Galactus :: Digital Design, Marketing & Online PR

Galactus to produce site for Oxford Tree Stories

Galactus — Mon, 08 March 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Oxford Reading Tree and TreeTops are carefully constructed reading programmes read to a multitude of primary school children published by Oxford University Press.

This vast series of books features popular characters such as Biff, Chip, Kipper, Wilma, Wilf, Nadim and Galactus has been asked to create a new, dedicated site aimed at teachers called Time Chronicles stories.

Main aims will be to showcase these new books/iconic characters and convey the fact the books have much more to offer at an older level of reading Key Stage 2 (7 - 9 year olds) as all the characters featured are no longer seven and have got older too.

Key objectives will be to make the site colourful and eye-catching whilst still showing all the information in a clear readable way that will make teachers feel these books will work in the classroom too.

Facebook application for artist Jack Vettriano

Galactus — Mon, 01 March 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Galactus has been appointed to produce a dedicated Facebook application for world renowned artist Jack Vettriano (recently voted 'Scot of the year') that will send his fans an image a week directly to their Facebook profile pages showcasing his extensive portfolio.

The application will also include a 'buy now' button enabling users to purchase his work linking through to his website. We will also be adding a bespoke editing tool enabling our client to regularly update the Facebook application with hand picked images on an ongoing basis.

Galactus picks up Templar online PR campaigns

Galactus — Thu, 18 February 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Galactus are pleased to have picked up two online PR campaigns from well known children’s publisher Templar.

The first for ‘Vampireology’ which is the latest title in the bestselling ‘Ology’ series that has a huge pre-teen following and has sold over 17 million copies worldwide.

The second campaign will be to promote the well known ‘Amazing Baby’ books that consist of over 40 titles that have sold over 3 million copies worldwide. This campaign will be aimed firmly at parenting/baby sites, blogs and forums.

What is online PR?: Click here

View case studies: Click here

Augmented Reality site for Carlton Books

Galactus — Wed, 03 February 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Galactus are pleased to announce we are producing an augmented reality site for Carlton Books that will be used as a hub to promote a number of content packed children’s books including initial titles ‘Extreme Dinosaurs’ & ‘How to be a Princess’.

As well as pushing the books the site will also include an animated character to guide users through the site and walk them through how to download the augmented reality function.

Further developments include adding additional titles to the site throughout 2010.

Galactus to produce Witchfinder online campaign

Galactus — Wed, 16 December 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Witchfinder:Dawn of the Demontide is Oxford Children’s Books super-lead title for 2010 and a website and widget will be produced to build interest and awareness of the Witchfinder series and act as an online hub to promote the books and William Hussey as an author to the trade and consumer markets

The site will be aimed predominantly at girls aged 12+ that are primarily fans of dark fiction.

View holding page: www.witchfinderbooks.co.uk

Technologies used: XHTML, CSS & jQuery

Galactus promotes advent calendar for EMI

Galactus — Fri, 20 November 2009 00:00:00 +0100

On 1st December the 'Thank EMI its Christmas' advent calendar launches and Galactus has been appointed to promote it across a variety of lifestyle sites.

The campaign offers twenty five days of fantastic prize giveaways and free samples highlighting some of the best releases of the year including gift recommendations.

With a different artist or genre theme each day, users can return daily to explore the goodies behind each door. It also includes themed days ranging from The Beatles to High School Musical and from Queen to Hannah Montana.

Every day prizes are available including signed items from the likes of Queen, Genesis, the casts of Camp Rock and High School Musical, Miley Cyrus, Tina Turner, Beastie Boys and Cliff Richard.

Galactus has moved

Galactus — Mon, 02 November 2009 00:00:00 +0100

We are chuffed to have moved into our new offices at St Brandon's House in the heart of Bristol City Centre opposite the historic Cabot Tower and within a stone's throw away of some of the City's best cafes, bars and restaurants, as well as the nearby Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery where the recent Banksy exhibition was held.

Here's a cheeky little 3d, animated ecard we sent out to our clients: http://galactus.co.uk/projects/ecard/index.html

Vivid Imaginations appoints Galactus to produce 3 websites

Galactus — Mon, 05 October 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Vivid Imaginations is the UK's Number 1 independent toy and gift product who develop the hottest properties in the child/teen entertainment market, and we are chuffed to have been appointed to produce 3 websites.

The projects include initial UK websites with later plans localise them for the USA and a multitude of European markets, to be used as an online hub to promote toy ranges including ‘Teeny Little Families’, ‘Stunt Riderz’ and ‘Twilight Ponies'.

Happy days!

Flash games and much more besides...

Galactus — Thu, 01 October 2009 00:00:00 +0100

We had a bit of feedback recently from a couple of new clients who thought that we focussed on producing flash games - to demystify this preconception we have compiled a top level description highlighting the technologies we use to produce clean, semantic X/HTML sites, alongside some examples at the bottom of the page.

Clean XHTML
We build all our sites using XHTML and make sure our code validates to the standards set by the W3C to ensure that our sites are accessible and work in today's browsers as well as those of the future.

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)
Our sites are presented using CSS to ensure consistency throughout the pages and make global changes easier to implement in the future.

Progressive Enhancement
We use jQuery and Google technologies to progressively enhance our websites with animation effects such as fades and transitions as well as using Web 2.0 techniques such as AJAX and JSON to make pages load quicker and more smoothly. Progressive enhancement ensures that all users, even those with legacy browsers or functionally limited devices (such as mobile phones) get the best user experience they can.

PHP5
Our sites are preferably developed using PHP5, a powerful Object Oriented script language that provides secure, scalable and affordable back end development and reduced hosting costs when compared to Microsoft servers. However we also have developers that work with Microsoft technology if required.

Website examples

www.kellyosbourne.com

www.jiggymccue.com

www.annakbaldwin.com

www.oxfordchildrens.co.uk/demonheadmaster

www.bladewebsite.co.uk

Widget for Life on Mars character DCI Gene Hunt

Galactus — Fri, 25 September 2009 00:00:00 +0100

The widget will be used to promote 'The Wit and Wisdom of Gene Hunt' – the third in a series of spoof books based on the characters from the BBC series Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes. This book is a selection of DCI Gene Hunt's funniest and most controversial quotes, compiled by the two men who know him best… with photos & scribbled annotations from Ray Carling.

We love our jobs here at Galactus.

Click here to see some other widgets we have produced.