Bardsley England pitch bears fruit with appointment of AgencyUK as brand communications partner

Bardsley England are one of the UK’s largest producers of top fruit. The business grows 22k tonnes of fruit annually from their 24 sites and 820ha of land across the Kent countryside. A fifth generation family business, Bardsley England has undergone a significant transformation over the past 6-years under the stewardship of managing director and entrepreneur Ben Bardsley.

Now providing a vertically integrated supply chain solution, Bardsley England employ 450 people, growing, storing, grading, packing and distributing fruit to all the major supermarkets.

“In 6 years we have increased production and revenue by 1000%. We have a global mission to change the way the fresh produce industry operates currently, by building a company that is devoted to new ideas, has a well funded innovations programme, and a focus on technological advancement and robotics for the betterment of the environment, consumers and our people. Our journey is only just beginning and we recognised that to be successful across all of our operations we also needed the right partners in place. For farm machinery we chose John Deer, and for marketing communications we selected AgencyUK” says Ben Bardsley, Managing Director, Bardsley England.

Bardsley England have a large and complex marketing challenge growing their existing consumer facing brands including fruit juices as well as helping them define and build a global agri-tech offering which will help eliminate food waste and contribute to global carbon reduction.  The multi faceted channel mix has evolved quickly alongside a small yet fast growing marketing department, but regular access to a broad range of specialist marketing skills has become essential to supporting the business. Bardsley commissioned a five way pitch with top UK agencies in their search for the right partner.

“We have worked with a number of food producers, tech businesses and companies with a rapid growth trajectory.  We knew going into this pitch that Bardsley England had a unique story to tell, and that they were ambitious and needed a partner that could share that vision.  But it was only during the pitch process that we realised how well our cultures married together. As a mid size independent agency we devote time to finding the right people and developing the right skills and culture. The combination of which leads to innovative and creative work that helps our client brands disrupt traditional markets  around the world. We seek out organisations in the food, drink, health and tech sectors’  that are committed to making a positive difference to our world, not just their profit, and have an executable plan to do it. We are excited to be commencing our partnership with Bardsley England, and look forward to being a part of Bardsley England’s continued success story”.  Amy Stobie Co-Founder and Commercial Director, AgencyUK.

AgencyUK are ranked the UK’s top advertising agency in 2020 by The Drum. The recent announcement on Bardsley England follows a string of new client wins, including the relaunch of the much-loved sweets brand Chewits.

Founded in 2008 as an integrated brand communications agency with a high level of expertise in creative and emerging digital technology, the AUK team have become well known in the food and drink sector across Europe. Today the AgencyUK team work with international business brands as well as direct to consumer businesses.