Everyone loves a Pen.

Despite the low cost and sometimes poor printing options and space it’s undoubtedly any businesses biggest ‘bang for its buck’.

But what’s the second best business gift? 

A Pad of course!

This is the best of both worlds, Swiss made so not cheap, but the best rarely is eh?

Small enough to fit in your pocket and pops open to pack a real promotional punch.

This was sent to registered delegates to shamelessly promote what we were doing at the event, but at the same time offered some local venue suggestions that would appeal to visitors in their downtime.
Very small footprint.
Huge open view with 4 times the footprint to get the message across.

Room on the back for prize offer and keynote timings.

rtfacts pop mailings work for too many businesses to list.

If you can see your application working let’s talk.

Small footprint, Huge bang not a lot of bucks.

Now they see you……Now they can’t.

It’s quite disturbing to notice the green light by the web-camera, blinking away when you’re not on a video call with anyone! It happened to my wife, turned out to be an accident but I have the solution.

It’s nothing technical, It’s nothing complicated and anyone can fit one. There are a number of design options and the bonus is, all can be branded so not only are we stopping unwanted prying eyes, we are also showing the recipient the kind people who donated the fantastic little gizmos brand identity, 24x7x365.

With the cover flipped to the left, the camera and light are covered and nothing at all is visible to the ‘unwelcome’ visitor.

Flip the cover to the right and the web camera and light are visible and the ‘wanted’ video visitor can be welcomed.

There are too many options to list but metal ones and double-sided ones you name it, all available! Please just ask. 

All delivered on a postcard presenter printed full colour both sides. Let’s talk web cam covers!

Working for Robert Horne was always a pleasure. They were based in Northampton and so was my best mate, so it always meant fantastic work and a sneaky pint! The 2004 wall calandar was a showcase of their finest material and some lovely print techniques but, the crowning glory was the advent calendar on the December page. I’d never seen this integrated into a calendar before, many times since, but then RH were always willing to take a punt on something new. Thats why it was my favourite job of 2004!

Robert Horne was filled with as many brilliant people as it was possible and we met and worked with most of them. Michelle Hollis got the short straw with me to approve this calendar job on press, and we did a great job in my humble opinion! Robert Horne came about for rtfacts as we were doing a mass of work for BT and were continually disappointed with the huge variety of materials we noticed other roster agencies using, most of it average quality and all of it different. 

After long discussions with Tracey Wallace, the then marketing manager at BT Managed Network Services, we agreed to implement our own paper and board strategy for all the work we produced for the BT business based in Hemel. Robert Horne and the team got stuck in and provided material samples a plenty. Our printers ran tests and comparisons until we arrived at a material selection that met our requirements and that was consistent in its manufacture, in terms of volume, shade, weight, creasing, folding, drying (pre UV drying) and printability. Big BT later realised what a champion idea this was and also selected Huntsman Silk as their preferred stock, even in those days Huntsman Silk was manufactured from responsibly resourced materials and met the highest international standards.

Robert Horne had gone their separate ways from rtfacts when Hornes went pop, so sad as we were for the individuals it was happening to, we were not really involved and had already moved on with just our great memories and a massive portfolio full of wonderful work to show to others. We had done 8 with Robert Horne (13 with BT) so a good shout in both cases.

eolas.ie approached rtfacts to maintain their legacy website, which had expanded to enormous proportions in their 18 years, while we created a new look and feel and tone for this market leading IT recruitment business.

Moving to state of the art new premises was just another piece of the giant jigsaw Vincent Flynn, Managing Director orchestrated, but it has been a great success. 

It’s easy to say all sorts of things about the process and how it all worked so brilliantly, but sometimes it’s better to let the work speak for itself. 

And If you want to hear the story first hand, I’m sure Vincent would be happy to talk to you (Call Roger and I will arrange that) and last but not least 

I said they were market leading but what I meant was they are IT Recruitment big hitters.

Anyone recognise the boxer giving the eolas staff and their new office the gold medal treatment?

There are many more positives
working with big blue chip clients
than there are negatives?
 
Big clients are not necessarily more creative but, they usually have the experience and the budgets to see an idea through and in terms of their financial contribution
to a business, it’s invaluable.
 
They are usually excellent payers too, but (not always)!
 
To become an approved supplier of a large company there are a mass of forms to fill and hoops to jump through and its only getting worse monthly – Anti-Slavery, CSR and Sustainability to name a few. Only negative if you’re the one filling out the forms!
 
They are all extremely important, so we should all pay great attention to them.
In fact, If every business played by the rules business would be much easier and fairer, but that’s some way off I think.
 
So what’s my point you’ll be asking if you got this far?
 
We get updates for all the policies we need to adhere to from a mixture of large clients and the one referenced came in just before Christmas around accepting gifts, hospitality or donations.
We don’t usually buy more than a Christmas card for our favourite clients, at best we might give them an rtfacts pad and pen but this Anti-bribery policy got our minds thinking.
 
How can we send something
worth nothing
and still make a great impression?
 
The attached was our attempt which was very well received by the recipient (redacted with any other data protected info) and passed around many a department as a great fun example. There was no attempt to play down the serious nature of Anti-bribery, just a ‘by the book’ interpretation around it, with a tad of humour.
 
If you’d like to get something for nothing from your budget give us a call.

The below is an extract from HMRC’s Anti-bribery advice just so you’re in the know.
Anti-bribery policy

It is illegal to offer, promise, give, request, agree, receive or accept bribes – an anti-bribery policy can help protect your business.

You should have an anti-bribery policy if there is a risk that someone who works for you or on your behalf might be exposed to bribery.

Your anti-bribery policy should be appropriate to the level of risk your business faces. Your policy should include:

your approach to reducing and controlling the risks of bribery
rules about accepting gifts, hospitality or donations
guidance on how to conduct your business, eg negotiating contracts
rules on avoiding or stopping conflicts of interest

Read the leaflet below for more information on how the bribery laws could affect your business.

Once you have an anti-bribery policy you should:

tell your staff and make sure they understand the policy
monitor and review your policy regularly

Direct mail has always been an integral part of the marketing mix, but the simple postcard is often overlooked.

When followed up with a bit of telemarketing the results can be quite dramatic and these days, a well-crafted postcard doesn’t land on your desk every day, so it’s something of a novelty!

Here are some reasons we think your business should consider an rtfacts produced postcard campaign:

1. There is so little room on a postcard for puff, it allows our creative writers to really get to the point. There is no room for more than the headline or elevator pitch* and a call to action. If it’s funny, interesting relevant, or personal its likely to be remembered and if it’s remembered, when we call the chances of an appointment are much, much higher.

2. In these days of internet security and spyware and data protection it’s refreshing we are confident enough in our message and our offer to allow anyone that sees the post card, to read it en-route.

3. We can print 4 postcards up together at the same time which is economical and turns a one off Direct mail piece into a ‘campaign’.

It’s possible to make each postcard personalised to each recipient.

We need do no more than add the postage and send, so no complicated wrapping or costly and possible irresponsible packaging or envelopes.

And don’t forget – Posting a postcard is as cheap as it gets!

4. Cost isn’t always an issue, ROI, Impact, OTS, brand awareness, all play a part but nature of the beast makes designing and printing postcards cheaper than most other forms of DM.

5. We have used postcards to verify a mailing list prior to a large campaign. We’ve had great fun with ‘Are you properly addressed’?

And had fun data cleaning an old mailing list.

6. As part of an integrated campaign with social media, web landing pages, advertising and PoS, posters etc.

Postcards can create enormous impact.

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    *Watch this space for Elevator Pitch blog

The world is becoming smaller and businesses larger. Duty of Care has always been on our radar but is often implied and while it feels sort of, ‘on the agenda’ it can be fairly low-priority.

But as businesses become larger, so do their obligations to make sure people understand their roles within the business.

The original starter/welcome pack, was probably a list of extension numbers of key people, the fire muster point and a pencil if you were lucky.

These days, if guiding people down the myriad path of Health and Safety (H&S) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) wasn’t enough, Fraud, Identity Theft and Compliance add a minefield of information.

In the ‘good old days’ it would’ve been a job for the old dude, put out to pasture but not quite there yet, to pay a bit of lip service to it and promote from within, to anyone who would listen. These days is a sophisticated part of the marketing mix and mission critical communications for every business.

These communications, that are used to welcome new starters and to guide them down the ‘right company path’ are innovative, interesting and informative. They frequently extend to people outside of the business but, who work with the business, spreading the messages virally.

They are great fun to work on and they are a fantastic meter to judge a company by.

There are a few specialist companies out there but they tend to be a bit formulaic.

If you want to push a single agenda like ‘Life-saving rules for employees’ or ‘how to use social media responsibly’ or you want to build a complete system for your business that accurately reflects your requirements, and is tailored to your mission goals and communicates with your people in the right tone of voice….

rtfacts can help.

For a conversation please call 07831700081 or eMail design@rtfacts.co.uk

When it comes to which company is best suited to design your website?
You’ll hear all the best baloney from the people in the design for print and web industry!

‘Distance is no object’ (if you’re a long way away) and ‘local is always better­­­­’ (If you’re just around the corner). The honest truth is, rtfacts prefer to be close so we can meet face to face, collaborate, press the flesh, react quickly and professionally. We have worked with the World Bank in Washington and businesses in New Zealand to Tiverton very successfully, but time difference and distance are always a barrier.

In the case of World Bank, they wanted to work with Linda so much, they were prepared to put up with the hassle, but these days I think most sizeable businesses couldn’t operate efficiently that way. From an account management point of view, it means long phone calls while the client is fresh and awake, when you should be having tea with the kids or out with your mates or going to bed!

Our preference is for clients within a 50-mile radius of us as Hemel is accessible from all directions and has great rail connections. London is an obvious target and costs are significantly less out in the ‘burbs if you take the 28-minute ride from Euston on the train.

These local companies chose to work with rtfacts and allowed us to create web sites that will stand the test of time.

http://www.pro-ven.com   http://www.fullonmarketing.com   http://performanceadhesives.co.uk   http://memorialsofdistinction.co.uk

These not local companies also decided rtfacts was the best option

http://www.sharratts-london.co.uk   http://crowntwickenham.co.uk  http://www.data-laser-mail.co.uk

rtfacts produced design for print and web for BT for 13 years which meant all sorts of travel to various locations, but Global Network Services (our biggest ever client) operated from Hemel and Leavesden so for most of that time it was a 10 minute trip – BLISS.

If you’re not local, but still keen to work with rtfacts, our commitment is to make it work.

If you are local, pop in for a cuppa or a quick chat.

Or for a proper meeting please call 07831700081 or eMail design@rtfacts.co.uk

And ask for Roger, Tony or Emma.