Shaping the UK political and economic landscape for Pragmatic

Pragmatic is a British semiconductor manufacturer, producing innovative, thin, flexible chips.

It has ambitious growth plans for both the UK and globally, but considered the existing UK political and economic landscape for high-cost manufacturing companies to be inadequate.

Pragmatic’s goal was to influence the Government’s forthcoming semiconductor strategy (and therefore the economic environment it is operating in).

Our strategy was to position Pragmatic as the authoritative voice on both the UK semiconductor industry and the wider high-growth science and technology landscape, to the most important political figures influencing the sector’s development.

This began by creating a campaign platform and narrative targeted at government stakeholders, which national and business media would also take notice of.

We secured introductory interviews with national media then, as the news agenda focused more closely on the UK semiconductor strategy and the Government’s science and technology superpower ambition, we built an agile news hijacking programme, using news stories around science and technology every week, pitching short, bold opinion and clear messages from Pragmatic’s Co-Founders. This landed constant, hard-hitting national and broadcast coverage.

We also secured a wide range of senior stakeholders including policy makers, business leaders, industry bodies and think tanks, to join Pragmatic’s roundtable discussion in the Palace of Westminster, chaired by Paul Howell, Member of Parliament for Sedgefield.

This resulted in a Pragmatic branded report with recommendations on how to achieve UK science superpower status which was presented to stakeholders across Westminster, Whitehall and the science and technology sector. These were identified as influencers on government policies that would support Pragmatic’s growth. The report also continued momentum and engagement with media.

In parallel to this, we continued to secure background meetings with political stakeholders including site visits to Pragmatic’s fab (manufacturing plant) in Sedgefield.

From a media point of view, we have delivered a 1900% uplift in national and broadcast media coverage for Pragmatic, securing 240 pieces of coverage, 55 of which were national and broadcast. Every national engagement has focused on our agreed messaging and building a better environment for high tech manufacturing in the UK.

This media coverage has also helped drive awareness of Pragmatic across political audiences, alongside pitching which has secured more than 25 meetings during our nine month campaign including the Minister responsible for the semiconductor strategy,

The relationship with political stakeholders also secured a quote from Pragmatic in its semiconductor strategy press release, and its founder has now been invited to join the Government’s semiconductor advisory group, launched in July 2023.

Earned media activity also drove a 75% increase in traffic to Pragmatic’s website during the  launch of the UK’s semiconductor strategy, and a 205% increase in business enquires and sales leads.