What we got up to in July

In July, parts of Britain hit an uncomfortable 32 degrees. The Tokyo Olympics kicked off and Simone Biles put her mental health at the top of the podium. All while the billionaires club took to their own race to space.

Here’s what we got up to at Blue Stag…

Championing mental health services

It was so nice to safely welcome some real-life humans back into our office this month. And it was a particular privilege to spend an evening in the company of Time to Change Wales’ incredible mental health champions and healthcare professionals, as they powerfully and eloquently shared their personal experiences on camera.

Huge thanks to Mark, Rosie, Jess, Katie, Beth and everyone involved. The interviews will be used in mental health awareness training for healthcare professionals across Wales. By sharing their stories, the champions will benefit thousands of people who have the courage to ask for help every year.

Creating for the kinship carers

Kinship is the leading charity supporting grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles and family friends who step up to raise children when their parents can’t.

Kinship provides information, advice and support. They connect kinship carers with one another to share experiences and help each other. As well as campaigning for proper recognition and support for kinship carers. Who often have to sacrifice relationships, jobs and savings to care for the children they love.

It’s a vital mission, close to our hearts. We’re delighted to helping Kinship help run a digital campaign for Kinship Care Week.

We’re looking forward to working on this important campaign. We will be raising awareness, understanding and recognition of kinship care.

Watch this space!

Students deserve better

The pandemic hit students hard. Many were forced to pay rent for housing they couldn’t live in. While others found themselves trapped in accommodation, away from their families, with strangers. Apprentices across Wales had their lives put on hold, and many had to drop out of their courses altogether. All this has had a serious impact on student mental health.

We’ve been working with the lovely crew at NUS Wales. Our mission is to ensure students aren’t forgotten as we come out of lockdown. They’ve conducted regular surveys of students to understand how the pandemic is affecting them. Plus, to discover what they need from governments and universities in the future. We’ve been creating content to communicate the outcomes of the surveys. Also, telling individual students’ stories, and helping them capture the views of as many students as possible.

Brecon Carreg has lift-off

Brecon Carreg is a household Welsh brand. Their natural mineral water is sourced and bottled in the beautiful Brecon Beacons National Park. We have been working with them to build their new website. The talented folks at S3 designed the site and handed it to us for development. It showcases the product range, tells the story of their history, and showcases their commitment to nature and community.

We’ve had a blast working with the team to get the site built and launched.

You can view the new website here.

Packing up a storm

Over the past few months, we’ve been working with foil packaging company Coppice Alupack to redesign their brand and digital marketing strategy. They’re a great bunch with a fantastic story to tell.

Based near Bridgend in South Wales, they’ve been a global foil packaging industry leader for more than 40 years. But despite their international success, the company has a real family vibe. They employ around 300 people, almost all from the local area, and very few of them seem to want to leave – they currently have three generations of the same family on staff.

What’s more, their product has a vital role to play in the future in the food industry. They’re working with a highly recyclable material – more than 80% of all the aluminium foil ever produced is still in circulation in one form or another. Even the scraps from the factory floor are fed into a baler on-site and sent back to the mill to be recycled into fresh sheets.

Coppice is an absolute pleasure to work with and it was great to finally make the short trip over to the factory to have a look around and meet some of the staff in person.

We’re super excited about the ideas we’ve been working on together and can’t wait to get them out into the daylight over the coming weeks and months.

Entrepreneurship within reach

Youth Business International is the global network for organisations supporting youth entrepreneurship.

YBI and Accenture have been long-standing partners since 2005. Accenture’s teams across the globe have partnered with YBI to support research and continue to drive innovation, evidence, and insight into “what works” for young people.

Entrepreneurship Within Reach is the latest project and the learnings demonstrate how their global approach is underpinned by human-centred design principles that are customised to local context to optimise impact on young entrepreneurs.

This research is intended to serve as a tool for organisations working to help young people become entrepreneurs as it outlines a tested approach to developing them and the various ways that approach can be applied to different global contexts. It is also a reminder of the importance of investing in youth entrepreneurship as a way to combat the youth unemployment crisis and ensure economic and social development for current and future generations of young people.

We are really excited to be working with YBI to bring this project to life. We have been working with YBI for a few years and it’s great to be working on yet another exciting project. The project will be used by entrepreneurs and organisations around the world as a guidebook to help young entrepreneurs become successful and shape the future.

The report is in its final stages and will be launching soon!