Seven years ago we decided to ditch the annual mission of creating the company Christmas card and go for something more sustainable, the obvious choice being a themed calendar which would stay on people’s desks for 12 months.

This proved to be very successful and it’s been encouraging to visit customer’s offices and see our brand dotted across the open plan landscapes. We’ve been coming up with a unique version every year since then.

We’d been wondering whether the genre was now a bit tired and the not inconsiderable strain on effort and budget too much, and therefore whether we should be doing something different (or nothing at all).

I thought I’d do a bit of research and phoned a few people. The feedback was overwhelming, for example “I look forward to the calendar arriving in the post, it’s the one I always use – any others go straight in the bin”.

To add to the endorsements, last week I had an unsolicited comment from a long standing client who's office is in Hemel Hempstead. He had been at our offices in Henley for a meeting and as he was leaving our reception, spotted the Signals' calendar and asked if we had any spares. I was naturally horrified that he didn’t already have one as it is now 10 months since we sent them out. His reply was that the one we’d sent him was lost in the deluge following the explosion at the Buncefield oil depot last December and he’d never got around to asking for a replacement. He said it was a great item and he still wanted one even though the year was approaching its end.

This sort of made up my mind that we need to continue the tradition.

Any suggestions for this year’s theme on a postcard . . . . (or email!)

I spent a very enjoyable evening last Saturday hobnobbing with some elite A list bloggers. My friend Keith Collins had organised this gathering as part of his continuing evangelism of the blogosphere and its benefits to the business community.

Shel Israel is one half of the authorship of Naked Conversations – a bible for anyone interested in what’s going on in the business blogging world, so it was a privilege to meet him on the first night of his world trip to research his new book. He asked each of us what we or our companies did, and after the standard pitch from me about digital communications media and all that jazz, I confessed my alter ego which is in the world of album cover art and limited edition prints of the same.

When I mentioned Pink Floyd, Shel’s repost was that they had been the last band that he ever got excited about before he was swallowed up by the world of PR, marketing and corporate life.

There was then a bit of a debate about the ‘golden age’ of rock music, which I think is a bit of a myth as it’s all to do with the age you are and your influences at the time. Every era has its very special music and now is no exception. Anyone who disputes this should listen to Radiohead.

Hugh MacLeod was also present and I must admit I was fascinated by his sense of humour, his cartoons and his unusual choice of the back of business cards as a medium. Originals of his work are up for sale now on eBay, but I’m going to jealously hold on to the creation he drew and gave to me on the night. I’ll keep my eye on the going rate though!

The background to this is that Keith has brought together a group of like minded individuals, all of us running our own companies and all faced with the daily trials of being creative for our customers and at the same time making a hard earned buck. We are all convinced about the benefits of opening up the conversations about our businesses and the issues that we face. We are all new to the game, but already Nick and Andrew at Stonk Media are posting like mad, and Adrian Moss has dived in as well.

As well as this personal site, I am setting up a company blog for Signals to give a voice to the people in my team. We have some very talented and knowledgeable individuals in the organisation and I think it’s very valid for them to share their thoughts about the industry we are in.

Watch this space. . . .

It’s been a moving year. After running our business from the same premises for the last 12 years we finally found a better location and moved earlier this year. Amazing what you accumulate in that time and what is now junk. 

 

Which brings me to the point. Technology

 

12 years ago the web was in its infancy, we had very impersonal computers and if there was anything called social media I think it may have been found on the top shelf of the newsagents.

 

A lot of the aforementioned junk was very expensive high tec. But now you can’t give it away. We had a very nice bit of kit called a digital film recorder. For a start up business, this cost us a lot of money 15 years ago but was worth it as it was the cornerstone of our business. It took graphic images created on the computer and transferred them onto 35mm slide film.

 

When this became redundant because no one was using 35mm slides anymore, we shoved it up into the attic and there it stayed.

 

And out it came in the clear out.

 

Ebay – that’s the answer – there must be someone out there in the digital universe who would like this.

 

It looks nice

 

It used to work beautifully (though I must confess I couldn’t find the software for it) and at today’s prices it would cost about £20,000.

 

In 10 days not one bid. Incredulous so I tried again, in another 10 days still not one bid.

 

Now confined to the skip.

 

R.I.P.