Just a quick note from team matm – Stuart, Lindsay H, Jamie, Andy, Tom, Jem, Rich, Lindsay C and Neil – to wish each and every one of you a merry christmas and a happy New Year!

We have had a busy and enjoyable 2011 serving the Shropshire and Midland business communities with PR, marketing, graphic design and web design services.

As well as local clients, we have also been looking after national clients in a number of areas, ranging from construction to bath manufacturing, charities to computer technology and engineering to councils.

We are all looking forward to a great start to 2012 and wish you the same. In the mean time, we will leave you with a limerick from the New York Times, December 29 1910 – one to bring out if you have a particularly ‘festive’ break…!

Good new year resolves are in style

The bulk of them force us to smile

Were I making one now

I would certainly vow

I’ll only drink once in a while!

We were sent this link to a short piece on search engine optimisation and pay per click and thought that it was worth passing on.

SEO beats PPC & social media for generating leads, new industry report says.

Interesting point that stood out to me – ’60 percent of respondents (to a survey) said they plan to increase their budget for social media marketing in 2012′

What do you think?

There seem to be a lot of exhibitions taking place during the autumn season as orders on our range of printed roller banners have definitely been on the up this month. The matm design department has been busy creating eye-catching designs for a range of clients throughout September and October.

Here’s a few examples of pull-up banners we’ve designed and printed over the last month – note the QR code added to one of the designs – an interactive feature that’s becoming increasingly popular.

We offer a wide range of portable roller banners, including the grasshopper, barracuda, mosquito, axis, orient and impact. We can also supply a wide range of other exhibition material.

We can usually turn around projects very quickly. Also, these banners are now very affordable. And, of course, they’re reusable.

If you click on the image below, you will see that we have just launched a limited time offer on our web copy and web news services. Throughout autumn we are offering 20% off the first three months of your SEO campaign – so, if you want to get seen before your competitors and win more business, get in touch! find out more about our web news and web copy service.

Doing something special is one thing. Getting recognition for it is quite another. Business awards are a great way to boost your reputation, win more work and get staff recognition they deserve.

matm has the expertise to help make sure your company is a front runner when the judges cast their vote. We have a six step approach to winning awards for our clients. Our awards brochure explains more.

With matm, you have a better chance of winning.

We created these unusual images in August and September 2011 by carefully selecting photographs taken many years ago in the Ironbridge Gorge, then holding them up at the same location and taking a fresh picture.

By carefully matching the old with the new – the new photograph has the unnerving effect of inserting historical scenes directly into modern life. The ‘windows into history’ project is being displayed during celebrations to mark the 25th anniversary of Ironbridge Gorge becoming a World Heritage Site.

The Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust was so impressed with the 16 photographs taken by matm’s creative team, Neil Dicken and Jamie Doran, that it asked to use them to help in their anniversary celebrations.

Neil said: “The images create a real visual and mental double-take. The beauty of the approach is its simplicity, though the trick is to select the historical photograph that creates the most vivid match in the modern scene. “The photographs are up to 150 years old, so allow the viewer to visualise what some of the Ironbridge Gorge looked like – hopefully they have provided a glimpse into the past.”

Jamie said: “We took both internal and external images of buildings. It is fascinating to see just how much some buildings have changed and in other cases, just how little they have changed. I particularly like the images with people in them, especially where you can see people walking from the present day, seemingly into the past.

“We were inspired by a project called ‘Looking into the Past’ by American photographer Jason E Powell www.jasonepowell.com. When we saw his images we realised straight away that the heritage of the Ironbridge Gorge here in Shropshire lends itself perfectly to a similar project.”

The Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust lent photographs from its collection for the project. The images can be viewed in the Iron Bridge Tollhouse at the World Heritage Festival in Ironbridge which takes place on Saturday 24th September.

Paul Gossage Director of Marketing & PR said: “I was thrilled to see matm using our historic collection of images in such an innovative way. Publishing the images is a great way to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the World Heritage Site. I am sure they will be much enjoyed by residents and visitors alike.”

Details of the Festival are available at www.ironbridge.org.uk.

Thanks also for the help of MarionBlockley Heritage Management

Would love to know what you think or share your links in the comments at the base of the full post …

A good reputation is worth protecting, especially in this day and age when it can be lost in an instant. matm can build your reputation in the minds of the people who count – your customers, your suppliers and anyone else who can influence your success. Please click on the link below to find out a little bit more about the PR services matm offers.

matm public relations brochure

Recently we posted how we loved the exploded F1 car showing every tiny part of the vehicle suspended from hundreds of tiny wires.

Canadian Photographer Todd McLellan has gone that one step further. From an alarm clock to a 35mm camera, McLellan has shown his audience the inner workings of everyday objects.

Laying each one out in an orderly fashion, the Toronto-based photographer de-constructed the objects for his ‘Disassembly Project’.

Disassembled - Old Flip Clock

Disassembled - Old Camera

Each of the disassembled items were then dropped from a small height and photographed at high speed, with the flash duration set to a 12,000th of a second to capture the falling pieces in motion.

As a marketing agency we appreciate a good creative, but matm won’t be combining photography with falling printers or computers just yet – we’re definitely better at design than disassembly!

Take a look at the full set of pictures by clicking the link above to McLellan’s website and I’m sure you’ll agree with us in saying – We’re Loving That!

Free falling - Old Flip Clock

Free falling - Old Camera

matm has just completed a striking new website for ‘Alexandra Vintage‘ – a new online shop providing a base for expert vintage suppliers across the country to sell their goods.

Alexandra Vintage home page

I had a pretty tight deadline on this project. The site was developed using WordPress – an open source publishing platform powered by PHP – and also included WP e-Commerce customisation, extending out-of-the-box functionality.

The site has been integrated with PayPal Pro which accepts both debit cards and credit cards. PayPal Pro optimises the customer experience by letting shoppers complete the checkout process without leaving the website; it also allows payments by fax, phone or mail and will certainly make Alexandra Vintage’s life easier as the whole PayPal system is managed in one place. Payment online is safe as the site has SSL certificate integration ensuring maximum security.

I have also synced the Alexandra Vintage site with coffeemail – our powerful e-shot system that enables the user to send email newsletters to subscribers.

We also provided the design for the Alexandra Vintage website – Senior Creative Lindsay Crayton-Hardwick said: “We were actually provided with the Alexandra Vintage logo, but we made sure that different elements of the website, such as the background, retained a floral type style.”

matm has completed a new website for Access Alliance – a collaboration of the UK and Ireland’s leading independent regional powered access sales and rental companies. It’s the alliance’s first website and has a number of easy-to-use features designed to help visitors and generate sales for members.

They include:

• A depot postcode locator – providing a quick and easy way for visitors to find their closest access company
• An interactive members map – providing visitors with information when they hover their cursor over a company’s name
• Information on each member company with links to contact pages

Given our indepth knowledge of the powered access sector, Access Alliance asked our PR team to write a good deal of the content as well.

Click on the image to take a look at the site. And remember, if you ever need to hire powered access, you now know where to go.