PUDDING'S SUNDAY DESIGN SUPPLEMENT

As a follow up to our blog about Hoover the brand, we felt it was only right to recognise their competition as it's not often the common vaccuum cleaner receives any recognition and within the new glamorous world of product placement reaching us subliminally via TV and cinema,  its probably unlikely that they will get much of a look in there either. 
So these are the guys that we feel,  really manage to stand out from the crowd in the big bad world of household branding and deserve a sunday supplement style mention from pudding.  

1st PLACE :  Hoover 

With a century of market reign and its use as an accredited verb in the English dictionary, and even applied by competitors' products to refer to their own product,  makes Hoover the outright and well deserved winner. 

'To vacuum is to hoover'...

 there's no contest!

2ND PLACE : Dyson's revolutionary rollerball & bagless cyclone innovations, dominate the current UK market with   profits  over  £100 million. www.dyson.com

  

3RD PLACE :  Henry the hoover-  1980's iconic appliance by Numatic International which has sold over 6 million units. Now available in George & Hetty, or alternate colours and most recently, a fully-functioning executive desk gadget.  www.henry-hoover.com

  

4TH PLACE : Rideable Vacuum Cleaner by Kristina Andersson. A fabulously designed  concept prototype which triggered overwhelming international responses leading to the market demanding for it to be manufactured.   we'll see...   www.yankodesign.com

5TH PLACE :  The leading brand of gorgeously slick automatic robot vacuum cleaner.  www.roomba.com

6TH PLACE :  Dirt Devil - despite holding only a tiny market share,  exceptional marketing has made this brand a houshold name  www.dirtdevil.com

...and an extra SPECIAL AWARD  goes to : Noo Noo - the 5^th member of the Teletubbies. Awarded on behalf of all mothers, for introducing the need for vacuuming into our children's lives from the very earliest age. Thank you Tubbies!   www.teletubbies.com

Thanks for reading ,  we hope that it made you smile!  If you'd like any

further information about our services,    

please contact us at : www.puddingcreative.com

Introduction to RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECTURE on the COSTA DEL SOL

The Costa del Sol has an extremely diverse residential architectural style which is not surprising as there are over 2 million inhabitants to house, over the 161km of coastline from Manilva (far west) via Malaga, to Nerja in the east and extending inland to the mountains, and beyond. 


Settlements here date back to the Bronze Age, and the area has since been inhabited by many cultures such as the Phoenicians, the Greeks, the Romans, and the Moors, and more recently the world’s A-list celebs, criminals and the phenomenon which is Simon Cowell (and the X-factor finalists) and boasting a population increase of quarter of a million over the past ten years. 

Although much of the immediate coast has been developed into luxury urbanisations and resorts incorporating many of the historical costal villages,  it is nevertheless still possible to see signs of their charm. Many of these towns in the Costa del Sol became fortified and there are numerous instances where you can see the juxtaposition of great contemporary and classical architecture together. The most famous is probably the Roman fortress of Alcazaba dating from the 8th and 11th century, which lies in the heart of Malaga City, (the official capital of the Costa del Sol) which sits aside leading architects 20th century castellated or 'turretted' constructions of modern interpretation in the neighbouring touristic marina developments, for example in Benalmadena marina, the coast’s fastest increasing suburb, or in the other well-known coastal areas of Puerto Banus, Estepona and Nerja. Despite the mayhem of the recent planning indiscretions on this coastline and its reputation for purely a home away from home for many Brits and other ex-pats,  it is therefore encouraging to find that local architects and developers are continuing to find inspiration in the true vernacular precedents resulting in very succesful examples of modern touristic residential architecture.


Conversely, in the whitewashed hillside towns of the Costa del Sol, such as Ojen, Mijas or Frigliana where historically much of the local fishing population used to commute from, the towns in the main stand as living and breathing monuments to the historical depth of the area. Hidden inland where the terrain is rugged, graduated and fertile there still remains an abundance of working fruit, vegetable and olive farms, and original farm workers fincas in existence which provide the bulk of the household's income for the local families. If you are lucky enough to reside in one of these communities, you will know how important it is to develop relationships with the local residents in order to receive the benefit of their knowledge and assistance. It is essential to ensure you treat your property with respect and abide by local development and planning laws which are set out to preserve the character of the town or village for the benefit of all. For the budding designer however, this may be too restrictive in comparison with the coastal guidelines but there is always the possibility to convert an ancient interior into an uninhibited and contemporary dwelling space hidden beneath an original shell. For this reason, and of course the reduced cost and wider availability of land, many ex-pats have chosen to live in the rural outskirts of these hilltop  towns and construct their own modern homes from scratch or buy an existing modern property which are subject to a much more relaxed legislation. However living as neighbours to such towns rather than residents, it is much harder to absorb the local culture into your life and develop relations within the existing community.

The key to living comfortably on the Costa del Sol, more so than in other locations, is knowing that you have found the right architectural solution for you amongst such a wide choice. Whether you have bought your perfect property or if it’s being constructed for you, or even if you're renting here,  the diversity which exists on the Costa del Sol is an opportunity not to be missed and can allow you to find the exact specification you require in terms of beach, mountains, town, terrain, views, property design, landscape and interiors.  


So, be choosy,  find what works for you because it will be here,  it may just be a question of looking a little deeper.


Architectural foreward written by www.puddingcreative.com 

PUDD FILE : LA SALA – Super chic bar restaurant – Puerto Banus, Marbella

La Sala in Puerto Banus brings you ‘the ultimate social and dining experience, day and night’ (or so their website states) so we went to check them out. And you know what...we think they're right!

Now this is a super chic bar-restaurant definitely worth a look. Located adjacent to the bull ring, by the Kristina Szekley's offices, you cant miss the umbrella-ed timber deck as you drive past, or of course if you're visiting the Saturday market, you’re right next door. Handy! 

The most notable spot to see or be seen, is now the front deck of La Sala which has soft seating, bar stool dining and café style tables. This terrace benefits from sunshine all day until about 6pm (lovely!) so you can enjoy a long lunch and then relax and spend an afternoon in tanning and people-watching heaven. But despite the exquisite level of 'all round beauty' there is no pretence or feeling of clique from either staff or clientele,  which equals a good atmosphere and a wide mix of customers coming to eat and drink.

La Sala, opened at the end of last summer (2010) with two very well attended launch parties (one Spanish,  one International). The owners set out to become one of ‘the’ places to be seen in for a drink and it certainly appears that they are achieving that,  and also in equal measures in the restaurant as bookings need to be made several days in advance, most of the time. Although, they are still maintaining the ability to provide a high quality and an efficient service which is a tough combination to make work.  The key is most likely the intelligent floorplan which creates a good choice of areas set around a central contemporary bar from which to survey the whole room. This enables different atmospheres to sit comfortably side by side,  inside and outside, simultaneiously or privately.

And at the heart of this establishment and the true success of the venue, is the open plan glass kitchen,  where you can watch as your meal is prepared by the La Sala chefs.  The menu is varied, contemporary, clean and fresh including both international and Spanish cuisine. Our meal was served promptly and with a great deal of care afforded in the presentation even during what was a completely full service. Super Tasty!   .

Besides the fact that you can spend an afternoon lounging in the sunshine or spend the night sipping a nice glass of wine at one of La Sala’s events, you really can call this a restaurant.  The food is not secondary to the image and there's a great menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner, for a surprisingly good price and if that’s not enough – they offer free valet parking and they have the most gorgeous waiters (and waitresses) that I have ever seen!!!  x

PUDD rating: 10 / 10

Location	Calle Belmonte, 29660 Marbella, Spain
Hours	Mon - Thurs: 10:00 - 02:00 Fri - Sat: 10:00 - 03:00 Sun: 10:00 - 02:00

Parking

Valet

Phone	(+34) 952 814 145
Website	http://www.lasalabanus.com

The bar & restaurant industry is relying more and more upon their social media advertising and working on establishing a connection with their brand or chain by building a “fan base” on facebook and posting updates and invitations about up and coming events or offers, reaching customers instantly and at very little cost,  but most importantly (as La Sala, Marbella is doing) building up tbrand loyalty in the local area. This is great era of keeping in touch,  so give them a ‘like’ to receive updates 

of their regular music gigs or themed events – follow on facebook.  facebook.com/La-Sala-Puerto-Banus

 

The PUDD FILES are written by Pudding Creative, Marbella based Brand Design & Marketing company specialising in the property industry.  www.puddingcreative.com

Making the most out of Microsoft

In general, I am not fond of Microsoft Office. It is too much a bedfellow of the PC for my liking.

• It has an OCD obsession with moving the menu bars around
• And it has pre-defined smart-arse settings that believe it knows how you want to format your paragraph better than you do
• It does funny things to images
• And it makes some really ugly (and stubborn) hyperlinks in the middle of a quite beautiful presentation

10 annoying Word features

BUT it must still be adored because it has monopolised the world in terms of office software. Whether you’re emailing the UK, Spain, China or Outer Mongolia, the chances are that you will be talking with someone who is using Microsoft Office. And if you just stop your whinging and tow the line, you will avoid any software conflicts and they will be able to read your documents with ease and understanding. For that, Microsoft must be respected as the out and out global winner!

The single remaining shame about Microsoft Office is the lack of understanding that it elicits from its users. It is reported that 7.4% of the WORLD’s population uses Microsoft Office (500 million+). But, in turn, I’d be surprised if 1% of those people confidently stated that they really knew what they were doing with it.

A key example is Microsoft Powerpoint. Powerpoint gives you the capability of creating not only professional but very effective business presentations. The animations can be extremely engaging and the transitions can be smooth. With a little bit of artistic flare you can turn a very standard meeting into something memorable. But how many times have you had to keep yourself awake with coffee because the turning of one slide of heavy text on a grey background simply leads to another slide of heavy text on a grey background?… and that toneless voice just keeps droning on… and on… and on?

Nobody really looks forward to the part of a meeting when one business associate trades his moment in the “spotlight” with his colleague visiting from the other side of the world. But it is a missed opportunity. For all of Microsoft’s flaws, Microsoft Powerpoint is not one of them. 

It is a common misconception that more slides = more content and the more whizzing the words do = the more impressive the pitch. 

This doesn’t have to be the case… it is quite possible (and simple) to turn your next shareholders meeting on its head with an amazing presentation. It is indeed possible to close that crucial bid with just a little powerpoint proficiency. Add some design acumen and a healthy pinch of common sense and you'll be irresistible!

We can create engaging powerpoint presentations that will help you to seal the deal. Contact us to learn more about our Team Support, Design and Copy-writing services.


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What is social media?

“If you can’t beat ‘em,  tweet ‘em!”

There is a point when the constant ringing of the words “twitter”, “facebook”, “linkedin” and/or “blog” start to feel like a persistent fly, badly in need of swatting. But how do you stop the incessant tweet-tweet-tweeting of the social media bug? You’ve tried ignoring it… but it won’t go away. You’ve tried talking louder… but it’s shouting above you. You’ve started some exploratory conversations over dinner but, quite frankly, it’s dull. It’s a tool made for teenagers. For the sad who don’t have reality friends. For those who should be doing a real job. Certainly not for you…

image source: http://www.moneysmith.com

…Apart from the fact that those words have now been echoing non-stop for years now. And, apparently, that geezer down the pub just said that he’d won a multi-million euro contract by doing nothing more than a couple of tweets here and there. There’s even a guy down the road who has married a Caribbean beauty thanks to nothing more than a rather clever  [though somewhat misleading] facebook profile.

…and so now we begin to find that social media is a little intriguing, after all.

Well, the truth is that nothing comes without effort. But social media is a phenomenon that cannot be ignored. 2009 saw a landmark achievement when there was more online activity via social networking than there was via porn. 

There are currently 500 million facebook users. On any day, 50% of facebook users will have logged on and the average user spends over 700 billion minutes per month within the platform.

Twitter has over 106 million users. Every day there are an additional 300,000 new users. Collectively, these users send over 55 million tweets every day. 

But you still believe that most of those users are kids looking up rude video clips and computer games? Then you’d be wrong. Over 60% of both facebook and twitter users are over 35 years of age. Admittedly some of these will still be looking up rude videos.

Even the powerhouse of Google has decided that it is impossible to beat these social media giants and has chosen to join them. Google now includes social media discussions in its search engine results and rates a website on the amount of attention that it has received through the social media platforms. And therein lies another reason not to ignore these tweeting, chatting, gossiping online fellows – it is those users who will give you the power to leapfrog all of that dedicated SEO investment and jump straight to the top of the internet.

Do you need one more fact to peak some interest? Well, the evolution of mobile telephone technology has now given way to 250 million active users on the move. That is, 250 MILLION PEOPLE tweet, facebook, blog, myspace, skype, youtube, fickr, kaboodle or link in whilst they are out doing the shopping, or in between meetings, or picking the kids up from school, or feeling a little bit hungry and wondering where to eat... And if they find themselves in need of a little more information, they will google it, and the whole process will start all over again.

image source: http://www.moneysmith.com

Do you still pine for the days when “networking” meant a day on the golf course or a day of wining and dining in the city? Well, that may still exist but it is a lot less efficient than a couple of strategic messages released through the correct mediums. When Nike released a viral marketing campaign for the World Cup 2010, it was played and commented on more than 9 million times by facebook users and viewed on YouTube more than 20 million times. 

More recently, Charlie Sheen made a rather interesting public recovery from being sacked by hit sitcom “Two and a Half Men” by breaking a twitter record in March 2011. He advertised for a social media intern and 95,333 tweeters responded within the first hour. Forbes Article

As James Farley, CMO Ford said “You can’t just say it. You have to get the people to say it to each other”.

So here’s the silver lining to the world of social media. You don’t have to tweet or blog or chat online, Pudding Creative can manage your social media marketing for you and ensure that people are saying all the right things about your company online! 

Call us for a free consultation: www.puddingcreative.com