Family businesses play a large part in the local economy, as does the county’s creative industries. The Dorset Business Awards 2019 seeks to find the best of these two sectors.
Creative Impact, sponsored by Liz Lean PR and Digital Storm, recognises creative and impactful marketing campaigns that embrace any element of the marketing mix such as branding, promotions, digital, public relations, and more. Judges are looking for inspirational examples of marketing excellence and creative originality in any project undertaken within the last two years. 2018’s winner, Salad, excelled for their creativity and how the digital product extended into offline activity, delivering strong results for the client.
Liz Willingham, managing director at Liz Lean PR, commented: “The county has a strong creative offering with a dynamic community. It is therefore more important to us than ever to recognise and celebrate the diverse range of projects, campaigns and initiatives delivered by our colleagues in the creative sector. We really want this celebrated and acknowledged by seeing what businesses have to offer in terms of how they put their efforts out there, and what ROI they receive for their marketing efforts.”
Lesley Simmons, account director at Digital Storm, added: “We are really proud to be co-sponsoring the Creative Impact Award with Liz Lean PR. We are passionate about this award category because as a creative agency our job is to help businesses in the local area to market themselves more effectively. We are looking forward to seeing the entries.”
The PKF Francis Clark Family Business Award returns to the ceremony for this year’s Dorset Business Awards. This category is designed to recognise the success of family businesses that are innovative, adaptable and have a healthy culture in place. Hall and Woodhouse were honoured in 2018 for the company’s ethos of keeping the customer at the heart of the company, and the founder’s principles have remained within the company for almost 250 years.
James Robinson, partner at PKF Francis Clark, commented: “The Dorset Business Awards are our chance to celebrate family businesses of all shapes and sizes and what they contribute, not only to the Dorset community but also to the national and international economy. We are delighted to be able to again sponsor the Family Business of the Year Award. There have been some fabulous past winners with amazing stories to tell and we look forward with eager anticipation to this year’s entries.”
The Awards, supported by the Daily Echo and Wave 105, are now open and are free for everyone to enter. Entrants will need to complete and submit an entry via www.dorsetbusinessawards.co.uk by Friday, August 2. Finalists will be invited to the Gala Dinner on Thursday, November 28 when the winners will be announced.
Stuart Dixon, head of marketing and communications at Dorset Chamber, added: “Both of these categories have been so popular, and hotly contested, each year. As a marketer myself, it’s always interesting to see what everyone else in the industry has been up to each year. Our Family Business Award is the perfect platform to showcase those businesses that have stood the test of time and passed their values down through generations, while adapting to the everyday challenges a business faces throughout its lifetime.”
For further information about the Awards or to purchase tickets for the Gala Dinner, please visit www.dorsetbusinessawards.co.uk or contact the Dorset Chamber on 01202 714810. Tickets cost £90 + VAT per person, or £850 + VAT for a table of 10 (Dorset Chamber members), or cost £100 + VAT per person, or £950 + VAT for a table of 10 (non-Dorset Chamber members).