Leader celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2015. Leader’s book, In Pursuit
of Success tells the story of a remarkable man, Bryan Holden, who
brought it to life and of how it grew and continues to thrive under the
stewardship of the next generation of his family.
Leader is a marketing communications company specialising in design, pr and marketing.
Based near Henley in Arden we have a team of 11 full time staff, over half of which have been
with the company for 10 years or more. The company has been trading for 50 years and has
a long standing pedigree in the delivery of marketing communications in the Coventry and
Warwickshire area. We have a diverse portfolio of clients spanning a variety of sectors. Some of
our clients include, the Institute of Directors, Kingspan, Virgin Trains, Dockers, Levis, Blenheim
Palace, Greggs the Bakers, Marstons, Warwick Castle and Ragley Hall.
Our History
Leader Communications Ltd.
Research and investigate fundamental market, stakeholder and product/
service issues.
By building a close understanding of your brand, your competitive environment and your
customers, we create marketing and communication plans based on fresh insights.
These insights will help you build properly targeted customer propositions, maximise your
competitive advantage, and identify the most effective business growth strategies for your
organisation.
From that solid base, Leader’s Fusion philosophy helps us draw together the most appropriate
communication channels and tools.
The results are branded content, communications, and sales and marketing campaigns which, as
well as being targeted and measurable, deliver that all-important ‘wow’ factor.
Research & Insight01
Leader Communications Ltd.
Make key strategic, brand and other marketing recommendations within
all platforms relevant to the company.
Careful and concise planning means cost-effective projects that will help you pick the most
effective and affordable paths through the maze of competing marketing solutions that
bombard business leaders every day.
Strategic Planning02
The Leader team have broad experience working within a huge range of
business-to-business and consumer industries to deliver extraordinary
results that help to grow and strengthen brands.
Our experienced directors will work with you to develop your strategy and then deliver creative
campaigns across the most appropriate media channels through our Fusion approach.
Development03
To help you meet your business growth objectives, our services are
entirely flexible to suit your objectives and resource. They can include:
Strategic marketing and planning: concise and cost-effective marketing discovery projects
that will help you pick the most effective and affordable paths through the maze of competing
marketing solutions that bombard business leaders every day.
Media Relations: Our specialist services include auditing media attitudes, strong relationships
with key editors (from national newspapers to key trade titles), regular feature/comment
opportunities, reader offers and competitions, media training to help get your message across,
expert article writing and press releases that capture the attention.
Design: Our job is to make your brand look as powerful and as eye-catching as possible. We
create stand-out solutions for our clients that work across all media from websites to brand
design, print and signage.
Implementation04
Leader Communications Ltd.
Market Research/Customer Insights
Understanding your customer is at the centre of being a successful business operating in the
digital and analogue world. This is a strategic service that delivers real insights, auditing atti-
tudes and awareness across consumer and B2B markets, to understand perceptions, knowledge
gaps, pain points, and propensity to buy/try. We create customer personas, and map customer
journeys to fully understand your customers’ relationship with your brand and how to optimise
the experience for them. The starting point for many of our campaigns.
Marketing Discovery and Strategic Planning
Designed as a cost-effective process to investigate fundamental investigate market, stakeholder and
product / service issues and then make key strategic, brand and other marketing recommendations.
Brand Development and Management
Working to the brief developed through marketing discovery, or to the client’s own brief, we
can create new brand identities or evolve/modernise existing ones.
Our Services
Leader Communications Ltd.
Digital Transformation
Understanding how your business could function effectively in the new digital
landscape by adopting new ways to bring products to market (e.g. pretotyping),
team structures, and using digital tools to improve efficiencies, gather data and
gain valuable customer insights.
Graphic Design (2D)
A full range of graphic design services are provided by our in-house studio team,
from logos and brand identities to sales collateral, infographics or event displays.
We also work with great photographers too.
Graphic Design (3D, animation and video)
From augmented reality to apps and video animation, we work alongside our clients to
brief, storyboard and create engaging content for all digital platforms and applications.
Website Design and Build
We design and build everything from a simple three or four page website to a large
corporate or e-commerce site. We build on a range of platforms, including WordPress
(the world’s most popular) and our powerful proprietary bespoke CMS system.
Website Optimisation, Analytics and SEO
Whether it’s a new website or an existing one, whether your goal is more traffic or a
higher conversion rate (or both), we can help clients to analyse existing performance,
gain insights that will support a better customer experience and opportunities for
new content, find out what is working, what is not (and why) and then put it right.
Marketing Content
Much of today’s digital marketing is content led, and with a business built on
marketing strategy, writing and design, Leader is perfectly placed to deliver
everything from the simplest infographic or blog article right through to eye-
catching and informative e-guides, whitepapers and animations.
Lead Generation and Nurturing
Modern lead generation (sometimes known as ‘in-bound marketing’) draws together
our full range of digital, social media and content marketing services, and harnesses
market-leading toolkits including Encounter (website visitor tracking) and Envoy
(email automation and data capture).
Our Services
Social Media
With expertise across a huge range of platforms, including the major ones such as Facebook,
Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram, we can help clients to create and post content, build
audiences, and link their social media activity to their day-to-day marketing objectives.
Communications Strategy
We offer a pure communications’ strategic planning service for clients, tying in commercial and
marketing objectives, and your brand proposition with customer/stakeholder insights and a review
of the competitor landscape to formulate your communications strategy across multiple channels,
both digital and analogue.
Media Relations
Leader retains a specialist capability across consumer and B2B markets in media relations.
Our pitching record for stories is outstanding thanks to our expert team, which includes
ex-journalists. Our specialist services include auditing media attitudes, strong relationships
with key editors (from national newspapers to key trade titles), regular feature/comment
opportunities, reader offers and competitions, media training (see opposite) to help get your
message across, expert article writing and press releases that capture the attention. Our media
Leader Communications Ltd.
database is the biggest in the UK, with detailed insights on every journalist and
editor, from their twitter handles, to their preferences for pitching stories.
Copywriting
If you need web or brochure copy, we can offer you the services of expert
copywriters to capture key points, and really sell your business messages in a
powerful and engaging way to suit the needs of your audience.
Media Training/Key Message Development
Getting your message across under interview conditions can be hugely stressful.
Our highly-acclaimed bespoke media training service uses life-like scenarios,
BBC journalists as trainers, and a range of broadcast studio, press conference, or
client-based options where we turn a board room into a newsroom, all based on
your needs.
Advertising (Digital and Print)
We can advise on advertising strategy (what, where and how often), manage
bookings, and deliver print-ready artwork to suit your brand and messages.
Increasingly our advertising focuses on the digital, from PPC Google Ads to
online display ads and sophisticated remarketing techniques.
Event Management
We can research, book and implement events from bespoke seminars and webinars
to major trade shows. We can act as your press office before, during and after an
event, ensuring you get maximum exposure and value out of your investment.
Crisis Management
Preparation is the key to good crisis management. We are specialists who can advise
clients how to prepare for, and then manage, the reputational challenges which can
arise from any crisis. Our services include stakeholder research (before and after),
alerts/monitoring services, media training, developing QandAs/statements and crisis
manuals, to social media management and even running full-scale crisis simulations.
We can also function as your virtual press office in a crisis.
Internal Communications
We can audit your internal stakeholders to understand your employer brand,
how best to engage them, how most importantly to recruit and retain a high-
functioning team which will really deliver your commercial objectives.
In 2015 Leader Communications was invited to pitch for the re-branding
of the Warwickshire-based Heritage Motor Centre, which would now be
known as the British Motor Museum. After winning the pitch, Leader
Communications got to work on meeting the requirements of the brief.
The brand was created to appeal to a range of audiences from car enthusiasts to families. The
bold, confident typeface used to enforce the prestige of the visitor attraction and the union
flag is used subtly within tyre tread flashes in red, white and blue to reflect the fact that the
attraction is home to the largest collection of British cars in the world. It certainly met with
approval from the client.
The new brand was then rolled out through all of the museums printed and online collateral
and we have since been re-appointed to continue working with them into 2017.
British Motor Museum01
Leader Communications Ltd.
Leader have recently started working with Birmingham based tourist
attraction The Wonderful World of Trains and Planes to create a summer
campaign of activities to increase footfall.
We developed a fusion approach to a Summer campaign of activities, which included traditional
PR, Radio advertising, a new leaflet and social media activity, including Facebook advertising,
all pointing their end customer to their brand new Leader built website for event information
and ticket booking.
We also created the character ‘Toot’ to demonstrate the three key areas of the attraction,
trains, planes and cars. Leader Communications developed and created the character style and
personality and produced character visualisations for approval from client.
Wonderful World of
Trains & Planes
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Leader Communications Ltd.
Now in its third year Coventry Motofest is rapidly establishing a
reputation as the UK and Midlands largest free motoring festival. During
the festival weekend in 2016 125,000 people visited the event, its
largest ever attendance to date.
Leader developed the communications strategy and delivered pre, on the day and post-event
publicity across international, national, regional, local, automotive and online media. Highlights
included the Aston Martin Vulcan supercar’s appearance at Motofest, motorbikes debuting on
the sprint circuit and the announcement of a second Motofest circuit.
The second circuit was revealed with a dramatic publicity stunt involving Gymkhana cars and
Classic Moto GP Bikes driving on a temporary night circuit on the Coventry Ring Road, to which
Leader provided PR support activity. The video of the stunt was viewed on YouTube over 4000
times and featured on The Sunday Times Driving website, MCN, BBC News and other high
profile media outlets.
Initial reports show over 100 articles and 20 broadcast items, with a total reach of 77 million.
Coverage views were 436,000, with over 4,000 shares on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram
(Twitter metrics are yet to be assessed). Opportunities To See (OTS) stories about was estimated
at 6 million over the campaign period.
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Leader Communications Ltd.
“It’s been our biggest and best ever Coventry Motofest, with around 125,000 visitors over
the two days enjoying all of the action on the main ring road circuit and the other
entertainment provided as part of the festival.”
“As organisers it’s really exciting times for Coventry Motofest and we look forward staging
another even bigger and better event next year to again showcase the city’s incredible
motoring heritage.”
James Noble, Coventry Motofest Festival Director
Testimonials
“Leader have delivered ‘SMART’ solutions, inspiring designs, all bang on budget and with
fantastic personal service – we would have no hesitation in recommending them.”
Penny Tyler, British Motor Museum Marketing Officer
“The College continues to place a very high value on the relationship with Leader. The look and
feel of the modern College is the result of working with a Leader team which has always shared
our vision and goals and which continues to deliver to the highest standard.”
Kim Gilbert
Royal College of Organists General Manager