It was hard to predict how this year would turn out after the last two years of Covid damage and the realignment of everyone’s business needs, but at H&H Reeds it’s been a pleasant surprise, reports Managing Director Andy Jackson.
The new post-Covid ‘normal’ has been surprisingly positive for our business. Customers that had gone into hibernation during the lockdown years have come back with new energy, looking for new ways to promote themselves, and our work for businesses in key sectors of the Lake District tourist economy, such as hotels, has played a far greater part in our own success this year.
We have also been commissioned to design and develop several new web sites, including Penrith based A.W. Jenkinson, and we are looking forward to launching a number of sites in the early part of 2023 including the People First website and Q Guild.
Changing demand
2022 has also seen a significant shift in our customers’ requirements for our support, with a new emphasis on prioritising quality over quantity and a growing demand for a more holistic approach to developing marketing solutions.
More and more customers are seeking a partnership with us rather than a transactional relationship, and working more closely with our clients allows us to offer the full range of our services to tailor solutions that give each customer the most effective – and cost effective – impact.
In April, we commissioned a state of the art new digital printing press which has brought exciting new additions to our inhouse capability such as metallic printing, high gloss highlighting and white print.
Digital expansion
Our range of services also continued to expand within the Digital sector where we now provide full service support to a growing number of range blue chip clients. Many clients who previously used us purely as printers now find our digital services and support invaluable to help them optimise their online marketing with high impact website design and build, SEO optimisation, e-commerce and social media engagement.
We’ve continued to invest in high quality people to deliver high quality solutions for our customers, and in our recently extended office at Carlisle we’ve created a state-of-the-art digital workplace with all the gadgets and cool furniture you’d expect!
Sustainability
Inflation has inevitably hit the print and production element of our business hardest, with the cost of materials doubling in many cases. We take even more scrupulous care in precuring all our goods to ensure not only that we secure the best value for our customers but also that we maintain our ethical commitment to the high standards of sustainability that are essential to our business and to our customers.
The majority of all the goods we purchased in 2022 qualify under The Woodland Trust Carbon Capture Scheme, which we supported during the year by sponsoring the planting of 3,345sqm of native woodland – an area roughly 1.5 times the size of Hawes Water which sequesters 133,750kg of CO2 from the atmosphere.
The work we completed alone for one of our new client More Handles resulted in 62.57 sqm of native woodland being planted, removing 2,502kg of Co2.
People
In July, my good friend and Production Manager Phil Gowling retired (officially). Phil has an immense knowledge of the industry and always provided brilliant leadership and support, so I’m pleased to say I managed to persuade him to continue in a background retirement role where he can support the team and keep his eye on us.
2023
We have a fantastic team of staff across all of our offices and departments and looking forward to 2023, our aim is to continue to provide an all-encompassing range of services. We have already invested in some new printing technology which will arrive in January, and this will allow us to further reduce waste and reach our sustainability mission.
