On a recent visit to our offices, we made full use of Edward Davey, Minister for Employment Relations and Liberal Democrat MP for Kingston and Surbiton and asked him to draw the winner.

And we’re pleased to announce the winner of the bottle of champagne was Olivia Jackson from Vale of Aylesbury Housing.  Congratulations to Olivia.

As part of a series of events to mark our 20th successful year in business we invited Edward Davey MP to release into the Surbiton skies a host of uniquely numbered balloons. Ed is Minister for Employment Relations and Liberal Democrat MP for Kingston and Surbiton.

Each of our clients has been allocated a balloon, with the client whose balloon reaches the farthest point winning a Sunset trip in a Hot Air Balloon. Anyone finding a balloon will also receive a finder’s fee.

“The business of marketing has changed hugely over the last 20 years so it’s fitting that we’ve been in Surbiton for the last 8 of those, a town which has seen many positive changes in that time”, commented MI Managing Director, Steve Davidson.

Keep an eye out for the balloons and we’ll update you on where the furthest balloon reached.

Thanks to everyone who supported Steve and Becky on their recent charity bike ride in aid of Action Medical Research, the leading UK-wide medical research charity dedicated to helping babies and children. The route took them from Guildford south into Hampshire, Sussex then back north into Surrey

Covering over 160 km with total climbing of 1,800 m in just over 7 hours cycling, Steve commented, “Leith Hill in Surrey just about finished us, but thanks to a couple of energy bars we got through it”.

Becky explained, “We wanted to complete a 100 mile-in-a-day Sportive so trained for this one which had the benefits of being local, in an area of outstanding beauty and benefiting a worthwhile charity”.

With an ever-increasing interest around sustainability and energy efficiency, we have created a micro-site for Octavia Housing to communicate the progression of their eco experiment, The Princedale Project.  Having received funding from the Technology Strategy Board’s Retrofit for the Future programme, Octavia is conducting an eco experiment which focuses on the transformation of a Victorian house into an exemplar low energy home, and the comparison between this innovative adaptation and a typical Decent Homes refurbishment property.

The micro-site has accessible navigation throughout – communicating what the project is all about and how results will be measured, exploring the technical aspects of the project and keeping visitors update with photos, videos and information documents.  Visitors also have access to an online blog, providing insight and frequent updates from the heart of the experiment.

Within the micro site, we have also designed and created an interactive eco house.  By hovering over a particular area, it shows how and where the eco home will save energy, as well as an estimate of the cost and carbon saving.

Have a look at the website here

Following a huge response to our Football Fever world cup competition, the first correct entry selected from the draw belonged to Simon Hetherington of Kia Motors in Weybridge.  The prize of a Nintendo Wii and the new 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa game was presented to Simon on 10th June.

Pictured is Steve Davidson of Marketing Impact presenting Simon Hetherington with the prize.  Very graciously, Simon is donating the Wii to his company’s World Cup sweepstake as the top prize.  Simon was both surprised and delighted to have won.  And as Kia is a corporate sponsor of the World Cup, Simon is lucky enough to be jetting off to South Africa to watch a couple of the games.

You could score a Nintendo Wii bundle

With growing excitement in the run up to the 2010 World Cup, we’re offering you the opportunity to win a Nintendo Wii and the new 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa game*. Simply tell us which one of the football shirts below belongs to Brazil to be in with a chance to play your own football tournament this summer.

Click the strip that you think belongs to Brazil, complete your details in the email and hit send.

Closing date: Friday 21st May 2010

The winner will be the first correct entry drawn at random after the closing date, and will be notified by Friday 28th May 2010

*Or your choice of an alternative Nintendo Wii game of the same or lesser value.

Hosted by four, three star housing associations; Cheltenham Borough Homes, Rooftop Housing Group, Soha Housing and West Kent, they will be sharing best practice on performance management, resident involvement, diversity and partnering.

They have been fortunate to secure two, high profile, keynote speakers, David Orr (Chief Executive of the NHF) and Roy Irwin (Director of Housing, Sustainability and Economic Development at the Audit Commission).

To book your place at what is guaranteed to be an outstanding conference, visit the website, email your details or phone 01235 515900.  You can also download a booking form here or view the advert in Inside Housing here.

We’ve just launched our new microsite (www.marketing-impact.co.uk/housing) which showcases our expertise in the area of Social Housing.  With over eight years of experience working with LSVTs and traditional associations ranging in size from 2,000 to 50,000 properties, we feel right at home with housing.  And we have developed a vast portfolio of design for print and web, through to PR, publishing and branding etc.

Although we work with a range of organisations across all marketing sectors, we have established valuable skills and strengths in social housing, which has led to the design and creation of some very effective and innovative communications.  From our wall of frames you can click through and browse a collection of our work, from internal communications to consultation and involvement, annual reports to resident magazines, digital to development.

Complete your picture and contact us to solve any of your marketing communications requirements.

For this, perhaps surprisingly, we’ve taken a lead from Mick Jagger.  The Rolling Stones told us, You Can’t Always Get What You Want, well at Marketing Impact we’ll show you how you can.  We hope that the PDF which you can download below amuses and enlightens you.  And if you have access to YouTube prepare for a bit of nostalgia as all the track names have video links embedded.

Download PDF

Over the past eight years we have developed considerable expertise in the area of Social Housing marketing communications. The spread of work found in social housing from magazines to websites, annual reports to PR and handbooks to development gives our studio huge variety and on the account management side bags of interest.

To promote our work in this area we are in the middle of creating a bespoke micro-site featuring some of our creative work.  Currently under construction, we’ll keep you posted and let you all know once it’s up and running.