1. Changing behaviours to weedkillers with Welsh Water
With gardening season around the corner, we’ve launched Welsh Water’s PestSmart campaign to change behaviours around using pesticides at home, encouraging gardeners to reduce their reliance on them. As part of the integrated campaign, the last two weeks has seen us put our digital and radio ad campaigns live, issue our launch story to press and work with key influencers including @Gardeninthecountry to share important messages around making savvy swaps in the garden to protect people, water and wildlife.
2. Talking house prices with Principality
Every three months, Principality Building Society’s Wales House Price Index looks at prices and sales across each local authority in the country. This week, the HPI showed the average house price in Wales reached a record high of £233,361 for the first quarter of this year, with Monmouthshire reporting the highest annual price increase of 18.8% and other local authorities including Blaenau Gwent, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Merthyr Tydfil and Pembrokeshire all reporting annual increases of above 13%. We secured coverage on BBC Online, BBC Radio Wales, BBC Wales Today, S4C, Business Live, Western Mail, South Wales Argus and South Wales Evening Post to name just a few.
3. Margins to Mainstream podcast goes Stateside
Our podcast- Margins to Mainstream with Michael Sheen- launched with BBC America yesterday, meaning listeners in the USA and Canada can tune into our show via Apple and Spotify subscriptions. The series spotlights 11 writers from underrepresented backgrounds across 10 episodes, alongside contributions from some of Britain’s most notable writers, and some special live performances from Michael and other actors.
4. Sharing the Big Ideas of young entrepreneurs on YouTube and Spotify
Across Wales, young entrepreneurs are turning small ideas into budding businesses with the support of Big Ideas Wales. From custom swimwear to motivational speaking consultancies, we’ve had the pleasure of sharing a wealth of inspirational start-up stories from across the nation. As part of a digital advertising campaign, we created three short case study videos for YouTube showcasing three of these businesses – Saadia Speaks, Akron Productions and Rosy Cheeks Swimwear – sharing the benefits of Big Ideas Wales with a direct call to action for young entrepreneurs to get free support in starting a business. Keep an eye out for the ads on YouTube.
5. Encouraging more Welsh women to enter awards
We’ve been working with Business Wales to tackle the gender imbalance in business awards and inspire more women to put themselves forward by sharing the experiences of female entrepreneurs who’ve done just that. One of these women is Rhian Parry, MD of Workplace Worksafe, who initially felt uneasy and embarrassed nominating herself but has seen tremendous benefits from entering awards. You can read her story here.
