Branding - Lawson's Delicatessen - Slate
Lawson's Delicatessen was an award-winning deli on the Suffolk Coast which is now known as Slate. In January 2017 it was taken over by new owners father and daughter, Clare Jackson and John Ormerod who planned to rebrand the business to Slate, to open a new shop in Southwold and to start an ecommerce business.
I worked closely with the new owners before the the change of ownership and throughout the rebranding process. I advised them on communications about the change of ownership to their loyal customers, the local community, their suppliers and the small team of staff. This involved developing a new website, setting up an email newsletter, creating press releases for the consumer and trade press, re-establishing their presence on social media and facilitating a staff away day and workshop.
I brought in specialist creative agency, WHAT Associates, to create a new brand identity and managed the development and implementation of the new brand.
I provided a full marketing service to the team including
- Strategic and practical marketing advice.
- PR to local and national media as well as the trade press.
- Writing blogs, including a monthly Cheese of the Month feature
- Developing and writing a monthly newsletter (including growing the database).
- Social media implementation and analysis
- Managing the website, creating an online shop and reporting on engagement.
Content Curation - Aldeburgh Food & Drink Festival
Aldeburgh Food & Drink Festival is one of the UK's most renowned food and drink festivals. Over 70 food and drink producers gather at Snape Maltings near Aldeburgh in September every year. They are joined by a panoply of well-known chefs and food writers to entertain an audience of nearly 10,000 over the weekend.
Polly worked with Aldeburgh Food & Drink Festival from 2009-2014 and was ultimately a member of the small board. During her time with the Festival Polly brought in her network of chefs and food writers to bring new faces like Diana Henry, Sabrina Ghayour and Sam Clark of Moro to the Festival. She also generated many new ideas to evolve and generate additional revenue for the Festival including workshops, a Saturday night ticketed party and brought new sponsors on board.
Polly was particularly passionate about the Festival Fringe which we think is unique amongst food festivals as a fortnight of tours, walks, talks, workshops and special events run by local farms, producers, retailers and pubs and restaurants.
The Fringe events give the public the chance to engage with local food production and support the local economy. When Polly took on managing the Fringe in 2009 the number of events went from about 25 to 60 with a much wider geographical spread across Suffolk and funding from local organisations.