Posted by: Will – Priority Juggler on October 25th, 2007

Today was a fun day at Flowers HQ. One of those days when I reflect how happy I am that our team took the risk and ventured away from our easy(ish) jobs into the uncharted (and scarier) waters of Arena, flowers and building a business for flower lovers. Hooray!

I’ve been out of the office for a week, so when I got back in today, it was a bit like Christmas - everyone chirpy and welcoming (Hello! How are you?! Hey, I’m great! How are you? I’m GREAT! HOW ARE YOU? GREAT!!). Plus, when you’ve been away, there are always lots of parcels to be opened. Parcels are always fun.

So what surprises lurked in the office this time? I have to admit, we had a bumper haul today. Read on if you’d like to understand what these pictures are about…and the rest. :)

Today I was greeted by the following, all at once, when I got in:

• Payslips (mailed by our trusty and brilliant number cruncher, Christine) - admittedly payslips are not that interesting, but they do come in an envelope plastered with an impressive array of “Strictly Private and Confidential” stickers. I’ve seen a few of these now but nonetheless there’s always a fleeting moment when I spot the sticker-smothered envelope where I’m wondering if I might, finally, have been called up to double O, secret agent status - mission: save the world. Turns out - not yet. Double O Arena will have to wait. Still, everyone was very happy to get paid (aren’t we all?!) and helping people celebrate a new baby, a happy birthday and to tell them ‘I love you‘ is a very nice job indeed - our customers seem to think we do it okay too, thankfully.

• A new phone! And a chap called Mike who I’d never seen before. Standing by my desk. Erm, hello, erm, can I help? Turned out phones and Iron Mike were linked. We’re working with our good friends at Prestat.co.uk, the makers of the finest luxury chocolates in the UK, to help them with the e-commerce side of things. When you make chocolates for the queen (The Queen? HRH? Liz? - I hope I got that right..don’t want to be hanged for getting it wrong), you’ve got more important things to worry about than search engine optimisation and packing boxes. So, we’re helping them out - and, to do that, we needed a new phone system. Hence Mike. Hello, Mike!

• Doctor spam - somehow, a doctor’s surgery 300 miles from our office has decided that we should advertise in the flyers that they keep in their local surgery. For £500 a year. They sent pictures, mock ups etc. Impressively proactive and good literature. What I wasn’t expecting was the eight high pressure phone calls telling me the time to sign up for this once in a lifetime opportunity was now now NOW! Very random indeed and, whilst 10/10 for effort, having sounded out Vanessa for her view, we’ve agreed “No thank you.” will be our answer. Physician, heal thyself.

• Idiotic grinning (Steve, Ronald and myself with swanky HSBC peeps). We won an award from HSBC (thanks!), becoming a London winner of their Start Up Stars Awards. Here’s how they described us in their press release:

Flower delivery was, according to Arena, a well-established but decidedly old-fashioned market, ripe for re-modelling. Launched in September last year, the business delivers high quality products of excellent value nationwide and also internationally. The first UK florist to sell Fair Flowers Fair Plants (FFP) products, ArenaFlowers.com can also promise ethical sourcing and sustainable resources, while their innovative website makes the shopping experience simple and, above all, fun.

Flattering for sure! We like the fun bit in particular. Fun is good. In the spirit of celebrating the team’s successes, we got the picture of the awards dinner framed and it was on my desk when I got in today. We didn’t make the grand final but hey, we had a great time in the process, we’re proud that our flowers and our customers got this unexpected recognition and we wish the finalists the best of luck. Ironically, it’s the grand final today! Wonder who won?!

• The Good Shopping Guide - the most recent edition had arrived and was on my desk. With us in it. ArenaFlowers.com is the only UK florist to have this ethical accreditation. We can do better (we will), but we’re proud of to be ‘in the book’ already.

• Last and by no means least - brilliance! There was what appeared to be pillow wrapped in brown paper on my desk. On opening, it turned out that it was (many) copies of one of our local newspapers. Which one? *fanfare* The Alperton Times! A few weeks ago, we were contacted by Iris Lemon, who does great work supporting our local community. Having read an interview Arena had given, Iris inquired whether pupils from one of our local schools might be allowed to come in and interview the team for their local paper. The idea was that they would then write up the interview in a mini newspaper insert. Well, clearly we couldn’t possibly decline. So, not many days later Iris, several teachers (who seemed as youthful as the pupils) and a cacophony of energetic students swarmed over Arena and picked our brains clean (and enlivened our day no end). Rather than go on, here are some pictures, and then their excellent, if very generous, article at the end. We’d love to have won the HSBC awards, but we’re just as delighted to have been able to support our local community. What a first day back!

Filed under: Ethics & Environment, Flowers, General, Good Causes & Charities, Marketing, Matters Webby on October 25th, 2007

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