Category: RHS

RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2023

Posted on by Elizabeth Willis

To kick off the 2023 show season, I had the opportunity to visit RHS Malvern Spring Festival in the Midlands. It was my first time at the show, and I was impressed by its size and popularity, as well as its beautiful location at the foot of the Malvern Hills.

I spent a day at the showground conducting an extensive branding review. The festival is unique at the RHS; it has been run in partnership with the Three Counties since 1985. As part of the new RHS brand, Malvern Festival was given its own identity – the vibrant blue from the main brand, combined with its own unique master pattern and a rhododendron botanical. It was fantastic to see how impactful the new brand was onsite, and how cohesively all the assets worked together. 

Following the show, I created a brand review to present back to the Brand and Shows Marketing teams. After collating our feedback, we’ll be sharing this presentation with the RHS Shows and Three Counties departments, recommending our improvements for 2024.  

Winter lifestyle shoot at RHS Garden Bridgewater

Posted on by Elizabeth Willis

In January 2023, I had the amazing opportunity to visit RHS Garden Bridgewater for the first time, on set for a winter lifestyle photoshoot. 

I organised the shoot, working with model agencies to hire two sets of professional models for the day — two friends and a family with two daughters. The aim of the shoot was to capture people enjoying the garden during its “off-season”, showcasing it as a great choice for a winter day out. We were extremely lucky with the weather – after a rainy start, the sun blazed through the clouds and shone all afternoon. 

First, we asked the two friends to explore the beautiful colours and textures of the walled Paradise Garden, one of the highlights of Bridgewater. In the afternoon, we went over to the Woodland Play area with the family, which the children absolutely loved. We were even visited by an inquisitive robin — no doubt used to the gardeners digging up tasty worms!

The models were fantastic, and we almost took too many images for our photographer to edit. The final photos looked brilliant in our winter campaigns and social posts, and played their part in Bridgewater reaching a huge milestone in May 2023: on the garden’s second birthday, they welcomed their 1 millionth visitor!

Photoshoot at RHS Glow 2022

Posted on by Elizabeth Willis

In November 2022, I organised my first photoshoot on behalf of the RHS brand team. 

In preparation, I created a survey which I shared with local RHS Members and garden visitors, collecting volunteers to model in the shoot. We selected a family of four and two couples/a group of friends – two target audiences for our Glow campaigns. 

Capturing RHS Glow comes with its own unique set of challenges. As our photographer explained to me, even hundreds of years of camera development can’t always replicate what millions of years of evolution have done for our eyes! 

On the day of our photoshoot, the event was already open, which meant setting up shots around a stream of visitors. Whilst the misty weather created a gorgeous atmosphere in the garden, it did pose some technical challenges for our photographer. It was also our first time shooting with younger children — who were not used to standing very still in front of the camera with a slow shutter speed! 

However, great teamwork helped us overcome these difficulties and the shoot was both a huge success and a great learning opportunity. We captured some amazing photographs to use in marketing the event for 2023, but also took away some key ideas for future shoots. For example, for shoots we think might be more challenging, we’ll hire professional models who have more experience on set. And when working with families and younger children, it’s helpful to have a secret pack of Haribo to hand…