The Marketing Collective Dresses for Success

COMING up with a creative way of celebrating the publication of The Marketing Collective’s latest guides called for some crafty collaboration to turn paper dreams into reality.The clever team at Eastleigh based The Marketing Collective joined forces with the talented makers at Bella Crafts in Fair Oak to fashion a stunning dress from the publications produced so far this year.Pages and images were taken from the 2013 editions of Southampton Pocket Guide and Hamble Valley Visitor Magazine as well as the Hampshire’s Top Attractions leaflet, all of which are designed and produced in-house.And from a pile of paper, the talented team of Bella Craft’s boss Belinda Poore plus Kay Haskins and Lucy Woods designed the perfect frock for The Marketing Collective’s Louise Collins to model.Jo Andrews, Managing Director of The Marketing Collective explained: “We wanted to do something a bit different to launch our publications – and when we came up with the idea for a paper dress we knew Belinda and her team would be the ones to turn our ideas into reality.”Belinda, Kay and Lucy painstakingly constructed the dress using bin bags, paper, staples and double-sided tape.They created flowers from the pages of the guide and the HTA leaflet was folded into concertina pleats to make an eye-catching fan.Belinda said: “When The Marketing Collective contacted us to see if we were up for the challenge, we jumped at it.“It’s the first time we’ve been asked to undertake such an unusual commission but we were happy to help.”“We knew the images from the guides would work well for the ‘fabric’ – especially our cute strawberry baby Oscar who graces the cover of the Hamble Valley Visitor Magazine – but the finished dress surpassed our expectations.Lou was finally taped into her dress after several hours of cutting and sticking – and she braved the cold to undertake a photo-shoot among the spring flowers.“It really did look great – and now the frock will be gracing the walls of our office as an original piece of artwork,” added Jo.View photo-shootIf you would like a copy of the latest editions of The Marketing Collective’s publications please contact Louise Collins on 023 8000 1655 or email louise@themarketing-collective.com