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Hartlepool is once again hosting one of the must see, free maritime events this summer: The Tall Ships Races 2023.
Consisting of a fleet of over 30 ships, the race is the largest competition for sail training ships in the world and takes place from the 29th June to the 6th August, and can be seen in Hartlepool from the 6th – 9th July. The full journey will see tall ships, small ships and yachts explore the North Sea, sailing from Den Helder in the Netherlands, to Hartlepool, then back across the sea to Norwegian Fredrikstad, Lerwick and Arendal, over the course of just over 5 weeks. Last seen in Hartlepool in 2010, the North East port town plays host again to four days of celebrations, music, art, and dance, to honour the stay of the international fleet.
The journey and plan of events is made up of four stages:
Race 1: Den Helder – Hartlepool
Race 2: Hartlepool – Fredrikstad
Cruise in Company: Fredrikstad – Lerwick
Race 3: Lerwick to Arendal
With four of the five host Ports having already hosted the Tall Ships fleet, the ships are likely to receive a warm and enthusiastic welcome as they return for some fantastic sailing, stunning cruising and celebrations across Northwest Europe.
The races themselves offer a range of sailing experiences for crews and trainees. They also provide a variety of options for vessel operators and provide a strong base for trainee and crew recruitment.
The return to the region is a much welcomed boost to the North east regional economy and will no doubt bring visitors from far and wide over the four day event.
Blumilk has a wealth of experience in the UK regional travel and tourism sector in the North east and all across the UK.
Our first destination marketing project was for York Tourism many years ago, which was quickly followed with successful working relationships with Northumberland Tourism and Kielder Water and Forest Park who we worked with for many years. In 2009, our geographical reach and experience widened with the successful pitch win to work with Cumbria Tourism, creating their showcase holiday guide for visitors to the region for two successive years. With over 43 million visitors at the time, the guides were a key focal point for the tourist board and a vital selling tool for businesses large and small across the region.
This, together with the creation and production of other supporting collateral creation for them, opened the door for us to work with similar destination marketing organisations in other counties, such as Lake District National Park, Northumberland National Park and Northamptonshire Council producing their visitor and destination guides.
In 2015/2016 we were delighted to be commissioned to create the branding for The Sill – The UK’s National Landscape Discovery Centre. The Sill is a fantastic location to explore Northumberland’s National Park, explore the vast landscapes and connect with nature.
More recently in 2018, we were commissioned to re-brand the iconic Grade 1 listed Bamburgh Castle. This involved the creation of a new identity, printed collateral, campaign activity and a brand new website.
Soon after, our relationship with Alnwick Garden was established, and over recent years has developed into refreshing their brand and website, as well as showcasing our illustrative expertise and creative skills with the publication of two Christmas books about a Lost Snowman and a Reindeer that Couldn’t Fly.
Working with Alnwick Garden has very recently led to us becoming the Lead Creative Agency for the soon to be ‘Largest Play Structure in the World’, Lilidorei. Lilidorei is comparable in height to our most famous regional landmark the Angel of the North and we are excited for its launch in spring 2023. Find out more at lilidoreialnwick.co.uk
In celebration of the return of the ships to Hartlepool as one of the selected host venues, we have showcased our illustrative abilities once again with the creation of a series of bespoke contemporary illustrations, showcasing a nautical theme. Combining the concept of vintage travel poster styling with a fresh celebratory twist. We look forward to visiting the ships when they arrive in the North East!
You can find out more about the upcoming event at www.tallshipshartlepool2023.co.uk and check out a sneak a preview of the visiting ships.
Yardd is the ground breaking, online digital platform, that is revolutionising the equine industry.
Made for busy, passionate and caring horse owners, it’s the one-stop shop that houses everything in one place, from livery yards, training venues, farriers, vets and virtually every specialist service that a horse owner might need.
Yardd’s creation came from a need to simplify life for horse owners. Co founders and brothers, Colin and Adam Robertson who also set up Blumilk in 1999, spotted the potential gap in the marketplace and have worked together to nurture and grow the company since 2021, employing a team to manage the day to day running.
They understand that owning and caring for a horse can be time consuming and expensive and so in its infancy, Yardd began as a simple idea to bring individual suppliers, retailers and stockists together into one location, making it quick and easy for owners to search for any requirement that they may have. It has since evolved into a complete full service offering with a database of over 20,000 UK businesses.
Blumilk are proud to have played a huge part in the creation and development of the Yardd brand and platform. Creating a look that stands out in the equine crowd, the colour palette is exciting and fresh and makes an instant impact. Clean lines and bespoke font styling mean the identity for all aspects of Yardd work together to enhance and promote each other. The brand has undergone so many changes in its development, but we think it has been worth every step to see the end result. We hope you agree! The platform itself has also been designed and developed by our digital team, taking care to plan and execute every detail and ensure the user experience and journey are streamlined and simple for all. Anyone who visits the Yardd website also has the opportunity to take advantage of two very specialist offerings, myYardd and YarddSOS.
myYardd is a one-of-a-kind welfare and response software, built to manage every horse owners needs.
Tracking appointments, setting reminders, storing specialist details and creating checklists are all made easy with myYardd. Owners can store vital information in one secure location, and access it online from anywhere, at any time, giving peace of mind that it will never get misplaced or forgotten.
YarddSOS does exactly as it suggests and provides an essential emergency response and contact with vets and next of kin for horse owners in an emergency. By placing the unique QR tag on a horse, rider, trailer or stable, owners are reassured, knowing that they can be contacted, even when they may not be with their horse. YarddSOS identifies the horse, as well as its owner and allows vital information to be instantly found. It could be life saving!
Stef, Business Development Manager at Yardd, is an equine industry specialist. After completing a Degree in Crime and Investigation, she rebelled against her mothers wish to pursue this career and instead found her own way into the equestrian industry. Stef gained valuable experience in all equestrian disciplines which has since led her to achieve a successful career as a professional racehorse trainer and is proud of all her achievements both on and off the racecourse.
Stef says:
“Working as Business Development Manager for Yardd is a real opportunity for me to drive the equine industry forward. Owning my own horse ‘Old Salt’ or ‘Salty’ as we know him, and always owning and being involved with horses throughout my career so far, has given me a real passion for promoting the educational and welfare aspects within the industry. My experience in training, competition and selling thoroughbreds has also given me the knowledge to really understand the impact Yardd can make for horse owners and the industry itself. I am excited to be working with the brand and add value to those looking to simplify and improve their own horse ownership experience.”
“We are effectively making the equine industry more accessible to all. Helping horse owners to manage their daily routines on an online platform is a completely new way of thinking and it’s a cultural behaviour change that is becoming a must have, essential tool for all.”
Megan, Marketing Manager at Yardd, joined the company in 2022. Describing her role as her dream job, she shares a love of horses and knowledge of the industry that has proved essential to the promotion of Yardd’s success so far. Having owned her own horse for the last 10 years, aptly named ‘Turbo Tubby’, Megan also shares the belief that Yardd will make a huge impact on the equine industry. Joining pony club whilst still at school and then becoming part of the British Riding Club, Megan enjoys dressage, showjumping and eventing with her horse. She has seen and experienced first hand, the difficulties and challenges that horse owners are faced with on a daily basis.
Megan says:
“When I heard about Yardd, I thought it was such a good idea, why has no one thought of this before! Looking after a horse is a time consuming, long term commitment for most. Exercising, mucking out, grooming and generally taking care of all my horse needs is a big part of my daily routine. So having everything stored in one place gives me peace of mind. All the features and benefits that Yardd provides me with has definitely made life easier and I recommend it to everyone who owns and cares for their own horse.”
And Yardd isn’t standing still, there are plans in place to grow and develop the business further in the coming months ahead, so look out for some exciting features to come!
If you want to know more about Yardd and how it can improve your own horse ownership experience contact stef@yardd.co or if you are a start up business with a new idea or venture then Blumilk would love to chat to see how we can help you.
The QR code was invented in 1994 by the Japanese corporation Denso Wave, a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation, and were used as a quick way for them to track car parts during the assembly process.
Since that date the QR code has evolved into an indispensable tool used by businesses and people, in everyday life, in all sorts of ways, all over the world.
So what is a QR code?
Simply put, a QR code is a type of barcode, just like a supermarket barcode, except it is made up of squares rather than lines. It is a visual representation of information that can be scanned and translated by a device. When scanned on a standard smartphone, the device translates the code into letters or numbers.
QR, stands for ‘Quick Response’ because speed is the key. These letters and numbers most often form a URL which your smartphone will direct you to, giving you quick access to the information you need.
There are 2 types of QR codes, static and dynamic.
Static QR codes encode the information directly into the QR code. Let’s say for example you want to create a QR code that leads to google.co.uk, the QR code has ‘google.co.uk’ written in squares which your phone can read very quickly. When your phone reads the code, it sends you to google.co.uk. These types of QR codes are great if you have a small amount of information to code (like a URL) and you are confident that this information will always be the same, and your URL or link isn’t going to change at any point.
Dynamic QR codes use a ‘middle man’ to allow some flexibility for use in the future. Instead of the QR code reading as ‘google.co.uk’ it will instead read to a redirection URL, which is hosted by the generator website. Essentially, your phone will go to the generator website first, and then that will redirect you to your desired URL. This happens very quickly and usually isn’t noticeable when scanning on a smartphone. The experience is the same as scanning a static QR code, but the key here is that at any point you can go back to the generator website and change the URL without the need to create a new QR code.
QR codes can be found on packaging, billboards, business cards, almost all types of printed and digital literature, and are being used by businesses in a variety of ways, to guide the user to more information, offers, discounts, music, almost anything digital you can think of.
Why should I consider using a QR code?
QR codes do not have an expiration date. In terms of a tool that can be read and translated, your smartphone will always be able to read that information. However, there are a few factors to be aware of that can affect the longevity of a QR code.
If your QR code is static, you are relatively safe, as your smartphone will always read the code and direct you to the URL encoded into it. But, if the URL changes or is no longer in use, the QR code will redirect to an error. If you are linking to a well established URL, such as your own website home page or you are using it on a short run basis, such as a social media ad for example, then static QR codes are the way to go.
If your QR code is dynamic however, you are relying on the generator website that you are using as a middle man. Remember, your smartphone will scan the code and first go to their website, and then they redirect you to your chosen URL. There are many free generator websites, but because they are free to use, they may have a limit on the amount of scans they allow, or they may archive your link after a specific timeframe.
They might also run ads on your link. So in summary, if you want to create a QR code that links to a URL that may change at a future date, then a dynamic QR code may be the the option to choose, but consider the option of paying for the service to provide the security in the code and guarantee its longevity.
There are thousands of websites that offer dynamic QR code generation, they vary in the features the provide, such as file type available for download, performance tracking, customer support, customisation of appearance, to name a few.
If you would like to know more about how QR codes can work for your business, we’d love to chat with you.
Source www.qrcode.com/en/history/
Blumilk is excited and proud to announce the launch of a brand new ‘National Under 18 Development Downhill Mountain Bike Race team’ for the 2023 race season.
The newly formed team brings together six like minded and talented young downhill mountain bikers with their heart firmly placed in the North East of England. All our riders will be racing throughout this year at National and European level in Juvenile, Youth and Junior ranks of Downhill Mountain Bike racing.
Founders of the bike race team Colin and Adam said:
“Our primary goal is to promote team togetherness, and provide our riders with the stepping stone and support network they need, whilst also allowing these top UK riders to be seen and recognised by larger professional teams.”
“The ability for our team members to practice and train together in what is normally a very individual sport, creates motivation and a desire to achieve better results together. Our goal is to allow each rider the opportunity to aim for and achieve a level they never thought possible.”
Blumilk has a vested interest in supporting young talented individuals and teams to build partnerships with major bike brands during 2023, and the creation of this team, we hope, will be the basis of expansion and growth for years to come.
All our riders are professionally kitted out with our new team blumilk kit, which was designed by our creatives in-house and produced by Uncrafted.
We’re also delighted to announce that on the 12th February, Katie, who is 13 years old from Northumberland, won the entire Woman’s race against women of all ages, which was held at Danny Hart’s Descend Bike Park. This is a fantastic start to the season.
Congratulations Katie!
Adam, Creative Director and co founder of Blumilk Design and Marketing agency, raced professionally as a Downhill Mountain Biker and represented Great Britain across the world in his Junior years. He is also a National Championship medalist in 4x, before turning pro and moving his attention to road racing.
The Junior team will be managed by Colin, Managing Director and co founder of Blumilk who has been involved in mountain biking for over 35 years and began racing himself at 12 years of age.
The Blumilk.com adult road race team, together with cyclocross and XC MTB team has been established for over ten years, you can find out more at www.instagram.com/blumilk_cyclingteam/
Keep an eye out for future posts from us in the coming weeks, as the race calendar gets underway for this season.
It’s a bold statement, but for an increasing number of our population, it’s the truth. Our daily lives are managed by technical gadgets and apps, and we’ve become so dependent on technology, it’s become an integral part of our daily lives.
On the plus side, technology can make life easier, more convenient, safer, and arguably more enjoyable! We shop, we work, we bank, we pay bills, we order food, we buy and we sell. We donate and raise money, and we give things away for free.
We give and share opinions, and we read and make decisions on reviews from people we don’t even know. We communicate with friends and strangers all over the world, and we form relationships with people we are likely never to meet face to face.
We access locations anywhere in the world, and see the world (virtually of course!), find map directions and plan our own routes. We self diagnose, track our daily physical activity and set our own health goals. We gamble, we play, we compete, and we try to stay up to date.
Thanks to our online devices, we are informed, educated and persuaded. We are also sometimes deceived. The more we depend on them, the more essential to our lives they become.
For businesses of every size, it’s important to have a presence in an online world that is honest, trusted, recognised, valued and stands out in the crowd.
Whether its a social media channel, an online blog, a simple website, or full e-commerce selling tool, it’s important your business is seen and heard in a consistent manner, with a tone of voice that represents what you stand for, what you are selling and that engages your customer.
Creating any online activity can be a guessing game, who to target, what to say, how to be seen, how to ensure engagement, make sales, and establish a loyal base and customer following.
We’ve got six tips we like to follow when deciding the best form of online engagement or campaign for businesses of all sizes:
1. Set out clear goals at the start.
- Decide what you want to say. Is it one clear message or multiple offerings.
- What does success look like for your campaign.
- How will you monitor and evaluate success in order to achieve it.
- Be realistic about any financial investment and the return it will have.
2. Clearly define your audience.
- What is the demographic of your audience.
- Where do they live, what is your target engagement area.
- How do they best engage online, what channels are they using.
- When are they online.
3. Research the competition.
- What is their offering and how are they engaging online.
- What does success look like for them.
- How often do they engage and what is their level of content.
4. Create your own campaign.
- Whatever your message, stay consistent with your visual style and tone of voice.
- Make sure you have a personality.
- Adapt what you say to suit each online channel audience.
5. Make it easy to be found.
- Use SEO and keywords to ensure you are seen.
- Target your audience with paid for activity.
- Engage with others: like, comment and share.
6. Analyse and refine the results.
- Create a calendar of events and monitor activity.
- Understand trends and what works in your business sector.
- Don’t be afraid to admit what doesn’t, use it to learn and build from it.
At Blumilk, we have over 23 years experience creating engaging online campaigns that really work.
Chat to us and see how we can help you stand out in an online world.
Blumilk are delighted and proud to announce that Geoff, our chairman here at Blumilk, has been awarded an OBE in the New Year honours list 2023, for his services to the UK Ports Sector and to the North East regional economy.
Geoff, who is also chair of Blyth Harbour Commission, started his career working for multinational companies including Proctor and Gamble and Coca Cola, in sales and marketing roles.
In the 1990’s Geoff returned to our region to continue his work in the drinks sector, ultimately making his way to the top to become chief executive for the Federation Brewery.
In more recent times, Geoff has established strong and loyal working relationships with many companies in the North East, working as an investor, advisor and sitting in a number of non executive board positions to provide trusted and respected advice, direction and support.
Geoff joined Blumilk over 14 years ago in 2009, when we were based at the Riverside studios on the Newcastle Business Park. From the very beginning, Geoff’s involvement with us, has helped to steer and support our continued success and ensure stability in an ever changing economic climate.
Blumilk is proud to be one of the few, long standing agencies in the North East that have not only survived in difficult and uncertain times, but have thrived and grown to be one of the most trusted full service agencies in the North East, with a long standing loyal and trusted regional and national client base.
Throughout his time with us, Geoff has opened the door to many opportunities to work with some prestigious clients in the leisure, drinks, digital and recruitment sectors to name but a few. He is a valued member of our team and we look forward to what lies ahead for us all here at Blumilk with Geoff’s continued support in his role as chairman. Congratulations from us all!
We would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year. We hope you’ve had a great Christmas and are looking forward to what 2023 has in store for us all.
2022 brought us some difficult times including the cost of living crisis, the continuation of COVID-19 and several months of political turmoil, which saw interest rates rise and inflation figures reach new highs, so we can only hope that 2023 might be a better year for us all.
For us this year, we will be continuing to build on the relationships we have with all our long standing clients and we also look forward to establishing and developing our recent new client acquisitions in the housing, community and charitable business sectors. It’s great to be working with you all!
With the new year brings the potential for one or two new year resolutions, and hope that we will all have good health, success and most importantly of all, happiness. There really is no limit to what the new year can bring. This is the chance for us all to start something new, to realise ambitions, or to achieve a long standing goal. 2023 is the beginning of anything you want it to be. Happy new year!
We will be taking a short Christmas break, our offices will close at 4pm on the 21st of December and re-open on the 3rd January 2023.
If you require anything during the festive break please call 07970 185 397.
We look forward to seeing and working with you all in the new year.
We all enjoy giving and receiving gifts, and Christmas is a great time to show appreciation, so this year we wanted to do a little extra something special to say a big thank you to all our friends, clients and people we’ve had the pleasure of working with this past year.
But what present could and should we give? Boxes of chocolates are a bit repetitive, and alcohol can be hit and miss… this year we want to give something a little different, a present that’s often underappreciated, a gift we know is guaranteed to bring a smile to everyone’s faces!
Our campaign message explains our thought process…
We’ve been working hard all year,
And now it’s time to spread some cheer.
We’ve put our creative brains to work day and night,
To conjure up a present for your delight.
A treasure you’ve never unwrapped before,
To leave you gobsmacked and in awe.
Something rare and one-of-a-kind,
A Christmas gift that has never crossed your mind.
After endless meetings and little sleep,
We’ve finally got it, it wasn’t cheap.
Our choice this year, the cream of the crop,
Will keep you warm and make your outfit pop.
So are you ready?
We’ve thought outside the box,
To give you a gift this year…
A pair of socks!
Socks are one of those useful gifts that no one ever really wants to admit they actually want for Christmas, but let’s be honest, everyone appreciates an extra pair! So we’ve turned the idea on its head, we’re making the gift of socks the ultimate Christmas gift to give and receive from us all here at Blumilk.
Stylish socks for all.
With a hint of sarcasm and a gentle joke on ourselves, we’re making socks the must-have present to receive. Launched on the 5th of December and running throughout the month, we’ll be sending as many of our clients (past and present) a stylish pair of socks. Look out for yours coming your way soon!
Secret Santa Socks at Blumilk.
We’re also expanding our campaign to give our colleague’s socks this year too. Secret Santa this year is already underway, with each of us choosing a name from a hat and buying the most fun pair of socks we can find, We’re looking forward to opening our gifts on the 21st of December before we shut down for the festive break.
Socks for the homeless too.
In addition to our friends and clients, we’re also donating socks to the homeless this year too. Socks are one of the most requested but under-donated items of clothing for homeless shelters. Most people keep socks until they are worn out, and hence tend to donate other items. But the benefit to the homeless of donating socks can be huge. In the winter they provide warmth and comfort but can also provide protection for those spending a lot of time on their feet. We’ve learnt that giving fashionable socks to the homeless isn’t always the most suitable of donations, so this year we’re providing sensible, warm, durable socks which are sure to benefit those most in need.
Check out our social media to see more about our campaign as it unfolds. We’d love to hear from you when you receive your socks from us… if you haven’t received yours yet, let us know too, although we’re sure they are on the way to you very soon.
Blumilk Christmas close down.
Blumilk will close its offices this year on the 21st of December at 4pm and will re-open on the 3rd of January 2023. We wish you all a very Happy and peaceful Christmas and look forward to seeing and working with you all in the new year! (Wearing your stylish new socks of course!)
Request your socks
In the run up to Christmas 2018, when Covid-19 was an inconceivable thought and the world was blissfully unaware, Blumilk decided to treat its employees to a month of gift giving with its very own naughty or nice advent calendar. After a very busy year of being creative for all our clients, it was finally time to do something special that was just for us, to say thank you to the whole team for their hard work throughout the year.
We created the Blumilk Naughty or Nice Advent Calendar!
The advent calendar could be seen by everyone as they entered the office and was sure to brighten the day, as members of staff would take it in turns to open a door each day and discover if Santa had decided if you had been naughty or nice depending on the gift revealed!
The calendar ran throughout the month of December and became a daily event in the office.
Watch our time-lapse and see the calendar being made.
Since that time, we’ve all experienced the uncertainty of what lay ahead with Covid-19 and the devastating impact it had on personal lives and business industries all across the world. Lock downs, food shortages, and work from home were all challenges each of us faced and we all wondered where the world was headed as the pandemic gained momentum and proved difficult to control.
Thankfully the invention of the life-saving Covid vaccine ensured that slowly but surely we have been able to return to some kind of new normality. Blumilk even moved home, and coming to our new office felt like a new start and a new way of working life for us all.
So this year, we’ve decided it’s time to bring a little bit of Blumilk xmas back! But this year, we’re not only giving the gift of Christmas to our staff, it’s time to get all our clients involved too! Our Christmas treat to everyone will be revealed on Monday 5th of December, so look out on our social media for details of what’s in store as we look forward to having a very Happy Christmas this year!
