Online shopping has continued to rise over the past few years with more and more people taking to the comfort of their sofa to complete their high street purchases. 2007 saw an all-time high with a 35% increase in online purchases rising to £14.7bn according to Verdict Research. Vying for eyes balls in this dominate space is an ever evolving process, and brands know that keeping abreast of technology will give them the online edge.

At a recent technology driven event staged in Manchester two renowned industry leaders came together by offering a creative brief to supply an innovative tool that would aide shoppers online. The brief was created by Channel 4’s 4 Talent team and retail giant Littlewoods Direct. The aptly named ‘Branding Talent’ award invited creative’s to seed their ideas online before being shortlisted to attend a workshop day prior to the bTWEEN08 event at the Museum of Science and Industry . The ideas were pitched at industry experts who judged the nine presentations to find the winner.     

The winning proposal came from Quba whose idea ‘Little ME’ won over the judges for its innovative use of technology and integration within the brand. Based upon a desktop widget ‘Little ME’ aims to extend the Trinny and Susannah Shape Advisor within the Littlewoods Direct website. Users are able to create their own outfits by selecting various combinations based upon the shape of their bodies, and allowing a more personal shopping experience, and greater definition on how they visualise garments online.

Speaking on the win Robin Cramp from Quba said ‘This is a really exciting win for us with a fantastic opportunity to build a great piece of functionally into a well renowned brand. ‘Little ME’ is a clever little desktop widget that allows busy people to fulfil their fashion aspirations by searching the Littlewoods catalogue via the use of some innovative technology. We look forward to taking the idea to the next stage with Littlewoods, and seeing the finished product implemented in the coming months’. 

Talking from the brand perspective Bernard Page from Littlewoods Direct said ‘We are going through a huge transformation, and events like this (bTWEEN08) accelerate our learning enabling us to transform into the 21^st century company we want to be’. Moving forward Quba will work directly with Littlewoods Direct facilitated by their partners at Carat Media to make the ‘Little ME’ widget a reality. 

Notes to editors >>>>>

Notes to editors:

Robin Cramp is an Assistant Producer at Quba

Quba is a new media agency with 26 staff based in Sheffield and Manchester.

Desktop Widget defined:         http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widget_engine
Quba:                                      www.quba.co.uk
bTWEEN08:                              www.btween.co.uk
Channel 4’s 4 Talent:               http://www.channel4.com/4talent/national/
Littlewoods Direct:  http://www.littlewoodsdirect.com/rf/lxd/static.do?page=landingpage19

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For information on this release please contact Robin Cramp on 0114 279 7779
Alternatively you can e-mail him on This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it