Winning at Old Trafford - Can you improve on that?

“That’s Boro out”… 

The first words my 14 year old M.F.C. mad son said, as the draw for the fourth round of the Capital One League Cup was made.  

Manchester United v Middlesbrough, at Old Trafford, the Theatre of Dreams…

I had to think hard about whether or not to buy tickets to the game.  The shiver of disappointment from the Play Off Final at Wembley last may still ran down the spine. Then, we learned that there would be up to 11,000 fans travelling.. Oh go on then, one last time….

As 'Head of Data Visualisation Partnerships' at skignz, I couldn’t resist thinking about the possibility of a showcase of skignz at Old Trafford, and how we could maybe make at least one part of the game memorable for my son!

After speaking with Si, the Co-Founder & CMO of skignz, he came up with the plan that we would use skignz to show my son and his friend to their seats, and allow other skignz users to see where they were.

Great Idea! Over 70,000 people in the ground and any one of them would be able to pick us out using skignz.  We also decided to place skignz around Old Trafford for the away fans, guiding them to the correct areas of the ground, and making life easier for them.

Inside the stadium there was an electric feel to the atmosphere as we made our way to our seats, 11,000 Teessiders (me, my son and his friend amongst them) ready to roar on our hometown club to victory in the biggest club stadium in the land.  

My son opened the skignz app on his smart phone…. 
"Have you seen that!!” he said.  

He’d just seen the skignz above his seat.  Then he saw another, and others dotted around Old Trafford there were skignz showing supporters clubs, people, and also support for the plight of the Steel Industry on Teesside #SaveOurSteel.

Middlesbrough F.C. won on penalties against a strong Manchester United team with England Captain Wayne Rooney missing his penalty.

A result that will live long in the memory of Boro fans.  The next day, I asked my now very tired son what he thought of Old Trafford and the trip.  

“I loved it dad. We won and I had my own skignz above my seat.. 
I wonder if LVG (Louis Van Gaal, M.U.F.C. Manager) saw it?”

I’m not sure about that son, but I’m sure he will soon….

If you want to use skignz at your club or on away days, place your own skignz beforehand and it will not only can help you find the 'Away End' at any stadium in the world but will also help you find your friends in the crowds if you link with them.

You can find out all the latest from skignz on both this blog and our usual social media channels

THINKING DIGITAL 2015 - skignz Start-up WINNERS!

The 2.5 day THINKING DIGITAL 2015 was again held at The SAGE in Gateshead. skignz involvement started the day earlier with a start-up bootcamp where 12 businesses had been shortlisted to pitch at Campus North, the home of Ignite 100.

skignz had 3 mins and 5 slides to pitch an audience of circa 100 plus a judging panel of five. 

skignz was one of the two finalists chosen along side Bristlr (Tinder for men with beards).



With Bristlr receiving the judges nomination and skignz receiving the most votes in the peoples vote.










The two companies were then invited to deliver their 'pitches' at the main TDC2015 the next day. During the final afternoon session and with an audience of over 500 and with a huge audience watching on the live feed. Bristlr and skignz pitched.... with the audience voting for their choice.

skignz WON, for the 2nd time in a little over a week skignz won the main award. The rest of the vent was spent giving interviews to various audiences, including TV, press and tech publications. 

Please see this link for one of them with Tech City Insider - http://www.techcityinsider.net/signs-looking-good-for-skignz

The rest of the day included a dinner in central Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK and the following day networking and watching the many different speakers. All in all, a wonderful experience, excellent presenters and fantastic networking with some really interesting people, all topped off with a skignz WIN! #tdc15

If you would like to know more about THINKING DIGITAL and the conferences they deliver then please visit: http://www.thinkingdigital.co.uk

If you would like to know more about skignz then please visit us on www.skignz.com/discover or check out all the usual social media channels by typing skignz in them.

skignz: Overall WINNERS of 'pitch@ignite 2015'

skignz are delighted to announce that we were confirmed Overall WINNERS of 'pitch@ignite 2015', celebrating the latest UK most disruptive Tech start-ups.

skignz was one of a shortlisted five companies who were given the opportunity to pitch their 'disruptive tech' in front of a very salubrious audience and esteemed Judges from KTN, Rugby World Cup 2015 and UK Capital.

The event was 'live streamed' on to twitter through Meercat, with plenty of audience & judges questions, prior to the final deliberations and skignz being announced as the eventual WINNERS!.

If you are a brand or individual and want to engage skignz, please download the FREE skignz APP on either IOS or Android or visit www.skignz.com/discover

Best New Business Awards 2014 - skignz is the Winner!

It’s the day after the Best New Business Awards Tees Valley 2014. Last night was a great night, not only as we got to meet a load of great start-up companies but that skignz was the WINNER of the Marketing Award. 

This was a fantastic achievement for the skignz team and we are still very proud today for having been selected to win this award by Cool Brand Blue Communications. 

We would also like to say well done to all runners up in the Marketing category and best luck for the future!

The whole awards event was great from start to finish.

Starting the night off we got to network with a wide variety of companies on arrival. This was a chance for everyone to meet one another and require a small insight as to what each business entails. 

Once seated that was another chance to meet and network with the company/companies on your table. Luckily for skignz we had two great companies seated with us, who we thoroughly enjoyed the whole night with and got to learn a lot about them. 

One of the companies was 12^th Man Solutions Ltd, who were also up for the Marketing award alongside skignz. They were a great bunch of people and their business was a great idea. 

We all had a good time in everyone’s company last night involving a lot of business talk and laughter.

The other company placed at the table with skignz was Earls of Ashwood Ltd. They are a cheesemonger and delicatessen company based in Stockton. 

We have got to say this was one of our favourite companies there last night. We all love cheese and by the sounds of what Earls of Ashwood provide, we are defiantly heading to their shop this weekend to taste some of their great delicacies.

Moving on in the night we had a lovely 3 course meal provided by BNBA Tees Valley. 

We all thoroughly enjoyed each part of the meal and have got to say were very full by the end of it, not to mention the free wine flowing sponsored by Big Bite Communications – a big thank you, you kept us all very hydrated throughout the night!

Then it was time for the awards. Each category had three nominees. All of the business ideas were truly great and everyone deserved their place last night.

Coming to the Marketing award there were some great other companies up for the award so we thought we had a low chance of winning it. However it is fair to say we were truly surprised when skignz got announced as the winner for the Marketing category. 

This was a proud moment for us! We only wish someone could have got a photo of us in that moment in time to see the shocked look on our faces! 

We would like to say well done to all the other winners of the night also and to the overall winner C&A Pumps and Engineering Ltd.

We would also like to say a big well done to Prince’s Trust for providing opportunities for young people to help support them and change their life for the better. 

The story we heard from their young promotional speaker was truly inspiring and it showed not just us but everyone just how exceptionally inspiring the company is. They raised an amazing £930 last night and we hope it hit the £1K as the night ended.  

Ending on a high, we had a great night and hope to be entering again next year in a different category! Well done to everyone again and a big thanks to Colin Brown for organising the whole event and proving all companies with great opportunities available last night!

If you would like to know more about The Best New Business Awards 2015 then please visit http://www.bestnewbusinessawards.com/

If you would like to know more about The Prince's Trust then please visit http://www.princes-trust.org.uk/

If you would like to know more about skignz then please visit our website at http://www.skignz.com and don't forget to check us out on a range of the popular Social Media Channels.