(Above & below) While exhibition stands and displays are a specialism of Redblu Graphics and Displays, it caters for a wide variety of services including bespoke signage and print
Playing the long game
The UK’s sign and graphics industry is at an interesting time in its
history, as never has it been quite so saturated with businesses that
have the technological ability to produce an immense array of products.
Even very small businesses can offer a range that would once have been
the preserve of only the very biggest sign firms. This has been made
possible by the glut of cheap machinery on the second hand market, but
also the boom in trade supply firms that let smaller companies punch
above their weight. The issue this has caused though is that it has
caused an ongoing price war in our sector, with a significant number of
firms aggressively under cutting their competition on price to simply
win work—but with no eye on the future and the long-term consequences of
this tactic.
As the saying goes though: “There is no such thing as a free lunch”. And
the result of the end-user buying cheap is invariably a sub-standard
product, delivered below specifications, and sometimes well beyond the
agreed time limit.
On the other end of the spectrum though are those firms that have
managed to whether the recession, boxed clever, and continued to deliver
a high level of service and quality, without dropping their prices to
bargain basement levels. A good example of such a company is Redblu
Graphics and Displays.
The firm was founded in 2008, just before the recession hit, by the twin
talents of David Stewart, sales director, who has been involved in
business development and project management in the exhibition, sign and
graphics industry since 1999. And Ian Fyfe, finance director, who has
been involved in the printing industry since 1990 and has a business
consultancy that has helped develop more than 200 businesses in his
career.
I spoke to Stewart to get the low-down on how Redblu has managed to
achieve sustainable growth over the last eight years. He took me back to
1999, when he started working for a friend, who’s father had developed a
successful visual communications business. That friend had diversified
into manufacturing pop-up displays and then graphics. Spending five
years there learning about the sector and learning the trials and
tribulations of delivering marketing suites to high-end clients such as
construction giant George Wimpey (now Taylor Wimpey).
After having moved on to work for Clip Display based in Bristol and
taking a sabbatical from the sector for six months, David took the
opportunity to start his own business with long-time friend and now
co-director Ian Fyfe to form his own firm.
Despite a challenging start due to the recession, a major contract for
Homecoming Scotland helped kick-start a growth trajectory which has
remained consistent on an upward curve.
“Our approach is to try to really understand the objectives of our
customers and their needs, they normally have a problem and through our
experience can offer sound advice to deliver the best solution,”
explains Stewart, who adds: “Sometimes trying to get value out of that
as a business can be quite difficult, because in this challenging market
place it is becoming increasingly easy to find suppliers that will
produce display products and print at crazy prices.
In this challenging market place it is becoming increasingly easy to find suppliers that will produce it at crazy prices”
“When I started out pop-up displays would sell for £2,000 and now the
same product will go for £700, so the same work goes into producing it,
but the margin is an awful lot less. You also have to work an awful lot
harder for the work we do get.”
Stewart continues: “The reason we have managed to keep growing is that
we simply focus on providing the very best service possible to each
customer, and so they stay with us from project to project.”
(Above & below) “The reason we have managed to
keep growing is that we simply focus on providing the very best service
possible to each customer, and so they stay with us from project to
project,” says David Stewart, director of Redblu Graphics and Displays
Redblu has also seen a continual expansion of its product range over the
years, and has branched out of servicing the exhibition industry to
provide built-up signage, bespoke displays, interiors, point-of-sale,
and large exterior building wraps amongst a wide range of other
products, and of course the ability to produce totally bespoke work.
Indeed, a quick snapshot of its clients are the likes of Lidl, Sky, and
John Lewis on a national contract. It also does work for international
brands and has seen its work exported as far as San Francisco and Tokyo.
Stewart confides that in the modern industry a strong website is one of
the best ways to ensure a steady flow of high-value work, and as such
the firm has invested a lot of time and effort into building a very
streamlined educational site that also offers an online shop for the
most common standard products and even live chat with customers
enquiring about new work or checking on current projects.
“My business partner Ian always keeps coming back to the phrase ‘slowly,
slowly, catch a monkey’. If you do a job right, every time, and offer
good value, then in the long-run you will win more clients and ensure
growth,” explains Stewart.
He continues: “If a customer is doing price checking and opts to go with
the very cheapest quote, then they risk being let down by companies
that are only focussed on short-term survival and do not care if they
don’t deliver on time, or the product is not quite right or of poor
quality.
“A good example is re-skinning a pop-up for a recent customer. The job
came in on Wednesday and they needed it on Monday. So, it was a
last-minute.com job, but we had the capabilities to do it. At the same
time they asked for a price on a roller banner, but they decided not go
ahead with it. But low and behold on the Monday morning they had to come
to us and say they had been let down by another company that had quoted
half the price for the same roller banner, and could we produce the
banner for the price we had originally quoted? But in two hours.
“So, what did we do? We worked late on the jobs we were already running
to complete them that night, so they were not delayed for delivery the
next day, and we delivered the banner in a couple of hours.”
We will win long-term as we now have a happy customer that hopefully will continue to be loyal to us in future ”
Stewart explains that although they lost out short-term on that job as
the extra man hours negated any margin on it, it will win long-term as
the company now has a happy customer that will be loyal to it in the
future as they know Redblu will deliver. At this points he touches on a
sensitive subject for many established firms in the UK sign industry,
and one that I highlighted at the beginning of this piece: “Many firms
start up in the market and do not understand it is not just about buying
some used equipment and selling their products cheaper. For example, a
common issue we do a lot of replacement work for is they will specify
poor quality monomeric vinyl for an outdoor jobs, rather than a
polymeric with a laminate to protect it from the elements. We specify
the right product to do the job, many other companies do not.”
Pursuing perfection: Redblu Graphics and Displays does
not take any short cuts when it comes realising the creative vision of
its clients
While he emphasises that everyone starts small and needs to build-up
capacity, he qualified that this needs to be done with an eye on the
long-game.
“As you grow you need to employ more staff and ensure they are well
trained, and that this training continues as they stay with you—the
industry and its technology never stands still,” says Stewart, who adds:
“You also need to keep updating your technology, for instance we now
run two HP latex wide-format printers which produce photographic quality
and can perfectly hit Pantone colours, very important when printing for
the major brands. We have also overhauled our RIP software and internal
IT infrastructure several times since we started out.”
Now an accredited HP Eco-Solutions Print Provider, Stewart also explains
its current growth has been underpinned by building strong
relationships with hand-picked trade suppliers. This allows the firm to
concentrate on doing what it does best in-house, while using its
suppliers for services such as fabric displays and soft signage.
Stewart concludes: “To keep our costs low we have kept things very neat
and strong by focusing on what they do very well in-house, and for the
rest they have these very strong trade relationships to deliver the best
quality possible in the quickest time. Our approach has also been to
avoid tying ourselves into selling individual contracts with major
suppliers, which means we can always specify a solution that works best
for the customer, rather than one that ‘works just’.”
If you offer good advice, are swift to respond and then deliver the
best solution on time and budget, every time, in the long-run you will
win more clients and ensure sustainable growth”
So, with the firm’s success also underpinned by its hard-working senior
staff that includes Rob Nelson—design and production manager, Diana
Zanconato—account manager, and Steven Clements—production manager, it
seems that the future is bright for this energetic and creative firm.
And it is just that, keeping an eye on the long-term future of Redblu,
that has steered it straight over the last eight years.
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