B&V Creative News

Dedicated to Digital

2009-04-02T10:12:00.002Z

B&V Digital is a new division of B&V Creative, establishing to provide dedicated focus on a rapidly growing area of the marketing business.

Colin Breckenridge, MD of B&V Creative explains:

‘I’m delighted to welcome my son Ross Breckenridge into the business to lead the B&V Digital team to deliver digital marketing expertise within our range of services. His experience and MA in multi-media journalism will help us provide enhanced digital services around our core digital skills of web design and programming.’

Ross continues:

‘B&V’s reputation has always been for high quality design and excellent marketing support for all our clients; services they have been providing for 26 years.

We already provide a full range of marketing services, delivering a bespoke mix for each individual client. Today it is essential to have a strong website at the core of any marketing activities and with that comes an ongoing commitment to ensure each website informs, educates and engages its key target market – but that potential audience needs to be told where to look!

This is where B&V Digital can help.

By designing optimised sites or by optimising your existing site we can make it easier for google and other search engines to see and understand your site and get it up the all important rankings to increase the flow of traffic. We’ll design individual campaigns to drive traffic and increase your message through all channels such as blogs, twitter, video content, pay per click, search marketing, social networking, electronic news –the list increases week to week.’

B&V already have a wealth of website development in their portfolio and
host, maintain and promote sites for a range of clients with a range of budgets.

Call Ross on 023 8043 3348 to chat about how B&V Digital can help you maximise
your online message and increase business.

B&V - return to Honeypot House

2008-09-03T08:52:00.005Z

B&V paid a very welcome return visit to Honeypot House in the New Forest to meet just a few of the hundreds of children who benefit from this UK Charity. The children are often full time carers and a visit to the New Forest holiday centre is a lifeline – a chance to just be a child!

‘ We were delighted to continue our year of support for Honeypot by presenting them with a cheque for £450 that our staff raised earlier in the year. It’s amazing to see all the additions to the facilities at the house made possible by the increased awareness of Honeypot in the Hampshire business community and beyond. It is a fantastically worthwhile cause and you need no more convincing than the smiles on the children’s faces at the start of their special holiday.’

Colin Breckenridge, MD of B&V Creative

If you’d like to know more about the Honeypot Charity visit them at http://www.honeypot.co.uk/

Honeypot Balloon Launch

2008-03-18T14:46:00.006Z

The hugely successful balloon launch, organised by B&V Creative on behalf of Honeypot, at this year's Business South delivered some valuable coverage for the charity in the Southern Daily Echo. Click the link below to see the article...

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/search/display.var.2117976.0.howzat_for_a_lift_off.php

Grand Prize Draw Winners

2008-03-14T14:20:00.011Z

We would like to thank all those who took part in our Grand Prize Draw in aid of Honeypot (http://www.honeypot.co.uk/) our nominated charity for 2008. The Draw was a great success and we are delighted to have raised a total of £565 for the charity.

The winners of the Prize Draw are:

1St Prize - Susie Campbell, Armed Forces World
2nd Prize - Kay Blewitt
3rd Prize - Philip Ward, Ace Business Supplies
4th Prize - James Webb
5th Prize - Joe Freire, JMF Financial Services LTD

Kay Blewitt kindly re-raffled her hamper and raised an extra £60 for Honeypot and James Webb donated his prize of a large cuddly bumble bee to the Honeypot Bus for the children to play with when they are on board.

The charity is thrilled by everyone's kindness.

B&V Creative scoop Best Stand at Business South

2008-03-07T15:48:00.006Z

B&V Creative are celebrating after winning ‘Best Stand’ at Business South.

The creative advertising and marketing agency achieved the award for its refreshingly fruity stand display, distinctive branding, creative use of video animation, and pre-event promotion.

Colin Breckenridge, Managing Director collected the award for Best Stand from Rachel Fellows, Exhibitions Manager during the Exhibitors Party on day one at St Mary’s Stadium.

Business South provided the perfect venue for B&V’s 25th Anniversary celebrations. The company established in March 1983 by current Managing Director Colin Breckenridge.

“Winning ‘Best Stand’ was certainly the icing on the cake for us at this year’s Business South” Colin remarked.

“B&V‘s highlights during the event had already included a VIP Birthday Reception attended by those who had helped us to reach our 25th Anniversary. Our Balloon Launch outside the stadium with Hampshire Cricketer Billy Taylor and the Grand Prize Draw from our stand all in aid of the Honeypot Charity.

“The B&V team worked hard in the run up to the event. The design team produced a stand which reflected the very essence of our business and certainly caught the eye of passers by. The PR team organised a busy schedule of activities and promotions for the event and gained valuable coverage in the run up. We had a very successful couple of days at Business South and we hope it’s a good sign of things to come in our anniversary year.”

The Award took pride of place on B&V’s stand on day two of the event.

B&V Creative weaves a wider web

2008-01-17T14:40:00.000Z

In B&V Creative's 25th year we are extending our services to our clients.

We are delighted to welcome Phil Le Cheminant in the role of Web Designer and Developer. Phil has been running his own multimedia company so brings with him a wealth of experience across a wide range of multi-media skills. He is also an accomplished musician/producer and has applied these skills to multimedia presentations, websites, advertising and soundtracks.

Founder and Managing Director of B&V, Colin Breckenridge comments:
‘Phil is an excellent addition to our highly skilled team. His technical capability is outstanding and will extend the range of services we can offer our clients. Recruiting team players is crucial for B&V and I know, in finding Phil, we have added a business winner.’

We provide graphic design, web services, advertising, PR, consultancy and direct marketing for a wide range of businesses. Come and meet the B&V team at Business South, St. Mary’s Stadium, Southampton on 5/6 March.

B&V Creative celebrates 25th Anniversary in 2008

2008-01-07T11:28:00.000Z

B&V Creative achieves 25 years as a full service marketing agency and is delighted to have yet another busy year ahead.

Graphic Designers, Colin Breckenridge and Mike Viana founded B&V Creative in 1983, and today Colin is still at the helm of the full service marketing agency.

The studio initially built up a client base in the south based on delivering innovative graphic design solutions. B&V Creative went on to develop a range of marketing services around the creative studio, providing clients with an all round advertising and marketing service.

B&V’s transformation into a full service marketing agency offered existing clients the convenience of all their marketing needs being handled by one agency.

With B&V’s highly experienced team of designers and marketing professionals, clients are confident in the agency’s ability to produce innovative, fresh and coherent solutions across all its creative disciplines.

The B&V team offers a friendly and supportive approach to marketing and design, achieving open and strong relationships with each client. With 25 years experience the agency is still proudly producing fresh and creative work.

Colin Breckenridge explains,
“It’s a great achievement to reach our 25th year. Like most businesses we have had our downs, but each time we have come out the other side having survived and learnt from it.

The key to a long life as a full service marketing agency is the ability to keep up to date with the latest design trends, latest concepts in marketing and PR and the advances in technology and the impact on our client markets.

Ultimately listening to your clients and delivering them marketing solutions which meet their business goals is paramount. B&V are able to achieve this because of the great team dynamic which has been created in the agency.”
A busy 25th year is planned for B&V, who have nominated The Honeypot Charity as its charity of the year in 2008. Throughout the year B&V have organised a series of fundraising activities to raise money for the children’s charity.

B&V joined the festivities at the Honeypot Christmas Carol Concert

2007-12-20T15:19:00.000Z

The B&V team joined 600 other well wishers at the Honeypot Christmas Carol in Winchester Cathedral on the 3rd December.

Honeypot provides support to very vulnerable children aged 5 – 12 through respite holidays, community visits, birthday and Christmas cards and presents.

B&V will be supporting The Honeypot Charity in 2008 and we thought it was a nice way to begin our support by attending the last fundraising event of 2007.

The entertainment was provided by the ‘Central Singers’ choir, made up of nearly 100 children from a Chichester Junior School who did a highly amusing rendition of ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ along with some other well known Christmas Carols, and ‘Gasp’ The Bath University Gospel Choir.

The Mayor of Winchester provided a reading and Amy, a Honeypot child, described her own heart rendering situation and explained just how important Honeypot is to her and the lives of other very vulnerable children.
The enjoyable yet poignant evening was rounded off with a mince pie and a glass of mulled wine. The event raised a total of £14,500 for the Charity.

Honeypot will make B&V’s 25th year a sweet celebration

2007-11-30T11:13:00.000Z

2008 is B&V Creative’s 25th year as a full service marketing agency. As part of our celebrations we will be nominating The Honeypot Charity as our charity of the year.

The Honeypot Charity is dedicated to improving the lives of very vulnerable and under privileged young children living in Britain. Through the Honeypot House in the New Forest and the Honeypot playbus, the charity provides respite care and long term support to children aged 5 – 12. Often these children are young carers or come from a history of abuse, poverty and neglect.

We will be organising fundraising activities, throughout the year, to support the charity’s invaluable work in giving these young children the childhood they deserve.

Details of our upcoming fundraising events will be posted on our website in the New Year. Watch this space!

To find out more about the Honeypot Charity visit them at http://www.honeypot.co.uk/

B&V Creative will be celebrating 25th birthday at Business South 2008

2007-11-12T14:33:00.000Z

Next year B&V Creative celebrates 25 years in business as a creative service agency, and where better to celebrate the achievement than at the regions top business show.

B&V Creative will again be exhibiting at Business South held at Southampton’s St Mary’s Stadium, 5 & 6 March 2008.

During the two days visitors have the chance to meet us on our stand, find out more about our services and join us in our planned birthday celebrations.

Business South, now in its third year, has been growing from strength to strength offering exhibitors and visitors with two days of pure networking; gaining new contacts, meeting up with old ones, increasing awareness and creating business opportunities.

Everyone at B&V is very excited about achieving this mile stone and are looking forward to celebrating at Business South with old and new acquaintances alike.

The Pride of Andover Awards

2007-11-12T14:19:00.000Z

The B&V Creative PR team lent a helping hand to organise the first ever Pride of Andover Awards on behalf of our client Stannah.

The Pride of Andover Awards celebrated the amazing achievements of some very special people in the Andover area. Stannah was a major sponsor of the event and B&V represented them on the inaugural organising committee.

The committee utilised B&V’s in-house creative capabilities to design and produce the logo, nomination flyers, certificates and badge artwork.

Seven months of planning culminated in the highly commended award ceremony held at The Lights in October. The evening was compered by Original 106FM presenter Richard Cartridge and the awards were presented by broadcaster and journalist Esther Rantzen.

Twelve category winners were announced and presented with a Pride of Andover pin, a winner’s certificate and vouchers for a performance at The Lights.
Due to the massive success of the first Pride of Andover Awards, there is hope of the event becoming a regular feature in the Andover calendar.

B&V Creative appoint new PR Executive

2007-05-30T10:19:00.000Z

B&V Creative’s growing reputation for providing a superb all round marketing communication service has driven the agency to expand its PR team. The company is delighted to announce Alissia Knight as the agency’s newest PR Executive.

Alissia, previously the Marketing & PR Assistant at the Jubilee Sailing Trust, is looking forward to bringing a young and fresh approach to the agency’s current PR activities. A graduate of the BA Public Relations and Communication course at Southampton Solent University, she is well qualified for the role and brings with her a great passion for PR.

The new position was created to meet the increasing demands of the agency’s new and existing clients.
Alissia said, “I am really looking forward to working with Colin and the team to increase the agency’s PR portfolio”.

Colin Breckenridge comments, “We take pride in our creative and innovative abilities which grow from strength to strength as we build on our expertise. Alissia is a valuable addition to our dynamic in-house capability.”

Winners of our Business South 2007 competition

2007-03-14T15:15:00.000Z

Smoothie maker & book to;-
Mark Holman from Southampton City Council

& Ian Smith from Hampshire Museums Trust.

B&V Creative spent two fruitful days at Business South 2007

2007-03-09T16:03:00.000Z

We talked with existing clients, met new contacts and enjoyed a very successful show.

Smoothie maker and recipe book competition terms & conditions

2007-03-06T11:40:00.000Z

Competition open to all visitors to the Business South Exhibition at St Mary’s Stadium on the 7th and 8th March 2007
To enter the competition your entry must be returned by hand to Stand 77 at the show.
There will be two winners, one on each day of the exhibition. The draw will be made at 4.00pm on both days. Entries after 4.00pm on 7th March will go into the 8th March draw. The competition will close at 4.00pm on 8th March.
Winners will be notified by telephone or email.
Winners will receive an electric smoothie maker and recipe book. The prize will be delivered to their business address within 7 working days of being notified a winner.
Winners may be invited to take part in publicity associated with the competition after the event.
The winners names will be posted on www.b-v.co.uk
No alternative cash prize is available.
Incomplete or illegible entries or those not made in accordance to the rules of entry are invalid.
By entering the competition you have agreed to bide by these terms and conditions.

Smooth operators make a refreshing change

2007-02-15T12:15:00.000Z

There will be something quite refreshing at stand 77 at this year’s Business South exhibition……

B&V Creative promise to add zest to your marketing and your visit to St. Mary’s Stadium … and it’s no false promise.
After 24 years of experience in helping business to business clients across the UK the company have themselves re-branded to reflect their refreshing approach to partnering their clients and ensuring the health of their sales.
Their colourful approach to life will be reflected in their stand, where you can drop in to enjoy a fruity break, a competition to win a smoothie maker and recipe book and sound advice that squeezes the maximum benefits out of your marketing budget.

Now that is a refreshing change……

Business South returns to St Mary's Stadium

2007-02-02T11:08:00.000Z

Come and see us March 7 and 8, Stand 77

Business South is gaining momentum for 2007 and is set to be the largest event of its kind in the region.
Last year attracted almost 2,000 visitors over the two days from leading business decision makers.
Key attractions includes Business Advice Zone, New Business Zone, Hospitality Zone, Meet the Buyer, Seminar theatre, VIP Reception Club and the Business Link E-Village.
We are aware that time is precious resource to business people today which is why the show offers the business professional who visits the chance to meet key organisations in the region. Business South offers the perfect opportunity to network and the chance to gain business with an expected 2,500 visitors together with an audience of 130 exhibitors.

To pre-register for free entry visit www.business2businessshows.com/visitor-registration

Why should you be there?
Business South covers every aspect of business today, from the tried and tested to the new and exciting.
- Reduce your business costs and overheads in hours
- Learn from the experts on the key business issues
- Meet the widest selection of suppliers in the region
- Benchmark your competition
- Take inspiration and learn to innovate from successful entrepreneurs
- Network face-to-face with fellow professionals

Diarmid strengthens the creative team

2006-09-11T10:48:00.000Z

We've always prided ourselves on the strength of our design, and now it’s stronger than ever. Diarmid Langley has just joined B&V Creative as senior designer, bringing more than 14 years’ design experience and detailed knowledge of the print process.

Diarmid worked in a full service London agency before relocating to the south, and more recently he was senior designer with a Portsmouth-based advertising agency. At B&V Creative he is now our senior designer and will work closely with art director Jenny Wilson to help us do more of what we do best – interpreting your marketing strategies in realistic and effective ways.

We’re really excited about the increased creative potential that Diarmid brings, because expanding our design team means we'll be able to take on even more projects.

Diarmid himself is looking forward to giving free reign to his creative abilities, and looks forward to bringing some fresh thinking to all your design projects. We think you’ll be impressed!

Introducing – Colin

2006-02-23T14:44:00.000Z

Managing Director, Colin, was a co-founder of B&V over 22 years ago and is the driving force in B&V's success. He is a qualified Graphic Designer, Fine Art Printmaker, Photographer and Marketeer who leads the company with a constantly creative eye.

This ambitious Leo set out to create a company where teamwork is essential and every member of the 'pride' is equally valued.

Born in Yorkshire, but of Scottish descent, Colin married into Hampshire - even becoming a Saints supporter (but never wearing the shirt!)

Jargon Buster – File types

2006-02-23T14:43:00.000Z

Each month we will be breaking through the jargon so you can make sense of it all. This month we are going to be looking at file types.

.pdf – 'Portable Document Format' is a file type that can be opened whether you are on a PC or Apple Mac. From an original use of mainly proofing artwork it is increasingly becoming used for press output.

.pps – 'Power Point Show' is a Microsoft PowerPoint file which can be emailed around in place of the original .ppt file. They normally contain a slide show presentation that will automatically start and become full screen on a double click.

.tif or tiff – 'Tagged Image File Format' are generally used for print ready files. This format contains all high resolution data necessary for final output. It can also be implemented for on screen use.

.jpg or jpeg – 'Joint Photographic Experts Group' is a image file type that has a built-in compression. The higher the compression level the more detail in the image that is lost. .jpg is the format of choice for quality web images.

.gif – 'Graphic Interchange Format' is an image format with built-in compression commonly used in web pages. This format is limited to 256 colours so is not suitable for photography or press output.

.eps – 'Encapsulated PostScript' is a file format for pictures which can then be conveniently imported into a page layout.

.html – 'Hypertext Markup Language' is the coding behind every web page. HTML is text based and uses a system of naturally worded tags to produce web links, picture handling and page layout.

.doc – This file type is one used and created by Microsoft Word for word processing.

The B&V Creative cocktail - Dec 2005

2006-02-23T14:42:00.000Z

The Christmas Cracker
Before you start to create your cocktail you will need the following implements and ingredients:

1 wine glass

1 measure orange juice

1 measure lemon juice

1 measure pineapple juice

1 measure grapefruit juice

2 dashes of grenadine

Soda water to top up

Shake the ingredients well with ice and strain into a wine glass. Top up with soda water and decorate with fruit slices. Now sit back and relax with this stress–relieving creative cocktail from B&V.