Our profiling campaign started a powerful conversation around mental health, inspired a brand new revenue stream and has been nominated for three PR awards.
We were tasked with developing and building Guy Tolhurst’s personal and professional brand as an entrepreneur and business mentor on a mission to drive investment into SMEs.
But, in a crowded space with lots of other business personalities competing for column inches, we knew we needed to distinguish Guy’s story and take ownership of a topic close to his heart in order to cut through the noise.
Pieces of coverage and counting
We started work with the entrepreneur to raise his personal profile, honing Guy’s image with a competitor analysis that developed an identity for him as a young, relatable business personality with a fresh perspective on topical issues.
We quickly became the lead PR agency for his 100 Stories of Growth campaign, developing a new PR asset and revenue-driver in the form of a coffee table book which was named as ‘a top business book for 2019’.
Whilst exploring the topic of ‘emotional capital’ with Guy, together we identified a personal mental health story that inspired a compelling initiative around mental health struggles among entrepreneurs.
Using his own personal experiences as a powerful basis, we came up with ‘The Dark Hours of Entrepreneurialism’ – a campaign which saw more than 85 founders share their honest and unfiltered stories on a range of emotive issues, from pressure and isolation and divorce to betrayal.
Creatively displaying each submission on anonymous postcards we launched on World Mental Health Day generating coverage across the business and mainstream news and TV media.
Throughout our campaign we’ve landed TV and radio interviews with Sky News, LBC, talkRADIO and London Live, as well as profile pieces and thought-leadership content in the Telegraph, City AM, Forbes.com and Evening Standard which has helped Guy’s businesses to bring in thousands of pounds worth of sponsorship.
Our client was even shortlisted for an SME champion award and what’s more, the campaign has sparked a whole new business stream for Guy which aims to change the way investors support entrepreneurs here in the UK – a new campaign we will be supporting throughout 2019.
We’re proud that this campaign has been nominated at both the CIPR Excellence Awards and SABRE Awards EMEA.
"Without this PR campaign, I don't think I would have ever told my story. As we started working together, it became really cathartic to deal with some of the blockages and it has encouraged other people to come forward and share their story. We discovered many people suffering in silence.
"This campaign has meant commercially people are now more aware of my businesses and we have greater credibility and more proof points. It got us through the door to speak to larger organisations, who previously wouldn’t have been interested in our proposition. We secured one £15k sponsor from the coverage validating our approach. Working with Munch has given our organisation a much greater purpose above money and given me my self-worth back."
Guy Tolhurst, entrepreneur and SME champion