Friday, December 18, 2020
While the word ‘pandemic’ has dominated our lives in 2020, another p-word ‘pivot’ has also come to the fore as print businesses switched up their offering
1 Bluetree Group Mask Box
Many print businesses have got into mask making in one way or another this year, but Yorkshire-based Bluetree made the boldest move of all with a £2m investment in setting up a dedicated mask making facility in a factory space that had originally been earmarked for the expansion of its exhibition and events range. Its Mask Box offering is sold via a clever subscription scheme targeted at dentists, vets, opticians and similar businesses, and that guarantees a certain level of business. Bluetree then topped that by winning a £64m government contract for the supply of 352 million masks for the Department of Health & Social Care, and has since brought manufacturing of the special meltblown material used to make the masks in-house, as well. The initial £2m spend increased to £12m for the total project, with Bluetree also taking on hundreds of new workers.