(c) Venetia van Hoorn Alkema

In an experiment to protect our audience from the rigours of an east coast February night we have retimed this concert for 3.00 in the afternoon, making this concert one of the first in the past four years to take place fully in daylight hours. The programme is:

Franz Joseph Haydn – Quartet in G major, op.77 no.1

Béla Bartók – String Quartet no.3 (1927)

Edward Elgar – Piano Quintet in A minor, op.84

Since their formation in 2001, The Sacconi Quartet have become recognized for their performances of style and commitment and consistently communicating with a fresh and imaginative approach. They perform a highly contrasting programme of quartets by Haydn and Bartok, as well as Elgar’s epic Piano Quintet, on which they collaborate with the series’ Artistic Director, Nathan Williamson.

‘A quartet of genuine substance.’ The Daily Telegraph

‘Great power and sweetness…intimate closeness.’ The Spectator

Tickets are, as ever, just £12 to include an interval drink courtesy of our co-sponsors, Adnams. All attendees are invited to become Friends of the Concert Series for a fiver a year – this largely goes to support the work of the Concert Series, but also ensures you are kept up to date with news and receive the beautiful season brochure each year.

The Box Office is at Spring, 4 Church Street (open 9-5.30, Monday to Friday) or by calling Lucy Aldous at Spring on 01502 726161.

Chapman was formed in 1967, and in 1968 they were commissioned by Peter Boizot, founder of PizzaExpress, to install a canopy and ductwork for one of his first restaurants. Chapman Ventilation quickly established itself as a leading provider of ventilation (and later, air conditioning) to the restaurant industry.

Chapman Ventilation is still family owned and run, with David and Anthony Chapman having taken over from their parents more than 10 years ago. The company now handles between 70 and 85 restaurant projects every year.

Clients include Jamie Oliver, Pizza Express, Nandos, Raymond Blanc, Hix and Loch Fyne.

Want to grow your company, whatever the economic climate? A brand programme is a great place to start, even if you don’t want to change your logo. It forces companies to simplify their vision, shake out the business plan and clear a path to growth.

I’d like to share some insider secrets about three early steps in one of our branding programmes. Take one of these steps, you’ll see a difference – all three are brand dynamite.

First, research.

The ultimate planner-to-creative alchemy was “Go to Work on an Egg”. This 1950s slogan, attributed to the author Fay Weldon, was reportedly found in a research document that accompanied the brief, whose proposition was: “Having an egg for breakfast is the best start to the working day.”

Research can be expensive, but even basic research reveals market need and underpins creative thinking.

Always be open-minded, and prepared to tear up the rulebook if your findings demand it.

We’re launching a client’s new product using a creative approch that grew from chats with the shopkeepers whose buy-in is essential to success.

From many conversations, a simple, clear strategy emerged, and from that, a great concept.

So get chatting – you’ll be amazed what you discover.

Second, positioning.

Chances are that what you do is not unique. But unless you can reduce competition, it’s hard to make a sale.

Good service and passion aren’t enough – you need demonstrable expertise.

Blair Enns, an authority on positioning, once shared with me a deceptively simple technique to make your company stand out, emphasising that stand out is the only fail-safe route to sales.

It’s a tough process to get right, but give it time.

The results are astonishing and applicable across all sectors.

Firstly, describe the one thing your company can do in its sleep.

We make/create/deliver [activity] for [market].

Now, take the activities and markets and stretch them.

This will show opportunities to develop your business credibly.

For example, “We make cakes for weddings.”

That could expand to: “We make sweet and savoury pastries for weddings and parties.”

Now, consider the expanded version – do you – could you – undertake what you’ve described?

Do you communicate this? Check Google. Are people looking for this?

Do you know 10 things about it that no-one else does? If the answer to any of these is no, go back to your ‘no brainer’ and review.

You can now articulate your claim in an elevator pitch. First, state your position and activity: “East Anglia’s leading baker of sweet and savoury pastries for weddings and parties.”

Then validate: “We work with [client type] event organisers and private clients to [activity] create beautiful cakes and [benefit] delight their guests.”

In a branding programme, this positioning statement can form the basis of your brief, underpinning all creative and channel proposals. But take it out of a branding context, and you have given your business a clear platform for growth and a quick sales intro.

If you find networking tricky, why not deconstruct the statement as an icebreaker? So if you’d made a Mike The Knight cake for a kids’ party you might say: “We make edible fire breathing dragons!”

Finally, embedded creativity.

Companies need a creative thinker at senior level.

If you’re global, you have the optimism and determination of the Far East and India to equal. If your market is local, you will still find competition snapping at your heels.

Creativity matched with financial good sense are key ingredients of success in a tough market. Creativity allows you to keep an open mind for opportunities, new markets, savings and actions that mark you out as special and different.

Some firms now have a ‘Director of Ideas’ but you could also crowdsource – why not install an ideas box in reception so everyone has a chance to pitch in their brainwaves?

Have the guts to be bold. Strategy is a non-negotiable but I strongly encourage creative barrier-smashing too. Remember Cadbury’s Gorilla? Not for you? Didn’t make sense? How would you feel if I told you that Cadbury’s revenues rose by 5 per cent that year?

Sometimes it takes a revolution to make a real impact, and there’s never been a better time than now.

Good luck with these exercises. They will be hard – and may reveal deeper organisational questions – but if you want to grow whatever the market they’re a great place to start. Let me know how it goes!

Erika launched the Southwold-based creative marketing agency Spring in 2006, and her position as business development and creative head of the agency saw it grow from nothing to a UK top 100 agency in just five years. She is a stickler for quality, results and creative open-mindedness and advocates that all Springers aspire to ‘be extraordinary’.

Our phone is 01502 72 6161.

Email address for general enquiries info@springagency.co.uk

Twitter @spring_agency

We look forward to hearing from you!

The workshop includes how to’s on storyboarding, selecting kit, filming techniques and editing. We’ll also be giving them the lowdown on matters of copyright and other legal aspects of the process.

It’s all in aid of the new film competition, in which pupils from across the whole school are invited to submit their own work on the subject of ‘New Year’s resolution’, ‘The day that changed my life’ or ‘A day in the life of Saint Felix’.

John, who has previously worked for Heston Blumenthal at The Fat Duck and Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons moved home to Suffolk in 2009 to launch The Penny Bun Bakery.

From an industrial unit on the Suffolk coast John creates a delicious range of breads including focaccia, ciabatta, rye bread and Waveney Wholemeal, using Marriage’s flour and his own cultivation of naturally fermented yeast.

He supplies hotels, restaurants, cafés and delicatessans across East Anglia – and his fame is spreading, thanks to his fabulous bread.

Lucy will be spending new year with a group of mates in Dublin, for the craic. Raise a glass for us, girl!

Nikki P’s spending the last Christmas with her family. Next year her parents are emigrating, but we’re delighted to hear that Nikki’s sister’s making up the numbers – baby number one arrives in January.

Nikki B’s travel plans eclipse any others we’ve heard – she’s heading off to see the northern lights. This year’s are said to be the best in decades and we’ll make sure she blogs about it upon her return. Onnellinen matkustaa, Nikki!

Our intrepid surfing/ skateboarding duo George and Glen are showing their true colours. George plans to snuggle (”Christmas is for snuggling,” he says) whereas Glen is keeping the faith – he’ll be spending Christmas morning neck deep in the North Sea, for the traditional Lowestoft swim.

Mel’s immersing herself in the slightly warmer environment of village life, spending her time between Thorington carol services and hosting village drinks parties. See you there!

We’d love to wish you all a wonderful Christmas and new year, however you spend it, and our warmest good wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous 2012.

If you’d like a copy, do get in touch!

So it seemed only right to give them a new home for all the lovely stuff we’re going to be able to write about.

Bollinger’s brand new Experience Bollinger site launches in time for the new year, enhanced for navigation, mobile usability and maximum content impact.

We’re delighted to report that this happens in a month that also see Bollinger’s facebook followers treble and their talkability grow by an extraordinary 4,000% in just five days, thanks to an engaging Advent Calendar competition.

With prizes ranging from bottle of Bollinger to James Bond aprons, daily entrants are regularly in the 800’s.