skignz is Runner Up in PD Ports, Export Awards

We are so excited and proud to have been shortlisted for the 'Most Entrepreneurial Exporter of the Year'.

On the 22nd February, we will be joining some other amazing companies, who have been nominated in one or more of the nine categories.The shortlist for the PD Ports Northern Powerhouse Export Awards 2018 in association with HSBC has officially been announced.​A range of companies from across the North of England have made the final shortlist for this year’s PD Ports Northern Powerhouse Export Awards, hosted and organised by BQ in association with HSBC.
Judges from PD Ports, BQ, Chamber International and the Institute of Export will meet towards the end of the month to decide the overall winners of each category and select the PD Ports Northern Powerhouse Exporter of the Year.

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This year PD Ports, Northern Powerhouse Export Awards is in association with HSBC and this prestigious event will be taking place in the City of Leeds at their Beautiful Town Hall.  

This year is being lauded to be bigger and better than ever before and is a fantastic opportunity for us, we can't wait for the big evening.

Update:
Unfortunately skignz didn't win on this occasion, we consider being Runner-up as acknowledgement of how far we have come in the last 12-months with regards to our export activity, soemthing we will be continuing to many more countries throughout 2018.

The evening was well attended and great to be part of. Thank-you to PD Ports and all the other sponsors for making this happen, maybe skignz will have better luck next year?

You can see more about these awards at: www.northernexportawards.co.uk

Wish us luck!

#GREATShowcase

skignz were invited to take part in the #GreatShowcase in Los Angeles at the Consulate Generals personal residence.

The GREAT Showcase was formulated by one of the US directors in the DiT a few years ago, to showcase everything that is great about Great Britain and doing business with the UK, to an invited VIP audience.

The GREAT campaign is spread across the whole world and is the UK’s brand for encouraging the rest of the world to engage and trade with the UK, this year's showcase included skignz and other brands such as Aston Martin, Jo Malone London, Mill Channel and many more.

skignz role in the #GREATshowcase came during the DiT Directors speech (immediately after the opening address by the new British Consular General for Los Angeles) as the director introduced the evenings events and spoke about current affairs.

Dan preceded this by wishing to highlight who in the room were part of his team so if anyone would like to speak to them, they would know who they are … usually this would be done by a request for the said team members to raise their hands wherever they were in the room, however we Brits like to do things a little differently, cue skignz!

The skignz Founder & CEO Si Brown, was present at the event and on cue, he passed the Director Dan Rutstein, his iPhone X, which was immediate mirrored to the large screen behind them both, on which appeared the view Dan had using the iPhone … this presented a range of ‘skignz’ above each member of the DiT team in the room, leading to gasps and awe from the guests. 

Although a very small gesture and moment in the context of the whole evening, it certainly created a stir and quite a number of comments and interest during the rest of the evening and beyond we are delighted to say.

Please take a look below at some of the photos taken during the #GREATshowcase event.

If you want to find out more about skignz, then please visit our new recently launched website (www.skignz.com) as well as the usual social media channels

You can see the #GREATshowcase twitter feed for fun videos and photos here

skignz @ CES 2018, Las Vegas, US

This year's Consumer Electronics Show CES2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada, was the first visit in 10 years for our CEO Simon Brown, and a first for most of the skignz team.

Was it any different to the last visit (pre skignz)? OMG yes! 

If nothing else just the sheer scale of the event is literally on another planet compared to a decade ago! 

One aspect, was the multiple locations across Las Vegas for various parts of the show. 

The hosted Brand VIP parties, have got way way way bigger, one we attended was in the biggest club in Las Vegas and had a free bar till 11pm - 2,500 thousand people packed into the X Club and danced and partied away to loud music by top Dj’s, food was provided and again, a free bar.

If your asking yourself, why was skignz there? 

It's quite simple ... Many of the people we do business with, clients, partners, prospective clients etc … were there, if not exhibiting or presenting, they were looking to catch up with us and others in one location. This actually proves very cost effective if you have a global client base and real time, in person interaction is scarce.

Furthermore many companies announce new products/technology etc. at CES, so it's a great opportunity to see it first hand. For skignz, it's a way to understand more about who, what and why the people attending/exhibiting are interested in AR. 

In gaps between meetings, many miles were walked to interact and understand what competitors (indirect and direct) are doing, speaking with brands who are not currently utilising AR and what are the reasons behind that?

Many conversations happen at CES, most of them were in the bars, restaurants and clubs after the official show was finished. Much of the skignz time was spent speaking to various audiences in these places. 

Jokingly, it was said, that we felt we had been sat in the lobby bar at The Aria, for 2 days without moving… looking back at our expenses that is borne out.

Suffice to say although it was a great experience to be back at CES, however the sheer size of the show is now one of its major issues!

Too much going on, difficult standing out in the crowd unless what you have is very novel, or you have such a large budget, attendees can't fail to see what you are doing, i.e. BMW with their 'M versions' of all models being drifted and spun around a hotel car park all day, every day! 

A great advertisement for tyre durability, surely there is a tentative link to tech or consumer electronics in there somewhere.

If you want to find out more about skignz, then please visit our new recently launched website (www.skignz.com) as well as the usual social media channels.

 

12 days of Christmas - skignz Online Advent Calendar

This year skignz used an Online Advent Calendar for the 12 Days of Christmas to provide you with information on the top people, places and things in the world. 

These ranged from holiday destinations to restaurants, hotels to events, all of which we believe would be suitably enhanced further if you used skignz. 

Revealing even more information that's both useful and interesting certainly enhances these wonderful places and their environment. 

The content could be historical, simply useful, reveal offers, show videos and also allow you, the visitor, to leave a small digital note, almost like signing a guestbook!

Take alook for yourself here... https://skignz.adventcalendaronline.com/

The uptake we had was quite staggering, from an email list of just over 1,800 people, we had in excess of 900 people access the Online Advent Calendar, with over 500 accessing the interesting and useful content we provided. I

f you are reading this and you have decided to visit one of the places selected, please do share with us your experience and don't forget to use skignz whilst you are there!

Until next Christmas, may we take the opportunity to wish you all the very best for 2018 and a Happy, prosperous and healthy New Year.

For further information how you can get a Online Advent Calendar please visit www.onlineadventcalender.com
If you want to find out more about skignz, then please visit our new recently launched website www.skignz.com as well as the usual social media channels