Traditional Business Wins Award with Marriage’s 2016 Calendar
Rose Calendars were pleased to catch up with a long standing customer recently, as a calendar printed by the Colchester manufacturer won an award for excellence in production.
The winning 2016 Calendar was printed for W & H Marriage & Sons Ltd, who have been millers established in Chelmsford since 1824. Elizabeth Rose, Marketing Manager visited Chelmer Mills to meet with Company Director Hannah Marriage and hear more about their established family business.
Having been at the current site since 1899, Marriage’s have been milling flour in Essex since 1824. Marriage’s was founded by twins William and Henry nearly 200 years ago, and this traditional company is now run by fifth and sixth generations of the Marriage family who continue the milling tradition.
Hannah Marriage is sixth generation and works in the business alongside her father, together with her cousins and her uncle. This local family business is founded on tradition and quality. It was therefore a natural choice to use photographs of baked goods in an advertising calendar which could be used to further promote their brand to end users and customers. The resulting calendar scooped the prize for ‘2016 Corporate Calendar, Excellence in Digital Production’ at the National Calendar Awards.
Their wall calendars are used by a wide range of customers, from high street and artisan bakers, with individual bakeries or small chains to wholesalers, restaurants and caterers. They are often displayed in the baker’s retail shop, or have a practical use in the bakery area. The Marriage’s brand is kept in mind with staff in bakeries often working shifts so the calendars provide a very useful means to keep on top of these and provide a visual aid for days and weeks. It was important for them to offer their customers a calendar which would be valued and used.
Hannah cited the reasons she chose Rose Calendars to produce their calendar, as being numerous. “Words we use to describe our company include ‘family business’, ‘traditional’ and ‘quality’ and Rose Calendars also share those same values. We produce quality flour and our calendars are an extension of our brand, so we like to give a quality calendar to our customers.”
Printed on the Kodak NexPress, the 13 page calendar uses up to the minute printing technology, and optimises the colours in the photos which Marriage’s chose to place in this year’s calendar. The seasonal nature of the pictures used showcase a variety of versatile products made with flour. For example, images include sourdough bread, hot cross buns (for Easter), scones (for Mother’s Day or a special cream tea treat at other times of the year), Christmas cakes and baked goods, pizzas, quiches, tarts and pastries, or harvest festival in the Autumn.
Rose Calendars Print Room Manager Dan Clark said “the texture and colours in the pictures really came alive as the pages came off the press. The resulting calendar is really something you would want to hang on your wall, and even makes you feel quite hungry. It is a lovely example of using a customers’ own images well and we are delighted to have won an award for this particular calendar.”
Marriage’s source the best possible quality wheat, much of it from farmers within 30 miles of Chelmer Mills, including their own arable farms. The flour is produced using a combination of the traditional techniques which have been trusted for generations and the best modern milling technology. The range includes organic, speciality, seeded, spelt and traditional stone ground flours. Marriage’s supply bakeries and manufacturers across Southern England, as well as producing an award-winning range of home baking flours. Marriage’s also has an animal feeds division, which uses a different design of stock calendar from Rose to promote this range to its own customers.
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