What our clients say

Julie O’Grady, Service and Engagement Manager, UK Business Services, National Grid

“It’s not often you come across an agency or organisation that invest so much of their time into getting under the skin of a team, programme or issue – I feel like Social & Local are an extension of our team as they understand our challenges (and opportunities!) so well and have such a good understanding of who we are and what we want to achieve. They are always full of new and fresh ideas, ready to challenge the status quo and encouraging us to think big!

“As a busy working parent myself, I admire Social & Local’s approach and find it so refreshing! It’s great to see an organisation putting their people truly at the heart of what they do. If anything, it has massively helped us collaborate as we’ve all been able to flex the way we work to suit the needs of whatever we are working on!”

November 2019

Addeel Khan, Head of Internal Engagement, British Red Cross

“Working in the public and charity sector means it is even more important we aspire to work with partners who share the same values of giving something back to the community and others. Social & Local are a great example of an organisation that mixes professionalism and high quality service with that commitment to helping others.

“I have worked with many external agencies and partners in my 18 year career and I can hand on heart say that the quality of the work and the relationships I have had with SoLo have been by far the best. Their work to support the development of two internal engagement strategies (at the Food Standards Agency and the British Red Cross) have been groundbreaking in changing the way these organisations value and view the internal communications/engagement function.

“In a nutshell, the SoLo team are lovely. So easy to work with and such supportive colleagues who have helped me grow. The way they work makes them a seamless extension of the internal communications team I lead. Lots of respect both ways and they just get it.”

October 2019

Sheila Mitchell, Director of Marketing, Public Health England

“Social & Local have delivered insight and segmentation work for PHE across a number of national and local health issues.

“Government is always interested in supporting SMEs and Social & Local’s social business model plays to the diversity and wider opportunity agendas. As a public health organisation, we are committed to welfare at work as well as at home, and Social & Local do a lot more than pay lip service to this, with a clear culture of people values.

“However, the primary reason for working with Social & Local is because they are a smart, strategic and grounded business organisation. The team is made up of strong, mature operators who have a great track record of experience as senior players in agencies and in blue chip organisations.

“In a nutshell, Social & Local team are strategic, worldly, practical and energised.”

2019

Lynn Ladbrook, CEO, Breast Cancer UK

“Breast Cancer UK adheres to a strict ethical code of conduct and is committed to ensuring that all partners and suppliers are socially responsible. Knowing that Social & Local would invest 50% of profits to fund community projects was really compelling when it came to recruiting an agency, as it’s so important to us, our supporters and donors, that everything we do adds value.

“In addition, being a CIC gives Social & Local a strong understanding of the challenges facing the charity sector – which is not always true of marketing agencies that are used to commercial clients.

“We used SoLo to help us to understand our target audience, provide marketing insights, revitalize and test our messaging and develop a fresher, younger brand identity. SoLo worked closely with us throughout the process, and really took the time to understand the audience and challenges, gently helping us to push the boundaries.

“I loved working with SoLo. They brought in the right skills and expertise at each stage and the team worked seamlessly together. They are all very good at what they do, they never missed a deadline, delivered high quality content, respected our views and challenges, and responded with solutions. But above all they were lovely to work with.”

May 2019

Liam Duffy, Commercial Director, Barnardo’s

“Social & Local has worked with us on gathering audience insight; engaging with stakeholders; assessing demand for our services and in facilitating innovative thinking.

“Social & Local’s social model was key to us wanting to work with them. We wanted a partner that understands what it really means to be values driven and beneficiary focused. It’s almost a cliché in marketing circles now, but it’s a founding philosophy with Social & Local to which they have remained steadfast.

“The convergence of rationale means we can move quickly as we don’t have to spend time and energy working out what each other’s interest is or agreeing the philosophy before we can plan what we want to do. This is critical to our relationship; it makes partnering easier and more productive.

“No one wants a business partner that’s difficult to work with. Our shared reference framework provides an excellent platform but it’s always the people you work with that make or break that. Our experience in that respect is exemplary. The agency has a pool of very talented people whom we have found are very good at understanding, articulating and delivering what we need and want. It’s refreshing to re-acquaint ourselves with their people every time we work with the agency.”

October 2019

Graham Beech, Chief Executive, Action on Addiction

“The fact that Social & Local is a social business was a key factor in our wanting to work with them because we like to work with like-minded organisations who share our intrinsic values. We like businesses – social or otherwise – who understand the world we operate in and can work with us in a proactive and flexible way to help us address the challenges we face.

“Because Social & Local takes a truly flexible approach to its people it deploys a hugely talented workforce of individuals who are not able – or do not wish – to work in a more traditional agency culture, providing clients with access to a breath of expertise. As a result, the agency delivers exceptional work. The comms strategy we worked on together has stood the test of time and was a pivotal component in the development of our new business strategy.

“Working with Social & Local is always a pleasure, from where I’m sitting, it feels like a mutually supportive relationship which feeds – and feeds off – the business interaction.