CMV - The Show

Having my work exhibited with my peers at Colours May Vary was a great experience! Hanging work I was proud of on the wall for people to see and buy felt great, and the night was a celebration for all involved! Since the show I know I’ve sold a print which is great as personally I wasn’t sure whether my piece would be commercially viable given it included the name of the author with a range of his work; niche?

Being involved in the show, all the way from the start with promotional material through to the final launch night, has been a real eye opener in how the process of booking an exhibition works. Andy and 

CMV - PR Team

For this year’s Colours May Vary Exhibition, me and Chay were volunteered ourselves as team leaders for the PR Team. PR is something I haven’t done before, but I feel fairly confident with marketing and promotional work due to past experiences, not to mention working as a part of this team would put us in touch with real world contacts in the Leeds area that could prove very useful later down the line. 

We had to employ a strict deadline system and assign roles in order that the promo and exhibition itself ran smoothly. All work had to be brought in by the 2nd February, with invites to the private show emailed out by the 9th, as well as all physical flyers and posters for the show distributed by then too, ready for the show opening on the 12th. 

Throughout this process we took into consideration who we wanted to come to this event, we spoke to tutors from our course as well as doing individual research into local creatives ourselves. Me and Chay compiled a list of contacts to send out private invites to and had this Ok’d by members of staff. We also took it upon ourselves to visit the PR team at LCA to get them to send out an email advertising the event, as well as contacting Colours May Vary themselves and asking them to send out an email to their contacts. This allowed for a wide spread but focused audience attending the show. We then distributed flyers and posters in relevant cafes, bars and shops around the area. We targeted places primarily home to a creative demographic; as well as student hubs. In turn the promotional work wasn’t wasted and every poster and flyer printed contributed to the success of the show.

Life's a Pitch; Final Presentation & Evaluation

Before presenting it became apparent that a few members of the team felt a little nervous about public speaking. Though it does make me a little nervous myself, I felt confident with our company and the knowledge I had about it, so took the lead speaking role throughout our presentation. We made a few notes on each slide in presenter mode on power point to help if we got stuck at any point, but for the most part I felt we had a solid grasp on who, what and how our company would be.

Notes from Presentation View on PP

Slide 1. -

Slide 2. Names, roles? Designers, PR manager – jazz, accounting and finance - han, studio and store management - katie , distribution and manufacturing - jade

Slide 3. As stated based in leeds. -a face to face social brand involving audience with creation

-high crafted, illustrated and valued product

-positive impact on the environment a creative candle making company

-a company or people -Cherished and loved products

Slide 4. Range; basic, black magic bees, basic most affordable basic colours and packaging, black magic more experimentation in candle aesthetics eg glitter, melting away, shape, fragrance, bees environmentally friendly help support bee population & charity. Both black magic and soy more environmentally friendly compared with paraffin wax vegan friendly

Slide 5. Website: for commercial use with a clean accessible easy to navigate for all ages young and old whilst still retaining contemporary fresh and high end professional finish 

Slide 6. Website: for commercial use with a clean accessible easy to navigate for all ages young and old whilst still retaining contemporary fresh and high end professional finish 

Slide 7. Website: for commercial use with a clean accessible easy to navigate for all ages young and old whilst still retaining contemporary fresh and high end professional finish 

Slide 8. Online presennce; establish social media accounts such as fb insta twitter and blog to add personal element alongside website, contact manufactures and suppliers printing companies, buy in wax and mold // make ourselves, have packaging printed by third party to start, clients, start with own online store then potentially move to independent local craft fairs // markets and maybe branch into independent stores. Bee charities include potential BBKA (the british bee keepers association), RSBP, Adopt a hive ect to negotiate donations and profit margins in relation to bee’s needs product line 

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Feedback & Evaluation 

Overall I feel like our presentation went quite well! We were able to answer any questions at the end with confidence, and during the presentation the other team members helped to pitch in if at times I forgot any of the information.

The idea of expanding the products from just candles to beauty was a suggestion I thought was really great, if we were to undertake this project for real I would consider the possibilities of a bee-line beauty range.