Exeter business Pollards has revamped its Brandhub online portal to increase its appeal to holiday park businesses, enabling them to manage their print needs, from brochures and promotional material to more functional items, down to certificates of a kids’ competition, through the portal.
The development comes following the return of Dave Hember to Pollards as business manager, after leaving the printer ten years ago to join his brother in the holiday homes business. When that business was sold and after spending time with a manufacturer of the lodges and other accommodation, he was approached to return to Pollards.
Hember rejoined the company this year, returning to revamp the software that Pollards had first rolled out a dozen years previous. With additional features and functionality tailored to the requirements of the holiday park industry, Pollards is now rolling out a revised version of Brandhub.
“Parks consume an extremely diverse array of print, so keeping everything under close scrutiny and without wasting time or money, is a challenge we are tackling,” says Hember.
He explains that it is especially suited to businesses that operate a number of holiday park sites, allowing each to order the collateral needed, with the ability to edit templates, while costs and control are managed centrally.
Orders placed result in material being picked from stock or printed on demand, either on a Speedmaster XL75 or directed to its Xerox iGens for digital print. Roland DG Versacamms provide the large format inkjet output.
Now the company has become an associate member of the British Holiday and Home Parks Association, the trade association for the sector Pollards wants to target.
“I spent 20 years working at Pollards and have now come back to print after ten years away. Not that much has changed, except that a lot of the technology we were introducing then is now mature and works as it should,” he says.
Brandhub was initially developed by Pollards’ IT team using third party applications and marketed as Pollards Direct. It has kept pace with technology and the customer portal is now branded as Brandhub. It has been tweaked further to improve the appeal for holiday parks.
The company also runs a design team and IT teams which can create features that individual customers require, which covers websites as well as print. Print, however, is fighting back, with Pollards finding that holiday parks are increasing the number of printed brochures ordered. A large part of the parks’ customer base is towards the mature end of the demographic where print remains essential.
“It’s the same story from both individual holiday parks and the larger park groups to which we provide our services – the power of print is stronger than ever,” said Hember.
“The predicted demise of the traditional brochure never actually happened, and many parks say that customers visiting their websites often still go on to request a brochure.
“When you’re selling holiday homes or top end rented accommodation to a generally older and more affluent customer, a well produced brochure can be vital in shaping impressions.”
