Good News for Luton ?

First the Daily Express moves to the town. Then van production restarts. Now a story from the Daily Mail ( 25th April 2011, p. 42) that hat sales are up by 20 %.

Luton was once famous for its hat factories of course, and streets like Guildford St were lined with factories.

These days few remain, although it is possible to buy a hat and a fascinator in Eastex Factory Shop ( part of the Alexon fashion group ).

Eastex celebates it's 60th Anniversary this year, and they must be particularly pleased with news of increasing sales.

Heart NY

Endlessly copied from the original campaign in 1977, the heart symbol ( can't see it on this keyboard ) has finally appeared in the new Oxford English Dictionary.

The campaign was originally launched by Milton Glazer at a time when the city faced many problems and low morale...

Glazer however made nothing from his idea !

Gaming is serious business

If you are doing the AMP Project on gaming I recommend that you look at the series of talks below, and search for one by Tom Chadfield.

http://www.ted.com/talks/

Tom is the author of the book Fun Inc ( see below )and explains in his talk the positive benefits of online gaming.

Branding and Corporate Identity

If your project concerns anything to do with branding I would recommend this new acquisition to the LRC. The chapter on Brand Identity is especially good and includes 12 most common naming mistakes.

My favourite is EMU ( an Australian airline ) ...named after a bird which cannot fly.

Brands and branding

For those doing their large Project or their AMP and have a topic about branding then you MUST use our WARC database! WARC (World Advertising Research Centre) . A search for brands will bring thousands of results - case studies, research articles, news. If you want to follow up a particular company and see why they succeeded there may be a case study. There are now lots of new features to help you search so make sure you use WARC!
Access it here!

Luton Waterstones to close....

The Luton branch of Waterstones is to close shortly. The only bookshops left in the town will be the discount store 'The Works' and the more general W.H Smith. Very sad for the University Community and especially embarrassing as Luton attempts to obtain city status.

The company blames shop closures on the severe weather recently, and a 'weak entertainment market ' Shares worth £1 last January are now valued at 6 pence.

Surely Amazon and the effects of the recession are the real reason for the shops decline.

Buying British

Not that easy to buy British, as Dominic Pearce discovered. In an article in the Daily Express ( Wednesday 19th January 2011 ) it is noted that even Thames Water was sold off to an Australian Investment Company ( Macquarie ) in 2006.

Roberts Digital Radios make 6 of their models in South Yorkshire. The remaining 54 models are made in the Far East.

Marks & Spencer long ago stopped using the UK as a source for their clothes. Virtually every shirt, suit and jumper made abroad.

Hurrah for the Henry Vacuum Cleaner. Nu Matic the company that makes it is based in Chard, Somerset and employs 800 staff.

Dyson Vacuum Cleaners are now made in Malaysia.