rufus

A fun little motion graphic showing what could happen when ET attacks. It was created by Paul at Rufus and secretly shows us a little snippet of what he dreams about at night! Top job Paul. Keep dreaming.

Our Gareth is back from his travels. Dubai, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo and Kyoto were some of the destinations privileged to experience the ‘G’. After having a brilliant time site seeing, cooking strange food on street corners with total strangers and drinking lots of alcohol he has just about managed to drag himself back from his amazing experience. He also done some useful things while he was away! Spending time researching both eastern and western brands and retail across the cities he visited. The power of global brands and how they build cities just as much as the bricks (or wood) and the people themselves was clear to see especially in ultra fast developing cities like Dubai and Shanghai (in preparation for World Expo 2010). He has kindly brought us back some presents which included condoms, an umbrella, lots of weird flavoured sweets, a mechanical bug that changes direction when you clap your hands and wait for it… something you sprinkle over your food that probably has good intentions but doesn’t really look very appealing! I will have to repay the compliment when I come back from Blackpool with a stick of rock and a miniature version of the Blackpool Tower! Amazing!

Sunderland hosted the 21st ‘Sunderland International Air Show’ this weekend and WOW, what a show it was. Whilst staring up into the sky, memories came flooding back of the famous film ‘Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines’ in which the legend, Terry Thomas played the cheating Sir Percival Ware-Armitage, an Avro Triplane-flying rogue who “never left anything to chance”. The funny thing is though, how one thought leads to another… for example, I went from the international air show to… ‘Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines’ to… Terry Thomas to… Terry Thomas’ teeth! I just could not get the thought of those big, gapped teeth out of my head for the rest of the day and I even went home after and searched SKY incase they were re-running the classic on an off chance. But unfortunately no such luck. Oh that reminds me I need a check up at the dentists!

We have currently just completed stage 2 of the Sunderland 2018 World Cup Host City Bid. We were initially asked by Sunderland AFC and Sunderland City Council to produce a brand for the campaign, ranging from the logo design, website design, pop up stands, pull up displays, stationery, t-shirts, flags, banners and other supporting materials, in order for Sunderland to have a solid base for the bid to be launched. Stage 2 consisted of The FA actually coming to Sunderland to see the City’s facilities and to feel the passion Sunderland AFC are generating, to make the bid successful. Ian our MD was kindly invited to the ‘end of visit’ get together at Asiana Restaurant in the Echo 24 building and while there, he bumped into Steve Bruce and Steve Cram. He just couldn’t help himself from slipping into fan mode by asking for a picture with Steve Cram. Nice one Ian. Keep logging your votes by visiting www.sunderland2018bid.com and selecting ‘Sunderland’ as preferred host city. We can show The FA that we want Sunderland to host matches in the World Cup in 2018 and to prove we are proud of our City. Come on Sunderland!