AF Blakemore | Supplier Conference 2026

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Reset. Refocus. Recharge.

After a year of big change, AF Blakemore & Son Limited, a family-owned wholesale distributor supplying major retail and hospitality brands including SPAR and M&S Food, wanted to bring its suppliers together properly for the first time. With a new leadership team in place and a clearer direction for the business, the goal was simple: reconnect, realign and move forward, together. More than 200 supplier partners joined at Telford International Centre for a day built around one shared focus: the customer.

Brand AF Blakemore & Son

Industry Retail

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AF Blakemore looked to refresh its relationship with suppliers in a way that felt honest and constructive. The business had evolved, priorities had shifted. And in a complex, fast-moving market, standing still wasn’t an option.

The day centred on refocussing on the customer to drive growth, resetting how they work with suppliers, and recharging relationships for the long term. We built the whole experience around this idea, and developed the event identity of Refocus. Reset. Recharge. From there, everything laddered up to it including content, visuals, messaging, even how the day flowed.

We worked closely with the AF Blakemore team and each speaker to shape the story behind the strategy. Tightening messaging. Cutting through noise. Making sure every session had a point. That meant supporting speakers with scripting and structure, stress-testing the key messages so they landed clearly and designing presentations that kept every person in the room engaged from start to finish.

We created two films to anchor the narrative. The opening VT brought energy into the room and set a clear direction of travel.

Then came The Hand-Off. A day-in-the-life story that connected the dots between suppliers, colleagues and customers, showing how small choices carry through the chain and land on the customer’s table. The video showed that every moment counts, and every hand-off matters. It didn’t gloss over past challenges, but it didn’t linger there either. It looked forward.

We handled the whole event end-to-end. From sourcing the venue through to building out the physical space, including stage design, CAD layouts and spatial planning so everything worked as it should. At the same time, we made sure the journey felt seamless for delegates with a registration site, pre-event comms and post-event follow-up.

Our content and design teams worked side by side to bring consistency across everything, from slide decks to motion graphics to screen content. Nothing felt bolted on. We also spent time on the details that make a difference such as speaker coaching so people felt confident on stage and in breakout sessions.

Guest speaker Harriet Beveridge grounded it all nicely. Her Will It Make the Boat Go Faster? talk cut through in a way that stuck, focusing on clarity, alignment and doing the things that actually move the needle. It mirrored exactly what the day was trying to achieve.

That momentum carried into an exclusive after-hours session. Networking drinks and light-touch entertainment gave suppliers and stakeholders the space to relax, connect and continue conversations in a more informal setting.

The 2026 Supplier Conference was a big success. It gave AF Blakemore a clear moment to reset, not just internally, but with its suppliers by reintroducing the leadership team in a meaningful way, putting the customer back at the centre of the conversation and setting a clearer tone for how AF Blakemore and its suppliers move forward together.

Reset. Refocus. Recharge. Supplier Conference

Reset. Refocus. Recharge.