The French Riviera’s best kept secret has just been revealed – Welcome the Ellisium Partners.

For all of you who haven’t yet heard the whispers and gossip in the luxury market circles here on the south coast, the Ellisium Partners are taking the Côte d’Azur by storm. The idea behind the company started bearing fruit towards the end of 2009 within the luxury market circles – having already signed up some of the areas finest (in the luxury property sales, rentals, technology, finance and architecture markets) the list of companies wanting to join the partnership is growing…

The Ellisium Partners have a bold mission statement:
“We understand that our clients have exacting standards, at Ellisium Partners, so do we.”

Pure Design are delighted to reveal their partnership with the Ellisium Partners as their preferred and recommended supplier of website design and graphic design materials. We will also be on hand to supply luxury printed materials and offer excellent rates to the partners. Working together with MMMarketing, the Ellisium Partnership’s future looks bright…

For anyone based on the French Riviera, the recent ‘chatter’ and gossip about THE new online lifestyle magazine soon to launch here on the Côte d’Azur has been gaining pace. Pure Design were first contacted back in December 2008 by Wayne Brown and his team regarding project assistance on the ‘machine’ we now know as FR2DAY.

Launching on 13th May in Cannes, FR2DAY is a sassy, punchy new online lifestyle magazine and is the sister magazine to the LA based LA2DAY. Written by locals and edited by top UK entertainment and showbiz writer Karen Hockney, it will carry information on showbiz, local talent, shopping, food, style, fashion, travel and what’s on from Monaco to Marseille.

Primarily aimed at the ex-pat Anglophone residential market on the Cote d’Azur, a French version will be launched later in 2009.

Pure Design are proud to be working with Wayne and his team at FR2DAY and hope the project proves to be a huge success.

Pure Design are proud to announce the release of the French Buying Process. Designed and printed for Home-Hunts – the luxury search specialists – the guide explains some of the pitfalls to avoid when purchasing a property in France and gives advice on finding your idea property and other related issues.

Contents:

- The professionals involved – Who are they?
- Working out your price range
- Finding your ideal property
- Purchasing your property
- Property taxes and related issues
- Life Assurance 

The French Buying Process:

  

Get your own – Open publication

So here we are 7 days into 2009.  We closed our doors over Xmas and New Year and enjoyed a nice relaxing time back in Preston in the UK with the family.  I managed to get through all my “to do’s” from my list this time: – drinking locally brewed beer, playing the drums in a band, organising a treasure hunt for several under 8s, taking my dad on the football and not getting ill!!!!

Back to France on the 8th and ‘BANG’ – ill!!!!!  Sounds like everyone has had it, has it or will get it – seems like 2009 is welcoming everyone with’les bronchites’!!!

Work has been kind – several website proposals have come to fruition and end of January deadlines are looking ‘do-able’.  We’ve had half a dozen new enquiries, everything from print, branding and eCommerce sites.  I’ve even helped a friend of mine set up his own design company over in Le Tignet.  Full of enthusiasm and talent, I’m sure he’ll be a success!!!

So, I’m sorry I’ve not followed the hoards and sent out a generic ‘Happy New Year’ card – I thought I’d just write a few words here in the rambling corner of Pure Design and wish you all a successful year (even with the newspapers trying to scare us silly with stories of woe and suffering).

All the best!
Ben

On a recent visit to the UK I was browsing the latest Easyjet Inflight Magazine when I stumbled upon a very interesting article – All Ads Up.

The article begins: “No more big board room pitches, no insider dealing, no limit the pool of possible solutions to the brief, no more wasted time”. Introducing Open Ad - a website where advertising creatives and companies looking for creative advertising ideas can meet on the open market.

Creatives get the opportunity to pitch their ideas to some of the world’s biggest brands, while the brands get access to a huge pool of talent. I instantly signed up to Open Ad which created a snowball effect causing Pure Design becoming one of the most sought after design agencies in Cannes, Nice, Monaco…in fact across the whole of the south of France.

As co-founder Katarina Skoberne puts it, “its like buying a piece of music, not the artist’s studio time”.

I admire this straight forward attitude regarding advertising and creative thinking and after 12 years in the advertising agency, and 5 years in a creative design agency in Cannes feel that the industry in changing. How much is an idea worth?  It cannot be measured in time and materials, it just doesn’t work that way in any profession anymore.  

On the other side of the coin, especially in this dog-eat-dog world of advertising and marketing, I am becoming very aware of the fact that business is becoming very impersonal!  I don’t know about you but I like to see who I work with and who I work for.  I like to sit down and chat over a coffee….see what people are like and let them see what I’m like.  Then, and only then can a proper business relationship be formed.

So whether Open Ad will become the future of advertising remains to be seen, but at least someone is trying … “95% of any idea is in the implementation, it’s how you make it work that matters”.

Following the successful TED conference in December 2007, Pure Design are starting a new weblog on advertising, design and marketing in France featuring many of our favourite marketing experts and freelancers.

Our first weblog features Seth Godin, a specialist in marketing in the digital age – a highly sought-after lecturer, successful entrepreneur, respected pundit and high-profile blogger.

If you agree with Seth’s thoughts please leave a comment – if you don’t agree with Seth’s thoughts, even better, leave a comment!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBIVlM435Zg[/youtube]