For more than 125 years Leach has specialised in large-format graphics from its base in the North West. Only in recent years, however, has it honed its service to a core niche that focuses on heritage displays for museums and galleries.
Breaking into a niche is hard, making a name for it can be harder, then taking that name and niche to a global audience is harder still. Director Jim Parkin helped do just that to put the focus of his business in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, into the realms of Saudi magnates, Russian oligarchs and public organisations involved in some of the world’s most ambitious heritage attractions – a national museum in Oman, a presidential library in Nigeria, a national museum in Russia to name a few.
The challenge
Kate Moss, the latest BMW – these days such subject matter is common fare for Leach, but heritage is in the blood. The company, started by Arthur Holdsworth Leach in late-Victorian times as a photographer and enlarger, first became involved in the heritage sector in the 1930s but only dabbled in the decades that followed, becoming more prevalent in retail.
Just over 10 years ago, Leach sharpened its focus, and it was prompted by risk: “We were worried about falling margins, increasing competition and a market scarred by print companies going bust left, right and centre,” says Parkin. “We needed a risk mitigation strategy and wanted to develop a service big on intelligence and innovation to offset those falling margins and the competition.”
For Parkin and his team the connection was as clear and seductive as supermodel Moss in all her large-format glory: “There’s great synergy between large-format work and the heritage sector, both of which demand creative results and the need to capture people’s imagination in an exciting way. Audio-visual, inset screens, projectors, all of these things have print as their backbone, so as a board we took the decision to focus more heavily on the heritage sector.”
It wasn’t easy. The biggest factor was the location of the company, which set about targeting the all-important creative agencies and designers who specify products and materials. And most of these were based 190 miles south in London. There was, he says, a “reticence to using a graphics company in the dim and distant north”.
The method
So Leach developed must-have products and then approached its target audience not in offices, but in museums and galleries to capture imaginations with live demos. Designers for heritage shows, he insists, are continuously looking for “fresh, invigorating and exciting ways” of telling stories. The only way to achieve “traction” with them is through new products and research and development.
Parkin’s team came up with a method of turning ink into gel to allow on-site screen printing on vertical walls without the ink sliding off. It produced a vinyl almost impossible for inquisitive fingers to peel off, and it produced cushioned floor graphics. Using lightbox principles, backlit fabrics with sensors activate illumination when people walk by. Meanwhile a magnetic system called ‘Stik’ enables untrained curators and exhibition staff to cover very large wall areas quickly.
“Another key demand is durability. Some of the biggest venues have hundreds of thousands of visitors every year; coachloads of school kids intent on prodding and peeling away at displays. So we went for ISO 9001 to prove what we were offering was supported by accredited quality control.”
Parkin’s favourite contract to date has been a Titanic project in Belfast, but Leach wanted to reach beyond the UK and this threw up big challenges: installation and customs and excise. Hitches for the latter came into sharp focus on a historical design in Ekaterinburg focusing on former Russian president Boris Yeltsin. Customs’ officials refused entry visas for every single product, forcing Leach to open a base in Russia and rely on local transport and courier companies.
“As you can imagine the complexity and cost were quite severe, but strengthening a niche is all about finding solutions and finding them quickly. We have people comfortable with that level of complexity in a project who have the expertise and energy to solve problems.”
Leach has site, project and logistics managers but in 2006 decided to bring installation in house: “It became increasingly clear we can have the best quality print and most innovative solutions in the world, but if installation is patchy or goes wrong, it won’t work. So we took the decision – another costly one – to develop that process in house. For that same reason we only work for the very best fit-out contractors, such as London-based Beck Interiors.”
Working on a project from several thousand miles away starts with Parkin visiting the client, looking at the specification and making recommendations before costing up the project. Back in the UK he appoints a project manager, of which Leach has four, who will travel back and forth several times to become familiar with the project at both concept and installation phases. Site and installation managers oversee shipping and construction of projects that can run to millions of pounds.
The result
From a turnover of around £200,000 in its first year in 2005, the heritage-display part of the business now accounts for around £4m, a third of the company’s total turnover. It took about three years to “gain traction” in the market.
“We spent a lot of days and nights trying to convince people they should try something new and use print in ways that go beyond the conventionally perceived applications,” recalls Parkin who also had to convince himself on occasion.
“I asked myself a few times ‘is this going to work?’ but remained steadfast in building up the importance to the heritage sector in being innovative. I suppose it helps that I’m not just a director of a print company but someone who absolutely loves history.”
Along with accreditations the business picked up a Queen’s Award for Innovation in 2008. This, explains Parkin “carries a lot of kudos especially in the Middle East, which is a big market for us – being ‘Brand Britain’ and having the royal logo on our products really did help”.
Earlier this year the company tackled one of its largest projects to date in the region, for an atomic centre in the Saudi capital of Riyadh. In 2014 the company launched a five-year plan to double turnover should the company choose to target big growth. And does it?
“Getting noticed is about both building contacts within the sector and amassing a portfolio of successful projects. But once you’ve reached a certain degree of momentum within the global heritage sector you become a de facto supplier. We’ve reached the point where sometimes a project comes our way and we have to ask ‘do we have the resources?’
“So it’s not so much a case of chasing work, but do we have too many projects, do we have the capacity and do we want grow to take on that capacity? It’s quite a change in thinking and a challenge. Maintaining an innovative edge throws up the issue of scale.
“Big expansion can mean you lose that edge in focusing on growth rather than trying to develop the next new thing. As it is, we’ve just recruited our fourth product development expert and Leach puts a lot of money into being at the forefront of innovation – in the heritage sector it cannot be a just buzzword, it must be the core of what you do.”
VITAL STATISTICS
Leach
Location Huddersfield, West Yorkshire
Inspection host Director Jim Parkin
Size Turnover: £12m; Staff: 104
Established 1891
Products Large-format graphics for retail, heritage and exhibition sectors for clients such as Arcadia Group, BMW and Jaguar Land Rover
Kit Three Durst large-format digital UV presses, a Rho 312, a Rho 512 and a Rho P10 250; a SwissQprint Nyala 2 3.2x2.2m flatbed UK inkjet press, a Mimaki JV33 large-format eco-solvent inkjet printer and an Epson Stylus Pro 4900 Fogra proofer. Finishing kit includes an Esko Kongsberg C64 CNC 3.2x3.2m cutting table and a Fotoba XLD 170 automated roll-to-sheet trimmer
Inspection focus Making a name for yourself in a specialist niche
TOP TIPS
Define your knowledge base Before you can find a niche within a broad market, you have to determine what market you aim to enter.
Test your speciality Does your service or product help meet a need that merits attention or a problem that needs solving and is there a big enough market to bother entering?
Hone your niche marketplace Compile data to produce a detailed profile of your target customer, then identify how you can better serve the currently under-served niche.
Become an advocate Be the go-to contact for your possible customers when it comes to information about your chosen speciality through social media, conferences and YouTube videos.
Put your niche service in front of new people Getting your specialism in front of new people on a regular basis is a requirement for success.
Go for the gongs ISO, Investors in People and other accreditations prove high standards while a Queen’s award adds kudos into the professional mix.
