Keep up to date with all the developments in the business gift world by checking out our business gift blog regularly... If you're a client who would like to show off what you've done with your business gifts, please get in touch via our Contact Us page and we'll run your feature here!

Steve Stars On Radio 4
06.01.2010, 10:30 AM

If you were tuned to your wireless over the new year, you may well have caught a familar voice over the airwaves.

Steve Ward, MD of Ad-Options Ltd, the parent company of BusinessGiftUK.com, was originally part of a panel of Lancashire-based businessmen who featured in a post-Budget review on BBC Radio 4's 'You And Yours' last Easter, and the same programme returned to our HQ for an end of year update, which was broadcast on New Year's Eve.

To hear Steve's views on the current state of the economy in the UK from the viewpoint of an SME, visit the BBC Radio 4 website, where you can hear the Chorley-based feature in full by starting at 40:38, or scroll to 43:19 to listen to Steve's segment.

Other contributors to the debate include friends of our company, such Chris Maguire, editor of the Chorley & Leyland Guardian, and Graham Archer, the now retired chairman of the Central Lancashire Business Club.

Snowy New Year!
05.01.2010, 11:35 AM

We've returned to business today to be greeted by some of the heaviest snowfall we've experienced in our region for many years.

Whilst it hasn't made us totally inaccessible, you can see from this photo that the road conditions are very poor, and we've heard reports of numerous accidents locally this morning, with any inclines becoming almost unnavigable.

For this region, we suggest that customers should contact us by phone or e-mail rather than visiting in person.

We can still dispatch almost all urgent orders on time, but please note that it may take longer than usual for goods to arrive, given the nationwide affect of the downfalls.

Business Club Christmas Do Benefits Breast Cancer Care
18.12.2009, 16:00 PM

The staff at BusinessGiftUK.com enjoyed a great night out for a good cause this week, thanks to their membership of the Central Lancashire Business Club.

Twenty four members and friends of the local business support group enjoyed an excellent evening of fine food and entertainment during their annual Christmas dinner Lancashire College in Chorley, and so taken were the audience with the performance of their headline entertainer, Eccleston-based soloist Laura Worden, that the Club opted to make a donation to her chosen charity, Breast Cancer Care.

This is the second time in a month that the performer’s vocal talents have benefitted the charity, which was boosted to the tune of £2,600 in November after she orchestrated a sell-out ‘Night At The Musicals’ at Bamber Bridge Football Club.

The Business Club evening was organised by joint chairman Stephen Ward, who is also MD of promotional gift specialists BusinessGiftUK.com, who donated some of the prizes and table gifts.

After a traditional four course seasonal meal the diners enjoyed a ‘Millionaire’ style Christmas quiz, a hilarious Corny Cracker Joke Contest, and were entertained by Laura, who performed a variety of favourite seasonal tunes.

Retiring member Mike Lewis and his wife Pam were presented with Business Club pens by joint chairman David Kevill following over ten years as an active member, as was Laura Worden who sang beautifully without taking a fee, hence the Club’s decision to support her chosen charity instead.

Ad-Options Raise A Glass To Successful Beer Festival
07.12.2009, 13:56 PM

At the end of a stressful working week, many people like nothing more than to head to the nearest bar and relax with a cool, refreshing pint of beer, and business gifts specialists Ad-Options recently came up with a way of combining work with pleasure so that the end of their working day could merge seamlessly into that long sought pint!

The promoters of successful specialist online keyring sites BlankKeyrings.co.uk and LoopKeyrings.co.uk achieved the feat by sponsoring a barrel of ale at the inaugural Leyland Beer Festival, held from Friday 4th December to Sunday 6th December at the town’s British Commercial Vehicle Museum.

In putting their name to the event’s supply of Coniston XB Bitter, Ad-Options not only helped to promote their identity locally, but also helped a number of good causes, with local charities benefitting from the profits generated by the festival, which hopes to return even bigger and better in 2010.

The Leyland Beer Festival kicked off with a business networking event for all sponsors in the afternoon prior to its public launch, allowing all the sponsors to create new business leads in a relaxed atmosphere amongst the scores of historic vehicles on show within the popular venue’s confines.

Steve Ward, managing director of Ad-Options Ltd, said that he enjoyed supporting the event and hopes it will begin a legacy for similar events within Leyland in the future. He explained:

“We were delighted to be able to support an important event for our home town, and in particular one of the north west beers, which went down well with everyone from our company who sampled it.

“It is key in the current economic climate that companies do what they can to support others within their locality, and we were delighted to join forces with other firms from our region to support an event which will have been enjoyed by those who attended and will hopefully have generated a healthy profit to support the good causes that stood to benefit from the festival.

“Being able to meet up with other local companies at the networking event was an added bonus for us, and we look forward to the Leyland Beer Festival’s return in 2010.”

BusinessGiftUK.com Backs Breast Cancer Care Fundraiser
18.11.2009, 09:26 AM

The X Factor was kicked into touch by over 200 local music lovers on Saturday night as they packed out Bamber Bridge FC’s functions lounge to enjoy ‘A Night At The Musicals’ in aid of Breast Cancer Care.

The event, which was the brainchild of talented Eccleston-based vocalist and mother of two Laura Worden, brought together four local singing sensations and a supporting cast of dancing stars to perform their favourite numbers from a variety much-loved stage productions, including Les Miserables, Grease, Evita and Mamma Mia.

A capacity crowd helped to raise an exceptional figure of £2,600 for the cancer awareness charity as they were wowed by Laura and her supporting cast of Catherine Sullivan, a Leyland-based soloist from the St Mary’s Church choir, Maria O’Connor, a Parbold-based performer whose grandmother Agnes Soanes was a regular act at the Liverpool Empire Theatre, and Alex Thompson, godson of Bamber Bridge FC’s director of football George Halliwell, who, ironically, could have instead been appearing on the competing attraction of The X Factor on the same night, having progressed through five rounds of this year’s auditions.

The dance element of the performance was led by 11-year-old Janie Hodge from Penwortham, who has been learning her art for the past seven years with the Anita Murray Dance School in Chorley, with the MC duties conducted by Leyland-based entrepreneur Steve Ward from event sponsors BusinessGiftUK.com.

Laura explained that her decision to organise the event on behalf of Breast Cancer Care stemmed from her experiences as a staff nurse at Euxton Hall Hospital, which is a breast care approved unit, admitting:

“I have met so many special people who are bravely battling this disease, both through my work and experiences of relatives who have received care for the condition. I felt that this would be a fantastic way of helping to raise awareness of the charity’s excellent support work whilst also allowing the crowd to enjoy an evening of entertainment in the company of some extremely talented performers.

“I’m overwhelmed with the response we had to this event, and we could have sold far more tickets than the capacity of the venue allowed, selling out weeks ahead of the event and before we’d even planned to launch our publicity campaign!

“The final total of £2,600 is a wonderful reward for all the effort that everyone put in, and we couldn’t have done it without all the performers, the volunteers who came along to assist on the night, everyone that came to watch, and our sponsors, who supported us brilliantly.”

The extensive list of backers who proudly supported ‘A Night At The Musicals’ included Peter E Gilkes and Co., Etcetera Boutique at Cedar Farm Galleries, Ultra Health and Beauty of Mawdesley, Justs Ladies Fashion in Penwortham, Accrington and Rossendale College, Avon Cosmetics, Therapy Beauty Spa in Maghull, Darren’s Fresh Fish, Estee Lauder at Boots in Preston, Abode Boutique of Tarleton, Diana Glover, The Midge Hall public house, Nickson Cycles of Leyland, Richard Harland, Ad-Options Ltd and Jonwell Hair Studio in Leyland.

Laura singled out one particular sponsor for special praise, Euxton Hall Hospital, thanking her friends and colleagues at the facility for ‘their continued and generous support’.

F1 Promos Work!
11.11.2009, 11:40AM

Combining our F1 keyring promotion with a newsworthy topic seems to have worked for us, with Google taking great notice of our story.

Within days of launching our campaign, our story has gone to #1 in the rankings for the search term 'Jenson Button keyrings', as well as featuring in positions 4, 6 and 7, whilst we sit as the top news story for 'F1 keyrings', which allows us to sit between positions 3 and 4 in that particular list, as well as organically making it as high as #7 for the said search term.

Yahoo have us at #3 and #9 for 'Jenson Button keyring', while Bing have us at #2 and #5 for that very term, whilst also ranking us top of numerous related news searches. Here's hoping that plenty of F1 (racing) fans are currently on the search for some suitable world champion-related merchandise! Photo: FreeDigitalPhotos.net


Celebrate Button's Title With An F1 Keyring!
06.11.2009, 10:30 AM

After another hugely successful year for British motor racing, our sister site at BlankKeyrings.co.uk is commemorating a memorable F1 season by launching a promotion on our namesake keyring - the F1!

In recognition of Jenson Button's world title triumph, we're offering a free Pierre Cardin gift boxed pen with all orders for unassembled F1 keyrings placed online.

The F1 keyring is ideal for companies with a wide logo, as the 50mm x 20mm insert size allows for artwork of that ilk to fill the maximum possible space within the keyring window. The convex shape of the keyring magnifies that text to make it stand out more than the average keyring.

You can order in multiples as little as 100 units, but the more you buy, the more the unit price comes down, meaning you can pay as little as 21p (ex VAT) per keyring.

This end of season offer is only available until 5pm on Friday 20th November, so order now at BlankKeyrings.co.uk to receive a free gift in honour of the world champion!


Our Best Ever Rates - Now Online!
05.11.2009, 09:38 AM

To celebrate our new partnership with the PAGE Group, Ad-Options are delighted to announce our best ever rates for existing clients.

Always liked the look of the minimal rates on quantities of 2,500 but never had the budget to buy in such quantity? Well now's your chance to take advantage of some exceptional discounts, with our regular 2,500 rates now being applied on quantities as little as 250 on selected items! We may even be able to make you a quote for even smaller quantities if you spot something you like.

In our online brochure, you'll see how we've negotiated some very special rates with a key supplier to offer cotton shoppers from as little as 63p each, an attractive choice of promotional pens starting at just 26p, and insulated travel mugs at an all-time low £1.45*.

Browse our e-brochure now at http://www.salescat.co.uk/pricebuster/eu/eu/ to see what else we have in store, or drop us a reply by e-mail and we'll post out a copy to you between the strikes!

As these are such exceptional deals, we can't offer guaranteed delivery dates, but with standard lead times as short as two to three weeks anyway, you'll have your gifts with you in plenty of time for Christmas if you order now.

Don't delay, order today! Call us on 01772 435 010 or e-mail sales @ businessgift.uk.com to place your order and profit from these superb deals.


Ward Contingent Grows At Ad-Options Ltd After Championship Capture
22.09.2009, 13:53 PM

Ad-Options Ltd t/as BusinessGiftUK.com have further strengthened their ethos as a family firm by snapping up a third member of the Ward family from their Coca-Cola Championship neighbours as they look to capitalise on a recent run of online success.

Adrian, 24, joins parents Steve and Ann, the company’s directors, after more than two years as media and marketing executive at Preston North End Football Club, where he was part of the team that landed the Best Fan Marketing Campaign award at this year’s Football League Awards.

The new marketing and websites manager will be looking to help the Central Lancashire Business Club members to push on and complete a successful trading year by furthering the potential for growth in the crucial online market, which has become a staple part of the company’s operations.

Adrian, who also counts Brinscall-based internet marketing specialists Thomas Cole Solutions and another Football League club, Bury, amongst his former employers, said he was keen to try something new in unusually familiar surroundings, explaining:

"I hope I can offer some valuable input based on the experiences I’ve gained elsewhere and look forward to taking advantage of the growing online market, which has become an essential everyday asset for most small to medium sized companies of this ilk."