Mapping Out a Very Happy Future

The team at Happy Creative recently spent an afternoon on a much anticipated Goal Mapping workshop.  This particular day the weather was stunning and the venue was the Tree House at Ribby Hall so we were very excited! Especially as it was with our very good Happy friend Helen Varey.

It is good practice for any business big or small to take some time to assess and reset goals.  Be that marketing goals or in this case our business goals.  So what better way to do this than up a tree!

The Goal Mapping programme was originally developed by Brian Mayne to powerfully impact your goals upon your subconscious. The programme is a combination of ancient wisdom and modern accelerated learning techniques, woven together with success principles into one holistic system, which appeals to everyone. We were looking forward to focusing on the future (our big, bright, happy future specifically!) and to look at the ways we, as individuals can contribute to that.

Goal Mapping can be applied in a number of ways to achieve a variety of different objectives: mapping, tracking, brainstorming, unifying, and future projecting.  The number one prerequisite for success in any endeavour, for any individual, team, or organisation is learning the most effective way to set goals and we certainly took on board the valuable information that we were given.

The afternoon was spent setting our goals and making plans for the future. We learned the benefits of positivity and how our drive, attitude and confidence (DAC) can impact on our family life and work.

But undoubtedly the most exciting part came near to the end of the session when we were asked to represent our company goals in a picture.  As each one of us contributed, amidst much enthusiasm, I mused that it had been slightly unfair to be next to one of our designers whose arty, proportionally correct sketches made those of us who still resort to “stick figures” feel slightly inadequate!

It was a brilliant afternoon though and we have returned to Happy HQ with renewed motivation and focus (not that we didn’t have enough in the first place!). It was a valuable learning experience that will benefit us both as individuals and as a company and these benefits will in turn be passed on to our clients.

Debbie Lewis is a Customer Support Executive at Happy Creative, a full service marketing and creative agency based in Blackpool, Lancashire. To learn more or contact us please go to www.happy-creative.co.uk

Thanks, But I’ve Got A Website

This may be the case. And I’m glad to see you’re making the right strides in having an online presence for your business. You’ve got the business idea, you offer a brilliant service or products and you’ve realised that online marketing is a superb resource for reaching a huge potential customer base. You’ve had your HR Manager’s graphic design student son or daughter to knock you up a basic site with your company logo, contact details and a brief outline of what you do, from their bedroom. And that’s it…the enquiries should come flying in thick and fast, right? And all it’s cost you is a crate of beer.

It is rare for most SME’s to think they have the necessary budget to invest in a strong website or marketing in general for that matter. We are all aware that large businesses and organisations are conducting business on a scale that we can only dream about. (Although one day, the Happy Bunch are all convinced that Mr Saatchi and co will be quaking in their boots when Happy Creative is famous for global campaigns..!) However, what we do know better than most at this current moment in time is the small business.

We understand that small business owners are striving to survive and grow during these incredibly tough times and we know how hard it can be. As with our clients, we depend in some respects on potential clients finding our website, liking what they see, and getting in touch to see how we can help them. Because of our understanding of this, we take our clients’ goals and needs very seriously, and know that they are entrusting us with something extremely important when they come to us for website design and development.

It is a common misconception amongst decision makers when thinking about setting up a website that you will simply put up a site and that’s it. Imagine it in this respect: A shop owner does not build up their store, stock it full of their products and then leave it at that, never to re-stock the shelves. Having your business online, whether it is solely an internet company, or a ‘shop window’ that is purely informational, a website needs to be in a constant state of development in order to have a chance of climbing up the search engines. This can be achieved by uploading regular and fresh content, adding news or blog articles that are industry related, new resources for your customers and interesting features such as Social Media updates to make your website useful to visitors. Therefore, your site should technically always be maintained, which means you need a quality web designer to ensure that this will be possible from the outset.

So, we go back to my original point – why shouldn’t you just have a ‘build it yourself’ or ‘off the shelf’ website?

To put it simply, the main reason is search engine rankings. These basic websites are ok if your aim is to simply have an online presence to outline your company if a user types in your exact URL. Anything other than that and it’s a complete waste of time. There are countless programmes and ways of creating these websites and they are cheap as chips (although having bought a chippy tea the other night, even chips aren’t that cheap anymore!). Anyway, the point is that these sites act like they are cheap. They are mass-produced, and therefore you end up with a site that not only doesn’t fit your needs, but which has also not been created to meet the needs of varying customers or the search engines. Without the search engines, you will inevitably not create the traffic you need which leads to a lack of genuine enquiries.

And this is where the problems get even worse. Website owners then look to SEO or PPC support, and end up paying three or four times the amount of the original website PER MONTH to try and encourage higher search engine rankings.

At Happy Creative, we hear about this a lot of from potential new clients, and more often than not, will have to recommend scrapping the template site and starting afresh with a bespoke site, custom built for the exact needs of your small business.

However, there are also an incredible amount of small businesses out there that have little or no web presence whatsoever, which, as a digital marketer, I find astonishing. I can’t recommend enough starting the ball rolling by creating an online platform for your business, and making sure you get it right from the start. Whatever your business is, you should be spending your time working on that business.  Investing in quality marketing, rather than trying to save on it by doing it yourself is proven to be better and much more cost-effective in the long run. Don’t be tempted by ‘build it yourself’ websites when it comes to something as important as your online presence.

If you’re reading as far as this, then thank you for bearing with me on this. Taking all of the above into consideration, our best advice for SME’s is to at least meet with a proven web design and/or marketing agency to discuss the options available to you, before you simply pay for a website that ‘looks ok and has your details on it’.

For a reasonable investment, you will end up with a professional, appealing, custom-built website that has been tailored specifically for both your business as well as your customers, and will also be designed and built to cater for up-to-date SEO protocols. And if a Content Management System (CMS) is the route that would work best for your business, you will be able to keep your website regularly updated with content, news, announcements, products and social media, and therefore not have to rely on a web designer to make changes for you at additional costs.

Creating websites and digital marketing for small businesses without a doubt requires a completely different approach than designing for large organisations. At Happy, our process involves face to face meetings with our client, discussing the requirements, talking through the brief and creating a piece of online work that really works in terms of getting results on your bottom line. All things considered, the internet is growing at a frightening rate, and whatever your business, you will find yourself competing with countless numbers of other websites all offering virtually the same thing. Feeling lost in the crowd should not be the sense you get from your website; rather it should be what it does for your customers that makes it shine out amongst a sea of others.

As with everything we do, our digital clients are Happy ones, and we love the recommendations we get.  We hope that we get the chance to discuss any website queries you may have, and possibly have the opportunity of helping your business grow, so one day you might be as big as you imagined.

Simon Brooke is a Director at Happy Creative, a full service marketing agency based in Blackpool, Lancashire. To learn more or contact us, please email simon@happy-creative.co.uk , Tweet @happy_creative or call 01253 446933. www.happy-creative.co.uk

Web funding available for Lancashire Companies

Happy is pleased to announce that funding is available for digital projects for  Lancashire based companies that meet the correct criteria.

50% match funding  (up to £5,000) is available on eligible activities.  

The funding is available for a range of projects including:  

• Web/ Website development, E-Business/E-Commerce websites, software development/apps, mobile computing, networking, systems integration  

Also, the funding can be used for:

• Product development: intellectual property, prototyping, manufacturing, licensing
• Process innovation: enhanced working methods, supply chain improvements, implementation of new machinery and supporting systems.

The funding is available for Lancashire based SME’s that meet the funding criteria.

 Contact hello@happy-creative.co.uk , phone 01253 446 933 or  tweet us @happy_creative for more information.

Simon Brooke is a Director at Happy Creative, a full service marketing agency based in Blackpool, Lancashire. To learn more or contact Simon, please email simon@happy-creative.co.uk , Tweet @Happy_Creative or call 01253 446933. www.happy-creative.co.uk

Love Up Logo

Whether you’ve been completely spoiled already today, got some amazing plans for tonight or even woken up to the usual empty doormat, Happy Creative has the perfect Valentine’s Day game that everyone can get involved in!

It’s called ‘Love Up Logo’ and it’s just a bit of fun for this romantic of all days.

All you need to do is use the Happy logo in a ‘loving’ way and show it to us.

You could take a photo on your phone of a logo that you’ve positioned within a lovely bunch of flowers?

How about scribbling a poem on a letterhead or invoice containing our logo?

You might even want to give our logo a little kiss and take a photo?

Whatever you decide to do, please send us in your efforts and we’ll post them up on Twitter, on our blog, Facebook and we might even put a couple of the best ones on our website.

It’s not just for our lovely clients, friends or suppliers, all of the Happies have had their own turn at ‘Loving Up Our Logo’.

See what you think of our efforts below:

Here’s Happy Emma’s lovely take on our compliment slip!

Here’s my effort – how cute is his cupid drawing?! Definitely an old romantic, me…

Happy Marilia has gone for a very Happy theme with her sunshine inspired logo:

Happy James’ had a go – you can tell who our Creative Director is can’t you?!

Happy Tom is our designer – a bit of a cheeky effort, but still very loved up!

Happy Debbie’s idea is very Blackpool inspired – a very nice take on it, Deb!

And finally, Happy Mike has showed his artistic side – very nice Mr Emmett!

You can be as creative as you like with this – the more weird and wonderful the better! And the ones with the most loving thought behind it will be kept permanently on our website! Don’t worry though, we’ll Tweet every single entry we get, as well as posting it on our Facebook wall.

If you don’t already follow us, you can join us on Facebook by clicking here  or Twitter here .

You can send us your entries either by emailing them to hello@happy-creative.co.uk (use subject line ‘Love Up Logo’), you could tweet them to us, or post them up on our Facebook wall. It’s up to you!

In case you haven’t got anything with our logo on, we’ve attached an image of it below. Feel free to print it off, cut it out, draw on it, Photoshop it, kiss it, but most of all…love it!

Happy Valentine’s Day! We can’t wait to see your ideas!

The Happy Bunch.

Time, excess and Hydro-Power

Mike Shift, January 29^th 2062

…………………in the year 2062, Mike Shift recalls some historic marketing snapshots from the good old days………

It’s been a long time. It’s been a long journey.

I witnessed the deconstruction of a capitalist society. I survived the ‘triple-trough’ twenty years depression. I stood in the streets and cheered as the ribbon was cut on Fylde’s very own ‘Hydro-man,’ second only to Sydney’s great 2360ft winged, ‘Hydromida Four.’  I’m getting tired now.

I am Mike Shift. I have 3 daughters. I live in Blackpool. The year is 2062 and I want to share a secret.

It was back in 12’ when I pencilled the breakthrough on the flipside of a paper napkin in what was then, Costa Coffee.

Social media pulls on our human instinct to bond. The instinct to feel popular through numbers, sometimes big numbers. The hugely popular business forum at the time was that old dinosaur, LinkedIn. Quite an innovation and hugely successful in those days. We laugh now with hindsight. How did we all get taken in? Basic instinct even foiled this innocently intended model – the greed for numbers again prioritising over quality. You’re probably nodding at this point. If not, you are feeling a tad uncomfortable with yourself for ‘accepting’ that connection you didn’t really know – just to add an extra point to your tally. Don’t worry, we all did it. Silly us. That’s just how it was back then. LinkedIn almost got it right, setting their capped ‘visible’ limit to 500 connections. We now know that was too high. Despite this, we still all pursed the numbers glory. Evidenced in Linkedin’s own study, on what they referred to as the ‘real referral quantum’ in 14’.  Basically, 44% of ‘connections’ transpired to be (as linkedin described) ‘probably unknown. Our quest for self-appraisal still dominated. Excess and greed flirted with us again. Quality and signature relationships were indeed sparse.

In 15’Happy Creative stormed the market with their viral, award winning ‘LinkedIn-it-to-win-it.’  We seized and bottled-up this universal quest for numbers and created a league table for companies to submit their ‘sales by campaign.’ Strict policing ensured fairness and compliance. The beauty lay in its simplicity. This bolted directly onto the existing LinkedIn V3.2 platform. A no brainer for LinkedIn – they just sat back and watched the show. And their numbers rose exponentially. Happy Creative went from strength to strength. We did regret self-enforcing our own position in the tables. Naturally, the Premiership was the place to be seen (or in the US, the ‘world-series’).

Looking back, Happy Creative were communally trapped in the bubble of zero’s. I recall trumping ‘Google’ in Time Magazine’s most innovative brand awards back in 21’. The Sony vs Lenovo wars really ensured longevity though. Sony published their $3bn, 6 month return on the 5D interactive ‘smell screen’ campaign – we couldn’t believe it. It cost us £2m in audit fees just to verify the claims pre-submission. Lenovo responded, naturally. Tip tap! Tip tap! 11 years they held the number 1 and two spots.

In 26’ Karen Lamberet, the then President made our next stratospheric leap. Behind every brilliant campaign, stood a brilliant marketer. This formed our next concept bolt-on. Soon, Philps (Nike), Gordez & Pickeley (Saatchi) were locked head-to-head. This had become both a drivers and constructors championship.  For years it played out. When we eventually bought LinkedIn in 31’ we had the whole ‘manic media’ sown up. We let it play out. And then ‘it’ happened.

The crash.

Had we not learned from the excessive spend that thrust us into our previous trough? No. Why? We forgot? Again. This time it was for real. Capitalism degenerated overnight. Money became meaningless and worthless……….

……………58’ was a new birth for a better future. Water was the new currency. It worked. It was wet – but it always flowed. Hydro-this and hydro-that. It flooded our greed and washed away the parasitic human flaw – numbers. It was the purest and most transparent delivery.

Happy Creative amended their pinnacle ‘univers-a-net’ platform with one single shot – and it re-shaped everything. We introduced the ‘intrinsic value quota’ into the tables. In a flash, Sony perished to the 2^nd division. The tables were competitive as this model was based on the value and return you got from your investment. A little forgotten abbreviation over the past 5 decades (ROI). Happy Creative even banished their own rules and joined in the fun. We nestled in the premiership from 59’ and haven’t looked back. We offer the most innovative, unique creative, conceptual design for a competitive price – ROI. We cover all digital, strategic and even guerrilla elements of marketing. We do this at a fair price, offering the most value in the market – statistically proven.

Karen, James, Emma, Tom, Russ, Debbie, Marilia, Gareth, Simon and myself have all had our day. We enjoyed it. We did it our way. Any regrets?

Well……….yes…….just a tiny one.

If I had known what I know now, that little column on the end may have made everything a whole lot different. Have I learnt anything? Yes, of course. If you’re looking at a potential agencies wondering  if they can facilitate a good ROI for your next campaign – make sure you look closely at the correct column. Take your time and study wisely. And of course, connect to Happy Creative – it’s your future.

Social Media Incentive – it worked!

So, after 12 days, 12 emails, 12 winners and countless numbers of Happy people, the Happy Christmas  Incentive came to an end!

If you’ve arrived at this blog post via the infographic that we sent out, then you’re obviously impressed with some of the statistics and results that came from the campaign that we ran in December.

Or, you may be one of those lovely people who have just come for a look at our blog because you like the things the Happy bunch write about and it’s a way of brightening your Friday!

Either way, we’re glad you’re here, and welcome to our latest blog. This post is a bit of a blow on our own trumpet as we’re showcasing the outcomes of each individual day’s task and winner, as well as the overall results – all of which we and our Happy friends are very chuffed about!

We may as well do this in order (and it means we get to go first!).

Day 1 – Sponsored by Happy Creative

A whopping 700% increase in our daily blog hits! This has also meant a 400% increase in our month on month stats, and you lovely people are helping our blog stats grow on a daily basis – what a great response!

Congratulations to Gary Sheader as well for winning our scrummy hamper!

Day 2 – Sponsored by Napthens

Napthens Twitter account received a record amount of new followers on the day of their task, and it has continued to grow since! So far they’ve grown by over 25% which is brill!

Congratulations to Chris Allen who won the theatre vouchers and thanks again to Napthens for their support in the incentive.

Day 3 – Sponsored by Ridings & Faye

Facebook was the platform of choice for Ridings & Faye, and you didn’t disappoint! Their ‘likes’ have nearly trebled as a result of sponsoring Day 3. Excellent news!

Congratulations to Joanna Marshall for winning the beautiful kids’ scooter and thanks again to Ridings & Faye for getting involved.

Day 4 – Sponsored by Speed Medical

Back to Twitter for Speed, as they had only just set up an account knowing the benefits of having a larger social media presence. It was a good plan in the end, as we helped increase their followers by over a third, and it’s continuing to grow. Maybe even with a cheeky direct enquiry coming from it…!

Congratulations to the wonderful Danielle at Love to Brand who very kindly donated her prize to a chosen childrens’ charity. What a lovely gesture. Thanks also so Speed Medical for being great sports and helping out.

Day 5 – Sponsored by Wyre Cycles

Another Facebook day for Day 5. Wyre Cycles only had a small number of followers before Happy came along and invited them to take part in the Christmas Incentive, and it didn’t fail! Nearly double the amount of followers since that day – wow!

Congratulations to Michael Donkin as well for winning the cycle service. Wyre Cycles, you’re good sports for being part of it as well, so thank you!

Day 6 – Sponsored by Meadow Jewellery

Facebook proved a popular platform for Happy clients! And Meadow Jewellery was no exception. Well over 100% increase in followers and growing – you can’t argue with that!

Congratulations to Sarah Greatorex for winning the beautiful pendant, and thanks again to Meadow for supplying it and taking part.

Day 7 – Sponsored by Happy Sweet Shop

A slight change in direction for Happy Sweet Shop, but still just as effective! Day 7 was aimed at website traffic, and again, it proved the right choice. A record day and month for website visitors, and a couple of direct sales proves that it worked. What a brilliant result!

Congratulations to the lovely Maria Franchetti for winning the huge sweet hamper and thanks to Happy Sweet Shop for helping out. Great prize and great task – everyone’s Happy!

Day 8 – Sponsored by Beyond Big Bones

Even though the lovely Helen has a very niche business, you happy people still helped out an a huge way by growing the Beyond Big Bones Facebook likes! It just goes to show, how effective Social Media can be – and luckily the winner of this day’s task was also in the healthcare profession, so a collaboration could be on the cards…? It’s like blind date for marketing!

Congratulations to Jay at Whitworth for winning the healthy living consultation with Helen and thanks again to Beyond Big Bones for taking part – such a unique and helpful prize!

Day 9 – Sponsored by North’n Exposure

A slight change again for Day 9 as North’n Exposure asked you to visit their website and sign up to their newsletter. You obviously were still very much involved in the whole incentive, as you helped to increase their subscriptions by over a third which they’re over the moon with!

Congratulations to Mary Long for winning the super canal boat cruise and thanks to North’n Exposure for taking part – hope you’re as Happy as we are!?

Day 10 – Sponsored by CL Edwards & Sons

Another web traffic task today and what a response! We helped to increase the daily hits to CL Edwards by a huge 650% and it’s been steadily growing ever since! Happy Russ and Happy Karen are actually meeting Craig from CL Edwards next week to discuss some digital work following the incentive, so we’re all very excited about that!

Congratulations to super Dan from Speed Medical who won the amazing pendant as well. We’re sure Mrs Super Dan had a very Happy Christmas!? Thanks also to CL Edwards and Sons for taking part and supplying such a beautiful prize.

 

Day 11 – Sponsored by Whitworth Pharmacy

Web traffic proved to be another popular choice and with the new Whitworth website going live the week before, it seemed like the perfect choice! And it was…! With very little traffic to compare it to, Happy have helped raise the awareness of the new site and grown the traffic steadily since the launch date. You also increased Whitworth’s Social Media followers by directly linking through from the site to their Twitter and Facebook pages!

Congratulations to Matt Back who won the John Lewis vouchers – bet they came in handy over the Christmas period?! Thanks also to Whitworth for taking part – we’re also talking Social Media with the Whitworth team, so keep your eyes peeled for The Whitties in the digital world!

Day 12 – Sponsored by Dodson & Horrell

The final day was rounded off by one of our newest clients, Dodson & Horrell, and they also requested we help grow their website traffic. As per the infographic, we didn’t disappoint as the stats prove. Well over 200% increase in both daily and monthly visitors the site, as well as increased followers on Twitter and Facebook as a direct result. Happy times!

Congratulations to Lisa at Exova for winning the doggy goodie bag – Lisa’s got a little dog, so he’ll be Happy! Thanks to Dodson & Horrell for sponsoring the final day of the competition – what great sports!

And that’s it – you can’t argue with those stats can you?!

We’d just like to say a massive thank you to everyone who took part and helped out in the Happy Christmas Incentive. We’re really Happy that we’ve helped our good friends increase their online presence, as well as generating some direct enquiries, sales and even some working relationships out of it! It has worked out miles better than what we could have hoped for, so thank you again.

We hope you enjoyed the incentive, and we hope that it helped raise the profile of digital marketing. If you think you’d like some help to raise your business’ online presence, please feel free to give Happy Simon a shout

Simon Brooke is a Director at Happy Creative, a full service marketing agency based in Blackpool, Lancashire. To learn more or contact Simon, please email simon@happy-creative.co.uk , Tweet @happy_creative or call 01253 446933. www.happy-creative.co.uk

Bring on 2012!

The keyboards clicks are softening, the mice are slowing down and thinking is beginning to gravitate towards Christmas. It’s been an incredible year at Happy Creative and amongst the laughter, space hoppers, late nights, early mornings (I’ve been up since 3.00!), coffee and biscuits we’ve added new members to the Happy team and had the privileged opportunity to make our new and existing clients happy. I’m extremely excited by the new year and the opportunities that we have. A big thank you to everyone involved with Happy Creative and for making our year a happy one. See you in 2012!

James Chantler is Creative Director at Happy Creative, a full service marketing and creative agency based in Blackpool, Lancashire. To learn more or contact us please go to www.happy-creative.co.uk

Merry Christmas, everyone!!!

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/KwrABmD6wHv9ztyR?cmpid=ey_fb_self

Click on the link above to watch something funny: some of the Happies singing especially for you! In true Christmassy spirit, the Happies went out for a lovely Christmas meal last night, where we also exchanged our Secret Santa gifts. I don’t even have to tell you that we had a great laugh, do I? Think handmade biscuit tins, Burnley FC books, giant mouses and snugs, just to give you a hint! We had so much fun!

Enjoy the festivities and have a great Christmas and a fantastic New Year, everyone!

The Value of Being Authentic

Just recently I conducted a Goal Mapping workshop and ran several individual coaching sessions where we have had to define the values and beliefs – both for the organisation and the individuals being coached.

We discussed the behaviours that would best represent alignment with each of those values and which behaviours would not serve the business or the individual. One value that consistently appeared on the list was ‘being authentic’, ‘the real deal’, ‘sincerity’ and what intrigued me from the ensuing discussions was that almost everybody could show areas in their business and personal lives where the reverse of being authentic was the norm – negative authenticity – and this reversal was affecting relationships, credibility, respect and, for one particular businessman, a downturn in sales.

For example, just the other day I purchased a Xmas gift for my great-niece from a respected on-line company. No problem with their service and they promised delivery in time for Xmas. The next day I received an email letting me know the parcel had been despatched. Good so far.

But, the parcel didn’t arrive. No card from the courier, no ‘phone call, no email, no returned calls, nothing. The company had positioned their brand as being ‘a market leader’, ‘credible’, ‘trustworthy’ leaving customers with little doubt of their commitment. Yet the actual delivery of their business, their lack of communication and poor performance of systems had failed my simple order for a small Xmas gift and no doubt other customers’ orders too resulting in a less than satisfying customer service experience. This is a demonstration of how in business we can be incongruent with our values.

When this occurs, the credibility of the business is tarnished and vulnerable rather than being empowered. Reputations can be torn to shreds – I wonder how often poor customer service is being experienced in transactions at this time of year?

The result of my experience and the conclusion we drew from my workshop is that sometimes it’s difficult to trust and have faith in a business or an organisation or an individual – even a loved one – if they just don’t do what was promised or fulfil expectations or that they don’t respect or care enough to follow through. And if they do deliver the goods, products or services, is it of the quality that we were promised or are there any nasty surprises?

Establishing a value for your business and its employees is only the beginning of the process. Defining and agreeing the behaviours that represent your alignment to each value is the critical work and where there is unfortunately a lack of attention. My workshops help businesses review their goals on a regular basis with the whole team to identify what are and what aren’t aligned behaviours. This approach sets the basis for a sound business foundation where responsibilities and outcomes are clearly defined. This is authenticity at its best.

Creating authenticity, sincerity, the real deal requires genuine intent, consistency, tenacity and the commitment to being bold. The experience of a business or an individual in ‘authenticity’ is both empowering and rewarding for all concerned.

Our guest blogger Helen Varey is a Positive Change Coach & Mentor, at beyondbigbones,  43 Runnymeade, Swinton, Manchester, M27 5WA www.beyondbigbones.co.uk

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree…

It’s that time of year already!

At Happy Creative we all love Christmas, and so to make it even more fun and exciting, this year we’ve decided to spread the happiness to get you all as much in the mood as we all are!

Whether you’re a traditionalist and prefer the smell and look of a real tree, or go for an artificial version, few images conjure up the perfect picture of Christmas better than a glowing tree, and it’s commonly accepted that you start to feel ‘Christmassy’ when your tree goes up. A lot of you will have been putting up your Christmas trees over the weekend, and at Happy we’re exactly the same. We’d have had it up weeks ago if we could!

For children across the world, and all of us who are still big kids at heart, there is a magic to a Christmas tree that you can’t get at any other time of year. Just for all of you who still revel in this magic, here are a few titbits that you can add to your own Christmas tree repertoire:

• The use of evergreen trees to celebrate the winter season occurred before the birth of Christ

• The first decorated Christmas was in Riga, Latvia in 1510

• The first printed reference to Christmas trees appeared in Germany in 1531

• Recycled trees have been used to make sand and soil erosion barriers and been placed in ponds for fish shelter

• Christmas trees remove dust and pollen from the air

• 59 per cent of real Christmas trees harvested are recycled in community programs

• An acre of Christmas trees provides for the daily oxygen requirements of 18 people

• Christmas trees take an average of 7-10 years to mature

• 100,000 people are employed in the Christmas tree industry

• 98 per cent of all Christmas trees are grown on farms

• The best-selling trees are Scotch pine, Douglas fir, Noble fir, Fraser fir, Virginia pine, Balsam fir and white pine

• Other types of trees such as cherry and hawthorns were used as Christmas trees in the past

• 73 million new Christmas trees will be planted this year

• Thomas Edison’s assistant, Edward Johnson, came up with the idea of electric lights for Christmas trees in 1882

• Christmas tree lights were first mass produced in 1890

• Every year since 1947, the people of Oslo, Norway have given a Christmas tree to the city of Westminster, England. The gift is an expression of good will and gratitude for Britain’s help to Norway during World War II

• More than 330,000 real Christmas trees are sold via e-commerce or catalogues.

This last fact ties us in nicely to our Social Media led Christmas Incentive! If you’re reading this, then you’re obviously keen to win our fabulous Christmas hamper!?

In case you’ve arrived here without receiving the email, a quick outline of our Happy incentive is here:

Each day you will receive a Christmas email (or follow our progress on Twitter and Facebook) which will ask you to perform a task. It may be to comment on a blog (like today!), follow on Twitter or to ‘like’ a page on Facebook for example. When you perform this task you will be added to a free prize draw and have the chance to win every day of the campaign. You can take part on all 12 days so good luck!

We have collaborated with a number of our Happy friends and so each day is sponsored by a different organisation.

Today’s task is simple, and it’s sponsored by the whole of the Happy Team!

Leave us a comment (click the little speech bubble at the top of the post) letting us know what makes you happiest about Christmas and be in with a chance of winning our Christmas hamper stacked with tasty goodies! Looks nice doesn’t it!?

There’s a few other goodies in there as well…

If you’re not on our email list and want to take part on all 12 days of the competition, please send an email to hello@happy-creative.co.uk and we’ll be more than Happy to put you on the list! Remember to keep an eye out for all the other days’ tasks, and good luck!

Please also forward the emails to your friends and family – let’s spread the happiness!!

Finally, all of us at Happy would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Fabulous New Year.

Happy Creative, a full service marketing agency based in Blackpool, Lancashire. To learn more or contact us please go to

www.happy-creative.co.uk