Hi Everyone,

We hope you had a great start to the week and are keeping on top of all the work.

So, why the picture of Marylin Monroe in the header with a quote in the middle? Well one of these prints has sold on Monday for £158 million. That is correct, pop art is well and truly valuable. Again, you would be correct to ask, ‘why are you telling me this’? Our answer to that would be, ‘we had to grab your attention somehow as the attention spans these days last no more than 5 seconds’.

So, after another one of our unnecessary intros, you might be asking again, what is it that you do?

The short answer is – We solve your business problems, that is what we do.

We could also say that we offer Bid & Tender Support, Marketing Services, Website Design, IT Solutions, Business Incubation, and that we run Start-Up School, Future High Street and Urban Innovation programmes.

Our newsletter is not long, it aims to inform, inspire and educate, while at the same time remind you that we exist and that you should remember us when you have some money to spend on a project.

Small Business: So, the first bit of news is about small business and the marketing campaign to promote them.

As part of Luton Future High Streets Programme, the project that we delivered on behalf of Luton Council, we produced a marketing campaign to promote local businesses. The title of the campaign was “ Shop Local – Shop Luton” and it was themed around “Every business has a story”. We delivered it locally via social media and had over 20k engagements, shares and clicks. The hypothesis that we proved this time was that a lot can be achieved with a limited budget and a good idea. All the promotional videos can be viewed here.

Innovation and the High Street: Sean, who is the Hub 109’s project lead, recently wrote a guest article for the National Enterprise Network. The article argues that the high streets need to provide more holistic experience for the shoppers and for those that want to shop locally. You can find out more about the solutions already being implemented as well as all the advantages that the high street has over the online competitors by reading the full article which can be found here.

Ask the Bid Writer: This month marks the launch of our “Ask the bid writer” programme of online workshops. The aim of the workshops is to answer your questions on how to create successful bids and funding applications. All sessions are free to attend and all you have to do is register for the event and ask a question in advance. You can find out more and register for the next event here. 

That First Million: This is where we inspire you and share with you the stories of successful businesses. Today’s story is about Jamie Barber, founder of Hush Mayfair. Jamie Barber founded his first restaurant in 1999 and today he operates 14 of them. His restaurant group employs 235 staff, and the turnover is in excess of £10.25m. During the lockdown he launched an online meal kit delivery service called My Supper Hero. More on that story can be found here.

And that is us done. If you liked our short newsletter and would like to find out more about our services, please visit www.hub109.co.uk

Enjoy the rest of your day.

Hub 109 team