TMC, truly proving that 'Content is King'

Content is so central today to providing your company with the strongest possible online presence - one that generates the right interest and with it, the right revenue. However, the wider field of content marketing is also a fiendishly difficult one to navigate, such a vast range of subcategories is there to consider. That is why, as an ambitious business owner, you may engage the services of a reputable content marketing agency like The Marketing Café.

In some ways, it might seem to be the sheer breadth of content marketing expertise that most distinguishes TMC from the competition. We do, after all, not only offer services in video production in London and Scotland, conceiving videos to make the desired impact on your target audience while also making the most of the medium's relevance to modern Internet users, but we are also a dab hand in such fields as web development, magazines and creative marketing.

Whatever aspect of content marketing you require assistance with, we won't just provide that assistance - we'll devise the perfect campaign for you, built around you and your own organisation's most specific requirements. We were established in 2003, and have gained considerable renown since then for our use of the most innovative content marketing techniques for the development of all manner of client brands.

However, TMC isn't even just about content marketing. We are also routinely contacted by clients requiring our knowhow in such other creative disciplines as website development, branding, advertising and product packaging design. Our team truly knows how to make magic happen, consisting of talented, hardworking and straight talking designers, video editors, filmmakers, copywriters, producers and video FX artists who apply no shortage of skill and innovation to each and every project.

None of this would be possible if we didn't also possess the right ethos - one that prizes the utmost in passion, style and commitment. These basic principles allow us to consistently wander off the beaten track in our creativity, in the knowledge that they will also bring us consistent success. Our clients would seem to agree, not least given how wide-ranging they are. Although our work is especially valued in the luxury hotel and estate agency sectors, we've also catered for the likes of manufacturing and professional services clients.

Such ingredients have all helped to make us a force far beyond mere video production in London. Talk to TMC today about making us your first choice content marketing specialist.

The former IYLO makes a valuable addition to the London skyline

London's 'skyline living' is something to which so many people aspire, but that rather few people actually achieve. With the gentrification of even the most previously unsung parts of the English capital continuing apace, even many of those from both the United Kingdom and further afield who have aspired to a London lifestyle have often been forced to look further and further out from the centre of the city - to housing developments like the one-time IYLO.

Croydon is certainly one part of London that has not always had the most alluring image. However, this image has not necessarily ever been indicative of the reality. Croydon, after all, is the part of London that gained considerable popularity as a pleasant, leafy residential suburb for the Victorian middle classes, following the arrival of the railway here earlier in the 19th century. Indeed, Croydon today retains its importance as a travel hub for the rest of the city.

Even in much more distant times than that, Croydon had its architectural delights. From the Grade I listed Whitgift Hospital almshouses and Croydon Minster to the Grade II listed West Croydon Baptist Church and the Grant's building on the High Street, this large South London town has long boasted esteemed structures. This continued into the 20th and 21st centuries with the construction of the likes of the 24-storey NLA Tower - now No. 1 Croydon - in 1970, as well as the large Centrale shopping centre, which opened in 2004.

Croydon, then, has a formidable architectural heritage, but far from a museum, it is also a living, breathing and thriving part of London, serving up plenty of educational, employment and recreational opportunities across its many schools, restaurants, bars, clubs, art galleries, leisure venues and blue chip companies. Despite all of these benefits, however, Croydon also remains a very affordable place to live compared to so much of the rest of the capital.

That is not set to remain the case for many years longer. With such ambitious developments in the pipeline as a new Westfield shopping centre that will be Europe's largest shopping mall when it opens in a few years' time, house prices here are sure to spiral, locking out those who hesitated to seize on their London property ownership dream. In short, now is the time to buy or rent in Croydon - and there can be no better accommodation to invest in than the ex-IYLO.

IYLO is the previous name of the elegant 20-storey tower now known as ISLAND. The specification of its luxury penthouses and apartments is truly impressive, encompassing everything from bathrooms with white sanitary ware throughout, to kitchen/living areas with widespread multimedia network cabling and chrome-plated taps.

These are apartments and penthouses that offer the highest standard of London living for a far-from-London-sized price tag, and with construction of the building almost complete, prospective buyers must act fast to snap up the few that remain available.

ISLAND finally open for viewings after a long and difficult birth

It may not be appropriate to exactly describe the ISLAND building - formerly IYLO in Croydon - as "fashionably late", given the very real pain of the very real setbacks that the project encountered during its protracted construction. Anyone who has read the local Croydon media over the last few years will be aware of the stop-start nature of IYLO's building process, which has finally recently concluded.

The scale of those setbacks certainly cannot be downplayed, but nor can the difficulty of avoiding them for those overseeing the IYLO project at the time. This elegant glass structure, towering some 20 storeys above Croydon's streets, was always a project of great promise for those from around the United Kingdom and the world who aspired to a luxury London lifestyle at an affordable price. However, for a time, it looked like a dream that would never be realised.

With Summer 2012 having been the initially intended completion date, construction was going well until 2009, when the wider global economic collapse also accelerated the slide into administration of HBOS, which had been funding IYLO up to that point. Construction did recommence in late 2010, but then, in the middle of 2011 - with the international economic recovery still fragile - the building company itself entered administration.

These were immense obstacles that might have led to the permanent mothballing of many residential projects, but that did not prove the case for IYLO in Croydon. The building was subsequently delivered safely into the hands of new owners Regency Homes Ltd and construction was able to begin again, and this time, the coast was clear for the long-delayed completion of work. By the end of 2014, with many of its penthouses and apartments already reserved, the former IYLO - now rechristened ISLAND - could finally say goodbye to the construction cranes and swing open its doors.

Every aspect of the finished building, in fact - not merely the doors - is impressive. With the final specification including everything from a stunning double-height entrance lobby and water-fountain communal garden to engineered wooden flooring, underfloor heating and supremely well-appointed living/kitchen, bedroom and bathroom areas, one would have never guessed that ISLAND had undergone such a painful birth.

That's a hugely positive sign as the building looks forward to a long and successful presence in Croydon, powering forward the regeneration of the wider neighbourhood while also providing the most comfortable living quarters for residents in the here and now. Those interested in the final few available ISLAND apartments and penthouses are urged to get in touch swiftly if they are not to miss this golden opportunity of an attainable - but exciting - London life.

The ex-IYLO building and Fairfield Halls: natural bedfellows

It is often said that some things are both well worth a long wait and worth enjoying slowly, and both of these characteristics can certainly be applied to the former IYLO building and Fairfield Halls - both landmarks of Croydon, a true up-and-coming destination in its own right thanks to a host of existing attractions, things to do and regeneration initiatives.

The IYLO building sadly became synonymous with failed dreams and urban neglect as a result of events that the circumstances of the late 2000s economic slowdown made extremely difficult to avoid. Today, that structure is an impressive sight, its sleek glass frontage towering some 20 storeys, its two equal halves 'sliding' past each other to produce a glint in the emerging New Year sunlight.

The finished project, also featuring an incredible double-height entrance lobby, serene water-fountain communal garden, engineered wooden flooring, matt finish walls and extensive multimedia network cabling on the inside, is a far cry from the sad, half-finished structure left after the administrations of the funding source, HBOS in 2009 and then the construction company in 2011.

Whereas the former IYLO building - now proudly rechristened ISLAND - had a short, but chequered past that blossomed into a 'Happy ever after' story, the Fairfield Halls arts and entertainment venue in close vicinity to it has enjoyed a long and continuously illustrious history. Having first opened in 1962, it has hosted a true who's who of British and international show business.

Such luminaries of the entertainment world have included everyone from Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, Morrissey and a-ha to Genesis, Pink Floyd, The Who and The Beatles. It was also Fairfield Halls where Traffic recorded a live album, Family recorded the first half of their Anyway album and Morecambe and Wise filmed their live stage act for the first and only time.

But crucially, neither the one-time IYLO building or Fairfield Halls are mere products of their past. The Halls, for instance, continue to serve up such major acts as Elkie Brooks, Tim Vine, Alan Carr and the Commodores, while the elegant tower now known as ISLAND has seen its luxurious penthouses and apartments snapped up in double-quick time, many of them long before the formal completion of construction in November 2014.

The erstwhile IYLO building and Fairfield Halls are therefore both very much fixtures of the present day treasure that is Croydon, with both awaiting your appreciation if you choose to purchase or rent one of the glass structure's sleek penthouses or apartments.