Like a stealth movement preparing to take over, we’ve been noticing luxury mince pies, knobbly walnuts and festive cards sneakily appearing on our supermarket shelves, parked cheekily next to workaday tins of beans and showing off with red ribbon and shiny bits. So it’s only a matter of time until those already annoying advert breaks begin to have jingle bells as backing music, luring us into panic purchasing for our nearest and dearest and lodging songs we wished we could forget into our minds (‘mistletoe and wine’ anyone?).

“But it’s only September!” we hear you cry. Indeed, but there’s no denying that small businesses always need to be ahead of the game. Planning well ahead for Christmas is crucial for our scheduling of projects, and pre-planning is essential for anyone wishing to fully take advantage of this time of year for their business. Whether it’s special offers, Christmas eshots, or just a great time to make the most of seasonal goodwill with your marketing and advertising, planning ahead for print deadlines or product launches makes sense right now (even as the sun still shines and flip flops have not yet been fully packed away).

So we think letting a bit of Christmas sparkle into your day isn’t such a bad idea if it means your business will be ready once the festive spirit is upon us. (Just promise us one thing – absolutely no sneaky mince pies until December.)

We’ve just landed in Lincolnshire after last weekend’s move. You didn’t notice? Well exactly – it’s business as usual for us, which has led us to marvel at the way we all work these days. We could be in Timbuktu (yes there is such a place!) or in another far-flung location and still be able to deliver to deadline. All we need is the Internet, a computer and, of course, a charming view (no, we don’t stare out the window all day, it’s merely for inspiration). Continuation is pretty key in any business, whether it’s a theme for adverts or just a logo that stands the test of time (remember The Milky Bar Kid? For years he was synonymous with this white chocolate treat. You knew where you were with The Milky Bar Kid.)

But if you think we’ve swapped the beautiful, rolling hills of Yorkshire for lesser beauty, think again! Our shiny new offices nestle in equally green surroundings, and after some careful balancing and a bit of spilled soil, we’ve managed to transport our patio pots of pansies and salad leaves (not so attractive but rather tasty) as carefully as we did our Macs and PCs. So we’ve brought a little bit of Yorkshire with us and hope that the Lincolnshire soil will be as inviting to our summer seedlings and not too temptingly succulent for its resident slugs, which may as we speak be ‘yuthering and yetting’ (Lincolnshire dialect meaning to eat noisily and voraciously - Lincolnshire factet!). We want a butterfly-friendly garden (think nectar-bearing, scented and meadow flowers), though caterpillars aren’t quite so welcome (see previous yuthering comment). We incorporated butterflies into the design of our first communications to you so they’re a part of our continuation, and they’re in need of help as our 50 varieties of butterfly in the UK are fast becoming rare.

But we’re still here, raring to go with fresh ideas and ready to help your business put down its own roots in whichever sector you’re in. As soon as we’ve found the teapot, that is …

Purely interesting:

Nineteenth century papers online

Wheelie bin campaign

Everyone needs a bit of cheering up at this time of the year. It’s drizzly, toe-curlingly cold and pitch black before you even leave the office; nobody feels like going out after 6pm; there’s nothing on the telly (as usual); and every night you have to fight through rush hour traffic before getting home too zonked to bother cooking, despite craving comforting stews and lovingly-homemade fare (yes, it’s pasta - again).

So ignoring the cynical ‘they’re selling Christmas trees already’ comments, we think we should look anew on the run-up to Christmas. Glitter (oo!) and carols (ah!) warm even the chilliest of cockles, and sending out Christmas promotions might just do the same, while earning you some (much needed) money for the pot.

Christmas-themed enewsletters, posters and greetings cards are a good way to promote your business and products now, while spreading some cheer at the same time. People are thinking about presents already (oh to be so organised), so it’s a key time to bring people out of their ‘it’s not summer anymore’ blues and show them what you offer.  It really isn’t too late as print turnarounds can be surprisingly fast.

So before Father Christmas wakes from his slumber and the Christmas Fairy gets her tutu dry-cleaned, think about spreading some pre-Christmas cheer, and in the process, getting more business from your customers. We’ll project manage the lot so you’ve no need to worry, though we draw the line at fetching your Christmas shopping for you (have you seen Oxford Street in December? Call me a bumpkin, but online shopping is the way to go).

Take a look along any supermarket aisle and you’ll be bombarded with product packaging that’s shouting out (metaphorically speaking - though baked beans which yell ‘pick me!’ from their labels could be next?) information on nutrients, ingredients, special offers, price cuts, ‘bogoffs’, low sugar, high fibre, low GI … the mind boggles. It’s enough to give us a headache, I don’t know about you.

It’s interesting how much of a big brand’s budget goes on advertising. Even when money’s tight it’s still the case that a company will value their marketing spend above all else when they need to lure in customers. So product packaging and design is key to creating that ‘buy me’ impulse. That’s where we see keeping it simple benefits a brand. We’re not talking basic and boring, oh no. We just like packaging to be pared down and not tell us more than we need to know. So that’s great design and minimal copy with less fuss and text which you don’t have time to read anyway.

Think of a Smarties tube (mmm - ever tried them on vanilla ice cream?) and you think of the colours, shapes and one name - that of the product. Which is timeless. 

So give Pure Azure the chance to get your product down to its core once again.

Okay, so life’s tough at times. But does success in your business mean that you have to overcome tremendous difficulties and go thoroughly ‘through the mill’ before you can make a name for yourself and be able to pay the bills?

Surely there are plenty of entrepreneurs who have set out with focused objectives and achieved what they want just quietly, in an ‘ordinary’, no-fuss way? These are the people who don’t make the headlines but work hard and get results. Why not champion the ordinary folk who make a success of themselves without drama but with good honest graft. It might not be as interesting to hear about but it’s by no means less valid.

Mind you there’s truth in the phrase ‘no pain no gain’, and let’s face it, the harder it is to achieve something the more satisfying it is once you have achieved it. If you have to really work at writing copy or creating the design which conveys the right message for a client, the ‘eureka’ moment when you get it right is that bit sweeter. And if the gym was easy we’d all be as lithe as Claudia Schiffer (though it’d still be dull, as let’s face it, who wants to run and not actually see anything interesting along the way except fellow-sweaty sufferers? Give us the birds, the trees and other people laughing at us wheezing).

But at the risk of getting a bit ‘Miss World’, we still mustn’t forget that worthy causes and people encountering difficulties do still need our support. Pure Azure’s very own designer is tackling the 5K Race for Life in Bridlington in June. It’s in aid of Cancer Research’s life-saving work and we’d love you to sponsor Tara, if you can spare some change. Or why not try it yourself, it’s only 5K and apparently you can walk it if you like (though driving the course might be pushing it a bit).

Pure Azure garden
We’ve cracked open the gardening tools now that May’s Bank Holidays are here (we hope you’ve voted in our poll), and now have a patch ready to spring into life with courgettes, tomatoes, beetroot and herbs, which will be spot-on now that the weather has become rather nice. The next few weeks will be Pure Azure vs slugs and weeds but it’ll be a battle well fought as we open ‘The Slug’s Retreat’ (that’s beer traps for the little pests) and yank up any suspect shoots. Any good recipes for what to do with this lovely fare welcome (not slug soup recipes though please, we mean for courgettes).

Money may indeed be too tight to mention at the moment, but that’s why our creative services need to be value for money. So, dear clients, we always do our best to get costs down to the wire without it meaning we have to live on porridge and value beans. Because you still need us, credit crunch or no credit crunch.

Take a chunk of copy destined for a website, for example. One written by you, when you’re busy, from your office and in a rush (think constant interruptions, emails popping up). Another written by a copywriter (ahem) who has a valuable ‘external’ view and years of experience in knowing what works and the time to devote (pending a a nice cup of tea) to coming up with concise, targeted and correctly-formatted text which represents your company properly and frees your time to do your day job. Doesn’t take a racing tipster to say you’re best off with the latter. And same goes for design - your company logo or website needs to have impact, and be designed by someone who knows what works and why (ahem again). That’s priceless, surely? We reckon so.

Different kind of crunch …

Still, on the saving money front, any tips from our savvy clients would be appreciated. Having recently ventured into the Pure Azure garden (less ‘pure’, more weed-covered) to dig and sow some seeds, we hope to spot some green shoots soon, ready to produce some of nature’s finest bounty (unless carrotfly get our crunchy delights before we do and slugs get a delicious feast of tender Lollo Rosso). Will keep you posted, but my money’s on the chilli peppers, feisty little plants that they are!