Scott Dawson Advertising wrap up event season in their most successful year ever

Scott Dawson Advertising, the Burnley-based events and marketing agency, are celebrating the end of events season as their busiest ever year for large scale event management across Lancashire. Recent highlights include bringing Martin Kemp to Accrington and East 17 to Great Harwood, in what has been an action-packed event calendar for 2024.

People have visited town centres in their tens of thousands to celebrate together and get tills ringing as they shop and dine locally, with Scott Dawson managing events as diverse as the Accrington Food Festival, Nelson Food Festival, Accrington Soapbox Challenge, plus Christmas Lights Switch On events in Accrington featuring huge star Martin Kemp, and Nelson Lights Switch On featuring star DJ TeeDee. Three special run up to Christmas markets and events in Great Harwood ended with a big stage extravaganza featuring East 17. Scott Dawson have also provided marketing, social media and promotion for The Great British Rhythm and Blues Festival in Colne, and the iMEP Music Festival in Accrington featuring Grammy winning artist Jess Glynne.

Murray Dawson, founder and Managing Director of Scott Dawson Advertising, commented: “I’m really proud of all our team, we have pulled all the stops out this year and delivered some incredible events with record breaking turnout.

“We are unique in that we are turnkey operators, with all services and resources in house. When we’re contracted to an event, we handle everything from initial planning, concepts, budgeting, sourcing entertainment, security, health and safety, social media, promotion and PR right through to implementation and managing the event on the day and afterwards, including full reports on the event. Social media reach for the year is into the millions.

“We always get excellent feedback and have gone from strength to strength on events, we always create something spectacular and help people make memories – and get tills ringing as we always encourage people to #ShopLocal and eat locally, to give the whole economy a boost, not just the event. It’s a great feeling!”

Crucially, the events are always safely run and well managed, giving a great visitor experience even when town centres are packed. The local police force commented after the last event in Great Harwood, “It was great to see so many of you at the Great Harwood Christmas event this afternoon. It was great to be able to meet and talk to so many of you about the issues that matter to you.

“It was also fantastic to see such a family-friendly event and very little antisocial behaviour. Well done to all the organisers. We did reunite some small children to their parents whilst East 17 were performing but other than that it was a quiet, enjoyable afternoon where we were able to engage with many of you at a terrific event.”

Suzanne Haworth of Great Harwood Rovers, who was part of the High Street Accelerator Fund panel who commissioned the Great Harwood events, added: “Can I just say a massive thank-you to all of you from myself personally and on behalf of the club. You are all fantastic at what you do, your attention to detail is amazing and most of all your dedication is a credit to you all. 

“You are the ultimate professionals. Saturday was possibly one of the best days I have spent in Great Harwood, I was so proud of the club, the children and most of all of the community spirit and our town.”

Murray Dawson concluded, “Feedback like this is so good to hear and makes all the hard work worthwhile. The SDA team always go above and beyond to deliver. We can’t wait to see what next year’s event calendar brings, and how we can make events even bigger and more spectacular year on year, to keep our high streets buzzing!”

Scott Dawson Advertising are a full service marketing agency based in Burnley. They have over 30 years experience in marketing, with all of the services on offer in-house, so their highly skilled marketing professionals deliver the highest standard of work to each of their clients, from concept to completion. You can see more here: www.scottdawson.co.uk

Local business man Eddy O’Brien of iMEP teams up with Murray Dawson of SDA to offer community groups a FREE minibus to use

Hiring a minibus can be too costly for local community groups, which are often staffed by volunteers and run to a tight budget. With this in mind, local businessman, Eddy O’Brien, the CEO of iMEP – International Music Event Production has partnered with Murray Dawson from local agency Scott Dawson Advertising to kindly fund a minibus which will be free for selected partners to use.

The 17 seater minibus will be very useful for the community groups, and will enable them to transport participants and volunteers safely and as a group, rather than relying on their own transport. The selected partners to benefit from the minibus are: Clayton Boxing Club, Accrington Pipe Band, Great Harwood Rovers, Oswaldtwistle St. Paul Scout Group, Accrington Stanley Women, Maundy Relief, Accrington Cricket Club, and the Official Accrington Stanley Supporters Trust.

Eddy O’Brien, CEO of iMEP, said: “I’m really keen to give back to our local community and help and support these fantastic, volunteer led organisations.

“They do so much for our community, whether through sport or other activities, and I teamed up with Scott Dawson Advertising to see what we could do to provide them with help and support, and something they really need.

“A minibus seemed like a great solution, Murray bought it and I sponsored it! The groups will be able to access it free of charge on a diary system whenever they need it – whether that’s Clayton Boxing Club travelling to tournaments, or the Pipe Band travelling to performances, or a multitude of other reasons!”

Sarah Smith, MP for Hyndburn and Haslingden, said: “It’s amazing to see the generosity of iMEP and SDA to fund this brilliant community minibus. I know it will have a huge impact on many residents. A huge thank you to Eddy and Murray for enabling this brilliant initiative!”

Sami Smithson, Chair of Accrington Stanley Women added, “We are so grateful to be included in this fantastic community initiative. The power of sport can never be underestimated, and giving the children & young adults of Hyndburn and surrounding areas opportunities to participate and travel as teams to sports fixtures is an immeasurable experience. Thank you to Eddy and to Murray for giving our kids and the future of our borough these opportunities, and allowing them to create memories and experiences that will last them a lifetime.”

Peter Leatham of the OASST commented, “We can’t thank SDA and iMEP enough for the brilliant sponsorship of the minibus, and we look forward making good use of along with other partner organisations.”

Lucy Hardwick of Maundy Relief further added, “’This is a wonderful initiative that will bring huge mental health benefits to our guests – we can’t wait to get out and about and explore our beautiful region. We’re so grateful to iMEP and SDA for arranging this we will certainly be able to make great use of it. Thanks so much for your generosity!”

Offering everything from lighting, sound, staging and special effects, to fully managed music and theatre event production, iMEP regularly work with stars around the world and are hosting the iMEP Music Festival on Saturday 21stSeptember at Accrington Cricket Club, headlined by global superstar Jess Glynne.

To learn more about IMEP, visit their website: www.imep.co.uk and to learn more about SDA, see their website here: www.scottdawson.co.uk

Scott Dawson Advertising appointed as Marketing Partner of popular East Lancashire Music Festival for third year running

Scott Dawson Advertising (SDA), the full-service advertising agency based in Burnley, have been appointed as marketing partner of The Great British Rhythm & Blues Festival for the third year running, following record ticket sales and media audience. 

Offering everything from TV ads to websites, photography and social media, SDA have marketed the popular East Lancashire music festival in both 2022 and 2023.

The 2022 event saw record ticket and camping sales as over 30,000 people flocked to Colne for the August Bank Holiday weekend extravaganza, while this year’s event saw record camping ticket sales once again as tens of thousands of visitors returned for another weekend packed full of live music.

That success has seen The 2023 Great British R&B Festival nominated for Large Event of the Year in the Lancashire Tourism Awards.

SDA’s ongoing marketing and advertising of the festival, working alongside organisers Colne Town Council and Colne Blues Society, has included social media, videography, photography, interviews, banners, signage, graphic design, posters, the official programme, live social media and much more.

Nathan Cutler, Events & Facilities Officer, said: “Once again Scott Dawson have exceeded expectations with their promotional work for the iconic Great British Rhythm and Blues Festival. In term of both professionalism and communication they score top marks, as well as being reliable and a pleasure to deal with. 

“Their coverage of the festival alongside their promotion of the Festival brand was creative and captured the attention of audiences right across social media. We look forward to working again with Scott Dawson having appointed them for the third year running, which is a true testament to them and their execution of the Great British Rhythm and Blues Festival campaign.”

Murray Dawson, Managing Director of Scott Dawson Advertising, said: “We are delighted to have been appointed as marketing partners for the Great British R&B Festival for the third year running.

“I’d like to think SDA work harder and deliver more than other agencies, our work for the 2024 festival started the day this year’s event ended, and we push hard for pre-ticket sales and development of the camping which was sold out last year.

“We view the horizon and create video content for the following event, so we can show those who didn’t attend what they have missed. We have also been appointed to develop a new website for the festival, with work already underway.

“We enjoy working with like minded people at Colne Town Council and Colne Blues Society, and we are proud to work for the best.”

You can learn more about Scott Dawson Advertising on their website: https://www.scottdawson.co.uk/

You can learn all about the Great British R&B Festival here: https://www.bluesfestival.co.uk/