Being the lucky boy that I am, I was very VERY lucky to be taken to Edinburgh for my 21st birthday a couple of weeks ago, however as I’d already been photographed in the legendary t-shirt, I thought it was time someone else was given the chance… cue Aaron! Unfortunately I couldn’t persuade him to wear the t-shirt with a full kilt and sporran, tossing a caber, however we did stage the photo in front of the beautiful Edinburgh castle.

So the Foundation message has now gone north of the border to bonnie Scotland. Where next?

Subject: The T on Tour by Neil

Last week saw the culmination of weeks of preparation for National Meet the Buyer 2010, the largest food and drink event in Yorkshire. Having been involved in producing the identity and supporting collateral for the event, I was greatly excited to pop along and see the event come together.

National Meet the Buyer, organised by The Regional Food Group, took place at Oulton Hall in Leeds and allowed suppliers from food and drink companies across Yorkshire to meet and sell to buyers from some of the UK’s biggest brands.

Just some of the buyers attending included: ASDA, Booths, Tesco and the Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation. National Meet the Buyer 2009 generated over £3.8 million worth of business.

Let’s hope this years event was even more successful, providing another boost to the region.

Subject: General by Neil

The Foundation message is spreading far and wide, Rome, New York and now….. Bath!! Granted, it’s not quite as glamorous, but I guess that depends on your opinion, with house prices starting from as much as £350k for a one-bedroom flat on the Royal Crescent perhaps it is as glam as NYC, it certainly has the house prices to match.

So,on my recent trip to Bath I sashayed along the Royal Crescent and skipped round the Circus, drinking in the gorgeous Georgian architecture. And even, much to Sandi’s disgust, took the Bath city bus tour to find out more. In keeping with our recent plight to promote Foundation across the world, I dutifully had my photograph taken on one of the famous crescents, sporting the now world famous Foundation t-shirt.

Don’t forget, if you visit somewhere exotic, or even somewhere not so exotic, have your photograph taken wearing the Foundation t-shirt and you will be rewarded.

Subject: General, The T on Tour by Neil

…and welcome to Foundation. Yes we have a new starter, part-timer Dolly is a 6 day old Herdwick Texel lamb. She’s due in the office some time next week – her duties aren’t yet finalised but suspect she’ll be mostly keeping the grass in the garden nice and short!

It’s a sad story really, or is it? Apparently this massively adorable snow-white bundle wasn’t rejected by her mother, but was actually the rejector! And, can you blame her? She now has the run of Sandi’s acreage, has got private use of Polly’s wendy house (which was rapidly cleared of all of Polly’s toys and converted to a deceptively spacious, hay-filled accommodation, the envy of all the other farm animals). Her warm, snugly residence even has electricity, which means that she has lighting and a power supply for her banging sound system and hair straighteners. Sandi’s currently hand rearing her, taking her for walks and cuddles her to get to sleep…………. so, taking all things into account, Dolly’s quite a smart cookie! It’s all part of Dolly’s master plan, and now that she’s actually going to be coming to work (pending license from the local council of course) she’s certainly got Sandi twisted round her little hoof . And what about poor old Biggins – he now has a rival for Sandi’s affection – in fact Dolly reminds me of the lodging penguin in Wallace and Gromit’s ‘The Wrong Trousers’, but in this case Dolly may quite literally be pulling the wool over Sandi’s eyes. Watch this space!

Subject: General by Liz

Press Release

BEST WESTERN, the UK’s most unique portfolio of independent hotels, is advertising on television this April for the first time in its 30 year history. This comes as the group relaunches with new positioning ‘Hotels with Personality’, developed by Ilkley based agency, Foundation, which sets the Best Western’s unique portfolio of independent hotels aside from the boring old, formulaic chains offering generic hotel stays in the UK.

This positioning is part of a fully integrated marketing strategy including direct mail, PR, social media, experiential activity and a total relaunch of www.bestwestern.co.uk along with small but all important changes to the hotel experience.

Tim Wade, marketing director at Best Western, said: “The positioning is not just about marketing strategy it is about the whole experience offered by Best Western from booking your hotel to the stay itself and our campaign hopes to reflect all of the unique qualities and personalities that make a stay in an independent hotel special. A Best Western experience is about the passionate people who work in the hotel, the local produce and knowledge on tap, the unbeatable views and history and that feeling that you are at the very heart of a community.  To communicate this we are putting together hampers of unique, local produce that the hotel’s produce individually such as freshly made Lemon Curd from the Best Western Lyndir Hall and beer brewed by the Best Western Selkirk Arms to share with media, agents and other partners.”

The campaign will also see a partnership with Visit England to communicate the rebrand message to the 600,000 people interested in travel on their database.

For more information about Best Western visit http://www.Bestwestern.co.uk or http://www.hotelswithpersonality.com.

Subject: Design, General by Liz