Sainsbury's in Camden 'sorry' for free artist advert

Sainsbury's has apologised after one of its London branches placed an advert in a local paper seeking an artist to decorate its canteen for free. The store in Camden Road took out an advert for "an ambitious artist" to "voluntarily refurbish" the facility. The company was shamed on social media by people who pointed out the successful supermarket chain should pay its way. A spokesman for the company said the advert was an "error of judgement". Artist Conor Collins attacked the supermarket's attempt to hire someone for free and suggested the store deducted some money from its bosses' salaries to "pay someone to do work for you so that the concept of 'starving artist' wouldn't have to be a thing."

He wrote on Twitter: "Dear Sainsbury's, I am looking for a company worth £150,000,000 to feed all of my artist friends in Manchester." Others read: "@Sainsbury's Awful. You can afford to pay an artist their worth." While another said: "So @sainsburys let me get this straight. You turnover £26bn yet want an artist to voluntarily decorate your canteen?"

Steam Traction World Set to Re-release the Lykamobile Steamer

Lykamobile Steamer

NOW AVAILABLE for you TO BUILD!
The Lykamobile Steamer - Series 2 from Steam Traction World

A series of self assembly kits at the rate of one kit per month over a twenty four month period.
The Lykamobile (pronounced 'Lie-ka') is a full sized Steamer based on the original Locomobile of 1898 - updated, utilising modern materials, machining and components. We have introduced practicalities too, such as disc brakes and modern, treaded tyres. The modified 3 stroke Hackworth valve gear offers forward and reverse and the Ackerman design tiller offers responsive steering.
The Original Lykmobile Steamer (Series 1) proved to be very popular with sixty five selling worldwide. The Lykamobile has been 'out of production' with a 5 year break in manufacturing and is, only now, being re-introduced due to customer requests. This brand new batch will be limited to only thirty across the globe with production starting in July 2016 - or sooner once ten confirmed orders are achieved.

We drove our Series 1 Lykamobile from John O Groats to Lands End - to prove the build quality, reliability and raise heaps of cash for charity too!
The Lykmobile Steamer Series 2 will have a number of improvements - This will include much ‘beefier’ valve gear (beefier is a technical term!), valve gear running on bearings, use of oil impregnated bushes throughout and stronger leaf springs. We are also considering changing the electrical water managing system gauge system and redesigning the boiler so it is more like a Stanley Steam Car.

Lyka a Lot.
An Early Bird discount is available currently. To qualify for this offer simply be one of the first ten customers to secure one of this batch and you will save £1,756 on the advertised list price. So far 7 deposits have been received in the last week.
Further pricing as follows.
Deposit: £823 (normally £995)
Kits 1 - 24: £549 (normally £615)
Total price: £13,999 (normally £15755 saving £1,756)

All we are asking at this moment in time is a holding deposit of £195. This then secures the special offer price for you. The balance of the deposit payment of £628 will only be required when we confirm we have received ten firm orders and issue you with a commence date. We are estimating starting production around July.
All the above prices include VAT at 20% but excludes delivery. Please contact me for international costs and a shipping estimate if relevant.

Size:
Length: 2.2m * Height: 1.6m * Width: 1.4m * Weight: 410kg

A bit more info.
All our products are uniquely designed to be assembled using hand tools only, such as spanners, files, Allen keys etc. Electric tools like hand drills or hand grinders assist with speeding up the build process and cleaning up of the parts up but are not necessary. No machinery should be required as each kit comes fully machined and requires de-burring, hand finishing, assembling and painting in your choice of livery. All our boilers come fully assembled and hydraulically tested and come complete with CE mark to full European standards. Detailed and comprehensive assembly instructions and Isometric drawings are supplied with every kit plus we also offer a full telephone and email support service to all our customers. We are located in the UK - check out our Facebook page (or website) for more details.
‪#‎KitBuild‬ ‪#‎SteamCar‬ ‪#‎BuilditYourself‬ ‪#‎Lykamobile‬ ‪#‎ILykaaLot‬

Go on 'Lyka' this post and the Steam Traction World Facebook page!

Facebook New Emotions

After more than a year of working to build alternatives to its trademark ”like” button, Facebook has globally launched emoji “Reactions.” Users can still respond to a post or comment with the traditional “like” button. But starting Wednesday, holding down the “like” button on mobile or hovering over the icon on desktop, gives users an expanded menu allowing them to choose from six different animated emoji “Reactions”: Like, Love, Ha ha, Wow Sad or Angry. “Reactions” are designed to be an extension of the “like” button as opposed to a full-on replacement. Users will be notified when their posts receive ”Reactions” in the same way they’re notified about “likes.”

Moneysupermarket.com 'strutting man' advert is most-complained about

An advert featuring a man strutting down a street in hotpants and high heels received the most complaints in 2015, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has revealed.

The Moneysupermarket.com ad attracted 1,513 complaints, with viewers citing its "overtly sexual" content.

The ASA did not uphold the complaints.

Chief executive Guy Parker said matters of offence can "grab the headlines" but most of their work is focused on "tackling misleading advertising".

'Distasteful not offensive'

The body acknowledged some viewers might have considered the TV and web advert, featuring a man called Dave dancing to Don't Cha by the Pussycat Dolls, to be "distasteful".

But the price comparison site commercial was not judged to be offensive or in breach of the advertising code.

A company spokesman said the public feedback to the ad was "overwhelmingly positive".


Three adverts for hotel website Booking.com, where the word "booking" was seen to be used in the place of a swear word, were the second, fourth and seventh most-complained about ads of the year - with 683, 407 and 201 complaints respectively.

The complaints were not upheld, with the ASA saying "it was a light-hearted play on words that couldn't be mistaken for an actual swear word".

The third most-complained about ad was a campaign for online payment site Paypal, which showed two children concerned their parents had not been shopping for Christmas presents.

It received 464 complaints from people who "expressed concern that the ad revealed the truth about Father Christmas". They were not upheld but Paypal independently changed the scheduling of the ad.


In fifth place was a poster campaign advertising a Protein World weight-loss product with the slogan: "Are you beach body ready?".

The poster, showing a woman in a bikini attracted 380 complaints, and the ASA told the company that due to "concerns about a range of health and weight loss claims" it could not appear in the same format again.

The ASA concluded the ad, which was defaced in Tube stations and sparked a petition calling for it to be banned, was not likely to cause serious or widespread offence, however.

Mr Parker said: "Our top 10 for 2015 will no doubt get people talking about whether the ads are or aren't offensive, but there are important issues at stake here.

"Advertisers must take care not to cause serious or widespread offence, but we don't play a numbers game.

"And while matters of offence can grab the headlines, the bulk of our work is the less glamorous task of tackling misleading advertising. That's why we're taking a more proactive approach to address the issues which affect consumers the most before complaints need to be made."

Bitcoin - doomed?

A high-profile Bitcoin developer has said the crypto-currency has failed and he will no longer take part in its development.

Mike Hearn, a Zurich-based developer and long-time proponent of Bitcoin, surprised many this weekend when he published a blog calling Bitcoin a "failed" project.

Mr Hearn, who had until recently been working on new software for the currency, says he has now sold all of his own bitcoins and will no longer take part in the crypto-currency's development.

Ferguson's Restaurant, Rugby

Ferguson's Restaurant Rugby

Nick Price Creatives were contacted by Ferguson's restaurant in Rugby at the end of November and we met Elaine at Ferguson's on 26th November. The venue was great however, Nick Price Creatives had identified that not many people knew where Ferguson's was or, indeed, how good it was. Ferguson's restaurant had been listed in the Michelin guide for 2016 (the only one in the Rugby area), yet apart from a small stickered sign on one of the doors, there wasn't much else to promote this great feat. There was certainly no mention on the Website or Facebook page.

Nick Price Creatives clearly went through a number of measures to improve the exposure of Ferguson's - from improvements to the website (it wasn't Mobile friendly, particularly good in search engines and it had spelling mistakes - 'restaurant' being one on the index page), to Facebook advertising (saying what we could do to target people better), mailing the current database, consolidating all the social media (Ferguson's Twitter account was more a personal account than business). NPC said a competition would be good early in the new year - to win a meal with wine, something really special, to add exposure in January. We proposed all of this via email to "Essentially, Nick Price Creatives would consolidate all your marketing together to ensure it looks better and works better, increasing the numbers of likers, followers, visitors, commentors, reviewers etc - ultimately though more bums on seats in your restaurant." During the initial meeting we also met the restaurant chef and namesake David Ferguson too.

It was all happening pretty quick from the initial phonecall and meeting with Elaine as she was 'jetting off' for a couple of months from the Sunday - so the full report, full of ideas and initiatives was completed and presented on the Friday, so that the restaurant owner Stephen Barnard could respond - he did so on 27th November with great comments such as "I am most impressed with and agree with much of the comment in Nick’s proposal." and "Accordingly, I am willing to cancel programmes that are currently invested in by Ferguson’s for the purposes of Marketing and to take a punt in this direction for a three month trial period, with options to extend then for a further nine months."

Let's get going!
28th November we confirmed all the current stats so we knew where to build from with Facebook being the key target the figures were: 852 Likes, 621 had been with 4.7 of 5 stars from 45 reviews.
Firstly, we redesigned the look of the Fergusons Facebook page - adding a festive feel and, of course, the Michelin award - plus the TripAdvisor logo.

Tripadvisor was performing quite well with consistent high ratings, however no-one was being informed of the reviews - so it made good sense to post these reviews on Facebook too.

Prior to December 2015, the 'average' post reached 300 people. November 30th saw a post about new curtains (348 reached), a Facebook review share (252 reached) and the New Years Eve event post (only) 306.

Nick Price Creatives first post (we later back-dated some) was the profile pictures which achieved a reach of 369. NPC designed a mock-up Christmas Menu which, through our promotion, reached a new high of 737. Subsequent Tripadvisor reviews - December 15th shown below with the new header 'You Said' achieved 873 and December 17th saw another new high of 869 - it was all moving in the right direction.

Ferguson's Restaurant Rugby

By January 1st the Facebook likes had increased to 892.

January 2nd this latest TripAdvisor review posted on Facebook, ""I was slightly concerned that my jaded post Christmas appetite would struggle but the sea bream was so delicious I cleared my plate and my tastebuds having been rejuvenated I even managed Christmas pudding! Totally recommended for great food and lovely service." Jane W, Yelvertoft via Tripadvisor. You can see our vert latest Tripadvisor reviews HERE" achieved a reach of 977.

Each time the increase of 'reach' was achieved without paying (Facebook Boosting) so the potential was there. We had recommended boosting the posts in our initial proposal - imagine what a competition/prize draw for a Meal for two, boosted on Ferguson's Facebook could do?!

Restaurant Rugby.

Lotto Potto

A record National Lottery jackpot of £50.4m is expected to prompt a surge in ticket sales, Camelot has said.

The operator said it expected to sell 200 tickets a second in the hour before ticket sales close at 19:30 GMT ahead of the draw at 20:30 on Wednesday.

The previous largest jackpot was £42m, which was shared between three separate ticket holders in January 1996.

If no-one wins the jackpot it will roll over and either be won or shared on Saturday, Camelot said.
Wednesday's jackpot is the result of 13 consecutive rollovers and follows the number of balls in the draw increasing from 49 to 59 in October.

This reduced the odds of a player getting six numbers from about one in 14 million to one in 45 million, mathematicians say, but Camelot argues its rule changes have increased the chances of becoming a millionaire.


If no-one gets six lottery numbers on Wednesday or Saturday, new Camelot rules mean the jackpot prize is shared out in the first draw after the prize reaches £50m.

This means if no player matches all six numbers on Saturday the prize will be shared between winners in the next tier where there is at least one winner - most likely those who have five main numbers and the bonus ball.

Camelot said this would make it "some of the best odds players have ever had to win a multi-million pound life-changing jackpot".

Dr Rob Mastrodomenico, a statistician and founder of the consultancy Global Sports Statistics, said the record prize was the result of the increased number of balls, which had reduced the odds of people selecting winning numbers.

A National Lottery spokeswoman said Wednesday's jackpot had the potential to make one of its biggest winners in the lottery's history.