Saturday 15 December 2012

Biggest week for deliveries

The Print Department is just finishing off the last of the gift branding; the gifts have all been packed and matched with their job sheets and print; and now we move into our biggest week for deliveries...

... and it's not just a case of getting the gifts out the door, Porter and Woodman offers a number of delivery options:

  • Simple bulk deliveries to one address
  • Multiple bulk deliveries to a number of addresses
  • One-off individual delivery
  • Multiple deliveries of individual gifts to a mailing list
It makes for a very busy week, with very careful attention to detail to ensure that everything goes out smoothly - after all, Christmas comes but once a year!

Call us on 01384 445844 or visit www.wineandhampergifts.co.uk to find out more.

Thursday 6 December 2012

Packing for Christmas

So now it's the turn of our Warehouse and Packing department...

The next two weeks are crucial at Porter and Woodman as we pick and pack the hampers ready for the Christmas deliveries.

Most of the printed tags, lids, sashes, compliments slips and gift cards are ready to be matched up to their orders by now, although there are still orders coming through, even now!

Our loyal and long-serving Warehouse staff work doubly-hard at this time of year; firstly packing all the gifts, then ensuring that they are matched up with the correct print, personalisation and delivery dockets.

It's hard, but rewarding work and the whole company comes together to help, making it a great atmosphere in the build-up to Christmas - but we won't lie, it's a big relief when we can shut the doors as the last delivery goes out. Then we can really enjoy Christmas!

Quick Reminder!
Final order day for guaranteed Christmas delivery is Friday 7th December - SO PLEASE HURRY!!!!

Visit www.wineandhampergifts.co.uk, e-mail sales@wineandhampergifts.co.uk or call 01384 445844 for more info.


Thursday 29 November 2012

It's all go in the Print Department

With the print order deadline just gone by and Christmas only a few weeks away, the Print Department is flat out printing all the corporate branding and personalisation for this year's gifts.

In fact, our screen-print department has been busy since the end of September with print for Christmas, but in the next few weeks more print will go through than at any other time of year.

If you haven't ordered yet, we can still take orders for unprinted Wine and Hamper Gifts until Tuesday 4th December - SO PLEASE HURRY!!!

Call us on 01384 445844 or visit www.wineandhampergifts.co.uk for more details.

Monday 12 November 2012

...and now Christmas really gets going!

 ... it's early in November, but Christmas is already underway for Porter and Woodman!

The Sales Office has been working hard processing all of the orders that have been coming in since September and now the Print Services department is converting all the print requests into proofs, then sending finished artwork on approved jobs down to the Print Room.

There's a real buzz about the place, so it feels like Christmas already!

If you haven't placed an order yet, take a look at the Wine and Hamper Gifts website. You can also register for our e-mail news or 'like' our Facebook page - so watch out for special offers on gifts in the coming weeks.

Porter and Woodman - making Christmas special for your clients and staff!



Tuesday 2 October 2012

...and now over to the Sales Office

It's now the beginning of October and the Sales Office takes over in our Christmas Story.

The brochure is printed and on prospective clients' desks, marketing has been in place since May, a PDF of the brochure available since July, the website in place 3 months earlier than the previous year, so now it's the turn of the Team in the Sales Office.

You might think that they sit there waiting for October to come, but that's not the case. All through the year, they are processing orders and giving advice to customers on our other businesses - Chalkboards UK, WoodenBox UK and Print Services, so when the Wine and Hamper Gifts orders start coming in, they really have their work cut out!

If you would like to know more about our beautiful range of corporate gifts, please give them a call on 01384 445844.

If you'd like to see just what goes into one of our gifts, we have a great little YouTube clip to show you.

Our corporate branded wine hampers are great as a 'thank you' to customers or staff - after all, it is a Porter and Woodman gift!

Wednesday 29 August 2012

The Christmas Story continues with the printed brochures...

... and so, after all the checking and double-checking is done, the Wine and Hamper Gifts Christmas brochure finally goes to print towards the end of July.

Whilst at the printers, it is checked on press by Mark Denison, our Print Services Director. He makes sure that the colour is correct on each page and that the print matches the signed off proofs.

By the middle of August, the brochure is delivered to our Stourbridge works, where it is checked again before mailing out at the beginning of September.

If you can't wait that long, you can download a PDF version by clicking here, or you can call us on 01384 445844 or e-mail sales@porterandwoodman.co.uk to make sure that you receive your copy.

To see just what goes into one of our beautiful, luxury hampers, why not take a peek at our new YouTube clip...

Now that you can see that a corporate wine and hamper gift isn't just for Christmas, give us a call on 01384 445844 and see what we can do for you for any promotion or staff gift throughout the year.

You can also visit our Print Services department's blog to see how the brochure has developed in the last eleven years...


Friday 24 August 2012

Christmas comes early for Local MP at Porter and Woodman


We were delighted to host our local Westminster MP, Margot James earlier this week.

Margot was keen to meet the company and learn how we are bucking the general economic gloom. She was impressed that we had recently taken on our 6th new employee of the year, taking the total number of staff up to 40.

Margot spent time looking at wooden packaging that was being made for delivery into Jamie Oliver’s delis and Christmas Gifts that were destined for the John Lewis Group.

She also visited our hamper showroom where she saw much of this year’s Christmas hamper range.
The full range is now available to see online at www.wineandhampergifts.co.uk or a brochure can be requested by ringing 01384 445844.

Friday 3 August 2012

New Ways to Brand Hampers with Corporate Logos…

Porter and Woodman are delighted with initial responses to the new way of branding their wicker basket and rustic crate hampers.


The printed 'sashes' are produced in-house by the Print Services department. Customers e-mail in their logos and messages, and 'virtual' proofs are signed off before the sashes are run out on their wide format printer. The sashes are then threaded carefully around the lid of the hamper or the slats of the crate.

The sashes create a very finished 'corporate hamper' that beautifully shows the customers logo and message.


This service is available on a number of hampers which include the Christmas Luxury Hamper, The Festive Fitted Basket and the Season’s Greetings Christmas Crate.





To see the full range visit www.wineandhampergifts.co.uk

Thursday 19 July 2012

Wine and Hamper Gifts' Christmas Website Launches


New hamper website launches

We are all delighted with the look of the new www.wineandhampergifts.co.uk  website which went live at the start of this week.

From plans that were made all the way back in February and photographs that were taken in May we now have a 'Rolls Royce' website that offers a great experience to the Corporate Hamper and Gift buyer.

Bets have been placed in the office on which gift is going to be this year’s top selling Christmas hamper and the consensus is that the 'Season’s Greetings' which uses a very stylish antique wooden crate as the hamper, will be the hands down winner. Priced at just under £44.00 you get an awful lot of gift for your money.

To see the full range visit www.wineandhampergifts.co.uk

Alternatively you can register your interest for the new Christmas brochure which will be available from mid-August onwards. Send your request to sales@porterandwoodman.co.uk

Wednesday 4 July 2012

The Christmas story continues with Print Services...

... so, the gift range has been finalised and all the pictures taken - now onto the Print Services Studio.

The first job is to identify and rename all of the raw photos supplied by the photographer. With nearly 200 shots to sift through; including pictures of packaging, incidentals and branding techniques; this process takes nearly two days to complete.

The priority is then to supply all of the shots for inclusion on the website, which requires cutting out all of the backgrounds so that all the gifts are on a plain white backdrop. The hi-res files are kept for later use in the brochure and a new set formatted for the website and social media. These are uploaded to the new site by early July.

In the meantime, work has already started on putting the brochure together. The hi-res files that have already been cut out are added to the pictures with backgrounds and we start the job of putting all the pages together.

By early July, a complete set of proofs is ready and checked by at least four other people within Porter and Woodman. A week later, after amendments are finalised, the completed brochure is ready as a downloadable PDF and goes to press. So the story continues...

To see just what goes into one of our beautiful, luxury hampers, why not take a peek at our new YouTube clip...

Now that you can see that a corporate wine and hamper gift isn't just for Christmas, give us a call on 01384 445844 and see what we can do for you for any promotion or staff gift throughout the year.

You can also visit our Print Services department's blog to see how the brochure has developed in the last eleven years...

Wednesday 27 June 2012

Well that about wraps it up for this Summer!

Although we've been thinking about Christmas since March, we still have to take a break from getting the main brochure ready to have a look at wine and hamper gifts for the Summer.

Wrap It Up! is Porter and Woodman's Summer newsletter, packed with beautiful gifts that can be used in any promotion, internet campaign or as a gift for customers and staff this Summer!

The theme is very much 'The Great Outdoors' with gifts such as:

Beach Party Special - BBQ Bucket

Picnic Garden Party


The Picnic Basket


The Gourmet Delight


Corporate Branded Champagne

We are also able to design bespoke gifts around any ideas you may have. If you'd like to receive the newsletter, please do not hesitate to contact us on 01384 445844, e-mail sales@porterandwoodman.co.uk, or download a PDF copy of the Wrap It Up! by clicking here.

               

Wednesday 20 June 2012

The Christmas Story continues with the photography...

...so, the gifts have all be selected and fine-tuned - what next?

By the middle of May, all the gifts are ready to have photography taken. Despite having our own purpose built photography studio, it isn't big enough to house this mammoth task, so the complete range is packed up and transported to a professional photography studio.

Each gift is then photographed as a finished item and laid out with props, with several pics taken at different exposures for each setting. From start to finish, this is a 3 week process, with the photographer spending the last week selecting the right exposure for each gift.

At the beginning of June, the pics arrive in our Print Services Studio to be made ready for the website, social media and the brochure, but that's another part of the story...

 

To see just what goes into one of our beautiful, luxury hampers, why not take a peek at our new YouTube clip...

Now that you can see that a corporate wine and hamper gift isn't just for Christmas, give us a call on 01384 445844 and see what we can do for you for any promotion or staff gift throughout the year.

You can also visit our Print Services department's blog to see how the brochure has developed in the last eleven years...

Wednesday 13 June 2012

A Christmas Story - that starts in March!

At Porter and Woodman, our Christmas story starts as far back as March - every year!

Once the dust has settled after the Christmas selling period, we spend some time reviewing which of our wine and hamper gifts sold well and start to develop our range for the next Christmas brochure.

We look at the produce, wines, beers and spirits that will be available another nine months down the line; which packaging might present each hamper in the best way; and develop new corporate branding and personalisation techniques for each gift.

The completed range of new gifts is finally brought together in the 'hamper room' to be reviewed and fine-tuned by the end of April.

The story continues in May when we direct the photography of each gift for the web and the brochure. Watch this space as we follow our own Christmas story throughout the year...

To see just what goes into one of our beautiful, luxury hampers, why not take a peek at our new YouTube clip...


Now that you can see that a corporate wine and hamper gift isn't just for Christmas, give us a call on 01384 445844 and see what we can do for you for any promotion or staff gift throughout the year.


You can also visit our Print Services department's blog to see how the brochure has developed in the last eleven years...

Thursday 12 January 2012

Say 'I Love You' with a Valentine Hamper Gift

What better way to say 'I Love You' on Valentine's Day than an exquisite wine and hamper gift?

Porter and Woodman has just launched its 2012 range of beautiful Valentine's wine and hamper gifts.

All the gifts come with a wooden swing tag, that can be printed with your personal message. You can choose from the following:

G281V - Valentine's Day Tray - £21.95
G49V - Valentine's Prosecco & Chocolates - £19.95
G26V - Champagne & Chocolates - £32.95
H27V - The Chocolate Tray - £27.95
G28V - Perrier Jouët & Chocolates - £45.95
H29V - Basket of Chocolates - £29.95
G30V - J. Lemoine Champagne in Wood - £31.95

All prices exclude VAT and a delivery charge of £5.95 + VAT per gift.

If you would like anymore information, please call us on 01384 445844