Hello Harrogate! Ubiety's Trade Show Debut
Ubiety is off to Yorkshire next week…
The annual Home & Gift Buyers’ Festival in Harrogate takes place from 14-17 July, showcasing thousands of new brands and products by hundreds of exhibitors to even more buyers. It’s our trade show debut and we’re trying to remain calm and grounded, spraying Ubiety’s cooling facial mist as we make our preparations.
To state the obvious, North Yorkshire’s a long way from Bath. There’s a lot to transport including Ubiety stock, exhibition materials and props, paperwork for orders and press information, to say nothing of the Ubiety team who need to man the stand for 4 days. Personally, I love a road trip so as long as we don’t have any spontaneous van interior sliding moments (think furniture crashing through banners, squashed flowers and body salve all over the walls) then I’m happy to torture my passengers with my music or force them to listen to back-to-back Archers Omnibus episodes.
It’s both exciting and daunting for us. The Ubiety Team is made up of members from Dorothy House Hospice Care’s Business Development Team and our aim is to help the Hospice generate more income to provide care to our growing number of patients with a life-limiting illness, their families and carers.
The Business Development Team works on everything from our NHS contracts (providing around 20% of the Hospice’s income) to supporting existing retail and fundraising functions at Dorothy House to developing entirely new ventures including Ubiety. There’s never a dull moment and Ubiety is hardly bog standard Hospice territory. This is a departure from traditional revenue streams such as fundraising challenges or charity shops. It’s innovative and, frankly, that’s what’s required if the Hospice is to raise its income to meet growing patient need.
Much has been learned from the development and launch of the Ubiety range. Wonderfully, the products reflect much of what we try to bring to people at Dorothy House – enjoyment of the moment, calmness and soothing, nurturing care.
We’re looking forward to spreading the message about Ubiety and the fact that these products are kind to you through their natural properties, kind to others through the money they generate for care and kind for the environment through their greener credentials.
Since our Bath launch in February, awareness has grown locally and Graham & Green, one of our wonderfully supportive stockists, hosted a London launch party for us in June. We need to spread the Ubiety message further afield though, hence our trip up North.
All hands to the pump for Harrogate including support from the fantastic Cathy Biggs of Limelight Bath, a key, supportive partner to Ubiety and skilled in the ways of trade shows.
We’ll keep you posted ……
