AR boards: more interactivity than ever!

September 11, 2018September 11, 2018 admin

Our new AR boards use technology to come alive!

Our photo boards are the ultimate in getting people to interact with a brand, cause or message. They put their faces in them, after all – that’s about as interactive as you can get with your clothes on. But we’re always pushing the envelope here at Photo Cutouts. We’ve come up with selfie boards, folding boards, photo walls … and now, AR boards!

How are these new boards even more interactive than our regular boards? Simple. They have a code printed on them that is recognised by an app that anyone with a smartphone can download. Point the smartphone at the board, and it comes alive with animations, videos and messages that can be personalised to your events!

‘AR’ stands for Augmented Reality. This technology superimposes animations over a scene viewed on a smartphone or tablet screen to make objects appear to be in the scene. Remember the Pokémon Go craze in 2016? That was AR. Players hunted monsters in the real world that would appear to be ‘there’ in the app, superimposed on, say, a street scene.

Our AR-enabled boards have an extra dimension of fun because when viewed with the app, they come alive with animations and messages. Check out the video above for a simple example of our AR boards in action. By the way, we’ve called the product ‘Virtual Reality Boards’ because some of us thought people would understand what they are more quickly that way. Strictly, they are AR rather than VR, and we know that – so please don’t write in!

With these photo boards you don’t need any special equipment like VR goggles, and you aren’t going to be stumbling into things and falling over as you navigate a virtual world. All you need is an AR board and a smartphone. Download the app and point the phone at the AR boards, and watch it come alive!

Find out more about Photo Cutouts AR boards here

Photo boards: the finishing touch for festivals

August 30, 2018August 30, 2018 admin

Festivals draw in crowds with photo boards

Here are a few of the festivals that have used our photo boards this year. From the large to the small, festivals are events that require branding and exposure. A great way to get people to participate in marketing and popularising a festival is to have one or more photo cutout boards made. They can be placed strategically around the event itself or used in public places before the event to drum up interest. They project a professional image of the event and can carry its main strapline as well as all relevant branding information, such as logos, images, hashtags, web addresses, emails and phone numbers. And here’s the good bit. People love to interact with photo boards, put their faces in the holes and snap funny photos which – guess what? – get shared on social media, bearing the festival’s image and message. The internet does the rest.

Here are some on the boards we’ve done this year for this type of event.

1. Wannabee, the Spice Girls Show at Frimley Lodge Live

Frimley Lodge Live is an annual music festival in Surrey Heath. We made this board for Spice Girls tribute act Wannabee.

2. Oktoberfest

Beery Teutonic oompah-and-lederhosen event Oktoberfest is growing in popularity here in the UK. It’s easy to see why. What’s not to like about sausages, sauerkraut and endless gallons of beer? This board from our Seasonal Range is off-the-peg for Oktoberfest and was used at several events last year. We can add branding for specific beer festivals by request. And the great thing is, it’s beer-proof! The Foamex PVC board doesn’t absorb liquids and can be wiped dry.

3. Bury St Edmunds and Halifax Food & Drink Festivals

Hear ye, hear ye! Local food, drink and business festivals can really benefit from photo boards. People see them around town and they help to raise awareness of the event. It’s simple really. Add the interactivity and fun of them being face-in-hole boards, and they can quickly build up public interest in a local festival. Probably cheaper than employing a town crier too.

Bury St Edmunds Food & Drink Festival

Halifax Food & Drink Festival

4. Chinese New Year

The seasonal Chinese New Year festival is well known throughout the UK. The event can be used for marketing, which electronics giant Huawei have done with this board.

5. Camp Bestival

Family festival and camping experience Camp Bestival is loads of fun for kids and their adults. They used this board well in advance of the event as well as at the event itself.

We’ve got lots more boards for festivals in the pipeline, but we can ‘t tell you about them yet because the events are still to happen!

Organising a festival? Tell your marketing folks to give us a call on 08450 570321, visit our site or drop us an email!

Halloween party boards

August 15, 2018 admin

Halloween party boards: you’d be bats not to get one

Fresh for this year, we’ve brought our Halloween face in hole boards up to date by making them a bit more cartoony, with some cheeky little details. Hire or buy one to add extra fun and photo memories to your Halloween event.

As always they are made of weatherproof, durable foamex PVC board with a high-quality image printed onto it. The feet are sturdy aluminium and keep the board upright in moderate winds. We cannot guarantee them against vampire and werewolf attacks, but you’ll be pleased to know that tomato juice and pumpkin flesh wipe off the boards easily.

Halloween photo cutouts — PhotoCutouts team members out for blood

Halloween event planners can hire or buy these designs off-the-peg with rapid delivery to the UK mainland. They can also order custom boards with added features such as messages, slogans, logos, hashtags, web addresses, phone numbers or other information. We can adapt an existing design to include this branding information or do a completely new, one-of-a-kind custom design that will never be repeated!

The new boards in the seasonal range have three face holes. If it is preferable to the customer we can cut out just two holes and leave the rest of the artwork intact.

Planning Christmas already? Get your face in the ho-ho-hole!

Like Halloween ghouls, Christmas is also sneaking up on us and will soon have us in its grasp. Well, we also have a new range of Christmas boards that we have re-designed for 2018. Get your face in the ho-ho-hole with our festive boards featuring Santa and his pals. Here’s a post all about our awesome Christmas boards.

Christmas snow globe, marketing, experiential, events — Christmas guests are going to LOVE our new snow globe board!

The ‘hole’ point of face in hole boards is to take photos – that’s why we call them photo cutouts. Our boards help to create great photo memories of Halloween parties and events!

Just don’t lose your head!

Discover our seasonal range, including the new Halloween boards, here.

For a friendly quote on a custom board, talk to Shelley or Jim on 08450 570321.

Engage children with photo cutout boards!

August 2, 2018 admin

Face in hole boards are always a hit at children’s events!

Photo cutout boards are always an attraction at events involving children. For these events, we make the board an appropriate size and height and cut out the face holes so that small people can reach them to put their faces through. There are also Selfie Boards that have no feet but are held at eye level, which eliminates any height issues.

Kids ‘get’ face in hole boards straight away (so do grown-ups – maybe that’s why they are so popular.) The idea is just so simple and effective, ad the results are usually pretty funny. That’s what makes Photo Cutouts such a great photo opportunity!

Here are some examples of photo cutout boards we’ve produced for children’s events recently.

Dusty’s Puddle Jumping Championships

We are rabid fans of Aardman Animations, so when we got a call to make a board involving a character designed by them, we jumped at it. Into a puddle! Dusty’s Puddle Jumping Championships was organised by London Wetland Centre and supported by the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust. Before jumping in muddy puddles to see who was the best at it, children were photographed in this board as a reminder of how much fun they had that day.

Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust

Sailing superstar Ellen MacArthur’s charity helps children and young people regain their confidence after cancer. This fun interactive board is used at their live events to promote the charity’s message with its Twitter, Facebook and Instagram handles.

Professor Shambles

A classic Punch and Judy board for children’s entertainer Professor Shambles. This is one of our stock seaside boards with the customer’s name, tagline and phone number added.

David Walliams T’riffic Takeover Days

This series of school events in Wales was organised by Magic Light Productions using characters from David Walliams’ books for children. It was a scream! Here’s the full blog post about it.

Now Press Play

Now Press Play is an immersive audio resource that engages primary school children in the curriculum through emotion, imagination and movement. This hand-held photo cutout board helps to promote their technology.

So those are a few examples of photo cutout boards for children’s events we have created recently. To order one for your kids’ event, call Photo Cutouts on 08450 570 321 or email us.

Big cheques made to your specifications

July 25, 2018July 25, 2018 admin

We’re always going on about our face in the hole boards, but don’t forget we also make big cheques for a range of events. They are bigger than competitors’ cheques and can be single-use printed or dry-wipe for multiple use! They are made out of the same material as our face-in-the-hole boards and stand-up props: waterproof, lightweight, weather-resistant PVC foamex board. No floppy, soggy cardboard cheques here!

Big cheques uk — Now THAT’s a giant cheque!

Photo Cutouts big cheques come in three sizes: Small (100cm x 50cm), Medium (150cm x 75 cm) and Large (200cm x 100cm). We could make a custom cheque for you that’s bigger or smaller, but these are our standard sizes and are the quickest to order. Call us for the current turnaround time. It’s always only a few days, but the number of days can vary at different times of year depending on demand. Whatever happens, we’ll get your giant cheque out to you as quickly as we possibly can, and agree on a delivery date before you place your order.

We print them up with any logos, names, web addresses and hashtags the customer requests and ship them out quickly in time for your presentation event. We aim to provide the best quality and value giant cheques available in the UK.

Our big cheques really make a splash as a photo opportunity at a variety of events. Charity donations from companies, fundraising presentations, sports league prize presentations (snooker, darts, racing, etc.), big bingo wins, birthday cheques, wedding gift presentations, corporate awards, and any event where the focus is on money being given or received. They are light enough to hand around from one person to the next for photos is it’s a team event – in fact the biggest one is big enough for several people to hold at once, so a small team can get behind it for photos.

If you need a large presentation cheque, call us on 08450 570321 for prices, turnaround time and design options. Alternatively email office@connectedshopping.com. Find out more on our site.

5 examples of public awareness campaigns with photo cutout boards

July 18, 2018July 19, 2018 admin

Getting people into awareness campaigns – literally!

It’s been a hot year so far for public awareness campaigns by causes, nonprofits and social enterprises.

Many of these campaigns have used our face in the hole boards to educate their audiences and help keep their campaign messages top of mind. The boards help to create a focus for people to interact with as well as a photo opportunity, and with the campaign’s message and hashtag splashed all over the board, well … photos get shared, and that amplifies the message across social.

Here are five examples of the public awareness campaign boards we have supplied recently.

1. #FFSLDN

For Fish’s Sake London is a campaign by environmental charity Hubbub. The message is clear: don’t drop litter in London where it can end up in the Thames, because it really gives aquatic life there a hard time. These boards have been used down by the river to promote awareness.

2. #Beesneeds

This was just last week. #BeesNeeds is a campaign by DEFRA and the Bumblebee Conservation Trust to promote awareness of bees and other pollinators. London’s Carnaby Street was renamed Carnabee Street for a week and our board was part of the campaign.

3. Affinity Water

Okay, this one was last November, but we’ve included it because we liked it! Here’s a slightly grainy shot from Twitter – but you can see people having fun with the board! The campaign message? Save water.

4. Keep Britain Tidy

This one needs no introduction. These boards are used extensively in campaigns around the UK. The message: be a litter hero. Be like Trash Girl.

5. Green Flag Wales

On a related note, here’s our board for Green Flag Wales, aiming to change perceptions about green spaces. The board is pictured with some of the campaign team.

Are you involved in a charity or social enterprise? Would you like to raise awareness of your cause with a photo cutout board? Call us today on 08450 570321 or email office@connectedshopping.com to talk about getting a board made.

Summer boards are flying out of our workshop!

June 29, 2018 admin

Summer is a time when people are outdoors more and the streets fill up. Photo Cutouts boards attract attention and bring customers in, or provide a focus for engagement once customers are already in the store or event. They’re brilliant for trade shows as well. Summer is our busiest time, and our minions have been going bananas this June making face in the hole boards. Our workshop is stacked to the rafters with colourful boards promoting a variety of brands, institutions and events.

We can’t tell you about them all yet because they are not yet out there in the wild, but here are some that are being used and no longer under embargo. Also check out last week’s post featuring a very successful board that forms the centrepiece of a David Walliams-themed event in Welsh schools.

Isle of Arran Ice Cream

Pretty much the ideal Summer board. The public can pose as a Friesian cow and post the photo with a campaign hashtag – presumably free samples are involved!

Mindfulgifts.co.uk

One of our standard designs, a Punch & Judy board, branded with the company’s email address, logo and website address. Perfect for the Summer and guaranteed fun! Naughty naughty naughty!

Chocolat Chocolat

This Cambridge chocolate shop is promoting its business with a Photo Cutout board depicting a rather messy kitchen. The perfect advertising accessory for a small business!

Durham University

Summer is the season for university open days. The latest uni to use a Photo Cutouts board for its June promo day is Durham.

Firstwonderbox.co.uk

First Wonder Box make boxes of discovery for active young minds – perfect to keep them busy during the long Summer holidays. This board helps the company promote their brand whilst having fun. Note the lower face hole for children.

So that’s just a few Summer boards we’ve made. What kind of board would help your business or cause for the rest of the Summer? Our turnaround time is 2 weeks or less so there’s still time to order your own!

www.photocutouts.co.uk

office@connectedshopping.com

08450 570321

David Walliams board brings fun to Welsh children

June 21, 2018June 22, 2018 admin

Our friends over at Magic Light Productions are running a David Walliams-themed tour of schools in Denbighshire, North-East Wales that is driving kids wild with excitement. Their T’riffic Takeover days are a brilliant idea: fill the school with actors dressed as characters from Walliams’ fictional world for a day. For example, here’s Mrs Trafe, the dinner lady from Billionaire Boy who cooks the most revolting food ever, like deep fried Blu-Tack, badger and onion pie and jacket potatoes with sock cheese.

A Photo Cutouts board is the centrepiece for photo opportunities during the T’riffic Takeovers. We did a mashup of characters from David Walliams books and added hashtags and the Magic Light Productions insignia. Here’s some nice feedback about the board from Twitter.

The board was also appreciated by Denbighshire County Council’s Schools Enrichment programme, who are involved in the Walliams takeovers.

It was nice of Magic Light Productions and Denbighshire County Council to give a nod to Photo Cutouts for the board. We’re human and we like being appreciated! But the main thing is that the T’riffic Takeovers are a roaring success, so here are some more photos that speak for themselves.

Walliams T'riffic Takeovers — The board provided a focus for staff and pupils to get into character

Walliams book board — The board was also involved in a daily ‘I Wonder Where?’ teaser that gave a clue as to where the T’riffic Takeovers roadshow would be the next day

Photo Cutouts boards are seeing increasing use in theatrical productions like Magic Light Productions’ Walliams schools roadshow. They can also be used in marketing promotions, awards ceremonies, as a photo opportunity at events, wedding photography props, at seasonal festivities like Halloween, Christmas and Easter, for product launches, book signings, TV shows, and more.

Find out how to order your own custom face in hole board at photocutouts.co.uk

office@connectedshopping.com

08450 570321