Pillory Barn and our ‘new normal’

When we last wrote to you none of us could have predicted that several weeks on we would still be living and working under lockdown. We hope you and your loved ones are keeping safe and well.

Our team has adapted quickly to find our ‘new normal’. We’ve been using Microsoft Teams as our technology of choice to keep in touch with each other, hold client meetings and even deliver pitches and make new business contacts.

Last week saw us managing the announcement of one of the county’s top stories – the approval of the multi-million pound regeneration project, Newtown Works, for the scheme’s master developer Quinn Estates.

The investment is a first for Kent and will bring a bespoke film studios to Ashford, strengthening the county’s reputation and huge appeal as a creative and digital hub. Many congratulations to everyone involved, including Quinn Estates, Ashford Borough Council, Hollaway architects, The Creative District Improvement Company, U+I and Locate in Kent.

A late night, followed by an early morning of media relations sell-in resulted in the story being picked up across UK and international media. Social media stats knocked all our previous records off the charts. This is the kind of fast turnaround comms the thrill seekers in our team thrive on (it’s true!).

Our NHS clients are always close to our hearts, and it’s with great pride that we have created a wealth of internal communications in the past few weeks that speak directly to the key workers that we all value now more than ever.

Locate in Kent has been reaching out to the county’s medical manufacturers and sewing businesses to source essential kit for tackling the pandemic, and we are pleased to be supporting them. We’ve been inspired by examples of Kent’s businesses pivoting their business models, and others who are accessing support available, showing real resilience.

Two new digital clients, South East Business Boost and Transport for the South East, are also investing in new websites to support their strategies to grow the local economy. Ashford Borough Council and Folkestone & Hythe District Council have both come out strong with their support to local businesses and the place brand campaigns we deliver for them have helped amplify that message.

And finally, some news about our own communications. We consider ourselves natural storytellers and behind the scenes we have been creating a new Pillory Barn website. This will have news of some of our newest clients including 4lite, L&L Creative Spaces, Viner & Sons and Kent Association for the Blind. We’ll also have loads of case studies and other great features to share with you so watch out for more on this in the next couple of weeks.

Thanks for reading and we hope you’ve found this update useful. We would love to hear what you have been up to too so please drop us a line.