Oddie’s on board for bumper food festival

Renowned Nelson-based family bakers Oddie’s has been confirmed as a key sponsor of the town’s Food and Drink Festival on Saturday September 19^th.

Established 110 years ago and with 16 shops across East Lancashire, Oddie’s is a local institution and a firm favourite with generations of folk who appreciate top quality locally baked bread and cakes and delicious pies and pasties.

Lara Oddie, the fourth generation of her family to run the business, commented: “We’re delighted to get on board with the Nelson Food and Drink Festival and really looking forward to a bumper day for the town, with something to suit all tastes.”

The festival is the culmination of a four-month campaign to promote Nelson’s town centre and its array of independent shops and businesses. It is the brainchild of Nelson Town Team, which appointed Burnley-based Scott Dawson Advertising to run the promotional campaign.

A dedicated website (www.neslonfoodfestival.co.uk) is already up and running and will evolve throughout the campaign. A “Nelson Shops & Events” YouTube channel has been set up, featuring a dozen short videos showcasing local shops and businesses, with more being added all the time.

A social media campaign is under way to promote the town through Facebook (www.facebook.com/nelsonshops) and Twitter (twitter.com/nelson_portas), banners will go up in the town centre and a Food Festival brochure highlighting all the attractions will be distributed to 25,000 local homes nearer the event.

Key attractions will include a host of food stalls in the town centre ranging from traditional Lancashire produce to Asian delicacies and a Continental Market section. There will be live cookery demonstrations hosted by celebrity chef Richard Fox, who starred in ITV’s “Men Brewing Badly” alongside actor Neil Morrissey, plus street entertainers and activities for children.

Part of Oddie’s involvement is to sponsor a “Cakelicious” children’s cake decorating competition by donating hundreds of delicious plain buns and all the materials to decorate them. Oddies is also sponsoring a town centre banner and advertising in the festival brochure.

Earlier this year Scott Dawson Advertising ran a similar food festival in Accrington, attracting more than 10,000 people into the town centre and market hall, where businesses have felt a sustained benefit.

Lara Oddie, who is also vice-chair of Nelson Town Team, added: “Oddie’s got involved in the Accrington Food Festival by sponsoring a face painter outside out town centre shop. It really gave a boost to Accrington as a town and to a lot of businesses ever since, so I had no hesitation in getting involved with the Nelson Food and Drink Festival in the hope it will do the same here.

“Sponsoring the cake decorating competition is right up our street because it’s what we’ve been doing in Nelson for over a hundred years!”

Other Nelson shops and businesses wanting to get involved in the campaign or the Food Festival on September 19^th can contact Sue Lawson at Scott Dawson on 01282 423846 (email: sue@scottdawson.co.uk) to discuss the various options.

How to market your local market…

Lancashire town pioneers a 21^st century approach to promoting the much-loved traditional market

A traditional and award-winning market at the heart of a Lancashire town is embracing new ways to promote itself, while preserving that all-important personal touch.

Opened in 1869, Accrington’s Victoria Market Hall is one of the finest buildings in the town centre, home to more than 60 kiosks under its dramatically high ceiling, and with more in outdoor pavilions alongside the Market Hall.

A £2m. revamp of the historic Grade II-listed building was completed in 2010, quickly followed by it winning the coveted Britain’s Best Indoor Market Award in early 2011.

But it is people who make a market – the friendly traders, their stalls stacked high with quality fresh local produce at value-for-money prices, and their loyal customers, shunning the supermarket shelves in favour of a familiar face and caring personal service.

Accrington could boast plenty of both, and yet the younger generation were not prevalent among the bustling market’s regulars. Whether it was down to their busy working lives, the culture of out-of-town superstore shopping, or just not knowing all the market had to offer, there was, literally, a gap in the market.

What it came down to was “marketing the market” to a wider and largely untapped audience, and making its services more accessible to those with 21^st century pressures on their time. Enter locally-based marketing specialists Scott Dawson Advertising, bringing a fresh and up-to-the-minute approach to promoting one of Accrington’s oldest attractions.

It joined forces with Hyndburn Borough Council in a bold and innovative bid to combine the traditional market experience with the latest promotional tools. The result has been a pioneering pilot project – and a template that could be rolled out to other markets across the UK.

Now Accrington Market has its own website (www.accringtonmarketonline.co.uk); its own dedicated YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/user/accringtonmarket); its own Facebook page (www.facebook.com/accringtonshops); even its own Twitter feed (twitter.com/AccringtonShops).

As well as promoting the market and its various traders, the website allows customers to shop online, choosing a range of products available from its stalls, and even to benefit from a personal shopper, Kirsty Lauder. Options include a “click and collect” service, with Kirsty compiling customers’ orders ready for pre-arranged pickup, or even free delivery within a three-mile radius in a liveried Accrington Markets refrigerated van

Kirsty (23), who works from the Market Hall, is often seen buzzing around the stalls filling customers’ orders taken online, by email or phone.

“It’s my job to oversee customers’ orders from start to finish, from the moment they come in until they end up in the customer’s hands,” said Kirsty.

“Whether customers call in to quickly collect their order at a time convenient to them, or arrange to have one of our drivers drop it off at their home or business, I can look after that. And if there’s something special that customers can’t see on the website, chances are I can hunt it out from one of the stalls if they contact me.”

There are even special online discounts for customers using the website, with a range of money-saving eCoupons which can be cashed in at the PayPal checkout.

It’s all a long way from the days when the only marketing a stallholder could rely on was his own voice bellowing “Get yer strawberries… a pound a punnet!”

Nine months on from its official launch by Jesse McClure, star of the hit Dave TV show Storage Hunters, the online market is growing steadily, with neighbouring local authorities showing a keen interest.

Murray Dawson, MD of Scott Dawson Advertising, has kept a close eye on the pilot project, his team continually refining, improving and refreshing the model. Murray said: “Hyndburn Council were very bold and forward thinking in adopting this approach and together we got to work developing a digital and practical solution that builds on all of the fantastic traits of our much-loved market, as well as making them available for the first time to an online audience.”

Cllr Clare Cleary, Hyndburn Council’s Cabinet Member for Markets, added: “We have a fabulous market housed in a refurbished market hall offering great local produce and goods from friendly stallholders.

“We knew that shopping habits are changing rapidly with more use of online facilities and were keen to capture this to allow more people to experience the fantastic good and services Accrington Market has to offer. We are glad we’ve taken this new approach and proud that we’ve moved with the times to make the market more accessible using the latest technology, whilst still offering the same friendly service and warm Lancashire welcome for market customers.”

Local shop is the first business to sign up for town centre promotion

Local florist Going Dutch is the first business that has signed up to help attract more visitors and shoppers to Nelson town centre.

The Chelsea Gold Medal winners, based on Manchester Road, were filmed in their shop last week and their video can now be seen on the dedicated You Tube channel, ‘Nelson Shops and events’.

“We are delighted Going Dutch are fully engaging with this exciting promotion,” commented Lara Oddie, Oddie’s Bakery. “As part of the promotional package they will also be featured in a leaflet that will be distributed to over 25,000 homes and businesses in the Nelson area.”

Nelson Town Team appointed Scott Dawson Advertising to run the promotional scheme to encourage people in to the town centre. Towards the end of the four month campaign in September there will be a food festival, with stalls offering a choice of English and Continental foods, as well as Asian delicacies.

Peter Boast from Going Dutch, added: “It was great fun being filmed for the promotional video. I was a little nervous at first as I hadn’t done anything like it before, but the cameraman certainly put me at ease. I’m really pleased with the result and would encourage any other Nelson businesses to take up the opportunity to advertise their business in this innovative way.”

All shopkeepers are being asked to take part in the four-month promotional campaign and there will be opportunities for their businesses to feature in the promotional leaflet as well as in their own promotional videos.

Shops outlets or business wishing to be involved in the campaign, please contact Sue Lawson on 01282 426846