Focusing on their hugely popular and creative e-4500 T-shirt Markers and e-4600 T-shirt Pens, the clever people at edding really went to town to create an environment that truly complimented the stand’s main theme – encouraging people to experience their products. Visitors were invited to create their very own personalised T-shirt, and each day the best ten entries won an edding e-4500 T-shirt Marker Classpack. At the end of the show the best overall design won an edding/Legamaster Foosball Table for their school or college.
The stand itself had every available surface adorned with bright, bold and colourful T-shirts in all shapes and sizes, and this continued onto the specially commissioned T-shirt shaped activity tables containing an edding e-4500 T-shirt Marker Classpack consisting of: Black, Red, Blue, Green, Neon Yellow, Neon Orange, Neon Pink and Light Green markers. Plus the two new edding e-4600 T-shirt Pen Classpacks available as a ‘Standard’ colour selection: Black, Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Brown, Violet and Grey and the ‘Brights’ version: Black, Light Blue, Light Green, Pale Green, Neon Yellow, Neon Orange, Neon Violet and Neon Pink. Behind these fun and quirky tables a slide show presented Year 4 children from Turnham Primary School, London using the the e-4500 T-shirt Marker Classpack in conjunction with the edding DT Classpack in a classroom environment. By combining these teaching resources the scope for development increases dramatically and since over 40 edding Classpacks/Gratnell’s Trays are now available and new developments planned soon, the future looks very interesting. Next to the slide show a small kiosk style shop was set up to sell and further promote all the edding products available within the education market. Visitors could buy, for £5 ‘The edding UK Essential Education Pack’ which contained an e-1255 Calligraphy Pen, e-1414 Children’s Fibrepen, e-1880 Drawliner Technical Pen, e-2185 Crystaljelly Gel Roller, e-360 Boardmarker, e-361 Boardmarker, e-40 Watercolour Marker, e-4500 T-shirt Marker, e-4600 T-shirt Pen, e-63 Boardmarker, e- 790 Paint Marker, e-88N Easy Writer Pen, e-89 Office Liner Pen, e-MP20 Mechanical Pencil, Legamaster TZ111 Mini Boardmarker, Legamaster E73 Mini Magnetic Board Eraser, UHU Solvent Free Glue Stic 21g and a UHU Solvent Free Twist & Glue 35ml.
Along with the edding UK staff, each day two young Birmingham artists Mr Jones and Mr White were on hand to help the creative juices flow and to assist the less artistic. Being accomplished practicing artists they were able to offer a wealth of experience and proved invaluable in helping to quickly transform even the simplest ideas into something special. In all, over two and a half thousand educationalists took up the challenge and the results were quite remarkable.
Many who believed they weren’t artistic utilised the opportunity to showcase important issues to their subject specialties, decorating the T-shirts with slogans like ‘Maths Is Fun’ and ‘Science Sparks’. Whilst others highlighted more general educational issues such as promoting healthy eating with slogans like ‘Healthy Schools – Five A Day’. However most people simply had fun and created wonderfully original designs and pictures for themselves and loved ones.
Using the edding pens and markers could not have been easier and stunning results were quickly achieved by the majority, plus there was little or no mess to clear up at the end! In general the whole process demonstrated the flexibility of the activity and showed that these products are not just confined to Art, DT and After School clubs. Finally the way that the competition was run meant that whilst photographic evidence was required (you didn’t have to be in the picture yourself!) all who participated were able to take their Tshirt home.
Speaking of the event Andy Gutteridge, edding UK’s Marketing Manager said “We always knew we wanted to do something different at this year’s Education Show. By engaging the visitors and inviting them to come and have a go, we felt we could show that edding products are flexible, convenient and offer a wide appeal within all aspects of a child’s education. All our products are manufactured to the highest standards and represent great value for money, simply by trying them this becomes very obvious. But the important part is to get people using them. Shows like this should be more than just an exercise in turning up and demonstrating an extensive product range. We didn’t want to just have a glorified market stall and sell off old or discontinued lines. ‘The edding UK Essential Education Packs’ sold contained examples of all the products we supply into the education market. But more importantly the leaflets and flyers directed users as to where these products can be purchased after the event. Supporting the educational supply companies and making the selection process easier for all educationalists was the key to this rewarding activity. Ultimately the concept behind our show was about raising awareness, getting the products into people’s hands and having fun.”
