Gift Focus - Sep/Oct 2019 (Issue 115)

12 THE GA INTRODUCES THE KIDS GIFT OF THE YEAR & PARENTS GIFT OF THE YEAR AWARDS The GA is excited to announce a new and exciting competition for the industry, partnering with award winning tech company The Insights People and using the combined knowledge and expertise to create a competition that will be judged by end consumers and focusing on kids and parents. They are both proud to introduce the Kids Gift of The Year award and Parents Gift of The Year award. The awards will run seasonally throughout the year, but rather than an industry judging panel featuring buyers and retailers, the final decision on the winners will be made by the kids and parents, creating a whole new judging audience. The seasonality of the competition will provide multiple opportunities for successes to be recognised and create fantastic exposure for companies looking to promote their products and ranges to get a different viewpoint of their gifts. Winners of the competition will get access to exclusive data and insights for their products from a consumer viewpoint. The data is collected four times a year via The Insights People, which will coincide with the competition seasons, ensuring the data is up to date and relevant for the industry. Just entering the competition will provide access to insights about products, and the seasonal winner will receive a more detailed report about the product and ranges, marketing collateral to shout about their win, as well as social media promotion and plenty of opportunities to share their success. The exciting collaboration between The GA and The Insights People arose from a mutually shared interest in supporting the industry and the need for tangible data within the home and giftware world. The Insights People is a Manchester-based tech company that surveys 20,000 children and 10,000 parents in the UK each year. It already writes for trade magazines, provides industry reports and works with global brands such as Disney and the BBC. “We’ve been looking at ways to grow Gift of the Year to be more than the annual competition it is and hopefully create something that’s more year-round, celebrating all the fantastic products we see at all the shows we visit,” said Sarah Ward, CEO of the GA. “Our conversations with The Insights People in how we can work together to support our members quickly grew organically into the new competitions that we are due to launch. We’re extremely excited to be working alongside The Insights People as we share the same ethos in supporting the industry.” Entries for both awards are open and will run throughout the year. Companies can choose to enter both the awards or just one and for the number of seasons required, giving them a chance to enter different products throughout the year when they become available. POP-UP RETAIL SPECIALIST RAPID RETAIL SECURES £300,000 MEIF DEBT FINANCE LOAN Debt funding will enable Rapid Retail to expand its product portfolio, support its growth overseas and create seven new jobs in the Worcestershire region. MEIF Debt Finance, managed by Maven Capital Partners has backed pop-up retail specialist Rapid Retail Limited with a £300,000 business loan. The loan will enable the Worcestershire- based company to accelerate its growth plans by expanding its portfolio of products, exploiting new growth opportunities overseas and support the creation of seven new jobs. Rapid Retail designs a range of bespoke and high-quality pop-up shops, container conversions, kiosks and retail merchandising units for the sports, retail and event industries. The fully branded retail units host some of the world’s biggest brands at major sporting and entertainment venues. The firm has an impressive client base, which includes many Premier League football clubs, with its units also used at rugby and cricket grounds such as Twickenham Stadium and Lord’s. The pop-up retail concept contributes an estimated £2.3billion to the UK economy and is expected to continue to grow rapidly in the coming years. Pop-up outlets allow retailers to experiment with creative solutions, providing an immersive consumer experience and are a powerful tool to boost brand exposure. The MEIF project is supported financially by the EU using funding from the ERDF as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020 and the European Investment Bank. The MEIF debt funds, managed by Maven, focus on providing growth funding to high-growth potential businesses located across the Midlands. Composed of two separate lots, of £50m for SMEs located in the West Midlands and £40million for growth businesses in the East and South East Midlands, the funds can provide finance of between £100,000 and £1.5million. For more information about Maven, visit: mavencp.com and funds.mavencp.com/meif