FutureFest 2022 - Festival of The Future

Now in its third year, Dorset Council’s Festival of the Future is set to return this month

Running from 10 – 14 October 2022, the 5-day festival is set to showcase a range of exciting digital innovations in Dorset. Future Fest 2022 will take place in Bridport, Dorchester, Ferndown, Weymouth and Winfrith – where attendees will be able to visit the Dorset Innovation Park.

We have supported the event since it began, with our MD David Lakins invited as a guest speaker at FutureFest in 2020 and 2021. This year Key Digital is a proud sponsor of the festival and pleased to see that one of our long-standing clients has been recognised locally for their approach to digital marketing.

Collins Nets, who we have worked with as their digital partner since 2020 will be featured on day 4 when the festival comes to Bridport. The Digital Dorset team will showcase the West Dorset business from their headquarters in Uploders for a feature which shows how a traditional family business like Collins Nets has used digital to grow their revenue.

Here is a preview of what to expect from FutureFest 2022…

Festival of the Future 2022

FutureFest 2022 is set to be bigger and better than before as it explores ground-breaking digital innovation in farming, education, tourism, health, climate and more. With options to attend in-person discussions or view online, the festival will uncover the many possibilities of a digital future in Dorset.

Day 1 – Dorchester

Festival of the Future 2022 will kick off at Kingston Maurward in Dorchester. Next generation farming and aquaculture technology is one of the main themes of the day, which include a networking lunch.

Day 2 – Ferndown

Held at the new Family Hub, the Digital Dorset team will be finding out how digital can help staff to help families. As well as a look at how data-driven road sensors can help sustainable travel routes.

Day 3 – Winfrith

An exciting day at the Dorset Innovation Park and a chance to see robots, drones, and virtual reality in action! The event will look at future skills and career opportunities in digital featuring a great programme of guest speakers and local businesses.

Day 4 – Bridport

The team will head to the Bridport Literary and Scientific Institute for the fourth day of Future Fest 2022. A relaxed atmosphere will give people the chance to browse stands and talk about getting online, the importance of digital skills, and how digital can help with our health and wellbeing,

Small business growth will also be covered and we look forward to seeing Dawn Collins from Collins Nets speaking about the benefits of digital to her business.

Day 5 – Weymouth

The final day will be at Weymouth Harbour for a look at how emerging technology could one day be used in towns such as Weymouth to help local people and visitors. Leading urban designer, Wayne Hemingway, will provide input on how he thinks Weymouth could develop.

You can either experience the festival in person or choose a virtual ticket to watch the live stream on YouTube.

For the full programme of what’s on visit: www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/festival-of-the-future-2022

Collins Nets – benefits of investing in digital

Collins Nets have manufactured and supplied nets for the Game Rearing and Fisheries industries for over 35 years. Despite knowing their industry inside-out, Dawn Collins went in search of a local Dorset digital agency to bring all of her marketing under one roof.

We reviewed Collins Nets’ online presence and previous marketing efforts and suggested a multi-faceted strategy to work on going forwards.

Central to this strategy was the investment in a new bespoke e-commerce website, that was developed to a high standard with improved functionality and user experience. Key Digital’s lead developer managed the web build whilst the in-house digital marketing team created new content and optimised the site for search. Working with an agency that could implement both marketing and technical aspects of the project meant everyone was kept in the loop and the process was smooth.

As part of the new build, it was decided a rebrand was beneficial to give Collins Nets a new look and feel and better appeal the audience. We worked with a local creative to explore our demographic and re-design the logo and introduce a new colour palette to be used throughout the business. Care was taken to create a social media friendly circular logo.

We also explored new platforms such as Mailchimp and paid advertising to help deliver increases in website traffic and return on investment. Find out more about the project on our portfolio.

Commenting about choosing Collins Nets as a business to feature at the festival Lisa Trickey, Head of Digital Strategy & Design at Dorset Council said:

“Collins Nets have worked with Key Digital to help grow their business and reach new markets using digital marketing and e-commerce solutions. The purpose of the business spotlight is to talk about the digital journey that Collins Nets has been on, to demonstrate to other businesses the opportunities that are available.

It supports our festival objectives showing how digital technology can be used to support economic growth and sustainable business in Dorset.”