Wednesday 1st May see’s the launch of Destination Milton Keynes (DMK) #LoveMK Day. The aim of #LoveMK is to promote what a great city Milton Keynes is and show potential visitors what it has to offer.

Destination Milton Keynes wants the MK Twitter community to get involved and get #LoveMK trending in the UK on 1st May. You can follow Destination Milton Keynes on Twitter @DestinationMK to be in with a chance of winning one of the twelve competitions being run in twelve hours on #LoveMK Day.

#LoveMK Day coincides with the launch of the LoveMK Guide which has been produced by Destination MK alongside MK Web to attract new visitors into the city.

Carys Underwood, Marketing Manager at DMK, said “We’re hoping that the Twitter community will help us out and get #LoveMK trending across the UK on 1st May to not only promote MK as a destination but to show how much pride they have in the place that they live and work.”

When running a business the reputation of your company and its employees should be your number one priority. If you have a poor reputation within your industry it is likely to result in poor performance for the company. To gain a good reputation you need to demonstrate credibility in everything the company does and good PR can help to showcase this.

PR can be used in a variety of situations, including expanding into new territories, retaining customers, changing public perception, staying at the top of your market and crisis management.

One of the major impacts of effective PR is the relationships that PR professionals have with editors and journalists, which in turn results in the company achieving editorial coverage in local, national, trade and broadcast media. Media coverage achieved through PR is more credible than advertising and is likely to achieve better results, however when used in conjunction PR and advertising can work together to achieve maximum impact, successfully getting your key messages across to your target audience. PR specialists know which media to target in order to get their messages across effectively and have often acquired incredible contacts within the press industry; which all helps in getting the right coverage in the right media.

Public Relations can be less expensive than other forms of paid communications; whilst you are paying for the services of a PR specialist, what you achieve in the way of media coverage and the impact of public perception is worth much more. PR also has the benefit of being responsive to news and flexible in message content. A skilled PR professional can turn around media releases in reaction to news or crisis situations within hours.

Richard Branson once said that a good PR Story is infinitely more effective than a front page ad. Is he right? Let us know what you think, leave your comments below.  

Interdirect loves the latest touch screen technology; The Tactile Layer, developed by California based company Tactus.

The Tactile Layer is a user interface with completely transparent physical buttons that rise up from the touch screen surface on demand. When the buttons are enabled, users can push and type as if they are using any physical button or keyboard. Once the buttons are disabled they recede into the screen, becoming invisible and leaving a smooth, seamless flat touch screen with maximum viewing area.

Touch screens currently provide users with a versatile experience, whereas this new technology will bring a tactile experience to the customer. The Tactile Layer is not a trick of your senses using vibration or stimulation, but real physical buttons.

By simply replacing the front layer of the display stack the Tactile Layer is easily integrated with today’s touch screen based devices, including smart phones, personal navigation systems and gaming devices. The tactile layer component is the same thickness as the layer component and requires no changes to the underlying display or touch screen.

The tactile layer has the following features:

• Sits on the top of the existing touch screen

• Works with existing touch sensing and display technologies

• Minimal power consumption

• Size is scalable from mobile phones to TV

• Button layouts, shapes, location and size can be customised. 

Check out the video below and let us know what you think of this latest piece of touch screen technology.

Over the past two years Interdirect has introduced a successful internship programme that provides university students with the opportunity to gain a year’s hands on experience in the workplace.

By employing interns Interdirect has been able to catch young talent on the rise and balance social goals with rising costs.

Employing interns has become increasingly popular for small to medium sized businesses, with the obvious advantage of lower staffing costs and the opportunity to build and maintain strong relationships with the industry’s future recruits attracting more and more employers to take up the scheme. In order to entice quality interns, smaller companies need to offer a unique and exciting proposition that will encourage innovative and committed students to apply.

Top 5 reasons why small businesses should hire interns:

1. New perspective on business objectives– bringing someone new into the business can really change the dynamics. A fresh pair of eyes can bring new ideas, which longer term employees may not have considered, and can help to get the creative juices flowing throughout the entire team.
2. Up-to-date with latest technology and industry training – technology is constantly changing and university students are often surrounded by the latest devices and software, which some smaller businesses may not be able to invest in as regularly as updates are launched – your interns can give you the inside information on the latest technology trends. Training is something that all businesses should be regularly investing in, but which areas should you be focussing on and what industry regulations have recently, or are due to change? Find out what your interns have been learning in their lessons and where appropriate link this knowledge to your staff training.
3. It’s a trial period that could lead to something more – internships are generally for a set period of time, during this time the intern gets a chance to prove themselves and show that they have the skills and knowledge to do the job. In some cases an internship position can lead to further employment with the company, this may be part time work whilst at university or a job guaranteed after graduation. This is a great way to recruit as you know the abilities and attributes of the candidate, and they know the business and its customers/clients ahead of the offer of employment.
4. Additional support with projects/tasks – an intern is there to provide support to employees that are working on a variety of projects and tasks. For example interns are able to help perform research tasks that take a lot of time to complete, but can be completed by someone holding a junior position within the company.
5. Brand advocates – when a student has a good internship experience it can encourage them to promote their employer and remain loyal to the business for many years to come.   Students will talk to their friends, family and university tutors about their internship and their experience with the company, so it is important that they leave feeling they have gained as much as experience as possible from their employer.

Today’s interns come equipped with new strategies for success straight out of the classroom, combine these new techniques with the real world and your business could be reaping the rewards in the future. 

For this year’s London Fashion Week, Topshop brought the front row to fashionistas fingertips launching fashion’s first interactive catwalk in a unique partnership with Facebook. As the UK’s leading agency working in shopping centres, Interdirect loves this unique way of combining social media, e-commerce and entertainment.

The high-street favourite, turned global fashion phenomenon has always been at the forefront of emerging digital trends in implementing innovative social media campaigns and with a little help from their friends at Facebook, this September saw them create a ‘customisable catwalk’ experience for the SS13 Topshop Unique Show.

Interdirect is always on the lookout for the latest touch screen trends, and this multi-touch, multi user ‘smart’ desk that has been designed for classrooms of the future is top of our list.

The team at Durham University have designed software and desks that recognise multiple touches on the desktop using vision systems that see infrared light. The ‘smart’ desks use the latest multi-touch technology and are the central component in the classrooms of the future. They will be networked and linked to a main smartboard in the classroom which will be controlled by the teacher. By using this touch screen ‘smart’ desk in the classroom students will be able to work together and use new technology to help them solve problems.

Interdirect loves these ‘smart’ desks, they will bring education into the 21st century and increase children’s familiarisation with the latest technology in the classroom.