Dolly Digital’s New Online Shop

Dolly Digital have been selling unique designs through RedBubble for almost 2 years. We have built up a large and diverse range of designs found on clothing, prints and iPhone cases. The quality of product and customer service from RedBubble is excellent. We will be retaining our presence on this website.

We have a loyal customer-base that regularly post positive comments on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook but also on message boards. It is largely due to our customers, and the feedback we receive, that we have decided to make some changes to how and where we sell our designs.

We are proud to announce that Dolly will be selling mobile phone cases from our own website: www.dollydigital.bigcartel.com

There are a few reasons that we have made this decision.

1 – Our mobile cases will now be created in the UK

Reducing the dispatch time is the primary reason that we have decided to create cases in the UK. At present, through RedBubble our UK customers may have to wait in excess of 14 working days. Because we will be printing here in the UK, we will strive to half this time to no more than 7 days.

Through RedBubble, our cases are created in the USA. Occasionally but increasingly regularly, UK customs are adding fees to iPhone cases as they enter the country. By creating the cases here at home we will automatically prevent our customers from incurring extra fees.

2 – We have negotiated a new price with suppliers

As the title above says, we have managed to negotiate a new cost-price from our suppliers. We are pleased to be able to pass this reduction on to you, the customer. What else, in 2012 have you seen a price drop by 1/3 of the price? That is what we have managed to do. There is a recession after all!

We can guarantee the quality will not be affected by the reduction in our production costs. In fact, our new supplier provide the technology for RedBubble to do what they do. We will still be using the same thermal printing technology to ‘tattoo’ your case individually. The quality and durability of the case will remain the same. We are aware that it is possible to buy a case for less than £10 on the High Street. We are in a different market to the mass-produced crap created in a Chinese factory. Our cases are crafted individually, in the UK, when you place the order.

As a result of the technology we use and the location of our printing we can’t offer a £8.99 case. We aim for quality over quantity. If you choose the mass-produced, you will buy many £8.99 cases. If you choose a Dolly Digital case, your cover will out-live your mobile!

3 – Extended product range

Since we began selling mobile cases we have been continually bombarded by requests for other mobile phone providers. By selling these ourselves we now have the freedom to sell designs for every major mobile device. We can now offer cases for BlackBerry, HTC Desire, Samsung Galaxy as well as the iPhone and iPod. We also have plans in the near future to provide these high quality, premium and durable cases for iPad and the new Samsung Galaxy S3.

4 – Greater control – greater individuality

Since we are ‘cutting out the middle man’ we now know more about our customers. We know where our cases are going. We will be able to know whether our cases are popular in Timbuktu, but not Torphins or our adi-dons design is popular in an Aberdeen postcode but not so much in Abu Dhabi. We will also have all email addresses of our clients.

This isn’t really important, to you, the customer. What is important is now we know your email address we will soon be able to post you a free wallpaper for every design you buy. If you buy the ‘Drew Jarvie‘, we will email you the ‘Drew Jarvie‘ design for use as a wallpaper on your mobile. For free! This is a little thank you but also, it will create a more individual phone for our customers.

5 – A better deal for commercial clients

All of the points listed above is great news for our commercial clients. Especially the cost. In the past we were restricted with the cost we could supply bulk orders. These restrictions are now lifted and as a result we can offer a better deal to clients that would like 5 – +1000 cases. We have already seen numerous commercial clients take advantage of this.

If you are a current client or customer or if you think you would like to work with us in future please check out our shop at www.dollydigital.bigcartel.com or check us out on Twitter and Facebook and let us know what you think…

Aitkens Bakery Tee

Our ‘Aitkens Bakery’ Tee is a popular design. One of our favourites too. We have received photos from customers, wearing the Tee, around the world. Thailand, Australia and USA, to name only three. We’ll update this blog post with some photos soon.

The iconic design, made famous by the Bakery, is part of our ‘Iconic Doric‘ collection of imagery. As well as Aitkens, the collection consists of Bon Accord Ale, Moray Cup and Wee Alickie. This collection is ever-expanding with a few more due to be released very soon. This collection is designed as a celebration of all things Aberdeen and is aimed at ex-pats and home-bird Aberdonians alike.

On Friday 18th May our design was featured on Northsound 1 by Andy James and Craig McDonald. They took it a step further and went to the effort of modelling the Tee. In our opinion they nailed the ‘Catalogue-pose’ perfectly.

We have also bowed to the constant demand and we have now created iPhone covers that also feature the famous lighthooose and traaaler of Aitkens Bakery. Again, these are proving popular and judging by the locations these are being dispatched to, there is a little bit of Aitkens Bakery on all continents.

John Hewitt 9.6 seconds – Limited Edition Prints

“In the time it takes you to read this, John Hewitt had already scored the quickest goal in Scottish Cup history.”

John Hewitt – 9.6 Seconds.

This Print celebrates the fastest goal in Scottish Cup history. This was the first goal of a campaign that ultimately led to Hewitt’s winning goal versus Real Madrid.

This is a Limited Edition Print (18″x12″). Each print will be numbered one of nine (one for each second of the game before Hewitt scored). Printed to a premium standard on the highest quality paper. Suitable for framing.

The print will be securely packaged and posted out within seven days.

For International deliveries the print will be securely packaged and dispatched the next day as ‘International Signed for Small Packages’. Delivery times will vary depending on location.

Aberdeen FC Fans – Limited Edition Photographic Prints

4 x Limited Edition Photographic Print (18″x12″). Each print will be numbered one of 1903. Printed to a premium standard on the highest quality paper. Suitable for framing.

All monies raised from sales of this print will be split between Aberdeen FC Youth Development and funding future displays.

Available from: dollydigital.bigcartel.com

The print will be securely packaged and posted out next day. The print will be dispatched as ‘Recorded First Class’.

For International deliveries the print will be securely packaged and dispatched the next day as ‘International Signed for Small Packages’. Delivery times will vary depending on location.

Turn Social Media Red – An Update

We thought we should provide an update regarding our ‘Turn Social Media Red‘ campaign blog. The ‘Turn Social Media’ campaign began simply by offering red logos of popular social media networks Twitter and Facebook. The idea was that we could show support to Aberdeen FC for the upcoming Semi-final versus Hibernian. Then perhaps Aberdeen fans would like to show support too. We certainly didn’t expect it to become as high-profile as it did!

We say ‘our’ campaign, but it very quickly became ‘your’ campaign. What started with a simple tweet on Sunday 8th April, snowballed into a global gathering of Aberdeen fans on Social Networks.

Within hours of this post, it had been retweeted by Dolly Digital’s followers, football forums AberdeenMAD and DonsTalk (who are always very supportive of our Aberdeen FC designs) and dozens of fans were downloading the Red Twitter Bird and Red Facebook logo. After 12 hours this blog had over 1000 views (to be honest, it usually takes a month to reach this figure!) and the icons had been downloaded 500 times.

This is when the #TurnTwitterRed campaign really began to gather momentum. Dons fans were changing their profile pics, and followers began asking why? Twitter users began to spread the word. Soon current and former players like Jason Brown, Clark Robertson, Josh Magennis, David Preece and Arild Stavrum were helping #TurnTwitterRed. Even @AberdeenFC changed their avatar. The media were starting to notice and ask questions. Similar activities were happening on Facebook.

After 24 hours those figures had grown to over 2500 views and over 1000 downloads. By Saturday morning the icons had been downloaded over 2500 times and this blog had been viewed close to 5000 times. That’s every third person in the Dons end, at Hampden, checking our blog!

Businesses and individuals were adopting our colour-manipulated images. We were also thrilled to see users customise theses icons to produce personalised avatars. Businesses and media outlets like Mnemonic Phototgraphy, Northsound 1, Northsound 2. Influential Dons fans were also adopting the ‘little red bird’ on Twitter – Christopher Harvey, Richard Gordon, DJ Loca, Steven McMenemy and Samantha Mumba…

We knew users were downloading the icons. But how could we see how many were being used? How could we get everyone online to proudly proclaim their support to Aberdeen FC and #TurnTwitterRed? Then we had an idea… Again, we tweeted an instruction that was retweeted over 50 times.

As you can see, the instruction was: At 19:03  (the year Aberdeen FC were formed) simply tweet the #TurnTwitterRed hashtag if you are getting involved. Below is a selection of tweets gathered after 30 minutes.

There was an insane amount of red birds tweeting. Some of our favourite customised #TurnTwitterRed icons belonged to @iaiz81 @clarkfg @themikeybroon @calumgregge81 @mnemonicphoto @dmcconachie and @CraigBrownAFC.

Dolly Digital were then interviewed about the campaign by The Evening Express – although in Aberdeen Journal’s infinite wisdom they omitted the interview and images given. They did however, in our opinion, manage to gather all relevant information and regurgitated it as their own work (this is happening with amazing regularity on Aberdeen’s Lang Stracht).

Next we were interviewed by a proper journalist. Thom Watt from STV, who politely requested an interview. It can be read here. Thom reported the facts as discussed and further enhanced and raised the profile of the campaign.

The rest, as they say is (now) history. Still, today there are many red birds tweeting…

It is impossible to count how many fans got involved in #TurnTwitterRed. We would estimate the figure to be thousands. We would like to say thank you and well done to all participants. Same again next year?

Turn Hampden Red

Dolly Digital were part of the group that helped create the largest ever Aberdeen FC display, at Hampden Stadium for the Scottish Cup Semi-Final versus Hibernian on 14th April 2012.

The Design – Dolly’s brief was to create an original design that could be used for a card display at Hampden Stadium. Due to the scale and various factors to be considered, it was to be a simplistic design. Dolly Digital mocked up 3 ideas, with the original idea chosen for development. Due to the need for a simplistic design we created ‘Stand Free Loon’ – a red silhouetted figure, of a fan singing with his arms outstretched, outlined in black on a white backround. The silhouette was flanked by two stars white stars (representing Aberdeen FC’s European trophies) outlined in black on a red background.

Officials from Aberdeen FC  and Hampden Stadium kindly forwarded schematics that contained an accurate seating plan. We stitched these together and once the design was confirmed we then superimposed our design onto a detailed seating plan of the North and West Stands to help the set up.

The Set Up – 50 people helped set up our design on Friday 13th April. The display took over 6 hours to set up. One piece of card on each seat, over 14000 times… 9000 red A2 card, 4000 white A2 card and 1500 black A2 card were used.

The Display – Covering over one-third of Hampden Stadium, the display was viewed by a global audience on SKY Sports and BBC Scotland. At the appropriate time fans were instructed to raise the cards on their seat. After hours of planning, designing and setting up the end result was the largest display in Aberdeen FC history. A colourful and epic display that over 14000 fans participated in.

The images you see below were all forwarded to Dolly on Twitter and Facebook.

You should’ve seen what we had planned for the final!

[gutted]Good luck to Hibs[/gutted]

Turn Social Media Red on 14th April

Last year we took part in a ‘Turn Facebook Red’ campaign on the run up to Scottish Cup Semi-Final. This year we are doing the same. But we are also including Twitter.

Show your support for Aberdeen FC by replacing your current profile pic with the red Twitter and Facebook icons for the week running up to the Semi-Final versus Hibernian on 14th April 2012.

Please click on the images below to download your copy.

Join Dolly (and hopefully thousands of others) in the days preceding the Semi-Final to turn your profile red…

Please replace your current avatar / profile pic with the images below.

If you download these images come and say ‘hello and thanks’ on our Twitter or Facebook pages.

This is completely free and it is not our intention to breach copyright nor will we profit from this.