The founder of PriceYourMeal.com, the food auction website, wants to replace the market leader in online services to the restaurant sector with a superior next generation website.

With a vast range of dull and relatively expensive online booking services already on the market, PriceYourMeal.com is empowering users to decide for themselves how much they want to pay for meals at top restaurants and hotels by bidding for meals and eating out at a price that suits their pockets.

Sukhvir Dhillon, founder and managing director of priceyourmeal.com, said, “Our aim is to create a restaurant promotion site using a Google type business model. Rather than charging restaurants heavily for bookings and mailshots (as they are through sites like toptable.com), PriceYourMeal.com provides innovative solutions that are mostly free of charge.

“We provide a ‘one-stop-shop’ for restaurants where they can promote their business, get online bookings and create, manage and promote their own customer database for free.

“As well as an online booking service – which we offer restaurants at a fraction of the price charged by our competitors – we are the only site where customers can participate in all the excitement of online auctions and the chance of winning a great meal at a bargain price.”

Other innovative features on PriceYourMeal.com include an interactive events planner, enabling friends or colleagues to discuss and arrange events or nights out in a unique and fun way by getting participants to vote for where they go.

Launched in Glasgow in March 2006 and in Edinburgh a year later, last month’s London-launch of priceyourmeal.com precedes a nationwide rollout of the website which, since inception, has hosted some 100,000 auctions – a figure it hopes to double over the course of the next 12 months – with customers saving, on average, 50 per cent off the menu price of a meal.

Marketing students at the University of Glasgow increased the average attendance at a recent Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) concert by over 70%.

As part of their course, the students had been set the task of increasing the number of people attending a RSNO concert held in Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow. They succeeded in increasing the average attendance from 750 to an impressive 1200.

Graham Ball, the student who carried out the campaign explained: “The music played at the concert was from famous movies such as Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings. To increase attendance we leafleted extensively in the city centre with some students wearing RSNO t-shirts while others wore fancy dress costumes of characters from the films.This had a significant response from young families, traditionally an under-represented group at classical music concerts."

Head of Marketing for the RSNO, David Stark, read the best of the students’ projects and incorporated some of their suggestions into the rest of his marketing campaign.

The Strategic Marketing Honours class from Glasgow University's Business School undertook this project for the RSNO’s ‘Classic Bites’ series.

To address concerns about the legalities of protecting brands and contractual implications of marketing contracts, one of Scotland's leading law firms is hosting a seminar to answer your questions.

The technology, media and commercial team at DLA Piper Scotland will be sharing their expertise on the areas of law that impact on the day-to-day business of marketing professionals on 8 April.

Some of the current topics which will be open for discussion include brand protection, contractual issues with marketing and media suppliers, advertising regulations and website development and hosting.

All attendees will have the opportunity to pose questions to the specialist lawyers as well as network with fellow marketing professionals.

Registration & Refreshments 4.30 - 5.00pm

Seminar Starts 5.00pm

Q&A Session 6.00pm

Networking 6.30 - 7.00pm

Venue: DLA Piper, 249 West George Street, Glasgow G2 4RB
Contact: Rachel Middleton
Phone: 0131 242 5520
Fax: 0131 242 5563

A new awards scheme aimed at encouraging more young people in the Highlands and Islands to set up businesses in the arts, craft and creative industries sector was launched last week.

The Jolomo PSYBT Awards is the result of a unique partnership between the Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust (PSYBT) and John Lowrie Morrison - Jolomo - one of Scotland’s best loved contemporary artists.

Throughout 2008 and 2009, with the help of a generous donation of £10,000 from John Lowrie Morrison, the awards will support approximately 8 young entrepreneurs in the arts and creative industries through PSYBT start-up grants of up to £1000 as well as loans of up to £5000. Eligible candidates will include everything from fine arts such as sculpting to handicrafts like quilting, through to decorative arts including wood crafting and glass blowing, and applied arts such as graphic design and film making.

Every two years, the award scheme will recognise the special achievements of three young businesses under themes including distance travelled/personal development, commercial awareness/business skills and innovation/creativity. Winners will be selected jointly by PSYBT and Jolomo and will receive prizes of £500 as well as special promotional opportunities and inclusion on Jolomo’s website.

More information on the awards which will take place in October this year and qualifying criteria can be found on the website, www.psybt.org.uk or by contacting Rebecca Logan on 0141 243 5363.                                                                                                           

 

For busy bosses, the Scottish Marketing Community has identified three workshops this Spring that could boost your marketing effort.

Voice-coaching

This is a one-day workshop in vocal impact presentation with veteran broadcaster Steve Hamilton at Radio Forth's studios in Edinburgh on 16th March.

For personal confidence, or training for voiceovers and broadcasting, the workshops are inspiring and fun. They include a personal recording session and a CD demo to take away.

Contact Jilly Hamilton
tel. 0131 663 3160
steve@thevoicecoach.co.uk
Fee: £195
www.thevoicecoach.co.uk

"Writing for the web" is a day long course on Thursday 24 April run by the Scottish Book Centre.

Writing for the web is different from writing in print. The web is interactive and readers' attention spans are notoriously short. This session in web copywriting will help you to improve style and consistency. Participants will be taught to write effective copy with headlines that demand attention and summaries that draw readers into the site.

Contact Joan Lyle
tel. 0131 228 6866
Fee £225 plus VAT.

Selling your stories - PR workshop

How do you get a journalist interested in your news releases? How do you approach the journalist? This workshop focuses on the importance of having a story the journalist wants, and how to present it as effectively as possible. The programme is highly interactive. It takes place on 3rd June in Glasgow.

Contact David Sawyer
dsawyer@webershandwick.com
Tel. 0141 333 0557

The Moray Chamber of Commerce has appointed a new marketing and events manager to boost membership and co-ordinate the activities of local businesses.

The Chamber's core membership comprises some of the UK's biggest brands such as Baxter's Food Group, Walkers Shortbread, Gordon and MacPhail, Johnston's of Elgin, Diageo and the Edrington Group.

It now wants to widen its appeal to include much smaller businesses.

The new marketing and events manager Lesley Ann Parker said: "The chamber is all about pulling business together across sectors and scale and I feel that there is no greater opportunity to do this than in Moray, enabling the smallest of businesses to learn and interact with their peers. An increased membership would not only make the group more representative but strengthen its influence."

The annual corporate dinner will be held in September when the Moray Chamber will present its award for outstanding contribution to the Moray economy.

Moray Chamber of Commerce can be contacted on 01340 881226.