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Was just about to go and get one, shall stick with my iPhone instead

CoolBrands top 20

Apple
YouTube
Aston Martin
Twitter
Google
BBC iPlayer
Glastonbury
Virgin Atlantic
Bang & Olufsen
Liberty
Sony
Bose
Haagen-Dazs
Selfridges
Ben & Jerry's
Mercedes-Benz
Vogue
Skype
Nike
Nikon

BBC News - Apple voted coolest brand in UK

If recession keeps going, then next years list maybe:

Poundland
Poundworld
Aldi
Lidl
Mazuma Mobile
Matalan
Charity Shops

Oh dear, the UK Sports chain, JJB sports ongoing battle for survival seems to be coming to an end.

"Trading of shares in JJB Sports has been suspended as the struggling sports clothes and equipment retailer prepares to call in the administrators...

...The process will wipe out the value of JJB's existing shares and enable it to write off much of its debts.

The fate of its 180 stores and 4,000 employees has yet to become clear."
BBC News - JJB Sports shares suspended as administration looms

Trouble is with this approach, if the OP has no proven track record or portfolio of happy punters, then who will give you a break?

Maybe a few loss leaders to build up a client list, iron out issues, processes etc.

Never heard of that one before, but love it

Must admit though, I'm of the opinion that the customer isn't always right! Being patient, polite and courteous go with the territory, even when they may be ranting. But sometimes you may have to put your point across firmly, if you know your customer is talking or quoting rubbish!

As well as hdm's advice, I think bobo has a good point.


Hear you will have a directly targeted audience where a decent leaflet should work well.

I suppose another question is what do you want them for? ie a particular event, such as a business show, or just for general use?

We went well over the top when we decided to do a large Business show years ago. We had logo'd umbrellas, keyrings, whistles (what were we thinking!), baseball caps, badges, balloons and enough sweets to rot the teeth of Birmingham. On the larger scale it was liveried taxis and a radio campaign.

In hindsight we spent far too much, bought completely the wrong kind of products, and if anyone wants 5000 decaying yellow whistles, let me know

Moral of the story, think long and hard about what you want, and don't go mad! Cost versus reward and all that good stuff

Don't forget the lovely logo for your website

If you are in the office rental business, then time to start working on a new business plan, or at least if you believe the academic boffins!

"According to the expert panel, by 2025 technology will allow us to conjure workspaces out of thin air by using interactive surfaces.

Holographic teleconferencing and virtual "dry runs" of projects will consign old office templates to the dustbin.

In their place, multiple surfaces in the home, or shared work hub, will be coated with digitally enabled "smart" paint that will project 3D avatars of colleagues at a single touch."
BBC News - The workplace of 2025 will be wherever you want it

...hmmm having worked from home, it's the spontaneous office banter that I always missed. Will cracking jokes with holigram Harry be the same?

Well it's brand new, so doubt there will be many that's implemented it just yet! You could be the first

I think this was one of our stumbling blocks, as we had to show penetration testing, network diagrams.

Turns out we chose the wrong options. In our case, we don't physically handle any credit card transactions online, at the payment stage, we pass those on to a worldpay, who need to be compliant. So we got a pass for that section.

As for the card machine in the office, as long as we can show we have a policy of shredding numbers and not storing any data, and only authorised people can use the machine, then this seems to tick all the boxes, so no security assessment was needed.

Not sure why after 6 years we suddenly have to do this now. Good job it wasn't needed when I started and had the machine in my house