We are founders who design, build and advise.

Who we are

As founders we’ve become commercial Swiss Army knives. We know how (and how not) to sell, communicate and innovate - having learned from our own mistakes, with our own money. Our approach is ruthlessly practical, cutting through complexity to get things done.

Journal

Iterative Design I: Brand and Product Design - Regency Tonic

“A child learns by making mistakes, I like to make my own. There is no learning without mistakes, and mature men are those who make them, recognise them and learn from them.”

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Practical Uses of AI: Part I - Short Midjourney Product Video Process

In the first of a new series we share practical ways businesses can make use of AI - today!

Here in Part I we use Midjourney to turn static product images into short videos. It’s a technique we’ve used for our own ventures and on a few client projects, that’s proved effective at increasing engagement.

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Introducing Blackdown Advisory

Introducing Blackdown Advisory - battle-tested business advice.

We - Blackdown founders Charles and Rhianne - have between us accumulated thirty years of commercial experience. We’ve worked for (and with) foreign and domestic governments, companies large and small, and started more than our fair share of side hustles and start-up businesses.

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The English wine business

The UK wine industry is booming, with over 4,000 hectares (c. 10,000 acres) of vines now in active production across more than a thousand different vineyards. More than 200 wineries are now in operation - together they produced nearly nine million bottles of wine in 2023. Compare this to 2018 when a little over three million bottles were made, and you get an idea of the pace of change.

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Diversifying rural estate revenues

Country estates are unusual and complex enterprises, often comprising of quite different businesses across a variety of sectors.

Each estate operates differently, with revenues derived from sources as unique as the landscapes of which the owners are custodians. All have one thing in common in our experience - a desire to diversify their income streams.

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Biodiversity, rewilding and natural capital

A growing number of landowners are looking to nature restoration and rewilding - as both a practical contribution to combatting a changing climate and an innovative way to generate new sources of revenue. From selling biodiversity credits to developers through programmes like Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) in the UK, to spinning-up associated eco-tourism ventures - a bold few estate owners are leading the way, proving that nature restoration can also be great business.

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Featured Insights

Battle-tested business advice.

Business advice is as valuable as the experience behind it - yet most consultants have never started or run a company.

Blackdown is different.

We’re founders who’ve built businesses from the ground up, with our own money. As a result we have an uncompromising, entrepreneurial approach to business - and zero-tolerance for waste.

We have a ruthless eye for what works because we’ve paid to learn it.

At Blackdown we roll up our sleeves and get things done.

What we do

A view of St. Paul's Cathedral in London, seen through modern glass buildings on either side, with a cloudy sky above.

Strategy

Whether you’re scaling up, shifting focus or starting afresh we help you sort signal from noise with ruthless efficiency.

Business Strategy

Partnerships

Market Entry & Expansion

Operational Efficiency

Close-up of a professional video camera recording a woman in a library or bookstore during an interview or presentation.

Communications

In a noisy world where everyone’s scrabbling for attention we believe in authenticity. Crafting compelling narratives isn’t about chasing trends, but communicating with audiences honestly.

Public Affairs

Print

TV & Radio

Digital

Public Relations

Crisis Communications