The team from Hollywood Monster recently took part in the first ever Malmaison and Hotel du Vin 5 a side Charity Football Tournament which was held to raise money for charity The Variety Club.

The Tournament, held on at 10.00 a,m on Sunday 27th September at The Power League Football centre in Birmingham was eventually won by a team from BBC/ITV raising just over £1,500 for the charity.

It featured competing teams from: Malmaison Birmingham, Hotel du Vin Birmingham, Radisson Hotel Birmingham, Clarke Willmott, Best Seller, Andrew Fox, Allied Irish Bank, The Sunday Mercury and Malmaison Liverpool.

A great day was had by all and the Hollywood Monster team thoroughly enjoyed taking part, especially through the adoption of their reported in-between game “Pint-in-the-bar” strategy.

The merging of Hollywood Signs and Monster Digital back in August presented the company with a number of considerable challenges, one of which was the critical requirement to merge all of the plant and equipment from either company all together and operational under one roof.   This led to a complex consultation about how to best organise and layout the new factory and equipment into the most efficient and productive way.  Testament to the skill and experience of the installation teams and plant engineers the company employs was the fact that just five days after moving in, the factory was declared 100% operational.

The move into one new, consolidated facility brings many advantages and economies of scale to the business.  It enables the 25 strong production team to operate in 30,000 sq ft of open space, able to call upon an impressive array of state of the art signage and digital printing equipment and tools.  Amongst the state of the art UV Digital printing machines available to the team includes :

• A five metre wide HP Expedio
• A five metre HP Revolution
• Vutek QS3200 Flatbed
• 14 metre Hi Frequency welder

Together with many other leading graphic and flatbed production machines.

Production Manager Mat Jephcott who oversaw the move into the new facility and the commissioning of the print machines, commented : ”The new space this factory now brings to our overall capacity is significant.   To have all of the machines and production resources we had separately at Hollywood and Monster together in one place is excellent.  It enables us to provide a round the clock print and stitch facility that not a lot of other graphics companies can offer”   MD Tim Andrews went on to say : “the final commissioning of the new machines heralded another milestone in the company’s 18 year history, signalling an exciting new era for both companies”

The factory operates 24 hrs a day, 365 days a year and every month outputs an average of 30,000 sq metres of printed signage and media.

Amongst some of the first contracts to roll off the production line included banners and plural to re-brand Birmingham city Football Club throughout the stadium ready for their return to the Premiership, 500 metres of temporary signage to provide a secure perimeter and promote the 2012 Olympic Village development in London, pitchside perimeter signage for Stoke City FC and a 10,000 sq m pvc trade supply order including a seventy five vehicle re-brand exercise for a major building contractor across the UK.

Held annually and in the same format of Golf’s legendary Ryder Cup, Hollywood Monster were proud sponsors of an annual golf event held at the start of September at Edgbaston Golf Club in Birmingham.

This year’s event, featured a Property Agent team comprised of Kenny Allen from newly formed KGA Chartered Surveyors, Richard Meering and Nick Waddington from M3, Richard Ludlow and Myles Wilcox-smith from Gerald Eve, Carl Durrant from King Sturge, Colin Jarvie from Jarvie Bedhall Dixon, Mike Price from Knight Frank, Cameron Mitchell from JLL, Noel Muscutt from Bulleys, Stephen Rowan and Ranjit Gill from BNP.

The Developers team were represented by Stuart Franks and Mike Hargreaves from Coltham Developments, Oliver Bertram and Alan Sarjant from ProLogis, Simon Williams and Graham Pardoe from Goodman, Nick Schwartz from Revelan, Gregg Titley from Shepherds, Justin Parker from Mucklows, Tony Nash from Stoford, Julian Meredith, and Tim Blair from Antrincham.

The event was 36 holes, which was greensomes in the morning and singles in the afternoon in true Ryder Cup format. The score in the morning was 4-2 to the developers, the afternoon was won by the agents 7-5 resulting in a draw at 9-9, as the developers were the holders of the cup they got to retain it for another year making the overall score 5-4 to the developers.

MD, Tim Andrews said:”This is the fourth year running we have been involved and are delighted to be able to continue our partnership with the Agents and Developers.  I enjoyed the event that much that I have decided to take up golf full time and have already booked six lessons at Hagley Golf Club”

After the golf the crowd including Hollywood Monster MD Tim Andrews ventured into Birmingham for a curry and further light refreshments.

This season Birmingham City Football Club supporters will be able to take advantage of a giant new 10 x 8 metre LED video screen installed over the summer.  This giant screen, one of the biggest in the Premiership is used by the club during match days to show action replays, announce team line-ups and provide general information for supporters.
Over the summer during the installation and commissioning process the team at Hollywood Monster played a key role in creating bespoke graphics and visuals to wrap around the screen and brand it into the sponsor’s colours.

Commenting on the project, Managing Director Tim Andrews said   “Being a part of the installation of this screen down at the Blues was a great experience.  We were so impressed with the screen that we decided to sponsor the substitution announcement which gives us the opportunity to get our logo in front of 28,000 people every time Blues play, which is a real coup for the company.    We are a long standing supplier to the Blues and always looking for ways to promote our involvement with the club.   We do all of the pitch-side hoarding and have done for years but this screen really does give supporters another level of information”.

During last weekend’s second city derby against arch rivals Aston Villa the Hollywood Monster logo appeared every time a substitution was made, seen by a packed house of 28,000 fans, also in front of the Live Sky Sports TV cameras.

We also sponsor the tannoy announcements for every substitution made, which provides another opportunity for the company to be seen and heard during games.
If you are planning to go and watch a game down at the Blues any time soon, please look out for the screen and the Hollywood Monster Logo every time a player gets substituted.

Hollywood Monster celebrated its 18th year of partnership with Birmingham City Football Club with the installation during the summer of over £100,000 of new signage and graphics throughout the stadium and corporate hospitality areas in preparation for a new season in the Premiership.
This featured the complete renovation and reinstallation of new advertisement hoardings that surround the pitch for over 30 different advertisers produced in high definition.  Included within this was the installation of eight of their own hoardings allocated to the company for the 2009/2010 season and carrying details of the new Hollywood Monster name and Website.
Hollywood Monster were also commissioned to manufacture and install new way-finding signage throughout the stadium and new conference and banqueting room graphics.  New state of the art digitally printed wallpaper featuring several different montages of famous Blues player faces was also installed throughout the main commercial reception areas and in hospitality boxes.
We also completed the rebranding for the newly renamed Gil Merrick stand in honour of the former Blues playing legend.
Commenting on the partnership and successful outcome of the project, Managing Director, Tim Andrews said “Our partnership with Blues is one of the most successful we have in the business.  This year we are delighted to have been chosen for the 18th consecutive year to produce and install all of the Club signage and graphics requirements in preparation for their return to the big time”.  He goes on to also comment “We have renewed our executive box booking for the coming season and look forward to welcoming our clients along.  The new screen is an exciting innovation and one which gives clubs like the blues a fantastic opportunity to install graphics that are neat and tidy and crystal clear in their detail.”
We wish the Blues every luck for the coming season.

At the start of August, Hollywood Monster were approached to produce dressing and display for the opening ceremony and launch of the newly formed Birmingham Metropolitan College held on the 1st September.  This event, held at the former Matthew Boulton Campus in Birmingham celebrated the merging of Sutton Coldfield and Matthew Boulton Colleges into the new super college and featured the unveiling of the new college logo and colour scheme.

The new college will be responsible for the teaching of over 27,000 students, between the ages of 16 to 19 and will have a combined teaching staff of 1,000 professionals, with the institution offering more than 2,000 qualifications to people across the West Midlands.

Hollywood Monster produced various display products to include digitally printed wallpaper, floor graphics, panatrim frame signs, high level 3D letters and vinyl graphics.  The company also provided a 5 x 40 metre high banner which was unveiled against a backdrop of fireworks by an abseiling team directly in front of 200 guests including the Lord Mayor of Birmingham – Michael Wilkes, Phil Upton of Radio WM and Britain’s Got Talent winning group, Diversity.

Attending the launch, Managing Director Tim Andrews commented: “We are delighted to have been chosen to provide the new signage and branding for this exciting new college.  This project serves to further underline our ability to provide high quality graphic and signage services on time and to budget.  It was vital that this project was completed in-time for the launch and we were pleased to be involved in such a high profile event as this”.

Hollywood Monster has a long and established working relationship with the College, which in the past has included signage at Millennium Point and the original Matthew Boulton campus which included the first of its kind LED Pulsating high level 3D letter sign.

The company enjoys a strong track record in providing signage for high profile events, including The Taste Birmingham Event in July, Paris Air Show in August, Southampton Boat Show in September and forthcoming Birmingham Half Marathon in October.