recognise the very best practice and excellence across the print industry so the company were thrilled to be awarded this top accolade.

‘It has been a busy year of investment for AJS Labels but one that has seen no drop in the exceptional labels work for which it has become renowned’, said PrintWeek editor Daryl Danielli.

AJS’s owners Andrew and Jayne Scrimgeour, were keen to share the occasions with members of staff and so drew names out of a hat to find out who should go up to the Grosvenor Hotel in London. ‘It’s been a busy year for us at AJS Labels and Little Book’, said Jayne ‘and we really wanted to thank the team and share this special occasions with the people who made it happen’.

Little Book Reprographics, Craig Howe was delighted to attend. ‘We had a great night and it was fantastic to be there to receive the award. We’re all very proud of what we’ve achieved’.

The company are finalists in the Packaging News UK Packaging Award for SME of the Year 2011, later this year.

The Little Book production team is headed by finishing expert Dave Chuter. With over 30 years experience he really is an expert in this trade, in fact he’s the perfect man for the job.

The millionth Little Book came in the middle of an order for McKenna Townsend. The PR company works with a range of clients including major names B&Q, Waitrose and Diageo.

‘We are very pleased to be part of this Little Book celebration’, said Design and Studio Manager Cate Smith. ‘It’s a super product and the company always delivers great quality and on time’.

The order in question is for client MDL Marinas. The company was established in the1970s and now boasts a portfolio of 21 major marinas and boatyards across Europe. Little Book was chosen by MDL Marinas for the second year running as a marketing handout for the 2012 PSP Southampton Boat Show later this week.

The compact pocket book design means that all 18 of their UK marinas can be show cased and the potential customers won’t throw the information away (which can’t be said for so many other handouts)!

If there’s one thing that Little Book does particularly well it’s maps, so much so that councils across the UK are turning to Little Book to help promote their towns and cities. We’ve been sending them far and wide from London to Luton, from Bradford to Bedford, not to mention Chelmsford, Cambridge, Dublin, High Wycombe, Sheffield, Soho and even Vienna!

Little Book is a great way to get a lot of information into a small space so it’s perfect for a map and key, plus any tourist information or advertisements that may need to be included. And can’t it be annoying trying to refold a map? The unique memory fold paper that we use in production means the Little Book map snaps easily back into its cover, over and over again.
Little Book has worked closely with specialist mapping company, Silvermaze for a number of years as it dovetails so well with their own Vistagram mapping products. Business partners of the UK’s National Map Centre and Ordnance Survey together with membership of the International Map Traders Association, make Silvermaze true experts in their field. The company has been involved in a number of exciting overseas projects too like the re-mapping of Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
We’re delighted to have formed such a great partnership and our customers seem very happy too!

“I just wanted to write to say a big thank you for our VistaGram Little Book pocket map. The final product is brilliant and just as we wanted it. We have had nothing but praise from the public and our distribution partners such as the Tourist Office.”

“The quality and finish is excellent as well as the way it has been delivered in the point of sale boxes, which meant that we have been able to get it out and displayed prominently in a great number of businesses and locations with ease. We ordered 25,000 but suspect we will need to do another run pretty quickly. Thanks again.”
Mo Aswat - Bedford Bid

AJS Labels, the producer of Little Book, is staying ahead of the game with its very latest £900k investment. The self-adhesive label printer has recently installed a state-of-the-art HP Indigo WS6000 digital press coupled with bespoke finishing kit to extend its digital capability by over 200%.

Nick Gibb, MP for Littlehampton and Government Minister, revisited AJS Labels on 19th August to commission the investment. Nick opened the company in April 2009 following a buy out from media giant AGI by Jayne and Andrew Scrimgeour.

To read more about this major investment in the label industry click here.

 
It works!
It does what it says – it gets a big message into a small space and it lasts unlike other forms of printed leaflets and booklets.

“We had a very successful campaign using Little Book, which exceeded all expectations.This is mainly due to Little Book’s retainability plus the fact that it is handy to keep in a handbag or pocket.”
Alison Peacock (Healthcare Marketing Manager) – Boots

It’s great value!
Little Book is competitively priced and very cost effective when it comes to getting a message across. It’s impossible to throw away so it’s read over and over again.

“No one would have the heart to throw this away, which I suppose is the secret of its success.”
Caroline Edwards (Marketing Manager) – Npower

It’s easy!
We want to give the very best service we can  to make ordering a Little Book a pleasant experience. It seems to be working!

“Little Books were the perfect solution for world’s largest international gaming event attracting a 20,000 B2B visitor base. The staff were great to work with and we had a great experience overall.”
Matthew Appleby - Clairon Event
“Thanks for a really good job, especially as we are a new customer and we pushed the timing schedule to the limit. I have been given the run-around this week by loads of other suppliers but your service has been spot on.”
Cate Smith (Designer & Studio Manager) - Saltwater Communications

Great news – AJS Labels, the exclusive producer of Little Book, had a very successful night on 15th June at the BPIF Excellence Awards collecting Company of the Year 2011. This is a fantastic achievement for the company in only its third year operating under the private ownership of Andrew and Jayne Scrimgeour.

“Little Book is very much a part of AJS Labels and this fantastic product has helped us secure this very prestigious award,” said Andrew Scrimgeour. “We’re really delighted that all the hard work put in by the team has been recognised”.

To read more about the BPIF 2011 Company of the Year award click here.

Five in a row for Gilwell Little Book

The Scout Association has yet again put it’s faith in Little Book as the way of communicating what’s on where at one of the world’s largest annual gatherings of Scouts and Guides, Gilwell 24 2011.

This is the fifth year in a row that the Association has chosen to have a Little Book Passport Document for each scout and guide attending the event. Containing a site map, timetables of activities, instructions, emergency and general information, the Passport Document ensures each participant gets the most from this incredible experience.

Each year the Scouts choose the Credit Card format from a range of products that Little Book can offer. It’s a very handy size and perfect for getting a lot of information into a compact guide and the children love it!

video of Silly & Sally

Meet the very latest addition to the AJS Team – ‘Silly’ and ‘Sally’, two Kaki Campbell ducklings that have taken up residence in Andrew’s office. Just one week old, the ducklings are destined to become very productive egg-layers not to mention great slug-eaters!

‘When they’re old enough they’ll move into their special out door run,’ said Managing Director, Andrew, ‘but for now they’re enjoying meeting visitors and being part of the team!’

The Little Book machines are working very hard to complete a fantastic order for Dublin & Shannon Airports.

Did you know that you pay sales tax on your purchases when shopping in Ireland?

The Little Book Cardholder has been specially designed to hold a swipe and save card that can help! By registering the card on the SHOPTAXFREE website and using it every time they make a purchase, shoppers can claim back this sales tax on leaving Ireland.

The card really will make tax free shopping very attractive to Ireland’s tourists and the AJS Little Book is a very innovative way to keep it safe!

You can find out more about Little Book Cardholder here…

We did it!

We managed to operate from 9.00 till 5.00 and not a word was spoken. What’s more we’ve beaten our target and, with AJS Labels Little Book matching the money raised, now have £4,500, enough to build not just 1 but 3 houses for some of the poorest families in southern India.

Director Jayne Scrimgeour said, “It was a massive ask but the staff were really fantastic. There were plenty of emails flying around and lots of sign language and written notes, but I can honestly say that we were 100% silent all day”.

At 5.00pm the staff team gathered in the boardroom to celebrate their success with cold Tiger beer and Indian food from the local restaurant.

So what did everyone think to the day?

“Silence is Golden’ – what a great day I am having – getting lots done, able to concentrate, no interruptions. Bring it on every month I say!”

“Writing messages and emails take much longer than speaking! But we are smiling and using our expressions more”.

“I think it is going very well, it is amazing to see that everyone is really buying into it. I have also had less disruptions than ever before!!!!”

“Hasn’t been as hard as I thought (so far anyway), I’ve had more emails as people can’t call us and I’m eating too many sweets to keep me quiet!”

“Trying to resolve problems / issues and speak to colleagues about customers/cash/ queries etc is proving to be hard work. Luckily its only for 1-day and most queries etc can be put off till Monday – but I’m glad it’s only for 1-day and not a whole week.!!!!”

We would like to take this opportunity to say big Thank You to all our customers & suppliers for all their good wishes and support.

You can find more on http://www.justgiving.com/ajssilenceday

THANK YOU

AJS Labels Little Book attempts industry first!

We have decided to celebrate our second anniversary by doing something completely different. AJS Labels Little Book is planning a sponsored silence on April 8th to raise money for the grassroots charity FEAST India.

Our 60 staff will work from 9.00am until 5.00pm as usual but with no conversations, no phone calls and no meetings!

“It’s going to be a massive challenge for us,” said AJS’ managing director Andrew Scrimgeour. “A lot of thought and planning has gone into making the day run as smoothly as possible and we as a team are confident that they can keep the company running as normal.”

Sales Director Tim Gittings expressed initial concern, “I have to admit I was sceptical at first but the reaction from our customers and suppliers has been fantastic. There’s a lot of support out there for what we’re trying to achieve.”

AJS’ owners, Andrew and Jayne Scrimgeour have been heavily involved with FEAST (For Education And Social Transformation) for a number of years.

“We’ve just returned from visiting the charity in India and it’s brilliant to see what a massive difference it makes to people’s lives,” said Jayne. “We wanted to do something as a company to help and set upon the idea of a sponsored silence.”

The company are hoping to raise enough money from the day to build a simple house for a homeless widow and her children. If you’d like to sponsor us then please go to http://www.justgiving.com/ajssilenceday

Facilities guides, floor plans, exhibitor details, conference agendas – with every event you have a multitude of messages to communicate to exhibitors, delegates and visitors. But how do you convey all that information in a handy, easy-to-read format, which won’t end up in the bin?

Clairon Event asked AJS Labels to produce a family of Little Books for the ICE Exhibition at Earls Court London. The range contained 6 Little Books each printed with similar design but with different route planners and floors plans. What’s more Clairon Events attracted sponsorship from some of their exhibitors and their stand’s adverts fitted brilliantly into the Little Book format.

“Little Books were the perfect solution for world’s largest international gaming event attracting a 20,000 B2B visitor base. We needed to help the flow of traffic around the vast exhibition and maximise the exhibitor and visitor experience. The solution was to use Little Books to separate the exhibition centre in to areas of interest. The staff were great to work with and we had a great experience overall.” Said Matthew Appleby @ Clairon Event.

The Man Who Built a Serious Career on Stories

His father, who was illiterate, was a great storyteller.  And as a boy, he would listen to his father’s stories, memorize them, and tell them to his friends.

As a young man, he became a lawyer, and his ability to dramatize his points in the courtroom with an apt story helped him become successful.

He went into politics, and in all kinds of social gatherings he always had a humorous story or anecdote that fit the occasion and made people smile or laugh, even while making his point in a memorable way.  His popularity grew.

He ran for president, and people would listen for hours to his speeches.  They especially loved the way that he could sum up a complicated point in a vivid story.  And partly because of his speaking skill, he was elected.

During his presidency, the country was involved in a bloody war.  Through the dark days of the war, he used stories to keep spirits up and calm tensions during stressful arguments in the cabinet as they debated how best to conduct the war.

I’m talking of course about Abraham Lincoln.  Stories weren’t the only reason he was successful, but they certainly played a significant role in helping to make him the man that some people called the great communicator.

We can’t all be Lincoln, but we can all look for ways to use stories to improve our communications and marketing.  Whatever you do…use stories!
Geoffery Moore’s website is:  www.YourBestMarketingMove.com.  He can be reached at: gmoore@YourBestMarketingMove.com

Patrick De-la-Hunty

As promised here is part two of Geoffery Moore’s Article on telling stories to make your marketing communications more effective.

Finding the Right Story: The S.T.O.R.Y. System

So how do you find the right story?  For starters, talk to customers.  Get them to tell about their experiences with your product or service.  For every product or service, people have stories.  Everyone has an airline story.  Everyone has a cockroach story. 

People even have stories about the time they were taking out the trash and the bag broke!  Glad connected with that story when they created the line, “Don’t get mad, get Glad.”  They ran with that line for decades!  It was powerful not just because it was clever, but because it evoked the right story.

But how do you find the right story that will help you make your point more vividly and bring your message to life?  Where do you look for the story?  Here’s my system:

S.T.O.R.Y.:  The 5 Story Triggers

I use the STORY acronym, which points to five story triggers that can help:

S – Solution to Problem (tell a problem-to-solution story)
T – Transpose (put yourself in the shoes of the person you’re speaking to)
O – Overhear (imagine you’re a fly on the well overhearing a customer’s conversation)
R – Remember (remember when you had a similar experience)
Y – Yearn (what does the customer or other person yearn for or need?)

Solution to Problem.  Try to tell a problem-solution story: a person has a problem, your product or service comes to the rescue, and then there is a happy ending.  Just like in the movies!  Observe how TV commercials often do this (some better than others).

Transpose.   Put yourself in the other person’s shoes and ask, what are they thinking?  How do they feel?  Often this will lead to a story.  Marketers interviewed consumers about what it would be like to not have any milk in the house, and consumers told stories of coming home to enjoy a snack, such as chocolate chip cookies, and finding no milk!  The marketers used these stories to create the legendary Got milk? campaign.

Overhear.  There are two ways to do this.  You can actually overhear customers by doing customer surveys or focus groups.  Or you can try to imagine what customers might say if they were having a conversation about your product or service.  Imagining this conversation for Heritage Plumbing & Heating led us to a story about a husband and wife discussing what to do about a plumbing problem.  The resulting line we created, “Honey, just call Heritage!” became the core of their ad campaign for 10 years.

Remember.  Reach back to your own experiences to try and find a story.  When I was creating a mail campaign for MHT to a list of CEOs, I recalled a conversation I had with a CEO years before, and the story he told me led us to a winning direct mail idea.

Yearn.    Ask, what do the people in our target audience really want?  And why do they want it?  What do they yearn for?  Thinking about this question may trigger a story.   

And it helps if you keep listening to customers and keep reading widely.  You may even want to keep a story notebook and jot down possible ideas.

When I tell people that the most powerful marketing and communications tool is a story, I sometimes encounter skepticism.  People wonder if stories are really that important—especially for a very serious field like theirs.  So let me tell you about the role of stories in one man’s career……..

Don’t forget to tune in for the final Part 3

Patrick De-la-Hunty

I have been researching the whole concept of using stories in marketing. Well I would, wouldn’t I, after all there is a natural synergy between using stories to communicate messages and the Little Book; a natural home for them.

Try it for yourself, simply Google “marketing using stories”. I did and was amazed at all the great information; in particular I came across one guy who really impressed me, Geoffery Moore. I was going to use bits of his article to illustrate the point I was hoping to make, but I thought he did such a good job, I would simple ask if I could print his article in full.

So here is the first part. I’ll follow up with parts 2 and 3 and would value your feedback. Don’t forget to look at all the other stuff you will find under “marketing using stories”

© Geoffery Moore, 2011

The most powerful marketing and communications tool of all time is a story.  Are you using this tool?

Are you telling customers’ stories in your advertising?  Or sharing their testimonials all over your website?  Or telling a problem/solution story of what your product or service will do for them?  Or using stories in your emails or presentations?

People Think in Stories

I’m surprised that people don’t use stories more.  In fact, I believe every business school should have a required course on how to find and use stories.  It’s that important.

There’s a reason why most TV commercials are in story form.  And there’s a reason why an audience always perks up whenever a speaker begins to tell a story.  (I’ve seen it happen over and over again.)

People think in stories.  They pay more attention to stories.  They remember stories better.  They are even more apt to believe someone who tells stories.

Give me a list of 5 things to remember and I’ll forget by lunchtime.  Tell me a story, and I may remember it and even share it with someone else over dinner this evening.

Next time “ Finding the Right Story - The S.T.O.R.Y. System

Patrick De-la-Hunty

Answer: They both have a difficult decision to make.

Bob Diamond, chief executive of Barclays, has been struggling with his difficult decision. The multi-millionaire can’t decide whether to take his £9m bonus or not. Tough one Bob! Happily after much soul searching and many discussions with fellow bankers, he has decided to accept.

I met another man with a difficult decision to make recently; whether to crawl on his belly along the floor of an Indian train collecting rubbish in the hope of a single rupee or whether to let his family go hungry. Tough one! Not much soul searching or long discussions went on before he made his decision and I can’t stop thinking about the humiliation.

It cannot be right for one man to pick up such an obscene bonus whilst another picks up rubbish for virtually nothing. I was in India recently visiting a grassroots charity that’s trying to give the poorest people a leg up out of the poverty trap, but that’s for another Blog!

 When is a hoover not a Hoover?

When it’s a vacuum cleaner that’s not been made by the well-known appliance manufacturer Hoover. The same rule applies to sticky tape that is not Sellotape. However, just because someone else seems have gotten a market all sewn up with a proprietary brand, is not reason enough not to try to better it. Sometimes the wheel needs to be reinvented.

“How can you patent a piece of folded paper? It’s just folded paper after all.” Someone recently asked me this about Little Book and was quickly disabused of any thoughts he might be having about copying the format.

It is, though, a good question and one which, no doubt, crosses many people’s minds when they first come across this remarkable compact booklet. To answer it we have to go back to the beginning when, undertaking a marketing project for a friend, I came across a Z-Card. Having seen plenty of folded promo products, concertina folds and other booklet designs in my time, initially I was most impressed - so much information in one place and highly pocketable to boot. As a marketing and communication tool it seemed to have a lot going for it.

But commuting back and forth daily between Bristol and London provides plenty of time for mulling over ideas and so it was that I started to discover some of Z-Card’s shortcomings.
My thoughts turned to how I might improve the concept without infringing the existing patent. And so followed many weeks of origami, during which the appealing idea of a folded sheet held inside a book-like cover was born. Unlike the Z-Card, this format would allow the pages to be turned like a book, revealing key information without any disruption to neighbouring passengers or passersby. Pulling downwards on the first page prompted the whole sheet to snap open with an element of surprise that still delights me, while flipping the page up revealed 14 more pages of information. Couple these elements with a well-behaved re-fold and what I had was a vast improvement on the z-fold concept, something entirely different and therefore patentable.

The moral of this story is don’t stop looking for improvements and opportunities to innovate just because there is already a proprietary brand on the market. If that were the case where would James Dyson be today?

AJS Labels - an award-winning business

AJS Labels, the Sussex-based award-winning manufacturer of self-adhesive labels and the exclusive manufacturer of Little Book, has continued its winning streak with the addition of five more commendations and awards to its trophy collection lately.

The company scooped three awards at a ceremony to celebrate business excellence in West Sussex, including the top two, highly-prized trophies for Business Person of the Year and Overall Business of the Year.

Husband and wife co-directors, Andrew and Jayne Scrimgeour, were jointly named Business Persons of the Year and the company also triumphed in the Training and Development category. These three latest awards join the four others already won in 2010, the most recent being the PrintWeek Customer Service Team of the Year Award 2010.

“We are very proud to have won these awards and join our local business community in celebrating the pocket of business excellence that exists down here on the Sussex coast,” said Andrew Scrimgeour. “We are delighted, once again, to have all the hard work and dedication of everyone at the company acknowledged.”

Congratulating AJS on its winning streak, organiser Miriam Nichols said: “The 13th year of the Arun Business Partnership, Business of the Year Awards certainly didn’t prove unlucky for Littlehampton-based AJS Labels. Theirs is a true success story, having been formed 18 months ago as a result of a Management Buy Out and in that time turning a substantial loss into a healthy profit whilst retaining all its 50 staff and recruiting 10 more.”

Earlier in the same month, the company was runner-up in the Packaging News UK Packaging Award for SME of the Year 2010, a brand new award for 2010. Highly commended by the judges for turning a loss into a profit, AJS’ owners, Andrew and Jayne Scrimgeour, were congratulated ‘for the way the firm has sought to reconnect with customers and engage staff through one-on-one consultations to make them feel they have a stake in the business.’

In the same awards, AJS Labels was a finalist in the prestigious Label of the Year category.

Hare Krishna devotees

According to Wikipedia, “the social norm of reciprocity is the expectation that people will respond to each other in similar ways—responding to gifts and kindnesses from others with similar benevolence of their own.”

I was reminded of this theory recently when a client asked what incentive there was in giving away a Little Book and I explained the theory to them.
Generally speaking when some receives a gift or some kindness their instinct is to return the favour in some way. There is a school of thought that reciprocity is hardwired into us from birth and is part of our basic survival mechanism - it enables us to rub along together; it sets the social norms that dictate our society. We probably do it without thinking; someone holds open a door for us, we thank them, smile and for a split second we feel that all is well with the world - the social niceties have been completed.

A famous illustration of the power of reciprocity took place a few years ago when the Hare Krishna organisation handed out flowers at all the world’s main terminals, pressing them upon people at no charge but raising colossal sums in freely given donations as a result.

Any gift that has a high perceived value will generate this reciprocal effect, inducing a warm feeling towards the giver. One of our own clients famously said of Little Book, “Itʼs just like giving someone a little gift.”

In essence the theory of reciprocity should apply to any promotional marketing or sales promotions. Giveaways will always be popular but make them high value, relevant and desirable to your target market and you could have a real win-win sales scenario on your hands.

So there’s the logic - two days at which business can be done and participants honour their role in society at large by providing students - the workforce of tomorrow - an insight into the world of work. Now, the organisers of the Arun Business Partnership/West Sussex Education Business Partnership’s Business2Business Skills & Careers Fair acknowledge that they have lot to learn from this first-ever combined approach. For Little Book and AJS Labels it was a great success - we met and made some great contacts and had some very constructive discussions with businesses interested in our products. Unfortunately the same could not be said for the students.

Most of the businesses had put a lot of effort into making their stands attractive and informative to student visitors, even going as far as providing an interactive element - such as the ‘match-the-label-to-the-product’ activity at the AJS Labels’ stand. The students though were more interested in what goodies they could stuff into their bags and luckily some businesses had had the forethought to bring something to satisfy the ’smash&grab’ mob, as bowls of sweets, fluffy mascots, stickers and the like were emptied faster than they could be refilled. Meanwhile, others looked on in horror as their expensive brochures and marketing materials - all that they had to offer - disappeared off their stands, only to be found later strewn across the floor or, worse, stuffed into bins.

Little Book was just pleased to see that not a single “Meet Your Future” Student Littlebook, specially prepared in association with the event organisers and given out to every student visitor, suffered such a fate.

Chestnut Tree House 1

Little Book had a very humbling experience yesterday. A visit to Chestnut Tree House, the one and only children’s hospice for the whole of Sussex, is a great reminder of the important things in life.

Chestnut Tree House cares for children and young people - from birth to early adulthood - with life-limiting or life-threatening illnesses such as Muscular Dystrophy, Cystic Fibrosis, cancer and progressive genetic disorders. There are around 400 families with life-limited children in Sussex alone and sadly most of these children will die before they reach adulthood.

Mention the word ‘hospice’ to most people and they will imagine a place of suffering and sadness, somewhere that people, in this case, children, go to die. But at Chestnut Tree House that couldn’t be further from the truth. Little Book has rarely been somewhere more vibrant and full of the joys of life.

Children, and their families, go to the house to have fun while being cared for by a wonderful team of experts. The hospice provides a ‘home from home’ environment with ten specially-equipped bedrooms for children who come for overnight respite care, eight family rooms, wet and dry play areas, computer, cinema and music rooms, a multisensory room and hydrotherapy pool. There are also wonderful gardens surrounding the house which are set in an area of outstanding natural beauty.

Obviously there is sadness too but Little Book came away with an overwhelming sense that life is to be lived - and those children and parents who use CTH’s services know that more than anyone. And virtually all of the £2 million a year it costs to run the House comes from the generosity of local people.

Prof Ratniek

It’s time to be upfront about the Little Book blog. Random though they may seem at times, there is a common denominator - the small things in life, be it the new Mini Countryman, a funky new application of our pocket media product Little Book, or in this case, an insect in peril.

Marks & Spencer’s Plan A campaign to become the world’s most sustainable major retailer would have us believe that there can be no Plan B. However, Professor Francis Ratnieks at the University of Sussex has devoted his life to just such a plan. As the UK’s first, and only, professor of apiculture, Ratnieks is a leading authority on honeybee biology and beekeeping. And without a Plan Bee we could all be facing a bleak future.

Bless them, these little creatures play an incredibly important role in our lives and the health of our planet. But the world’s honeybee population is declining dramatically. Over a third of bee colonies have mysteriously disappeared in 15 states of the USA, due to a phenomenon known as “Colony Collapse Disorder”. In the UK, beekeepers reported average losses of 25% over the 2007/8 winter and spring compared with 18% the previous year.

But why the dramatic decline? The stress of having to travel thousands of miles for pollination; debilitating parasites and diseases; resistance to treatments; climate change and pesticides - all are potential honeybees killers.

Honeybees are responsible for pollinating 25% of the food that we eat and pollinate 90 crops in all worldwide. UK crops such as apples, pears, peaches, strawberries, blackberries, carrots, broccoli and onions are being seriously affected.

Rowse Honey, the UK’s biggest selling honey brand (which has just relaunched its range with a honeycomb-shaped logo, cute bee graphic and hexagonal jars), has made a three-year investment in Prof Ratnieks’ work and has given away seeds to encourage customers to grow shrubs to attract these precious creatures to our gardens.

Without doubt we need a Plan Bee to give these little guys a fighting chance.