Here is PIKA’s final advert.
Our cape can wear both rainy and sunny day~

It’s been a long time for all of you and long time for Pika as well… closing the business is not very pleasant – it takes a lot of effort to do all the formalities as well as lots of emotions. For last few months Pika has been a part of us…

For last two weeks we have been preparing for business presentations and its closure…We have been busy with the rapport, production, marketing and adverts..

We will try to make a final ad a surprise for you…but here, exclusivley;P, you can a sneaky view on what was going on the set…:) (and making the video was fun indeed!!!!!!)

Dear Pika fans apologies from MaceTeam2 for not updating you on the company business for a moment. Things have been busy, since we have been sorting out design and production issues.

For all of you, who are interested in purchase of Pika Capes we have samples of materials used for our collection. Please, have a look on the pictures of fabrics below and be read to order your individual cape, the one which will express your personality the most:) Because this is what you want. You don’t want to be just another cyclist on the road.. You are women cyclists. You want to be sporty and trendy at the same time. You want to be prepared for every weather. It might sound to you like an advert of Taft hairspray, Maybelline cosmetics or L’oreal lipstick – but, one thing is sure you, your safety and fashion confidence are worth it! This capes are designed to express your personality, add you confidence and make you secure on the road. You can even pick up a cape and take it raving.

Which one expresses your personality the most?

PIKA has new capes prototype in two different fabric.

Which one do you prefer?

Check our black cape, feminine and make you still trendy when cycling.

http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/yy4/dolphinbaby1011/black.jpg

And here comes the green one, fun, funky and young!

http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/yy4/dolphinbaby1011/1.jpg

*Different colors are all available!

PIKA’s first version of advert

PIKA had a busy evening at the university Trade Fair on Thursday 10th December.  Many Young Enterprise teams were represented; the room was full of people, noise and activity.

Our stall had lovely badges and Christmas labels made by Yoon, glow sticks and sweets for sale.  But, our main focus was to demonstrate our cape and get more feedback.  Whilst we only made £2.09,  the cape itself proved a huge  people magnet.  Our resident model, Christine, did an excellent job and was photographed endlessly.

People told us they loved the cape and suggested colours they would like to see it in.  We came away very excited that others could see the potential.  Whilst we did not win any prizes, we had fantastic responses  – which for us is PRICELESS!

We met up for our last 2009 team meeting in the new Innoversity Room at Knights Park Campus.

Yoon is working on the web-site which will be on-line soon.  Magda will help her with the logo which will be agreed by the team in January.

Christine will make new business cards in January once we have the logo ready.  She also showed the team some fantastic material samples that she had sourced from China.  The designs and prints have never been seen in the UK before and the team was very excited at the prospect of using them.

So, Christine will book some facilities and next week, along with Cynthia, Magdalena and Yoon, she will spend a day making two or three samples out of this new material.  Magda will then road test the sample capes on her bike to see how good the fabric and designs are and what improvements can be made.

There is an urgency to get the samples made up as we would need to place material orders before the busy Chinese New Year.

In January, we will book market stalls.  Christine and Magda will continue contacting cycling charities, organisations, the young singer and the radio station as our PR machine starts picking up momentum.

Our bank account has been opened; the business plan has been done and submitted along with our entry for the Bright Ideas competition.

2010 promises to be an exciting and busy year for PIKA.

Happy New Year to you all!

It is not often that a team has the opportunity to go into the Dragon’s Den!

Last Friday afternoon saw PIKA and other teams pitching to three dragons – Corrine, Andrew and Sofia.

We believe in our product wholeheartedly but even we were amazed to have such positive feedback not just from the dragons but also from our peers.

Sofia liked the cape so much she would buy one.  She would use hers even when not cycling as it was so feminine and attractive.  She was worried about the cape catching on handlebars but this is something we are monitoring, we believe that the weight of the fabric and style of the cape will ensure its safety.

Corrine felt that being able to demonstrate our prototype at the presentation had made all the difference and impressed the dragons.  She stressed the packaging was extremely important – it needed to be portable and made out of the same material as the cape.  It did not need to be attached to the bike.  As the cape would be worn in the rain when NOT cycling this was a positive marketing point.  She suggested using iron-on transfers or digital printing to include washing instructions.  We should share out the production of the cape among our team.

Andrew would definitely pay £40-50 for our cape and would we make it for men too!  He was very excited by it and felt we had an excellent product.  He also queried safety issues but we assured him that there is a similar product on the market that meets safety requirements and our cape’s measurements are within safe boundaries.

Our peers gave some very helpful feedback.  One male student focused on the safety of the design – something we are aware of and working on.  One student wanted the option of wearing her own belt with it.  Another male student felt it would look great among products sold at ‘Accessorize’ – he certainly had a good point and something worth investigating.  He felt it had a ‘fairy tale’ look about it.  One team offered to pay £10 for it if it was completely waterproof and then it would be used instead of an umbrella for walking about in the rain.  Clearly the capes ‘multi-uses’ had been recognised.  This is something we have purposefully built into the design.  Our cape is multi-functional, it can be worn when not cycling just as successfully as when on a bike.  It becomes a ‘must-have’ product that no young woman should be without (recent British weather certainly supports this!)

A great afternoon and PIKA had a much appreciated boost!  Thank you everyone.

TRADE FAIR

We have had to scale down our stall as so many deadlines are looming for all of our students this week.  We will have a new cape to demonstrate (Cyndy is working on this right now) and Christine will be our lovely model.

On our stall we will sell various inexpensive products to raise more start-up funds.  There will be leaflets, badge-making and glow-sticks to purchase.  We were disappointed to hear we could not run a raffle (all those unwanted gifts and wine-bottles have to go into the back of the cupboard again).

Yoon is working on the web-site and our logo which is proving trickier than we had anticipated.  It is worth waiting to get it right; it is our image.

We will make our stall festive and colourful; hopefully we may even take advance orders for our cape – and some monetary deposits!

All very exciting.  The Bright Eyes entry is ready and will be e-mailed shortly.  Then a paper copy, along with the new Business Plan will be handed to Corrine on Friday.  A meeting with our prospective bank manager on Thursday.  Friday afternoon, we are having a Secret Santa and FUN!

Happy Christmas from everyone at PIKA.