We’re having a party!

Are you registered with finditinwolverhampton.co.uk yet?

The IceBlue-built websites finditinsandwell.co.uk and finditinbirmingham.com have over 10,000 members between them.

Now, we’re holding a launch event for our latest website finditinwolverhampton.co.uk- which already has over 600 members!

Like its sister sites, finditinwolverhampton.co.uk helps local businesses find local suppliers by allowing them to post business opportunities and by hosting free networking events.

The event will take place on Wednesday, September 22 at the home of the Wolverhampton Wanderers, Molineux Stadium, from 8am-12:30pm in the Hayward Suite.

We hope you can make it – just book on the events page of the new site and we’ll see you there!

The top five worst copywriting cliches…

We blame the late nights...

Now some copywriters are just getting lazy – and they’re repeating cliches so many times that a butcher’s website reads the same as an accountant’s website.

To fight back, here’s our top five most hated copywriting words and expressions – which have no meaning and never need to be used again on an ‘About Us’ page or a flyer.

5. ‘Web-based portal’

It took me an age to figure out what a ‘web-based portal’ is. Turns out, it’s just a website the developer thinks is particularly special because it has – gasp – more than one page.

So unless your site genuinely is a portal – either through time and space, or to the mythical lands of Narnia or Terabithia – call it a ‘website’.

4. ’21st century business’

Wow – your busines is in the 21st century? Well, so am I – and just because your business exists doesn’t make it modern. Guys, it’s 2010 already – the 21st century is 10% over!

Now if your business were a 22nd Century business… well, that would be exciting. You could make a fortune selling that time machine you’ve got.

3. ‘Tailored to you’

Everyone’s service these days is ‘tailored to you’. Well, imagine if it wasn’t!

“Madam, we know you live in a bungalow, but we’re still going to charge you for carpeting the stairs.”

Also, who else would the service be tailored to?

2. ‘Solutions’

There was a time when roofers sold roofing. Now they sell ‘roofing solutions’.

But please – how many of us ’solve problems’ for our clients? Most of us just flog the same products and services time and again, and there’s no need to lie about it.

Yes, Barack Obama is finding ’solutions’ to the world’s economic problems. Yes, a counsellor finds ’solutions’ to your relationship problems. But a waitress doesn’t serve ‘thirst solutions’  – she serves ‘coffee’. And it’s the same coffee for everyone.

A house doesn’t need a solution. It needs a roof.

1. ‘Exciting’

When I’m reading about your business, I’ll decide for myself whether or not it’s exciting.

And guess what? If your business clearly isn’t exciting, I’m not going to start believing it is just because you’ve scattered the word ‘exciting’ throughout your adverts.

Next time

So next time you’re writing, remember that if your business really is ‘exciting’, dynamic and modern, people will be able to tell for themselves. You don’t have to bludgeon readers with cliches for them to see you’re special.

IceBlue turns fashion photographer

The 'Rule of Thirds' as explored by Wikipedia's 'Moondigger'

We’re working on the most exciting project at the moment – photographing clothes for a gorgeous new online menswear store.

We love getting our creative juices flowing with projects like this.

It’s led to a lot of discussion about the best way to take a photo. We’ve been inspired by the ‘Rule of thirds’ – the theory that an image should be divided into nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed on the lines.

Taking pictures like this supposedly gives the image more impact and energy than just centreing the subject.

Perfect for the creative, arty shots we’re trying to create.

Our other inspiration?

Austin Powers, international man of mystery and fashion photographer extraordinaire.

“You’re a tiger. Be a tiger baby, yeah!”

What poster did you have on your wall when you were 16?

Could you design a poster?

What poster did you have on your wall when you were 16?

A quick poll of the office reveals…

Hannah (website developer): “Boyzone and Boyz2Men”

Lucy (copywriter): “Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam”

Matt (website developer): “Nirvana”

Colette (graphic designer):”Nelly, Eminem, 50 Cent, Ja Rule, Bob Marley and a montage of every rapper of the time!” (She still has the 50 Cent poster.)

We ask because posterprinting24.com is holding a ‘design a poster’ competiton for anyone who’s nostalgic about posters.

The prize is £150 in cash and a free high quality print of your design.

Even if you haven’t got any ideas, you can vote for the winner now on Facebook.

Need a facelift?

Before...

...and after!

Does your website need a bit of a rework – but you don’t want to blow the budget totally replacing it?

In internet-land, 2-year-old websites are lambasted as senile.

But don’t get mad – just come to IceBlue for a value-for-money revamp.

That’s exactly what Breakwells LLP, a family-owned shipping and road haulage business, just did.

www.breakwells.com was already a great site, with an easy-to-use layout. But it needed some Search Engine Optimisation, a design revamp and a copy dust-up.

Breakwells provides specialist shipping and road haulage for companies across England, the UK islands and Spain.

We proudly launched the site yesterday – and we think it’s benefited from a modern, professional facelift!

The power of YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCFCOsA2SmY

In offices across Britain, workers are giggling over a YouTube video of Thomasz Schafernaker, the BBC weatherman, who flashed an obscene hand gesture at his colleagues when he thought he was off-air.

In this age of iPlayer and YouTube, it’s not enough to avoid being naughty when you know you’re being watched. You’ve got to never be naughty ever!

In fairness though, Tom has already got himself in hot water for the Glastonbury forecast ‘muddy sh*te’, describing the Outer Hebrides as ‘nowheresville’ and pulling out his earpiece mid-broadcast announcing ‘Well I don’t know if I’m on air or not so Gary over to you’.

The BBC doesn’t see this as a ‘boyish jape’. In fact, it’s released a statement saying his gesture was ‘Not acceptable’.

What’s fun between colleagues clearly doesn’t translate to outsiders watching online. It will make you as popular as a voicemail on Andrew Sachs’s phone…

The 3 1/2 minute pie…

The 3 1/2 minute pie... coming in October...

Blue Marlin brand design agency has designed the packaging for a microwaveable version of Pukka Pies.

And… we love it!

We’ve surprised ourselves – because orange is a famously weak design colour which is particularly unappealing in connection with food.

In fact, black and orange make people think of Halloween more than comfort.

But Pukka Pies is a nostalgia brand, taking people back to the 70s when these colours were in fashion. The designers have stuck faithfully to the chip shop branding people have positive associations with.

The black background is a surprising choice – white lettering on black is hard to read. But the packaging is so minimalist it draws attention to the slogan ‘the 3 1/2 minute pie’ in a way that implies straight-talking honesty.

The only part we’re dubious about?

Can a microwave pie really have a ‘crumbly shortcrust’ shell?

I suppose we’ll find out when they come out next month…

Should copywriting follow Italian style?

La Dolce Vita - a movie based on life at IceBlue

Our favourite blogger, Euston do you copy, has struck again… this time saying copywriters should take inspiration from Italian style. Especially from Marcello Rubini, the rakish main character in Federico Fellini’s 1960 classic La Dolce Vita.

Why’s that, you ask?

Because copywriting should be simple (like Milanese tailoring), passionate (like the Palio di Siena) and strong (like a fierce, fresh-brewed espresso).

We couldn’t agree more.

But isn’t good copywriting also like the Black Country?

Because it’s straight talking (like a Stourbridge mechanic), attention grabbing (like a Dudley canal boat) and reassuring (like a Cradley Heath caff.)

Got £500 million?

Jimmy Choo shoes (picture by Courtney Walker)

Jimmy Choo Ltd could be put up for sale for £500 million, so we’ve read.

Sadly, we don’t have £500 million lying around the office (although Colette has £2.74 in her ‘Treaty Sweety fund’.)

What we want to know is – how did the brand get to be worth that much in the first place?

And why do women spend as much as £2000 on shoes from a label some people haven’t heard of?

One theory is that the Jimmy Choo brand uses ‘tribal marketing’.

Unlike other shoemakers, Jimmy Choo designers don’t splash their logo all over their shoes (in fact, your foot covers up the badge!)

But the ‘tribe’ – women who love shoes – will recognise the latest Jimmy Choo designs. So if you wear the shoes, you’re sending a secret message within the tribe. The shoes are a badge of membership.

And it doesn’t hurt that Carrie from Sex and the City wore them.

If shoe lovers are a tribe, Carrie’s the chief!

Developers needed!

The advert we placed in the Express and Star

We’ve published a job advert in today’s Express and Star looking for two junior and one senior VB.net ASP.net Developers.

We’re looking for people with an understanding of web technologies like JavaScript, AJAX, CSS and HTML.

And in our fun-loving team, you need to be a good communicator who can hit the ground running.

Does that sound like you, or someone you know? If so, please email claire@icebluemd.co.uk or call 01384 563050!