Running a business from rural Cornwall – Brand Innovation
Brand Innovation is a marketing consultancy founded in 2004 and based in a rural location in Twowatersfoot on the southern edge of Bodmin Moor in Cornwall. The company provides marketing and copywriting services to clients across the UK and internationally. Brand Innovation works across a wide range of sectors including Tourism, IT, Tech, Food & Drink and Marine.
Managing Director, Lynn File, says:
“There is one common thread that links every project that we handle: they are always urgent! Quite often we will be brought in to kick-start an important new project for a client, where adherence to tight deadlines is absolutely crucial.”
Having a good broadband connection is therefore vital to the efficient running of the business, but the latest superfast connection has only recently become available to the business, as Lynn explains:
“Our old broadband connection was typically delivering 2 Mbps download and around 1 Mbps upload. Over the years we had learned a number of tricks to work around this and ensure the smooth running of our business, but we had to invest a lot of extra time for specific tasks – such as backing up files or downloading image files sent by clients.
“The irony is that Brand Innovation was retained as marketing consultant to both the EU-funded Superfast Cornwall project and the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband project! So I had a good understanding of superfast technology and knew that our remote rural location meant that it would be difficult to bring us a fibre connection. Indeed, it was looking as though we might have to invest in alternative options such as satellite.
“We were thrilled when a ‘Fibre to the Premises’ (FTTP) connection became available and we were one of the very first in our area to get connected. Wanting to be able to exploit its full potential, we opted to ‘future proof’ the business by signing up for the speediest ‘Ultrafast’ connection available.
“What a huge step change for our business! Now we can enjoy download speeds of up to 330 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 50 Mbps. It’s amazing. Downloading large design files takes a few seconds. We can also now fully exploit a whole range of useful tools, such as Skype, DropBox and other cloud- based applications.
Lynn adds: “Being able to rely on a crystal clear Skype connection is a real game changer. It means we can have great communications with clients anywhere in the world.
“The timing of our FTTP connection was just perfect. The day after it was installed, we liaised with a design company in New Zealand on the creation of a new website, for which we were developing the content. As part of this, we had to upload dozens of high resolution images to an FTP site so that they could be accessed by the project team. Our Ultrafast connection saved us a massive amount of time and was therefore paying for itself from Day One!”
Lynn concludes: “Superfast broadband is now at the heart of our business, opening up new ways of working and enabling us to run a world class company from rural Cornwall.”
