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Thanks for the thanks

Posted by Amy on 29-10-2009

I arrived back this morning, from a couple of days off, to a nice surprise... a giant box of Thorntons chocolates on my desk. And when I say giant, I mean GIANT!

They had been sent by Anne Sola at Warner Leisure Hotels as a thank you for all the hard work everyone at Theme had put into designing her three site newsletters and 11 carrier sheets, that all went off to print very late Friday night.

Thank you Anne for this kind gesture. The chocs have gone down very well here.

Actually, with all the gannets we have in the studio, I'm surprised that they were still unopened on my desk. It must have been torture for the others looking at the box all day yesterday and not being able to open it. But luckily they waited for me to get back and we all tucked into choccies for breakfast mmmmmmmm!

Posted by Amy on 29-10-2009 | 0 Comments | Leave a Comment…

Going a bit batty

Posted by Sarah & Lil' Lou on 28-10-2009

As Halloween is fast approaching, we are getting into the spirit here at Theme Group, our eye catching sign has got even more eye catching with it's spooky appearance, just a little reminder to every one in Woodley that the trick or treaters will be out and about soon.

It also shows off our fun and vibrant personalities as we're all a bit batty at Theme Group in our own way :)

And when you come down the road, it stands out a mile!!!!!

There are many more seasonal signs to come in the next few months, keep an eye out!

Posted by Sarah & Lil' Lou on 28-10-2009 | 1 Comment | Leave a Comment…

Two's the fatty!

Posted by Mark on 26-10-2009

Last week I visited Fiona at Affinion International, the winner of our October Who's the Fatty? competition, to deliver her cakes!

Fiona was over the moon, saying "No!, No!, No!" as I took the cakes out of the car.

Whilst Fiona shared the box of giant cup cakes around the office, she seemed reluctant to share her big one.

Don't eat it all at once Fiona!

We also felt that Chris and the boys at B&C Coachworks deserved some sort of prize for their sheer persistence, cheek and some would say cheating in trying to get me to tell them the correct answer.

Watch out for our November newsletter for your chance to be our next winner.

Posted by Mark on 26-10-2009 | 0 Comments | Leave a Comment…

Good luck Jodie!

Posted by Jo on 23-10-2009

Everyone at Theme Group wishes Jodie well after she went on Maternity leave today.

Jodie has been with us as Creative artworker for around 18 months, but is now off preparing for her first taste of motherhood.

We presented Jodie with a huge bouquet of flowers, and rather than opt for a traditional farewell lunch, Jodie choose for us all to be treated to a box of delicious giant cup cakes (like those you could win in our Who's the Fatty competition). The actual size of them is being demonstrated by Lil' Lou in the picture above.

We wish Jodie all the best and can't wait to meet the new addition to the Theme family.

Posted by Jo on 23-10-2009 | 1 Comment | Leave a Comment…

A warm welcome to Emily

Posted by Big Lou on 22-10-2009

Today everyone at Theme Group said a warm welcome to Emily Cialis, the newest member of our team!

Emily has joined us as Junior Designer, fresh from University, full of new and exciting ideas and bundles of enthusiasm.

Having spent some time with us doing work experience, we saw great potential in young Emily and, when the need for some materity cover came about, we snapped her up.

We've got loads of work on at the moment so she has been thrown in at the deep end - but we're sure Emily wouldn't want it any other way!

Posted by Big Lou on 22-10-2009 | 0 Comments | Leave a Comment…

Poor week for Theme Dream

Posted by Bill on 20-10-2009

Maybe it was the internationals tiring everyone out, or maybe the better players were just having an off-week.

Whatever the reason, Theme Dream managed a surprisingly - and pathetically - low average score after some strange weekend results.

Chelsea and Liverpool lost, neither Arsenal or Man United kept a clean sheet and there were no real hammerings, meaning the highest score for the week was a mediocre 68 (Marcus' MM City), and the next highest was a mere 49 (Lil Lou's Lads).

Scores that would usually be at the lower end of the table were suddenly the better results, while the worst scores achieved were lucky to get out of single figures.

Chelsea's loss hit my boys quite hard, leaving me only 27 for the week. I'm now just 99 clear of Jo Aslin and the bottom of the league, so I may have to change tactics and battle it out for the wooden spoon with her!

So after a poor week, the top five are:

• Hectors Heroes - 602
• Manchenster - 591
• Down in Albion - 574
• Don Rogers FC - 560
• Wags R Us - 557

Posted by Bill on 20-10-2009 | 0 Comments | Leave a Comment…

Old Chapel has new fans

Posted by Mark on 15-10-2009

We were happy to welcome several of our friends from Epson earlier today (Thursday) - and to say they liked the Old Chapel would be an understatement.

The visit was mainly to catch up with people we had not seen in a long while - or in some instances only spoke to over the phone - and for them to see our new offices for the first time.

And after they left, Marketing Communications Manager Jane Keenan sent through an email that hinted she may have liked the place a bit too much!

It said: "I will sort out my postal redirect at home and I reckon I should be ready to move to the Old Chapel at the beginning of November.

"I understand the property comes with the imaginary dog, Ghost - not that we saw any evidence of him. I think you people at Theme Group have real imagination - to go the extra mile and have the dog bed in your office is really living the experience.

"If you can arrange with the milk man ... I like semi skimmed."

We think the message was tongue in cheek, but I suppose we'll find out come the start of November!

Posted by Mark on 15-10-2009 | 0 Comments | Leave a Comment…

And the winners are

Posted by Nick on 14-10-2009

We are pleased to announce the latest winners in our two popular competitions - Who's the Fatty? and Theme Dream

The former, which required readers of our newsletter to tell us the name of Mark's dog (Ghost, by the way), was won by Fiona Johnston, the HR manager at Affinion International.

For her efforts, Fiona will be the proud - and very lucky - recipient of some truly tasty cakes.

The Theme Dream leaderboard is a lot closer than it was last month, with runaway leader Natalie Dobson pegged back to a lead of just 33 points - which at one point was just 16!

But it's the highest number of points for the past month that count, and that honour goes to Anna Mansfield (206 points) from Butlins. She will get a bottle of bubbly and a Manager of the Month certificate.

We are still waiting to hear from both winners to find out when we can drop in on them, but we'll update everyone once we have presented their prizes!

Posted by Nick on 14-10-2009 | 0 Comments | Leave a Comment…

My big SEO day out

Posted by Nick on 09-10-2009

As part of our commitment to keeping up to date with all the latest search engine optimisation and email marketing techniques, I recently attended my third day-long internet seminar.

ad:tech, which was held at the London Olympia on Tuesday, September 22, featured stands and exclusive lectures from some of the industry's biggest hitters - including members of the Google, Yahoo and Bing (formerly MSN) search teams.

I have to say there were some extremely interesting talks throughout the day - not something I would have imagined myself saying two years ago - covering everything from the best email marketing techniques through to finding out how our European neighbours use search engines differently to us.

In all, the day was very useful. It gave me some good ideas on improving the quality SEO services we already have on offer - so get in touch to find out more about the ways we can help you rank better in the search engines.

Posted by Nick on 09-10-2009 | 0 Comments | Leave a Comment…

Very happy to see MS Society results

Posted by Steve on 08-10-2009

I was really proud to see the MS Society get a record number of votes for their recent AGM after we designed their information pack.

There was quite a bit of work from both parties that went into ensuring the pack looked great, mirrored the style of the report & accounts and, most importantly, got people to respond.

I would like to think my design had something to do with the fantastic results, but I am just pleased to have something nice to add to the Theme Group portfolio!

Posted by Steve on 08-10-2009 | 0 Comments | Leave a Comment…

Gooners good for the points

Posted by Marcus on 06-10-2009

A staggering one man display from Arsenal's super captain Cesc Fabregas has seen me rocket up the Theme Dream table this week with a total score of 111.

Admittedly, most of my points have come from my many Arsenal players after their 6-2 win over Blackburn, but still - all I'm worried about is getting back to the top five spot I had after week one. From that one game, Fabregas managed four assists and a goal, Andrei Arshavin finally scored and Thomas Vermaelen got yet another to edge ahead of Ashley Cole as the highest scoring defender.

Elsewhere, leader Natalie Dobson was looking vulnerable after a poor Saturday - Weizong Chen's Manchenster had crept back to just six points behind her.

However, a final weekend score of 49, though low by her standards, was enough to increase the gap again - Weizong only managed 28.

But despite some lower scores near the business end of Theme Dream, the top five remains unchaged. The current standing are:

• Hectors Heroes - 577
• Manchenster - 544
• Wags R Us - 535
• Down in Albion - 530
• Denwal Dinosaurs - 523

Posted by Marcus on 06-10-2009 | 0 Comments | Leave a Comment…

A big thank you!

Posted by Emily on 05-10-2009

I am a graphic design graduate and have recently completed a week's work experience at Theme.

I was given the chance to work on a live brief over the week, took a trip to the printers and saw first-hand how a design studio works. Everyone was really friendly and helpful, despite being busy with the seemingly endless amount of projects that were going on around me!

It was a great week - thanks guys!

Posted by Emily on 05-10-2009 | 0 Comments | Leave a Comment…