We're almost three! Three is a very exciting number, much better than two. It's a magic number, a lucky number and just about the right number of biscuits to go with a good cup of tea.
Much has happened in the last three years - we've added new products, moved offices, got new members of the team and seen our creative customers make everything from jewellery to marketing materials with the things they've printed.
But enough about the past for now, lets talk about the future!
We're having a party and we'd love you to come.
If you're based in London, please keep Tuesday September 22 free. There'll be cake, DJ's, free drinks and food (while stocks last), and the usual MOO fun and freebies, and it's all happening at The Queen of Hoxton from 7pm. All we ask is that you bring a business card (or MiniCard!) with you to hand over at the door. Entry will be on a first come/first served basis, so do make sure you come early.
For those unable to hot-foot it across the globe to join us - worry not. We're planning a month of fun and games (and discounts) online. Corvus, who wrote the fantastic clues for the Egg Hunt last year is hard at work planning something extra special (no egg puns this time please), and we think you're going to love it.
Thanks again to everyone who took part in our MOOvie Competition! We had a lot of fun watching your films - and it sounds like you had a lot of fun making them. From camera operators, to directors, to the movie stars themselves, the standard was high - and the judging was tricky.
Thanks then also goes to our esteemed, independent judging panel;
Heather Champ, www.Flickr.com
Joel Veitch, www.Rathergood.com
Jim Goertz, www.iStockphoto.com
Christian Robinson, www.firebox.co.uk
James Phillips, Corel
Now, without further ado, the winners!
Category, Storytime:
1st Prize: MOOvie Mania: Mooseum Mayhem, by The McIntyres
A wonderful stop-frame animation, with dramatic music to match the very dramatic story-line! This video took us back to our childhoods, reminding us of lazy summer afternoons, playing in the sunshine.
2nd Prize: MOOcards NY underground, by Mo Riza
A great little film, shot on the New York city subway. MiniCards were taken back to visit the origin of the photographs printed upon them.
3rd Prize : Life as a graphic Designer, by Marina
With two fine actors in starring roles, this film rang true with many. (Meanwhile, the non-designers coo-ed over the stars themselves!)
Category, Tutorial:
1st: PW98: Decorating a Netbook, by John Arnold
An absorbing tutorial, easy to watch, and resulting in a rather spectacular creation! We'd like to try this ourselves, but think we might cheat by numbering our stickers first...
2nd: One Million MOO's, by Geoff
A fantastic parody of our own MiniCard holder ad, this made everyone in MOO Towers laugh. (We too tried to come up with a catchy equivalent to 'Hold, Slide, Push' - but never quite got there).
3rd: Making a Mosaic Frame, Andy Piper
Andy kicked this competition off with his MiniCard Frame tutorial. Simple and effective, we loved the pacing, and the fact it's subtitled, for those sneaking a look in the office.
And now, the prizes!
The grand prize winners have been awarded a prize pack worth over £700 or approximately $1200:
• 1 Flip Mino HD (donated by Firebox)
• 1 Corel Video Studio X2 Ultimate (donated by Corel)
• £450 (GBP - or the equivalent in $USD i.e. $700)
• MOO Prize pack: 200 Business Cards, 1 Business Card Holder in leather, 1 pack of MiniCards, 1 Cobu MiniCard holder, 1 pack of 20 Postcards, ($157.95)
•1 Flickr Pro
2nd prize winners will be receiving:
• 1 Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate (donated by Corel)
• 200 Business Cards
• 1 Flickr Pro
3rd prize winners will be receiving:
• 200 Business Cards
• 1 Flickr Pro
• 50 iStockphoto Credits
If you've been inspired to make your own video since the close of the competition, do let us know, we love featuring your work when we can.
If there's one thing we like at MOO it's good ideas. And it's been a little while since our last post sharing ideas from our creative community - so we thought now would be a good time for a catchup. So, sit back and take in some of the cool ideas we've spotted recently.
Peta Love is an author, and founder of Biliopet, an indie publisher of gift books for pets. Her most recent tome, Beef Casserole for the Dog's Soul is 'a treasury of stories that your dog will love'.
Sadly, as most of you know, it's the owners - not the dogs - with all the money, so Peta has created these fantastic MiniCard tags as a promotional tool to catch the owner's eye.
Using the simple Text-o-matic tool for the front of the cards, each card has an area to fill in with doggy details on the back, and a little ring to attach the card to a dog's collar. Just like Jack Hooker's Business Cards, Peta rounded the MiniCard corners with a corner cutter.
We love the idea of creating multiple cards for people to personalise - it's a great value-for-money marketing tool, as you can get so many cards from one pack. We mentioned these last Christmas, but the idea still makes us smile:
These are personalised playdate cards, created by photographer Robyn Pollman. Originally designed as a Christmas gift, they work as both a client 'thank you' and a referral card. (And if you're looking for more inspiration for referral cards, we covered some cool ideas here.)
Readers of the MOOsletter might've spotted these super-cute magnets already. (If you'd like to sign up to the our MOO newsletter, there's a sign up box on the homepage at www.moo.com). Made with magnetic tape and MiniCards these feature fashion fucsia's own illustrations, and are for sale on Etsy:
What better way to promote your artwork and get your work into potential clients hands, than creating beautiful (saleable!) products?
These stylish MOO Postcards are also for sale on Etsy, created by artist and designer, Dee Adams.
And this display was created to accompany an exhibition of work by Natasha Newton. Also a MOO Designer, Natasha tells us not only did her exhibition go well, but her postcards 'sold like hotcakes!'.
Are your MOO Cards more than just Business Cards? Let us know what you're up to - we love to hear about innovative uses of our products, and featuring the brains behind them.
Yes, you are right. We're having a sale on all our products this weekend. It's a bit of a secret sale as you only see the savings when you hit the discount section of the shopping cart basket. Don't worry the sale is happening on both our US and UK site and across all products. No exceptions. That means anything you put in to the cart will be discounted by 20% when you hit our checkout page. Be sure to look for the discount amount in step 4. It'll be there.
Just in case you don't have a calculator handy, here's the savings on MiniCards and Business Cards:
MiniCards are regularly $19.99 and this weekend you will pay only $15.99. Or if you're buying in GBP that's originally £11.99 down to £9.59.
Business Cards are regularly $21.99 are this weekend they're only $17.59 Or if you're paying in GBP that's originally £12.99 down to £10.39
As always, good things must come to an end. The MOO Secret Summer Sale expires at midnight on Sunday August 9th (PST). So, if you hurry you can head out in to this glorious summer sun (it's sunny here in London) with your camera, take some classic summer shots, then make them in to MOO postcards and send to your Mum. That's my plan. The summer sun is calling me. Have a lovely weekend!
PS Remember, the sale's a secret.
So, our MOOvie competition has come to a close and the judging begins! We've had some great entries, from stop-frame to live action, informative to fun. Many thanks to everyone who entered - either by making a MOOvie, or starring in one!
These are the entries we've received:
Andy Piper kicked things off with his Making a Mosaic Frame tutorial. (For those who don't know, we're making some exciting changes to the frame, which should be in final production in a few months time!) Andy then went on to produce two more MOOvies, MiniCards in Stop Motion and a super speedy look at Ordering MOO Cards in Three Minutes!
Marina created a film about, Life as a Graphic Designer, with help from friends large and small. This resonated well with our own graphics team - although of course, we've never experienced those frustrations here ;o)
Shahab Zargari hunted high and low for a MOO Sticker with a little help from her high pitched (cute!) friend, Mahtab Zargari, while James Alliban wowed everyone with this Augmented Reality Business Card.
John Arnold impressed us all with his neat idea for Decorating a netbook with your own photograph using MOO stickers - we've rarely come across a more patient man!
The three , different songs by Mark Bethune took us a little by surprise, but we danced our way back down to earth with Vincent Lee's catchy little video,MOOving Around The World.
Mo Riza entered twice, once with this great MOO Cards in NYC underground clip, taking photographic MiniCards back to their original location, and once with a very relaxing MiniCards on the beach video.
Nine year old Anna Dale made this wonderful Moo Shoo stop frame animation featuring some rather cute typography, while The McIntyre's also went for stop frame animation of epic proportions! (We loved the music on this one too).
Alchemation Studios produced the only computer animated entry, while Marty Dunlop managed to convince his very understanding friends to star in his film First Impressions.
Last but not least, Geoff made us all smile with his film One Million Moo's, based around the many uses for a MiniCard holder! (We loved the icecream substitution for the wine in MOO's own MiniCard holder video!)
All together, much fun has been had by all - now we just need to find a winner. It's over to our judges for now, but stay tuned, and we'll let you know asap.
Thanks again to all who entered - we hope you had a s much fun making, as we've had watching.
