The fifteenth Independent Marketing Awards, run by the Independent Electrical Retailer magazine in cooperation with distributors BDC Independents, were held at The Belfry hotel in Warwickshire on 14 June 2007. The winners of this year's Awards – companies which the readers of IER – the independent electrical retailers – recognised as having given them the best support by investing in product excellence, advertising communications and training, collected 20 awards in 12 categories. The Awards were compered by Andrew Castle, IER Publishing Director, and presented by Jeff Moody, BDC Appliance Business Unit Director, Rysiek Tomczyk, Board Director of Bridisco, Anna Ryland, Editor of IER and Hannah Dedman, IER Publishing Manager.

In its fiftieth year, consumer watchdog, Which?, has presented its first Awards for the best products and services in the UK – as recognised by the consumers.

BBG has received the Worldwide Distributor of the Year award 2006/2007 from Profigold in recognition of all the support that BBG has put into the Profigold brand within the CE channel.

A £10 million advertising campaign promoting Electrolux and its sister brands AEG-Electrolux and Zanussi-Electrolux via TV, press and online media will run in the summer and autumn. It will promote the new Global Design Range in both the kitchen and the laundry room.

THE new report from the Energy Saving Trust (EST), The Ampere Strikes Back, reveals that the dawn of a new 'ICE (Information, Communication, Entertainment) Age' leading to a proliferation of home entertainment equipment, such as DAB radios, flat screen TVs and laptops across the UK, undermines efforts to manage domestic energy demand and to curb the effects of climate change.

Retail opportunities during National Home Security Week

THE dates of this year's National Home Security Week have been announced by Micromark, home security manufacturer and the main sponsor of the event. It will take place between 25 and 31 August of 2007. It is the sixth year of the annual campaign, designed to encourage home owners to think about simple home security measures and help prevent crime in their home.

Over five million DAB digital radios have been sold, according to figures from GfK. This equates to nearly 10 million listeners tuning into DAB around the UK. DAB set penetration now stands at 18% of all UK homes.

Comet has started offering a collection and recycling service of domestic appliances to all UK households. For a £20 charge Comet will collect any large appliance even if a replacement has been purchased at another retailer.

BBG Distribution Ltd has appointed David Croydon as head of marketing and communications. David brings over 30 years’ marketing experience to BBG.

Freeplay Energy has appointed Rahul Sharma to the newly created role of VP marketing & internet channel. Sharma's brief is to increase Freeplay Energy's distribution capabilities and e-retailing effectiveness.

YOU may have guessed that this column is not going to be about the unusually wet summer which has brought disastrous floods in many areas. I would like to comment again about the green issues which ooze from almost every pore of the electrical industry.

While in Moscow with Electrolux, IER’s Editor met His Majesty Tsar Nicholas II, who expressed great interest in the latest developments in the European cooking appliances market in view of the impending makeover of the Kremlin's kitchens.

SONOS, a young American audio manufacturer, has entered the UK market with a wireless music system which offers good crossselling opportunities for the independent.

PHILIPS Sonicare, the maker of the number one sonic toothbrush brand recommended by dental professionals, has launched FlexCare, described by the manufacturer as “the best, most innovative and fullfeatured Philips Sonicare toothbrush ever”. It comes with the first-of-its-kind Philips Sonicare UV Sanitiser for sanitising toothbrush heads.

Roberts has introduced a budget DAB radio, selling for just under £50. The Gemini 45 is aimed mainly at first-time DAB buyers, but also at those who have already converted to digital broadcasts but require a secondary radio.

The latest extractor hood from Siemens sports a stylish ‘cube’ design. The 400mm wide LC70450GB features a stainless steel finish and boasts an extraction rate of 760 cubic metres per hour and a minimum noise level of just 49 decibels.

Electra has expanded its line-up of retro fridge freezers with the introduction of a duck egg blue model. The E7316 from the Servis-owned brand is A*-rated for energy and incorporates a fast freeze facility which is designed to ensure that fresh food is frozen quickly to preserve its natural goodness.

Nespresso and De ’Longhi have joined forces to produce the Lattissima – the first coffee machine to offer an automated fresh milk froth function, acting in tandem with coffee production. The compact machine features twin heating and pump systems that operate simultaneously for optimum efficiency, one for coffee and one for milk preparation.

Philips has teamed up with Nivea For Men to produce the Moisturizing Shaving System collection of shavers.

Smeg has made an addition to its successful Opera range cooker collection, in the form of the A2RW-6 – a burgundy red model. The cooker boasts a six-burner gas hob, along with two electric ovens. The main oven, which has a capacity of 51 litres, has eight functions including fan cooking and fanassisted defrosting.

The latest steam generator from Philips has a speedy start-up time of just under two minutes. The GC7230, designed for faster and more effective ironing, is equipped with a SteamGlide soleplate with steam tip, along with 4 Bar steam pressure, an 80g/minute steam rate and a steam trigger with lock.

The Sanyo Xacti CA65 is the world’s first waterproof digital movie camera, says the maker. The compact camera, which requires no separate underwater housing, has been designed for one-handed operation so that it can be used during activities such as swimming, up to a depth of 1.5m.

PERHAPS not surprisingly Electrolux has chosen Moscow's Red Square as a place to launch its latest floorcare products – the Power of Red – a range of upright vacuum cleaners.

Andrei Bgatov has been recently appointed channel director at Indesit Company with the responsibility for the independent channel. He believes that he inherited “a very successful business” from his predecessor Geoff Woodman – widely known and highly respected by independent dealers. Therefore his strategy for the future is one of evolution rather than revolution (despite his Russian roots).

In December 2006, the European Union adopted a new regulation relating to chemical substances in a variety of applications – REACH – which on 1 June 2007 became law in European countries, including the UK.

Remember the Walkman Generation? That was the name given to the consumers who flocked to products like Sony's tape-based personal audio player. Then came the CD Generation, and now, we have the iPod Generation.

A sleek portable music player designed for the iPod generation – there's no tape or CD deck but it comes with an iPod connecting port. There's also an FM tuner and remote control handset. The RA-P11 can be powered by both mains and battery.

At just 7mm thick and 50 grams in weight, this is one of the most compact MP3 players on the market. It has a 1.8in OLED screen and offers up to 8GB of Flash storage, making it possible to store up to 4000 tracks. There's also an FM tuner and 3D sound. The battery offers up to 25 hours playback time. Available in blue, green and red.

The top of the range of three Video MP3 players, the NWA808 plays music and video, and can also be used as a digital photo album – there is a slideshow feature too. The NW-A808 has a 2in LCD screen and is less than 1cm thick, making it highly portable. The 8GB flash memory storage holds up to 55,000 music tracks or 32 hours of video.

A portable DAB radio that sells for less than £50. Despite its relatively low price, the RD45 offers many features including an FM/DAB tuner, nine pre-sets with a favourite station button and 16 x 2 character LCD screen. It can be powered by mains and batteries.

AS part of Royal Philips Electronics Group, Philips Shavers is the world leader in the electric shaving category, commanding over 60% of electric shaving market. The company is renowned for its extensive product and market research and its innovation record.

It is encouraging how much product innovation and focus on design continues to take place in the food preparation and beverage making sectors. There are certain product areas within each sector that lend themselves to this activity more than others – blenders and coffee makers are the two that spring to mind.

The Electrolux Brita range of A-rated frost-free fridge freezers features an integrated Brita Maxtra cartridge providing four litres of filtered water and which is filled manually rather than plumbed in. An indicator tells the user when to change the filter, usually recommended at every four weeks, so the cartridges provide a great add-on sale for retailers too. Available in white or pearly silver.

Hailed as an innovation in the kitchen, the new kettles feature quiet boil technology. The company claims that it is 30% quieter than a standard kettle. Other features include illumination on boiling, showing the user it has reached the correct temperature; 1.7 litre capacity; 360° connector on a cordless base; 3.1kw concealed rapid boil element and removeable limescale filter. Available in brushed stainless steel or graphite plastic.

It heats water in three seconds offering up to a 65% energy saving compared to a standard kettle, says the manufacturer. A press of a button sends water up a heating element in a spiral movement, heating it immediately as it travels. Other features of the dishwasher-safe product include a Claris Aqua water filter cartridge and automatic mug size function.

The blender is a solution to the dilemma of finding space for all attachments of the food prep equipment. It's all based on colour - four colour-coded blade attachments which store in their own 'tidy box' designed to fit in any kitchen drawer. The system allows the user to quickly identify which blade is which. Green is for mixing, yellow for whisking, red for chopping and blue for ice crushing. Other features include 700W motor, 6 speed operation and 0.8 litre goblet.

The first cordless link in home entertainment equipment was to provide remote control. Initially the medium was ultrasonic sound, but that soon gave way to infra-red light, modulated by being chopped into pulses, each command having its own unique pulse train. Later infrared cordless headphones made their appearance, powered by on-board batteries. Then came IR sound systems, with loudspeakers needing no more than a mains connection.