Be Broadcast has been appointed by Uswitch on a retained basis, expanding an initial three-month partnership into a wider brief across Energy and Telecoms.
The initial three-month programme saw Be Broadcast work with Uswitch’s Energy press office to increase its presence across national television and radio, respond to the fast-moving news agenda and find opportunities outside planned campaign activity.
The work included national broadcast coverage and reactive news activity, alongside a Safer Screens mobiles campaign, which helped take Uswitch into wider conversations around teens and digital life.
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The expanded retainer will bring Uswitch’s Energy and Telecoms broadcast activity together under one programme.
There was no incumbent broadcast agency for the account, with Be Broadcast’s initial work demonstrating the value of an always-on broadcast function and creating the case for the expanded retained brief.
Be Broadcast will provide strategic consultancy, broadcast media relations, reactive news support, campaign development, and producer engagement.
For Energy, the agency will work across issues including making sense of wholesale markets, the energy price cap, affordability, energy tariffs and switching, consumer behaviour, and policy developments.
The Telecoms brief will cover broadband, mobile, online safety, scams, connectivity, consumer rights and emerging technology, with the two areas also coming together on issues including household finances, AI and changing consumer behaviour.
As part of the retainer, Uswitch will also use Be Broadcast’s Mission Control platform. The monthly reporting will track broadcast performance, share of voice, topic ownership and competitor activity, while identifying emerging stories and upcoming opportunities across Energy and Telecoms.
Sarika Patel, head of PR at Uswitch, said: “Broadcast media remains a cornerstone of Uswitch’s PR strategy, as part of our efforts to help make energy, broadband and mobile bills straightforward for consumers.
“With a strong roster of expert spokespeople, our in-house PR team has spent years building strong relationships directly with producers. We approached Be Broadcast to help us take things to the next level with dedicated external support.
“Be Broadcast were able to bring the same speed, agility and focus that we apply to our wider press office, alongside strategic, senior counsel.
Josh Wheeler, founder of Be Broadcast, added: “The first three months were about showing what dedicated, always-on broadcast support can add to a busy press office.
“The news agenda doesn’t work to a campaign calendar. Campaign peaks will always matter, but opportunities happen every day, often unexpectedly, and Uswitch has the expertise, data and spokespeople to be part of those conversations.
“Being always-on means we’re constantly looking at that agenda through a broadcast lens, spotting where Uswitch can add something useful and move quickly when the right opportunity appears. It also gives us the space to develop ideas around where conversations are heading, while planning properly for the bigger moments we know are coming.”
Wheelr added that the expansion of the relationship to bring Telecoms alongside Energy presents an even greater opportunity: “Taking on Telecoms alongside Energy makes that even more exciting. People don’t separate their broadband bill, energy bill, mobile contract and concerns about scams or AI into neat corporate categories. It’s all part of everyday life, and that opens up a much bigger news agenda for Uswitch.
“We’ve loved working with the team so far. They get what we’re trying to do, they move quickly and trust us to spot the opportunities that matter. Winning the wider retainer is a big one for us.”
Be Broadcast is a specialist broadcast communications agency founded by Wheeler. The agency works with organisations including Yorkshire Building Society, Check Point Software Technologies and Movember.
Its work for Check Point increased the cybersecurity company’s UK broadcast coverage by 3,870 per cent, while Yorkshire Building Society has achieved 12.8 broadcast mentions for every one secured by its main competitor.
Uswitch is a leading UK online price comparison and switching service that helps consumers compare and change providers for household bills, energy, broadband, and mobile phones.
Image: Uswitch.com
