We’re reaping the benefits of our rural roots after being shortlisted for two Rural Business Awards. We have been shortlisted as a finalist in the Best Rural Professional Services Business and the Best Rural Creative or Media Based Business categories.

With our newly refreshed website and a number of exciting new clients, the Rural Business Awards are a perfect opportunity for us to be recognised for our hard work and the positive working relationships we build with our clients.

The Rural Business Awards work in partnership with CLA and give recognition to businesses across the UK “to acknowledge and celebrate the vital contributions made by companies to the development and success of the rural sector and rural way of life. They also encourage entrepreneurial spirit in the rural sector, and give recognition to excellence in business set-up, operation and management”.

The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony, which will be taking place on Thursday 13^th October at The Belfry Hotel in the West Midlands, so until then all fingers are crossed on the farm!

We’ve become slightly obsessed with watching the Waitrose Live From the Farm stream on YouTube.

This has come about as part of Waitrose new marketing campaign to show customers that they sell free-range, British produce. It’s such a simple but effective way of getting a point across, without the whole thing feeling forced and “staged”.

Granted, a lot of the footage is of the animals grazing and wandering around, not the most exciting viewing, but occasionally there’s the odd bit of video gold with a cow sniffing the lens or a chicken strutting past.

Working for a marketing company from a farm, we just thought it was a novel bit of work from Waitrose!

Now you could call us biased when we say that marketing and branding is really important to businesses, and as much as we love what we do, we’re actually speaking the truth!

A strong brand image and good marketing can work wonders for creating a nice big customer base and social media following; as well as developing a respected and valued brand reputation that keeps customers coming back to your business again & again.

Simply put, if you position your business for your target market and they like what they see, you’ll more than likely have a brand ambassador in no time. Brand ambassadors should be some of your favourite people because they’ll rave about your business and products for you, and who doesn’t love free marketing?

This isn’t an easy thing to do though, it takes a lot of research and time spent making changes to changes and going back to the drawing board who knows how many times, but when you’ve cracked the winning formula for your business, it really works wonders and will leave a lasting impression on your customers.

For example, take a look at these brand tag lines…

• I’m lovin’ it
• Just do it
• Every little helps
• Because you’re worth it

Most people will be able to rattle off the brand names with no problem at all with no branding or hints in sight. This is down to consistent branding and marketing, through reinforcing what the company stands for and it’s values.

Pancake Day is a favourite on the farm and we enjoy traditional home made (Grandma made) pancakes with lemon and sugar.

Also known as Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Day was traditionally celebrated so everyone could use up all the eggs and fats before Lent began; and pancakes were the perfect solution!

Our foolproof pancakes:

Ingredients

• 3 large eggs
• 150g plain flour
• 300 ml milk
• Butter
• Pinch of salt

Method

• Mix eggs, flour, milk & salt until smooth and let rest for 15 minutes.
• Place large non-stick frying pan on medium heat and melt butter to layer the pan.
• Pour ladle of batter into pan and let cook for 1-2 minutes then flip.
• Make sure it’s cooked through & serve with your favourite topping

We buy our eggs & milk from local farmers to show our support for British farmers… and they’re usually tastier, making our pancakes the best in Bilsborrow!

In Autumn 2015 we gained a new client, the UK’s National Flooring and Tiling Shows!

We’re so excited to be working with these two huge exhibitions to create their year-long marketing campaign, which started in October 2015 and will continue up until the shows themselves in September 2016.

For the campaigns we will be producing content to feature in trade publications, including editorial pieces from exhibitors, and some pretty good looking adverts! Alongside this, we are producing the show invites; show brochures and sales packs; which is all doubled, as there are two shows.

We are also busy maintaining and updating the two websites and the various social media platforms to raise awareness of the exhibitions and encourage trade clients to attend, as increasing footfall at the shows was high on the “to-do” list of our client.

Working with such a large and established client in the Flooring & Tiling industry is huge for us because it means that we’re branching out and we have the chance to showcase what a small, rural business can do (hint… it’s big things!)

After the shows have taken place, we’ll be sure to update our portfolio so you can see what we have been working on to create two successful shows.

Whilst you’re waiting, feel free to take a look at our digital work for The Flooring and Tiling Shows so far.

We’ve had some amazing news!

We’re so excited to announce that we’ve been shortlisted as finalists by the Red Rose Awards in the Rural Diversification category… And the thought of winning for the second year in an exciting opportunity.

The Red Rose Awards celebrate excellence in business, commerce and industry in various sectors and business size categories across Lancashire; the awards provide the best possible platform to promote success.

With our third birthday fast approaching and our newly expanded team, winning this award would be the icing on the cake of what was a really successful 2015.

But before we can get too carried away day dreaming about a shiny new award, we need to jump the final hurdle and present to a panel of five judges before the winners are announced at the ceremony, held at Blackpool Winter Gardens on the 10^th March.

Until then all fingers and hooves are crossed!

We’re looking for a middleweight to senior Graphic Designer to join our team to keep up with our increased workload.

The position available is ad-hoc/freelance basis with the potential to become a full time role.

We’re based on a working farm in Bilsborrow, Lancashire, so if you’d like to join the herd then please send your portfolio and CV to info@farmcreative.co.uk

We are celebrating Winning Rural Business of the Year Award, after an extremely busy and amazingly successful 12 months.

The Red Rose Awards celebrates Lancashire businesses across a variety of sectors and we are extremely proud to have won against five competitors and succeeded in bring the Rural Business Award home to roost on the farm.

The ceremony was held on 12^th March 2015 at the Empress Ballroom in the Blackpool Winter Gardens. Over 1,000 guests attended, making the march up to the stage to the theme tune of Old McDonald Has a Farm all the more hilarious! Not.

One of our biggest clients, Bishop Burton Agricultural Collage in East Yorkshire welcomed more than 8,000 visitors to their campus this Mother’s Day in celebration of a successful lambing season. Farm Creative was asked to provide coverage of the tentative first steps of this season’s lambs which ended up being aired on ITV Yorkshire!

Check out the Video we produced below.