That Company Called IF

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle has recently been voted the best children's bedtime story ever written in a survey of parents.

According to The Telegraph website, the classic picture book comfortably beat modern day classics such as JK Rowling's Harry Potter and The Gruffalo, by Julia Donaldson, to claim the top spot.

The nation's top 20 favourite bedtime stories are:
1. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
2. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis
3. BFG, Roald Dahl
4. Winnie the Pooh, A.A. Milne
5. The Gruffalo, Julia Donaldson
6. Famous Five, Enid Blyton
7. Matilda, Roald Dahl
8. The Tales of Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter
9. Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
10. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
11. Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie
12. Mr Men, Roger Hargreaves
13. The Witches, Roald Dahl
14. The Twits, Roald Dahl
15. James and the Giant Peach, Roald Dahl
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. The Cat in the Hat, Dr Suess
18. Hans Christian Fairy Tales, H.C. Andersen
19. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, J.K.Rowling
20. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens

Source: The Telegraph website

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Magnetic Bookmarks are produced by IF RRP £1.99

Want to give up smoking? Then try a pack of these!

IF have recently launched this latest addition to their popular ‘52 Ways’ cards range at Spring Fair 2010, just in time for National No Smoking Day.

Inside the packs are 52 cards giving positive help to anyone determined to give up the weed. Facts, advice and lots of inspiration in a handy, easily absorbed format. And they’ve packaged the cards in a familiar way - a pack of cigarettes - to catch the eye and interest. There’s also an added bonus as the cards double up as regular playing cards.

With the UK government’s continued drive to cut smoking rates, these are a great gift idea, in a novel format, for those determined to quit. This year’s national No Smoking Day is on Wednesday 10th March.

52 Ways to Stop Smoking Cards RRP £4.99

http://www.nosmokingday.org.uk

Today is the biggest annual celebration of reading and books in the UK.

Schools, Bookshops and Libraries all around the country are participating by holding events, readings and fancy dress days to celebrate the joys of reading. 

A brand new initiative for World Book Day 2010 is 'Read to a Million Kids', sponsored by Renaissance Learning.  The 11 £1 Book stories, read by their authors or actors, will be broadcast online during World Book Day. Available exclusively to schools and libraries in the first instance, and supplemented with a fun quiz about the reading, please visit www.readtoamillionkids.co.uk to find out more and to register to participate. 

For more informationon World Book Day please visit the website: 
http://www.worldbookday.com/ you can now also follow them on Twitter: http://twitter.com/WorldBookDayUK

To celebrate World Book Day IF are giving away 20 Beatrix Potter Bookmarks in a competition via Twitter.

Peter Rabbit is going to be a busy bunny this Easter!

In London.. Selfridge's Oxford Street store will play host to a Beatrix Potter exhibition from Monday 8 March until Friday 12 April, as well as special Peter Rabbit story-telling performances.

Beatrix Potter fans will be able to view original pen and ink illustrations as well as books and toys from the archives in the exhibition. Plus, Selfridges will also have a 1903 edition of The Tale of Peter Rabbit as well as early editions of all 23 Beatrix Potter original tales on display.

Peter Rabbit will be making special appearances for  daily story-telling performances of The Tale of Peter Rabbit at 12pm, 1.30pm, 3pm and 4.30pm from Friday 2 April until Monday 5 April. The exhibition and events take place in Selfridge's Bookshop on the Lower Ground Floor. Peter Rabbit™ books, DVDs and toys will also be available to purchase in-store, including IF's very own Beatrix Potter Bookmark and Notebook ranges. 

In North Yorkshire.. Nestling on the quiet banks of the River Rye, surrounded by sheltered walled gardens with flowers and plants to delight the eye in all seasons, is the beautiful stately home of Nunnington Hall.

This Easter visitors to the Hall will have the rare opportunity to see the art of Beatrix Potter, featuring original watercolours and drawings.

Speaking to the Gazette & Herald, Annabelle Coaten, visitor services manager, said: “There are some of the original book illustrations, one or two of her more unusual works as well as pages from an unpublished manu never before seen outside of the Lake District.”

Titled The Enchanting World Of Beatrix Potter, the exhibition at Nunnington will feature about 25 original paintings and drawings and will run until April 25.

For further details about the exhibition, opening times or events, phone 01439 748283 or visit nationaltrust.org.uk

In the Lakes.. The North of Englands biggest Easter Egg hunt takes place at the World of Beatrix Potter Attraction, which takes you on a journey through the life and work of Beatrix Potter. 100 specially commissioned eggs will be hidden in the countryside across the whole of Cumbria.
The Great Peter Rabbit Easter Egg Hunt is on Wednesday 31st March and lasts until all the eggs are found!
It is free to enter and there is a very special prize to be won!

For more details please email information@hop-skip-jump.com or call +44(0)15394 88444

The World of Beatrix Potter
Bowness-on-Windermere, Cumbria LA23 3BX 

The World of Beatrix Potter Attraction are also stockists of all the IF Beatrix Potter ranges.

IF have donated 100 Wallace & Gromit bookmarks to the Wallace & Gromit Children’s Foundation. The charity raises funds to improve the quality of life for children in hospitals and hospices throughout the UK. 

Every year, 2.4 million children are admitted to hospital – that’s roughly 20% of all children under 16 in the UK. Of those children, 20,000 suffering with life limiting illnesses will not make it to their eighteenth birthday.
Serious illness is always distressing but in a child it is cruelly so as it steals away childhood itself. The Foundation funds an innovative range of projects, not covered by NHS funding, to ensure children in hospitals and hospices have a better, brighter future.  Projects include arts, music and play therapy programmes, sensory equipment and facilities, respite care, state of the art equipment and parent accommodation.
These projects:
1. Help a child's recovery
2. Make it less scary
3. Encourage children to talk about their illness
4. Support the families

The Wallace & Gromit characters were given to the Foundation by Nick Park to use to spearhead the charity and Wallace & Gromit have become the faces of the national fundraisers Wrong Trousers Day and The Great British Tea Party!
Wrong Trousers Day Friday 25th June 2010
Thousands of people from all over the UK pay £1 to swap their normal attire to step out in weird, wonderful and wacky clothes! Take part and register now!

For more information please contact:
Rebecca Burgess, Corporate & Events Fundraiser
email: rebecca@wrongtrousersday.org
tel. 020 7841 8987
Follow the Charity on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook

Spring Fair 2010 is now in full swing and everyone is heading for Hall 4 Stand C50/D49 to see what IF have to offer this time around.

OK, so that’s just our spin on things! But with several new products featuring at the show, including the gorgeous Beatrix Potter Notebooks, the exciting Day You Were Born Keyrings as well as the Highly Commended 'Gift of the Year' products (Little Book Holder and The Original Book Jacket), visitors to the stand are up and the biscuit tin is emptying fast!

Another ‘hot of the press’ product is a new addition to the popular 52 Ways card range - '52 Ways to Give Up Smoking’. Cunningly disguised as a pack of cigarettes, these cards offer positive help to anyone determined to give up the weed, with facts, advice and lots of inspiration in a handy, easily absorbed format. There’s also an added bonus as the cards double up as regular playing cards. The packs are available to order from the end of February 2010 with an RRP of £4.99 (just in time for National No Smoking Day on March 10th).

If you would like to know when we’ve been busy again, why not sign up to our New Product Update alerts. Please visit our homepage or follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/IFgifts

And if you do get time to come and see at Spring Fair, we apologise in advance if all we have left to offer you (apart from some innovative gift products) are a few crumbs…

The Aardman team and Wallace and Gromit have only gone and done it again! Many congratulations on their fifth Oscar nomination for Best Animated Short Film ‘A Matter of Loaf and Death’.

According to figures from the official Wallace and Gromit website A Matter of Loaf and Death made its TV debut on Christmas Day 2008 on BBC1 to a record-breaking audience of more than 16.1 million.

Good luck at the 82nd Academy Awards from all team at IF!

Visit the Oscar Website below:
http://www.oscars.org/#12

Wallace and Gromit Magnetic Bookmarks RRP £1.99

During February half term, Saturday February 13 – Sunday February 21, Shaun the Sheep will be at The Eden Project, entertaining the flock with real sets from the show and claymation workshops.

Eden have teamed up with Aardman, the people behind Shaun the Sheep, to offer a fantastic programme of workshops and displays you won't want to miss!

Activities on offer will be model making, plasticine collages and the chance to see the actual set and characters from the Shaun the Sheep series.

Eden will be stocking our Shaun the Sheep Magnetic Bookmarks in The Eden Project Shop. For more information please call 01736 336998 or email Questions@EdenProject.com

Travel Expert Gill Charlton recommended The Really Tiny Book Light in her consumer advice column 'Ask Gill' which featured in the travel section of the The Daily Telegraph on Saturday 9th January 2010.

Reading at night
Nat Stringer, Guildford writes

"I sometimes wake in the night and find that reading helps me get off to sleep again. This is fine at home as I can creep into our spare room, but on holiday it disturbs my husband if I switch on the light to read. Is there a solution?"

Gill Charlton replies

"Buy the Really Tiny Book Light, sold by bookshops and John Lewis, for £6.99.

It's a neat LED light that clips on to your book so that you can read in the dark – and it's also useful for boosting hopeless hotel room lighting"

Thanks to Gill for the recommendation and you can read more on the Telegraph website

According to Publishing Trade publication The Bookseller Beatrix Potter's most famous characters, from Peter Rabbit to Jemima Puddleduck, are to be brought to the screen in a brand-new animated TV series.

The Bookseller reports that Frederick Warne & Co, owner and guardian of Beatrix Potter property, and part of Penguin, made the deal with entertainment company Chorion.

This news will surely delight fans of Beatrix Potter, whose beloved characters have been treasured and enjoyed by generations. The TV series will hopefully introduce a whole new generation of youngsters to the wonderful world and magic of Beatrix Potter.

This Christmas the Tales of Beatrix Potter Ballet also returned to the Royal Opera House, in a magical Frederick Ashton double bill with Les Patineurs.

IF are delighted to be the licensee of Beatrix Potter Notebooks and Magnetic Bookmarks.

Visit the Bookseller website for news on this and other publishing news stories:

http://www.thebookseller.com/home.html

Last ordering date for Christmas delivery is 23rd December 2009.  

The IF Office will be closed for the following days over the Christmas period:

24th December 2009 - 3rd January 2010

The office will re-open for business on the 4th January 2010

We wish all our Customers, Friends and Family a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The IF Team

"You'll never believe it pooch, we're 20 years old!"

Anyone for a slice of Wensleydale Cheese to celebrate?

November 4 marks the 20th anniversary of the Aaardman short, A Grand Day Out. Now as British an institution as fish and chips, the pair have starred in a number of 30-minute films since, including The Wrong Trousers, A Close Shave and A Matter of Loaf and Death, and one feature-length film, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, which won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film.

Google have also paid tribute to the famous twosome with a special  'doodle' on it's homepage.

Here at IF we are simply delighted to the bring the indomitable Wallace and his dutiful dog Gromit to our licensed bookmarks collection. Featuring memorable scenes from their classic adventures, the six uniquely shaped bookmarks are gloss laminated and guaranteed to delight fans of this much-cherished double act.

Available to buy from all good Bookshops and from the "cracking new" Aardman shop

Another busy week at Frankfurt Book Fair and the IF team entertained a constant stream of people buzzing around the stand and enquiring about the latest products.

New additions such as Mini-Marks and The Very Hungry Caterpillar Magnetic Bookmark proved to be the hit of the Fair, with many visitors stopping by to watch demonstrations, purchasing these and other Book Accessories.

Keen interest also surrounded the Gift of the Year awarded products. The Original Book Jacket and Little Book Holder were Highly Commended in 2009 and former winner The Really Tiny Book Light proved to be a hit at Frankfurt once again.

The Gothic Ratskeller in Römer - Frankfurt's historic town hall was host to the Fair after-party. The team enjoyed a traditional Frankfurt buffet accompanied with an evening of live music, chat and dancing in the underground cellars.

Other highlights included a Tweet-up with fellow Twitter fans (you can follow us on Twitter @IFgifts) and of course the Bratwurst must have a mention!

Guest of honour this year was China.

Frankfurt is indeed one of our favourite International fairs and it was great to meet up with colleagues, customers and friends from all over the world, both old and new.

The Frankfurt Book Fair 2010 will take place from 6 to 10 October 2010. The IF team are already looking forward to next year’s show and we hope to see you there!

The UK’s Giftware Association has just unveiled the list of winners of its prestigious annual Gift of the Year Awards revealing that non-book design and manufacturing company ‘IF’ has been Highly Commended not once, but twice in this year’s competition.

The company’s Little Book Holder has been selected in the ‘Under £10 category’ which was won last year by IF’s bestselling Really Tiny Book Light. The Original Book Jackets were also awarded Highly Commended in the ‘Body, Mind and Soul’ category.

Gift of the Year Awards are only given to the latest most original and innovatively designed products that can be given as gifts.  However, entrants also have to demonstrate that the product is commercially viable.

Sarah Blackwell, Marketing Manager at ‘IF’ believes that it is the “innovative design and quirky appeal” of the awarded products which has ensured their place on the list of the nation’s most exciting gifts for 2009:

“The Little Book Holder and Original Book Jackets are stylish, yet practical gifts, which are already proving extremely popular with the book-loving public.

After winning the ‘Under £10 category’ last year with The Really Tiny Book Light, we really didn’t expect to be awarded anything this year but The Gift of The Year Awards is an excellent indicator of what’s going to be ‘hot’ this Christmas and therefore, we are absolutely delighted to be Highly Commended.”

Sarah Blackwell, Marketing Manager

According to Isabel Martinson, Chief Executive of The Giftware Association, judging the winners and highly commended products in each category was extremely difficult:

“Now in their 30th year, the 2009 Awards have again attracted an enormous number of entries.

We were inundated with new, exciting products all bidding to capture the judges’ attention and be crowned as this year’s must-have Christmas gift!  Congratulations to ‘IF’ on this fantastic achievement.”

For further comment, information or images please contact Sarah Blackwell +44 (0) 1751 475757 or email sarah@thatcompanycalledif.com

The IF Marketing Team have rejoiced and joined the social networking phenomenon that is Twitter!

Follow us for new product launches and news or special events. Perhaps you want to tell us your thoughts on our products, just click on the link below and we look forward to hearing your tweets!

http://twitter.com/IFgifts

We are delighted to announce that IF products will be sold at this years Hay Festival by the Guardian Books team located at Exhibitor Stand 21. Much as we would have loved to attend the festival, the launch of our new website has us all slightly preoccupied, but hopefully see you there next year!

Products available at the festival include bookmarks, reading glasses, book lights, book holders and an array of optical products. A big thank you to Guardian Books for accomodating us on their stand.

Please visit the websites below for more information:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/guardian-hay-festival

http://www.hayfestival.com/

The IF team are thrilled to learn that, after the success of winning Gift of the Year 2008 (under £10 category) with The Really Tiny Book Light, four new products have been shortlisted for Gift of the Year 2009. Hoping to repeat last year's performance are the following products in their nominated categories:

Under £10

The Little Book Holder RRP: £2.99

Hot Novelty

Emergency Book Light RRP £7.99

Kitchen and Dining

Fold-Away Book Rest RRP £15.99

Mind, Body and Soul

The Original Book Jacket RRP £14.99

Winners to be announced 22nd June.

For more information on the Gift Association and Gift of the Year please visit:

http://www.giftoftheyear.co.uk/