2011 the year of the APP!

Graham writes... Happy New Year.

2011 is going to be a year when Recognition offers clients even more. It is my ambition that Recognition offers our PR services on all sorts of different platforms; the latest is mobile phones - in particular apps for iphone.

Last year we put considerable effort into breaking a price barrier to bring the cost of these products down and now we can offer clients a basic starter app for £3500 plus VAT(some terms & conditions will apply).

I have put my money where my mouth is and produced one for Recognition PR - its available on iTunes from mid-January. It starts with a screen about Recognition, then has a screen linking to GPS showing every client on the UK map with a dot at their HQ , then it has a screen with the logo and advert for the client and then every media release the client has issued. This took 40 hours of IT time to devise and my team needed to slightly change our web site to make it link up. If you have an iphone download it from iTunes and give it a go - search Recognition PR in the app store.

This new offering can bring clients' products and services to an audience that uses mobile internet all the time; a building society client is producing one showing every branch and including a mortgage calculator which will allow people work work out their mortgage payments while they view a house!

If you are interested let me know; we already have a small queue with three sold already. It will take a number of weeks from order to delivery.

All my very best for 2011 - once people are used to the VAT rise I'm confident there will be a sustainable recovery!

Graham

Paul writes...Tees Valley LEP event

Business people from across Darlington braved the weather last night to find out how the new Tees Valley Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) can benefit companies and organisations across the area.

We ran the event in conjunction with our client, Latimer Hinks Solicitors, allowing firms the chance to hear from and ask questions of Stephen Catchpole, the new managing director of Tees Valley Unlimited, which was successful in bidding to run the LEP.

More than 45 people attended the event at Darlington College, where Mr Catchpole outlined the importance of the LEP for Darlington businesses.

As Anne Elliott, managing partner at Latimer Hinks, put it: “To get the best from the opportunities the new LEP will offer, companies in Darlington need to engage with the partnership.”

The turnout, especially in such extreme weather, shows the desire from business people in Darlington to find out more about the LEP and how it can help the area. Hopefully, this will lead to real benefits for the borough of Darlington in partnership with the rest of the Tees Valley.

We need to take this initial dialogue further and establish a mechanism for the Darlington business community to influence the direction and decisions of the LEP.