Double delight at Industry Awards

Manchester based HMG Paints, had two reasons to celebrate at the recent British Coatings Federation (BCF) Awards. The family business took home two of the top awards on the night; Marketing Campaign of the Year and the Excellence in Training Award.

“As a family-owned business, we take immense pride in receiving these awards, particularly when considering the formidable competition among the industry’s major corporate players,” noted Steve Crossman, Chief Operating Officer of HMG Paints. “This double honour is a testament to the unwavering dedication of our entire team at Riverside Works.”

The first award collected by the team was the Marketing Campaign of the Year award for the company’s industry first AI-Generated Colour Range. The AI Colour Range was launched back in March and utilised ChatGPT to create a range of colours and theme for the range. The companies use of Artificial Intelligence didn’t stop there as they used AI Image Generators to create a number of the visual assets to support the campaign which was then supported by organic traditional marketing methods.

The judges recognised the campaign for showcasing cutting edge technologies in a traditional industry, along with a unique selling proposition that could potentially revolutionise how paint collections are created and marketed in the future.

“We’ve only got a small team and limited budget so we have to be truly innovative on how we utilise our resources to stand out in a competitive marketplace. To pull this whole campaign together within two days between the two of us in the office and launch it just shows how companies can utilise AI to disrupt marketing and traditional industry activities,” commented Paddy Dyson, HMG Marketing Manager. “We’ve worked with brands and other people in the industry who’ve spent months working on such projects and not seen anywhere close to the results we’ve achieved. We’re very lucky to have a supportive board who allow us to innovate and try out new ideas.”

The second award of the night came for the companies Training Scheme. Named the ‘Company of HMG Training Programme’ the initiative utilises the generations of knowledge within the business to create tailored programmes. Staff from across the business engage in training that is tailored for their role and has been developed by senior leaders within the business. HMG take a continuous improvement approach to training and development and the implementation of new modules is a continuous cycle within the business to ensure they keep up with the latest technological trends and industry developments.

The judges of the awards commented that the entry stood out due to the company’s focus on using skilled staff to identify existing training gaps is an innovative approach that is often missed by many companies. Then recognised the collaborative cross company approach to generate new training videos which has seen significant business benefits.

“To be recognised for our investment in training is a great honour and is something everyone in the entire business plays a part in and buys in to” added Neil Dawes who collected the award on the evening for HMG. “Since 1930 training and developing our own staff has been a core value of the business and putting our training programme together has been a collective effort from all areas of the business.”

The awards in their 13^th year, saw over 200 attendees to celebrate the best of the British coatings industry. HMG Paints, founded in 1930, are now the UK’s leading independent paint manufacturer, who’s paints and coatings are supplied to a number of industries including Industrial, Commercial Vehicle, Decorative, Agricultural and Defence amongst others.  The awards cap off a fantastic year which has seen them also crowned the Family Business United Manufacturing Business of the Year award and be finalists in the BusinessDesk North West Business of the Year awards.