August 26th, 2010
Mango Studio relaunched the National Water Sports Centre’s website in July. Never has it been so easy to make a booking: you choose the activity, then your date and time and finally buy some extras as part of a revamped booking experience!
All this can be possible thanks to our booking system technology integrated in a fully functional website where its eye-catching design doesn’t prevent users from making their bookings. The full service provided by mango included the creation of a telesales integrated online booking system, a Content Management System, an online community area, as well as an online marketing campaign. Since the launcher of the NWSC’s website, thousands of users have experienced the advantages of a fresh and user-friendly interface like never before!!
The National Water Sports Centre, located just 10 minutes from the city centre of Nottingham, provides fun, challenging and unique experiences with a range of water sports activities and exciting courses. Families, groups, schools, companies and individuals are welcomed to enjoy the activities and facilities offered by NWSC. And from now on, more than never, since users can make their bookings in a convenient way and see that the new booking system is a true reflection of the centre itself.
August 9th, 2010
Alicia Villegas joins us for a minimum six month period as a business administrator. After completing her university studies in Social Communication in Spain, Alicia was working in different kinds of media outlets. Having worked for three years as a journalist, she decided to come to Bristol with the intention of improving her English communications and inevitably be seen as an attractive acquisition for international companies.
Alicia was able to join Mango thanks to the Leonardo da Vinci Programme, promoted by the European Commission. This programme includes mobility initiatives enabling people to have a work-related training abroad in order to improve their employment potential.
About her first experience in an international company, Alicia said: “Working in a company such as Mango Studio gives me the opportunity to get closer to the job market in the international context, complete my work experience background and improve my English language. I’m sure that I will grow professionally and personally”. She feels really happy working in a company as Mango Studio, because “there is a great work atmosphere”. “I’m really grateful to Vinnie for giving me the opportunity to improve myself at Mango Studio, I will do my best during these six months”. MD Vinnie Morgan has already been impressed with Alicia’s deliverables and has full confidence that she will quickly establish herself as a key individual within the company.
Alicia’s appointment comes in conjunction with Mango Studio’s increasing client base and industry standards. In Q4 2010, Mango aim to have in place the Investors in People accreditation and the Quality Assurance 9001 standard of which Alicia will accomplish. She will also deliver new policies within the company and introduce updated important procedures and documentation such as staff manuals. We can’t wait and welcome to the team Alicia!!
July 2nd, 2010
After recently winning Business Awards for their Booking System technology, Mango Creative Studio’s work has been recognised again with the ‘South West Top 10 Creative Companies to Watch’ honourable mention.
Mango Studio opened their SouthWest Office in September 2009 and has now been included in the ‘Top 10 ones to Watch’ for being an “exciting company” which is working on “exciting projects and as such deserve a bit of recognition”, as Paul Appleby, chair of Bristol Media, states in his article ‘The times they are changing: a year of retrospect’.
‘Top 10 ones to watch’ award is a special mention into the’ Top 100 South West Creative Companies in 2010’ list, which is based on the company’s turnover. In the second Top 100 publication, those companies which had been thought to have an honourable mention for doing interesting and exciting work, have been award-winning within the industry. Mango Studio has been one of these companies, adding a new recognition to its history that coincides with a moment of expansion and new business opportunities for the creative studio.
This is not only good news for Mango Studio, also for the digital sector of the South West region. Instead of the so many times mentioned crisis, the digital sector has seen a great growth with a 22.2% increase in turnover across the region, what mean this sector is into a very promising panorama.
For more info see: http://www.swtop100.co.uk/top-10-to-watch
March 20th, 2010
Mango Creative Studio’s managing director Vinnie Morgan has had a fruitful start to 2010 by winning the Entrepreneur of the Year award at the Best New Business Awards
The award is the next in a string of prestigious awards won by the studio and its team including Best Business and Best Digital Technology at the Blueprint Business Awards 2009, Vinnie scooping the top award in the North East ‘If We Can, You Can’ campaign and also being shortlisted for both GSEA International Entrepreneur 2009 and UK Interactive Entrepreneur 2009.
Winning Entrepreneur of the Year is an exciting start to 2010 and signals another year of success for the digital studio who specialise in the creation and development of online booking systems and web applications for the leisure and experience industry as well as providing online marketing and a variety of e-commerce solutions. The company continues to grow strength to strength securing a number of high profile and lucrative contracts and developing a strong reputation nationwide.
The Best New Business Awards are held annually in the North East and recognise and celebrate outstanding new British businesses. The Entrepreneur of the Year prize is awarded to the entrepreneur who the judges think best demonstrates exceptional vision and leadership and has identified and optimised a market opportunity to create a strong commercial presence. Mango Studio have certainly achieved this goal and the awards they have received highlight the success of the company in terms of individual vision and both technological and business ability.
Mango Studio opened an office in the Southwest at the end of 2009, an expansion coinciding with new business opportunities and strategic growth. Retaining their original base in the North East alongside the new southern headquarters, Vinnie recently had the chance to challenge Dragon’s Dens very own Doug Richards during an event held in Newcastle. Vinnie was personally invited to discuss Mango Studio’s business model and objectives; a challenging but enjoyable and worthwhile experience.
Vinnie commented, “The invitation was one not to miss and I was fully aware of Doug’s brutal business approach. Exchanging our views on business reassured my belief that, whilst this is a difficult time for businesses in the digital sector, we are currently doing everything possible to build and develop a reputable business with an exciting future. This year will see heavy investment and strategic growth to coincide with our long-term business strategy”.
With another prestigious award to add to the list, a lucrative client base and exciting plans for the months and years ahead, 2010 is set to be another year of great success for Mango Studio.
Interested how we can help your online presence, being a website, e-commerce or fully integrate booking management system?
Then give us a call on 0117 370 6316 or 01642 680 209, we’d be delighted to hear from you!
December 25th, 2009
Hello, I’m Gemma, the Business Manager for Mango Studio and I will be your host for this year’s Christmas newsletter (hence the reindeer photo!).
I’ve worked for Mango Studio now for nine months handling the company’s PR, HR, finance and business admin. 2009 has been a very exciting and demanding year. I would like to share our news with you and tell you about some of our plans for 2010.
Mango Open New Offices
Mango Studio opened new offices this year in Bristol. Our new offices are fantastic with excellent transport links not only to the South West but also to the M4 corridor, giving us access to clients in a far wider area. We are also retaining our Middlesbrough studio, where I am based, meaning that our links with the North East remain strong.
It has been a tough year for us, but despite the additional pressure of economic challenges, we are thrilled to have celebrated a number of award wins including Best Digital Technology 2009 and Best Business 2009. Managing Director Vinnie Morgan also scooped the top award in the Straight From Education category at the North East ‘If We Can, You Can’ campaign awards as well as being shortlisted for both GSEA International Entrepreneur 2009 and UK Interactive Entrepreneur 2009.
Winning these awards and receiving recognition for our skills and successes makes all our hard work worthwhile. Read more..
OneDoor Launch
OneDoor recently commissioned Mango Studio to redevelop their online website presence.
Partnering six educational establishments in the Tees Valley area, OneDoor is an education network providing higher-level training, innovation support, business mentoring, careers guidance and financial support through a single point of access.
OneDoor appointed Mango Studio to design and create their online presence in collaboration with a marketing and PR campaign. To see the new site and find out more, please visit www.onedoor.co.uk.
Have a Jolly Christmas
Well it’s that time of year again and I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very merry Christmas and happy new year!
We very much look forward to developing and strengthening our relationships with you in 2010. Here’s to a happy and fun Christmas!
December 10th, 2009
A trio of talant have recently been appointed at Mango Studio during a fantastic stage of expansion and form part of our new South West regional team in Bristol.
Left to Right: David Whelan, Barry Swaisland and Antoine Kougblenou
David Whelan joins us as Non-executive Director where he will be responsible for planning strategic growth within the company. Having worked with many major brand names, David has now become much sought after. He is currently working with a number of companies in a variety of industry sectors. With over 30 years experience in various industries and a portfolio of companies second to none, David brings with him a wealth of knowledge in all aspects of running and developing a successful business and will be a great asset to the company.
Barry Swaisland joins us as from Imperial Business Systems Ltd as our new Senior Developer. With 10 years experience, Barry will be responsible for the day-to-day management of our technical developers in both Bristol and Shanghai, where he will help to keep our projects and staff development firmly on track. When he’s not at work, Barry likes nothing better than reading and ice skating.
Finally is Antoine Kougblenou, our new Technical Developer. As a recent graduate from Teesside University, Antoine brings a breadth of knowledge and enthusiasm. In his new role, Antoine will be responsible for technical development and support help desk. Antoine is a master of drawing, dancing and playing guitar. Some might say he’s a multi-talented man!
MD Vinnie Morgan said: “David, Barry and Antoine have joined us at a really exciting time of our expansion and form the core team at our Bristol Studio. It’s great to have so many talented and experienced individuals working together as we continue to strengthen our position as one of the UK’s leading management and booking system suppliers.”
November 27th, 2009
Unit testing has normally meant loading your application into Firefox and Internet Explorer and ensuring the main functionality still works.
With our booking and events management system written in OO PHP and the fast growth of the company the ability to test each individual section of code in a very detailed level without affecting the delivery dates for our clients in very important. With that in mind PHPUnit gives the opportunity to create and organise unit tests for our websites to ensure that a large amount of testing covering functionality across the application can be run fast and often.
Barry Swaisland, Senior Developer says, “This new process being introduced here at Mango Studio means a more robust system that after every change will ensure the highest quality for our event bookings, voucher sales and back office administration. Both clients and end users can expect to benefit from this change”.
For more information on unit testing in PHP follow these links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_testing
http://www.phpunit.de/
November 9th, 2009
Are we moving from a digital age into an information age?
That is a question I recently asked government representative Ben Bradshaw at the cabinet forum.
Recently I was invited by the British Council to attend the c&binet forum in Hertfordshire, which brought together business leaders from across the creative and finance industries to discuss finance for creative industries, new business models for online content, developing talent and securing creative rights. Here are some of the related topics of debate.
An opening speech from the prime minister set the tone for a prestigious debate on digital Britain. Throughout the event, the panel (including David Rowan, editor of Wired and Neil Berkett, CEO of Virgin Media) discussed the economic climate, having identified that other industries are looking to the creative industry for new business models. But how do they expect creatives to lead the way with certain restrictions (such as the ordnance survey holding back postcode data) preventing the sector from flourishing?
Digital agencies and businesses similar to ourselves at Mango Studio are now being told refocus and concentrate on product investment, distribution, marketing and contacts. However it is the government that needs to listen to us creatives and work at the same speed. They must move fast on issues such as P2P, which is causing everyone problems when distributing journalism, media and music. Despite the music industry being in fantastic shape with colossal demand and supply, they need to educate those responsible through providing a clear solution to current consumer behaviour. [update: 25.11.09 - digital economy bill]
With Mango Studio now embarking on a clear road map for future development of our digital business, it was interesting to see a rather un-diverse panel judge the future of digital Britain. Their tolerance remains impartial to a non-sustainable model and I personally hope they work together, listen to our views and move quickly to allow us creatives to flourish on an international scale. Overall it was a fantastic conference, a great first experience and my thanks go to the British Council. And in answer to my question, “yes, quite possibly”.
Vinnie Morgan, MD.
October 13th, 2009
We are delighted to announce that as of Monday 21st September 2009, Mango Creative Studio Ltd opened new regional offices in the South West of England. The new office which is based in Bristol will give us access not only to the South West but also to the M4 corridor allowing us to provide our valuable services to a greater catchment area. We will also be retaining our Middlesbrough studio which will be our gateway to the North East.
These are exciting times for Mango Studio as we look to continue our development of leisure management and booking software over the coming years. As part of the new offices, we have recruited two new members of staff. More information coming soon.
Our additional contact details are:
Mango Creative Studio Ltd
1st Floor Prudential Buildings
11 - 19 Wine Street
Bristol
BS1 2PH
t. +44 (0)117 370 6316
e. bristol[at]mangostudio.eu
s. http://support.mangostudio.eu
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
September 8th, 2009
Is anyone else already fed up with all this twitter malarkey? If you do tweet its probably because you’re following suit and you’ll know it is a full time job to monitor everything. Soon we’ll have jobs ads requesting full time social bloggers! Twitter’s popularity stems from simplicity of communication, cool viral with involvement and freebies. Remember how email changed from social enjoyment to a social annoyance? Are we witnessing the same thing in Twitter?
What I concluded from the 262 seconds of video below (apart from it ripping off Did You Know 3.0) was that only 26% of 68% of this video that has a black font is correct. 30% of the content is too fast to read considering that the average reader will read 75% slower than the composer who likely produced this on one of the 42% white apple macs sold this year. Confused? You should be.
There is indeed a revolution taking place but how does using social media perpetuate consumer spending? The concept certainly makes the case for Social Media in business but even so, the numbers in this video are wildly exaggerated (probably because they grow so fast that by the time you read them, they are outdated).
Its true, radical change is imminent because as socialnomics rightly states, many of today’s social networks do not make money. What that change is nobody really knows, we can only assume that Twitter will rule and become the immediate source of news, online video will boom and social shopping will finally emerge next year.
Whatever your opinion, Social Media is exploding all around us. So, have fun, be helpful and be attractive. And if you’re like me, be controversial. Enjoy.
