Shining a light on Seasonal success

Liverpool Football Club by Festive Decorators

Cross Street Twinkly Wreath & Garland

Festive Lights is one of the big retail winners of the last few years, expanding their expertise in the competitive Christmas lighting sector. Next on the list is an exciting launch at Spring Fair…

Middlesbrough Town lights It’s been five years since the eagle-eyed marketing team at Festive Lights came across Italian lighting brand Twinkly and Twinkly Pro on social media, and discussed its potential with the team of directors who head up the company.

It’s fair to say that since then the partnership has been a hugely fruitful one, with Festive Lights securing the UK distribution rights for the Twinkly brand in 2018.

Exciting plans for 2022 include the launch of Festive Lights’ second Twinkly showroom in February – a custom-build space in Colchester, that will offer customers new and old a ‘fully immersive Twinkly experience’ – and the launch at Spring Fair of the Twinkly Pro Features Collection.

But then you’d expect nothing less from the family behind this hugely proactive and digitally savvy company. Festive Lights was founded by Mark Higginson in 1999, partly by circumstance, but really due to his clever business sense.

Mark, who is still Managing Director alongside his wife Margaret, was liaising with factories in the Far East to produce a car security device he had invented, when he happened upon opportunities in the Christmas lighting sector. Having imported a container of seasonal lights and run a hugely successful Christmas shop for one season, Festive Lights grew from there.

Mark and Margaret now run the company with their four children, Matt, Mark Jr, Martin and Michelle, as well as Michelle’s husband Stephen.

Matt, who is the Business Sales Director, explains that Festive Lights has built a ‘likeminded and exuberant’ partner network in their role as UK supplier for Twinkly, and boast a plethora of commercial clients as well. As the leading app-controlled light system on the market, Twinkly has become very big business – both in terms of retail and commercial sales.

Twinkly Pro is leading the way in Smart Lighting, and the list of household names that Festive Lights has created unbelievable displays for makes for jaw-dropping reading. From Manchester City and Liverpool Football Clubs, John Lewis (Oxford Street) and Media City in Salford to numerous garden centres and hospitality venues, and huge-scale city and town centre displays in Plymouth, Peterborough and

Twinkly Pro installation at Barton Grange Garden Centre (pic credit: LITE)

Watford. The display the Festive Lights created in Middlesbrough included a whopping 235,000 LED lights controlled by the touch of a button.

Festive Lights has a dedicated in-house commercial projects team, and for 2022, Festive Lights for Business has expanded its manufacturing of large Twinkly display items, with production taking place at the company’s UK projects warehouse.

“The ‘Twinkly Team’ is already designing and building the new statement pieces in preparation for next Christmas, as we know there’s going to be lots of interest,” says Matt. “We’re delighted to be launching the Twinkly Pro Features Collection at Spring Fair.

“We’re exhibiting Twinkly Retail and Twinkly Pro at the show, together with our installation partners – LITE and Dreamwave Group – who will be on hand to discuss customers’ project ideas.

“The Twinkly Pro Collection includes giant garlands and wreaths, archways, stars and pre-lit wall panels. These new pieces are to complement our incredibly popular cone trees and our new 10m maypole tree – the first of which was installed at Manchester’s Media City for Christmas 2021.”

The Festive Lights team is hoping for a Spring Fair that is as successful for them as the Christmas & Gift show was in Harrogate.

“Jointly exhibiting with our national project partners LITE Ltd, Harrogate was a surprising success for us overall,” Matt

reveals. “From the first hour on Sunday it was clear the show attendance was strong, which quickly alleviated any pre-show anxieties we’d had concerning foot fall. “Thanks to the many successful projects we completed in 2021, many visitors were pre-engaged in the Twinkly brand and the potential it could offer their business. We made over 60 strong leads at Harrogate, along with the prospect of many site visits to follow up.” And show success aside, the Festive Lights family is also ‘really excited’ to be opening the doors to their new Colchester showroom. Matt adds: “Working with our installation partner Dreamwave Group, the new purpose-built showroom is just an hour’s commute from London and we’re expecting to welcome new clients through the doors for a fully immersive Twinkly experience. “Customers will be able to see the products in action and discuss plans for this coming Christmas. Having the expertise of Dreamwave Group included from the initial concept stage ensures we can create, install and manage many unbelievable displays. With Twinkly Pro the possibilities really are endless.” *To enquire about arranging a visit to either of the Festive Lights showrooms, in Lancashire or Colchester, email: twinkly@ festive-lights.com or call: 01257 228288. by Sarah Welsh email: twinkly@festive-lights.com or call: 01257 228288. Spring Fair show stand: 5B64-C65

Twinkly Mini at The Flower Bowl, Barton Grange Garden Centre

Twinkly Assets