Big Idea pleased to welcome (back) Ian Sandall...

I am very pleased and excited to welcome Ian Sandall back to Big Idea as Business Development Director based in our London office. As one of the original founders of Big Idea, it's great that we'll all be working together again. Ian will focus on business development bringing his fantastic energy and commitment to our client relationships. His experience and skill in all sorts of communication including advertising, video and websites will add to our Big Idea capabilities and enable us to add even more projects and services to our already diverse portfolio.

Robert.

The new eco aware B&Q flagship store...

On 18th Februrary, Robert, Lynne and Shino paid a visit to the new B&Q flagship store in New Malden, South London. It's in a great location right on the A3 and proclaims to be B&Q's "greenest store". All credit to B&Q on these green initiatives of which the key features are:

• A wind powered signage tower – it's huge and I wonder how they got planning consent

• Thermal pile ground source heating and cooling – not sure exactly what this means but it sounds impressive

• Passive ventilation and natural lighting – the design certainly provides plenty of natural light in the store

• Roofing harvests rainwater

• 10%+ on site renewable power generation.

The result is a multi level, bright store that's easy to shop and creates a pleasant shopping experience. It's big and so are the ranges and they can be difficult to shop. The decorative range lacked a spring feeling but this could just be a timing issue.

There were more staff than in your average B&Q in amazing black and orange uniforms with up to 7 B&Q logos – we suspect that only Lewis Hamilton displays more!

For such a pleasant store the B&Q café was somewhat a missed opportunity. Located on the second floor it's a large inviting space with a utility feel.

Overall we enjoyed the experience and we even bought some spring bulbs on special offer. It's a big move forward for B&Q and the challenge will be to maintain the operational standards over the coming months.

Wyevale Bicester Avenue website goes live!

We've just completed the website for the award winning Bicester Avenue Home and Garden Centre for Wyevale. The site features all the latest news, promotions and events taking place at the site – take a look at www.bicesteravenue.info

Nippon Paint Australia - exhibition stand

Part of the launch for Nippon Paint in Australia we created a touring exhibition stand to showcase the brand, the innovative products and wide range of colours. We played on the Japanese heritage for the exterior graphics and the interior was all about the brand in Australia. A large video wall for presentations (and the odd game of Nintendo wii) and a fun 'colourful juice' bar were incorporated to entice visitors in. We worked closely with Harry the Hirer (harrythehirer.com.au) in Melbourne who built, printed, installed and managed the whole show.