This is not your everyday entrepreneur start-up. It was born on the desire for a kiss; boomed during lockdown; now, it makes money lighting up the lives of celebrities and a Manchester United star.
On the downside, the business that entrepreneur Emma Brambell built, My Perfect Neon, has also struggled against supply problems, the rising cost of living and a smattering of self-doubt.
Can I really do it?
“One of the challenges I face at my age. That terrible thing; you are a certain age: is this really just a fantasy, can I really do it? I think they call it the imposter syndrome.”
Imposter or not, Brambell has thrown herself into the neon light business supplying a score of shops in the UK and Channel Islands, as well as celebrities.
She is currently trying to land a Love Island contract.
Going underground
Not too long ago, she secured a licence from the London Underground to light up the iconic “Mind the Gap” in neon.
“The neon business is a really good shot,” she says.
When Graham Norton hosted Danny Beard at the O2 centre in London, the neon LED signs came from Brambell’s small business in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire.
Then came Geordie Shore star Vicky Pattison’s engagement party; in August 2022.
The big time beckons
She won the contract to fashion a neon sign flashing: Vicky and Ercan.
“I thought I had hit the big time,” she says.
Leamington-designed lights also went to the wedding of Manchester United goalkeeper Dean Henderson in Rome.
Mum, are you serious?
“I didn’t even know who he was! My kids said:’ Mum, are you serious? He is mega!”
The business was born of a romantic moment. She awoke on her 25th wedding anniversary, February 24, during lockdown, with a desire for a neon sign saying: “I woke up wanting to kiss you.”
She met her husband, a dashing young captain in the Royal Engineers, at a summer ball at an army base in Ripon, Yorkshire.
Brambell found her neon sign and posted it on social media. Soon, others were in touch asking for signs.
The lockdown boom
Ironically, the lockdown was a boom time for the business as people, who couldn’t go to the pub, built their own bars at home. A flashing neon light had to be the centrepiece.
Brambell’s favourite was the Warner family, who ordered a sign for their bar flashing:” Warnerspoons.”
The favourites are: “To the Moon and back” or pictures of couples dancing, or cutting the wedding cake
Like many in the business, Brambell turned to China for supply. It proved difficult, to say the least.
The trouble with China
“I used a factory in China. It was very good in the beginning and then they disappeared. Two-year guarantees don’t matter – if a customer has a problem – hard luck. Two or three weeks are taken off for Chinese New Year. Some never go back to the job, they stop working for that factory,” she says.
“All are self-employed; they subcontract to another factory… Salespeople are self-employed middlemen, increasing costs. The plugs don’t pass the safety tests.”
Because of all this, Brambell switched her business to a family-owned outfit in Bristol, that has made neon signs since World War Two.
The economy a problem too
The biggest cloud over the business, right now, is the economy.
“We are being hammered: inflation rises; house prices dropping; mortgages going up – there is no let-up,” she says.
“The biggest challenge is that it is not something that you have to have, it is something that you will like and persuading people to pay a bit more for a piece of art that is going to bring pleasure for years.”
“If people can save ten quid they will.”
Then there are customers that you can’t really trust.
“Sometimes you are just getting into a price war. I have been asked to quote for a sign and sent a visual idea. Sometimes, on social media, I would see that sign on someone else’s wall. Clearly, they have taken my visuals and shopped around,” she says.
“That is the world we live in, if people can save ten quid; they will.”
Move to Mississippi
Brambell trod the road less travelled towards being an entrepreneur. She cut her teeth in sponsorship and events and worked as a development officer for the Royal Northern Symphonia Orchestra in Newcastle.
When she married her husband, David, she moved with him to Mississippi in the United States. The officer in the Royal Engineers was tasked with building flood defences.
17 houses in 21 years
As an army wife, her words, she lived in 17 houses in 21 years before her husband left in 2016 as a full colonel. He joined a company that manages crises in military zones.
A wedding anniversary in war
On the couple’s wedding anniversary, last year – the fateful day that gave birth to her business – her husband couldn’t have been further away from a loving kiss. He was in Kyiv, in Ukraine, when Russian bombs fell and spent the next few months evacuating civilians.
Brambell’s husband is her greatest supporter.
“My husband says, if you can sell to someone who is not part of your family, you have got something!” she says.
Words you could put on a flashing neon sign.
