McCallums
A new brand holds the key to expansion for a thriving family farming business.
Background
Bank End Farm opened to the public in 1992, soon finding a ready market for its fruit and other produce. In 2004 it opened bigger premises to cope with demand. The shop not only sells traditional English fruit varieties such as cherries, strawberries, apples and pears, but also products from 58 local suppliers including pork pies, cheese and honey. The family also runs a café and a separate hamper and fruit basket business as well as fishing lakes.
Problem
Bank End Farm, based at Finningley near Doncaster, and run for generations by the McCallum family, scored a big local success when it began selling its range of traditional English fruit varieties to the public. The business tapped into an increased appetite for local produce and consumers’ growing desire to know exactly where their food comes from.
The venture soon outgrew its small farm shop and opened another in a converted barn in 2004, with help from Business Link South Yorkshire and assisted by Yorkshire Forward government and EU grants.
But the McCallums were keen to expand further. 'We knew we wanted to move the business on,' said David McCallum, who manages the farm shop. 'We wanted to be able to reach a wider market beyond local consumers who already knew about us. A website looked like the answer but I didn’t really know where to start.'
Response
McCallum joined the Designing Demand Generate service after a recommendation from Business Link South Yorkshire and began working with Design Associate Andy Cripps, who advised the business to develop a new brand to help it reach a wider public: 'Bank End Farm didn’t mean anything beyond the local area, but people are interested in a family-run farm where everyone really cares about what they do. That gave us something to build a brand on.'
Using the family name as the basis for a brand was something the McCallums had discussed before, so they readily agreed with Cripps's suggestion. The next stage was to find a design consultancy to develop the identity and a website. Cripps said: 'I helped the family understand that this was going to be a serious investment, not a £50 job at the local printers. A design consultancy provides strategic thinking as well as creative concepts.'
After developing a design brief and a shortlist of three consultancies with Cripps, the family selected Sheffield-based Vivid Creative. 'David and Vivid’s MD Gerry Acari got on really well together, so it was a good basis for the project,' said Cripps.
Gerry Acari said: 'David was very open to ideas and we gave him a lot of different options. We all recognised we didn’t want to alienate local customers by making the brand too upmarket. It had to say quality and freshness but also appeal to existing as well as new customers.'
The final choice for the logo was a cockerel weather vane. Vivid Creative Director Dan Lindley said: 'The weather vane provides a sense of place and is a familiar and iconic symbol people can relate to. It’s got a sense of quality ands honesty. The family name was used to establish McCallums as an assured and respected business built on family values and heritage.'
The website design drew on lifestyle photography to showcase the cafe, hampers and fruit baskets. 'We wanted a fresh, natural feeling that would appeal to the sort of people who buy magazines such as Country Living,' said Acari. The business’s family-run credentials are underlined by an image of the McCallums alongside a statement about their philosophy.
Impact
'We're using the new identity across everything from the café menus to packaging and signage around the farm, so we’re much more professional,' said McCallum.
The business invested about £15,000 in the rebranding. The website, launched in December 2006, is going through a second stage of development, with more products being added alongside a new office fruit basket service. McCallums is also rolling out its brand through magazine advertising.
Although the next key sales period will be the run-up to 2007’s festive season, the design work is already having an impact: 'We have made sales and even generated an inquiry from Australia. The Designing Demand project has been a good experience – it has taken our business up a level.'